Category: Christian parenting

Hope Series- Part V

~ Mom Morsels
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Telling Your Soul to Hope in God

In our day and age, if you are seen talking to yourself, someone might think something is wrong with you. But the Bible actually teaches us that we should TALK TO OURSELVES! Sometimes our soul needs to be encouraged and we are the best ones to do it. It’s biblical to talk to yourself!

When you are down (noticed I said “when” not “if” because everyone feels down at times!), the Psalms are a great place to go for encouragement. The Psalms are basically statements reminding us why we should hope in God. And we also see the psalmists talking directly to themselves a lot! Telling themselves to hope in God. Many times David himself told his soul to hope in God as in Psalms 62:5-6 New American Standard Bible:

My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
For my hope is from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My refuge; I will not be shaken.

Yes, he’s talking to his own soul. David did not try to hide his emotions, negative or positive, but he was very open with God as to exactly how he felt about his circumstances. He often described feeling discouraged, down, distraught, angry, forgotten by God. He brought his emotions to God and was honest with himself and with God.

Three times in the Psalms the following verse is found and repeated almost verbatim ( in Psalm 42: 5, 11; 43:5). When God says the same thing three times, I think He wants us to listen. Here we see in Psalms 42:5 NASB::

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Despair H7817 means “to bow, cast down, despair, sink or depress, bend or bow down, be low, stoop.” Doesn’t that just describe so well, how you feel when you’re in despair? It feels as if there is a weight on you, pushing you down, or like you are sinking/ drowning under the weight of your circumstances. But we don’t have to feel that way! God wants us to encourage ourselves to hope in Him. And Disturbed H1993 here means “to make a loud sound, be in great commotion or tumult, to moan, clamor, cry aloud, rage, roar, be troubled, be in an uproar.” Again, such a good description of how we feel when trials are all around us. We feel as if we want to scream, like everything is in commotion, warring at us, tumultuous like in a raging storm. But we don’t have to keep feeling that way either! We can make a choice to speak to ourselves and tell ourselves to hope in God (Note: sometimes we need help with this and seeing a counselor helps!).

David had a lot of things go wrong in his life. God had promised he would be king but it took a long time and he was persecuted even by his own family before he was actually made king. Then after he finally became king, his own son Absolom turned against him. Later his own people wanted to stone him! In 1 Samuel 30:6 NASB we see:

Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Sometimes when no-one around us is encouraging us, we need to encourage ourselves. We need to strengthen ourselves and tell ourselves to HOPE IN GOD.

So mom’s don’t forget to

TALK TO YOURSELF AND TELL YOURSELF TO HOPE IN GOD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series- Part IV

~ Mom Morsels
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Tribulation Produces Hope in Us

I was a bit shocked when I read Romans 5:3-5 New American Standard:

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

When I am going through a difficult time, it usually brings discouragement, but this verse says that difficult times actually produce HOPE in us… if we let it. When we are in tough times, most people make one of two choices. We either pull away from God, blame Him for letting us get in the difficult circumstances, or pull closer to God, seeking His help and encouragement. We can ask “Why?” and doubt, or we can say “God help me” and trust.

It’s a matter of persective. God’s or ours. We have to have his eternal perspective. God is preparing us for our eternal home. He may need to let us go through trials so that our hope is refocused on eternity not on temporal needs. Remember Job? see Hope Series-Part II (.https://mommorsels.com/2024/06/24/hope-series-part-ii/ ) God had SO MUCH MORE in mind for him. When Job was going through his trials, losing EVERYTHING, I am sure he did not think God was looking out for him. But God was looking from an eternal perspective, and knew that there was something so much more important at stake than Job’s earthly comfort. God wanted Job to truly encounter Him- and he did! James 5:11 NASB says:

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Yes, God is indeed compassionate and merciful! God is not satisfied that we remain in a state of comfort, because He wants to work something eternal in us! It is God’s compassion that leads Him to let us go through difficult circumstances, so that we can grow. Think back about a difficult circumstance that you have gone through-did it not help you grow in ways you probably would not have otherwise grown. I know that is true of me!

Hope does not disappoint us-when our hope is in God. That is so reassuring. We can always put our hope in God. Why do we hope in God? According to this verse, it is because He has poured His love out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that it was better for Him to go away, so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7). Why? Because while on earth, Jesus could only be in a one place at a time, with a limited number of people at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be with many people, in many places at the same time because the Holy Spirit can even dwell inside of us. That’s why we can HOPE, because God showed His love for us through sending His son Jesus, allowing Him to die on the cross as a sacrifice for us, and even sending His Holy Spirit to live inside us!

So mom’s remember that

IF OUR HOPE IS IN GOD, WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Better than Silver, Gold, Rubies

~ Mom Morsels
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Why Study the Word?

I learned this principle from an older woman Linda Rogers who came to teach us at a women’s retreat at my church. She shared about the wisdom that can be found in the Bible. Here are some scriptures about that wisdom: 

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares to her. Proverbs 3: 13-15 New American Standard Bible 

For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared to her. Proverbs 8:11 New King James Version

How much better to get wisdom than gold. And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.Proverbs 16: 16 NASB

The beginning of wisdom is Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 New International Version 

This is what Linda Rogers asked us… If someone came to you and told you that in your backyard were buried tons of rubies, gold, and silver jewels, what would you do? Now, it is not a question as to whether they are there; it is 100% sure that they are buried in your back yard, What would you do? Would you wait a month? or a week? or a day? or a minute?No! You would call your husband and tell him there is buried treasure in your yard, you would rent a backhoe from Home Depot and you would start digging RIGHT NOW! **

So it is with the Word of God- within the Bible are HIDDEN ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM just waiting for you to dig out. So why wait? Why not start digging for the treasure? 

One of my favorite ways to dig for that treasure is by using a Bible app called My Sword Bible (https://www.mysword.info/download-mysword) which gives the Hebrew and Greek root words and their meaning. I call this BIBLE EXCAVATING. Exploring the root of a word in the Bible helps you dig for deeper treasure hidden in the Word. It’s my favorite ! It is so much fun! There is so much fun awaiting you as you study His Word this way! 

My tab called “Feasting” is dedicated to HOW to study the Word. I’ll give you Bible study tips and share what I have learned. Hopefully, it will inspire you to DIG DEEPER and start some BIBLE EXCAVATING ! 

