Book Review: The Love and Respect Experience A husband friendly Devotional that wives truly love by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

A few years ago my dear Josh and I went through the bible study " Love and Respect" and we really enjoyed it. We really gleaned so much from it that we own the book. So when I saw this devotional from book sneeze I knew I had to get it. The book contains 52 Devotions that are  based on the three cycles that make up the base of Love and respect.

 These cycles are: the crazy cycle, the rewarded cycle, and the energizing cycle.

When I received it in the mail I was thoroughly surprised and impressed. It is beautifully leather bounded. The colors are rich and pages are smooth and inviting. I love the way the pages are set up, especially that at the end we have a time of prayer and an action to take on after reading that devotional. My husband and I have been reading it before we go to bed and we are able to recall the information we learned before; but for those who have not read the book there are many resources at the end of the book. Devotionals are not on the men's top picks for book to read, so when I saw that this one was especially geared for men I knew we had to give it try. My husband is very satisfied with it and the only thing he wished for was for a bookmark as part of the book to mark the place we left off at. We highly recommend this devotional. Warning: you might not only be able to read one at a time or one a week for that matter!

Gracefully Daisy and Josh

Day 21st

I wrote this poem for Sam the last day of the 21 days of prayer. Be encouraged! I love you all!

A Poem of Humility for Sam

There is so much light in these beautiful eyes

So much hunger for love and knowledge

May the light in your eyes shine with humility

May the Lord take pleasure in you

and adorn you with Salvation

Your hunger will be satiated

but sometimes you will feel overwhelmed

At that time May you have all humility and gentleness

with patience bearing with others in love

I will always love you and shower you with  love but

there is One who has loved you before the beginning of time

He will always hear you from heaven 

when you humble yourself pray and seek his face

Dear son clothe yourself with humility daily

for 

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"

And when you walk in Humility before the Lord

He will  in the proper time exalt you

May the LORD take pleasure in___Our sons____, and adorn the humble with salvation (Psalm 149:4)

The Lord gave us the strength and we did it! we committed to praying for 21 days and here we are! 

I pray that the Lord continues to pour out his spirit over you and your sons! i pray that as they draw nearer to God you will also catch a glimpse of their heart! I pray that they will always follow after Christ and Serve him only! I pray for joy to your sons! May they bring you happiness as they walk out their lives by the Lord's grace! Many blessings to you!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 19 Salvation

May __our sons____ confess with their mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in his heart that God

raised him from the dead, and be saved (Romans 10:9)

This is what this  challenge is all about! We yearn for our sons to know the Lord and to ask him to be their Lord and Savior! We long to see them walk out their salvation with fear and trembling. we want them to realize that all the Lord did on the Cross was not in vain but to have a relationship with them and to live eternally with him. May our prayers today be so that our sons hearts will be changed by the grace that God gives freely because they can not be good enough and be saved. It is only by the grace of God that they can be saved. 

Lord, we pray that our sons will have an encounter with you and choose to accept your gift of salvation. May they walk in your ways all the days of their lives Lord. I pray that we will position ourselves through prayer and the teaching of your word to lead them to your heart! Give us the strength to persevere and to train them in your way and when they grow up they will not depart from it! Lord, give them a hunger and a thirst for you that will never be satiated so that all that they desire is you! in your name amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 18 Anger

May__our sons__ give a soft answer, which turns away wrath, and avoid harsh words which stir

up anger (Proverbs 15:1)

Encouragement from Brooke

So much of the Christian life is a choice. Every day (multiple times a day) we’re presented with a choice

to choose God or choose ourselves. Anger is a perfect example.

You can just feel it coming, can’t you? Anger is an almost total body experience. Muscles get tight. Temples

throb. Jaw clenches. Explosion feels imminent … wooing us into believing we have no choice but to react.

But it’s not true.We almost always have a choice when it comes to anger. We can choose to embrace it and sin. Or choose to put it away, and instead choose kindness, self-control, compassion, and love.

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."

