On My Father's Lap

My favorite time is when I climb into my Father’s lap. I know He’s always there waiting and inviting me to sit with Him awhile. I know He’ll always welcome me no matter how I’ve grown, what I look like, where I’ve come from, or how long it’s been since I was with Him.

This is such a special time. It’s a time when, though my family is large, my Father has reserved for just He and I to be together. He invites me to talk with Him and to share what’s on my mind and in my heart.

My Father listens to my every word. He seems to understand my pain, concerns, heartbreaks, and worries, and He shares in my joys and sorrows. While sometimes He may respond, in His quiet voice, other times I know that through His silence His response will come later, and that He will faithfully respond at another time.

He knows all of those that I talk to Him about and through His responses; sometimes I believe that He knows them much better than I do. His words of wisdom I may not immediately understand, yet I have grown to know that sooner or later I will see that what he speaks will make all things clear.

My favorite time, while in my Father’s lap is when neither He nor I say anything. How wonderful the assurance that at that time there is no one else around – just my Father and me. I lay my head against His chest, hear His heartbeat, listen to His breaths, and feel the warming comfort of His arms around me.

My Father’s lap, no safer place, nowhere more comfortable – an ever-present place of solitude where love is expressed and felt like no other. I love to be there, yet often forget to go there when I am so wrapped up in things going on in my life and in the world around me.

While I know that I can’t stay there every hour of every day, I know that when I most need Him He will always be there ready and waiting for me to climb back into His lap and find the comfort, reassurance, healing and hope that can only be found there.

He told me of another Son that died before I was born. He said that His Son also climbed upon His lap when He needed comfort, reassurance, or just to listen to His Father’s heartbeat. He said that, though it might be hard for me to understand, because this Son died it was possible for me and His other children to climb into His lap.

My Father has shared with me that one day I, and my brothers and sisters would all be able to gather around Him, along with His Son. He said that His Son would come to gather us to take us to our Father. He said that then we would never need to leave Him – how grand that day will be.

I don’t know when that day may come, but I do know that until then my Father is just waiting for me to climb into His lap - no matter how I’ve grown, what I look like, where I’ve come from, or how long it’s been since I was with Him.

JMc 2/16/2007

In God's Will

As I awake today where shall I go?

When I get there will I even know?
What does God want me to see?
I wonder, just what He wants me to be?

I long to just serve Him and not to seek fame.
I want Him to love me and know me by name.
I'll swim any river or climb any hill
I just want to please him and be in God's will

JMc

Please go to this web site for a wonderful movie about God's Will.

http://www.inspiringthots.net/movie/wog.php

The Trap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer

and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning,

"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the

house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,

"Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is

of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap

in the house."

The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,

but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you

are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm

sorry for you but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to

face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house; like the

sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the

darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the

trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the

hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you

treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his

hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came

to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer

butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people

came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to

provide enough meat for all of them.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think

it doesn't concern you, remember when one of us is threatened,

we are all at risk.

In the book of Genesis, Cain said this about Abel, his brother,

to our God: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep

an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage

one another.

REMEMBER: EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S

TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

~Author Unknown~

Expect The Unexpected!

"Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!" - Andrew Murray



Pray possibility into the impossible, hope into the hopeless, strength into the weak, healing into the terminal, and love into the unloved ... Wait for His response, being alert, and be prepared to give thanks to Him for the unexpected ways that He will answer your prayers.

A CHOSEN VESSEL

The Master was searching for a vessel to use;

On the shelf there were many - which one would He choose?

Take me, cried the gold one, I'm shiny and bright,

I'm of great value and I do things just right.

My beauty and luster will outshine the rest

And for someone like You, Master, gold would be the best!

The Master passed on with no word at all;

He looked at a silver urn, narrow and tall;

I'll serve You, dear Master, I'll pour out Your wine

And I'll be at Your table whenever You dine,

My lines are so graceful, my carvings so true,

And my silver will always compliment You.

Unheeding the Master passed on to the brass,

It was wide mouthed and shallow, and polished like glass.

Here! Here! cried the vessel, I know I will do,

Place me on Your table for all men to view.

Look at me, called the goblet of crystal so clear,

My transparency shows my contents so dear,

Though fragile am I, I will serve You with pride,

And I'm sure I'll be happy in Your house to abide.

The Master came next to a vessel of wood,

Polished and carved, it solidly stood.

You may use me, dear Master, the wooden bowl said,

But I'd rather You used me for fruit, not for bread!

Then the Master looked down and saw a vessel of clay.

Empty and broken it helplessly lay.

No hope had the vessel that the Master might choose,

To cleanse and make whole, to fill and to use.

Ah! This is the vessel I've been hoping to find,

I will mend and use it and make it all Mine.

I need not the vessel with pride of its self;

Nor the one who is narrow to sit on the shelf;

Nor the one who is bigmouthed and shallow and loud;

Nor one who displays his contents so proud;

Not the one who thinks he can do all things just right;

But this plain earthy vessel filled with My power and might.

Then gently He lifted the vessel of clay.

Mended and cleansed it and filled it that day.

Spoke to it kindly. There's work you must do,

Just pour out to others as I pour into you.

~Author Unknown~