Friday, February 15, 2013

Prayer is always the best place to leave things...

Almighty God

There is so much sadness and hurt in the world these days,
my heart breaks so I can only imagine how painful it is for you to watch your creation stumble.

Lord we need you, we need your soveriegn hands to bring peace to the entire region.

Father we pray that your love and righteousness would pour out on
Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Algeria...and to the ends of the earth...

I ask that you would protect your children in this time of unsettled violence and anger.

Lord put your gaurdian angels beside every little girl and give every boy your strength and wisdom.

We want to see you reign in these nations and we want to see people find the truth.....

Help us know how to share you in this time of difficulty and how to hold on strong to you ourselves.

Father bring each one the encouragment they need to continue serving you in obediance and confidence.

Thank you for your grace, love, and peace in our souls knowing that no matter what is going on in our lives, you are Lord of all.

Thank you for yourself, we love you with all you have made us to be,

Amen


 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Why Did God Create Mold?

So over the last month, coming back from each of my trips it has become a pattern of finding my shoes covered in mold! Yes covered! Not on the ground or the walls but just my few, very loved nice shoes.....The first time I wiped them off I thought well this is a good experience to have in life not that big of a deal.....The second time I thought ok God you are just teaching me patience because I always hear people talk about how difficult mold is to get rid of so you want me to appreciate how easy you are going on me.....But then the third time I thought ok this is a lesson of learning simply how to move your shoes to another location until you figure out where the wetness is sneeky into my closet. So now as I look around my room and see random pairs of shoes sitting about I think, well this is a new way to inspire creative writing topics.

All that to say God did create mold and just like most hard things to understand in life, it is to teach us about what really matters. Shoes are shoes and possessions in this life don't really matter, but in the very least I can come away from this saying it is good to take care of what the Lord does provide for you in life. Even in abundance at times, but as long as we always recognize that it is his provision and gift so that when it's gone, we aren't blaming him for not giving us something that we never deserved in the first place.

I have recently been trying to go about my day and life examining things that I have and evaluating if they matter more to me then they should? It is a good exercise as long as you don't take it too far. I am sure there are things for all of us that we could live without. For some of us even part with and we wouldn't miss them at all but because we are so used to having things we don't stop to think about who it might help, including ourselves, if we sought to live with less and really think about what we are purchasing before we spend money on meaningless perishable items made by consumer driven culture.

I hope this helps open your thoughts in a new and good way today, be blessed as always,
Laina