July 6, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on God is my safe harbour
Help me to look to You and only You for strength and shelter Lord. Help me to know that my hope and my safe harbour are found in You and Your protection.
July 5, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on God provides
It is pointless to get up early,
work hard, and go to bed late
Anxiously laboring for food to eat;
for God provides for those He loves, even while they are sleeping.
When I read this verse, it felt as if a weight of pressure and struggle lifted from me.
Not that it’s permission to be lazy. Most of us live our lives the opposite of lazy.
It’s much-needed permission to stop trying so hard and stop feeling guilty when we have to rest. It’s permission to rest in God, trusting that He’s got it.
We still do the work, but that frantic stress and strain and sense of failing to do enough we far too often feel is gone.
We can breathe again.
Ahhhh. That feels good.
[Tweet “We can stop working so hard, and try resting in God, trusting that He will provide.”]
July 4, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on A blessed July 4th to all Americans
May you know God’s love and blessing, for you, your family, and your nation.
July 3, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on I trust in You…
But as for me, I trust in You,
O Lord, I say, You are my God.
My times are in Your hand.
[Tweet “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, You are my God. My times are in Your hand. Psalm 31”]
July 2, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on Moments of my life
I give the moments of my life over to You, Eternal One.
Thank You Lord, for a new month full of new opportunities.
Please, in this new month, help me to use my time more productively, for You. My days seem to vanish one after the other with so little achieved to show for it.
Dear Lord, help me to see my time as a gift from You, entrusted to me for stewardship, to be used wisely. Show me the way You want me to use the hours and the minutes of my days. Help me to set the right priorities, focused on You.
It feels like there’s so much I need and want to do, pulled in so many directions by so many competing demands and distractions. Help me to see what is most important. Help me to always choose love, and to keep my eyes on You. Life comes from You. Love comes from You. Following You and doing Your will in my life is the most important thing, but too often the one that gets pushed to the side.
In this new month, please remind me You are with me. Thank You for Your love and support. Thank You that You never ever leave or desert me.
You are always there for me. All I need to do is ask.
July 1, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on Finding my way…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
Dear Lord, please help me to grow in trust. Help me to know that You will always provide what’s needed when I ask, whether it’s story ideas or health or patience or paying the bills. Help me to remember to seek You first, not as a last resort.
I have such a tendency to try to do it on my own. I rely way too much on my own limited understanding. And it’s no surprise I get lost, because not only am I reading the map upside down, it’s in Polish!
You are the only answer. Prayer is the most practical thing I can do, in all situations. Then when I take action, it will be guided by You. It will be supported by You. I’ll be on Your path. I’ll know I’m not in it alone, because You are there with me.
Thank You for that!
[Tweet “Prayer is the most practical thing I can do, in all situations, because then my actions will be guided by God”]
June 30, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on A renewed heart…
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And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
Dear Lord, help me to love and follow You, and be willing to see if there is anything in my life I’ve made more important than You.
You ordered the people in Ezekiel’s time to set aside their false gods, and look only to You. You promised that if they did, You would bring them home from exile, and You would renew their hearts and spirits.
Please Lord, do the same for me. So many things can become idols when we seek them above all else, when we value anything else higher than You. Even things that can be blessed gifts You can provide, like the desire for human love and marriage, the longing for a child, or seeking after financial success.
All can become worthless little gods, if wanting them gets in the way of me trusting You to bring me what is best for me. So one by one, You’ve smashed them, and I’ve cried and ranted and hardened my heart against You, not realising what a blessing You gave. Now, I see why these things came to me in Your time not mine, or not at all.
Please, make me new in You. Make me tender and responsive. Renew Your Spirit in me. Help me to see what is real and true and lasting.
I want to be Your child, and I want You to be my God and Father. I want You more than these other things I’ve sought. None of them last forever, but You are eternal.
You are faithful and true, and You always keep Your promises.
Thank You for that.
[Tweet “God is faithful and true to those who choose to follow Him, and He always keeps His promises.”]
