Tag: Psalms

  • Help is only a prayer away

    Sometimes it’s about admitting our inability to shoulder the burden alone. There will be times of troubles, trials, and temptations. We’ll be disappointed and distressed as we walk this journey called life. Maybe you’re plagued with an ongoing health issue, or a child you love dearly tests every fiber of being in your body. For some, Satan is trying any way possible to place a wedge between you and your spouse.           image002 (Copy)

    The question is not if fears and trials come, but when. When these afflictions plague us, know that there is a place to run to for help, a strong tower to shoulder our weak frame.

    God’s comforting words appear many times in the Bible, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” When God says something, He means it. He is there right alongside us as we go through deep waters. I may not see Him physically, but faith tells me that He’s there regardless of my limited sight.

    • Whom do you seek in times of trouble?
    • When have you felt the mighty hand of God?
    • Can you name your fear(s) and willingly offer them up releasing them to a compassionate God?

    We’re offered solace and refuge in Isaiah 41:10/NLT, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

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  • Guilty or not guilty?

    “Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; see for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong – then guide me on the road to eternal life” – Psalm 139:23, 24/The Message.    Bouquet of Daffodils (Copy)

    Investigate, search, test me — those are mighty probing terms. Do I really want the God of the universe cross-examining me? One thing for sure – nothing will slip past him. There’s no way I can bluff the One who sees all and knows all.

    Thank you, God, that you are a personal God. You are involved by knowing & caring for each of us. Gently lead me away from wrongful behavior and thinking. Guide me in the path of integrity & virtue. 

    • Are you willing to have every thought and action cross-examined before the Judge?
    • If so, can you take steps to right the wrongs?
    • Or, are there some pieces of your life you’d rather not have exposed?

     

  • Broken, yet chosen

     

    Shells on Clearwater Beach, Florida
    Shells on Clearwater Beach, Florida

    Recently my husband and I had the opportunity to travel south. One of my favorite pastimes is to look for shells while walking the beach. Each shell’s intricacies never cease to amaze me.

    Some portray wholeness
    Others appear broken
    or partial pieces
    Chipped and greatly worn

    I see spiny traces
    Translucent, fragile exteriors
    Various patterns with
    Random indentations

    Varying degrees of color intensity
    Brown, pink, black,
    Blue, gray,
    and off-white

    Sunlight causes one to
    Glisten and shine
    While another remains flat
    and non-descript

    Just like shells, people are unique. We display unique characteristics and qualities given to us by our creator, God. We all matter to God. Each represents degrees of stains, joy, and sorrow. No two of us are alike because God created you and me as a special design for a unique purpose in life.

    All of us have stories to tell whether they be tragic or more ordinary. Our words may come in the form of an encouraging note to someone hurting. These stories may appear in journal form, newspaper or magazine article, novella, or memoir.

    Do you know what special purpose God designed you for?

    “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it… You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” – Psalm 139:14–16/NLT

  • Psalm of David

    Swiftsure - Clipper Cup

    Psalm 103. Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

    He forgives your sins – every one.
    He heals your diseases – every one.
    He redeems you from hell – saves your life!
    He crowns you with love and mercy – a paradise crown.
    He wraps you in goodness – beauty eternal.
    He renews your youth – you’re always young in his presence.

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  • The longest 4 hours

    The last words I heard from my husband via cell phone: “We’re just trying to survive!” Time: 1:01 a.m. on Monday. After that, I waited. And waited. It would be the longest four hours of my life before I’d hear his voice again. Would I hear his voice again? Only the omniscient God knew the answer.

    My husband and eight other crew members left Chicago Harbor Saturday afternoon for the 103rd Chicago-Mac Race (289 nautical miles on Lake Michigan) and raced to Mackinac Island. The boat, Swiftsure, is a 50-foot Nelson Merek sailing vessel. The crew had numerous sailing and racing hours logged. But never in all their sailing history had they experienced such horrific conditions. 

    First, I contacted Mary, wife of another crew member. We were already bedded down for the night after watching the radar and reading Chicago Yacht Club Facebook posts warning of an impending storm. “Mary, are you awake?”

    “Yeah, did you hear from Steve?”

    I swallowed. “Yes, and the storm hit their boat full on, but all the guys are fine…”

    “Oh no!”

    “Steve says everybody on their boat is okay, but he wanted to tell us first before we started hearing or reading about capsized boats and bodies missing.”

    “Where are they now?”

    “Somewhere by the Manitou Islands. He couldn’t talk long—only to say the wind blew out the mainsail and the boat’s retired. They’re trying to make their way southward toward Petoskey-Harbor Springs to dock.”

    “So they quit the race?”

    “Yes, the last thing I heard him say was…we’re just trying to survive!”

    My head rested on a soft pillow, my weary body on dry sheets as I tried to imagine what their morning experience must have felt like. Thoughts of them tangling with angry wind, turbulent waves, lightening, hail, and pelting rain made my insides sick.

    Prayer chain: that’s what we needed, so I set up a conference call between Mary and I, two dear sailor-friends, and my son and wife.  Together we lifted our pleas heavenward asking for protection over the sailors. Encouragement also came in the form of many Facebook prayer posts.

    My Bible lay on the nightstand next to me. I opened it to Psalm 55. Hungrily, I read the first verses, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught…my heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me…As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me.”

    My eyes read further to Psalm 57. “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” I repeated over and over again: “Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on my husband and the crew and all the sailors. Please, have mercy, God!”

