Praise Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Tabetha’s Devotions

February 19, 2018

Sit Back and Watch

Philippians 4:6-7
⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In one of my devotions this morning, I was reading about not worrying and learning to trust God with all your problems. I loved it when the author said to tell him your problem with trusting and thanksgiving, then watch him supply your need.

Then watch him supply your need…

I pondered these words for a few minutes and two things came to mind right away.

First, just like Elsa, we need to Let it Go! I am not saying stop praying, but stop worrying. You have turned it over to the only one that has total control over the situation. Let him do his thing. Often when something is eating at me, I have to turn to verse seven. I lay claim to that peace which transcends all understanding. I have to tell Satan (and myself) I have already prayed about this and it is out of my hands and now I am going to rely on God’s peace!

Second, (I chuckle at this one because it sounds so like me) when we make our problems known to God it doesn’t say, give him your suggestions for solutions. It says to make your requests known.

Maybe that is why he tags on verse seven, hoping if we relax in his peace we will Let it Go and Let God.

God never promised us life without problems. He promised to walk through life with all of its problems right beside us. Troubles will come our way. Anxieties and worries will strain our very last bit of hope and faith. However, we can take all of our problems to God and be assured he will send you peace while you sit back and wait for him to supply your need in his own way and his own time.

February 9, 2018

Waiting On Trains

Romans 12:12
Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.

So I am currently stuck in my car waiting on a train. What do I mean by stuck? Well, there was a train on the track in front of me so I turned on the road before I got to it.

That didn’t work out so well because there was a train stopped on that road too!

Can you say a lesson in patience?

Yes, friends and family and all those that know me all too well, I CAN hear your laughter!

No one has ever accused me of being patient.

However, today I am taking a minute (or 30) to take a breath and laugh.

Yes, laugh!

Let me let you in on the joke…

I had been driving a car that I am pretty sure was held together by tape and chicken wire. It has selective heat. I mean it has heat as long as the car is moving. However, stop moving, for a light, stop sign or perhaps a train and Boom! Nothing but cold air. On my way home from work, I am generally stopped by a train 2 to 3 times a week.

Earlier this week, I found myself blessed with a new Jeep. I was so excited! God not only gave me heat. He gave me heated seats!

That is what I call a God wink. you know that moment when you can feel God winking at you and saying,”I got ya, girl! I love you!”

Well… now comes today. On my way home, I laughed as I drove over those tracks. I was thinking now that I have heat, I haven’t been stopped by a train.

I am sure somewhere in Heaven angels rolled their eyes as God said, “Challenge Accepted!” you know the rest. Or almost…

The train finally cleared the tracks thirty minutes later and I thought I had finished my blog. However, I had to add to it once I got home. You see, after going over the tracks, I managed to hit EVER SINGLE red light the rest of the way home.

Yep, somewhere God is getting a good laugh at this. You know what, so am I! Because I had heat AND a warm behind!

January 29, 2018

Yet I Rejoice!

Habakkuk 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

I want to begin by apologizing for not blogging last week. It was a rather difficult week for me. For those of you who know me or have read my story, you know I am accompanied by a service dog. Meshach is my current service dog. He is actually my second service dog.

Annie was my first. We met when she was just six weeks old and were a service dog team for 8 years before I had to retire her because she was going blind.

This past week she had a stroke. We believed she was going to come out of it fine because she got up the next day as if nothing had happened. By Monday evening though, it was a very different story. She began to have seizures. She was no longer able to get up and move around. By midnight we knew we were going to have to make a hard decision the next day.

Tuesday morning I had to say goodbye to a dog that had saved my life so many times. I held her until her very last breath. She was surrounded by family and friends and made as comfortable as possible.

It has been a week since I came home and found her totally disorientated. It has been a long hard road, but I can now say her name and smile. I can remember all the funny things she did and laugh again.

Tomorrow will probably be rough because it will be one week since I said good-bye. The day the veterinarian calls to let me know I can pick up her ashes will be another. However, through this whole situation, the verse in Habakkuk has kept ringing in my ears. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Every time I would begin to cry and get upset, I just kept repeating this verse. I won’t lie and tell you it made me smile right away, but it did make me breathe. It made me realize I would go on and I would smile again.

