Prayer

Sometimes prayer is talking to God, sometimes it's listening and sometimes it's a combination of both. Whatever it is, however often you do it, just do it because prayer changes things specifically when we pray according to God's will. You may not see things change right away, but don't let that discourage you because in the spiritual realm, things are changing. Give God time.

Until next time, keep praying.

xx, Ruthie

Trust

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

Worry. We can spend a lot of time doing exactly that. And yet Jesus Himself pointed out the futility of this misspent energy. He asked, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Instead the author of Proverbs gives us a better option. He suggests that we "Trust in the Lord with all our heart." This is more than a mental assent. It is a heartfelt commitment to put all our fears and worries in His hand. We put it to rest. Then the author says not to depend on our own understanding. This is easier said than done. We want to depend on our own thinking, our own logic, but God is saying, "Trust me, let go." Finally we are told to seek God's will and He will show us which path to take. Today, when you are tempted to worry, fear starts to take over your emotions, stop and trust God. Let go of your own thinking and seek His will. He promises He will get you through. ~Ron Ovitt

TODAY'S PRAYER:

Father, I am so prone to worry and fear. Today, I will trust in you. I will forsake my own understanding and seek your will. Direct my path I pray. In Jesus’ name. ~ Amen.

A relationship prayer

I heard this prayer tonight beautifully spoken and delivered by Dan Allender and it really spoke to me. I changed the words of his original prayer just a little but much of the content still remains the same. His message tonight was on leadership but this prayer touches on all kinds of relationships. It’s a beautiful prayer filled with great humility. It’s honest, real and I think very relatable especially for those who take the time to face the dark parts of their hearts. It stopped me in my tracks when I was listening to it and I wanted to share this with you in hopes that it might bless someone else as well.

Father, Son, Spirit, we love you, we trust you, and we bless you. We know and acknowledge that You are always up to good in our lives. Father, we ask that You help us when we begin to delve in and face the dark parts of our hearts and begin to look at those sections of our own way of relating to others that are contrary to what you desire. We find ourselves reacting based on feelings of frustration and disappointment. And we understand that what you want for us is not merely a sense of conviction but rest for our souls, that we can turn this over to You, that we can trust that He who began a good work in us will complete it [Philippians 1:6]. Father, we ask that you would bring us to a greater sense of openness. Son, will you speak to us with greater clarity and Spirit will you mature us to become more and more like Jesus. Father we ask that you would hear this humble prayer and be at work in us and allow our hearts to move forward honoring the gifts you have given us so that our lives will reflect the kingdom of God in all regards. We ask this in Your precious and powerful name. Amen.

PRAYER: The Great Connector

One day the disciples requested of Jesus: “Teach us to pray.”  Jesus responded by giving them—and us—a marvelous model of prayer.  What is so powerful about the Lord’s Prayer, as it is known, is its utter simplicity.

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored and kept holy. May your kingdom come soon.  May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.  Give us our food for today, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. 

~ Matthew 6:9-13 NLT

The key to prayer is to start simply and quietly.  That’s the idea behind Jesus’ model prayer.  We need a touchstone, a place to start.  Then, as we get to know God better, we will feel comfortable sharing the most intimate details of our lives with Him.

If the Bible is God talking to us, then prayer is us talking to God.  It’s the primary way of connecting to the infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God.  Edward Ferrell wrote that “without prayer, there is no way, no truth, no life.”  Without prayer, you can never get close to God.

Try it.  Start small.  Start with the small stuff in your life.  Talk to God about it in a quiet, isolated place where your self-consciousness isn’t an issue.  As you continue daily, your capacity for prayer will grow larger.  That’s because prayer is like a muscle.  If you exercise it regularly, your prayer muscle will gain strength and your appreciation for God will grow immeasurably.  On the other hand, if you don’t use it, your prayer muscle will shrivel up and your capacity for God will shrink.  And in those times of crisis when you suddenly feel compelled to pray, it will likely be a painful experience.

The good news is that God doesn’t put conditions on your prayer life.  His feelings don’t get hurt when you don’t pray.  But when you do, He connects with you in a powerful way.  Try it today. Talk to God.  He’s listening.

