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Morning Devotional

How heavy a burden do you carry?
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Jesus was actually referring to an instrument of punishment that was used in His day, an instrument called the "yoke."  It was attached to the arm and neck of a runaway slave, and a weight was in turn attached to it.  If the one being punished relaxed his arm, then the weight was heavy upon his neck.  If he relaxed his neck, then the weight was heavy upon his arm.

Jesus is saying that life is like that - some responsibilities, when taken up, are a frustrating weight, but if not taken up, will hurt you even more.  He's telling us to exchange all our "weights" and cares  - to give them to Him and to take up obedience to Him instead - because His "yoke is easy and (His) burden is light." 

Oh how much easier life is when we exchange our burdens for His - when we exchange our strength for His!

A. Moak




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Good Night/ Good Morning Y'all!

Today (the 18th) is my daughter's 10th Birthday!

She is the one I almost died with.  Praise the Lord for his mercy on me 10 years ago.  All the things I would have missed with her, not to mention her little brother would not be here either!

Hope everyone has a great day.

Samantha

We will be having a skating party so I'll try to take pictures.

good morning! 

have an awesome monday

k

Samantha - tell your daughter we're glad you're both here - so skate with joy!

Exceeding Greatness


"And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power" (Ephesians 1:19).

There are a number of Scriptural superlatives that convey something of the tremendous magnitude of our great salvation. These are marked by the adjective "exceeding," which in the Greek implies essentially boundless, surpassing dimensions of the attributes it describes.

First of all, as our text implies, His power available to us is one of exceeding greatness. Its magnitude is measured by the power required to bring Christ back again from death and Hades.

Consider also the measure of His grace, "That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7). His grace has saved us when we were dead in sins, but this is only a small token. In the ages to come, we will experience His grace as one of exceeding riches.

Then there is the wonderful peace of God. "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). In this verse, the word "passeth" is the same word. Paul is saying that God's peace is one exceeding understanding.

Finally, consider His glory. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (II Corinthians 4:17). The future eternal glory is one of exceeding weight, or abundance.

Thus the infinite blessings and resources of our salvation in Christ are described as providing the power of surpassing greatness, the grace of surpassing richness, the peace which surpasses all understanding, and the eternal glory of surpassing abundance! All of this is freely available "to us-ward who believe." HMM

Good Morning to all. That you AL for the devotional this morning on turning our burdens over to the Lord. My usual day is planned for today with no exceptions that I know of. I am ready for whatever extras the Lord gives me today. I will be doing a load of laundry after I get home from work.

I am praying that very soon the Lord will reveal the place he has prepared for me to move into. My landlord said he doesn't not want to rent the little house to someone with dogs. Of course not it will be a brand new house.

TTYL

Busy weekend for me.  I had 5 photo shoots and still need to work on a few more pictures to get them ready for print.  I also get my hair done at 11.   

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Good morning!  Just stopping by to say hello.  HELLO!!   

It sure is hard to sleep in with two cats.  I even got up and put food in their bowl but they must have thought it was time for Mommy to arise and get dressed. 

Bright and sunny...not a cloud in the sky...and a lovely 73°F here in Indiana.

I have a load of clothes on the line.  I have eaten breakfast.  I have cleaned the cat litter.  I have read my Bible for the day outside on my deck with a cup of coffee.  I have done some weed-eating until the battery ran down.  I was going to mow but the battery is dead on the mower.  So I came in here to see how everyone is doing on CP.  Seems like most of you are up and about. 

I have read all the posts in NEM since I posted last evening but forgot to keep notes.  So Hello everyone and hope Sonja likes her new do!

April 18   

Prayer: Much Every Way

Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your
great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
--Jeremiah 32:17

When Tennyson wrote "More things are wrought by prayer than this
world dreams of," he probably uttered a truth of vaster significance
than even he understood. While it is not always possible to trace an
act of God to its prayer-cause, it is yet safe to say that prayer is
back of everything that God does for the sons of men here upon earth.
One would gather as much from a simple reading of the Scriptures.

What profit is there in prayer? "Much every way." Whatever God can
do faith can do, and whatever faith can do prayer can do when it is
offered in faith. An invitation to prayer is, therefore, an
invitation to omnipotence, for prayer engages the Omnipotent God
and brings Him into our human affairs. Nothing is impossible to the
man who prays in faith, just as nothing is impossible with God.
This generation has yet to prove all that prayer can do for
believing men and women.
The Set of the Sail, p. 33

"I don't begin to comprehend all the implications of this truth,
Father, but I accept it and thank You and worship You for it. Amen."

