A Long Overdue Hug and Thank You!

 Ever feel like this? This winter so far, I'm going to tell you. The cloudiness is taking its toll already. Bleck!

     I've talked about "Dewdrops of Mercy" before.  It always happens when I am at a low point.  I start to think that maybe the little things are just coincidence.  After all, why would God bother with the small stuff.  Well, He does.  Why? Because an omnipotent God can accomplish the big AND the small.  I was having a hard couple weeks at school. 

     Out of the blue, I get an email from Danice, from Homespun Hannah's Blog  saying that I had won her giveaway.  I just cried. So, you see, God is in the little things.  You also never know how God uses those who have blog giveaways to be a part of that. Never underestimate how your generosity may touch others when they need a little encouragement. God uses big and small acts of kindness because He is a wise and all-knowing God. What a relief!

So, onto Danice! Danice, thank you for having your giveaway.  Your items were precious and are well-loved. Look at what was in the package...

Look at all of these wonderful goodies! 

I love this quilted square! This is going to be out all year! It is just what my new coffee table needed!

Soooooooooo sweet! Love!

Huge hugs to you, my dear friend! For your thoughtfulness, generosity, and taking the time to visit my blog!

I am going to try to blog more.  I need to stay up with sewing and writing as a creative way to relieve stress and anxiety. My husband has been really encouraging me to do that. 

Please also, in any comments you leave, write a prayer request that I can pray over for you! I would like that to be a new part of my blog!

Happy New Year, friends!

The Marm

Morning

 by Charles Spurgeon

"Sing forth the honour of his name, make his praise glorious."
Psalm 66:2

     It is not left to our own option whether we shall praise God or not. Praise is God's most righteous due, and every Christian, as the recipient of his grace, is bound to praise God from day to day. It is true we have no authoritative rubric for daily praise; we have no commandment prescribing certain hours of song and thanksgiving: but the law written upon the heart teaches us that it is right to praise God; and the unwritten mandate comes to us with as much force as if it had been recorded on the tables of stone, or handed to us from the top of thundering Sinai. Yes, it is the Christian's duty to praise God. It is not only a pleasurable exercise, but it is the absolute obligation of his life.

     Think not ye who are always mourning, that ye are guiltless in this respect, or imagine that ye can discharge your duty to your God without songs of praise. You are bound by the bonds of his love to bless his name so long as you live, and his praise should continually be in your mouth, for you are blessed, in order that you may bless him; "this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise"; and if you do not praise God, you are not bringing forth the fruit which he, as the Divine Husbandman, has a right to expect at your hands.

     Let not your harp then hang upon the willows, but take it down, and strive, with a grateful heart, to bring forth its loudest music. Arise and chant his praise. With every morning's dawn, lift up your notes of thanksgiving, and let every setting sun be followed with your song. Girdle the earth with your praises; surround it with an atmosphere of melody, and God himself will hearken from heaven and accept your music.

 

"E'en so I love thee, and will love,

And in thy praise will sing,

Because thou art my loving God,

And my redeeming King."

Note from the Schoolmarm...  Please pray for my dear coworker and friend.  Her dear mother passed away suddenly this morning.  Thank you so much.

Pray Without Ceasing...

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

 "...Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^"

II Corinthians 1:3-5 

     Simply put... This is a prayer wall.  The Bible tells us to lift up one another in prayer and to pray without ceasing.  Jesus set the example for prayer with both His actions and in giving us a template for prayer, "The Lord's Prayer".  David was a man of prayer.  He is an inspiring, flawed man of God who laid his heart before the Lord- when he was hurting and when he was rejoicing.  With so many examples of prayer, it must be pretty important.  So, I thought we might start a prayer post.

     Now this is not an original idea.  I am sure many of you make prayer lists.  My inspiration is my mother.  She is a prayer warrior.  She has a huge list of prayer requests and praises.  When I talk to her about school or life, and she hears a need, she says, "I'll add that to my list."  And, she is faithful.  I forget sometimes. I say I will pray for something and in the walk between hearing it and writing it down, it gets lost in the clutter that is my brain.  I am trying to get into the habit of praying as soon as I hear the request.  This is especially helpful as a teacher, with my students frequently coming to me to ask for prayer.  I tried to get in the habit of saying, "How about we pray about that now?"  I was inspired to do this from a parent at my school (I taught all 3 of her children).  She made it a point to ask me whenever she saw me if there was anything she could pray for on my behalf.  If I shared something, she made it a point to hold my hands or wrap her arms around me and pray right then and there.

     So, let's combine the two- let's keep a list (in the form of comments) and when you visit, take a few moments to pray for those requests right then and there.  Please include praises too! I see so many people who are asking for prayer across the blogs I have been visiting.  Let's strive to lift up each other in prayer.  Pray for the people whose blogs you are following, whether they are believers or not.  Leave us a note to pray for a unspoken request...the Lord knows our hearts. Whatever we do, let's just pray together!

Blessings,
Heather