In His love,

Suzanne 

** Biblical Womanhood seminar, Power point, Section “Discovering Treasures in God’s Word” page 3, by Linda Rogers January 6, 2006

Hope Series- Part III

~ Mom Morsels
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Hope that does not Disappoint

So how do we hope in God? How do we make sure our hope is in the right place? This is so important, because having our hope in the right place means that we will not be disappointed. Remember that hope deferred makes the heart sick, causing us to be discouraged and down. God does not want that for us. We are reassured by Isaiah 49:23b New International version, which says:

Then you will know that I am the Lord;
 those who hope in Me will not be disappointed.

The converse is also true-if our hope is in the wrong place, we will most likely be disappointed. If our hope is in the wrong place, then we are not trusting in God but in something else. Recently my husband and I were traveling and took a taxi while on vacation. The Taxi driver, Morty (name changed), told us that someone gave him a copy of the book of John from the Bible and that he keeps it in the front seat of his taxi “for a blessing”. He said he reaches over and touches the book and it gives him “a blessing” by touching it. He has never read the book. He says he doesn’t understand it. Morty’s hope is in the wrong place. He is using the book of John like a charm, something magical to give him a mystical blessing, when the real blessing is inside the book of John, placing his hope in God, not a copy of His book. We got to talk with Morty and encourage him to read the book and told him that God would help him understand it. We prayed for him-his wife has cancer-and when we left he said God sent us to encourage him, because he had been down that day but felt better after our talk. His hope was now in the right place!

Hoping in God means trusting in Him, waiting on Him for His timing. We see in Lamentations 3:22-26 NASB one way of hoping in God:

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

We hope in God by letting Him be our portion, by being in His presence. We hope in God by reminding ourselves that God is good! Sometimes it is so hard to wait on God! His timing is so vastly different than our timing. His perspective is eternal, ours is not. But while we wait for His timing, putting our HOPE fully in Him, we can seek Him. We know He loves us and is a GOOD SHEPHERD to us. We can trust Him, therefore we can hope in Him.

We make sure our hope is in the right place, by staying in His Word, the Bible. I find so much encouragement in the Scriptures! When I am down or discouraged, I get myself in the Word and God encourages me again and helps me refocus on putting my hope in Him. Romans 15:4 NASB teaches us:

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

It does take perseverance to keep our hope in God. Worldly thinking will try to make us take our eyes off Him, but the Scriptures will help us get our eyes back on Him again. God the Holy Spirit also helps us keep our hope in the right place. Romans 15: 13 NASB says:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope must be important if God calls Himself “the God of Hope”! We abound in hope by “the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20 tells us that praying in the spirit builds us up, encourages us, and this will help us keep our hope in God. So if you are disappointed, do a check on yourself and make sure your hope is in God, not in something else, because

WHEN YOU HOPE IN GOD, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

In His Love,

Suzanne





Hope Series-Part II

~ Mom Morsels
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Hope in the Right Place

Have you ever hoped for something and been disappointed that you didn’t get it? Have you ever hoped for something that you thought God wanted for you and then got offended at God because He didn’t let you have it? If our hope is not in the right place, we can get very discouraged when we don’t get what we hope for. We can become disappointed and even bitter at God. Proverbs 13:12 NASB reminds us:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Does God want our heart to be sick? I don’t think so. In this verse, Sick H2470 means “to be rubbed or worn, weak, sick, afflicted.” When we constantly hope in the wrong thing and repeatedly get disappointed because we don’t get the thing we hoped for, we get worn down. Being worn down leads to discouragement and soon we find ourselves not even able to hope in anything anymore. We give up hope. So it’s very important that our hope is IN THE RIGHT PLACE. Psalm 31:24 tells us where our hope should be:

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (Psalm 31:24)

Our hope is IN THE LORD. If we hope in something or someone besides Him, we will be disappointed, but if we put our hope in God, He will never disappoint us. Ultimately He knows what is best for us. I am retired now, but about 7 years ago when I was working as a Telehealth nurse, I applied for a promotion. Everyone in my department including my manager wanted me to get the position. I really put my hope into getting it. There was one part of the job that I especially wanted, being in charge of teaching nursing skills, but the rest of the job I was not that excited about, doing loads of administration. The decision was made by someone in a different department, and I was so disappointed when I found out that I did not get the job. Well, it ended up the person they picked could not do the teaching aspect of the job, so my manager chose me to do it. That was actually the only part of the job I really wanted, the teaching nursing skills part! God actually gave me something much better than I had in mind for myself. His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Hope in the Lord. This is really hard, but don’t put your hope in healing, a better job, a promotion (see my example above!), more money, because if you don’t get that thing, you will be disappointed. Your hope is in the wrong place. Instead put your hope in God, in His loving leadership in your life, in His love for you, in His leading as your Good Shepherd. He knows what is best for you. He knows what you need.

Job surely could not put his hope in anything around him-in his wife (she told him to curse God!), in his children (they were killed), in his cattle (they died), in his wealth (it was taken away from him), in his health (he was covered with boils), but He could put his HOPE IN GOD. God could have let Job continue on his journey, happy in his marriage, family, possessions, wealth and health, but God had something better for Job, something He wanted Job to learn. After all he went through, Job said to God in Job 42:5-6 NASB:

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.

Before all of Job’s misfortunes, He had only heard of God. When you hear of something, it is not based on your own experience; it is based on someone else’s experience. Someone sees something, then they tell you, but you don’t see it yourself. You only hear about it. Job said that after all he went through, he came to the place where his own eyes saw God. He didn’t just hear a report from someone else about God; he had a first hand experience- HE SAW GOD FOR HIMSELF. Apparently God thought that seeing Him was worth more than Job’s comfort. Now. let’s go back to Proverbs 13:12, even more so, let your longing, let your hope be for and let your desire be for GOD ALONE and it will be a tree of life for you. God will fulfill your longing with HIS PRESENCE.

So, moms, remember to

PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE RIGHT PLACE; PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hope Series- Part I

~ Mom Morsels
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Why Do We Need Hope?

I always thought faith seemed so much more important than hope. But after studying what the Bible says about hope, I discovered that we cannot have faith without first having hope! Let’s look at “the FAITH chapter,’ Hebrews 11 for more insight. Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible teaches us:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

So according to this verse, if we don’t have something “hoped for”, then we cannot have faith. There are many things we can hope for. We can hope the weather will be nice. We can hope we will have a good day. We can hope nothing goes wrong. We can hope no-one close to us gets hurt or sick. We can hope for healing. We can hope for a better job. You get the idea. The list is endless of what we can hope for. Some things we hope for disappoint us though-we’ll address that later.

