Joy Unspeakable!

Thanks Iris for choosing such an awesome theme for this Thankful Thursday! This is one of my favorite scriptures on Joy:

It is good to praise the LORD and make music to
your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning and
your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed
lyre, and the melody of the harp.
For you make me glad by
your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.

PS 92:1-4

Lord, I pray I will always proclaim your love and faithfulness no matter what I face each day. Thank you for the gift of joy, and all the many wonderful works of your hands I witness each day. You are a Mighty God and I give thanks to you. Your loving kindness sustains me, your grace upholds me. Be glorified in life I pray. In Jesus name, Amen.

Please join us over at Grace Alone today as see what other grateful hearts are thanking God for!

Eyes for the Eternal

Our daily schedules overflow with needs that scream for attention. Bills need paying, tests need taking, homes need repairing, the baby is crying, the phone is ringing--and before you know it an entire day has slipped away and tomorrow is at the front door. We can become so caught up with the tangible and immediate that we blind ourselves to the eternal.

Is it possible to live in this world and not be consumed and driven by its demands?

Jesus also faced immediate needs, both His own and those in the sea of humanity around Him. His body needed rest and nourishment, taxes needed paying, mankind needed healing--but we never see Him driven or gripped by anxiety. In the midst of the immediate, He never lost sensitivity to the miraculous.

Need is a voice that never says, "Enough!" Yet Jesus was not a slave to that voice. What was His secret?

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4.34

Jesus' food—the aim that nourished Him—was doing His Father's will and finishing His Father's work. His life was centralized around His Father and that focus placed the world's demands in proper perspective.

What is our food? What is the aim that nourishes us? Do we need a change of diet?

May Jesus’ food become ours today.

This devotion was taken from Alicia Chole's Book Until the World Knows. I pray this word spoke to your as it did mine this morning. In the midst of all our business, may we never lose sight to the true purpose of our lives.

Lord, let me never stop hungering for your word and for your truth. Give me a heart that seeks hard after you. Let me follow after you as I walk each day. In Jesus name.

And The Winner Is...

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by for my blogerversary celebration. All of your kind comments and words of encouragement meant so much to me. I'll look to getting to know all you better this coming year. Now I'm so excited to let you know who won the Bath and Body Works gift card.

You can go visit Tracy at her awesome blog, she is such a blessing to us all. I'll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Following His Steps

This scripture was taken from one of my favorite chapters in Job. Although Job was struggling in the midst of his trial, he knew that God was there with him. Job did not stray from God's commands, he valued the word more then the very food he ate! Can you imagine that kind devotion? I love Job's bold declaration of his commitment and faithfulness to follow God's ways no matter what circumstances may come.

"Lord, I pray that no matter how difficult the path becomes, or how dark the night, you will always help me to put my trust in You. I pray also that all of my children and their children as well, will follow closely after you. Let them remain faithful in their walk, obedient to your word, and steadfast to follow your ways."

Join us today over at The 160 Acre Woods!

PS!!!! If you have not joined in for my give~a~way please do!

Time to Celebrate!

"Let the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

It seems like it was just yesterday I decided to take the plunge and finally begin to blog. I had enjoyed reading blogs for some time before that but needed to gather up enough courage to start my own. Once the Lord convinced me I could do this, I took the leap, jumped in with both feet, and started

Forever His.

My main purpose and motivation was to:

1) Make my blog a place I could testify of the goodness of God

2) Record all the many wonderful things God was doing in my life for my children & grandchildren to have as a memory and legacy of who I was and how I lived my life.

My prayer is that these posts will be like David prayed. I always want the “words of my mouth and meditation of my heart to be acceptable in His sight”. In the end, my goal is to lift up and magnify the Lord Jesus, give glory to His Name, point to the truth of His Word. Hopefully draw my readers closer to Him. If I have accomplished this in even the smallest way during this past year, than all the time, effort and prayer was worth it.

As I celebrate my one year anniversary of blogging, I'd like to take a minute to give thanks for all the special women I've met and grown to love. There are so many amazing blogs out here in the blogosphere. I gleaned so much from your awesome blogs.