June 29, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on If I don’t have love…
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Dear Lord, help me to be patient and loving as I do for my husband all the things he can no longer do for himself.
Help me to see the many ways I am just as weak and wounded and in need. Help me to see the only difference is, my weaknesses and wounds are on the inside. Just as real, but not showing on the surface the way his do.
I can ignore mine, pretend they don’t exist, pretend I don’t need help and healing. I deny my wounds, and instead, I throw tantrums with You. I complain it’s not fair, I didn’t sign up for this when we got married.
You remind me I did.
This is what “in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better and for worse” truly means. Those aren’t just pretty words, they are promises. A promise I made and I intend to keep. But I can only do that if I accept Your help. Your Love. Your support.
You make it real, Lord. You give the joy in the journey. You remind me that in all of this, love is the only real and lasting thing.
I may speak in different languages, whether human or even of angels. But if I don’t have love, I am only a noisy bell or a ringing cymbal. 1 Cor 13:1 ERV
[Tweet “In all the busyness of life, God reminds us – love is the only real and lasting thing.”]
June 28, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on Living in God’s Love
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13 NIV
Teach me to focus on You Lord, not on the little things. All those little things add up to a life, but putting You and Your love at the centre is what makes them beautiful. Your love is what lifts the thousand little nothings that make up our days, and makes them more, a life lived for You.
Thank You for teaching me how to love. Thank You for teaching me what a good life really means. It’s a life of love, with You at the heart.
Please, help me to remember that, when I get distracted, when non-love takes control, when I forget to put You first, to put Love first. When life starts to feel a struggle, a battle. When all the little nothings become resentments. When other people’s needs become demands, not blessed opportunities to serve You.
I don’t want that. I want to live with You and in You and through You. I want the life of love You promise us. I want to do Your will. I want to know Your joy. I want to be Your mouth and Your hands and Your feet here on earth, so that it truly can become as Heaven. But I’m weak and I forget and I put my own needs first sometimes. A lot of the time.
Forgive me Lord, and help me to forgive myself. Teach me that all I need to do is ask, and You do forgive, You do wash my failures away, You do stand beside me to strengthen me for next time. You still love me, no matter how many times I stumble and fall. You’re there to pick me up again, as soon as I look to You and ask for help.
Thank You for that. Thank You for Your endless grace and mercy. Thank You for Your love. It’s the thing that makes all the difference.
[Tweet “God’s love lifts all the little nothings of our days, and makes them more, a life lived for Him.”]
June 27, 2015
by autumn macarthur
Comments Off on Forgiven, but not yet perfect
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In Christ, we are made free by His sacrifice. We have forgiveness of sins, by His rich grace.
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Sometimes, the biggest danger we face isn’t things that are obviously wrong. They are easy to spot and sidestep. We don’t fall into those snares.
But there are so many sneaky insidious ways we can get tripped up. Things that look good. Sometimes, it even comes from other Christians. The blog posts and Facebook pages and Pinterest boards that unintentionally tell lies about the Christian life. The ones that give an image of perfection that no one can live up to. The ones that are always sweet and always loving and always kind.
The ones we compare ourselves to, and feel envy or resentment or depression about. The ones that make us feel we don’t measure up, that somehow we’re the only ones with messy lives. The only ones who don’t smile and love our way through everyday. The only ones who don’t always feel the joy.
Real Christians aren’t that image of perfection. We all mess up. We all have feelings we’d rather we didn’t. We all fall into temptation, just like everyone else. The one difference between a Christian and someone who isn’t, is that we know we can turn to Jesus, both for forgiveness, and for help to do it better next time.
But if we keep stuck behind the mask, of ‘everything’s fine’, of trying to fix ourselves by our own strength, we can’t get either. To be forgiven, we need to admit we failed. To call on God’s help, we need to admit we’re weak and can’t do it on our own.
He is there. For all of us, always.
All we need to do is ask.
[Tweet “To call on God’s help, we need to admit we’re weak and can’t do it on our own.”]