Lord, help me...

Lord, help me begin each day, 

denying self,

surrendering to You,

living in the power of your sweet Holy Spirit.

Father, forgive me for any time I have,

diluted the gospel of Christ,

watered-down my theology of who You are,

cheapened the precious blood of Jesus.

God, you are my everything.

My life-giver.

My soul-satisfier.

My thirst-quencher.

My hearts desire is to be ever,

seeking your face,

expecting Your presence,

learning who You are.

I want to know You in the deepest,

most intimate relationship possible.

I do not want to possess a dead faith.

I desire to have a faith that produces good works.

Works that bring glory and honor and praise only to You.

I want to embrace your,

self-existence,

self-sufficiency,

self-dependence.

You are Creator of all.

You are breath and life.

Beginning and End.

Sweet Manna from heaven.

The Living Water.

And I adore You.

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 Nothing else defines who God is but God Himself.

What He is and What He does is Who He is.

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Bryton, Sawyer and Laylah Beth - pictures Ashlie sent to my phone this week from Meeker, Colorado. I miss them so much!

my heart seeks

My heart seeks many things. What does it seek the most? More intimacy with God. I desire to grow deeper and deeper in love with Christ every day. I am seeking to know Him like never before. To know the deep things of God. To have a heart like His. 

One of the best ways to grow in relationship with the Lord is to memorize His Word. I am on verse # 18 in my scripture memory for this year.  I keep my spiral on my desk so I see it each morning as I go in my study to get with God. I recite my current verse each morning and then go back and recite all the ones previous to that.  Every now and then I go back and recite my 24 verses from last year so I can keep them in my memory. When you start memorizing the Word of God, you will be pleasantly surprised at how close you draw to His Spirit. There is nothing like planting His Word firmly in your head and heart to bring you to a deeper intimacy with Him.

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My heart seeks a relationship with my sweet grandbabies. I soaked up a lot of baby lovin' this past week. My youngest daughter and her family left this morning headed to Colorado to work for a few months so I needed to store some of that sweet love up in my heart so it will last me a while!

My greatest desire for my grandchildren is that they grow up to love the Lord with all of their hearts. I pray that above all else, they will be seekers of God. I pray that God will just captivate them and draw them to His side. May they love Him and accept Him as their Savior and serve Him forever.

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"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall

worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh 

such to worship Him" (John 4:23)

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My heart was so blessed today when I talked to my little Mercie on the phone. She sang a sweet song for me and I quickly realized she still has trouble with her 'C's - little  Miss 'Muppet' was eating her 'turds' and whey.....

Megan said she pulled up my blog the other day and Silas pointed at my picture and hollered "Nana"! That did my heart a world of good! I miss them so much!! I'm thinking I need to plan a road trip to Pennsylvania soon.

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My heart seeks to be totally surrendered to Christ. I desire to be so committed to Him that I don't hesitate to be obedient in anything! Oh, Lord give me the courage to step out in Faith and do what You have called me to do.  May I seek your Face above all else!

"When thou said, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,

They face, LORD, will I seek"  (Psalm 27:8)

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My heart is full of love for my boys.  I loved seeing Bryton help his little brother ride his bicycle. Even though Sawyer couldn't peddle it, Bryton walked along side him and was so sweet!

Nana loves you Bryton and Sawyer!

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My heart is full of love for my sweet girl. Just seeing her sweet little face is just too much! I spent hours just holding that little one this week so I could store plenty of it up in my heart to hold me over until they come home!

Of course, I had to get a picture of her in one of the little tutus I made her.

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Early this morning, we made our way to our daughters house to tell them goodbye. I will miss them so much, but I know that they are doing what has to be done. Cody needs to work and they need to be together as a family. I pray God's blessings upon then and will hold all the stored up love and memories in my heart until I get to hold them in my arms again. 

Nana loves you Laylah Beth

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Thank you, Lord, for blessing me for now with these. I have a heart so full of love that it is overflowing. I have been blessed beyond measure and you have generously dispensed grace to me. I am so unworthy but I am so grateful for your mercy. I love you with all that is within me. I give you all praise and glory that is due your mighty Name. 

