You Are My Rescue

“When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.”

Psalm 91:15

Do you like music?

Music, for me, is such a gift. It can express how I am feeling when I can not find the words. It can minister to my heart when I am hurting. Music is also a great way to praise the Lord.

I was raised in a very musical family. Since the time I was just a small child I can remember music being a big part of my life. I have memories of sitting next to my Mama and hearing her sing beautiful harmony along with the music on Sunday Morning. I remember hearing my dad sing the prettiest tenor part of every song. Being missionaries, we would often sing at the churches we were visiting. As my brother and I grew, our parents taught us how to harmonize, and we are passing those gifts along to our children.

I love to read the Book of Psalms. David understood music. Thanks to his gift of music and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we have a book full of beautiful songs written to the Lord, some of which are written out of joy, some out of sorrow, and some even out of fear and anguish. It seems even David knew the power of a song.

I often find myself with a song in my heart. At times I will wake up with lyrics on my mind; other times God will place a song on my heart and I will find myself humming along all day. Either way, music is such a gift.

I awoke this morning with a song in my heart that I would like to share with you. It is entitled “You Are My Rescue.”  It is a reminder to us that no matter where we are and what we are going through, God is right there with us. Even when we are having trouble seeing His hand, we can trust His heart and know that He will never leave us.

Friend, I do not know what you are going through today, but you can find rest in the assurance that God does. Just as David did, we can cry out to God and He will hear us. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and we can stand firm on that promise. No matter the storm you are facing today, no matter the struggle, God is there and He will be your rescue today if you will let him.

I pray this song ministers to your heart and you have a blessed day.

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Sailing Uncharted Territory

 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
    the fruit of the womb a reward.” Psalm 127:3

Today our family will embark on a new journey.

We are headed into uncharted territory.

We are officially the parents of a teenager!! Today our oldest son, Big D turns 13 years old.

As this day has quickly approached, I have found myself filled with mixed emotions. On one hand, I am extremely excited to see what the future holds for our family and for our son, yet on the other hand I feel a bit unsure and unprepared for what is to come.

This new time in our lives has brought me back to where it all started. 13 years ago, today, I was a 19 year old girl with no idea how my world was about to change. I was young and believed that I knew it all. (You see, teenagers think that for some reason.) I had not really considered the future to any extent and I surely had not thought far enough ahead to realize that one day I would be raising a teenager!

I was a newlywed. My head was still in the clouds.

Even as I sit here now and look back on that time, I shake my head and chuckle under my breath at the naivety. Praise God, He has carried us through all these years!

Today we celebrate this new trek of our adventure. We boldly (and prayerfully) march into an entirely new phase of life. As the shock wears off, I am more and more excited to begin this new journey. I have loved being a mom since that first day, 13 years ago, and I have enjoyed every stop of this adventure since then.

While I do understand that children do not come with an instruction booklet, I am confident in the assurance that God has given us all the instruction we will need in His word. As our children grow, I find myself holding onto God’s promises more and more. I would like to share some of these promises with you this morning.

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Proverbs 29:17 “Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

I hope that you have enjoyed listening to this overwhelmed Mom ramble on about a new phase in life. I also pray that it has somehow encouraged your heart. I truly believe that children are a gift straight from the Lord. As a parent you think that you are teaching your children life lessons every day, but I must say that I learn so many things from my children on a daily basis. I feel very honored to carry the title Mom to these three “not so little any more” blessings of ours, and I am thrilled to see what God has in store for our future.

2014 in review

Note from Valarie: “I just want to say how very blessed I feel to be able to share God’s Word with each one of you. God has been so good. I can not wait to see what this new year holds.

This is the 2014 annual report for this blog. I wanted to share it with my readers and say thank you for being a part of such a great ministry. God bless!”

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

New Beginnings in 2015

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
II Corinthians 5:17

Happy New Year, my friend!

Can you believe that another year is upon us? It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming 2014, and here we are today in the first day of 2015.

Have you made any New Year’s resolutions? Are there things that you plan on doing differently this year?

I have made resolutions in the past years, but somehow I never could stick with them. Last year, however, I did make a couple of resolutions that I actually accomplished.

The first resolution I made was to read the entire Bible. If you have never done this, let me encourage you to commit to it in 2015. I have been reading my Bible for years, but there was something different about reading it all the way through. I learned so many things that I had missed while reading my Bible sporadically.

The next resolution I made was to really focus on my relationship with God and to grow in Him. I had been a Christian for years, but felt that I was not being all I could be for Christ. I spent the past year seeking God’s guidance in my life and really listening for His calling. Did I hit the mark every time? Absolutely not, but I did get up and try again every time.

This year my goal is to again read my Bible all the way through. I feel that there are areas of the Scripture that I did not fully grasp, therefore, I want to go back and try again. If you would like to join me on this journey I would love to hear from you.

Again, as last year, I want to really focus on my relationship with Christ. I pray that I will continue to grow in Him this year. As I do this, I pray that God will help me to encourage others along the way.

I want to encourage you today. Take this blessing of a new year as an opportunity to start fresh. No matter what happened last year or how you feel you missed the mark, get back up and try again!

Each new year is like a new chapter in your book of life. Today is the first day of a new chapter. You have 364 more to go. How will you fill them? Let God guide you. What a beautiful story He will create in you!

Love,

~Valarie~