• Prayer changes things.
• Pray for people who dislike you.
• Pray for people you dislike.
• When you pray, be careful to distinguish your needs from your desire.
• Prayer without effort will be insincere.  Effort without prayer will be ineffective.
• If your prayers don’t mean anything to you, they mean even less to God.
• Live humbly and pray likewise.
• Don’t pray for a lighter load.  Pray for a stronger back.
• Become quiet before God in the busiest and nosiest part of your day.
• Prayer involves listening to God as well as speaking to Him.
• You can’t stand up against the enemy if you don’t kneel before God.
• Pray with perseverance and expectancy.
• At its core, prayer is giving yourself to God.
• Pray as if the task depends on God and work as if it depends on you.
• The next time you feel weak in the knees, try using them to pray.
• There is no such thing as a successful or unsuccessful prayer.
• People may not talk about their prayer habits, but their lives speak volumes when they pray.

~Author: Unknown

A Note from Ruthie:

According to my journal entry, I read the above words in June 2005. I’m not sure who wrote these words but I do remember that reading this helped change my prayer life and how I connect with God. I hope it does the same for you too. Blessings to you and yours. 

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie

It is finished

Today many of us observe what is well known as Good Friday.  And on Good Friday more than any other Friday, we remember what Jesus did for us on Calvary.

As I pondered what Good Friday represents and what Jesus did for us, I recognize that what He did was no small thing and whispered a quiet thank you to Him. A quiet whisper seems incredibly insufficient, don’t you think? But truly I am overwhelming grateful when I sit and ponder His greatness.

“It is finished” are the final words of Jesus on the cross at Calvary before He gave up His life for us. He said, “It is finished,” then bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

It is finished means that He accomplished what He came to do. Those who believe by faith are saved by grace. We are not and will never be saved by our own performance. The Bible is pretty clear on that and boy am I ever glad for that because if it was up to good works, I would never get into heaven. Truth be told, we all fail when it come to “enough” good works. I could, we could never do enough good and we could never be good enough. In fact, the Bible says that only God is good.

The truest definition of who we are in Christ means, it is finished. It is "done." I’m so thankful for that.

Today's Prayer:

Thank you God for sending us Your Son Jesus to die on a cross for us. And thank You Jesus for loving us so much that You gave up Your life so we could live. Thank you for helping me understand this mystery. Thank you God for revealing Yourself to me and for helping me recognize truth and for helping me believe. I will never fully understand that kind of love, that Jesus died for me, He paid my sin debt.  I am grateful beyond what my simple words could ever express. Thank you. My cup runneth over ... 

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie

The Storms of Life

The other day I was speaking with a friend of mine who happened to share with me that just about everyone she’s talking with lately appears to be going through something really difficult in life. What I found particularly interesting was how she shared this information with me. She delivered it as if she was surprised. I'm no longer surprised by storms. Not mine. Not yours, not anybody’s. Storms are a part of life whether we like them or not. And trust me; I don’t like them anymore than you do. But I do believe we delude ourselves when we try to convince ourselves that we’ll reach a day when we finally meet our "storm quota" and shout to the world in the affirmative that we're finally done with storms. Nobody gets through life without trials or storms. Unfortunately, no one is exempt. Storms are just a part of life and they’re often filled with hardship, suffering and or loss. Life has many seasons. Some are great and some are hard. They’re filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, joy and deep sorrows. But it’s when life feels hard that we must exercise our faith muscles and believe that in spite of how we feel things will get better and that we will feel strong again. We have to believe in that. In fact, we must believe in that if we’re going to experience a better tomorrow.

Storms often make us want to scream: UNCLE! (Which means enough!) I know this because I’ve been there, done that and have screamed "uncle" many a times my friend. All too often, the storms of life leave us feeling discouraged. They make us want to quit and give up and cause us to feel like we don't have the strength to keep going. But don't be deceived my friend. That's just a feeling, not a fact. You're much stronger than you realize. I can't deny that storms have a way of making us feel weak but I promise you that if you continue to press forward, it’s simply a matter of time before you realize how strong you really are. What I know for sure is that God equips each and every one of us with everything we need to endure our trials. My advice to you is to draw upon past experiences, past storms and recall how you survived past trials and over came them. The Bible says that if we draw close to God, God will draw close to us. It also says that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness which means that His strength is made perfect within you if you invite Him into the process. When we can’t, God can and will so draw near to Him when you need strength for your journey. And allow Him to hold your hand instead of holding on to His. His grip is far bigger and far greater than ours. If you're experiencing a storm in your life right now, stay encouraged my friend because all storms come to an end. They don’t last forever. I know personally how awful life feels when you're in the thick of one. You feel depleted, sad and frustrated. But remind yourself that you're stronger than you feel. You really are. Your storm is never bigger than God. Never. Nothing is impossible for God and with God. With God, there's always hope for the helpless and rest for the weary. There is also grace and forgiveness so call out to God. He's there to hear you and He's there to answer you. And trust His timing for answers. His time-table is not our time-table. His answers and His blessings always arrive on time. And whatever you do, don't allow yourself to get stuck in your storm. You gotta keep praying, you gotta keep believing and you gotta keep moving because if you don't, you'll miss your possibilities for tomorrow. Better and brighter days are still part of your future. You have to believe in that and hold on to that. 

