Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! It is a beautiful sunshiny , but chilly day. It is supposed to be gradually warming up all this week, so just as well I didn't put my new flannel sheets on the bed!
Something about this change in time takes me a long time to get used to. I cannot sleep well for a few days afterwards. Seems like with the extra hour sleep, I would be doing well, but maybe it's just me. Oh, well, I should be ready to catch a nap this afternoon.
I went to the Park yesterday, and my, was it crowded! The sunshine brought many turtles out of the water to dry out on the banks of the weir, and across the street, the chubby middle-sized gator was sunning. Then, as I rounded the circle corner, there was the old, big gopher tortoise. Now I grew up in this city and we always had gophers around the vacant lot we lived next to, so they were not a big deal to us, but for people new to this area, they are something novel. Many people get up close and take pictures of these strange looking creatures.
Also, as I was coming back from an errand, I saw an osprey on one line, and what I think was a kingfisher on another line. I looked in my Peterson bird guide, but can't quite identify for sure just what the bird is. I thought perhaps a shrike, but it looks more like the kingfisher. Maybe I should study up more on my birds! But, God is good!
From the Promise Bible NLT:
Romans 8:18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet , we must wait patiently and confidently. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
