His Mercies Are NEW Every Morning

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Lynn

his-mercies-are-new-wallpaper_1366x768Truly I live in one of the most beautiful areas in Canada.  This morning as I drove to work, the sun rose in blinding radiance in the east.  I was mesmerized by the colours that seemed to bleed over the horizon and then the sun sprayed the sky with its yellow rays.  I was immediately reminded of the verse in Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Our Pastor has been speaking for the past couple of weeks on this wonderful passage, but has brought a new perspective to the passage that has really resonated with me.

“His mercies are NEW every morning!”

That means that God gives us just enough mercies to get us through that particular day.  We will never relive that day again, and every day requires NEW mercies that will sustain us for THAT day only.  We are filled up with mercy, goodness, kindness, self-control etc., etc., just enough to get through the day and to pour out on others for that day.  Every day we have new experiences and new challenges so we require a different helping of mercies each day.  Wow!

I know I’ve read that passage countless of times before but it just screamed at me as I looked at the sunrise this morning.  The reminder from God that He has given me brand new mercies for the day and I cannot squander them!

We have a young friend who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.  It absolutely floored me when we heard the news.  She has a young family and having walked a similar path over fifteen years ago, I know some of the things she will face as she goes forth on this journey with cancer.  I plan on sending her this wonderful passage with a picture of the sunrise just to encourage her.  We do not know our future, but we do know that EVERY morning, we have the promise of His mercies!

“Great is His faithfulness!”

 

 

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THE Primary Source

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Lynn

bibleIn a sermon our Pastor talked about  “primary sources” and I immediately related because I had just finished teaching that concept to my classes of Grade Six students in regards to their research projects on Ancient Athens.  I had asked my students to research one of the Greek Philosophers and to use “primary sources” to ensure their information was trustworthy.

“In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study.”   (Webster’s definition)

Of course, my students, as is the norm nowadays, did not turn to books or encyclopedias but immediately “Googled” the philosopher and learned as much as they could about the man from what they found about him on the world-wide web.  I then had to teach them how to cite websites and of course add another lesson on how they should decide whether a website is indeed a reliable source of information or not.

We live in the “Age of Information” as I like to call it, where we just go onto the Web and find answers to our questions, and even find answers to questions we never really asked.  The idea of combing through resource books to find information is, for my students, almost unheard of.  As I have said, time and time again, I am old school.  There is nothing more comforting in my hands than a real page-to-turn book.  Sure, I have a Kindle that has an unlimited library of books downloaded onto it, but I still prefer the “real thing” in my hand.  The sound of pages turning, the smell of leather binding in some books, or book spines cracking as I read them.  I remember MY researching papers with no access to the Web, hours and hours in the local library, skimming through resource books and taking meticulous notes on recipe cards ensuring that every quote was properly cited in a bibliography at the end of a paper.  My grade sixes do not fathom that amount of work now.  It’s a click of the mouse and they have all the information they need.

Or do they?

My Pastor asked us what our primary source is when we have questions about life or God?  Of course the Sunday School answer is The Bible, but is it REALLY our primary source?  As our Pastor pointed out, we would have a difficult time finding an older document or book that has been proven over and over again to be as reliable, infallible and trustworthy.  Some scholars have tried to dispute its teachings for centuries and have always come up short.  It is quoted more often than any other book in the world.  Countries are founded on its principles and teachings.  We KNOW as Christians there is power in the Word but do we use it in every circumstance to find questions, or find encouragement, or find hope, or to draw closer to God?  I have to admit, that I have been guilty of using the internet far more often than the Bible at times to find answers, encouragement, even to draw closer to God.  This past week I have spent more time “liking” encouraging quotes, even Scripture quotes on Facebook, than actually reading the quotes from the source —The Bible!

Lately, I’ve been amazed at the amount of “hits” some of my blog postings here on Journey Thoughts are getting daily that just quote Scripture.  Since posting Encouraging Verses for Those Facing Struggle  in January 2014, that post alone has close to 10,000 hits on it DAILY!  People are desperately searching for encouragement to get through hard times.  Certainly, I am pleased people are encouraged by the postings, but please, please don’t substitute reading MY blog for going to the REAL source of encouragement…THE Bible.

I know the Internet is a wonderful tool to start the initial search, but always remember The Primary Source for the answers to life’s questions, for encouragement, hope and drawing closer to God is THE BIBLE.  It’s all you really need!

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”  (Hebrews 4: 12-13)

 

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His Strength in the Classroom

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Lynn

17e097e19138388888cfef039226a0eeI’ve been in the classroom all of four weeks and I’ve been sick most of that time.  It is a fact of life for teachers that they must build up an immunity to their kids.  Sounds harsh, but oh so true!  There’s only so much “sick time” a teacher can spend away from class so I’ve been trying to tough it out.  I know all the teachers out there understand what I mean.

Teachers spend a good part of their time trying to dodge all the “kid viruses” that seem to spread like wildfire throughout a school.  Hard as I try to make sure I’ve got a good supply of hand-sanitizer, tissues and the like, I cringe whenever I hear a sneeze or a well-aimed cough come in my direction.  I try not to touch doorknobs or handles at school and I don’t touch hand rails on stairs anywhere.  I have this technique of pulling down my sleeve to cover my hand so my skin does not touch those surfaces.  My sweaters always look a little stretched in the sleeves!  Still, no matter what I try, those obnoxious bugs seem to invade my defenses and I can’t escape them!  Unfortunately, I am also the one out of those million who is allergic to the flu shot!  It is frustrating!

So, I’ve been coughing and sniffling through the first month of school after Christmas and realizing why they call this month, “Blue January”.  It’s hard to muster energy in the classroom and attend to all the things I need to accomplish when I’m feeling so run-down.  Report cards are on the horizon and I’m feeling overwhelmed.

I like to pray as I drive to school in the mornings.  I pray for my family, I pray journey mercies as I travel (especially that the Lord will keep animals off the country roads I travel down to school…saw a moose the other day…and thanked God He kept the animal “at bay” until I passed.)  Then I pray for wisdom in the classroom.  I try to pray for my students, by name, each morning.  Yes, I spend a little more time praying for the more challenging ones, but I suppose that’s not too unusual.

The other morning as I drove in, I was physically and emotionally exhausted.  I had been up most of the night coughing and nursing this virus that had hit me hard.  I was tired, a little bedraggled and wondered how I would survive the day.  So I prayed.

I prayed for strength.  I prayed for energy.  I prayed Jesus would stand beside me in the class and “hold me up” if need be so I could get through the day.  In my mind’s eye, I actually pictured Jesus standing with me at the white board with one arm draped over my shoulder so I could lean on Him for support.  It was such a vivid image, I felt His Presence in the classroom all day.

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”  Psalm 5:3

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