Here’s what I’m learning about humanity: We all want to be bright. But sometimes we have to be broken before we can be bright. And sometimes we have to be broken before we become better, greater, wiser. So if you've been broken through the process of your storm, don't be discouraged. It happens. It happens to the best of us. What I know for sure is that God creates beauty from ashes every day. Allow me to encourage you to never quit and to keep going. Keep going when life feels hard and heavy because life is still so beautiful and filled with wonder. And pain always has purpose. And God wants each and every one of us to be bright so we can shine on.

Stay encouraged always. May God's light shine brightly within you and around you all the days of your life. 

Shine on my friend ...

Wishing you peace and wholeness today and always,

~Ruthie

The Prayer of Jabez: "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.  ~ 1 Chronicles 4:10

Behold I make all things new. ~ Revelations 21:5

Today's Prayer:

Dear Father God,

Thank you for Your presence whether we feel You or not.  Be our wisdom and be our strength today and every day. Father I pray that You would bless each and every person who is reading this right now. Bless them with peace and bless them with joy. Release revelation in them. If they're going through difficulty, I pray that hope will emerge in them, hope that could only be found in You. I pray that You would replace any pain and any confusion with Your promises. Remind them that the Bible is filled with Your promises. Remind them that Your love is large and vast and constant. And remind them that You are the God of second chances. And if they have drifted away from You, help them remember that You haven't gone anywhere and that You allow u-turns. Allow them so see a vision of You with out stretched arms waiting to embrace them. Bless them in their coming and bless them in their going. Comfort them during their darkest hours. And lastly, remind them that everything good they experience is from You because it all started with You. We thank You for that. Thank You for Your goodness and thank You for Your grace. We don't deserve it but we receive it and we accept it.  

I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. 

Trust, Confidence, Hope

Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
~ Jeremiah 17:7-8

Dear Friends,

The word trust is a word I'm running into alot lately. It's seems to be everywhere. It's in the books that I read, the e-mails I receive and the articles I happen to glance at in the magazines that I pick up. And now I'm discovering that I'm running into this curious five letter word in the verses I'm reading in my Bible, not randomly but like over and over and over!  Between you and me, I kinda think God is up to something. This is so typical of Him. It's His mode of operation with me and this is how He drives a message home. I'm thinking He's trying to communicate something to me, yet again. Yes, sometimes God needs to reiterate ... ALOT because I don't always get it the first time and sometimes I don't always listen well. Probably, because I have the propensity to become distracted and or I get caught up with life and all it's busyness and lately I'm sure it's because I have menopause brain. In fact, I'm sure of it! The word "trust" stands out super loud and clear to me these days when someone brings it up in conversation, especially when its not even a conversation I'm engaged in. I find that I get all nosy about it and find myself eavesdropping when I hear someone mention the word "trust." The little voice in my head says: "Really, so what are your thoughts on trust??? ... Please do tell, I want to know." But of course, I'm not involved in the conversation, so I don't really ask the question and continue to eavesdrop and try really hard not to make it obvious. Allow me to tell you what all of this is causing me to do lately. It's causing me to sit up straight and to pay attention because I can tell that Father God, yes Big Daddy upstairs is talking to me alright.

This morning after I read verses 7 and 8 in the 17th chapter of Jeremiah, I became curious and decided to look up how the dictionary would describe the word trust. And here's what I discovered: I learned that the dictionary describes "trust" as reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of a person or thing; confidence. Another description I found is confident expectation of something; hope. Did you notice what I noticed? I noticed that trust requires confidence and hope.

So here's my conclusion: I believe that trust, confidence and hope are all born of faith.

I believe faith is an important aspect when it comes to trust. The Bible says that faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

It was during my quiet time with God this morning that I came upon the verses in Jeremiah that I referenced above. I thought this was going to be a quick 5 minute quiet time with God because I had plans and had alot I wanted to accomplish today. I had quite the To-Do-List waiting for me and fortunately for me, being the planner that I am, I scheduled the day off to extend my holiday weekend to get these things done. Well, needless to say, practically nothing got stratched off my list, instead I spent alot of time thinking, praying and writing. My phone rang quite a bit but I was disciplined and didn't take any calls. I stayed focused on writing. As a side note, can you believe the word trust was in the very first verse I read??? LOL! Only God!

