Walking in the Light

Good Morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners, and Happy December first! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! We are in the midst of a cold front coming through, but it didn't bring much rain. Just a small sprinkle during the early morning hours. But the wind is blowing and now along with the acorns, the leaves are falling. My friend, David C. got half of the gutters covered before running out of wire, but he will finish the rest when he comes tomorrow, and I am sure the gutters will be full again , with the part that was still open. There is already a big layer of acorns on the ground, so the squirrels don't even have to dig any more.

I saw a congregation of different water birds around Lynch Lake yesterday. Lots of ibis, the lonesome woodstorks, off by themselves, seagulls, and , of course, the regular ducks, all gathered together. The woodstorks don't seem to socialize with the other birds.

Then I went to the park and it was almost empty of people, but a pretty day and the water looked serene.

I visited an auto parts store yesterday for some wiper blades and the young clerk took them out to the van to install them and asked me if I had been a member of St. James Church. I said, "Yes, how did you know?" He just said I looked familiar and then proceeded to name numerous people who had been there when I attended. Now, this was thirty years ago, and the kid was not more than twenty and actually looked like a teen-ager, so he wasn't even born when I left to be at Faith Covenant. We had an interesting conversation and I left thinking that had to be a God encounter, because he had some good ideas about why we should go to church..to worship, not because of people or the preacher, but because of God's presence. Very wise. God is good!

From the little book Knowing God:

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
John 8:12 NIV

God's Holy Word instructs us that Jesus is, "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6-7.

Without Christ, we are as far removed from salvation as the east is removed from the west. And without Christ, we can never know the ultimate truth: God's truth.

Truth is God's way. He commands His believers to live in truth, and He rewards those who do so. Jesus is the personification of God's liberating truth, a truth that offers salvation to mankind.

Do you seek to walk with God? Do you seek to feel His presence and His peace? Then you must walk in truth; you must walk in the light; you must walk with the Savior. There is simply no other way.

The Christian faith is meant to be lived moment by moment. It isn't some broad, general outline-it's a long walk with a real Person. Details count; passing thoughts, small sacrifices, a few encouraging words. little acts of kindness, brief victories over nagging sins.
Joni Eareckson Tada

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Haggai 1

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 seems like everything is quiet and just waiting for the wind and rain that's coming. The wind is just now starting to pick up and blow and should bring some much needed rain. It has been storming and rainy in Tenn. for a couple days, getting ready to come visit us. Maybe I won't have to water the staghorn if God does it, instead.

I did a little Christmas shopping yesterday and stopped at Chic-Filet for a sandwich to take home... now I have to find the energy to finish decorating the house. Just think, tomorrow will be December! Not that many days until we celebrate Christ's birth!

I stopped at the Park for awhile and saw a couple turtles and a lot of people hanging over the bridge rail looking down in the water. Something about the water is fascinating , even if you just watch the fish swimming around. God is good!

This is a good message for this time of the year, borrowed from an email sent me in 2003;

Haggai 1:5-11

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Prayer Pause

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's hard to believe that colder weather is coming this week, when today is supposed to be near the eighties again! But that's Ok, puts us in the Christmas mood!

Yesterday, I went to the Park after church and saw the usual big and little turtles sunning on the bank of the weir and on the other side, the fat gator was sunning. Someone was standing near him taking pictures, inside the stay out sign. Some people just don't care about their own safety...

Also, it looks like the woodstorks have decided to make the Lynch Lake their winter home. They are there every day, along with the ibis and the ducks. But I like it when once in a while the roseate spoonbill is present with them. I like pink! God is good!

From the Quiet Moments with God devotional book;
Uphold me according to your promise that I may live. Psalm 119:116 AMP

A coffee break is a good time for Prayer!

When we pray at the outset of our day, our prayer is often for general guidance and help from the Lord. When we pray in the midst of our day, our prayer is much more likely to be specific and aimed at immediate needs and concerns. By the time a coffee break rolls around, we have a much better idea of what our day holds, including what particular dangers, difficulties, or temptations we are going to face! It is with that knowledge, born of experience, that this prayer of Saint Patrick takes on even greater meaning:

May the wisdom of God instruct me,
the eye of God watch over me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God give me sweet talk,
the hand of God defend me,
the way of God guide me.

Christ be with me.
Christ before me.
Christ in me.
Christ under me.
Christ over me.
Christ on my right hand.
Christ on my left hand.
Christ on this side.
Christ on that side.
Christ in the head of everyone to whom I speak.
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me.
Christ in the eye of every person who looks upon me.
Christ in the ear of everyone who hears me today,
Amen

Take time in the middle of your day to ask the Lord for His wrap-around presence, His unending encouragement, and His all-sustaining assistance. And in return, be a vessel that carries His presence, encouragement, and assistance to others.

Do not look upon the vessel, but
upon what it holds.
Hebrew Proverb

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love.

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Psoaring thru Psalm 100

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! I hope your all had a good time with family and friends and lots of eating, talking and laughter. It is such a wonderful time to be together with people who live some distance away and don't get together that often.