~Ephesians 4:31

Today once more it starts with our hearts! today when you are tempted to get angry choose to ask God for the way out and for the strength to choose love and grace. Lord, thank you so much because your promises are true and you never give us too much that we can't handle. You always give us strength to persevere! Lord, may our sons choose your love and peace over anger and bitterness. I pray against all bitterness that would want to creep into our hearts and into the hearts of our sons take it away and help us to choose to replace it with your love kindness! amen

Gracefully Daisy

Day 17 Self Control

May__our son__present his body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is his

spiritual worship. May he not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of his

mind, that by testing he may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and

perfect (Romans 12:1-2)

The encouragement from Brooke for today is so right on that I want to share it all with you!

Encouragement from Brooke
What's on the throne of your son's heart? I recently spoke at a small local women’s conference on the
topic of finding balance in our physical and spiritual lives. Admittedly, this is an area I’ve struggled with
my entire life. I’m an emotional eater, and my weight has fluctuated over the years to prove it.
I used to think that could control it by counting calories, or walking four miles a day (yes, I used to do that). I’ve tried portion control, diet pills and running, but nothing sticks. Know why? Because I love food. I turn to it for comfort, fulfillment and joy. And until I dethrone it from Christ’s rightful place in my heart, I will continue to struggle.
It’s idol-worship, plain and simple (ouch). 

Food may not be the area of self-control with which your son struggles. Maybe he has video games, sports, sex, or money on the throne of his heart. The key to overcoming our tendencies toward worshiping something other than Christ is to choose to love Him more than we love our sin. A constant laying down of our desires and picking up of Christ is the only fix.
I wrote an article once on the topic of loving Him more …
It was a hot summer night, and I sat on my bed in a heaping culmination of all I'd been taught. A moment of rare heart understanding as I realized that life with Christ was not about what I could or could not do, but about loving Him more than I loved my sin.
Loving Him more.Anything that separates me from God is sin and anything good can be made sin if I love it more than I love Him.
And now twelve years later I'm still choosing.
I love Him. I love Him less than looking my best. I love Him. I love Him less than yelling at my kids. I love Him.
I love Him less than getting even with my husband. I love Him. I love Him less than having a published book. I
love Him. I love Him less than time to myself. I love Him. I love Him less than a stomach painfully full of my
favorite meal. I love Him. I love Him less than getting my own way.
I love Him.
I love Him less.
Every time I love Him less I love something else more.
But He loves me. He loves me always.
In the moment of choice this knowing of His steadfast, never-ending love is what gives me strength. This knowing of His great sacrifice for me … and for you. This knowing of the lengths He would go to love me more. More than I deserve. More than I can comprehend.
More than the power of Hell can stand against.

 "My Savior's sacrifice paid for all my sin. So in my suffering I look to the Cross again. No need, no want, no trial, no pain can compare to this: The wrath of God once meant for me, was all spent on Him. Before the Cross, I humbly bow. I place my trust in the Savior. Your finished work captures my gaze. You bore the wrath, I know the grace."

~Before the Cross (Sovereign Grace Music)

Now the little forever soul sits in front of me for what seems like the 20 millionth time today. And I look at him… and he looks at me. And I wonder, out loud, how he could possibly want to choose discipline over joyful obedience. After days of willful rebellion from two little men, I'm spent and I cannot understand in that moment why ANYONE would choose this chaos--this miser--when simple obedience would change everything. Don't they know the sweetness that would be theirs if they would just obey? Just CHOOSE to obey? Sigh. There's that word again.
The choice to love Him more begins from the beginning … hearts made to worship Him … choose Him. Hearts that left to themselves will choose our own way every time.
How many times have I chosen my own way when I knew the consequences? How many times have I forfeited the sweet, peaceful blessings of obedience in order to stamp my feet, cross my arms, dig in my stubborn threeyear-old-like heels and have my own way? 

And this from a woman who has tasted the goodness of God in the land of the living!
How can I expect my little ones to choose the good all the time when their own mama, a Jesus-follower for over 20 years, still gets it wrong?
Grace.
Grace.
And more grace.
Grace.
and choosing to love Him more.