Jeremiah 17:7-8 became one of my favorite verses last year during the spring. When I saw these verses this morning, I smiled and thanked God quietly for getting me through a very difficult season (spring 2010) in my life. That spring I found myself feeling sick and fatigued the result of medication I had taken for 3 months to help fight the recurrence of breast cancer. These side effects came after my radiation treatments ended. I had Radiation Therapy in November and December 2010 to eradicate cancer cells in my body. The radiation also caused fatigue and left me fatigued during the treatment season which lasted for five weeks and for three months after my treatments ended. My body was exhausted and experienced significant trauma surviving three surgeries at that point, 20 radiation treatments in total and medication I was taking daily. I didn't understand what was happening in my body or to my body and after awhile it began to trouble me. It seemed like my health problems began to scatter through out my body like marbles thrown on the ground. This was now month seven after learning I had breast cancer. I felt concerned that medication which I thought was suppose to help me began to harm me. At times I felt frustrated because some days I felt utterly and completely helpless. Feeling helpless is an awful feeling. I can't even stand how I feel when I reach that point. I limit who I speak to because I refuse to bring anyone down with my negative energy. We all experience low points, feelings of helplessness during our darkest hours but I refuse to park myself in self-pity. Pity-parties are just that: a sad little party for one, not a way of life. So one day last year (4-14-10) during the spring, in my quest to find some encouragement and a fresh word from God, I opened my Bible and fell upon verses 7 and 8 in chapter 17 in the book of Jeremiah. Oh how I loved the imagery my mind formed after reading these verses. I read those verses slowly, over and over and over. Reading those verses did something to me that day. It restored my hope. Suddenly I felt encouraged. And while my circumstance (my health issues) didn't change overnight, my attitude toward my circumstance changed and that made a world of difference. It took five additional months and one more surgery in July 2010 before I felt well again. But here's what was different about those five months: It was five hope-filled months filled with days and nights trusting and believing in a God who is able, more than able. These verses became a real source of encouragement to me and served as a wonderful reminder that I believe and serve a great God whom I can put my trust in, believing that He loves me and will take care of me. He's a real promise keeper I learned. I remind myself often that I can trust in His promises for my life. God's word does not promise us a life without difficulty or pain. What He promises is to be with us, to walk with us through our difficulty. And my friend, that's exactly what God did for me. And He can and will do that for you too. Did you know that when we exercise faith muscles, trusting God and believing God, that that's when His power is released in our life? It's true. Our faith and His power work hand-in-hand.

So what are you holding on to that needs to be released to God? Are you struggling with something in your life right now? Do you need to begin trusting in something BIGGER than yourself, that is reliable, able, sure, and strong? My friend, I have the answer. The answer is God. You can count on Him. And He is the One you can put your trust and hope in. He's a loving, forgiving and patient God. He waits patiently for you to invite Him into your life, your circumstances, and your struggles.

Remember, your faith is what releases His power in your life. The result: peace and confidence. Peace and confidence among many other wonderful things is what He desires for you and offers you, not the way the world offers it but as a result of trusting Him, your Maker who loves you no matter what and who will always be in your corner.

Today's Prayer:

Dear God,

Forgive me when I begin to lose sight of where true hope is found. Infuse my heart and mind with hope that can only be found in You. Please quench my thirst for understanding during my difficulty with reassurance of Your faithfulness. I ask that You guard my heart from the temptation to focus on the problem, instead of the One who holds everything in His hands. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

The above short prayer is one that carried me through some very difficult days as I battled breast cancer. I can't even remember where I found it or where I first read it. What I know for sure is that I loved this prayer so-o much and needed it so-o much during that season in my life that I hung on to these words like a child hangs on to a security blanket. I hung these words on a wall in my home because this prayer was the prayer that helped me. It helped me feel peace every time I uttered these words. I hung these words on a wall in my home shortly after my breast cancer diagnosis (Sept. 2009) and today you will find these words on that very wall. Thanks to God Almighty, who's my comforter and my healer, my health has been fully restored. I'm healed and healthy and thankful. So thankful! I have prayed this prayer a hundred times since my cancer diagnosis because I believe it’s such a great prayer any time I begin to feel the least bit discouraged. I pray and I hope that if you need encouragement, it will bless you too.

