A 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! Another chilly morning with the sun already rising and the temps supposed to go up to eighty today! Wonderful weather! I saw our neighbor out taking his morning walk around the neighborhood a little while ago and he was wearing shorts. I think I would be a little chilly in shorts, but not this afternoon!

Yesterday, we saw the firemen at Lynch school showing their ladder truck. It had the ladder fully extended into the sky and was very impressive. The little students were all sitting in front of the fireman and very attentive. They also had a paramedic truck there for educating the kids. I am not a little kid, but I am fascinated with the equipment, also. :o)

There was lots of wildlife around the lake, including the ever-present woodstorks. As I went to the Park later, the turtles were back on the bank sunning, but no sign of the gator. Many of the trees are bare now, having lost their leaves during the chilly spell. Winter is almost here! God is good!

This is a Franciscan Blessing:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers.
half truths and superficial relationships
so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice,
oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may wish for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
Amen!

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

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Jeremiah 29:11

Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the beautiful day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! I stepped outside earlier just in time to see the feral cat that hangs around, chasing a squirrel up the tree. The cat went a little ways up, but the squirrel was much faster and scampered up to the very top very quickly! I don't want the cat to get the squirrel!

We had a quiet day yesterday with a visit to the doc for a check-up for Louis and a trip to the park. Very quiet at the park, with no animals in sight for a change. Not even a heron or turtle. Unusual! The only activity was a man with his car door open, with the squirrels gathered around, because he was feeding them, which is a no no, but no one is around to enforce the rule. Oh, well, that is why the squirrel was so insistent that I feed it the other day when I was eating in the car!

God's plan for my life:

"I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Sometimes we are tempted to question God's will for our lives, thinking he has made a mistake. God promises to give us the best as we follow his ways. Ultimately, even what looks like a mistake can become the means to something wonderful.

From the Promise Bible NLT:

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

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Ministry and the Spiritual Life

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! Acorns are falling all around and when I stepped outside this morning, I had to avoid stepping on them, even though the porch was swept yesterday! But the weather is perfect and the sun will shine, and God is good!

I saw a woodstork yesterday at Lynch Lake, looking very disgruntled as it stood near a flock of ibis, which were not paying any attention to the woodstork. Usually, the woodstorks just look depressed, but this one was animated. And up above on a wire, was a hawk. Seems like the lake was teeming with wildlife. Must have been good dining around there! I went to the Park and the big, shiny gator was on the bank again, and across the street on the weir bank were three turtles. A little ways down on the grassy bank, were another three turtles, only one of them was a very large, soft shell, snapping turtle. All were enjoying the sunshine!

From Bread for the Journey
by Henri Nouwen

All Jesus' words and actions emerge from his intimate relationship with his Father. "Do you not believe," Jesus says, "that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord. It is the Father living in me, who is doing his works, You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works." (John 14:10-11)

Just as all Jesus' words and actions emerge from his communion with his Father, so all our words and actions must emerge from our communion with Jesus. "In all truth I tell you," he says, "whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works...Whatever you ask for in my name I will do" (John 14:12-13). It is this profound truth that reveals the relationship between the spiritual life and the life of ministry.

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! It is still a little chilly in the mornings but the afternoons are beautiful. We have waited a long time for cooler weather and now we have it! Yesterday evening at sunset I stepped outside and saw a lovely pink contrail crossing the sky, and then looked to the west and saw the gorgeous sunset. What a display God had for us to enjoy!

We went to the Park in the late afternoon, and the shiny, black gator was in his spot on the lake bank, and on the other side on the weir, a turtle and an anhinga were sunning. As we drove in, a young peacock crossed the road in front of us, splendid in his colors!

We took a walk, with me pushing the wheelchair and looked at lots of people, dogs and children. When you don't want to spend money to have a fun afternoon, head for a park and picnic or just walk and enjoy God's great outdoors! God is good!

From the Promise Bible NLT:

Psalm 100

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

Philippians

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! Brr! It is cool enough that I turned on the furnace for the first time this winter, just to take the chill off the house! The extra blanket felt good, too last night, But it is a wonderful change from the heat and good for soup and hot chocolate! God is good!

Yesterday I went to CVS and saw a very unusual looking man waiting at the pharmacy. He obviously had a wig on and was wearing what looked like a woman's shirt. God loves us all , doesn't he? The young man who helped me used to have a wild fro, but has had his hair cut and is very nice looking, so I told him I liked his hair, and he gave me a beautiful smile and thanked me. I hoped I brightened his day.

Later on we took Careride out to the dentist's office for Louis' appointment and had a nice talk with the driver. On the way back, the different driver turned out to have lived here 55 years, so we had a long talk about all the changes in St. Petersburg since I grew up here and he just about did. I saw where the big two story Publix is , out in the Tyrone area...very unusual. It has a parking garage underneath the store! While we were gone, the two cleaning gals from across the street cleaned the house, so it was sparkling when we returned. All in all, a good day! God is Awesome!