 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ~1 Corinthians10:31

Be encouraged and know that he is in control. His spirit prays for us and intercedes for us. In the area of self control I need the Lord's help everyday. Praise the Lord for his unending love! He is with us today Amen!

Lord, I pray that you will continue to give us the strength to exercise self control over the things that try to take our attention away from you. Help us to dethrone anything in our hearts that is self serving-we want more of you! Lord, we want to lead by example and we need your help we can't do this on our own but with you we can do all things! in your name I pray amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 16 Gentleness

May__our son pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness (1Timothy 6:11)

Today has been a great day! Sam and I are both getting over infections and we are feeling better. The highlight of my day was praying over Sam at the dinner table. Today I had dinner ready early so all three of us sat at the dinner table. Josh and I took turns praying each of the verses over Sam and it seemed as if he was trying to pray as well! So precious!

I pray that you  will have the support of praying husband as well. I love that we are able to pray together even though we are apart;  because where two or more come together God is there. Lord, Thank you so much for loving us as you do-so gently yet so passionately! Teach us to love the way you do! May we be examples of gentleness to our sons. May we gently encourage them to follow after you and to love others with gentleness. Although in this crooked world they might be criticized for their gentleness, may they know that gentleness comes from God. May___our Sons__know that a gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit

(Proverbs 15:4)

Gracefully Daisy

Day 15 Faithfulness

May_Sam___call this to mind and therefore have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love he is

not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.

May_Sam___say to himself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

(Lamentations 3:21-24)

Lord, we pray that in this unfaithful time we live, our boys will grow up to be faithful to you. As they learn to be faithful to you they will be faithful in all aspects of their life. Help us to be examples of faithfulness. As we interact at home with our husbands and that as we live out our life with you; may they see us faithful. In our walk through this world we want our light to shine especially light of faithfulness! Lord, we claim for them your faithfulness. you freely give it to us and renew it every morning thank you for that. I pray that you will teach them to walk in your faithfulness and to understand that they will not be perfect but they can be faithful!

Thank you because you always hear us...

Gracefully Daisy

Day 7 A servant's heart

May___our sons_be  servants, for the greatest among us shall be servants (Matthew 23:11)

Josh, my husband leads with a servant's heart. He teaches me everyday what it means to serve others first. He challenges me in this area of my life by just living his life. I love that about him and I am so excited about our Sam learning from him. my prayer is that I will live my life this way also! 

Dear Lord thank you so much for being with us through all of these days as we continue to come before you in prayer for our sons. Lord, help us to follow your example so that they can see us and learn how to be more like you. Lord, be our guide always. We love you Lord. Amen

Gracefully Daisy

Day 6 Purity

May our sons be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a

crooked and twisted generation (Philippians 2:15)

Brooke Shares with us encouragement from Hal and Melanie Young {Parents of SIX boys and authors of Raising Real Men.}

"The past ten years have brought a brutal assault on the purity of young men. Where it used to be that a young man had to happen upon a stash of wickedness in an uncle's footlocker for a few stolen moments or risk his reputation to go buy something in person at a store, now the evil comes looking for him. The average age of porn exposure is now 11 years old!

So how do we prepare our guys for this huge battle that is about to face them? How do we help them be strong and stay pure, so that one day they'll be knights in shining armor for their brides? We've got to get there first and be "the first with the most," as General Nathan Bedford Forest, the Civil War cavalry commander used to say.We need to be open and honest with our boys starting while Mama still gives them their bath and continuing through graduation and beyond--explaining and answering their questions, but especially putting it all in to the context of God's gift for marriage alone. Establishing that frankness and communication from the very start will really pay off when they enter the testosterone years.

