Good Morning Father and thank YOU!
It's a very, very, very cold 9 degrees here in Akron, Ohio. As I sit here on my dad's sofa wrapped in my fuzzy robe, socks and pjs...it's still very, very, cold. BUT I count it all joy!
It's a new day filled with Your Grace, Mercy, Love and Forgiveness.
YES! I count it #AllJoy!
I had a delightful time with You yesterday and I was a bit hungry but the thought of food came and went as it usually does when I'm fasting. If it were Spring, Summer or Fall, I would have included a prayer walk. But because You are ALL TOO WONDERFUL, You gave me a different venue.
After spending time in my "bedroom" I was able to go downstairs to the Lower Lobby where they have a game room and a lovely quiet and very heated library. I had a big round table to spread out all of my God Tools. My bible, my journal, my books, my pens and highlighters and my prayer points and request. Oh what a treasure! Only two people came in. An elderly gentleman had recently lost his wife two days prior. I told him that I would keep his family in my prayers...PAUSE...going to Pray again, as the funeral is tomorrow....
Then just as I was going to leave, Ms. Jean came down to return some books and replenish her book bag. She is just delightful in her 91st year of life. I hugged her before getting off the elevator.
After spending 4 1/2 hours in the library...what a treat...I headed upstairs for a bubble bath and some praise music from my playlist. #Yummy and thank YOU! I love bubble baths and don't take them often enough.
Following that treat, I went back into my bedroom to read some more and to pray some more. I had about 2 glasses of water and than sustained me for the remainder of the evening. I love how You met with me consistently throughout the day.
My dad said that he was proud of me for "hanging in there." It was not me who hung in there. I prayed and YOU answered. You have gifted Your believers with the Power of the Holy Spirit and the gift of self-discipline. I asked that You would do it again and that You would help me not to get hungry. It was His Power and His strength that sustained me! Yes, YOU #answered!
Father before ending this post, I must say a #ginormous THANK YOU! My #2018 Word given to me by Your Spirit is (EXPERIENCE) and I saw it all day long...here and there, You spoke it to me.
You first spoke it to me on December 7th...and then 15 more times after that through my readings. And yesterday, on the very first day of the year, You spoke it to me 18 times during my fasting and prayer with You! Yay and Wow GOD!
You began with this, an OPEN DOOR Prayer Request: In Colombia, please pray for the indigenous Christian children...who are EXPERIENCING heavy persecution in their village.
My heart was sad as I prayed and then, YOU said this in a Life Action Devotional Excerpt: The caption read GOD IS THERE and the scripture verse was "The darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light to You" (Psalm 139:12).
In the middle of the day, You said this: Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Then you will EXPERIENCE God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. Philippians 4:6-7
And You ended with: "And when God originally gave us the vision, it was unprecedented. Which is a nice way of saying it was a crazy idea. But kingdom causes often start out as crazy ideas! And if God is in it, it's holy crazy. No one on our staff had any entrepreneurial experience whatsoever. None of us had even worked in a coffeehouse. And I didn't even drink coffee! We lacked the experience and necessary expertise. We lacked human resources and financial resources to pull it off. BUT that isn't the issue. The only issue is this: Is this what we were supposed to do?
-Mark Batterson's book titled ALL IN....
Great is Thy #faithfulness, I say to myself...the LORD is my portion and therefore, I shall wait on Him. Father, I LOVE YOU! Happy Brand NEW Year. Have Your way with Your people, starting with me. In the name of Jesus I pray! AMEN!!!
