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About Me
Hey! I'm so glad you stopped by. I'm Lyn- wife, mother, writer, speaker, and yes- a former beauty queen. But don't let the title fool you, I'm just a country girl saved by a Grace I don't fully understand. I write about the journey with that amazing Grace here and I'd be delighted for you to join me.
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Tag Archives: Devotions
In need of a Selah ~
I’m longing for a pause.
These days are filled commotion and excitement. A long to-do list vies for my attention. There are gifts to be shipped {which, incidentally, will not be arriving on time}. Cards to be mailed. Presents to be wrapped. Laundry to be done. Kids. Work. And a loved one lying in a hospital bed several hours away that I want to visit. I am pulled in a thousand directions. And there aren’t enough hours in the day.
Time slips away as I scratch through the checklist. Prayers are lifted up in fragments as I go from point A to point B. Amid all the hustle and bustle I sense a vacancy within me. And then a faint voice. A call from another Place. An invitation from my Beloved.
My heart longs for the One whose robes are “fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia”. The vacancy reminds me. I need time. Space to recline into Him. To be filled again.
Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
Psalm 60:4;
After this glorious word about the banner, there is a Selah. If the word there was the sign for a sounding of trumpets, a shout of triumph, then the thought is praise before we see the victory; but I think it may possibly be the other kind of Selah, the sign for a Pause, even in the thick of the fight. This at least is the kind we must often have if we are to go on to do valiantly; and sometimes I wonder if there is anything else the devil contests with greater determination. The moment we set ourselves to be quiet and seek our God in stillness, there is a clamor about us; we remember things we should do, or have forgotten to do; we are disturbed in a hundred ways—anything to break into that Selah. All this is simply proof of how much it matters that we should have it. It would not be so contested if it did not matter. There is a kind of comfort in this.
So let us take heart and not give way, and not be discouraged, even though, like the old Puritan, we are “some time in getting access”. We have a God who understands.
Amy Carmichael
Excerpt from “Thou givest, They gather”
O God, You are always calling us. Waiting for us. Stir our hearts to fly to You. Speak over the noise of our frenzied existence and give us ears to hear You. Move our feet to run to You. Fix our gaze upon Your beauty. Envelop us in Your mighty arms. For You, above all things, are our Beloved. And we, whether we know it or not, are desperate for You. In the most precious name of Jesus, Amen.
So honored to join with friends at Crosswalk. Won’t you come on over!
Posted in Confessions
Tagged Bible verse, Christmas, Devotions, Quiet time, Scripture
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For the least likely…
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from the ancient of days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be there peace.
Micah 5:2-5 ESV
O little town of Bethlehem… The words are so familiar. Bethlehem was a small town in the hill country of Judah. Too little to be among the clans of Judah. A small town of little significance and yet, the birthplace of King David. Perhaps the least likely place fit for a king.
God seems to love the least likelies of this world.
Many years before Micah prophesied these words, there was a young boy tending sheep in Bethlehem. He was the youngest son of Jesse (1 Samuel 16:1-13) and the least likely of Jesse’s eight sons to rule over anything. But God chose him to rule Israel.
Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.
1 Samuel 16:11-13 ESV
From David’s descendants another King would come. From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from the ancient of days. He wouldn’t come in pomp and circumstance. Not at all in the manner He was expected. No fanfare. No palace.
He was born in a manger. Perhaps the least likely place fit for a King. Against the backdrop of a stable, God became flesh. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Swaddled and cradled in hay was the Ancient of Days.
Do I look for Him there? In the small, insignificant places? In humble faces? Do I see Him in the least likelies of this world?
O God, quicken my heart to You. Open my eyes to see You even when and where I least expect to find You. Strip me of all judgment and teach me Your everlasting ways. Train the eyes of my heart so that I don’t miss the miracle that is You. In Your most precious name I pray, Jesus, Amen.
So honored to join with friends at Crosswalk. Won’t you come on over!
A Blessing for the Weekend ~
They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s', another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand,’The LORD’s', and name himself by the name of Israel. Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and the last; besides Me there is no god.
Isaiah 44:4-6
Praising Him in community with Sandy and Deidra. Won’t you join us!
Posted in Confessions
Tagged Bible, Bible verse, Devotions, Encouragement, Family, Prayer, Scripture, Still Saturday, The Sunday Community
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A Word for your Sunday ~
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.~Psalm 24: 3-6
Joining Deidra and the Sunday Community in praise and thanksgiving over here. Just click on the button and join us!
Posted in Confessions
Tagged Bible verse, Devotions, Quiet time, Scripture, The Sunday Community, weekend meditation
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Gifts for your Journey ~
I read these words this morning…
I Am That I Am. ~Exodus 3:14
God is His own equivalent, and God needs nothing but Himself to achieve the great purposes on which He has set His heart.
God gave Moses a blank, and as life went forward for the next forty years, Moses kept filling in the blank with his special need. He filled in fearlessness before Pharaoh. He filled in guidance across the Red Sea. He filled in manna for the whole population. He filled in water from the rock. He filled in guidance through the wilderness. He filled in victory over Amalek. He filled in clear revelation at Sinai. And so Moses, for the rest of his life, had little else to do than to go quietly alone, and taking God’s checkbook, signed by God’s name, I AM That I AM, write in I Am guidance; I Am bread. He presented the check and God honored it.And whenever you come to live upon God’s plan as Moses from that moment did, you may absolutely trust God. And when you come down to the hoar-head you will say, “Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you” (Joshua 23:14).
A.B. Simpson
Joshua had tried God forty years in the brick kilns, forty years in the desert, and thirty years in the Promised Land, and this was his dying testimony.
D.L. Moody
Most every day I read from Devotions for Morning and Evening. They are the combined writings from the classic devotions, Streams in the Desert and Springs in the Valley.
No matter the season or trial, this book always points me back to the Source of my life. I love the timeless wisdom contained in this book. Mrs. Charles E. Cowman gathered thoughts, quotations and spiritual inspiration from many sources during her years as a missionary in Japan and China and particularly the six years she cared for her husband while he was dying. The words contained in this book are like gifts from a fellow traveler.
So today, I pass them on to you.
Into the Sanctuary ~
We drive down a back road in South Carolina searching for this place. I saw it in a magazine once. I filed it away in my invisible wish list of someday adventures.
When Finley and I arrive, it’s almost noon. I’m all smiles like a little kid in a candy store. The sun is high and it casts speckles of light on the sandy soil. It’s quiet except for the birds singing and a few crickets. My daughter and I walk through the gate and their it is ~ great columns still standing despite pillage and fire … wars and weather. It is a mere shell of its former self, but I am moved by the crumbling brick and mortar. And the stillness here. It’s something I am sorely lacking lately.
The demands of life press all around and squeeze out energy and rest. Like most people, I am bombarded with work, the house, the laundry ~ the “shoulds” and the “musts” and I can’t seem to find a hiding place to be with God. I need to go into the Sanctuary… to stare long into the Father and be still.
For all day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said,”I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Psalm 73:14-17
In order to gain a proper perspective I need quiet communion with God. Left to my own inclinations, I have a skewed view of life. The limitations of my human condition color my vision of everything ~ people, problems, myself. To have peace I must go into to the Sanctuary.
When I meet alone with God, I no longer feel wearied from troubling thoughts….fear…. insecurity about the future. In the sanctuary there is a great exchange. I exchange my thoughts for His. I exchange my perspective for His. I exchange my burdens for His rest. Worry fades. Peace comes.
His Word washes over me and soothes the rough edges. His Spirit fills and comforts.
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
Mark 1:35 NKJV
There is one necessity. One must. One thing that is above all others. I must go into the Sanctuary.
Linking up with the lovely Laura today…