Understanding what's going on is not nearly enough for our boys, though, especially as they become teens. We need to prepare them to look for the snares our enemy lays for them, give them tools to help them fight temptation, and make sure they have accountability that helps them stand firm. Too many mothers we talk to are in denial that their sons are old enough or sinful enough (hint: we all are) to face these temptations. That's sad,because their sons need their help!We can help them, too, by praying for them. We need to pray for protection for them and pray they'll be strong enough to flee temptation - and pray for the princesses they will one day claim!

"And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure." ~1 John 3:3, NLT"

Note sons.Want to find out more about this topic? Hal and Melanie talk about these things in the "Love and War" chapter of Raising Real Men and in their new workshop CD: "Shining Armor: Your Son's Battle For Purity."

Lord, give us clean hands and give us pure hearts! I pray that you will help us Lord to pray for our sons-please Lord draw their hearts closer to you and help them to be pure like you are pure! Lord, it is a choice that we have to make to keep ourselves pure. Help us to teach our sons to make that choice help us to begin teaching at an early age so that when time comes for them to make those tough choices they will without hesitation. Lord, help our sons to make a commitment with their eyes to keep them and their hearts pure for you Lord! Help us to be an instrument in your hands for the salvation of their lives and the purification of their lives! we give them to you they belong to you! in Jesus name amen!



Gracefully Daisy

Day 5 Pride

May our sons be lowly in spirit and obtain honor, for one’s pride will bring him low, but he
who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor (Proverbs 29:23)

 love this encouragement from Melissa Smallwood @ multi-tasking mama

"Proverbs 22:6 reminds us to “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keepingwith his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Amplified Bible). Prayers for our sons must be individual to that child, and sensitive to the one of a kind man God has designed each of them to be. Whether my boys grow to be doctors, pastors, or drive a milk truck, as long as they are living their lives for God’s glory, my mamaheart should be pleased and satisfied." 

I pray Lord that this will be our heart for our children that they become the men that you have purposed them to be. Help us to love them uniquely just as they are and to be proud of them always. Lord, help us to be  vivid examples of humility in their lives. That daily we will cloth ourselves in your humility and in turn they will also learn cloth themselves in the humility that only comes from you.  Show us how to pray for you know better than us what we need to pray for. We give you our sons they are safe in your hands!Lord, we pray today for those single moms that you will place in their lives Godly men who will be live examples of what it is to be a man according to your heart.thank you Lord because even the smallest details of our lives matter to you. amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 4 Avoiding foolishness

I am back! although I have not been able to post for the past few days due to traveling and the hustle and bustle that comes with it- I have not stopped praying for you guys and our sons. 

May our sons be like a poor person who walks in his integrity rather than one who is crooked in

speech and is a fool (Proverbs 19:1)

an excerpt from Brooke-"In their book, Instructing a Child's Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp have this to say about foolishness: "The Bible's definition of foolishness is concise. 'The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'' (Psalm 14:1). If there is no God, I am autonomous - a law unto myself. There is no consideration in life more profound than, 'What will please me?' Children don't say those words, but such foolish thoughts are the underlying justifications for hundred of impulses every day. It is expressed in all the acts of disobedience, selfishness, willful temper, and compulsive self-love.""(p 112)

The definition of foolishness according to the Bible. I had never thought of it this way before. I wanted to post the text here so that we can meditate on it throughout the day and teach them to our little guys as soon as we can. I love the idea of teaching  that Brooke talks about, "but I believe with all my heart that

teaching both of my sons to think in biblical terms now will help them choose in biblical terms later." 

Psalm 14

"definition of a foolish man"

 ¹ The fool^[a] says in his heart,
   “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
   there is no one who does good.

 ² The LORD looks down from heaven
   on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
   any who seek God.
³ All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
   there is no one who does good,
   not even one.

 ⁴ Do all these evildoers know nothing?

   They devour my people as though eating bread;
   they never call on the LORD.
⁵ But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
   for God is present in the company of the righteous.
⁶ You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
   but the LORD is their refuge.