I can’t say for sure that our pets will meet us again in heaven, but I sure hope so. One of my friends put it to me this way. “Love is in heaven and Annie was pure love!”

January 19, 2018

He Trusts You!

1 Timothy 1:12
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

What is your service? Do you work outside of the home? Is your service to your family in your home? Do you do both? What about church? Friends? Strangers?

God’s service is not confined to the four walls we call church. Nor, is only given to pastors, missionaries, and bible scholars. God has a service for everyone.

Here is something else you may not know. His service for you may always be changing. I mean daily!

I have heard that little voice before encouraging me to call someone, pray for someone, let the person go in front of me or even offer a helping hand. These little nudges come quite unexpectedly out of nowhere. I have even found myself in the place where God has asked me to give up my last couple of dollars to someone when I needed it. These are all calls to service.

Have you ever thought of it the way Paul so eloquently put it in 1 Timothy 1:12? God considered you trustworthy and appointed you to His service. Did you catch that? God considered you TRUSTWORTHY! He is trusting you to follow his instruction. He called YOU!

Not your pastor.

Not your Sunday School Teacher.

Not your small group leader.

Not the missionary or evangelist

Not even the little old lady down the street who knows every verse in the bible by heart and quotes it in every one of her prayers.

No, he trusted and called on YOU to perform this great service. No matter how small you may think the task is, in God’s plan, it is HUGE! And he has trusted you with it. The God of the Universe! The maker of all things has trusted you enough to ask you to do him a favor and perform this service.

So, the next time you hear that small voice answer with a “YES SIR! Right away sir! And thank you, sir, for trusting me with this task.”

January 12, 2018

Today I Want to Pray for You!

Lord, today I lift up my family and friends before you in prayer, and in agreement with your word, I ask:

That they will love You will all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Mark 12:30

That they will be patient thus gain greater understanding, and that they will be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Proverbs 14:29, James 1:19

Thay You protect them spiritually, mentally, and physically. Psalsm 28 & 41

That they will submit themselves to you, resist the temptations of the evil one, and acknowledge You in all that they do so that You will direct their steps. James 4:7

That you will give them the desire, strength, and courage to run the race with boldness, so that they may press on toward the goal that You have called them to in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

That they will be a wise steward of all the things You have given them, remembering that all things are Yours, given to us by You for Your purpose and glory.
Matthew 6:19-21, Luke 16:10-13

That they would meditate on your word, pray without ceasing, and stay faithful to you Lord Jesus to the end. Psalms 1:1-3, 1 Thesselonians 5:17

In Jesus Name, Amen!

January 3, 2018

Be the Light in Someone’s Day

2 Samuel 23:3-4
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me:
‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’

How can I make someone’s day?

During Lent last year I was challenged to do random acts of kindness each day instead of giving something up. I had so much fun sending little thank you notes to people. I even snuck a card to a lady working in the drive-through window on a very cold and busy morning at McDonalds. I know I was supposed to be blessing others, but spoiler alert I got blessed too!

You never know what baggage someone is lugging around or what scars they have. You may be the only smile or kind word they get. Never pass up a moment to be someone’s sunshine. It doesn’t matter if it is your spouse or the rude cashier, everyone deserves a smile, thank you, can I help you or may I pray with you.

Generosity doesn’t take a lot of money. It just takes a heart!

Light up someone’s world today. You just might be the only thing keeping them from total darkness.

Lord,
Help me be like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain to someone today.

January 1, 2018

Give Me Light For The New Year

2 Samuel 22:29
You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

I love to wake up to a brand new year. I have brand new journals, planners, and calendars laid out in front of me. Blank pages. How will they be filled? What will this new year bring?

I am not much for New Year’s resolutions. I have goals I want to accomplish. Places I would like to see. Things I would like to do. Yes, there are even things I would like to change or improve about myself.

However, I know just like those blank pages, my life will soon start to fill up. Any promises I make today will fall to the side and soon be forgotten.

Instead of resolutions, I want to offer up this simple New Year’s prayer.

Lord, you are my lamp; you turn my darkness into light. Guide my steps this year. Light my path. Help me to never give up even when I falter and fail. I want to follow you and fulfill your resolutions for my life.

December 29, 2017

Flu Season, Yuck!

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

I am so sorry I have been absent this week. My family, like so many others around us, has been battling the flu🤢

I am feeling better today and wanted to do something I haven’t done in a while.

