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In my quiet time this morning, I was enjoying the beautiful truth in Psalm 103:14. “For He knows our frame, He earnestly remembers and imprints on His heart that we are dust.” And I was thinking about what a comfort it is to know that The Lord knows that we aren’t “super humans”! He does not expect us to be. We are the ones who add (or have let others add) that weighty Super Hero cloak to our wardrobes – But that is not of God, our Creator.

He knows and holds it in His heart when He dwells on us (which is all of the time) that we are but dust. He knows our frame, knows what we are capable of doing, being, & carrying without becoming faint.

That’s why God gives us what I call “sweet release Scriptures”. These scriptures help us pry open our fingers when they are in a death grip of trying to control our circumstances. They are among my favorites in His Word, and I just felt led to share them today. If you are feeling like the weight of the world has been placed on your dust-made shoulders today, I’m praying for you right now, & asking that The One Who knows your frame & Who has imprinted you on His heart will help you release those burdens to His All Powerful, All Knowing, All Present, and All Loving arms. He is more than capable to wear the Superhero Cape today in your life. So the question is, my friends, will you let Him?

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good – not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.”.

Matthew 11:28-30 (Amp)

“Roll your works upon The Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

Proverbs 16:3 (Amp)

“I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].”

Philippians 4:13 (Amp)

Yes you are! And Yes you can! – As long as God is the One working in and through you today. :).

With love and prayers for you, your families and your lives~

Jennifer

My heart is full of gratitude today. I think that because its my birthday, I’m especially aware of the many undeserved blessings and gifts God has lavished upon me. Would you please indulge me for a moment? I just couldn’t let the day pass without giving Him the glory He deserves for all He has done.

In Psalm 103, today’s study verses were about His loving-kindness and mercy, forgiveness, and the immeasurable removal of our transgressions. These are incredible and unfathomable gifts that none of us deserve! But oh, how thankful we need to be for them. The removal of our transgressions… A fresh clean slate… What a continuous gift that makes me want to fall to my face in worship!

These days, I never celebrate a birthday that I don’t also celebrate life, the family God placed me in, my parents who loved us & the Lord, my Godly, loving husband and the children God has given us. But the thing that still moves me to tears is the extra years God gave me when He healed me. I still can’t get over this gift & how different a life our whole family lives!!! (For the entire story, look around my sidebar. Can’t figure out to link from the BB.)

So on this birthday, even though we are still living out of Rubbermaid tubs, in a borrowed
one bedroom apartment, on God’s “Obey Me for today & Trust Me for tomorrow, one day at a time” plan, instead of comparing our circumstances to those of others & feeling like we’ve come up short, I feel like the most blessed woman on this earth. God has carried us through some amazingly tough times, and through His hand, we’ve made it – or are on our way to making it – victoriously to the other side. I give Him all of the credit and glory for this life He designed for me.

I pray that as long as God gives me breath, I’ll breathe because of Him and in His strength. “Thank you, Lord, for the years behind, those to come, and all You desire for & in my life. I give it back to You, for Your pleasure and glory. A men.”

And a big “Thank You” to YOU, who in this time of transition, have been one of the parts of life that has gloriously stayed the same. With much love to you all…

The strangest thing happened to me this week. In fact, it happens so infrequently, that when it does happen, I start to wonder if something is wrong with myself. This rare and unusual occurrence is: silence. I almost don’t know what to do with myself during these strange bouts of desired quietness. So, this week, I just went with it, and took an unplanned break from emailing, phone calling, a lot of texting, blogging, Facebook, and Twitter.

I would say that I enjoyed it, and I actually did. But this wasn’t part of “my” plans, and I had tons of things swirling around in my mind that I wanted to share. (Notice the many “I” “my” references? That seems to be the problem.) This past week the Lord led me back to a favorite Scripture verse: isaiah 30:15.

“In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved; in quietness and in trusting confidence shall be your strength” (this is my favorite part of that verse – but the last phrase is the one that gets me every time: “But you would not,”

Oh how I don’t ever want to miss something from The Lord because “but you would not”! So, I guess this week was one of those returning and resting weeks- and it was good. The children started school. They love it and already feel like they fit right in. Nathan has already been hurt and bruised in football, so my first “football-mom-panic” moment is already out of the way for the season. Abigail is swimming on the school’s swim team and playing in the band, and the “fundraising season has already begun. Its been a normal start to the school year and we are so thankful for the “normalcy”.

The only thing I missed was that “beginning of the year” picture of the kids. I really wanted one of them standing in front of their new school’s sign. You would have thought I had asked them to rob a bank. There was great protest on that request – but one of these days (when no one else is around) I’m still going to take one, because 20 years from now, we won’t remember thai it was a week or two late, and they’ll appreciate the memory.. Right? 😉

God has been so good to us. Every day we see His care over the details of our lives. We continue to live in a “waiting” position, but we have the sweet assurance that God knows what He is doing. I’ve been in Psalm 103 lately, and am just daily overwhelmed at what He does for all of us and offers to us if we will just receive it. If you want to know just how much The Lord loves you, go to www.Biblegateway.com and look up Psalm 103 in the different versions, especially the Amplified. Here is a preview of what you will find:

He “forgives…heals…redeems…beautifies…dignifies…crowns with mercy…satisfies…renews…loves…knows…remembers…establishes… The beautiful list goes on and on. How I love Him for this, and how I want to love him more!