Today I'd like to highlight a few that have truly ministered to me in a very personal way. In no way are these the only ones I have grown to love, but they are some of the sites belonging to dear friends that I have come to know, respect and greatly admire.

When I need a lift or a smile on my face, I know where I can always find it at Lori and my close friend Tonya’s blog. Ladies you never fail to bless me, and many times make me literally laugh out loud! What a gift of joy you have.

When I need a word of inspiration, I visit Tami, Tiffany, and Kelly. Gosh, these women sure know how to take a simple lesson from everyday life and transform it into an amazing life-changing truth! I'm so thankful for your study, steadfastness, and dedication to bless so many of us out here.

And then there are those who are so gifted at teaching and expounding on the Word of God. Whenever I visit these blogs, I leave challenged to live my life more for the Lord and hungering for a greater understanding of His Truth. Thanks Elaine, Lelia, Carmen and Laurie Ann for the awesome blessing you are to all of us. What faithful stewards you are of God's word.

When I need a word of encouragement, Cheryl and Leslie's blogs are full of great scriptures and beautiful graphics. They always have a word that speaks right to my heart, as they faithfully testify to the goodness of God in every circumstance. W-O-W!

I'm especially grateful to those women who host some incredible meme's. One of the very first meme's I participated in was Marriage Mondays over at E-mom's. What a great place to visit. She always has so much information, and lots of links to so many great sites. I sure appreciate your labors of love for us! If you have never stopped by to visit E-mom you are really missing a big blessing.

Another very special, near and dear sister, who was instrumental in helping me get my blog up and running is Amy over at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31. Gosh, she should receive the award for “MOST PATIENT TEACHER OF THE YEAR”! I could not have done this without your help Amy! Thanks so much for your continual support, encouragement, and friendship. Amy is now hosting an excellent study on the book of Proverbs 31!

There are so many others I could keep talking about, and actually rarely have I ever visited any site on this wonderful network of Christian women that has not blessed me in some way. But I need to stop before this gets way too long! So...

To celebrate my Blogaversary, I'd like to give something back to you. I'll be giving a $25.00 gift card for Bath and Body Works as a way of saying thanks for being such special blessing in my life during this past year.

Just leave a comment and I'll place your name in the hopper for a chance to win. I'll be announcing the winner this Friday, October 10th!! If you are a new visitor, please let me know!

Soli Deo Gloria—“for the glory of God alone”!

May the Rebuilding Begin!

“They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long
devastated; they will renew cities that have been devastated for generations”.
Isa. 61:4

♥ On this Thankful Thursday I want to give thanks for the fact that Jesus our Lord is a Master Restorer! Isa. 61:4 was our memory verse this week in my Breaking Free bible study class. All of us have some kind of generational ruins, but the good news is they can all be rebuilt! Jesus is truly our deliverer. I was so blessed to know that every generation has an opportunity to allow the power of God’s Spirit to restore their lives no matter what has taken place, and then exert a positive influence for THOUSANDS of generations. We can be that link to freedom. Praise God for FREEDOM!!

♥ I'm thankful for the many special friends I've made this past year blogging. On Monday, I'll celebrate my One Year Blogaversary. Please stop for this special occasion.

♥ Gratefully we are now in the process of getting estimates to have our house repaired after the damage suffered from Hurricane Gustav. I'm so thankful God has sent contractor friends our way to help out.

♥ Finally, I'm thankful I'll get to see my daughter-in-love and my grand babies this weekend. This will be Kristin’s first big outing since she had baby Cole. We're looking forward to having lots of fun and fellowship. Here is a picture I took last week of Karli and Cole as they were rooting for the New Orleans Saints who won the game, which is no small miracle in itself! Yes, this is our little future football star and his proud cheer-leader!!

Please join many other grateful hearts today over at Iris's new beautiful blog Grace Alone!

Unmovable

With all the uncertainty we face each day, I'm so blessed we have something that will sustain us daily.

God's faithful word remains. His greatness and majesty
will never change! He is with us.

This is a prayer taken from a devotion I read today:

Father, in a world of so many words that are used to "spin" so many answers and aid in so much communicational manipulation, I thank you for Jesus' promises that are sure and trustworthy. Help me as I seek to build my life on your Son's promises. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Please join us today at 160 Acre Woods!