I'll be presenting and featuring my new Bible software reference package -- containing 9 of my Christian living, devotional, and Bible study books -- at the Wordsearch Bible Training Conference March 22-23 in Austin, TX. Would love for you to come, learn to use the software, and chat with me in person. Visit: wordsearchbible.com for registration info.
Blessings and prayers, Julie
© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
Author Julie-Allyson Ieron offers devotional thoughts and Bible-based encouragement to overwhelmed caregivers of aging parents and other relatives. Julie is the author of more than two dozen books, including The Overwhelmed Woman's Guide to ... Caring for Aging Parents. (www.womencareforagingparents.com)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
God's Awesomeness
Treasured friend,
I'm taking some much-needed one-on-one time with my Lord this week--as I feel the challenge to refresh my loving relationship with Him. So, I won't do much writing. Instead, I'll ask you to meditate with me on a passage of Scripture that, once again, takes our eyes off ourselves and our circumstances and places them on our awesome Lord, where they should be--the Lord who first loved us and invites us to fall in love with Him. Here it is:
In addition, here are some of the passages my study has taken me to:
Psalm 91
Rev 2:1-4
Psalm 27
1 Corinthians 13
If you would, read those passages along with me -- and then next week, we can work on putting the pieces together. I'll share with you what I've learned from digging into them -- and maybe you can give me some feedback on what you've seen and heard from the Lord from those same verses.
Blessings and prayers to our Lord for you, today! May He open your eyes and ears to what He is saying, not just to the body of believers at large -- but especially to you, the love of His life.
Julie
© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
I'm taking some much-needed one-on-one time with my Lord this week--as I feel the challenge to refresh my loving relationship with Him. So, I won't do much writing. Instead, I'll ask you to meditate with me on a passage of Scripture that, once again, takes our eyes off ourselves and our circumstances and places them on our awesome Lord, where they should be--the Lord who first loved us and invites us to fall in love with Him. Here it is:
O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!I've been meditating prayerfully on this Psalm and on others that lead me to reflect on the excellence of the Lord, our Creator/Friend. Next week, we'll chat more about what I've been learning. But for now, I challenge you to take this same journey with me.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen-- Even the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:1-9 (NKJV)
In addition, here are some of the passages my study has taken me to:
Psalm 91
Rev 2:1-4
Psalm 27
1 Corinthians 13
If you would, read those passages along with me -- and then next week, we can work on putting the pieces together. I'll share with you what I've learned from digging into them -- and maybe you can give me some feedback on what you've seen and heard from the Lord from those same verses.
Blessings and prayers to our Lord for you, today! May He open your eyes and ears to what He is saying, not just to the body of believers at large -- but especially to you, the love of His life.
Julie
© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
Friday, February 4, 2011
Snow! Snow! Snow!
Treasured Friend,
We’ve had a snow day here in our neck of the woods. Actually, more like a snow week – three days of being shut in thanks to two feet of the white stuff. You’d think that would be rather good, in a way--a time to catch up on lots of stuff you’ve been too busy chasing around in the outside world to finish. (Come to think of it, I did get a load of laundry in.) But I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d have expected. Although Mom and I did singlehandedly (okay, with the help of one shovel between us, and one mop handle) attempt to move 500 cubic feet (including a four-foot drift jammed up against the sliding door) of the white stuff over the side of our deck, We got about two thirds of the way in before quitting in exhaustion. (She, as she’s always quick to point out, isn’t my aging parent! She shoved her way into the action with more energy and strength than it would have taken for me to resist her participation!)
In days like these, as in days of caregiving, we find within our energy stores an extra deposit from God—a strengthening for the task that feels supernatural in origin. We certainly felt that yesterday—that is, until we ran up against our physical wall of exhaustion. But, that’s the physical and clearly temporary brand of strengthening.
I reread a prayer this morning, from the quill of the apostle Paul, that speaks of a different kind of strengthening—a more permanent one—one that doesn’t leave us drained at the end of the experience and collapsing in exhaustion, but instead energizes us for a new kind of future so fabulous that we can’t even begin to imagine it. Here it is, found in the closing of his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians—a letter my pastor has been preaching through since the first of the year.