Proverbs 9

Invitations of Wisdom and Folly(differences between wisdom and foolishness)

 ¹ Wisdom has built her house;
   she has set up^[a] its seven pillars.
² She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
   she has also set her table.
³ She has sent out her servants, and she calls
   from the highest point of the city,
 ⁴ “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
 ⁵ “Come, eat my food
   and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶ Leave your simple ways and you will live;
   walk in the way of insight.” ⁷ Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
   whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
⁸ Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
   rebuke the wise and they will love you.
⁹ Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
   teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
 ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
   and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
¹¹ For through wisdom^[b] your days will be many,
   and years will be added to your life.
¹² If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
   if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.
 ¹³ Folly is an unruly woman;
   she is simple and knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the door of her house,
   on a seat at the highest point of the city,
¹⁵ calling out to those who pass by,
   who go straight on their way,
 ¹⁶ “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
 ¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet;
   food eaten in secret is delicious!”
¹⁸ But little do they know that the dead are there,
   that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

Dear Lord, thank you so much for guiding us in your ways! we are so blessed to  have you as our guide in this life that can pull us in so many directions. Today we ask for wisdom in leading our sons to become wise men and not foolish men. Please draw near to us as we draw near to you! amen!

Gracefully Daisy

Day 3 a heart of integrity

sorry for the late post...i hope your day was wonderful

May_our sons_walk before You, as David his father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness,

doing according to all that God has commanded him, and keeping His statutes and His rules

(1 Kings 9:4)

in·teg·ri·ty

   

–noun

1.

adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moralcharacter; honesty.

Integrity seems to have disappeared in our current society. 
may we train up men full of integrity in every area of their life.
the best way we can teach this is by example. 
when i met Josh in college i was drawn by his blue eyes, awesome smile, and charming personality but over all those physical attributes that caught my eye his integrity took the cake. He challenged me to live a life of integrity everyday we worked together. When I realized how he led his life-I knew I wanted to marry him.


May our sons grow up to be honest-affecting the lives of all who come in contact with them. This is why  we take on  this challenge to intercede for them so that the Lord will take a hold of their heart and mold it into a heart of flesh-who purposes to live a life integrity before the Lord and men.




My favorite prayer for today:

Till he dies, may_Sam___never put away his integrity (Job 27:5)

Dear Lord, thank you because you always hear us. We are so sure that we can come to you and ask for the desire of our hearts because you care. We are seeking your face so that we will learn directly from you what is your will for our lives and for the lives of the sons you have entrusted to us. Lord, lead us in your way everlasting that everyday we become more like you and less like this world wants us to be. May we continuously in every area of our lives be an example to our sons of what a life lived in integrity looks like. May our sons set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12)
May they Learn it from us Lord as we have learned it from you. Change our hearts make them ever new so that we can be more and more like you to our sons. Lord, please take hold of their heart and give them a heart of flesh-soft and tender towards you and your way-because your way leads to eternal life. In your name I pray. Amen.  

Gracefully Daisy

Day 1 Love = Obedience

=

Obedience

"If you love me, keep my commands." John 14:15

Today is the beginning of an amazing journey. 

The verse that keeps coming to mind is Jeremiah 33:3. I know that as we take this journey together the Lord will show us unimaginable things about who we are in him and about who we are as mothers! 

Today's Instructions:

Remember that we are  committed  to praying the ten prayers in the obedience chapter today. There are four ways you can accomplish this:

1. Get up early to bathe your sons in prayer first thing in the morning.

2. Pray the prayers one at a time throughout the day

3. Make the prayers a part of your family devotion time, praying the prayers out loud over your sons.

4. Spend some time in concentrated prayer late at night, around bedtime.

Note this is another idea that Brooke: Moms whose boys have already left the home (or grandmothers whose grandsons don't live in their home) can consider writing a note to send once a day with the prayers they have prayed for their sons.What an encouragement to receive a note a day from mom (or grandma) with specific prayers!

now that we are done with a little bit of housekeeping let's focus on praying for our sons to learn and embrace obedience. 

