Trish, I love that song!!  I just bought the soundtrack a few weeks ago :)

Your Love is Extravagant - Casting Crowns {lyrics}

Group Hug...cloud NINE!

Group Hug...cloud nine :)

 This week what have you asked God for?  When you prayed did you go over the list you have prepared in your mind?  Those who are sick, those who are grieving, lost souls, the needy, our country and its leaders?  We all have a "list".  Then we always manage to squeeze a few things in that aren't on the list.  Lord, you know I could use a raise!  Insurance!  Help with paying the bills!  A plumber!  Back to school problems! Traffic!  Lord, don't let that gas light come on yet!  Every thing from the big stuff to the small stuff.  And the great thing about God is that nothing is too small to pray about and nothing is too big for him to answer.  So as my week has progressed I have been "out of sorts"  I can't pinpoint any one thing but its like I am going one way and the universe is going another way.  I have been saying my prayers and asking-asking-asking!  Wednesday night Bible Study was Revelation Chapter 4.  I was reminded that I need to be Praising God and thanking God as well as asking!

Revelations 4:8
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come

Revelations 4:11
You are worthy, our Lord and God
to receive glory and honor and power

The song 10,000 reasons played over and over in my head this evening.  And I am thinking how many things can I think of to thank God for and to praise Him?  Psalm 103 says Bless the Lord O My Soul, O my soul Worship his Holy Name.   My soul sings, but sometimes my flesh takes over and I forget.  I forget that Jesus is ever near me, closer than a brother.  Holding my hand when I am struggling.  Embracing me when I am lonely.  Wiping my tears when I cry.  I was reminded this week that when we are nearing Heavens shore, even with our last breath, we need to praise Him.  Because He said He would never leave or forsake us- Hebrews 13:5
and in Genesis 28:15 He says I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.  Praise him in the good times, praise him in the bad.  And when our time comes its just hard for me to imagine what it will be like to enter the presence of my Savior, where there will be so much love!  I just want to run into his arms and get all loved up!  I can just hear it now!  Over the intercom in Heaven, "Group Hug Cloud Nine" :)

There is a song by Casting Crowns that sums it all up:

Your love is extravagant
your friendship, it is intimate
I feel like moving to the rhythm of your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
Your love is extravagant
Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known
You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again

I am going to modify my prayers.  I am still asking for my hearts desires but I am making sure I count down those 10,000 reasons to praise HIM!

Amen to that!  God must believe these doctors need to "see" the miracle!  

Friends

http://youtu.be/oOCJAVlESEo

Friends

Friends are friends forever if the Lords The Lord of them...as sung by Michael W. Smith.  A friend will not say never cause the welcome will not end.  I have been friended by many.  Some friends I have had through many seasons, many storms of my life.  Some friends are recent, they know of my storms and are willing to listen and help me to continue to pick up the fragments of my life.  God has given us many pleasures here on earth.  But I wonder how we would survive without this pleasure we call friend?  It makes me wonder, is it a necessity?  A pleasure is something we could live without.  I don't think I could live without my friends. They have shared my laughter, dried my tears, listened to my problems.  I hope in some similar way I have been that friend to someone.  I just can't imagine a lifetime without friends. Maybe what I think is Gods pleasure for us is more like Gods treasure to us!  Because as he treasures us and wants us to be his friend- one that we can tell our troubles to, cry on his shoulder and yes! Share our laughter with Him- he wants us to friend our fellow man.  So when that time comes he calls his children home-in the fathers hands- our friends are there- loving, listening, helping us pick up the pieces!  And as the song says- a lifetime is not too long to live as friends❤ 

Just Breathe...

Memories are Gods little windows into our past. And because they are OUR memories, we can be choosy as to what we remember.  There are good, bad, funny, sad- you name it- we can pull it out!  As time goes by the memories fade. Sometimes becoming blurry or maybe even different to different people. I have been blessed in my life and I don't have many bad memories. The bad memories are associated with losing the ones I love!  My blurry memories are trying to take the bad memories and replace it with the good. I see my mom and dad in healthy bodies and good minds in their little window of my past. I see Danny laughing and happy with no pain and a body made whole by Christ!  Take your memories and make them happy!  Capture that smile, laughter, even a smell!  I remember sawdust!  The smell of it after he would use the scroll saw!  I remember the smell of biscuits and gravy cooking as I walked onto the porch at my moms!  I can smell linament when I think of my dad-he rubbed it on everything!  Sometimes the smells actually make me cry, but it feels so good❤ I think of it as an automatic window washer for my soul!  As Fall creeps into our life-breathe deep and take that smell all the way to your soul!  Even if it brings a few tears- It's just cleaning stuff up in there❤