A good writing by Anne Graham Lotz:

The God of All Comfort

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.....who comforts us in all our tribulation."

~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV

"Medical studies have proven that worry attacks the central nervous system, the circulatory system, and the digestive system of our bodies. Charles Mayo, of the Mayo Clinic, said, 'You can worry yourself to death, but you cannot worry yourself to a longer life.'

"Noah was exposed to such frightening experiences he could have worried himself to death; after all, he survived the equivalent of a nuclear holocaust. While Sunday school stories conjure up in our minds the picture of Noah as a quaint, folksy, old zookeeper with a plump, rosy-cheeked wife, he was in fact a very strong, courageous man of character and faith who could have been tremendously traumatized by the most violent catastrophe in history.

"Surely Noah knew the paralysis of fear and the total paranoia of worry. But he also knew by experience that the God of the storm is also the God of all comfort, able to calm his fears as he kept his faith in God and his focus on God."

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I have learned that being thankful (even for things I don't care much about) adds to my mental health. I think that is the way God designed us because He tells us to 'always be thankful'.

Here are the lead-in lines to the last five chapters of Psalms:

"Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise Him!" (Psalm 146)

"Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! How good it is to sing His praises! How delightful, and how right!" (Psalm 147)

"Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise Him from the skies!" (Psalm 148)

"Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Sing Him a new song. Sing His praises, all His people." (Psalm 149)

"Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Praise Him in His Temple, and in the heavens He made with mighty power." (Psalm 150)

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Bible Commentary:  "These last five psalms overflow with praise. Each begins with "Hallelujah" or "praise the Lord". They show us where, why, and how to praise God. What does praise do?

~ Praise takes our minds of our problems and shortcomings, and focuses them on God;

~ Praise takes us from individual meditation to corporate worship;

~ Praise causes us to consider and appreciate God's character;

~ Praise takes our perspective from the earthly to the heavenly."

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Away from my computer yesterday, so you get a 'Saturday Karen's Korner!'

This Bible verse is particularly good with Sunday being tomorrow:

"I was glad for the suggestion of going to Jerusalem, to the Temple of the Lord."

~ Psalm 122:1 LAB

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Bible Commentary:  "Going to God's house can be a chore or a delight. For David (writer of this Psalm), it was a delight. As a pilgrim to one of the three great religious feasts, he was excited to worship with God's people in God's house. We may find worship a chore if we have sin in our lives or if our love for God has cooled. But if we are close to God and enjoy His presence, we will hunger to worship and praise Him. Our attitude toward God will determine our view of worship."

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"While they were living in Nazareth, John the Baptist began preaching out in the Judean wilderness. His constant theme was, 'Turn from your sins......turn to God......for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon."

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Bible Commentary: "John the Baptist burst on the scene. His theme was 'turn from your sins.....turn to God.' He meant that we must do an about-face......a 180-degree turn....from the kind of self-centeredness that leads to wrong actions such as lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, revenge, abuse, and sexual immorality. Instead, we must follow God's prescribed way of living found in His Word. The first step in turning to God is to admit your sin, as John urged. Then God will receive you and help you live the way He wants you to. Remember that only God can get rid of sin. He doesn't expect us to clean up our lives before we come to Him.

"The Kingdom of Heaven began when God himself entered human history as a man. Today Jesus Christ reigns in the hearts of believers, but the Kingdom of Heaven will not be fully realized until all evil in the world is judged and removed. Christ came to earth first as a suffering servant; he will come again as king and judge to rule over all the earth as victor."

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Yesterday's "Jesus Calling:  Enjoying Peace in His Presence" by Sarah Young:

"I speak to you continually. My nature is to communicate, though not always in words. I fling glorious sunsets across the sky, day after day after day. I speak in the faces and voices of loved ones. I caress you with a gentle breeze that refreshes and delights you. I speak softly in the depths of your spirit, where I have taken up residence.

