Author: Marie

Love the Lord! Wife. Mother. Blessed beyond measure. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Devotional ~ Precious

👋 Hey there! Do you ever hit pause and really stop to think about how precious you are to God? Websters Dictionary defines precious as of great value or high price; highly esteemed or cherished. Cherished. You are so special to the One who created you. Who breathed life into you and oh how He loves you! If you could count the grains of sand would you be able to comprehend how loved you truly are? The depth of His love for you is far more than you can ever imagine.

God’s love is amazing, exceptional, never ending, words on earth probably don’t even begin to touch on how truly precious we are to Him. When I think about God and His love, it is humbling to know I am precious to Him. You are precious to God and you can have comfort knowing that He is watching over you. What an amazing, awesome, and wonderful God we serve. I pray that your day is blessed beyond measure and the you will see God at work in and around you today and every day. God bless. ❤

Devotional ~ Expectation

Expectation. Have you ever expected something to happen only to be disappointed when it didn’t turn out the way you thought it would or even should? Maybe you had plans to do something and those plans fell through. Or someone said that they would do something and for some reason didn’t. When our expectations fall on man’s shoulders or even our own we can’t have the assurance that everything will always work out all of the time.

There have been times when people have said that they would do something and for one reason or another didn’t follow through with it. That feeling of disappointment thinking that whatever didn’t happen was somehow my fault. I also remember times when I have done the same thing unintentionally, and how I felt to disappoint someone. It is unfortunate and uncomfortable when it happens, that feeling of letting someone down. And while it isn’t a good feeling, I’m certain I’m not the only one who has felt that way at one time or another.

But when we put our expectation in God, we have the assurance that He will not disappoint. He is our rock and our salvation. He delivers on what He says He will do. He is our defense and He will keep us protected. With God as our protector we can rest in the knowledge that no weapon formed against us will prosper. 

O God, You are my rock, my salvation. You defend me from the attacks of my enemy. I wait on You, O God, for I trust in You and my expectation is in You alone. Man cannot move mountains, create a world filled with beauty, or speak life into an empty void. But You did that and more. You planned for man's redemption through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ. May I always honor You in all that I do. Create in me a clean heart, daily renew a right spirit in me. Abba I love You with all that I am and I trust in You. I thank You for loving me and praise Your holy name, in Jesus name amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

God bless and have a wonderful day! ❤

Today’s Devotional~

Jesus is our peace. His peace is all encompassing. His love for us is without fail beyond anything that we can imagine. And if you know me, I have a pretty good imagination. If you are like me, you can probably make out all types of interesting shapes, objects, and animals in the clouds or even in plants. One year, I found the face in the dying flower of a Christmas cactus.

And in that regard, try to imagine if you will just how deeply loved you truly are by the Father. By Jesus.

This peace that the Lord gives us, He willingly chose to bridge the gap, by tearing down the wall that separated us from God. By giving us a way to the Father, He gave us a way to an everlasting peace unlike anything we can imagine. We need only to accept it.

I pray that your day is blessed and that you will find peace, and joy in the little things around you. Look beyond the material to what is eternal. God bless!

And The Winner Is…

Photo by Ru016bdolfs Klintsons on Pexels.com

Happy Friday everyone! Have you ever said “I’ll be glad when I win the lottery, but first I have to play it before I can win it!” Or something similar? We’ve all probably said something along those lines at one time or another.

I was thinking about that statement the other morning, after reading a devotional, when another thought popped into my head. “God’s storehouse is never ending and I’d rather have from His storehouse that never ends than from the world’s lottery that will end.” I thank God for reminding me where my true provision comes from! Isn’t our God awesome? One of the many names that God is known by is Jehovah – Jireh *The Lord will Provide. He is our source and our provider.

And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Genesis 22:14

And my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

I thought about our many blessings of late and how God has made provision for us. Recently we’ve had several large hits to our finances and at least another one that we know of next week. But God in His infinite wisdom has provided for what we needed when we really needed it and not when we thought we needed it. How amazing and wonderful is our God!

And He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Romans 8:32

How can we doubt the magnitude and love of this amazing God we serve? Do you believe He can do more than what you could ever hope or imagine for? He can and He will if you open the door to Him. God bless!

Clearly Blessed, Fully Loved

Not long ago, a friend of mine blessed me with this cute little bag. At the time, I had no idea how I could put it to use, it was too big to put in a purse, I already had a bag for makeup, and so it sat for a few weeks as I contemplated what I could use it for. I’ve seen some women use these bags as mini-purses, not really my thing. Other times I’ve seen them used to hold stuff in purses or bags, but I already a similar smaller bag for my loose items in my purse. So it sat on the bottom shelf of my buffet table staring back at me each night as I painted or worked on devotionals.

One night while painting, I noticed the bag again beckoning to me to put it to use. It hit me that I could use it for my paints. I had several tubes of paints that needed a place to be stored in and so I put it use. In the beginning there were only about four or five tubes that sat at the bottom of the bag. I had other tubes of paints that were in their original store bought package that I had to open and pull out of the box every time I wanted to use them. So I tossed those in the bag as well and threw away the package. Then I added even more tubes of individual paints as I purchased them and before long my bag was full.

As I sat down to work on today’s post, I was at a loss as to what the Lord wanted me to share. I had started to work on one of my drafts and it just didn’t seem to want to come together. I had taken a deep breathe, prayed, took a sip of water, and as I glanced up from the computer I noticed out of the corner of my eye this little bag beckoning to me, grabbing my attention once more.

CLEARLY BLESSED, FULLY LOVED

I thought about how this simple little statement held a big message behind it. The clear bag while it starts out empty, begins to fill up with whatever we may put into it. We can actually watch as it begins to fill with stuff. As sinners, our bag is empty of the presence of God. When we become Christians, our bag begins to fill will the love of God as He pours into our lives what we allow Him to do. We become transparent as we grow in Him and others begin to see Christ in us. As our bag continues to fill up, we begin to see how blessed and loved we are. As it overflows, the love of God is poured out spilling into the lives of those around us.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

This is My commandment, that you one another as I have loved you.

John 15:12

Remember you are blessed, you are loved, and God has more for you as He fills you to overflowing. For His glory. His purpose. Are you ready? If you have read this to end, know that you have been prayed over. God bless!