Assurance H5287 in this verse means “a setting or placing under (support), that which has the foundation, assurance, confidence, substance,” So if faith is the foundation, it needs something to support. If there is no hope, there is nothing for our faith to support.

Here’s an example of HOPE. One of our two cats, Toby, loves whipped cream. We like to put it on our coffee sometimes. Our youngest daughter gives our cats a small dobble of whipped cream once a day (but not even every day). Toby knows the sound of someone getting coffee, and as soon as he hears it, there he is sitting at the edge of the kitchen, waiting, hoping that he might get some whipped cream. It does not take a lot to make Toby hope. We can try to be as quiet as a mouse, but even the slightest little tinkle of the coffee cups, and there he is- hoping, expecting. He doesn’t even get some every time, but he still holds onto the hope that he might get some this time. He is expecting some. He is hoping for some.

This is what hope does for us. It helps us expect. It’s like a little spark, just waiting to be ignited to start the fire of faith in our hearts. Noah Webster 1848 dictionary defines hope as:

to trust in with confident expectation of good.

Hope is confident expectation. On what basis do we have confidence? Toby has confidence based on the fact that he has been given whipped cream in the past, and so he expects that he might get some again. We can have confidence based on our testimony of God’s goodness to us in the past, and so we can expect that He will be good to us again. God IS good. It is who He is.

In the same way, Asaph remembered what God had done for his people Israel in the past and it helped him hope for what God could do for them in the present and in the future. Psalms 77:11-14 NASB says:

I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will meditate on all Your work
And muse on Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders…

Remembering is just one way of obtaining hope. What has God done for you recently that you can remember and praise Him for? As you praise Him for that mighty deed, can’t you just feel HOPE arising in your heart, and FAITH is building up underneath that hope.

So, mom’s, don’t forget that…

WE NEED HOPE TO HAVE FAITH IN GOD, SO LET YOUR HEART HOPE!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Living as Aliens

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We Really Are Aliens Here

Aliens are fascinating especially to children. They imagine little creatures with green skin, pointy antennas and shriveled up faces. There are countless TV shows, movies and books speculating whether or not aliens exist, and there are even stories of those who have supposedly had alien encounters. Our own children used to laugh at me, because I taught them that we are ALIENS. “No, we aren’t!”, they would say. Then I showed them that the Bible says we are ALIENS here on earth. Peter talks about this in 1 Peter 1:1-2 New American Standard Bible (italics mine):

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit

So there it is! Yes, we are ALIENS! No we don’t have green skin, but if we are following Jesus, we ought to look different than those around us who aren’t following Him. After all, we are living with HOPE; the hope of eternal life through Jesus. Those who do not follow Jesus will have a totally different mindset than we do. So it makes sense that we would be different than them in every aspect- we ought to talk differently, act differently, live differently. We see this spelled out in 1 Peter 2:11 NASB (italics mine):

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

Those in the world don’t have to abstain from anything. As Christians, however, we abstain, because we are living our lives to please God. And this is not our permanent home either, only a temporary one. We are just passing through! Hebrews 11:13-16 NASB (italics mine again) describes the attitude which we should have:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

We seek after our permanent home with Him, a better country, our heavenly home. And since this earth is not our permanent home, we ought to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable here. It’s ok if we feel like aliens here, because we SHOULD feel like aliens. We shouldn’t feel like we belong here at all, because we don’t! If we don’t feel uncomfortable, if we don’t feel some friction living in the world, maybe we should ask ourselves whether we have let the world rub off on us too much. I’m including myself here-I ask myself, do I look too much like the world, or do I look like and feel like an ALIEN here?

1 Peter 1:17 NASB (more italics from me) says we have a “stay” here on earth:

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;

And it’s a relatively short stay in light of eternity! So mom’s teach your children that it’s ok to be and feel different than those around them in the world, because after all

WE ARE ALIENS WITH A SHORT STAY VISITING HERE ON EARTH.

In His Love,

Suzanne

His Law in Their Hearts

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His Law Leads Our Children to Christ

Before I knew Jesus, I did not behave well. Believe me, I tried – see my previous post on my story of redemption. So as a parent, I used to wonder, can I hold my children accountable to how the Bible says to behave, if they don’t even know Him yet? Are they capable of Biblical standards for behavior, if they don’t know Jesus? Maybe, I am setting up unrealistic standards for my children.

We teach our children the principles of the Bible and we tell them how to act based on the Bible, but can they really do it? It was the same with the Isrealites. God gave the Isrealites the Law and held them accountable to it. And they could not do it. They could not uphold the Law perfectly. So why did God hold the Isrealites accountable to a Law that He knew they couldn’t keep? Let’s look at Galatians 3:23-27 New American Standard Bible for some insight into this:

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The purpose of the Law for the Jews was to lead them to Christ. The Law was their tutor, their teacher. God held up the standard of the Law and the Ten Commandments to show the Jews that in their own strength they could not keep all of it, to show them that they needed Christ in order to obey the Law. The Law was their tutor, to show them their need for Christ, for a Savior, to show them they couldn’t live by the Law without Him. In the same way, we hold up the Biblical standards of behavior for our children, so they can see their need for Christ.

I have shared my testimony before that when I was 12 years old, I got in a lot of trouble shoplifting, swearing, smoking, drinking. I tried to change myself and found that I could mostly change my outward actions, but I definitely could not change the motivations of my heart or my thoughts. I read my Bible and saw that in my own strength I was not able to do all that it said I should do. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t do it all. This is what led me to Christ. I knew I needed His help in order to follow Him and truly change on the inside. I also knew I needed His forgiveness for when I fell short. So I gave my life to Him and He has helped me ever since. He changed me inside; He changed my heart (2 Corinthians 3:3-4).

So we still need to teach our children the standards in the Bible, we need to be ready to tell them the secret to obeying His commandments and it is KNOWING HIM. And when they do know Him and they fall short of obeying His law, His ways, we can teach them about His forgiveness. He is there to catch us when we fall and He is there to offer forgiveness when we mess up. Yes, I’m so thankful that Jesus forgives! We had a saying in our family for when we messed up; it was “Lesson Learned”. When we mess up, we can a learn a lesson for next time. This is offering to our children, what Jesus has offered us. This is offering GRACE to our children.