LOVE = OBEDIENCE

. As we read through Brooke's introduction to the first chapter she shares her "life changing words"

“Ladies, if your man cannot submit to Jesus, he cannot lead you. A man must be willing to be led before he can truly lead.”

She shares how she heard this at a conference and realized that teaching obedience to our sons is setting them for success in life! I love the truth that she shares of how teaching obedience leads us to teach our sons about the Gospel message! What a wonderful way to show our sons that Jesus' plan for salvation is for them from an early age so that when they begin to see their faults and sin begins to entice them they will know how to obey the Lord who saves them!

Each day I will share with you my favorite of the 10 prayers and share a prayer at that end of the post!

May ___Sam__ walk after the LORD His God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice. May he serve Him and hold fast to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4).

I pray this prayer for my little guy  today because if he walks after Lord he will grow to love his commandments and he will delight in them as King David did and this obedience will lead to a prosperous and long life!

David's life is such and inspiration to me because it is his Love for the Lord and for his Law that leads him to obey. His life is the story of redemption that we all live because even through his faults and shortcomings he is know at the man according to God's heart. I know that as mother's we want our son's to be known as men according to God's heart!

Even Jesus taught this principle to the disciples. We must teach them to Love the Lord so that the principle of obedience becomes second nature to them because they love therefore they will obey.

Dear Lord, 
how blessed I am by you to be able to share my heart with these beautiful moms. I love how their hearts pour into their sons hearts. I ask you today for strength and perseverance as we commit to praying for ours sons today. We ask that you will give our sons the wisdom to understand the importance of obedience regardless of their age. Lord, I ask that you will give us the vision and ability to teach our sons this vital principal. We come to you for wisdom because you have promised to give it to us and we seek your face now while you can be found so that we can learn directly from you and your word. Please reign in our son's hearts and show us the condition of our hearts as we pray for them. Lord, lead us in the path of obedience and if there is an area in our heart where we are lacking-show us and we will obey you because we love you! In Jesus name, amen.

 Gracefully Daisy

 i found this great song enjoy! great song to begin teaching our kids!

He sees you...

I have never reposted from another blog before but since it is the eve of our 21 days of prayer I wanted to share this encouragement shared by Brooke the author of the book we are going to be using as guide.

{Originally posted at the M.O.B. Society, I like to post this article the day before the start of the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge. Perhaps you need to settle this issue in your heart once and for all. There’s no time like today.}
This parenting of the male species is hard.

Whether you have an adventurous boy, a scholarly boy, a rambunctious boy, or a bookworm boy. A little boy, married boy, big boy or somewhere in between boy. Sinner boy, saved boy, sanctified boy.

It’s still hard.

I’ve watched your words, you boy mamas, and I confess: I’ve been totally overwhelmed with what God is doing through this community. I’ve rested my head many nights speechless that God would allow me to kneel with you and pray for His hand in our boys’ lives.

Several times I’ve asked God, “what are You doing?” And other times I’ve read about a mom’s deep burden for her son and all I could utter was, “O God.”

He hears our groanings.

The coupled pain and hope that keeps a mama on her knees wears a carpet thin.

But He hears you.

And God is for you.

You are the apple of His eye. His beloved. His thoughts toward you are many and His plans for you are good. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

When your son takes his first steps and you realize for the first time that your baby is growing up…God is for you.

When you give it your all and his heart doesn’t change…God is for you.

When you wake up and he’s five and you realize there are already so many moments you’ve missed and will never get back…God is for you.

When you realize the home life you desperately wanted to provide for him isn’t going to happen…God is for you.

When you realize how your own sinful choices have affected him…God is for you.

When you’re defeated and ready to quit…God is for you.

When you see the desires of his heart and realize that they’re not always good…God is for you.

When your son gets hurt or that thing you always wanted to protect him from happens…God is for you.

When his heart doesn’t belong to just you anymore…God is for you.

When he makes choices that hurt you, no, devastate you…God is for you.

When the threads of your carpet are worn bare from the praying, begging, hoping in God to complete the work He started…God is for you.

