Thoughts on Psalm 23-Post Will Be Long!

                                    Psalm 23
1.The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.

2 He maketh  me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

4.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; the rod and they staff comfort me.

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord  for ever.


Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved and well known Psalms in the Bible but
 to be honest I used to avoid it. It's not that I disliked it or anything but because I had always associated it with death and funerals.
However, the Lord revealed to me some beautiful truths about this Psalm I would like to share with you.

1. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. He takes care of  all our needs.

2. We rest in know that Jesus gives us rest and that He gives us Living Water. With His water we shall never thirst.( Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? John 4:7-15)

3. God is always ready to welcome us back when we have wandered and puts us back on the right path.  He comforts our souls when we feel we can't make it another day.

4. This world is a dark place.  Just look around at what's happening in the world around us. Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy. But God is with us and we have no reason to fear. Now that does not mean we should test God by acting like " Don't Mess With Me a I'm Saved Woman!"  and putting ourselves in danger on purpose. That's just foolish!
Another thing we need to remember that as  Christians we will be persecuted for our faith.  It's not just in countries where it's illegal to practice or share Christ. It's also happening here in the U.S.
People persecuted on the job,  at school, by neighbors, people mocking our faith through mean blog comments etc, etc.
God is there for us through our during our dark times. Whether it be loss (death of a loved one, job, divorce, etc) a church split, child leaving the faith or whatever trial you are experiencing He is right by your side and He will walk you through it.
I forgot to mention  in regards to being persecuted Paul tells us in Romans:
Romans 8:36  "As it is written, For Thy sake; we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter".
We need to stay strong in our faith through prayer and reading  the Word.

5. The Lord's blessings are so numerous they are overflowing! The blessing of our salvation is something our enemy cannot take from us!

6. God pursues us with His unfailing love and His mercy and one day He will take us Home to glory to be with Him forever.  We need to share God's goodness and mercy by sharing our testimony with others so they too can one day be with Him.

So those are some  things I have learned from Psalm 23. There is more I could write but this post is long already but I hope it encourages someone. Have a blessed day!

Rest

So my post isn't about physical rest though it is very important  to get a good night's sleep. I just wanted to share a picture of our cat Kirstie and the verse that Bible Lens from YouVersion Bible App generated. Have you tried the YouVersion Bible app? There are read through the Bible reading plans, various version of the Bible to download  and most recently the Bible Lens where if you take a picture using the  Bible Lens app, it will generate a a verse based on your photo. I think it's the neatest thing since chocolate!


I hadn't really planned on having a personal "word" of the year. I've seen many ladies in blogland  have a word that they want to focus on for the year.  Words such as patience, respect, prayer,  and quietness are just a few of the words some ladies are focusing on.

Honestly, I've  never been one to do anything "because everyone else is doing it".  I'm just not that type of person. Then my Homemaker's Friend Planner arrived on my birthday in December that has different themes each year. One  the cover was  "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."_ Psalm 37:7.
Then it hit me! The word  "rest".

You see I worry .  I find myself getting impatient with God. I stress out over things. Like trying to figure what to say in this post.
Yesterday* I looked up what God in His Word has to say about rest. These are a few scriptures I found including the verse I mentioned above:

Matthew 11:28- Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Acts 2:26- Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope.  ( See also Psalm 16:8-9)

1 Peter 5:7- Casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth  for you.

2 Corinthians 12:9- And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength  is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Nahum 1:7- The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trusts in Him.

There are many more verses but I just put a few here because there are too many to put in one post.

As I read each verse I was seeing a common theme about trusting in God and His desire that we rely on Him and not  focus on our circumstances.  You see, when we get so focused on what's bothering us, we take our eyes off of the Lord ( or at least I do) and  we get restless and weary.
 God wants us to rest in Him and give our cares to Him no matter how big or small the problem is.

I want to encourage you all to have time for prayer and reading the Bible. It's so easy for us women to get so busy with our day, we forget to have that time alone with Him. Make sure to have a pen and notebook or a journal to write down thoughts that come to mind as you read.
I hope this little post has helped someone who might be going through a restless period.

* I started writing this post on Monday hoping to post it on Tuesday.

Twenty-six Year's and a P.S.

Twenty-six years ago I said  "I do" to this sweet, long hair BMW motorcycle riding guy. What cuties were back then!

Here we are today. I  think we are still cute!

So the P.S. I'm working on the post on rest and I should have it up by tomorrow.

The Simple Woman Daybook

                                          For Today February 4th, 2019

       
Looking out my window... it's dark outside since it's evening. Plus it's cold!

               I am thinking... about my to do list for tomorrow.

              I am thankful.....for our warm cozy home

             One of my favorite things... is relaxing with a good book and tea

           I am creating... or I should say, will be crocheting Valentine's Day garland

          I am wearing....green jammies

          I am watching... Dodie Gillis an old comedy from the 50s with dh

         I am hoping...for one more good snow before spring

       I am learning... that God wants me to trust Him and find complete rest in Him

      In my kitchen... we hadChicken and Barley Soup and Homemade Wheat Bread

                              Postscript
           I'm in a weight loss program called Sparkpeople. It's free and I appreciate that it shows the calories that I've eaten and how many calories I've burned in my exercise. Sparkpeople.com

             Shared Quote...." Sometimes we must change our tune so we can help produce harmony". From the  Thought Gems in the February 2019 Calvary Messenger

            A moment from my day
The bread I made with dinner tonight.  The load that looks small is because we are most of it.😊

                               

                                           Closing notes.... I hope to write a post about rest soon.    I've been reading a lot of scriptures about rest lately.

I'm linking up with other ladies The Simple Woman's Daybook