Yes, indeed. Blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.

Blessings to you. Wishing you peace and wholeness as you trust God for all things, today and always ...

~ ♥ Ruthie

My Thankful Prayer

Dear God,

Today was a really great day. It was great because my spirit was filled with a deep sense of contentment and gratitude. It was a feeling I felt all day today. What an incredible gift. I’m content and grateful for where I’m at in life, for who I am and how I’ve evolved and grown as a person. I feel blessed and feel incredibly thankful tonight, thankful for so much. Thank you God for everything. Yes, everything. Every good and difficult thing serves a purpose in life. Good always feels sweet, deliciously sweet and difficult always teaches me a thing or two. And when I learn, I grow and when I grow, I'm better.

Tonight, life feels especially rich and sweet and lovely. I'm thankful for the special people in my life that make it so sweet. It’s a feeling I wish I could bottle and give as a gift to those I love, to those I care about and to those who need it, especially for those who need it.

Thank you. Thank you for everything!

My cup runneth over ...

~Ruthie

Thankful

This morning I spent some time reading several old journal entries that date back to 2001 through 2003. Those were bittersweet years for sure. It’s always an interesting experience to go back and read what I was feeling and thinking and experiencing in my past. When I read those entries from that time period, I discovered that I’ve grown significantly as a person, both emotionally and spiritually. Perfect I am not, I have not “arrived” but I certainly have grown significantly since then. Reading these entries reminded me that I’ve experienced great healing from past emotional wounds and survived and learned some really tough lessons. Reading these entries also reminded me that we’re always evolving and growing at some capacity. I’ve experienced some really sweet blessings through the years, and yes some struggles for sure. But I overcame each and every one of the struggles I wrote about. It’s incredibly interesting to read these entries and reflect on the past because at the time, the struggle and the pain associated with the struggle seemed so monumental, and so overwhelming. The struggle felt like a giant that I was sure would cause me to cave and die a slow death. Fortunately, it didn’t unfold that way. God, time, hope and my willingness to persevere helped me to over come each and every one of those obstacles. I’m so thankful for that. A wise person once said: “Anyone can give up. It's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, well that's true strength.” Today, I’m thankful that I’m an over comer and for the strength I’ve gained through my experiences. I don’t always feel so strong but I’m discovering that I’m stronger than I give myself credit for. Writing and reading what I write helps me remember that. And on a sweeter note, some of my entries reminded me of how sweet and delicious it is to be alive and to experience the sweetness of connectedness, connectedness to God, my friends, my family and some really special people in my life that have helped me along the way by just being part of my life. Their time, their love, their listening ears, their friendship, their words of wisdom and their prayers have helped me through some really tough seasons in life. I’m so thankful for them.
 
Dear God,

Thank you for each and every person you have allowed to come into my life and thank you for each and every experience in life. Some have been bitter, others sweet but in the end, they have shaped me and have made me who I am. At 43, I realize that everything happens for a reason. Good is good, in fact sometimes good is really very delicious and when the tough times come along, and they always do, you can and do bring good out of that too. I get that. I have a long history of that in my life. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for bringing good out of my hardships. And thank you for never giving up on me. I don’t always get it right and for that I’m truly sorry. Thank you for bringing such wonderful people into my life. These special people bring out the best in me and I like bringing my best self to everything I do and every one I do life with. Thank you for all the beautiful moments I’ve experienced and still experience in life because they’re magnificent, delightful and lovely. I live for those moments and treasure those memories. They bring me great joy, sometimes uncontainable joy and I love that feeling. God, I’m so thankful that I’m finally grown up enough, maybe wise enough to appreciate and treasure the people in my circle and their amazing impact on my life. I’m thankful for all the wonderful moments, big and small that I experience. Sometimes great joy is experienced in what others might perceive as insignificant but to me, acts of kindness, thoughtfulness and meaningful gestures regardless of size or frequency are what touch souls.

God, please help me to always be the kind of woman who lives her life leaving nuggets of love behind doing small things with great love. I may not always do things really great but I know that I have the capacity to do small things with great love. Help me to love great always.

Mother Teresa once said: “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.” I love that quote! Most days, my heart is filled with joy and great gratitude, for life, people, things and that makes me feel wonderfully blessed. When my heart feels that good, life feels super rich and lavish. I love what joy produces and I love what it attracts.

Feeling incredibly thankful today. Thanks God!

My cup runneth over …

~ Ruthie