So moms, don’t be afraid to expect your children to follow His law, just

BE READY TO SHOW THEM THAT KNOWING JESUS WILL ENABLE THEM TO FULLY DO IT.

In His Love,

Suzanne .

He Remembers

~ Mom Morsels
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He Records Your Alms and Your Prayers

Moms, do you ever feel as if you are working so hard, doing so many things for your family, and no-one notices? Now, I am not encouraging you to have a pity party, but I want you to know that we have all felt that way sometimes. To be honest, it’s often when we are worn out or just bone tired. Sometimes I think there is no-one anywhere on earth more tired than a mom. We do a lot!

Let’s look at Acts 10:1-4 New American Standard Bible for some insight and encouragement:

Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”

Cornelius was a Gentile. He wasn’t even supposed to know about God or who He was, because He was not a Jew. Yet this man sought to know God, offering alms to His people and prayers to God, and apparently GOD NOTICED. Moms, GOD NOTICES YOU, your alms and prayers. What are alms? “Alms” G1654 is translated “compassionateness, mercy, pity especially as exhibited in giving alms, charity or a donation to the poor, alms (deeds)”. Vocabulary.com (see below*) says Charitable means, “Something that’s charitable has to do with helping people who need assistance” Do you know anyone in your house who needs your assistance? Like-everyone! When you do acts of service for your family, show compassion and mercy, offer assistance to them, God literally TAKES NOTE. It’s a memorial to Him.

A “memorial” G3422 in this verse is “that by which the memory of any person or thing is preserved, a remembrance, a reminder, that is, a record.” When you do acts of service for your family, for those who need you, God RECORDS your deeds. He makes a note of them. He makes a memorial of them. Doesn’t that encourage you? Just to know that He takes note of what you do. Wow!

And He does the same with your prayers. Cornelius prayed continually and his prayers were so important to God, that God made a remembrance of them. He doesn’t only record the prayers you pray at church, or the prayers you pray when you have a quiet moment (Moms, how many of those quiet moments do we get?! ), or the prayers you pray when you are not distracted. No, He records all your prayers! Especially when my children were young, so many of my prayers were prayed in the middle of my business, my craziness, my mess. God knows your every coming in, going out, standing, sitting, remember from our Psalm 139 study? He knows that you are busy and HE HEARS ALL YOUR PRAYERS, even and especially those spoken or cried out in desperation to Him right in the middle of your busy, messy life. He knows that we need Him.

In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3), He even encourages us to be poor and needy. So don’t be ashamed if you feel needy most of the time. There is nothing like motherhood and the incredible demands placed on you and always around you, to make you feel that you need God more than anything. And that’s OK. That is something He loves- neediness! Good thing! I think the older I get the poorer and needier I feel.

So, moms, pray those needy prayers- He hears them! He loves them! And remember that

HE RECORDS AND REMEMBERS ALL YOUR CHARITABLE ACTS AND ALL YOUR PRAYERS.

In His love,

Suzanne

Hope in the Middle

~ Mom Morsels
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Lost but Found

Let’s just pretend that you and your family were vacationing in a small community together with a several other extended family. You all were staying a couple of blocks away from the beach. Your preteen told you he would be walking to the beach with his cousins but when you got to the beach he was not there. Can anyone say panic??

Now let’s make it worse and imagine a TON of people taking a several day (33 hour) journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. You had a great time and are on your way home. You assume your twelve year old son is in the band of cousins but when you’ve gone a whole days’ journey, you realize your son is nowhere to be found (at this point you might SCREAM, as you feel like the mom in Home Alone at the moment she realizes Kevin is not with them. I’d be screaming!). YOU… CANNOT… FIND… YOUR… SON. It actually takes you THREE FULL DAYS to find your son! More panic! This is the situation that Jesus put His parents Mary and Joseph in. Let’s look at the passage in Luke 2:41-52 New American Standard Version for more insight:

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

So when they finally found their twelve year old son, they were very upset. The parents took it personally and asked why their son had treated them that way and explained that they were worried about him. Now, in my opinion, the answer he gives his parents is a bit sassy! Anyone else think so? In fact, I think if my child answered me this way, I would send them straight to their room and tell them to only come back when they were able to speak to me in a different tone. Kids aren’t supposed to answer their parents’ questions with another question; just sayin’. But this is the Son of God.

As I was praying for my middle school children one day, God led me to this passage. I see a very middle school thing going on here. Children who are raised in Christian homes live on their parents’ faith at first. However, at some point, they need to make their faith their own. In this little picture of Jesus (we don’t have many from His childhood), he appears to be changing His perspective, from looking at His earthly parents to looking upward at His Heavenly Father. It’s a shift. If you see your middle school age child doing this, be encouraged. This is what is supposed to happen in middle school.

As a twelve year old preteen, Jesus wanted to now look directly up to His Heavenly Father, be where His Heavenly Father was, learn more directly from His Heavenly Father. Previously, everything He knew had been taught Him by His parents, although I am sure He had some sense that He was the Son of God.

Scripture even makes this point to the Pharisees that they cannot live on the faith of their relatives. Let’s look at Matthew 3:8-9 NASB:

Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The Pharisees could not just say, “Hey, Abraham is my father, so I am saved.” Jesus said they had to repent themselves and could not stand on their relatives’ faith. In the same way, at some point children will have to make their own decision for Christ and cannot stand on their parents’ faith either. Just like the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, her community HEARD FOR THEMSELVES and believed in Jesus in John 4:42 NASB (italics mine):

…and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

So our children have to HEAR FOR THEMSELVES and BELIEVE THEMSELVES not just because of our testimony but because they have their own encounter with Jesus and they have their own testimony.

Please don’t get discouraged when you see your preteen or teen questioning, trying to find out for themselves, seeking after Him when you thought they were settled in their faith. They may have just been living on your faith and now they need to find their own faith. This is a good thing! A person cannot relate to God through another person- a person-your child-has to learn to relate to Jesus themselves.

So moms, when you see your child seeking,

PRAISE GOD THAT THEY ARE GROWING INTO THEIR OWN FAITH AND THAT IS GOOD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Faith-filled Prayer

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Praying in Faith for our Children

I used to feel so defeated, so discouraged as I prayed for my children. When I prayed I had a picture of them in my head, but it was a picture of them as they were then, with all their struggles, trials, difficulties, misbehaviors, attitudes; I prayed what I saw before my eyes. God showed me that this was the wrong way to pray for my children. This is praying BY SIGHT not BY FAITH.

Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 New American Standard Bible:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

So in order to have faith, we have to have “things hoped for”. What things do you hope for your children? As a mom, I know you can see the giftings and uniqueness in each of your children. I know you have dreams for them. THAT is a “thing hoped for”. Hoping for what they will be, who they will become, that is what you base your faith on. So when you pray for your children, have that HOPE and DREAM for your child before your eyes. That is praying IN FAITH for them.

One of our children at 5 years old, asked if she could look at a science book with nature pictures by herself instead of me reading to her for our before bed reading time. She had just started reading but still was so interested in that science book that she wanted to put all her focus into it. That was unusual for a child to do that. I took note. I treasured that in my heart. Today this child is a young adult who is in horticulture school and who has a job working with plants. She comes home from school with these amazingly beautiful flower arrangements as she is learning her craft. That was something I saw in her at a young age, that is something I prayed for her and hoped for her.

Many times as you pray for your child, you will be praying for things “not seen”. You might not see the character you want them to have when they hit their sibling. You might not see the steadfastness in their walk with God, when they are older and are not reading their Bible as much as you think they should. You might not see the kindness you think they should have, as they yell at you when they are mad. But good news! What you see today is not who they will be eventually. So instead of feeling discouraged by the things you are NOT SEEING today, or the things you wish were present now but are not there, pray and believe God that those NOT SEEN things will be there one day. Pray, believing that God can and will build in your child the things you HOPE FOR. That is praying IN FAITH.

And you can pray in faith and then EAGERLY WAIT for what you hoped and prayed for. Romans 8:24b-25 NASB shows us:

…but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

As you pray in HOPE for your children, you can wait eagerly for that hope to be fulfilled. It will happen. There have been discouraging times we have had with our children, but we kept praying, hoping, waiting, and God came through. We PERSEVERED in prayer for our children. Don’t give up hope as you persevere in prayer for your children.

For younger children, plant those seeds of the Word-lots of them! And pray for them to fall on good soil in your child’s heart. For older children, where you have planted seeds already, as you pray, talk to the Lord of the Harvest and ask Him to help those seeds grow!

So moms, as we pray,

LET’S PRAY IN FAITH FOR THE THINGS WE HOPE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND WAIT FOR THEM EAGERLY. .

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 23-24

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Search My Heart

How desperate are you to know God? Are you willing to let Him shine His light on your heart to reveal any dark areas keeping you away from Him. Remember that where He is, there is no darkness, because His light illumines any darkness it encounters. In Psalms 139: 23-24 New American Standard Bible we read:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

In verse 1 of this Psalm David asked God to search HIM. But after recounting the marvelous way God knows him, formed him, stays with him, planned his days for him, he goes a little deeper and asks God to search not just him, but his HEART and his THOUGHTS. If you really know a person well, you know their heart and you can almost anticipate their thoughts. My husband and I have been married 35years. We’ve spent a lot of time together. I trust him, because I KNOW his heart. And we often say the same thing at the same time, because we almost know each other’s THOUGHTS. David invites God to know him that well. Of course, God already knows our hearts and our thoughts, but He gives us a choice to go deeper-do we welcome Him into the deep places in our hearts and thoughts?

David wants God to know his anxious thoughts. “Anxious” H8312 means “disquieting thoughts” and comes from a root word that means “ambivalence, divided in mind.” When our heart is divided, James 1:6-8 says we are double-minded, and we sway “like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” We want God to show us if our heart is divided, so we can turn and instead be whole-hearted towards God.

And David must be very desperate to know God, because he even asks God to “try” or test him. That’s very brave! Asking God to test you is like playing with fire- because God tests with fire! And God allows fiery trials in our lives for a reason. In fact in Deuteronomy 8:2 New International Version explains that one of the reasons God tests us with trials is to reveal what is in our hearts as we see He did with Israel:

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

I remember one of my friends once told me that she was a really kind person until she had kids! She didn’t realize that she had some work to do in the area of being kind until her kindness was tested. And, yes, children will definitely test your kindness! In the same way, we often don’t know what is really in our heart until we are tested.

We need to keep our hearts open to God, as we ask Him, like the psalmist, to see if there is any hurtful way in us. Hurtful H6090 means “wicked, pain, sorrow, idol.” Hurtful or wicked ways only keep us apart from God. If we sincerely want Him to lead us in His everlasting way, then we have to ask Him to shine His light on the dark areas of our heart to reveal any idols we have there. If idols are taking up space in our hearts, then God can’t be in the same space at the same time. It’s one or the other. And we have to ask ourselves, which will it be?

So let’s run after God hard enough that we say

TEST MY HEART AND MY THOUGHTS, LORD, BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW YOU MORE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 19-22

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His Enemies, Our Enemies

It’s ok if you have enemies. In fact, God does. And He says we will too, if we follow Him. Psalm 139 takes a turn from addressing us and His plan for us, to addressing God and His enemies. Let’s look at Psalm 139:19-22 New American Standard Bible:

O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

In a world that seems to be wanting us to turn everything gray, God makes a clear distinction between those who love Him and those who hate Him. And those who hate Him, He calls His enemies. It’s one or the other, not both. David, the psalmist, is asking God to slay the wicked, those who take His name in vain, who cause bloodshed, and while God promises us that He will deliver justice to the wicked, He also instructs us in a different way to deal with our own enemies.

Yes, God does promise justice will be served (Luke 18:7-8), but He is also a kind God who draws us to Himself. When Jesus sent His disciples ahead to make preparations for Him and they did not receive the welcome they anticipated, they asked Jesus if they could slay the people. We read in Luke 9:53-56 NASB:

But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] 

While He could easily have slayed them, since He is God, He chose here to extend kindness instead. Don’t get me wrong, there will be a day when a person will stand either by their own works or by the blood of Jesus and receive the justice deserved (Romans chapter 2 explains this more). On that day, you want to be standing under the blood of Jesus, that washes your sin away and covers you with His righteousness. While God is just, He is also kind. But justice will be served in the end (see Revelation).

