Verses For Encouragement

A blogger friend sent these verses to me a few days back. I needed them then and I need them now. Maybe some of you out there tonight need to read them as well.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 40:10
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.

Psalm 89:2, 8
I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself... O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

Psalm 143:1
O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.

Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

What A Week!

I want to start this post by saying this. . .

GOD is good all the time and all the time GOD is good!!

What a week! Is it only Wednesday??? To me it feels like next Monday already! I am thanking the Lord that it's not because then the three day weekend would be over!

On a serious note. . .

Most of you know that I have been having some health issues. . . heart issues to be exact. I have had a problem since I was young and at times it would be what I thought was bad. Well, it's amazing how fast things can go from being bad at times to being really bad most of the time. Sunday night I found myself in the emergency room and I wasn't feeling real good about that. My stay was for 8 hours in two different luxurious suites. Then I went home for nine hours and "rested!"  Then off to the cardiologist. He seems like a good doctor and gave me a lot of information that I didn't know and a lot of meds to take with more to come! That part I don't really like but if it helps me to live without so many problems I can get used to it. Then today I was off to do an echo-stress test. That would be pictures and a treadmill. Now "that" was fun. Really, I didn't think I was going to be able to get my heart rate up, and keep it there as long as they needed, but I just kept praying and I got there. When it was all over they said they didn't find any serious problems. Now that I've had a few hours I'm wondering what the non-serious ones were? lol Really, I'm not going to worry about that. It's just one day at a time with the Lord walking with me. When it was all said and done I was reminded in a phone call that. . ."Sometimes God uses medicine and doctors to help us but that He can also still heal me." I probably didn't say that exactly as it was said to me but I hope you can get the meaning from it. It really was what I needed to hear after everything I have heard this week from doctors. It's just that my brain has been pretty foggy for days now and thinking is sometimes really hard to do!

Some if what I am learning through all of this is. . .

God cares about us. Over the last few days there have been times when I was scared. Yep, me. I was scared. There have been many prayers from some great Christians being said on my behalf and
God has heard everyone of them. I too have prayed a lot. I've prayed for courage, strength, rest, sleep, good test results and healing. He has heard every prayer and He has answered them in the way He has planned for me. Which reminds me of a verse . . .

Isaiah 55:8

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord."

It wasn't too long before this all started happening that He led me to this verse and reminded me that His ways are always better than ours . . .

Isaiah 55:9

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

We might not fully understand why He allows what He allows in our lives. The pain and sorrow, the sickness and disease, the giving and taking and sometimes even . . . the losses we face. But we always know that whatever happens . . . Gods way is the best way. We as Christians just need to live our lives fully, in His will, being held securely in the palm of His hand. 

Isaiah 43:1-3

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
    O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
    I have called you by name; you are mine.
² When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
    I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

Thank you all for your prayers for me. I greatly appreciate each and everyone of you.

Blessings . . . Chelle

When The Calmness Comes

This morning I had some extra time before leaving for work and so I picked up my Bible to read. Having a bit of a hard time getting my thoughts together I decided to look at the Psalms and just see what I could find. I would read a verse or two and decide that I wasn't in the right Psalm yet...what I was reading just wasn't really hitting me like I wanted it two. They all had been good but just not the right one. Then I hit on Psalm 86.

Psalm 86:1-7

¹ Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer;
    answer me, for I need your help.
² Protect me, for I am devoted to you.
    Save me, for I serve you and trust you.
    You are my God.
³ Be merciful to me, O Lord,
    for I am calling on you constantly.
⁴ Give me happiness, O Lord,
    for I give myself to you.
⁵ O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,
    so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.
⁶ Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;
    hear my urgent cry.
⁷ I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble,
    and you will answer me.

⁸ No pagan god is like you, O Lord.
    None can do what you do!
⁹ All the nations you made
    will come and bow before you, Lord;
    they will praise your holy name.
¹⁰ For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.
    You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me your ways, O Lord,
    that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
    so that I may honor you.
¹² With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
    I will give glory to your name forever,
¹³ for your love for me is very great.
    You have rescued me from the depths of death.

¹⁴ O God, insolent people rise up against me;
    a violent gang is trying to kill me.
    You mean nothing to them.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord,
    are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Look down and have mercy on me.
    Give your strength to your servant;
    save me, the son of your servant.
¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor.
    Then those who hate me will be put to shame,
    for you, O Lord, help and comfort me.

I just really like this Psalm and this morning...it "hit" me just the way I needed.

Tonight I sat down to read and found that I am still having a hard time concentrating on much of anything. Sometimes it's just hard to completely wrap your mind around what goes on in life. So I just sent up a short little prayer and asked that the Lord just help me to find the right thing to read. He did. something I noticed through all of this is that when I need "help" I tend to go to the Psalms.

 

Psalm 62:5-8

⁵ Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
    for my hope is in him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will not be shaken.
⁷ My victory and honor come from God alone.
    He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
⁸ O my people, trust in him at all times.
    Pour out your heart to him,
    for God is our refuge.

I'm finding that more and more this is what I must do. Pray and just wait quietly before Him. That's when the calmness finally comes.