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Just stopping by to let y'all know I received a phone call from Ruth Ann last night.  She sounded as though she was in great pain and said her back had gone out, and asked for prayer that she would at least be able to get up by herself.  Her son was home and she called him on the cell phone to help her.

Thanks so much for the news of Ruth Ann, Jane. 

We'll be in prayer for our dear sister.

Police advise against lying in the road

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Police in a Vancouver suburb issued an unusual warning to drivers on Monday: If you run out fuel, do not lay down on the road to get assistance.

Police were alerted to a man's body laying along the Trans Canada Highway in the predawn darkness only to discover he was "quite alive", but that his car had run out of gas and he "wanted to attract someone's attention".

"Guess it worked, but police don't really recommend this method," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Burnaby, British Columbia, said in a press release.

The man's car was towed, but no charges were filed.

People do the wiedest things, don't they   I guess he would have attracted a LOT of attention if he had been run over!  Not the kind he wanted, though.

Here's a grin for you!


I became friendly with the fortune-teller, one of the more popular attractions at the amusement park where I worked. One chilly, windy afternoon, I stopped to chat. "How's business?" I asked. Not good, she said. Only two customers had come by. She then added, "If I'd only known things were going to be this quiet, I wouldn't have bothered to open." 

--Contributed to "All In a Day's Work" by Iain Macpherson

Nice devotional, Pastor Al.  Faith is:

Facing the future unafraid.
"And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you.  He will be without you. He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."  Deuteronomy 31:8

This is something that I will, personally, have to commit to memory. 

Sunny day and Squeek loves to come down to my suite and lie in the sun by my door.  She turns on her back and lifts her legs into the air...stretches out to reach the sun.  All that is missing is a bathing suit to complete the picture   A Big Blessing in a small body!

I went to the mall while Wendy had an acupuncture treatment.  Mailed a letter off to Australia asking for some advice about Osteoporosis as my sister has been in and out of wheelchairs for years.  Her daughter and SIL are doctors and into alternate medications.....Can't understand how my doctors could wait until I have reached stage 3 before doing anything to stop the problem.  Always believed it was only Arthritis and Fibromyalgia ....  Seems not much can be done at this stage, if one wants to believe that.  I choose to not believe....Reading lots about this on Sr. Net.  Will take some time to read all the posts....date from years back.

Here is a little smile (I hope).


Eight-year-old Sally brought her report card home from school. Her marks were good ... mostly A's and a couple of B's. However, her teacher had written across the bottom:

"Sally is a smart little girl, but she has one fault. She talks too much in school. I have an idea I am going to try, which I think may break her of the habit."

Sally's dad signed her report card, putting a note on the back:

"Please let me know if your idea works on Sally because I would like to try it out on her mother."


Pat, did you know that Sue Thomas, FBI has been cancelled?  Anything clean and good surely doesn't last long, even on Christian Networks.  Seems PAX didn't get high enough ratings. 

Pleasant day all and God Bless.

Liz

Liz, I am so sorry about your osteoporosis, and pray you find something that will help you.  That is one reason I am lifting weights, to strengthen my bones.  Liked your cute story, too. 

Here is another:


Have you noticed how help is often avail­able just when you need it? A
few years ago, a California artist carved a unique Christmas gift for
his parents in Connecticut. It was a four-foot-tall statue of a
hitchhiker, with thumb extended. (The perfect gift for the
discriminating homeowner...) His gift was unusual, but his method of
shipping the statue to his folks was even stranger. He sim­ply set it
beside the road and let it "hitch" its way across the continent.
Around the statue's neck he hung a sign bearing his parents' New
England ad­dress, and across its chest was printed the word
"Connecticut" in large letters. Several weeks and some 2,500 miles
later, unknown hands delivered the gift to the wood­carver's parents
in time for Christmas.

I find it heartening to remember that there are always those willing
to help. And it's true regardless of the circumstance. There is
someone willing to extend a hand, lend an ear or share a heart.
Whether you need temporary assistance or your life has experienced a
meltdown, there is someone who wants to help.

In every important way, you are never really alone. You have a life
"support system" consisting of people you may have never met! And it's
one of your greatest resources.

~Steve Goodier

Janet - that a neat story.  Several years ago, I heard of one similar on the Today show.  Apparently, it really was true, that something like that actually DID go across the country, and ended up at the rightful owner's home!!

