“Love Came Down” – Monday Musical Musings

August 24th, 2015 dsisler

 

I’m feeling blessed today. I have no complaints. I have no emergencies. As far as I know, I have no unpredictable occurrences lurking on the horizon. It’s just a good day to be alive and at work in God’s Kingdom.

 

IMAG1492But I know that things can change in a moment. A phone call. A revelation. An action. And to be honest, it’s inevitable that something will happen to flip my world upside down.

 

But here’s the thing. I can’t live my life waiting for the other shoe to drop. I must live each day in the moment. I must do what God has called me to do and allow Him to direct my path.

 

The song I’d like to share with you today gives us the scenario of good days and bad days. You know them well friend. You’ve had overwhelming days. You’ve weathered storms. You’ve been on steep roads.

 

You’ve also lived hope-filled days. You’ve known beautiful promises. You’ve basked in God’s grace.

 

And the beauty that we find in this song is that we are to react in the same way regardless of the situation we face today. We are to believe God. We are to thank God for the gift of His Son Jesus. We are to remind ourselves that we belong to Jesus.

 

Why? Because love came down. Those three little words sum up the wonder and beauty of God. God loved you and I more than we could ever imagine.

 

Regardless of what you face today, know, remember, believe and live a life that reflects the dynamic love God has shown to you. And regardless of what you face today, you will know that you are truly blessed.

 

“Love Came Down”

 

If my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear Your voice
I’ll hold on to what is true though I cannot see
If the storms of life they come and the road ahead gets steep
I will lift these hands in faith
I will believe

I remind myself of all that You’ve done
And the life I have because Your Son
Chorus:
Love came down and rescued me
Love came down and set me free
I am Yours I am forever Yours
Mountain high or valley low
I sing out remind my soul
That I am Yours I am forever Yours

When my heart is filled with hope
and every promise comes my way
When I feel Your hands of grace rest upon me

Staying desperate for You God
Staying humbled at Your feet
I will lift these hands and praise
I will believe

I remind myself of all that You’ve done
And the life I have because Your Son

(Chorus)

I am Yours
I am Yours
All my days
I am Yours

I am Yours, I’m Yours forever
I am Yours, I’m Yours forever
I am Yours, I’m Yours forever Lord

(Chorus)[i]

 

Click here to listen to Brian Johnson’s version of “Love Came Down.”

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

[i] “Love Came Down,” Words and Music by Jeremy Edwardson, Brian Johnson, Ian McIntosh and Jeremy Riddle, Brian and Jen Johnson Music, Bethel Music, Mercy/Vineyard Publishing, Ian McIntosh Publishing, and Jeremy Edwardson Music, 2009.

 

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What a Mighty God

August 23rd, 2015 dsisler

 

What a week I’ve had. I’ve been sick (either with a very short cold or a severe case of allergic reaction to the junk in the air). I’ve missed two days of work. My son turned 33 on Friday and my daughter turns 30 today (this just doesn’t seem possible!). My emotions have been all over as well. Ups and downs. Highs and lows. Joys and sorrows. It’s been like a roller coaster!

 

???????????????????????????????Through it all however, I’ve had the God of the mountain with me through the valleys. This journey of life is not one that I would want to take without God by my side. I pray that you have peace in your life because you’ve asked God to join you as well.

 

I find my choice of repeat blog posts interesting this morning. It seems I am at a crossroad with Full Measure of Joy again. I am finding it difficult to put the effort into writing a daily blog as I once did since going full-time at church. No decisions have been made yet…I need to spend some time with God and allow Him to do His work and share His vision. So until that time, I’ll still be writing every day and sharing my thoughts with you. It is one of my greatest joys.

 

My Failures

 

I have accomplished so much in the past 12 months. I write an inspirational blog every day. I moved my blog to a beautiful new website. I have an e-published book.

 

But, I have had a difficult beginning to the New Year. I was feeling sorry for myself. Yes, I write an inspirational blog every day, but I rarely hear from others, so I have no idea if I am making a difference in this world. Yes, I have a beautiful new website, but I lost all of my followers from the original blog site. Only one person followed my move. Yes, I have an e-published book, but I’ve only sold six copies of the book.

 

And to make matters worse, someone who I have mixed emotions about has a published book and I was told about it…again. So add jealousy into the mix and I found myself in a pretty bad way a week ago.

 

I felt like a failure.

 

I picked up two books to read. One was Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. If you have read any of my blogs, you know this is a book that has made a huge impact on my life. I certainly needed an attitude makeover and I knew this book would help with that.

 

The other book I chose to read was a book I’ve had for two years. It is In the Blink of an Eye by Michael Waltrip. Michael is my favorite NASCAR driver and I bought this book before going to the Daytona 500 in 2011. I took it to the race track each time we went in hopes of getting an autograph. I never saw him. So the book was placed on my shelf upon my return to Colorado.

 

Until last week.

