I have to say, the Lord is good to me. 

Johnny Appleseed sings and so do we! Our singing grace at girl scout camp, before spaghetti dinner with super sauce and meatballs, was: “The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the Appleseed, the Lord is good to me.”

Then I got home to BUSY!!! Including Big Game craziness and lots of laundry… And this week had a few other hiccups… but let’s close this week with: The Lord is good to me. God has a proven track record. Nothing that happened God couldn’t handle for me (us)…

We don’t always know the level of God’s interplay in our lives. Things that start and stop we can’t see God-level BIG PICTURE… I was speaking at camp of a fire-burnt forest, spoke about it to the hiking scouts in the woods, looking at Mighty Oaks and Pines, telling them that after a BIG fire, often (always) from the ashes spring NEW LIFE, that now thrives HAVING the sunshine and warmth and water. The seeds and seedlings can now NOT be overshadowed by the trees with which they could NOT compete.  Isn’t it true about us too? We can see the truth after the fluff flies away… the rumble of the thunder yes scary, but remember that a rainbow comes after a storm. And a rainbow is because of the Sun.

This week and our times had/have storms, for many including the earthquake folks, tornado folks, health crisis folks, and those who lost loved ones. God bless them all. Our times in crisis make us cling to the Lord more tightly and surviving through those storms, we are given opportunity to learn that our TRUST IN GOD was warranted. When we realize God’s sovereignty,  and His Mercy, AND His comfort, our praise starts: “Lord God, Thank You!!!”

Not always in the pain and suffering can we physically speak. We best surround ourselves with prayerful people, sometimes we desire alone time. The Lord God is always patient with those who are hurt… He doesn’t give you JUST the quick fix pick-me-up, He gives real peace. And He loves His children more than we could ever imagine. 

Psalm 50 was a powerful read to me this morning. Our God means business,  His business.  Gathering His people.  All are able to see His Strength and Sovereignty. Our Wisdom to respect the Lord and His Plans will open our eyes to His insight. “God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people: “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

Think of God’s Hand in our lives, then we must conclude that God IS in charge. EVERYTHING is under God’s control…

So… Think of the Lord BIG PICTURE and BIG TIMELINE! He owns the fields and the cattle on the fields, and my BIG TIMELINE too. Lord, THANK YOU!

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He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

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Psalm 50 – New King James Version

God the Righteous Judge, A Psalm of Asaph.

The Mighty One, God the Lord, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people: “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge. Selah

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me. I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls,

Or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth, Seeing you hate instruction

And cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes.

“Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver: Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.”