Living to see His Face, 

Beth

fingerprints on my soul

In His Presence,

there is peace and comfort.

His goodness surrounds me and fills me with joy.

My Spirit is engulfed with His mercy and

saturated by His generous grace.

I am stilled by the awesome wonder of His majesty.

And I feel Him.....

The air is thick with the presence of Jehovah. Pressing down

and making it hard to breathe.

I sense Him and feel the warmth of Him cascade over me.

I can feel the tingle of His touch and look to see if He 

left visible fingerprints on my skin or 

perhaps only on my soul.

He is here and I close my eyes and worship.

King of glory.

YHWH.

God Almighty.

Prince of Peace.

I sit quietly, wrapped tightly in His embrace. 

Experiencing the ministry of the Holy Spirit deep

in my hungry soul, and enjoying 

sweet fellowship with my Savior.

The Presence of the Lord is overwhelming and astounding.

The sheer majesty of the One enthroned above settles

down upon me and fills me completely with His love.

His goodness. His power. His presence.

I sit in silence with my head tilted toward the heavens and my

heart flung wide open, ready to receive. My eyes are focused on Him

and my arms are reaching high to surrender my all.

All to Jesus. All to Him.

I fall on my face and I worship.

"My soul followeth hard after thee...." 

(Psalm 63:8)

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God's grace moments in my life last week:

Laylah enjoying a beautiful sunny day in her 3rd week of life.

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Laylah getting her first taste of the boppy and not being too thrilled at first.

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Watching these 2 amazing little boys play and being so thankful that I am blessed to be their Nana.

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The pure joy of colorful jawbreakers.

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My girl holding her girl..... it's almost too much for this mama' s heart.

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Papa with little Laylah Beth after church on Sunday. She already has him wrapped tightly around her little bitty finger!

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Thanking God for His bountiful blessings that He so lovingly bestows on me daily. Blessings so undeserved but so gratefully accepted. Our God is faithful and abundant and true. He is good and His mercy endures forever.

things God has taught me this week

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"God specializes in fresh starts" - (greg matte)

I am so thankful for the sweet new mercies with the Lover of our Soul. 

The Master Creator. The One who IS. New beginnings that erase

the regrets of yesterday. Praise you, Lord.

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If we are seeking God with all of our heart, we will find Him.

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Sin doesn't mix with the Holy. Mixing the Holy 

with the profane will only lead to destruction.

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If we are walking in God's will, 

we WILL experience God's power.

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God desires for us to be sanctified!

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Our longing should be for true Holiness and Righteousness. 

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We grow in relationship with God one step

of obedience at a time.

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"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,

having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His...."

(2 Timothy 2:19)

God knows His children. He knows His own. Praise God that when we belong to Him, He is our Abba Father. Our daddy. And He knows us by name. We are His forever....

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I never want to be outside of the will of God. No matter where it takes me, no matter what it calls me to do, I desire to be right in the middle of where my Lord has ordained me to be. I do not want to be where my flesh yearns to be and be out of the protective hedge of my God.  My love for my Savior has got to take first priority in my life. I want to please Him above all else. I desire to be totally surrendered. Totally empty of myself. Totally committed to YHWH. In His will. Surrounded by His glory and His presence. Focused on Him. Passionate and purposed about my pursuit of my God and King.  

Thank you, my heavenly Father, for life. Thank you for loving me and giving me the amazing gift of mercy and grace. Thank you for the salvation of my soul. You are everything to me. You are the reason I live. You are my One true desire. I love you with all the I am and I want to live my life according to your will and I want to bring honor to you in all that I do and say.

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God is so good!

This journey that I am on with God is just more than I could have ever imagined it would be. It is greater than I ever thought possible. It is more fun than anything I have ever experienced. It far exceeds my wildest dreams of the greatest joy I could ever receive. God continues to draw me closer and closer to His side. Day-by-day He leads me to seek Him more. 