"You can find Me in each moment, when you have eyes that see and ears that hear. Ask My Spirit to sharpen your spiritual eyesight and hearing. I rejoice each time you discover My Presence. Practice looking and listening for Me during quite intervals. Gradually you will find Me in more and more of your moments. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me above all else."

~ Taken from Psalm 8:1-4;Psalm 19:1-2; I Corinthians 6:19; Jeremiah 29:13

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It's pretty hard not to admire the growing crops as I drive either north or south from my farm home. The corn is looking just beautiful, as it is growing so fast. Pretty, lush, green.

My next thought was, "Who knows? We could get lots of wind and rain. Or a drought could come. What about hail? If we get a lot of rain, there could be drowned out spots (which are common in our area. when that happens. None now!)."

It seems like God moved my thinking on to 'celebrating what I can see today. Thanking Him for His blessing!'

Tomorrow? Who knows?

Got will take care of that, too. Regardless.

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His lovingkindness continues forever."

~ Psalms 136:1 LAB

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Happy Father's Day; one day late!

This was on the front of our church bulletin yesterday:

"Every Father should remember

that one day his son will follow

HIS EXAMPLE

instead of

HIS ADVICE.

~ Charles Kettering

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Plus this Bible verse:

"My son, give me your heart,

and let your eyes observe my ways."

~ Proverbs 23:26

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The words made me think back to when our first grandson was born. While his dad is one of five children, he and Jamie are the parents of the only two boys in his family. I can remember Tim saying that he needed to be sure to make church a priority.

"If dad's don't go to church," I remember him saying, "it will be sometime in their later elementary school days, that it won't be important to his sons to go either."

The Champion family is faithful in their church attendance (like most families, miss some Sundays!). The family now includes a son going into eighth grade; a daughter headed for sixth grade; and son #2 who will be in fourth grade this fall.

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More Sponge; Less Rock

"Make God's presence your passion. How? Be more sponge and less rock. Put a rock in the ocean, and what happens? It's surface gets wet. The exterior may change color, but the interior remains untouched. Yet place a sponge in the ocean, and notice the change. It absorbs the water. The ocean penetrates every pore and alters the essence of the sponge. God surrounds us in the same way the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere---above, below, on all sides.

"We choose our response--rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says harden the heart. Run from God, resist God, blame God. But be careful. Hard hearts never heal. Spongy ones do. The Psalm writer determined, 'When I am afraid, I will trust in You.' Open every pore of your soul to God's presence!

~ By Max Lucado

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"We who have been made holy by Jesus,

now have the same Father he has.

That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers."

~ Hebrews 2:11 LAB

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We may not have been born into the right family, have the right bank account, be the best looking, or the smartest kid in our graduating class. But what a heritage we have! If we but accept Jesus and His dying on the cross for us. We become His 'blood' brothers (sisters!). We can sometimes be ashamed of ourselves for something we have thought, said, or done. But Jesus is never 'ashamed to call us his brothers'. What a heritage!

Praise God!

"The Lord lifts the fallen, and those bent beneath their loads."

~ Psalm 145:14 LAB

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Bible Commentary:  "Sometimes our burdens seem more than we can bear and we wonder how we can go on. The psalmist stands at this bleak intersection of life's road and points toward the Lord, the great burden-bearer. God is able to bear our unbearable burdens because he: 1) is great beyond discovery; 2)does glorious things across many generations; 3) is full of glory, splendor, majesty, and miracles; 4) does awe-inspiring deeds; 5) is righteous; 6) is kind, merciful, patient, and loving; 7) reaches out to us with compassion; 8) rules over an unending kingdom; 9) is our source of food, water, and help; 10) is fair in all his dealings and full of kindness; 11) remains close to those who call on him; 12) listens to our cries and sends his protection; 20) if you are bending under a burden and feel that you are about to fall, turn to God for help. He is ready to bear your burden."

(Read all 21 verses of Psalm 145, where this list of promises is taken.)

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