Terri's Wellspring

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

We are so thankful and excited about the gift of another day. It is an opportunity to look to the future and to new experiences and new levels of faith in our Father. Whatever God has instructed to do or puts afresh on our hearts today, we can approach with gladness because our Father is able to provide for all our needs.

Dear Father-

I dedicate this day to You. Today is such a precious gift. I am so thankful for waking up with a mind to serve You. I seek to honor Your gift with holy and honorable living. I want my words, my thoughts and my actions to reflect Your love for me. I will keep praises on my lips and thanksgiving in my heart. With a glad heart I will serve You. I dedicate this day to You.

Amen

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-2

I admire people who have the ability to focus on a goal and work toward it without getting weighed down with the challenges of living. They seem to be able to fix their eyes on their goal down the road and work diligently toward that goal no matter what comes their way. I am working on having that kind of laser focus in my life.

Our passage today is about fixing our eyes on Jesus. We have so many followers that have gone before us, leaving a trail that is encouragement to throw off every hindrance in our lives. We should avoid every sin, every distraction and each thing that will keep us from running swiftly toward our goal. Our Father did not just provide grace, mercy and salvation for us alone. He has given each one of us purpose and work to do to build His Kingdom. Now, like never before we should commit our focus and our hands to getting it done.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NASB

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Everything I have yet to experience starts now. The dreams, accomplishments, the places I want to see, the languages I want to learn, the quilt I want to make and the better health I want to create in my life. It is sometimes hard to see the start of a new day as a place of beginning for what will take the rest of my days but new mercies come with the dawn.  A renewed spirit comes with a rested mind. A new start comes with a decision to do so, making a conscious effort to focus on the things that matter.

So we begin again, reminded of the dreams of my heart for my life and my family. Recognizing the power of God’s blessing and favor in guiding my steps along the journey; Being assured that the Holy Spirit will guide me toward greater love, compassion and more of His kindness to those around me; Having the full confidence and faith knowing that He is perfecting, that which concerns me.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

Today is a precious gift.  No matter how the day ends, we will never be able to relive or recapture the time available to us on this day.  I have a lot of things and maybe an unreasonable amount of tasks that I hope to accomplish today.  So I want to put first things first.  I am so thankful for the opportunity of today that I am asking God for wisdom, clarity of direction and strength to accomplish what is needed according to His plan for my life. I don’t want to squander time with distractions and toiling.  I am asking our faithful Father to provide laser focus on His will and His ways for me.  I will honor God in my thinking and my actions, with full confidence that He is able to activate the gifts in me to advance His plans for my life today.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

Today is a precious gift.  No matter how the day ends, we will never be able to relive or recapture the time available to us on this day.  I have a lot of things and maybe an unreasonable amount of tasks that I hope to accomplish today.  So I want to put first things first.  I am so thankful for the opportunity of today that I am asking God for wisdom, clarity of direction and strength to accomplish what is needed according to His plan for my life.  I don’t want to squander time with distractions and toiling.  I am asking our faithful Father to provide laser focus on His will and His ways for me.  I will honor God in my thinking and my actions, with full confidence that He is able to activate the gifts in me to advance His plans for my life today.

We thank you God for strength for today.

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. Psalm 138:8

At this stage of my life I’m expecting to see growth and maturity in my walk with the Lord. My faith should be stronger, my love for others should be evident and I should be able to stand firm when the winds blow.  I am expecting more peace, more joy and more contentment that doesn’t change like the weather forecast. Well, as you might have imagined, I have some work to do. I am thankful for His mercy and His grace that continues this process. Wherever we are in our journey, God is faithful to the work of His hands.  As His children we can have confidence that He will continue the work that He has begun in us.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.  Psalm 51:10 (Amplified)

I admire people who can run long distances.  They seem to have the right balance of focus, technique and endurance to finish their course.  A marathon runner offers important lessons for each of us trying to make it. Their success is often based on consistency in their pace, their determination and their ability to endure the journey.  My prayer today is that God would create a heart in each of us that is based on His righteousness, with the determination to persevere and the firm direction to keep moving toward His purpose for our lives.

“Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”  I Thessalonians 5:17-18

There is so much to thank God for. Our lives are filled with blessings.  While reading this morning, someone is illiterate, another has not seen a computer before and yet another is facing a life of absolute poverty that we can’t imagine.  Growing up in my father’s church, the saints of God would often start testimony service by thanking God for their life, health and strength.  These are things that we often take for granted, until they are in jeopardy.  The act of breathing in and out without a thought is a blessing beyond measure.  Just ask someone with asthma or emphysema.  Keeping a point of the view that recognizes God’s faithfulness and mercy helps us to respect each blessing.

As blessed people, we are compelled to be thankful and also to honor the blessing by blessing others. We can show gratitude by demonstrating kindness, sharing our resources or simply smiling to those who need encouragement.  We can be thankful for being blessed and honoring this blessed life by being a blessing to others.

Brothers and sisters, I can’t consider myself a winner yet.  This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:12-13

Have you ever walked with a small child who is not focused on where you are going? You may be trying to get to a destination but even though you are walking hand in hand you notice that the child is looking behind. It makes the walk more difficult and requires more effort until the toddler decides to focus on where you both are traveling instead of where you have been. This situation reminded me of my sometimes difficult walk in life when I dwell on things in the past. Focusing on the future is a hard task when we decide we fix our attention on things that are behind us. We cannot change what has already happened. While I can’t relive it, I can ask the Lord to help me with how I feel about it. I can ask and receive forgiveness from Him. I can give forgiveness to another who may have caused harm. We can even ask the Lord about wisdom that we don’t repeat mistakes. Each of these steps is a part of a turning motion to focus on our future. God has such an exciting future for each of us when we are fully focused on the prize that lies ahead. Decide today to turn our attention on the path in front of us and don’t look back.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom He has called according to His plan.    Romans 8:28

Life is often a series of varied experiences that with a naked eye it would be hard to believe that one thing contributed to the other.  I am sure that many of us go through some things in life and wonder how could this possibly be a part of His plan for me.  And it may be true that some things are not His perfect will for our lives. We may have made some choices not based on His word and some hard lessons may need to be learned.  Or maybe someone else’s poor decisions may have negatively impacted our lives.  Despite all the things that we experience, once our situations are given to God, He is able to take the remnants of all of our experiences and weave them together for our good.   This blessing from God I liken to a beautiful quilt that is composed of the shapes of our experiences.  The individual shapes are colored with a spectrum of our joys and our pains.   Standing alone an individual shape may be incredibly undesirable and ugly but in God’s hands woven with His grace and His mercy, stitched with His love, His peace and His joy it becomes a part of the beautiful fabric of our lives in Him.