Thursday, December 31, 2009

A New Year's Prayer For Those Who Know The Words and Worth of Prayer

I grew up in church. In fact, you could say that I have been in church all my life. I remember back in the day when people would get up during the 'testimony service' and say, "...those who know the words of prayer, please pray for me." Then, we heard a slew of admonitions challenging the validity of "the words" of prayer. So, people began ending their testimonies with, "...those who know the words and worth of prayer, please pray for me."

Well, Romans 8:26-27 (Amplified Bible) says the following regarding "words" and "worth",

So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men (and women) knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.

The motivation for this blog came when I recently received some news about someone that I know.  The news immediately stirred my spirit to heartfelt prayer. The following words were the result:

Lord, there are places where we are not able to go, so we send your Spirit. There are hearts that we can not touch, so we pray for the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit to minister to them. We also pray for those that will have the opportunity to minister and pray for those who are in need and broken-hearted. Give them wisdom. Help them to minister in a spirit of love, truth and restoration. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

In 2010 as we pray for ourselves and our needs and wants, let's allow the Holy Spirit to move us to prayer for others as well because...

P R A Y E R  C H A N G E S  T H I N G S ! !



Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas

Here's a special Christmas Holiday wish for you and your family.  I hope you enjoy it!

"White Christmas" (musical selection)

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Beef Stew on a Snowy Saturday

The meterologists in our area began forecasting a major snow storm a few days ago and of course, everyone's mind went immediately to food. Well, I did not really think much about the food thing or the storm because I have had so many other things on my mind lately. But, yesterday was D-day. So after I ran a few errands, I ended up in the grocery store. Really, I was looking for some Red Zinger tea. Nowadays, this is the hardest item to find and I'm mad about it! Anyhow, I was amazed that the parking lot was full, because since it was just cold I had forgotten about the storm forecast.

While in the store, my mind went back to the first time I made homemade stew. It was during Hurricane Isabelle in the Fall of 2003. It was an impromptu decision then also. Just wanted to try something knew. Now I'm no Julia Childs, but when I get inspired, I can do a little somethin' somethin' on the stove. I haven't had that kind of inspiration lately, though. The 2003 stew was right on-time. I ended up hosting a few friends and their families because their power was off. As God would have it, my power was not affected by the storm. Can I say that the stew was good? It wuz good, yall!!! The stew took us right through the storm and its aftermath.

Well, that memory motivated me. I went to the fresh vegetables section and picked up a package of baby peeled carrots, stalk of celery, a yellow onion, and a few potatoes. Then on to meat section to get some meat. This took a minute. The last time I purchased the meat the package read "beef for stew". The meat was already cut into little cubes so I did not have to try to figure out what was the right kind of meat to buy. Oh well, I ended up getting a package of chuck roast. It looked like the right stuff. I was already in line when I remembered that I needed tomatoes so, I decided to quickly grab a couple cans of diced tomatoes.

This morning after shoveling a little snow, I started the preparations: seasoning the meat and browning it in the pan, cutting up the vegetables and throwing them in the crock pot. Did I tell you that I really did a good job on seasoning the meat (if I have to say so myself). I really like well-seasoned meat. Finally, everything is cooking in the crock pot. It probably will not be ready for the next 20 hours, but I enjoyed the preparation. The vegetables looked wonderful: orange, light green, white, yellow (used some frozen corn I had in the freezer). It's a recession type of stew because it could stand to have a little more meat than it does.

Nevertheless, I am so looking forward to eating the stew with my favorite side dish, cornbread (Jiffy, that is). Now don't laugh, why try to re-invent perfection. Tomorrow, if God allows me to live, is going to be a good day! I will enjoy a simple pleasure. And in this day and time of recession and joblessness, my hope and prayer for you is that you too will have the opportunity to enjoy one of life's simple pleasures. Peace!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Funny Quote

When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.
- Gracie Allen

Monday, December 14, 2009

The Gift of An Apology

A good heart-felt apology is a priceless gift. It can be worth more than a thousand gifts. But a good apology and a priceless gift (รก la Kobe Bryant) is even better. ;-)