I better get off this Blackberry and get ready for church. Thanks so much for stopping by SmellingCoffee! You bless me and I thank God for each one of you. May He show each of you how much you are loved this week. I’ll be back when I can.

With love,
Jennifer

Do you have a daughter in the “middle years”?  If so, you know what a critical time this is in their lives.  I’m so thankful for ladies like Vicki Courtney and Dannah Gresh who are helping parents stay on top of cultural and social issues, while encouraging  us not to be discouraged by what is surrounding us! 

I have just a moment, but wanted to share this with you: Dannah Gresh, founder of Secret Keeper Girl, is sharing with us a 30 day prayer guide for our daughters.  It is wonderful!  It’s never too early to pray for our children.  For the prayer guide on Dana’s blog, click  here .  Each day she will update it with a specific prayer subject.  I’m even changing a few things around and praying this for my son, too!

Gotta run… internet time is over. 😉  Much love to you, friends~see you around Facebook or Twitter…
Jennifer

Do you feel like the time you spend waiting on God to work/deliver/provide, etc. is just wasted time in the wilderness?

Hi friends~ I’m excited to serve up more blessings from Priscilla Shirer’s book, “One in a Million”. I must say that the chapters I underlined most were 5, 6, & 7…all about the Wilderness, Why the Wilderness, and Encouragement to expect God’s miracles while in the Wilderness. I guess this resonated with me so much because for the past 13 months, it seems that our family has been “in the wilderness”. It hasn’t been an easy place to be, but I’m encouraged that it is the best place for us to be at this moment. God used these chapters to affirm His glorious work in and out of our lives during this wilderness period, and I pray that you are encouraged from the few quotes I share here.

Remember, one of you dear readers will win Priscilla’s book, “One in a Million”.  See two posts ago for details.  {You’ll have to excuse my ability to “link” to the post.  I’m still without internet most of the time, so I scheduled all of these posts at the same time.  No way to link to something that hasn’t yet been published. We’re hoping to close on a house here earlier than the projected date of Aug. 31.  Please pray with us about that.  (And, no… our Nashville house hasn’t sold yet.)  However, I must say that one thing God has used this book to teach me is that as long as we are where we are – that’s where we’re supposed to be.  So, I’m learning to be grateful for where we are, internet or not :-)}

Now, back to our regular;y scheduled program. Quotes are in quotation marks. Truths shared from the material are not.

* God’s “goal is to make us over more than it is to take us over to Canaan. If we’re to know what victory feels like, not just what it looks like, we need His help in ways we’d never think to ask. Unexpected ways. Sometimes even hard ways…doesn’t He know you do your best running without all these obstacles in your way, without being constantly hounded by one problem after another? Seems like there should be a more direct route to abundant living. This one’s awfully cluttered and confusing…Then again, maybe He knows… that challenges bring out the potential in you – potential you never knew was there. It’s not enough for you to be out of Egypt. God wants Egypt to be worked out of you.”  (p. 58-59)

* “The wilderness, strange as it may seem, is often just (listen closely now) – it is often God’s will. It’s His chosen plan for us.” (p. 65)

* “Listen, you don’t have to figure out the wilderness. You don’t have to fix the wilderness. You don’t have to be able to explain to your church friends why you’re going through the wilderness. Your job as a much loved, highly treasured child of God is simply to yield to the wilderness because its often only in the wilderness where our runaway desires can finally be boiled down to this:

* “You and I simply cannot know who we’d be if it weren’t for the wilderness. We can’t know for sure that we’d be bulwarks of faith and belief without spending some time in spiritual training.” (p. 75)

* “Wilderness travel causes us never to wake up to a day when we’re not totally in need of His love, provision, and care. It reminds us of the reality that even when we’re the most healthy, the most self-disciplined, the most on top of our daily schedule, we’re still living off His blessings. We’re here because of Him. Sometimes the wilderness is what it takes to help us remember that.” (p. 77)

* “Here you develop the hard-won treasures of humility, authenticity, and obedience, becoming more prepared than ever to embrace fully the Promised Land life He has in store for you.” (p. 79)

After these truths, how can we complain about our “wilderness” times while we’re waiting on, for, and with God? These are valuable days. Lord, please help me to embrace all you desire to do in, to, and through me while waiting in the wilderness!

There are SO many more wonderful truths, wisdom, and encouragement found in this book… You’ll just need to read it for yourselves, sweet friends.

Remember to check back on Monday afternoon for the winner of “One in a Million” book give away. Have a wonderful weekend, friends. YOU are “one in a million”! Love ya~