Psalm 118 v 24 'This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.' We went to church today and this was the verse that the sermon was preached on. The sabbath is the Lord's day and we are to rest in Him. Anne and I are doing really well and enjoyed a night out with friends last night and thank you as that was a real blessing. I continue to be strong physically due to the blessings of the Lord and we are continuing to walk in the peace only He can provide.
Each day is provided by Him and we should live it for Him. It was a real blessing to know that the sabbath is a day of rest this morning and that we should rejoice in Him and be glad. We are using this day to rest, entertain and be with God's people. What a blessing! Thank you once again for all your prayer it humbles me to think a sinner such as myself can have so many faithfully praying to Christ for us. Thank you. I love how Paul has such an attitude of thanks before God in his letters and I wish to copy this example. Thank you for your prayers, love, support and encouragement it really is a tower of strength.
Verse for the day: Psalm 118
Prayer for the day: That we would continue to find rest and find peace in Christ alone. For our families and friends that God would continue to minister to them and that He would really uphold all of their needs. God would really continue to speak to us through His word of His will for our situation. That people would come to Christ through our situation and head knowledge would become heart-felt relationship.
As you know, Glen, it's your blogs and spiritual strength that have introduced me to a meaningful and reciprocal relationship with the Lord. Though I was baptised, confirmed and educated as a Catholic, religious traditions and practices had always felt like externally imposed superstitious activities rather than personal spiritual ones. So, as yet, my Sundays in adulthood do not include communal acts of church worship. Nor do they accord with the traditional notion of rest. But I trust that God recognises my unconventional means of prayer and adoration. Because, despite my present unemployment (in which all days might seem alike) Sundays are very special to me.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, who is himself in increasingly poor health from multiple conditions including cancer of the throat and mouth, adopts a more orthodox notion of Sunday rest. On weekday mornings he usually joins me at the swimming pool, where he struggles but conquers 12 or 14 lengths then waits paitently whilst I complete my manic 50! On Sundays he stays at home and awaits my return with his newspaper. So, on God's day of rest, I enjoy the luxury of swimming 100 lengths, each and every stroke of which is an act of love and prayer. You, Stephen (my husband), Lucy, my sibblings, neices, nephews, great-neices and -nephews and all our families are the focus of my thoughts throughout.
After dropping the newspaper back for Stephem, I then take the first half of the Jack Russell pack out for a walk. Today we went to a lovely park in Uttoxeter, where coincidentally we met up with a number of cherished canine and human friends. Although this is fairly much a daily activity, it remains nonetheless a source of spitutual joy and peace (if the latter can be understood in the company of boysterous and exhuberant terriers!). Again, I have come to experience this as an act of prayer and thankfulness to God. I am confident that my/our/The Lord appreciates the importance to me of seeing my pets enjoying a fulfilled life of love, joyous activity and enjoyment. So a lovely long walk along a frost-covered canal towpath with the "second shift" of dogs this afternoon was a similar act of worship. The sky was clear and blue, and even at its seasonal low angle the sun had a comforting warmth. This brings the promise and optimism of spring in a few more short weeks. Indeed, I thanked God that despite the recent snows, frosts and record-breaking low temperatures there are already plump swollen buds on the trees and hedgerows.
So this Sunday, the Lord's day, has been very special for the McGrath household, as it has been Chez Heggarty. The dogs and I are all well exercised and have revelled in the joys of good health and uninhibited mobility and energy. Stephen. on the other hand, under the guise of houseboung rest, has experienced the human conditions of hoping, dreaming and praying for a positive outcome to Liverpool's first match under the new Management. He has probably burnt up more nervous and emotional energy than the rest of us put together!
Now, as our chicken roasts in the oven. and everypne else this end dozes in peaceful anticipation, I am so happy and content. This is magnified by the knowledge that you and Anne have enjoyed a similar day of worship, companionship and the company of those you love.