So how are we to treat our own enemies? It certainly is not easy to treat our enemies like God wants us too. His instructions for us are in Matthew 5:44-45 NASB:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

We are to PRAY FOR our enemies, LOVE them, and even BLESS them (Matthew 5:44). Is there someone in your life that is your enemy, or if you don’t have an actual enemy, is there someone in your life who does not like you? Make it a point to start PRAYING for that person. Ok, good job! Now start LOVING that person. Could you take them a meal? or could you mow their lawn? Great! Now find a way to BLESS them. This includes how you speak about them to others. Ok, we are really getting into a challenge now. Is your mouth blessing them in front of others? Now you are getting it! These are Jesus instructions on what to do with your own enemies. Then when they ask you why you are treating them this way, you can say it is because you know Jesus and you are following His instructions!

I have issued you a challenge. The only way you can meet this challenge, is in the strength that Jesus gives you! So next time you are confronted with an enemy, a person who doesn’t like you, an unkind person, try to

PRAY FOR THEM, LOVE THEM, BLESS THEM.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalm 139: 15-16

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Lovingly Planned Beforehand

You were never hidden from God. Earlier in Psalm 139:7-10 we learned that God is everywhere and even if you tried, there is no place you could go to get away from Him. In verses 11-12 we saw that with God you are not alone in your darkness, because even in the darkness, He is there with you bringing His light into that place. And even in the darkness of the womb, He could SEE you. Let’s look at Psalms 139: 15-16 New International Version:

My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in Your book
    before one of them came to be.

In the secret place of your mother’s womb, only God’s eyes saw your unformed substance, the body and personality He was forming for you, making you “you”. He could “see” H7200 you; the word “see” here means He “beheld, gazed upon, perceived, considered and enjoyed” you. It’s the same exact word used throughout Genesis as God was creating our world and in Genesis 1:31 New American Standard Bible (italics mine) where it says:

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

He saw His beautiful creation, then pronounced it very good. He saw you in your mother’s womb and enjoyed His handiwork, you, as He formed you. And you were “woven together” H7551 which means “curiously wrought, worker in colors, skillfully woven, embroidered, needlework” (this is a different word than is used in verse 13 for weave). Have you ever embroidered anything? I have. Embroidery is delicate and intricate work. Each embroidery piece has a detailed pattern that must be followed exactly. Each stitch forms the design. This same word “woven together” is also used throughout Exodus 26-39 for the intricate fine twined needlework in blue, purple, scarlet that was used in the Tabernacle. Just as God had a detailed plan for the colorful tapestries in the Tabernacle, He had a detailed plan as He wove you in your mother’s womb.

And before you even had one day outside the womb, He planned all your days. The days were in fact “ordained” for you. “Ordained” H3335 means “to mould into a form, especially as a potter, to determine, to fashion, to purpose.” Yes, your days on earth were planned for you with a purpose. In fact, your days on earth are so important to Him, that He wrote them down in His book even before you saw your first day!

There’s more! He even set things up for you, so you could do good works. Ephesians 2:10 NASB says:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

You are His workmanship, His creation, His woven and embroidered multi colored beautiful well planned handiwork. And not only did He ordain your days, He even prepared the good works for you to do ahead of time. All you have to do is walk in them. What a wonderful caring Father! Just like a mom and dad prepare excitiedly for their new baby, so your Father planned ahead for you. Can you see that all this planning-planning your form, planning your days, planning your good works-makes it clear that He was really excited for you to be here!

So mom’s please don’t forget that

HE LOVED YOU SO MUCH THAT HE PLANNED AHEAD FOR YOU!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 14

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My Soul Knows it Very Well

Have you ever felt like you were just DIFFERENT than everyone else? I find that I often view things differently than others. Even the sign on my rearview mirror that says, “Objects are closer than they appear,” seems backwards to me. I would have written, “Objects appear further away than they really are.” Seems much clearer. But that’s just me. I’m different. And we will find in our next study verse, that God intentionally made us all different, Psalms 139:14 New International Version:

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

In this verse “Wonderfully” H6395 means, “to be distinct, marked out, be separated, put a difference, show marvelous, make wonderfully.” So you can see that part of the WONDERFUL God put in us, is in making us each different, marked out for a distinct purpose, not all the same. And that in itself is MARVELOUS!

And “Marvelous” H6381 means “wonderful, extraordinary, distinguished, great”. Think about that for a moment. Take a little time to let that sink into your soul. God made you marvelous. God made you wonderful. God made you extraordinary. God made you distinguished. God made you great. This is what He says about you. The question is-do you believe Him? Do you believe His Word about you?

The psalmist believes. And he commands his soul to give thanks to God for how he is made, saying, “I WILL give thanks to You.” So many of us struggle with our identity, our “different”-ness, but here we see that, like the psalmist, we can command our soul to praise God for how He made us. When we do this, we are exercising FAITH, TRUSTING that He knows what He is doing, and BELIEVING what He says about us-that we are wonderfully made. We aren’t going by what we feel, we are going by what He says. That is FAITH.

And our psalmist says his soul “knows very well” how wonderfully and marvelously he was made by God. But what if my soul doesn’t know this very well? What if I struggle to know this? I definitely have had times when I was down on myself, and I felt like I did not know this “very well” or even well. Let’s remember back at the beginning of this study when Satan attacked Jesus as He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and we saw that two of the three attacks on Jesus were making Him question His identity. God gave us Jesus’ example, so we have a heads up, and know that, yes, our identity will also be attacked and we need to be ready when these attacks come.

So if our soul does not know this “very well”, what do we do? We work at getting what He says about us in our hearts by studying what He says, by memorizing what He says, by praying what He says, by imbedding His truth about us so deeply in our hearts that we can stand strong against these attacks on our identity. It’s really just a matter of TRUST in His Word, FAITH and BELIEVING. Romans 10:17 NIV says:

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If your faith in this area is weak (I am still working on this area!), then to increase your faith, you just need to HEAR MORE WORD. So get yourself some more Word! Read it, Listen to it, Sing it, Pray it! Then when attacks about your identity in God come, and they will, you can

STAND STRONG ON HIS TRUTH THAT IS ROOTED DEEP IN YOUR HEART.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 13

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Intricately Woven

I am a seamstress. When I make a garment, say a dress, there is a lot of planning that goes into it. First, I look at lots of patterns to decide the shape of the dress. I have to make sure I have just the right size. Then I pick out the material, making sure the material I pick will work with the pattern. Each dress I make is a one of a kind creation. And when I am done making it, I feel a sense of accomplishment and joy.