Philippians 4:4-9
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! Let everyone see that you are consideerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

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

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Sunrise

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! Well, the cold front came through just as predicted and today is overcast and chilly,in the sixties, anyway. The wind is still blowing and a sweater would feel good outside. It has been a loong summer!

Yesterday, I visited beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, and saw lots of people enjoying lunch at the sidewalk tables outside the cafes and restaurants. Looked like a lot of people were out and about, shopping and sightseeing. Then I went to the Park, and saw the shiny black gator lying on the bank of the borrow pit again and across the road, a turtle resting on the bank of the weir, close to an anhinga, also drying out. God is good!

From the book, Quiet Moments With God devotional:

Luke 1:78-79 The sunrise from on high will visit us...to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Sunrise, shining its beams through the window on a cold winter's morning, is a welcome sight. Even if the air outside is icy cold, sunrise gives the illusion of warmth With the rising sun .the city opens its shutters and makes preparations for the day; in the country, the farm animals are let out to pasture. Kids are off to school, adults are on their way to work, and each has a different perspective of the sunrise.

Sunrise happens whether we see it or not. Clouds may cover the sky so totally that we can't experience the beauty of the sunbeams making their way to the earth. No matter what the climate, the sun still rises in the eastern horizon and sets over the west. Sunrise is set by God's clock, and it is ours to enjoy in the early mornings when we can see it clearly. It is just as much there for us to enjoy when the clouds cover it. We can trust it to be there-even though it may be hidden for a while.

We can also trust God to be there every morning because He is the one, irrefutable reality in this life, and He remains constant and true!

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain;
laughter and teardrops,
pleasure and pain- Low tides
and high tides, mountains and
plains, triumphs, defeats and
losses and gains, but there
never was a cloud that the
Son didn't shine through and
there's nothing that's impossible
for Jesus Christ to do!
Helen Steiner Rice

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

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

Daniel's gloves

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 read this email and recognized the story as one I had read long ago, but thought it would be a good morning devotional for us all, as a reminder to continue to pray. Also, we may meet a stranger who is an angel unaware. God is good!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Subject: Daniel's gloves]
To:

I think this is a Wonderful story!
(Author Unknown or is it? Please. Read on.)

Daniel's Gloves:
I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the
town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.
As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town,
was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was
carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.
I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped
eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.
We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and
went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them.
I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat half heartedly for the strange visitor.
I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response.
I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store
and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me:
'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'
Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town.. As I turned the square's third corner,
I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.
I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on.
The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park.
I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor. 'Looking for the pastor?'
I asked. 'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.' 'Have you eaten today?' 'Oh, I ate something
early this morning.' 'Would you like to have lunch with me?'
'Do you have some work I could do for you?'
'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city,but I would like to take you to lunch.'
'Sure,' he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.
Where you headed?' St. Louis ' 'Where you from?' 'Oh, all over; mostly Florida..'
'How long you been walking?' 'Fourteen years,' came the reply.
I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant
I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet
clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling He removed his jacket
to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'
Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life.
He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences..
Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the
beach in Daytona.. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent
and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent would not house
a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave
his life over to God 'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to
keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now..' 'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.
'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling.
I give out Bibles That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I
give them out when His Spirit leads.' I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless.
He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a
moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?' 'What?' ;'To walk into a town carrying all your
things on your back and to show your sign?' 'Oh, it was humiliating at first.
People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten
bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became
humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of
other folks like me.' My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and
gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said,
'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you.
For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger
and you took me in.' I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?'
I asked. He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy.
It was also his personal favorite.. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.
'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see'
I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.
'Where are you headed from here?' I asked. 'Well, I found this little map on the back of this
amusement park coupon.' 'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?' 'No, I just figure I
should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where
I'm going next..' He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission.
I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove,
it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.
'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked.. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'
I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged
him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans
I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you;
Plans to give you a future and a hope.' 'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're
really just strangers, but I love you.' 'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'
'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked. A long time,' he
replied' and so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced,
and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his
winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.' 'I'll be there!' was my reply.
He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack
of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me,
will you pray for me?' 'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.' 'God bless.' And that was the
last I saw of him.
Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon
the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency
brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the
handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm
that night without them.
Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray
for me?' Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office... They help me to see the world and its
people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and
to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...
'I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show,
let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.'
This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached. Please do not break this pattern. Prayer is
one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to pray for
one another. God bless and have a nice day!

'Father, I ask you to bless my friends, relatives and e-mail buddies reading this right now.
Show them a new revelation of your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask you to minister
to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them your peace and mercy.
Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through your grace,
In Jesus' precious Name Amen.'
GOD BLESS YOU, MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!