Day 1: Praise

Dearest visitors,

We will be using this blog for Bible study purposes for much of the summer--please feel free to come along if you so desire--we'd love to have you join us!

Through His marvelous love,

Audrey

Over the next week our study will be on the P.R.A.I.S.E. format for journaling our prayers.  Praise.  Repentance.  Acknowledgement.  Intercession.  Supplication for self.   Equipping.  In her prayer devotional, Whispers of Hope, Beth Moore says, ”I’m certain of two things:  prayerless lives are powerless lives, and prayerful lives are powerful lives.  May God “teach us how to pray” (Luke 11:1) and may we be willing to learn!” 

So before we take off on the “P” of our acrostic, let’s be sure we have a firm grasp on what prayer is.  Prayer is communication with God.  Because our God is personal, anyone can speak or pray to Him, however the most meaningful and effective prayer comes from a believer with a faithful heart.  (Believer—one who believes God is our Creator and Sustainer who sent Jesus to pay the penalty we deserved.  Faith—placing your trust in the Jesus of history and the teachings of the Bible.)  Although there are many good things we can do in this world to help others, those good deeds cannot replace prayer—we need this time to speak with God and to continually focus our lives on Him.   (paraphrased from Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1022)

Alright, let’s begin with praise.  Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines praise as “an act of worship or acknowledgement by which the virtues or deeds of another are recognized and extolled.  Our praise toward God is the means by which we express our joy to the Lord.  We are to praise God both for who He is and for what He does.” NNIBD (1022-3)

Adoration—praising God for who He is.

Thanksgiving—praising God for what He does.

Read Psalm 150:2 and note which parts of this verse express adoration and which express thanksgiving.

“Praise of God may be in song or prayer, individually or collectively, spontaneous or prearranged, originating from the emotions or from the will…We speak well of one whom we highly esteem and love.”  NNIBD (1022-3)

Listen to Beth Moore’s call to praise from Whispers of Hope:  “Begin your morning prayer time with praise.  Psalm 22:3 tells us God inhabits the praises of His people.  Sincere praise from your heart will invite God to pull up His chair and become your audience.  You might repeat to Him a few of the attributes the Word records for Him.  Tell Him Who He is!  God already knows but He’s wanting to make sure we know.  Praising God helps remind us He is fully able to do anything we could ask or think according to His will.  Tell Him how great He is and why you thing so!  You might repeat to Him the words to a hymn or worship chorus.  Don’t try to fit into a mold.  Just praise Him with your heart.” 

Look up and read these verses:

Deuteronomy 32:3

Matthew 21:14-16

Luke 2:13-20

Hebrews 13:15

Who can praise God?  Absolutely everyone!

What can you praise God for today?  Please take some time right now to post a comment for something you praise (or adore) God for, then grab a notebook or sheet of paper and begin telling God just how great you think He is!

Praise You, Holy Creator, for the marvelous pictures You paint for us daily.  Your love is so unending.  You continue to seek our best even when we're at our worst.  Thank You for Your infinite mercy, thank You for desiring a relationship with ME, thank You for orchestrating this whole summer Bible study.  You alone could do such a thing--You are Good!!!

love,

me

So Begins Something New...

well, not entirely new, but a new season.  Of Bible study that is.  I have the privilege of studying with close to 20 women and ladies this summer--all of us digging into the book of Esther to see what God has to show us and what He has planned for us.  I'm sure there'll be many surprises!  Each time I've met with them so far, I look forward to the next meeting the moment they're gone!  God's Word does wonderful things in bringing people together.  People from different backgrounds, different occupations and different aspirations.  Jesus wants to unite us all!  To fight for love and hope and peace and all sorts of other good stuff.  And that's how I tell our boys we give the enemy a good punch in the face--by keeping on doing good, even when we're tempted to do bad.  Through Christ Jesus, our LORD, we are more than conquerors...and by the end of this journey we will all be dangerous women whom the enemy should fear.  He has no power over us.  May we continually relinquish our lives to our Mighty God who will do more in us than we can even imagine.  Glory!

P.S.  I won't promise that my noodly brain (Craig and I read a book that said men's brains are like waffles and women's are like spaghetti--each thought flowing to another!) won't jump from one subject to another on this screen, but I do promise to be honest :)

Nashvill* 4Africa

So Craig surprised me by getting us tickets to the Nashvill*4Africa benefit on April 22 (in Tennessee).  We had so much fun!  My parents had our boys for a few days and we had an extended date :)  We stayed at the Hilton right across from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.  We found out Third Day, David Crowder, Mark (from Audio Adrenaline), and a couple other christian bands I don't remember the names of were staying here as well--very cool!

We headed to Jack's Bar-B-Que for dinner--Craig had looked up area restaurants before we left and they are said to have the best BBQ in the area/Nashville--their food was delicious!!  And we didn't pay that much, either :)  (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to turn the picture--anyone willing to give a pointer???)

