BLESS YOUR HEART!

Sometimes we need words of comfort. 

Relief for a flagging soul. A drooping heart. A complaining spirit. Cynicism.

Words of comfort are needed so that one may not "grow weary and lose heart."(Galatians 6:9)

My prayer O Lord, for others and self today, "Satisfy us in the  morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." (Psalm 90:14)

In the South, three words are often used to convey that needed comfort. Not mere words but words that lead to action.

"Bless your heart" wrapped in a hug and a prayer.

Meditation for Monday

6/20/11 Son, Buddy sharing his Grandaddy Brud's story gave lots of "food for thought" from God's word.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11: 28-30)

How like God to take the very words that I had included for last Monday's meditation to be used today at Daddy's funeral with different implications---that's just like I asked you blog readers to consider (6/13/11).
Buddy used the words humility and gentle as two words that others often used to describe Daddy but shared that those two descriptors were the only ones found in scripture that the Lord used to describe Himself.

What a testimony to lead a life in which those adjectives come to mind as others remember you! What a blessing to have called such a man, Daddy!

Y= Yahweh

2/10/10 Preparing to write a blog on “Y = yoke” I began to mull over all the ways the Lord had carried my burdens this past year. Indeed his yoke is easy and burden is light and I had learned much from His humble and gentle heart. (Matthew 11: 28-30) But God……………showed me Himself through Elijah via 1 Kings 17 and a devotional by St. Trphon the Martyr.

Elijah, whose name means “Yahweh is God,” was a prophet whose name is significant because he prophesied during a time when the worship of Baal threatened to extinguish the worship of God (Yahweh) in Israel. (Ryrie Study Bible)

YHWH

Elijah had predicted a drought in the land, “neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17: 1) and the Lord provided a brook of fresh water and the ravens fed him while he hid in the place the Lord provided for him.

“Some time later the brook dried up.” (v. 7) Have you ever had a brook dry up in your life? Maybe a brook of fellowship dried up as you attended the funeral of a believer with whom you had enjoyed the partnership of the gospel or stood at the grave of a beloved family member. During this time of recession many have seen a financial brook dry up. For some a business failure has completely dried up their river-beds. For others the “cuts” and years without raises have slowly eroded their “just in case” stockpile or retirement funds. A friend’s brook of a happy marriage no longer bubbled with happiness but dried up as she faced the ugly bare rocks left by adultery. Last year, fears of facing pain and surgery dried up my brook of good health.
But Yahweh…….speaks to us and provides for us just as He did for Elijah. “Then the word of the Lord came to him:” (v.8) Then (to me that’s almost synonymous with “in God’s timing”) God’s word came. Maybe Yahweh allows those dried up brooks in our lives to get us to the point where we’ll be able to hear Him.

Life is full of “dried-up brooks” but Yahweh is there. He is the Lord of life, even the dried-up brooks. For it’s in those dried-up brooks where we are attuned to clearly hear His word---if we’ll just listen.