 

According to Michael, he started 463 NASCAR Cup races before he went to victory lane. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many laps he made around the great race tracks of our country before winning a race. But it is a lot. Thousands.

 

Suddenly, my year’s failures didn’t seem nearly as large. Michael Waltrip had inspired me. Surely I could keep going without all the baggage that I had picked up along the way.

 

And here’s the crazy part. When I started writing my blog a year ago on January 30th, I hadn’t set any goals. I just wanted to write. I didn’t care if people read my blog. I just wanted to write about God. So I have been successful at it. I have written about God every day for nearly 365 days.

 

My first blog post was a reflection on fear. I conquered the fear of writing and offered my words to the world. I have been successful at that as well.

 

I have grown closer to God and have deepened my relationship with Him throughout this year. I have been successful in that regard.

 

So you see I am not a failure. At least not by God’s standards. I offered Him my writing when I started my blog. And He has honored my gift with some great insight into His world. God has opened my eyes to concepts and ideas that I had never thought of before. God has been in the middle of my blog from the beginning. That makes me and my blog successful.

 

This is the final paragraph of my first blog post.

 

“I’ve conquered this fear of blogging. You may not agree with me. You may not like my style of writing. You may never return for “Day 2” of this blog. But I know that whatever tomorrow holds, my God will be with me. And because of that truth, I have nothing to fear.”

 

From the beginning I wasn’t sure who would read my blog, but I did know that God would be following my blog and that He would be with me each day. And He has been.

 

So I will continue to hold onto Moses’ words to Joshua and believe He is doing the same for me, because God has made this promise to believers throughout Scripture. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 – NIV)

 

My fear is gone. My discouragement is diminished. My feelings of inadequacy have vanished. I am facing this New Year with a new resolve. To write about God every day and not worry about being successful by the worlds standards.

 

What have you resolved to do?

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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The Handwriting of God

August 22nd, 2015 dsisler

 

I have another confession to make. I love searching for unique and fun fonts to use for work and play. Don’t ask me why, but a font that can place a doodle or create a glorious letter on a page is just amazing to me. I have even created my own font. Yes, my own handwriting font. It would be much better if my handwriting was pretty though.

 

Of course, my mind goes to Scripture and I wonder what God’s handwriting font would look like? Would it be embellished with swirls and twirls? Would it be straightforward and clean-lined? It’s hard to say, but I do know that we have instances in Scripture where God’s hand was at work. Take a look.

 

We first see God’s handwriting in His encounter with Moses. When Moses was given the Ten Commandments, we see from Exodus 32:16 (NIV) that God did the writing on the tablets. “The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.” Wow! What a work that must have been!

 

The next time we find God’s handwriting is in Daniel. King Belshazzar had given a great banquet and brought in the gold and silver goblets from the temple in Jerusalem. The crowd drank from the precious goblets and worshiped false gods. Well, God didn’t take too kindly to this gesture and He showed up at the banquet.

“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.” (Daniel 5:5 – NIV)

 

Of course, we know that these words were condemning to King Belshazzar. He had foolishly allowed his power to go to his head and that very night, King Belshazzar was slain. God’s handwriting in this instance was frightening and truthful.

 

And finally, we find one last instance of God’s handwriting in Scripture. While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, a woman caught in the act of adultery was brought before Him. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees reminded Jesus of the Law of Moses and that such an act was punishable by stoning. They wondered what Jesus would say.

 

“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.” (John 8:6b – NIV) This is the one instance where we don’t know what was written, but in His beautiful handwriting, Jesus extended grace to this sinner.

 

Three instances of God’s handwriting in Scripture. Commands. Judgment. Grace. How thankful I am for each moment in history when God showed up in this miraculous way. What an interesting thing to think about on a Saturday morning in August.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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A Servant Heart

August 21st, 2015 dsisler

 

I was reminded this morning in my daily devotions that I am to be a servant. I am to have a servant heart. I am to carry the image of a servant as Jesus did. The Philippians 2 passage reminds us each time we read it that we are to have a servant attitude.

 

Daytona Beach 014mWhat does it mean to be a servant? For most of us, we probably think of it as giving of self to another for the benefit of the other. Henry Blackaby says that “A servant is one who finds out what his master wants him to do and then does it.” He goes on to say, “Being a servant of God is different from being a servant of a human master. A servant of a human master works for his master, God, however, works through his servants.”[i]

 

A servant is obedient to the master’s call. A servant is obedient to the master’s order. A servant is obedient to his master. Period.

 

So what is the Master asking of you today? It could be a small thing. “Say hello to your neighbor.” “Encourage this young mom in the grocery line.” “Drop a kind note in the mail to your pastor.”

 

Or it could be a big ask. “Let’s get ready to go on a mission trip!” “I think you would make a great leader in your church.” “What are your plans for giving this week?”

 

It could even be “I want to have a deeper relationship with you!”