It’s the same with a weaver. The weaver doesn’t just start weaving. The weaver carefully plans what design they want to make, what colors and materials they want to use. The weaver will research the right pattern to weave to make that design. Let’s look at Psalms 139:13 New American Standard Bible:

Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.

God is a Master weaver! He carefully planned and designed you. He wove you together in your mother’s womb. “Weave” H5526 here means, “to weave together, to cover, lay over, to hedge or shut in, to protect.” Just like when I make a dress, God had a predetermined plan when He wove you into being. You are His one of kind creation.

This word for “weave” also has a sense of covering, of protection. It’s the same word used in Psalms 91:4 NASB (italics mine):

He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

He covered, protected and formed you inside your mother’s womb. The womb provides babies with nutrients, chemicals needed for the lungs, removal of waste products, antibodies to protect from infection, hormones for proper development and amniotic fluid to cushion the baby and protect from injury. Remember in Psalms 139:5 He encloses you behind and before and lays His hand upon you? This includes in the womb where He had you surrounded and protected as He formed, weaved and knit you together according to His plan.

And He formed your “inward or innermost parts,” H3629 which means the “seat of emotion and affection.” He formed your personality, your emotions, your innermost being, who you are. We have five children and each one was born with certain parts of their personalities that were already present from a young age. One of our children has a great sense of humor. When she was 6months old, I picked her up and she stuck her finger in my nose then flung her head back laughing hysterically. It was like a little joke-at 6months old! I did not put that in her personality, but God very clearly did! On the other hand, our son has always been technically minded. At 3 years old, he took a screw driver, took a toy completely apart and brought it to me. In high school, he built a computer out of a box. Now he is a mid level developer.

If God took so much effort to weave and form you in your mother’s womb, can you see how very treasured you are by Him? Your personality is not a mistake. It was carefully formed by Him. So when you are feeling down on yourself, can you please remember that

YOU WERE INTRICATELY WOVEN, PLANNED BY GOD, AND ARE TREASURED BY HIM.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 11-12

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His Light Penetrates our Darkness

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the darkness around you? Maybe your circumstances were just too much for you to handle and you felt like you were drowning in darkness. Or maybe your flesh was pulling you into sin and you felt like you couldn’t stand against it, like you were being pulled into it’s darkness. In Psalms 139:11-12 New American Standard Bible David says he felt that way and we can learn how God comforted him:

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

The word “overwhelm” here means “to bruise, crush, gape upon, overwhelm, cover.” Yes, I have definitely felt like that at times in my life, as I’m sure some of you have too, beaten and bruised sometimes by others, crushed by the weight of my circumstances, covered in the darkness that I felt surrounding and suffocating me. But someone else was bruised and crushed for you-Isaiah 53:5, “He was bruised/crushed for our iniquities.” He took your bruising, crushing for you, so that you could reach for Him and He could pull you out of the darkness. He is not overcome by the darkness as we see Jesus described in John 1:4-5 New International Version:

In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

And I have definitely felt the light turning into night around me, but mostly this is when I have chosen to gaze at my circumstances instead of gazing at His face. The truth is that GOD IS LIGHT, and even the darkness is not dark to Him, because HIS PRESENCE brings light to wherever He is. And He is always with us. He does not forsake us. To God the night is not dark, because He is there making the night as bright as the light of the day! Let’s look at John 8:12 NASB:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

God by His very nature is LIGHT. So if we invite Him into our dark circumstances, our dark feelings, our darkness of any kind, He will bring HIS LIGHT into that place because GOD IS LIGHT. And He will also give us the strength to overcome the darkness and power of sin in our lives (1 Corinthians 10:13). We invite Him in by spending time in His presence, in worship, in prayer, in reading His Word the Bible, in fellowship with other Christians. Psalms 36: 5, 7-9 NASB encourages us:

Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies…
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house;
And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light.

We have some choices to make here. We have to choose to come into HIS LIGHT. We have to choose to take refuge in the shadow of His wings. We have to choose to drink of the abundance of His house, of the river of His delights. We have to choose to invite Him into our darkness. I realized that some of us are so bruised that we need help to come into this healing He offers. Counselors help us with that! Don’t be afraid to reach out to a counselor or friend if you need help.

So please remember when you feel the darkness overwhelming you, to cry out for His help, and

LET HIM BRING HIS LIGHT INTO YOUR DARKNESS.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Ps. If you need some help with reaching out, please call: 988 suicide and crisis hotline

Psalms 139: 7-10

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His Presence Holds You

Have you ever gone through such a difficult time that you just wanted to get away from it all? Or wished you could escape as far away as possible where no one could find you? You are not the only one who has felt that way as we see in Psalms 139: 7-10 New American Standard Bible:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

So often when we are going through a trial, we feel like we are alone. But what we don’t realize is that even if we tried to be completely alone, we never could be, because God is always there with us. The psalmist asks two questions-“Where can I go from Your Spirit?” and “Where can I flee from Your presence?”. The answer is “Nowhere.” There is nowhere that God isn’t present. Even when we think He’s not there, even when we feel He’s not there, even when Satan makes us believe He’s not there, HE IS THERE. He is the God who SEES you, your every move, your frame, your ways, your thoughts before you speak them, YES, HE IS ALWAYS THERE.

In Genesis 16:6 Hagar was mistreated by her mistress after she was made to have a child by Abraham. Hagar chose to flee to the wilderness to die, but THE GOD WHO SEES met her there and she lived. In Genesis 21:14 Hagar didn’t choose to go but was cast into the desert and thought she and her son were going to die, but GOD HEARD them both crying and opened their eyes to see that He was WITH THEM and they lived. Whether you yourself flee to the desert or someone drives you to the desert, He will meet you there, He SEES you there and He HEARS you there. And just like He provided the well of water for Hagar and Ishmael, He will provide the WELL of HIS LIVING WATER, HIS PRESENCE for you in those dark and dry places, so you also will live.

From this Psalm, we see that when we feel like we are in heaven, on the top of the world, and everything is going well in our life, He is there. When we feel like things are so bad, like we are going through “Sheol” or Hell, He is there. When we just can’t handle our trials anymore and want to fly away from them as far as the dawn, He’s there too (Luke 1:78). When we feel like life it too hard, like we want to just camp out in the deepest darkest remote place at the bottom of the sea, Yes, He is even there with us. The Spirit of God moves over the deep waters (Genesis 1:1-2) and God Himself is in the deep places too.

