Never Knew Love Like His Love

Psalms 18:19b
..."He delivered me, because he delighted in me."

"Free grace lies at the foundation. Rest assured, if we go deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every well of mercy. Deep sea fisheries in the ocean of divine bounty always bring the pearls of electing, discriminating love to light. Why Jehovah should delight in us is an answerless question, and a mystery which angels cannot solve; but that he does delight in his beloved is certain, and is the fruitful root of favours as numerous as they are precious. Believer, sit down, and inwardly digest the instructive sentence now before us, and learn to view the uncaused love of God as the cause of all the lovingkindness of which we are the partakers." http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps018.htm

I am loved
Joan

Keep Me As The Apple Of The Eye

I am liking reading a psalm a day and pondering on it. I had gotten a little slack in days gone by, but I am trying harder to be more diligent in reading Gods words and pondering on them all day. I knew that we would be reading Psalm 17 this morning for our Bible study together and I began reading the Psalm yesterday.

I was amazed that David could say to God in verse 3, "thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing". Now I don't know when David wrote this Psalm or exactly what was going on in his life but it you will notice David is talking to God and saying you have searched, and tested me and you found nothing wrong in my life.WOW, I don't think I have ever been able to say that can you? I always have room for improvement in my life.

But what stuck in my mind the most was in verse 8.

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

I wanted to see how many other times this is mentioned in the Bible about being the apple of Gods eye, so this is what I found. In the scriptures listed there is reference to being the apple of Gods eye.

Deuteronomy 32:10, Proverbs. 7:2, Zechariah 2:8 and Lamentations 2:18

As I began to research and to think about the eye, here is what I found. The eyelid helps keep out dirt and unwanted light, the eyebrow is covered with hair to catch debris and to also filter light that is too strong.

Are you seeing the picture of Gods protection here, I don't think we will ever know the full extinct of Gods protection and guidance on our lives until we meet Him face to face. Oh but, I want to be shielded under the shadow of His wings from this world and the things that this world has to offer don't you? And to think I am what God favors, I Am The Apple Of His Eye.

So again I echo what David says here in Psalm 17:8 Lord, "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

Apple of HIS EYE
Joan

I've Been Thinking

I read Psalms 16 last night and began studying it for our bible studies this morning(Alan and I try to spend time together daily studying the bible and praying together and right now we are in Psalms).

Psalms 16:1
Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

There are many good parts in this whole chapter. In verse 11 "in thy presence is fulness of joy. I have no joy outside of the Lord. Now, I know that things on earth can bring us happiness for a season. But, if time allows it will only be for a season. True joy, peace and happiness comes from having a personal relationship with God. Or in verse 6 "yea, I have a goodly heritage". If you read this verse in context with the whole chapter it is talking about our heritage that we have in Christ,not an earthly heritage. This whole chapter is packed full of goodness. As, we were discussing this, this morning one of the first things Alan said was this was a psalms about ones confidence in the Lord. After we talked about it I could also see that. I think Charles Spurgeon calls this the Golden Pslam.

But on my mind has been those first four words of the chapter in verse 1 "Preserve me, O God". If you notice David is not asking for God to get him out of a jam, or to help him overcome anything. He is asking God to preserve him. The definition in the dictionary for preserve is:

1 : to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction : protect
2 a : to keep alive, intact, or free from decay b : maintain
3 a : to keep or save from decomposition b : to can, pickle, or similarly
prepare for future use
4 : to keep up and reserve for personal or special use

I want to be keep safe from harm, injury, or destruction, and I most definitely want God's protections today and everyday. I want to be alive, and intact, free from decay for the Lord. I want to be saved from decomposition. I want to be used for something special for the Lord.

So, I want to echo what David said "preserve me,O God".

In, With and Through Christ
Joan

Just thought I would say Hi....

I wanted to stop by and post a little something and to let you all know that all is well and I am still alive. I don't really have anything on my mind today or lately. I just have been trying to catch up on some house work and some much needed rest. The body and the mind can get weary when we run, run, run from one thing to the next. The last few months have been that way, although I have enjoyed every project, duty or obligation. So for this week I am just trying to be a wife, a mother, and a grandmother as I wade through the house catching up and cleaning. Nothing heroic or out of the ordinary, but I must say I have enjoyed this week a lot.

Until Next Time
Joan

I've Been Shopping

I went to CVS this afternoon and purchased M&M's and made money. You ask me how did I do that? Well I am glad you asked. The M&M's were on sale and I had a coupon for $1 off 2 bags, then I had $1 ECB. So my M&M's were $3.39. I got home and looked at my receipt and I had 2, $2 ECB's and not 1 that I was expecting.

We then went on to Hickory to eat supper on a gift certificate that we had. I had a coupon for the restaurant also. We were also were able to stay on our diet. Whew. Supper was $1O for the 2 of us and that included the tip.

Before supper I went to Target while Alan went to Best Buy. I really scored there. My total was $65, and I only paid $15. This is what I purchased.

6 - 32 oz. All Liquid Detergents - 4.94 but they price matched to Big Lots of $2.50 then I had coupons for $3 off 2. So I got the detergent for $1 each.

4 - Nivea Body Washes - $2.99 - Target coupon for $1 off each, and manufacturing coupons for $2 off - so my body wash was FREE.

3 - Reach Access Flosses - $2.29 - $1 coupon each, so this was $1.29 each.

3 -Travel Size Tide Detergents - .97, I had a $1 coupon for each. FREE!!!!

1 - Johnson and Johnson Lotion Travel Size - .97, I had a $1 coupon. FREE!!!

1- Johnson and Johnson Shampoo Travel Size - .97, I had a $1 coupon. FREE!!!

2- Johnson and Johnson Band-Aids Travel Size - .97 each, and I had a $1 coupon for each, FREE!!!

1 - Olay Shower Lotion - $3.99, I had a $1 coupon, $2.99, pricey but I wanted to try this.

This was a savings of 77% not that I am counting. I was so excited with my purchases and I felt like a Proverbs 31 woman by being wise and frugal with our money.

In, With and Through Christ
Joan

There Is A Fountain Ladies Conference

Well our first ladies conference at Calvary Baptist Church is now only a memory. A very good memory. I enjoyed it so much and felt honored and humbled all at the same time to be a part of this conference. We had about 240 ladies in attendance for our conference.

Carol Kent was our keynote speaker. She did a fabulous job and such a sweet person. We had one speaker that is a retired missionary form Haiti and we were able to take up a special offering for the Haitian people. We challenged each lady to give $5, our total offering was $1700. Way to go ladies.

Thank all of you that worked so hard to make this conference a success, and thank all of you that attended to make this conference a success.

God is so Good
Joan

Super Busy/Super Tired

Well as we wind down this week for our 1st Ladies Conference at Church it is a busy week. We have done all the preparations that we could previously but there are always a few last minute things to accomplish.

But, yesterday, I bought groceries,took my daughter in law out to lunch,ordered the food for our conference, made several telephone calls, and had to return several more phone calls, cooked supper, Alan helped me work on what I am going to say at the conference for Friday night, and had Bible Study and prayer time with him also. Today, I have to go have a root canal, or have the tooth pulled. I have a hair appointment this afternoon, and then we are meeting at church to try and finish up our last minutes details. Wednesday and Thursday are Clayton days, and I imagine we will have some loafing to do but he is such a good traveling buddy he will hang with Gram and we will get done what we need to accomplish.

Then it's our Ladies Conference, and I do hope you are praying for us as we try to minster to the ladies that will be in attendance.

Until next time,
Joan