Today’s prompt for Five Minute Friday is: PRESERVE. As I looked through the Psalms I found this verse with a beautiful promise. As for you, O LORD, you will not restrainyour mercy from me;your steadfast love and your faithfulness willever preserve me! Psalm 40:11 The current news cycle can stir up…
The book of Psalms in the Bible gives great comfort. Throughout the poetic words there is a plea for God’s help and acknowledgement of his love and mercy. The Psalms offer both lament and worship. Here is one of my favorite verses as recorded in the Complete Jewish Bible. You…
This morning in church we sang the hymn All Creatures of Our God and King. The words, originally by Francis of Assisi, were paraphrased by Thomas Ken (1637 – 1711) and translated by William H. Draper (1855 -1 933). Here are verses 1 & 3. All creatures of our God and…
Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalm 47:1 The pandemic has made it difficult for us to worship at church. In the beginning weeks of the lockdown I listened to the hymn sing led by the Getty family on Facebook. The hymns refreshed…
This past week I skipped my morning Bible study a couple of days. Instead I read a few articles in the newspaper at the breakfast table. The tension of our current time put my nerves on edge. I felt irritable. I drank more coffee and spent too much time on…
The Bible does not shrink from telling us the ugly side of human history. God’s word tells us the truth, and clearly states that God’s desire for us is good. We need to seek God and His ways in every aspect of our lives. “How you have helped him who has no…
Today I woke up to another day of #StayAtHome and a blanket of snow on the ground. The snow continues to fall. Yesterday a tulip was opening to the sun. Today it is bravely standing tall in the snow. During this period of lock down it is just my husband…
We are in challenging times . . . like people who came before us. I think of the civil war, the Spanish flu, World War II. The Bible records times when fear hung over the people of Israel. Currently I am studying the book of Ezra. After 70 years of…
Every morning my husband and I read a Psalm together before we begin the day. Today we are on Psalm 115. We have read psalms of praise, lament and remembrance. Memories of crossing the Red Sea and the years in the Wilderness are recorded. God’s power over the Red Sea…
Many years ago I worked the night shift in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Michigan. We had 12 hour shifts, and I worked from 7 pm to 7 am. Around 5:00 am as daylight crept across the sky, we were weary and needed to get our…