Our scripture tells us that in those deepest hardest places, the places where we don’t think He is moving, where we don’t think He is present, even there He is leading us. Even in those places, His right hand “lays hold” of us. Why His right hand and not His left hand? My mother taught me this verse Roman’s 8:34 NASB:

Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

God’s right hand is so special because Jesus sits at God the Father’s right hand interceding for us. Take a moment, close your eyes and picture Jesus sitting next to God the Father and He is praying for you right now. That picture brings such peace!

In those deep and hard places, He is laying hold of us. “Lay hold of” means “to seize, lay hold of, catch, fasten” This isn’t a casual, light hold. This is a purposeful, tight seizing hold. So in those places where you think you have taken flight and flown to a place where He is not, or descended to a depth where you think He can’t reach you, even in those places, He has a tight hold on you. He is not letting go of you; he is seizing you. Here’s a final thought for you from Isaiah 41:10 NASB:

Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

So when you are in those deep hard places, please remember

HE IS HOLDING YOU TIGHTLY AND NOT LETTING GO.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 5-6

~ Mom Morsels
Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com

Lovingly Boxed In

Have you ever felt boxed in by God. Whichever way you turned, He seemed to be trying to keep you still and tell you something and you just weren’t getting it. You know He could just let you do your own thing (well sometimes He does, see Romans 1:24). But the fact that He cares enough to not let you do that- well wow, that means something.

Psalms 139: 5-6 New American Standard Bible says:

You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

When I was in elementary school, we played outside a lot in our neighborhood-kick the can, hide and seek in the hay fields, adventuring at the pond. We took nylon stockings, bent a wire hanger into a circle and caught bull frogs with the net we made. We then took an empty coffee can, a metal round cylinder with a plastic top, and put the bull frog in it to see how long it took it to pop the top off-it didn’t take long! (I feel like I need to put a “please don’t try this at home” warning here, because this was rather cruel, but we were just being kids!). I think sometimes when God allows us to get “boxed in”, like the bullfrog we try to pop that top off. We buck the situation, trying to find a way out, struggling with everything in us to get free. But sometimes, He wants us to just TRUST HIM, to rest, to listen.

I am sure that Job felt a bit boxed in by all the tragedy, loss, destruction, sickness that was all around him. Yet God’s hand was still UPON him. His friend Elihu spoke the truth to him in this situation, saying in Job 36:15 NASB:

He delivers the afflicted in their affliction. And opens their ear in time of oppression. Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress, instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; and that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

“Fatness” H1878 means “fatness, abundance, ashes of sacrifices.” Isn’t it just like God to want to turn our ashes into fatness, abundance? But we must YIELD to Him in our affliction, in our ashes, and then we will find ourselves at HIS TABLE being filled by HIS ABUNDANCE. And this verse says that He uses affliction and oppression to open our ears to Him. If you are going through a difficulty right now, can you take a moment to stop and be quiet before Him, to listen and to yield to Him? What is He trying to say to you? He really is FOR you. He is leading you to HIS TABLE to bring ABUNDANCE to you. Can you trust Him in your suffering?

That God would care to rearrange the circumstances of our lives in order to point us to Him, is just TOO WONDERFUL! That knowledge is TOO HIGH and we cannot even comprehend it! The God of the universe CARES for us! He doesn’t just let us wander around aimlessly. He is leading us. He is the GOOD SHEPHERD. Again, if we persist in refusing to follow Him, He does some times ‘give us over’ to the lusts in our own hearts (Romans 1:18-32), but even in that, His heart is always that none should perish and that all would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

So when you are feeling ‘boxed in’, please realize that

HIS HAND IS UPON YOU.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Psalms 139: 3-4

~ Mom Morsels
Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels.com

Intimately Acquainted with All My Ways

Isn’t it nice to know someone cares? Like when you’re feeling down and someone close to you notices. God notices you too! Psalms 139 verses 3-4 New American Standard Bible shows us just how closely He notices:

You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

So why would God scrutinize our path and lying down? Maybe, because He cares? My husband and I care about our children and you better believe we scrutinized their paths and lying down. When they were heading out somewhere and were dressed inappropriately, we might ask, “Just where are you going dressed like that? Go change please!” When they were ‘lying down’ too much as teenagers and wouldn’t get up to do chores, yup, we scrutinized their paths and they got to work on the chores! All this because we cared about them and wanted them to grow up to be mature godly adults.

So, yes, God scrutinizes our paths for the same reason, because He cares! Scrutinize H2219 means to winnow. And winnow means “to blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff”. In Luke 3:17 NASB we read about how God feels about chaff:

His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

In this verse, the chaff are the wicked which God will thresh out. But from Psalm 139, we can see that God also winnows our paths. When He lets the winds of affliction, trials, difficulties blow through our lives, He is blowing away the chaff that we have allowed to accumulate. He’s getting rid of the waste that clutters our lives and makes us unfruitful. He wants us in His barn, but not our chaff.

And according to our verse, He knows all your ways. The way you twirl your hair. The way you get your sensitive feelings hurt so often (That would be me! Working on it!). The way you hate Brussel sprouts with a passion. He knows. You don’t have to explain yourself or your ways to Him.

That word on your tongue…Ever wonder why when you are about to say something that’s off, you get a little check in your spirit? Maybe I shouldn’t say that. Because He knows what you are about to say! Because He knows your thoughts even before you have formed them into words to speak out with your tongue. Wow, what a gift to save us a lot of trouble and to keep us from speaking hastily. If we would just learn to listen to His Spirit within us when He give us that little check! But praise God we have His forgiveness to cover any words spoken unrightly.

Remember the virtuous women in Proverbs 31: 26? She opens her mouth with wisdom. This means that there are times she will keep her mouth closed and it is wise to do so. Like if she doesn’t have control of her emotions in that moment- she may want to keep her mouth closed. Like if what she is about to say will not build someone up or give grace in the moment, she may want to keep her mouth closed. Like if what she is about to say, she will have to ask forgiveness for later (Yup! Done that many times!), she may want to keep her mouth closed. Still learning this personally!

So in that moment when you are feeling misunderstood, please remember that

YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS IT ALL, HE KNOWS YOU AND YOUR WAYS AND HE CARES.

In His Love,

Suzanne