We had plenty of time after dinner to walk around downtown for a bit and just enjoy being together--it was a blast!!A view of Schermerhorn from our hotel room--beautiful!!
And our favorite part of the trip--the music!!  Especially the African Children's Choir--they're so talented!  They sang with musicians like Keith Urban, Damien Horne, Dierks Bentley, Ashley Cleveland, The SteelDrivers, Big Kenny, and.....FAITH HILL!  I am a huge Faith Hill fan and when Craig saw that she and Africa would be combined in something he knew we had to go.  Third Day and Jars of Clay played, too, along with Brad Arnold, Ben Moody and Brandon Young.  We were familiar with about 4 of the artists/bands but they were all SO talented!

I'll leave you with one final clip--the African Children's Choir singing a blessing from Deuteronomy over all in the hall--"may the LORD bless you and take care of you."

Amazing that children from a nation so far in poverty would care to sing blessing over a nation so blessed--but they know Him, our Hope and our Deliverer.  Awesome!!

Ball Games, Gardens & Chefs

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon, but we kicked off our t-ball season with a bang last Saturday--complete with pictures, parade, 2 full innings of hitting and fielding and HOT DOGS!  Normally I don't much care for hot dogs, but Craig grilled these lowfat turkey hot dogs and we had wheat buns, so I felt a little bit better about eating them (that's right, I ate 2--and I wasn't the only one!!) and that made them taste so much better :)

The boys had a blast and were requesting to play certain positions, which the coaches allowed them to play.  We had grandparents from both sides of the family over for the big day--what a special time for Ezekiel & Isaiah!

On Monday we begin our games for both soccer and t-ball.  That's right, both on the same night.  I'm ready to soak in these next two weeks because soccer only has 2 weeks left (4 games total) and although it will be a busy 2 weeks, the boys will have so much fun!

On a different note, we are planting a garden this year and just planted our peppers tonight.  Hopefully I'll have pics of little sprouts to post in a couple weeks--we could easily have up to 35 plants if all of the seeds grow, but I doubt that will happen.  We'll plant and water and see what God does.

Before I go, I'll leave you with a few pictures of a friendly neighborhood practice baseball session we had back in February, as well as 2 proud boys displaying their chef's talent in making lunch for me!

A Peek at our Comedian

For whatever reason, Isaiah decided to be super silly and had Ezekiel and me laughing hysterically!  Enjoy!

Sundae Celebrations

We have been busy with school and Ezekiel finished one of his reading lesson books :) At certain points I've treated them with an ice cream sundae (decorated as they wish, mostly) for working so hard--it really is hard work to learn how to read and sight read so many words that do not follow the rules of our eclectic language!  Well, since we had just celebrated Easter, he came up with the idea to create a bunny sundae.  Needless to say, I put no boundaries on his creativity this time--I am so proud of him!!  (Isaiah has not been forgotten...he gets rewards at milestones as well and is doing REALLY well!)

Overwhelmed

I may ramble, but try to stick with me here...

These past few weeks have been interesting.  They began with me feeling completely overwhelmed with my "to-do" list--some stuff that really needed to be done, other stuff that would pop up throughout the day, and still other stuff that sounded more appealing to me than what really needed to be done.  Several mornings I would confess to God how overwhelmed I felt and that I really needed His help.  Then I read a wonderful Psalm during my quiet time at the beginning of last week...Psalm 37, about trusting in the LORD, committing everything you do to Him, being still in His presence, waiting for Him, allowing Him to be the avenger of wrongs and allowing Him to care for us.  Then tucked away in verses 23 & 24 David writes, "The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD.  He delights in every detail of their lives.  Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand."  I was completely overwhelmed!!!  But this time, I had a freeing feeling, not of being trapped in my "list."  So I began praying...instead of asking God to help me with my "list" or take away the awful feeling it gave me, I asked Him to overwhelm me with HIM.  He is so faithful!  This past week was full of thinking.  We prepared and observed our first Passover Seder (the Jewish Passover meal of remembrance) and the boys were definitely sure that it was special as they carried the fine china to the table with extra sensitive hands.  We remembered the sacrifice and pain and love of our Saviour on Good Friday with appropriate gloomy weather for such a day.  Then Sunday came--oh, how good it was to wake up and remember HE'S ALIVE!!!  Death is defeated, sin has no power over us, for He has broken those chains once and for all.  I was thrilled to enter His sanctuary!  We witnessed a powerful drama and I was overwhelmed by His love, His goodness, His greatness.

So, I have accomplished a lot on some days, and not so much on others (and on those I ask for more focus :), but through these last several days He has carried me on the promise that I may stumble, but I will never fall!  Glory!