Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!
It’s been a good while since I’ve laid our conversations to print Lord… Quite possibly far too long. Which is why when I once again felt You urging me to pen my...
Dear Lord; Happy New Year’s Eve Father!
As my mind wandered this morning Father, drifting along this past year’s erratic path and pondering the days ahead You spoke to my heart; a...
As Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us, for all things in this life there is a season…
“2 A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, a time to collect the harvest; 3 A time to kill, a time to heal; a time to tear down, a time to build up; 4 A time to cry, a time to laugh; a time to mourn, a time to dance; 5 A time to scatter stones, a time to pile them up; a time for a warm embrace, a time for keeping your distance; 6 A time to search, a time to give up as lost; a time to keep, a time to throw out; 7 A time to tear apart, a time to bind together; a time to be quiet, a time to speak up; 8 A time to love, a time to hate; a time to go to war, a time to make peace.” (Ecc. 3:2-8, Voice)
God’s plan for our lives is very much based on balance; not necessarily that for each “bad” thing that happens to us that we’ll experience an equivalent “good” thing, but instead that throughout all the ups and downs in our lives He’ll be there to celebrate with us, guide us in times of uncertainty, or to draw us close and comfort us when the world we know comes crashing down. God’s balance for us is all about Grace and His unending pursuit of our hearts…
He… Is our balance.
This morning while driving in to work, Danny Gokey’s song “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again” started playing on the radio station I was listening to. As the song’s poignant message penetrated the barriers I’d put up lately, I felt God reminding me that through everything that’s happened this past year, He’d never left my side…
He was with me through that season, just as He was for the seasons before…
And He will be for the seasons to come…
And that It’s time to let my heart beat again. Thank you Father.
“Listen, stay alert, stand tall in the faith, be courageous, and be strong. Let love prevail in your life, words, and actions.” – Some closing encouragements from the Apostle Paul’s first Epistle to the church at Corinth… And a perspective that is still just as important for us to follow today…
The lyrics speak to the overwhelming love of our Heavenly Father for His beloved children… And this video gives a powerful example of a similar sacrificial love we see here on earth…
So very often we miss (at best) or choose to ignore the beauty and grace that surrounds us… This Christmas I pray that we all experience the wonder of the Gift we celebrate, and see that His love and majesty is in each and every one of us.
Fighting life’s battles day in and day out can make even the most stalwart heart feel overwhelmed and succumb to fear and doubt. It’s in those moments that we most need to remember what Jesus told us…
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (NLT)
Come to Him… And just be held…
“So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away
You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place
I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held
Just be held, just be held…”
“The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”
“Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”” – John 2:1-5 (NLT)
As I prayed over these verses the other morning, it dawned on me how often in my daily life I resemble Mary in this passage; insistent in my desire that things happen on my timing, instead of looking to God for His direction to be revealed in the proper moment.
Heavenly Father,
Today I pray that You grant me the patience to seek Your will in Your time… That I’m able to see through the clouds of my earthly situations, and draw comfort from the knowledge that Your promise to never leave me nor forsake me hasn’t changed simply because You didn’t show up when or how I expected. For it’s in Your precious name I pray Jesus…
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day. 