    With the words, “God, have mercy,” on my lips, I slipped into a semi-sleep until Steve called about four hours later to tell me the joyous news: the crew landed safely on shore at Petoskey Municipal Marina. Counting my blessings, I sobbed, and cried out: “Thank you, God, for saving them, for having mercy on them and on me. Thank you for allowing them to live another day.”

    Note: Such was not the fate of two sailors who perished in the water before they could be rescued from their capsized boat on that harrowing morning of July 18, 2011. My heart and soul goes out to the families and friends of Mark Morley, 51, skipper of WingNuts, and Suzanne Bickel, 41. May God’s peace, comfort and love rest on each of their burdened shoulders. 

    Teresa Kay Lasher©2011

  • Are you thirsty?

                 Last summer my body became extremely dehydrated and I ended up in the hospital attached to IVs. The medical staff pumped bag after bag of various liquids to boost my levels of fluid and electrolytes. They continued to monitor every part of my body until all remained stabilized. The whole ordeal proved painful, lengthy, and costly. My family and I were extremely thankful for quality health care right near our home and professionals who saved my life.

                After that ordeal, I remain keenly aware of the necessity of drinking lots of fluids. I always carry with me either a fluid replacement supplement such as Gatorade or water. I never leave home without a bottle.

                Applying that same theory for everyday life and living, when I become thirsty or hungry longing for acceptance and understanding, I know where to find it. The only true source of comfort is in God. He’s the only one who can fully satisfy my every need. True, my friends and family provide love as much as humanly possible. But only God’s love is unselfish and 100% unconditional.

    Prayer:  Help me come to you first when I ache with desire. Thank you, God, for satisfying my soul when others may try, but fail to me my inner needs.

    Ask:  Are you thirsty today? Do you long for someone to fill that empty void of loneliness or sorrow?

    Thirst no more: come to the water that satisfies! 

     “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” – Psalm 63:1, a psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah. 

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  • Force of Nature?

    “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Psalm 95:3–8).

    Associated Press reports: Tokyo—“A ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan’s biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control.”

     Widespread evacuation efforts continue, people and buildings displaced and millions without homes or power. 80 foot waves plow through areas where over 1 million people live and work. Devastation is headed toward Hawaii and the US west coast. How very tragic!

    I see a piece of white fabric wave outside a window as the radio broadcaster announces, “People surrender to the power and force of nature.” Really? Nature, I don’t think so!  God, the Creator of heaven and earth and the seas, is the one ultimately in control. He sees all. He knows all and longs for us to worship him, the Ruler over all.

    While growing up, my family and I survived a tornado whose path went straight through our campsite. A huge oak tree landed in the spot where my parents would have been sleeping if we had remained in our camper. My mother felt the urge to get in the car and drive to the other side of the campground; my Dad followed her advice.  God spared my whole family that day from injury and death. Scary? Yes, but we thanked God for saving our lives. When horrible things happen, what and who is really important in our lives immediately surface. The small stuff seems far, far away.

    Prayer: Thank you, God, for preserving my life and my family’s life many years ago. I want to sing praises to you, God! May I never forget your countless blessings and benefits.

    Ask: Is there an area in your life that needs attention? Some selfish desire you should not be pursuing? Do you hear God pleading with you to not harden your heart and come back to him?

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  • Are you thirsty?

    “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 

    Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare…

     As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55). 

    Are you thirsty? I am. I crave a word from God, a sign that I’m on the right track. A sign that he’s around and knows the turmoil I feel.  I long for satisifing labor, to eat what is good, and sense delight in my soul. It seems as though I’m in a dry and thirsty land right now, with no sign of refreshment or nourishment close by. As David cries out in the Psalms, where are you God? Have you deserted me? Where can I go to find respite for my soul?

    Yet, you tell me that your word goes forth and will not return void. Your word will accomplish the purpose you desire. I long to go out in joy and be led forth in peace, to burst out in grateful song and clap my hands.

    Prayer: Dear God, I seek you now. I call on you for help and a refuge away from the storms of life. Have mercy on me, O God. I know you’ll lavish your forgiveness on me if I turn to you in my distress. Your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. But I trust in you even when I cannot see you or the ways you have chosen for me. I still put my trust in you. You are God, and I am not.

    Ask: Are you in a dark tunnel and cannot see any light ahead? Does it feel as though everyone and everything is against you? Can you hang on for just another day until God’s purpose is revealed?

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  • Nana and Ezekiel

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

    All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:13–16).

    I see Ezekiel Andrew Lasher for the very first time—my third grandchild. As I gaze upon his perfectness and beauty, I consider the words of David in Psalms 139. Fearfully and wonderfully made—how true! I cannot fathom a more beautiful creation. Ten tiny toes and ten miniature fingers, reddish tinted eyebrows and a hint of hair upon his crown.

    Totally dependent on his caregivers for his each and every need. Completely trustworthy for all from the outside world.

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  • Believe

    Today I wear this purple t-shirt with the words “Believe” inscribed in silver across the front.  This afternoon is my second MRI post brain surgery. I chose to believe that the tumor found 2 ½ years ago (and removed as best the doctors were able) is not growing and I will receive a clean report.

    Even if a clean report is not my outcome, I believe that God is still in control of the results and my life. Thank you for praying with me along this journey.

    p.s. thank you, Bethany and Sue for this special shirt!

    “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds” (Psalms 73:28).

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