I pray this Scripture with many of my new students as they enter their writing studies with the Christian Writers Guild (in part because of the word word that makes up a key part of the prayer). But today, I felt very much like the Lord Himself whispered this prayer into my heart—as if the Holy Spirit and the Son of God, who intercede for me always, were praying it for me. To encourage my heart. To strengthen me. To prepare me for the good work (ergon) He has in store for me. To open me to the good Word and to the good words (logos) He has for me to speak or to write. Look where this strength and encouragement finds its source: in Jesus Christ and God our Father. And it’s based in the love of God for us. It’s the source of our hope. And, as I mentioned in the lead-in, it’s eternal, perpetual, everlasting, forever, since the world began and after the world ends.
So, I pray this Scripture into your day today—may our Lord, through His love and His Mighty Spirit, show His love for you by giving you an encouragement that will last. So that you may have His hope to sustain you—the hope based in the solid foundation of His promises to you. And may this love and this hope from Him bolster in your heart a firmly planted, growing resolve to keep on with your hard tasks. May it give energy to your tired body—and vibrant life to your tired soul. And may you, now rejuvenated in His strength, do with energy and enthusiasm the work of His calling on your life. May you not only do His will, but speak His words, today and every day.
Oh, and if you're caught in a snow day (as most of our part of the country continues to be), be careful moving that white stuff. It looks fluffy and sweet--like cotton candy--but boy-oh-boy can it leave your muscles aching!
Blessings to you, my friend,
Julie
© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
We’ve had a snow day here in our neck of the woods. Actually, more like a snow week – three days of being shut in thanks to two feet of the white stuff. You’d think that would be rather good, in a way--a time to catch up on lots of stuff you’ve been too busy chasing around in the outside world to finish. (Come to think of it, I did get a load of laundry in.) But I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d have expected. Although Mom and I did singlehandedly (okay, with the help of one shovel between us, and one mop handle) attempt to move 500 cubic feet (including a four-foot drift jammed up against the sliding door) of the white stuff over the side of our deck, We got about two thirds of the way in before quitting in exhaustion. (She, as she’s always quick to point out, isn’t my aging parent! She shoved her way into the action with more energy and strength than it would have taken for me to resist her participation!)
In days like these, as in days of caregiving, we find within our energy stores an extra deposit from God—a strengthening for the task that feels supernatural in origin. We certainly felt that yesterday—that is, until we ran up against our physical wall of exhaustion. But, that’s the physical and clearly temporary brand of strengthening.
I reread a prayer this morning, from the quill of the apostle Paul, that speaks of a different kind of strengthening—a more permanent one—one that doesn’t leave us drained at the end of the experience and collapsing in exhaustion, but instead energizes us for a new kind of future so fabulous that we can’t even begin to imagine it. Here it is, found in the closing of his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians—a letter my pastor has been preaching through since the first of the year.
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 HCSB).
I pray this Scripture with many of my new students as they enter their writing studies with the Christian Writers Guild (in part because of the word word that makes up a key part of the prayer). But today, I felt very much like the Lord Himself whispered this prayer into my heart—as if the Holy Spirit and the Son of God, who intercede for me always, were praying it for me. To encourage my heart. To strengthen me. To prepare me for the good work (ergon) He has in store for me. To open me to the good Word and to the good words (logos) He has for me to speak or to write. Look where this strength and encouragement finds its source: in Jesus Christ and God our Father. And it’s based in the love of God for us. It’s the source of our hope. And, as I mentioned in the lead-in, it’s eternal, perpetual, everlasting, forever, since the world began and after the world ends.
So, I pray this Scripture into your day today—may our Lord, through His love and His Mighty Spirit, show His love for you by giving you an encouragement that will last. So that you may have His hope to sustain you—the hope based in the solid foundation of His promises to you. And may this love and this hope from Him bolster in your heart a firmly planted, growing resolve to keep on with your hard tasks. May it give energy to your tired body—and vibrant life to your tired soul. And may you, now rejuvenated in His strength, do with energy and enthusiasm the work of His calling on your life. May you not only do His will, but speak His words, today and every day.
Oh, and if you're caught in a snow day (as most of our part of the country continues to be), be careful moving that white stuff. It looks fluffy and sweet--like cotton candy--but boy-oh-boy can it leave your muscles aching!
Blessings to you, my friend,
Julie
© 2010, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
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