My Determined Life of Worship ~

 Hello to you my dear readers and friends!

As I'm sitting here by the fire writing this post

I can't help but think of those of you who live in a warmer climate, 

here it is {{freezing}} outside! 
Some of you are experiencing frigid temperatures so
be very careful as you venture outside. 
I was talking with my Chiropractor (who is from Minnesota) and he shared 
of a year when there was below freezing temps with a wind chill of below 50 
that would cause frost bite if you were outside for any length of time.
Oh be very careful!

I will soon be headed to Arizona for some warmer days

as I spend time with my dear mom. 
Donatella and I will be traveling alone, I'm driving this time so
I would much appreciate your prayers ~ and thank you so much!

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With each New Year many of us have goals that we set for our lives.

While I'm not one for resolutions per se I usually have a goal that I 

prayerfully lay before the Lord that I desire to work on in order

to better my life in some way or another.  

Spiritually there is always something that I long to do better

and this year the desire of my heart longs to block out the noise

that seems to find its way into my worship time with God. 

I'm finding noise to be the enemy of my soul, 

so it's time to examine the area of my worship time with God. 
Life just seems to find a way of becoming cluttered 
with all sorts of activities and things that rob us of the one essential thing
we need most in our lives, the worship of God.
Often times I find myself rushing through my quiet worship time, 
how sad is that!?

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We enjoyed having our three oldest grandsons through the New Year

so I was not able to pray in the New Year quietly

as I have in the past years.
After their return home I sat down and focused on a plan for having a

determined life of worship making notes of the things that would

benefit me in my daily time alone with my Savior. 

As I said earlier, noise seems to be the enemy of my soul;

therefore, I had to be honest with myself and ask the question, why?

Well... now that I'm home and not having to leave early

for work and other activities that would cause me to rise early,

I now try and have that precious "Quiet Time" much later in the day. 

For others that works great, but for me, not so much.

So...

Get out of bed Debbie!!
Now it's not that I'm sleeping until noon, I could never do that, 
but it's those early and I mean early hours of the day
when I found such quiet and alone time with God.

I will say, I have enjoyed staying in bed just a little longer these days, 

but if I am going to be honest with myself, it's not a good thing. 

I've now experienced both sides of the coin and I like being a 

Perky Patty over a Sleepy Head.

"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. "

~ Proverbs 8:17 ~
 I must get back to what I know works best for me,

seeking God in those early hours.

"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee;

my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee

in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."

~ Psalm 63:1 ~

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I must worship God in spirit and in truth.

"But the hour cometh, and now is, 

the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth;

for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. "

~ John 4:23 ~

God is Spirit ~
 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; therefore, 

the Spirit is the only one properly to lead

my heart to worship God acceptably.

My prayers need to be with all sincerity, with honesty,

with simplicity and from the heart. ♡

I need to return to my quiet little corner early in the morning 

before the noise and activities of my world creep in. 

With my Bible outspread before me, I will be still and wait on God.

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

~ John 8:8 ~

While I'm alone with God, the Scriptures assure me that

as I draw near to God I will begin to hear Him speak to my heart.

Awww...that still small voice begins to speak

and in the quietness of my morning, God meets me.
As a follower of Christ, I have a responsibility to maintain
my worship time alone with God on a daily basis
and the effect of all my love and devotion to God will be this:
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, 
even by the Spirit of the Lord. "
~ 2 Corinthians 3:18 ~


Take Joy!
Debbie

Lesson on my Daily Walk~

 I love taking walks and many times it will be then that God shows 

me something in my life where I need to learn a lesson.

I'm a thinker ~ My mind has a way of going places,

good places of course, with God as my focus.

He walks with me and He talks with me,

something I look forward to on a daily basis.

Not that He doesn't talk with me otherwise, its just that my walks
are a special God and I time alone, well, of course Donatella too.
I couldn't be more thankful for the beauty that surrounds our home
making my walks all the more enjoyable.
The snow surrounding the creek is like soft marshmallow 
or fluffy white pillows, just gorgeous!
When the earth is blanketed with snow there is a beautiful quietness,
a hush in the air as even the winter birds sing softly and sweetly. 
The ice crystals on the branches of the growth near the creek
are reminders that Jack frost is still in the air. 

After I rescued Donatella her and I took a private obedience training course

together and I must say, I learned a lot about a dog's behavior.

We do not know the story of Donatella's previous owners or her life,

 our trainer said "maybe it's better that we don't."

Donatella was running from something when I found her

and it took a good year for her to stop running.

She is now at peace in our home and happy with her surroundings

and the love that she gets from other family members.

She is a real JOY in my life! 

I believe God knew that she would find a special place in my heart

and that she has!