 

Whatever the Master is saying or asking you today, the real question is “How will you respond?” Do you have the servant heart that says, “I’ll go where you want me to go. I’ll say what you want me to say. I’ll be what you want me to be.” That’s exactly what a servant attitude involves. Willingness to do as the Master leads through you.

 

And the most beautiful news of all is that He is with us. We are reminded throughout Scripture that we are not on this journey alone. God’s Holy Spirit is with us to help us along the way.

 

How’s your servant heart? I pray that you will take a few moments today to reflect upon what it is God is calling you to. It will be a worth-while journey.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

[i] Experiencing God, Henry and Richard Blackay and Claude King, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2007, page 17.

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Blah

August 20th, 2015 dsisler

 

Well, I thought my allergies were very extreme this year, but turns out I’m really sick. Poo! My head is jumbled and foggy. My throat is on fire. And my temperature has been up and down over the past 24 hours. So today, I’m going to share an older post. I just don’t have it in me to think this morning. Blessings upon you and yours. Tomorrow is another day!

 

What’s the Benefit?

 

???????????????????????????????Maybe you’ve asked this question before. It might be worded differently, but in essence you’ve asked the question, “What’s in it for me?” Whether it’s a warranty plan or a credit card application or a grocery store club card, we want to know what our benefits are and what we get in return.

 

We recently bought a warranty for a piece of jewelry and to be honest, we haven’t been all that impressed with the benefits of this plan. Our health insurance benefits aren’t nearly as good as they used to be. And sometimes those electronic coupons don’t transfer to my shopping card. It can be frustrating.

 

There are times in my life when the benefits just don’t measure up to the sales pitch or the expectation. The benefits of this world can be disappointing, but I know for sure that the benefits I receive from God will never fail.

 

There’s a passage in the Book of Psalms that caught my attention this week. King David was thinking of the benefits he received from God and put pen to paper so that we might remember these benefits. Let’s take a look at this passage.

 

“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5 – NIV)

 

Did you catch those benefits? I hope not! Let’s look at these benefits individually.

 

God forgives all your sins

The key word here is all. Not just the little sins, but the big ones as well. If you still need convincing, here are a few more verses to consider. Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 43:25-26; Micah 7:18-19; and 1 John 1:9.

 

God heals all your diseases

This one is a little more difficult to believe because we all know people who have not been healed. There are passages that show God’s desire to heal us of our diseases. Take a look at Psalm 41:3; Isaiah 53:4-5; James 5:14; and 1 Peter 2:24.

 

However, we know that God chose not to heal Paul of his “thorn in the flesh.” Why? So that he wouldn’t become conceited and so that he would become more trusting in God’s grace (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). When we realize that God’s grace is enough, we come to understand that that benefit far outweighs healing.

 

God redeems your life from the pit

Oh that dreaded pit. The place we go to get covered in the muck and grime of sin. This benefit of God shows that He is not willing to leave us in that state. He wants us to come out of that pit of despair so that we might enjoy the benefit of hope and salvation.

 

Psalm 40:2 (NIV) says, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” If you seemed to have missed this benefit, why not ask God to help you out of that pit?

 

God crowns you with love and compassion

God’s love and compassion are more wonderful than I can express. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of God’s compassion in Lamentation 3:21-23 (NIV). “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

 

This benefit is never ending. There’s no expiration date. And you can receive as much as you need on a daily basis. God is faithful to provide love and compassion. Every. Single. Day!

 

God satisfies your desires with good things

In a world where satisfaction is difficult to find, I know the One who is able to satisfy beyond my wildest imagination. Here are a few passages to consider. Psalm 63:1-5; Psalm 90:40; Luke 11:11-13; John 4:4-26; and James 1:17.

 

Good things. Not the good things of this life, but the good things of our souls. Our spiritual satisfaction can be found only through God, His Son, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We may find satisfaction in some of the good things of our world, but it can never replace the spiritual satisfaction we find in our Heavenly Father.

God renews

This benefit is so uplifting. When I am at the end of my rope, God gives the added strength to continue. To keep going. Isaiah 40:30-31 speak to being renewed to run and soar. Psalm 23:3 tells us that God restores our souls. Romans 12:2 reminds us to renew our minds through God’s transformation. 2 Corinthians 4:16 points to our inner renewal even though our outward bodies are falling apart.

 

The benefits found in these short verses are encouraging. When things don’t seem to be going as we would like, maybe it’s a good idea to think, to remember the benefits God has blessed us with.

 

Above all, I pray that you are praising God for all that comes into your life. Praise is yet another benefit we’ve received from the Father above. Let’s not allow our day to go by without thanking Him for the many benefits He has given. Let’s praise His holy Name!

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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    "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." Ephesians 1:18-19


    I am a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. I lived in the beautiful state of Colorado for 20 years where I found great inspiration for my novels and devotional writings. Currently living in southwest Ohio.

    I am passionate about helping women find their way to Jesus through Bible study, teaching, speaking, inspirational writing and creative Bible journaling.

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