The weather was perfect yesterday, but overcast today and hopefully, we will have rain sometime soon. Brian and I had a great trip up to Dunnellon on the Suncoast Parkway. Very little traffic and a great highway through open fields, seeing cows and horses and country!! Rare around Pinellas County. On the way home God gave us a beautiful sunset. It was so spectacular, I took some photos through the windshield...don't know if they will turn out, but I hope so. The setting sun was reflecting off the clouds which were in a straight line across the horizon..lovely pinks. We were able to see it almost half the way home before darkness crept in. God is good!

From the Promise Bible NLT:

Shout with joy to the Lord, O earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us and we are his.
We are his people..the sheep of his
pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever
and his faithfulness continues to each
generation.

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Your Shining Light

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! On this day before Thanksgiving, when everyone is busy preparing for the meal tomorrow, or maybe not, I give thanks for God's provision and family and friends. God is good!

From the devotional book Knowing God:

It is God's will that your good lives should silence those who make foolish accusations against you. You are not slaves; you are free. But your freedom is not an excuse to do evil. You are free to live as God's slaves.
1 Peter 2:15-16 NLT

All of us are examples-examples that should be emulated...or not. Hopefully, the lives we lead and the choices we make will serve as enduring examples of the spiritual abundance that is available to all who worship God and obey His commandments.

Ask yourself this question: Are you the kind of role model that you would want to emulate? If so, congratulations. But if certain aspects of your behavior could stand improvement, the best day to begin your self-improvement regimen is this one. Because whether you realize it or not, people you love are watching your behavior, and they're learning how to live. You owe it to them-and to yourself-to live righteously and well.

Great Thoughts
In our faith we follow someone's steps. In our faith we leave footprints to guide others. It's the principle of discipleship.
Max Lucado

Today's Prayer-
Dear Lord, help me be a worthy example to my friends and to my family. Let the things that I say and the things that I do show everyone what it means to be a follower of Your Son, Amen

And now I'm off to make Waldorf salad, and banana pudding for tomorrow in Dunnellon with family. Oh, I also have a follow-up with my radiology doctor, this morning. What was I thinking?? Making it today was not a good idea.

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

End-Of-Work Prayer

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! The sun is highlighting the hedge outside my window in streaks of brightness, as it rises higher and higher. Very much like spotlights.

Last night as I left the Faith Group meeting I looked up to see the full moon shining in and out of the clouds and immediately thought of the poem I learned in school..."the moon was a ghostly galleon riding on cloudy seas" from the Highwayman. That's about all I remember of that.

I forgot to mention that I saw a juvenile gator, (one of the babies) at the first shelter, but the shape of the head looked like a caiman. I know Mike showed me one once that he was carrying, (he's the retired naturalist) but I didn't know they inhabited the canal.

And as I drove around Lynch Lake I was amused to see six woodstorks all in a row, and one lying down on the grass. They looked very somber and glum. I don't know why the woodstorks never seem happy..guess it's not their nature. But God is good!

From the devotional book Quiet Moments with God

In all your ways acknowledge him. Proverbs 3:6 NJKV

Many people are quick to pray before a meal, before they begin a new project, before they attempt something for the first time, or before embarking on a long journey. They desire to start on the right foot, asking for God's help, protection, creativity, and blessing; but what about prayer at the end of a work day, journey, or task?

Such a prayer is like a second bookend on a shelf of freestanding books,--it brackets our work and brings us to full recognition that we have received from the Lord the very things we requested. Rather than being a prayer of petition, such a prayer is an expression of praise and thanksgiving.

Simeon had lived his entire life waiting to see the Messiah-a promise the Lord had made to him. (Luke 2:26 KJV). Upon seeing the infant Jesus in the Temple, Simeon took Him in his arms, blessed God, and said, "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation". (Luke 2:29-30 NKJV). Simeon recognized that God had been faithful to His Word, and his heart was encouraged and filled with joy.

Simeon is a wonderful example of how we need to begin and end the events of our lives with prayer. When we reach the end of a day, haggard and weary, we can remember Simeon's prayer, "Lord, let Your servant depart in peace, according to your Word."

Knowing God was with us today and He will be with us tomorrow, we can move on to the evening hours with freedom and a sense of satisfaction.

Let a man go away or
come back. God never
leaves. He is always at hand and
if he cannot get into your
life, still he is never farther away
than the door.
Meister Eckhart

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Colossians

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! What a beautiful day again! Sun shining, a little cool, but really warming up to the eighties today, I guess. Since the moon was full Sat, night, as usual, I had a difficult time sleeping, I am a "loonie" when it comes to full moons. I was up and down from about three until I finally got up for good at six. Gives me plenty of time to get ready for church.

I went for a walk Saturday afternoon in the park along the sidewalk and enjoyed the serenity and peacefulness of the river. There was one lone ibis high in a tree and ripples in the water, but no critters were visible., except on the way in. The fat gator was sunning and the usual turtles were lined up on the weir. They seem to like to stay in bunches.

But this morning, I arrived at the Park at a little after seven, and saw my friend, David C. just getting ready to leave, so he got out of his truck and came to chat briefly.He gave me the gnarly, twisted walking stick I am using. I enjoyed the solitary walk and was pleased to see several families of moorhens, busily pecking at the water lilies and other greens that grow in the water. God is good!

From the Promise Bible NLT:

Colossians 1:5
So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives , and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power st that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.

3:23
Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ."

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis