Psalm 34: 1-15 "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry."

Good morning and welcome. Looks like we are in for some thunder bumpers this week pretty much predicted for every day including this afternoon, on this, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The wife's sister is here with us for her follow-up consultation regarding her recent cancer diagnosis. Thus far, the early reports have been positive in terms of early detection and the type she has. But, today, the specialists map out potential ways forward. We had prayer a little while ago before they left for her appointments. Why? We believe that God is ultimately in control and He, Creator of the universe, has invited those who are His own to bring to Him the needs we have. This is His Word from Hebrews Chapter 4: ~ 14)Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. 15)For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. 16)Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.~ That is why we prayed and while we are trusting all things into His hands, it is good to know that He is fully aware of the uncertainty and anxiousness that is a part of our experience as we face difficulties in this life. This is His Word from Psalm 103:14 "For He Himself knows our form; He remembers that we are but dust." That's not all, in that same Psalm, in the verse before that recognition, verse 13, we read this: "As a father has compassion on his children, So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him." This is why we pray. In that famous passage from Romans Chapter 8, we find this rhetorical question that answers the reason for our faith in Him: Verse 32, "He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" I'm not just stringing verses together here. These are the ones that came to my mind as I considered how much we need Him. Yep. We do. We really do. Amen.

 

Thanks so much to those out there who have cheered me on as I restarted my blogging adventure. For those who grimace as they read my error prone prose, well, there's always the skip option available, and, believe me, I wouldn't blame anyone for using it. I no doubt could do better but just getting it on the page is somewhat time consuming and then editing and cleaning it up, yikes! I do have a good proof reader but she is not always available and that brings us back to the WYSIWYG, (What You See Is What You Get). I like that designation even though at one time it was a technical representation for a printer format. In the tech world they used to pronounce it something that sounded kind of like this: 'wizzywig'. There I go again using word pictures from back in the day. Ha! I also was thinking as I wrote the first paragraph of how many folks who read my blog that have burdens they are also working through. We have a prayer list in our Lifegroup. If you have friends on social media which some people would argue are not real friends, but, many of mine are, period, end of that story. But the friends who post about challenges in dealing with children, grandchildren, illness, financial stress, broken hearts and broken relationships, and, it goes on and on. Simply put, when you see those mentioned take a moment and pray over them, in Jesus Name. I try to do that. I repeat: How much we need Him. Yep. We do. We really do. Amen.