Yep, it is BRIGHT SIDE FRIDAY!

Give me your five! Here are mine…

1. A husband, who was also very sick, still tried taking care of me when he could.

2. Being on Christmas break + being sick = no writing sub plans!

3. Having the sweetest service dog in the whole world, who wouldn’t leave my side and tried to cuddle real tight when my fever was causing me to shiver.

4. The beautiful dusting of snow we got today. Enough to make everything pretty, but not too much that makes it a pain.

5. This one is probably obvious, but thank you Lord for your healing touch.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! May God bless you this New Year! I can tell you I already feel blessed just being able to stand up without the world spinning out from under me.

December 11, 2017

Who is driving the bus?

Psalms 29:11
The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

I went to a new doctor today. After many years of seeing the same doctor, I had gotten quite comfortable with myself. My doctor was a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, he had to move his practice far enough away that I was no longer able to see him.

I have known about this move for six months. I have been on this new doctor’s list for about 4 months or so, but I had not gone in to see him. I hate meeting new doctors.

Now, I do realize no one likes to go to the doctors. I mean we don’t usually wake up and say…gee I wonder what my doctor is doing today. I think I should make an appointment to see him.

However, I HATE going to the doctor’s office and I REALLY HATE seeing a new doctor!!!!!!

I have quite a few issues. If you have read my older blogs you know one of them is seizures. I have not seen a neurologist in over 10 years because I gave up on them. So, I really hate discussing that problem, but I was expecting it. I also have two types of arthritis, asthma and Crohn’s disease. Again, I don’t like going over my history and what I am currently doing about them, but I was expecting it.

What I wasn’t expecting to discuss, my PTSD.

Before you ask, no my PTSD is not combat PTSD. I was not in the military. I wish my doctor would have asked that and just left it there. But NO! He wants to dive into what trauma in my life could have caused my PTSD.

Here is my theory on PTSD. It is kind of like Fight Club (movie reference). The first rule about Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club! Yep! That sums up my feeling on my PTSD! Unfortunately, this new doctor did not agree.

***INSERT MELTDOWN HERE***

Now you would think someone who is writing her dissertation on PTSD was comfortable with her own fight. Well, most of the time I am. Unfortunately, the nature of PTSD does not leave you in control. You do not get to pick and choose how you will feel or respond. I have spoken in front of people before concerning my PTSD. Today, however, was just a day that PTSD was driving the bus and it was racing out of control very quickly!

Flashbacks flooded my head. I was crying the entire way home. None of my mind techniques would work. My service dog clung to me to try and make me feel safe and distract my mind.

I would love to tell you my first thoughts were some beautifully worded prayer that would tickle the ear of any Christian.

Nope!

I screamed at God! I screamed, “Why?”

I screamed, “How could you?”

I screamed, “Where are you?”

I screamed, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS!!!!”

What did I hear back? The Holy Spirit brought to my mind Psalms 29:11. He said I am giving you strength because you are mine. I am blessing you with peace. Accept it. Sit back and let me take control of the bus!

My heart stopped racing. My anger subsided. Reality began to return.

Thank you, Lord, for your strength and peace. You were with during the trauma. You held my hand and screamed and cried with me. You still hold my hand as you fill me with your strength and peace.

My voice has been heard by many young men and women. My story has been shared before. I have been the voice of the voiceless. I wish I would not have gone through my trauma, but I am glad that I survived. For if my journey can save even one person from giving in to the darkness, then I would gladly do it all over again.

December 6, 2017

Peace on Earth

Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests

My heart grows ill
And I wonder still
Is there place on Earth

So much hate
It seems our fate
To find no peace on Earth

Yet you came
To take the blame
To offer peace on Earth

My faith grows strong
That we’ll right this wrong
As I pray for Peace on Earth

Tag: Praise

Sit Back and Watch

Like this:

Waiting On Trains

Like this:

Yet I Rejoice!

Like this:

He Trusts You!

Like this:

Today I Want to Pray for You!

Like this:

Be the Light in Someone’s Day

Like this:

Give Me Light For The New Year

Like this:

Flu Season, Yuck!

Like this:

Who is driving the bus?

Like this:

Peace on Earth

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this:

Thanks For Sharing!

Like this: