Morning Coffee – Prayer Request

Today Jim is having surgery; surgery that we hope will tell us what has been going on in his body to cause him such distress.  He first saw our Doctor almost 5 weeks ago.  The first week he was treated for a bladder infection.  The second week he was treated for pneumonia.  Neither treatment helped him.  The third week he had a needle biopsy.  The fourth week was anxiously spent waiting for results.  Even after being sent on to the Mayo Clinic, the results came back “inconclusive”.  The next step in this journey is his surgical biopsy scheduled for today.  We are requesting prayers for peace and comfort for Jim and successful exploration by the surgeon resulting in a firm diagnosis so that treatment can begin as soon as possible.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding. 

Proverbs 3:5

~~~

Morning Coffee - Happy Birthday Gracie!

Happy Birthday Gracie Allen – born July 26, 1895.

"The President of today is just the postage stamp of tomorrow."  ~ Gracie Allen
 
"This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances."   ~ Gracie Allen

"Each of us has been put on earth with the ability to do something well. We cheat ourselves and the world if we don't use that ability as best we can.” ~Gracie Allen

I loved George Burns and Gracie Allen.  They were favorites of mine!  And after revisiting their thoughts and humor this morning through some of their quotes, they'd still be favorites of mine today!  Think I'll pour another cup of coffee and spend some more time with them.

~~~

Morning Coffee - Praising Him!

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God"   Eph. 5:20

We once saw a man draw some black dots. We looked and could make nothing of them but an irregular assemblage of black dots. Then he drew a few lines, put in a few rests, then a clef at the beginning, and we saw these black dots were musical notes. On sounding them we were singing,

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below."

There are many black dots and black spots in our lives, and we cannot understand why they are there or why God permitted them to come. But if we let God come into our lives, and adjust the dots in the proper way, and draw the lines He wants, and separate this from that, and put in the rests at the proper places; out of the black dots and spots in our lives He will make a glorious harmony. Let us not hinder Him in this glorious work! --C. H. P.

Streams in the Desert
Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

I think I'll sing some praises while enjoying my morning cup!  Feel free to join in!

Morning Coffee - Waiting

"And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you...blessed are all they that wait for him" (Isa. 30:18).

And you ask, "How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that even after I come and wait upon Him, He does not give the help I seek, but waits on longer and longer?"

Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious. God waited four thousand years, till the fullness of time, ere He sent His Son. Our times are in His hands; He will avenge His elect speedily; He will make haste for our help, and not delay one hour too long. --Andrew Murray

Streams in the Desert

Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

We’ve been waiting – for months, it seems – for one thing or another.  And still we wait.  Waiting is wearing thin for me today.  So God in His infinite wisdom gave me this devotion for July 22^nd.    

I need to pour another cup of coffee and consider further this more than needed message for today.  And continue to wait for that “doubly precious” blessing.

~~~

Morning Coffee - Weights or Wings

They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  Isa.40:31

We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and shrink from them; but as we lift them and bind them about our hearts, they become wings, and on them we rise and soar toward God.

There is no burden which, if we lift it cheerfully and bear it with love in our hearts, will not become a blessing to us. God means our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to receive a load, is to decline a new opportunity for growth. --J. R. Miller

Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders. F. W. Faber


Streams in the Desert
Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

I've always loved this verse in Isaiah, but I have to admit I've never thought that the wings that carry me soaring towards God began as weights - weights that God has been so good to fasten upon my shoulders. Time to refill my cup and pray that I never refuse what God has chosen for me to carry.

²⁸ Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint. 

~~~

Sunday Morning Coffee - 1 Peter 1:8

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,   1 Peter 1:8 (NIV)

"Not only does a Christian believe in the invisible world but he also counts on it.  He acts, plans and lives as one who counts on the reality of the invisible.  On the opposite side, the man of the earth does not believe in another world, or if he believes in it, he nods dutifully toward the belief in another world, but he does not let it change his plans any.  He acts just the same as if there were no other world.”
 

A.W. Tozer

Living as a Christian

“but he does not let it change his plans any.”  This is where I find myself too much of the time; somewhere between the Christian who believes and counts on it and the Christian who does not let it change his plans any.  It’s so easy to give a nod and a thumbs-up to a Christian life – but actually living it - and counting on it - every hour of every day? That takes more intentional effort than I usually offer.

Time for prayer and another cup of coffee as I prepare myself to act, plan and live as one who believes in the reality of the invisible - and to be filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy! 

~~~

A New Book - Exploring First Peter

A new book arrived on my doorstep yesterday; an order filler to reach the “Free Shipping” threshold at Amazon. But it will be anything but “filler” for my spiritual growth.  The book is Living as a Christian – Teachings from First Peter by A.W. Tozer. 

In his forward, James Snyder, offers a classic Tozer premise:  “We must start with Christ, continue with Christ and, finally, end with Christ.”  

 It is in this all-encompassing walk with Christ where I frequently stumble.  Sometimes I am hand-in-hand with him - but just as frequently, I can be found wandering off on my own.  I am easily distracted and pulled away.

All of which is why I ordered Living as a Christian.  It wasn’t free shipping I needed as much as Tozer’s - and Peter’s - guidance.

~~~