I have nothing exciting to report from my neck of the woods here either, except that this was a perfect day, weather wise....about 75 deg F.  What more could I ask for!!

Hi everyone.  We have had another beautiful day and it is pretty warm.  I have the ceiling fan on and have all afternoon.  It is unusual for me to be warm and I don't even have a sweather on. 

I haven't accomplished much today.  I went to coffee this morning (as always) and shortly after I got home my good friend called and asked if I wanted to go to Fry's as he wanted to purchase something he had seen in their ad.  I said sure and went over to his house and we went up to the mall where Fry's is located.  He got a new Camcorder that does something special he wants to do.  I picked up an inexpensive webcam that clips on my laptop.  I came home and installed the webcam and later he and I tried it out using MSN Instant Messenger.  Initially it didn't seem to have a very good picture but later we tried again and I changed the lighting and got away from where the window was to my back and it seems fine so guess I will keep it.  My wife wasn't feeling good all day so I fixed supper tonight, which is always a challenge.

Ruth Ann, sure sorry to read that you have new problems with your back.  Hope you are feeling better soon.

Etta Sue, was happy to read the report on Jerry.  It sounds like he hasn't lost his interest in the car races.  Nice that both his kids could be there at the same time.  Wow, your lawn mower must use a lot of gas.  Gas prices have dropped about 17 cents in the last couple of days.

I have enjoyed the devotionals shared today and the funny stories. 

Samatha, happy birthday to your daughter.  They sure grow up quickly.  Glad you are around to celebrate with her.  Sounds like you had a scary time 10 years ago.

Sonja, it sounds like your photographry business is really taking off.  Sure there is a lot of work for you after a shoot.

Pat, your article about the man lying in the road reminds me of the news story we had here today where a man stole a utility truck that had an extension bucket on top and was chased by the police for 40 minutes.  They finally used a nail board to cause his tires to blow out.  When they did the truck went off the road and turned over with the boom hitting a picup truck that was stopped in traffice.  Fortunately the lady in the truck wasn't hurt.

Hope everyone has a good evening.

Very windy here.

The place where Gilbert used to live across my driveway was there when I went to work this morning,  came home to let the dogs out at  12:30 and it was gone. I will take a photo when the wind dies down, maybe tomorrow.

Had stir fry veggies for supper and made a pie plate full of Apple crisp for alater and to take some to Fay tomorrow. Also made some spanish rice. Did a load of laundry and cleaned up the yard after the dogs. (I clean up after them everyday rain or shine.) Don't want to step on Dog mines.

Nothing else is new here.

TTYL

Greetings to all of you wonderful people,

I  just wanted to stop in and see how everyone is.. Sounds like everyone is great..  I am pleased to read up on all of you.. 

God bless you all, Alma

Great to see you all. 

Larry, that's some story.  Wow!  Glad the lady wasn't hurt.


Hi Alma.  I sure hope that you are keeping better now.  Nice to see your photos on Photography-Cafe.


Marilyn, hope you get some photos.  Must be sad though to see this demolition.


Thanks Janet...  "In every important way, you are never really alone. You have a life "support system" consisting of people you may have never met! And it's one of your greatest resources."  We should all remember this.


Yes, Judy, it was a lovely day today.  I did a wee bit of tidying up of apple tree limbs from Saturday.  Now I have to get a way to get them to the recycling. 


Liz, no I didn't know that Sue Thomas had been cancelled.  I'm sorry to hear that.  I'm sorry also about your osteoporosis.  I'm taking evista for the beginning stages of it and since I started, the osteoporosis has never got worse and for that, I'm really thankful.

We have so many members not posting now.  Has anyone heard from Sarah or Trish? 

Pat there are some photos of some of the demolition in the "It Has  Started" thread. HERE. There are also photos in the gallery.

It is very sad to see the beautiful trees being felled. Some were very big and very old.

Jane, thanks for requesting prayer. And, thanks to all who have prayed. Three times last night, I had to phone Leslie to pick me up from bed. The fourth time, he helped me sit up and then watched as I made my way with my walker. He was so kind and brought both breakfast and lunch to my bed. By tonight, I felt able to (crooked tho I am) go to the kitchen to get a small snack while he was sleeping.

How thankful I am for prayer warriors and for Leslie - he has been my mainstay today.

Ruth Ann

Ruth Ann, you seem to have so many heavy burdens.  Prayers and love are with you, dear one.  Such a struggle!  I'm so glad Leslie is there to help you.

I am locking the door a little bit early tonight, as I am tired and need to get to bed.  Please continue posting HERE