With Donatella being a Beagle, she is happiest sniffing rather than walking,

but her tummy needs more than what her nose can give her.

I have always leashed Donatella as my bad knees could never reach her

should she decide to run and take off, which she did once

and thankfully a lady walking on our road was able to get to her.

I was in tears ~ I thought for sure I had lost my new best friend.

While I was out on one of our latest walks the Lord began to show me something

through Donatella's leash.

In the winter month's there is a shortage for Donatella to sniff

due to all the snow we have where we live ~

high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

I have always walked on a certain side of our quiet dirt road

and it's been that way since Donatella made her way into my life.

But...lately She has decided that she is going to fight me and walk on the 

opposite side of the road thinking there is more over there to sniff!

WRONG!!

As we walk I am constantly tugging at her leash and telling her

"no, this side please."

Oh she obediently listens and responds to my command,

but it's a constant tugging and commanding.

As I gently tugged at Donatella's leash and commanded her to return to my side,

the Holy Spirit was tugging at my own heart.
I could hear those gentle words going through my mind ~

How many times does the Lord gently remind you, Debbie, to obey His commands?

A lot!

There are things in my life where just one tug doesn't quite do it.

But God, in His love and concern for my life continues to work

ever so gently, molding and making me into the lovely vessel 

He has chosen for me to be.
I am reminded of  1Peter 1: 13-16  ~ living before God, our Holy and Righteous God. 
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober, and rest your hope fully upon grace that is to be
brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts 
as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is Holy, 
you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 
"Be ye holy for I am holy."
The desire of my heart is to obey my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 
in every area of my life with one tug to my heart, not many. 
Teach me Lord, and make me more like You.

"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
being fruitful in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God. 
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, 
into all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."
 ~ Colossians 1:10&11 ~

Take Joy!
Debbie
♡

My Word ~ Joy!

Hello Dear friends!

I trust your Christmas Holiday was beautiful, surrounded by your loved one's

and the New Year has found you with peace in your heart

as you look to God with each new day for His unfailing love towards you

because of the hope we have through the promises

of God found in the Scriptures.

My husband and I were blessed by bringing in the New Year

with our three oldest grandsons.

We had a most wonderful time!

Lots of sledding and snow playing days where forts and snow tunnels

were created using their "boy" imaginations. 😉

We had two daughters and mostly girls in both of our family's,

so we are learning how very different the two are from one another.

God's perfect and lovely design as He created male and female

in His image amazes me time after time.

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I have been pondering and praying on the word "JOY" for some time now

and though joy has been a word I love to use and apply in my life,

I have chosen the word "JOY" because of the qualities of this word.

"Rejoicing" keeps coming to mind with my word

and that is the desire of my heart ~ to rejoice outwardly with joy

showing pleasure, delight, faithfulness and gratitude 

to God, my Savior, for His fullness of joy in my life.

In the Scriptures, God has much to show us in the way of Joy.

Verse upon verse can be found and applied to our lives

as we faithfully walk the path of life God has called us to walk.

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"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope."

(Psalm 16:9)

" You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

(Psalm 16:11)

God is present in all the experiences of life, our every day happenings

and we can take joy and be blessed and be satisfied ~ content ~

with whatever may come across our paths 

showing pleasure, delight and rejoicing with JOY overflowing

so that others will want the joy of the Lord that fills our hearts.

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"The JOY of the Lord is our strength" ~ Nehemiah 8:10

" JOY cometh in the morning" ~ Psalm 30:5

"Restore unto me the JOY of my salvation" ~ Psalm 51:12

"Thy word was unto me the JOY" ~ Jeremiah 15:16

"Will turn their mourning into JOY" ~ Jeremiah 31:13

"That our JOY may be full" ~ 2 John 1:12

Year's ago I challenged myself to start a notebook by collecting

Scripture verses about "My God" and then categorizing them so that when I wanted

to look up a verse that would pertain to a particular topic

it would be right there and handy, plus,

this is an excellent way of writing out and memorizing the Scriptures.

Maybe this New Year you too would find it a challenge 

as well as rewarding by starting your very own notebook on Scripture verses God brings to your mind or directs you to write down, memorize

and apply to your individual life?

Here are just a few of my particular topics ~

My God will hear me

My God is my shield 

My God and my tongue

 My God will be my guide

My God's mercy and grace

My God wants me to have joy

My God wants me to trust Him

My God is the Righteous Judge

God wants me to love His Word

My God is my help and strength

My God wants solitude prayer time

 My My God wants me to love my enemies

My God wants me to be a virtuous women

My list goes on, but you get the idea.
Once I have the topic I then look up Scripture verses that pertain to that topic.

Take JOY my friends and be blessed!

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

come before His presence with singing"

~ Psalm 100:1&2 ~

Joy!

 Debbie 

♡