And His heart for you is good.

As we prepare to join our hearts in prayer for 21 days tomorrow, perhaps the one thing we should settle is this:

God is for us. And His heart for us is good.

********

Are you a boy mom?

The 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge is starting tomorrow! Join me on a 21 day journey into praying for the hearts of our sons. Are you up for the challenge? Buy your book, sign up with a group leader and start praying passionately and purposefully for your sons!

 

Gracefully Daisy

a poem of Humility for Sam

"May Sam have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind." 1 Peter 3:8

There is so much light in these beautiful eyes

So much hunger for love and knowledge

May the light in your eyes shine with humility

May the Lord take pleasure in you

and adorn you with Salvation

Your hunger will be satiated

but sometimes you will feel overwhelmed

At that time May you have all humility and gentleness

with patience bearing with others in love

I will always love you and shower you with  love but

there is One who has loved you before the beginning of time

He will always hear you from heaven 

when you humble yourself pray and seek his face

Dear son clothe yourself with humility daily

for 

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"

And when you walk in Humility before the Lord

He will  in the proper time exalt you

Verses used for inspiration: 1 peter 5:5, Ephesians 4:2, Psalm 149:4, 1 Peter 3:8, 2 Chronicles 7:14, James 4:6, James 4:10, 1 peter 5:6

Gracefully Daisy

Jesus has Risen!

Thank you Lord we praise you for you Love and for Rising from the dead to give us hope and validate our faith! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!


Mark 16

 1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on Sunday morning,[a] just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3 On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
 5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, 6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,[b] who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. 7 Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

 8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.[c]








Gracefully Daisy

Romans 10 Salvation comes by the Grace of God

Romans 10 (The Message)

"It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"

 ^11-13Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it."

I know that the month of March is over but I am determined to read through the book of Romans until the end! So I am extending my study of Romans into April!
So exciting to know that we don't have to "do" anything to obtain salvation but believe in our hearts and ask the Lord to become our Lord and Saviour. The moment we do this with all of our hearts he comes and makes all things right between us and makes all things right in our broken lives!

Ephesians 2:8-10 (The Message)
 ^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Gracefully Daisy

Romans 9 Don't miss it

I have read Romans so many times before in English, Spanish and in many bible versions but I love this chapter in the Message. I feel the emotions that Paul is experiencing as he writes this letter to the Romans. He wants them to understand how he loves his fellow Israelites but also that they missed it-Him- The Messiah! He walked among them and they killed him because they wanted a deliverer in the physical not realizing that they needed a spiritual deliverance more! So Paul wants to make sure that the Romans don't miss it as well, now as we read it-don't miss it-Him- The Messiah!

Romans 9 (The Message)

^20-33Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?" Isn't it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn't that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well: 

   I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
      I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.
   In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"
      they're calling you "God's living children."
   Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: 

   If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
      and the sum labeled "chosen of God,"
   They'd be numbers still, not names;
      salvation comes by personal selection.
   God doesn't count us; he calls us by name.
      Arithmetic is not his focus.
Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:
   If our powerful God
      had not provided us a legacy of living children,
   We would have ended up like ghost towns,
      like Sodom and Gomorrah.
How can we sum this up? All those people who didn't seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. 

And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
   Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
      a stone you can't get around.
   But the stone is me! If you're looking for me,
      you'll find me on the way, not in the way."

Let us not become to self absorbed with all the projects we expect ourselves to do "for God's Glory" that we miss his Glory! Let's be very careful to always trust God with our lives so that he can mold us into men and women according to his heart!
I want you God! I want my life to savor the sweetness of your glory everyday! I want to always know that you are the reason for every season of my life! Please help me to stay focused on you and not on myself! I don't want to always be in control I want you to control my life! Remind me when I am getting to busy and help me to slow down even if that means tripping over you like a huge rock in the middle of the road! but after I  trip Lord pick me up and take me in your arms so that in your embrace I can find forgiveness and wholeness!
I long for you, I don't want to miss you!

Gracefully Daisy