I am captivated by Him. I am intrigued by Him. I am totally overwhelmed by Him. He is by far the best thing that has ever happened in my life. I can't get enough of Him. The more I learn about Him, the more I desire to learn. The closer I draw to Him, the closer I yearn to be. The more I feed myself the Bread of Life, the hungrier I get for sweet heavenly manna. God is so good.

His goodness is astounding. I am learning to be thankful for things that I used to overlook. I am beginning to see blessings everywhere I look in my life. 

I was so blessed Friday evening when my daughter and her 3 children went with me to the airport to pick up Jimbo after he (and 4 others)  had been on a mission trip to DR Congo, Africa for 2 weeks. Their trip was amazing and almost 7,000 people gave their hearts to Jesus! Praise the Lord!

These 2 boys were ready to their Papa. They ran to him as soon as they spotted him coming out of the terminal.

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God has blessed us with wonderful children and grandchildren. We are so fortunate to have such great relationships with our girls and I know that it is only because of Him! Only because of who He is and because of His mercy and grace.

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Laylah slept through all the excitement of the airport.

But she finally came awake and Papa got his hands on her after 2 long weeks!

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I am so thankful for the blessing of our newest little granddaughter. She has been such a joy in her 3 weeks of life. She is a delight and a true gift from our Lord.

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Oh, how I love her so!

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I am filled with such joy when I get a package in the mail from my precious grandbabies who are temporarily in Pennsylvania. They send me the most delightful cards and my heart just overflows with a mixture of happiness and sadness. I miss them so much and am ready for them to come home! I need some Mikaela, Eli, Mercie and Silas sugar in a HUGE way!

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God's goodness will never fail to blow me away. He has blessed me immeasurably and so undeservedly. But I am so thankful for His graciousness to me. My heart longs to see His face. I desire to be in His presence. As I seek to know Him more, I pray that I will be ever mindful of His majesty and His sovereignty. I pray that I will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. May I never forget that all I am in this life is not because of who I am, but because of Who I belong to. 

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As I filled in another page in my '1000 gifts' journal, I realized that I have so much to praise God for. I also realize that even though I am on #727 now, I am sure I have missed so many things that He has done for me.

Isn't He just so good??? 

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I am reading a book called "The Knowledge of the Holy" by A.W. Tozer and I was stunned by the reality of this quote that he starts out the book with pertaining to the world's low view of God:

"With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss

of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence.

We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability

to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence."

Oh, Lord, help us to never downplay your majestic beauty and glorious holiness! May we gaze upon your face in total awe and abandon. May we grasp the infinite and incomprehensible nature of who you are! You are indescribable. You are inexplainable. You are beyond our comprehension. You are the One true God.  Worthy of our worship and our praise. You are the eternal and everlasting God.

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"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord"

(Psalm 150:6)

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do you need a downpour?

Are you ready for a downpour in your life? A downpour of the anointing of Jesus? Do you need a good drenching, cleansing, deluge of rain in your life right now?

Are you ready to anticipate the windows of heaven opening up and sending a torrent of water to soak your Spirit in the truth of His Word and the truth of who He is? 

My face is lifted to the heavens and my arms are spread open wide. My thirsty soul is ready to receive and my longing heart is expectant as I close my eyes in worship and brace myself for the floodgates to open.

I desire to experience a real revival in my soul and in my spirit. I desire to encounter my Savior with a new heart in a new way and am expecting a new thing to begin.

As the glorious rain of the Spirit comes down, I want to be surrounded by puddles of His goodness. I want to splash in the overflowing waters of His glory. 

I want to be saturated. Soaked. Immersed.  I want the rivers of His mercy to flow around me and over me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness and wash me white as snow. 

I feel the gentle mist on my face and I smile.  I'm ready.... ready for a downpour of the sweet anointing of my Lord in my life. It's beginning to rain.

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(Laylah Beth - 10 days old)

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(Laylah - 12 days old)

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(Laylah - 2 weeks )

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Lord, thank you for new life. Thank you for the blessing of your gift of Salvation. In my unworthiness, you make me worthy. In my unrighteousness, you make me righteous. In all my failures, you make things right. I love you and praise you with all of my heart.