Finding Joy in the Clouds

Ever Since Samuel went to heaven,  I look at the clouds with new wonder and amazement.  Each day as I look up, I am given new designs and colors.  Some days seem the same,  but each has its own beauty.  The Lord gives us this gift each day and His Glory shines through! The sky also gives such comfort as we look forward to heaven!  When I stop and look up I am given a small glimpse of the beauty awaiting us in heaven and I can only imagine how wonderful it is for Samuel and those who are already there.  Thank you Lord for the beauty of each day.  I love this article below and I wonder if you will take the time to stop and drink in His glory. 
"The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. " Psalm 19:1

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/finding-joy-in-clouds

Palm Sunday celebration 2014

This year the Lord put it on my heart to start a children and youth choir for Palm Sunday and Easter! It was a sweet time of worship each week and brought me so much joy! We had 2 choirs,  the "cherub choir" and the children/youth choir.  What a celebration it was as they sang to the Lord on these 2 special Sunday's!!! I am thankful to have video links below.

Psalm Sunday:

Uploads from Dance74Him: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU2Fg8PlNj-MNwV5SUq9koqg

Easter Sunday:

A year and a half without him

On this day a year and a half ago, on the 10th (also on a Monday), my Samuel went to heaven.  The sky was beautiful and the clouds were full, just like today.  As I try to think of what it was like on that day for Samuel, leaving such pain and weakness and suddenly being healed and in Glory, I am comforted.  This last year and a half without him has been unfathomable. To always feel that something is missing, the empty chair, the hole in our hearts is constant. I'm thankful that with time the pain isn't as sharp, but it will forever be there. 

 

 

I wanted a new arrangement for him as spring is coming and this day and Gracie wanted to make it this time.  I was so proud of the beautiful arrangement she made.   

  

 

How can I fathom living without  my little boy? How can we go on?  

 

 

 

 

Only through God's grace!

Some days are good, some are terrible, most have pain..

 but the Lord has continued to fill us with His comfort and peace.

  He has continued through His word to bring us messages of hope.

 

 

 Why must we go through this pain and suffering?

 

The answers are not all known, but I do know that God has taught much through Samuel's sweet life and death and I pray He will continue to mold our hearts to bring Him glory.

 

 

 

"When facing grief Christians must learn to direct their minds and hearts to the various forms of comfort and hope that their faith offers them.  Paul directs a group of bereaved believers to not 'grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.' (I Thess. 4:13)  and 'We do not lose heart...for our light and momentary troubles are achieving an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen'. (2 Cor. 2:16-18)". Timothy Keller,  Walking with God through Pain and Suffering 

 

 I am thankful that God gives us great hope and comfort even though we are in great pain and suffering.

 

Looking Heavenward!!!

In Christ Alone

 

~In Christ alone my hope is found

 He is my light, my strength, my song

 This Cornerstone, this solid ground

 Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

 

What heights of love, what depths of peace

 When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

 My Comforter, my All in All

 Here in the love of Christ I stand.

 

~In Christ alone, who took on flesh

 Fullness of God in helpless Babe

 This gift of love and righteousness

 Scorned by the ones He  came to save

 

Til on that cross as Jesus died

 The wrath of God was satisfied

 For every sin on Him was laid

 Here in the death of Christ I live.

 

~There in the ground His body lay

 Light of the world by darkness slain

 Then bursting forth in glorious Day

 Up from the grave He rose again

 

And as He stands in victory

 Sins curse has lost its grip on me

 For I am His and He is mine

 Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

 

~No guilt in life, no fear in death

 This is the power of Christ in me

 From a lifes first cry to final breath

 Jesus commands my destiny

 

No power of hell, no scheme of man

 Could ever pluck me from His hand

 Til He returns or calls me home

 Here in the power of Christ I stand.

 

I had the privilege of helping to lead worship at church today and as we were singing this beautiful song I was, again moved to amazement and tears.  I love to worship and sing and am renewed daily by the Lord through His Word, His creation and worshipping Him with a full heart. 

 

He is our HOPE...

when this world seems too hard.

 

Firm through the Fiercest drought and storm...

when all seems hopeless.

 

Every sin on Him was laid,

 

and because of Christ and His death,

I LIVE.

 

I can have no guilt in life,

and He has given me no Fear in death

this is the power of Christ in me.

 

Nothing can pluck me from HIS hand.

 

Til He returns or calls me home,

here in the power of Christ

I STAND.

 

I hold tight to His promises and rest in HIM.

Worship

The Lord has brought us through another year and we have said goodbye to 2013. 

This stirs up many emotions for me...knowing that Samuel was not with us all through 2013 is very difficult for me to comprehend.  He is such a part of our lives and the Lord continues to bless us and others because of Samuel and I am thankful, but I miss him.  I was looking through some old pictures and came across a precious memory.  In December 2011 my sister and I led a Christmas Children's choir at our church.  It was so sweet to hear the children worshipping the Lord!  Samuel was so excited and loved to worship, but he would have been agitated to stay on stage for the entire performance. We wanted him to be able to be a part of it, so before we sang the last song, Tim carried Samuel's wheelchair up the steps.    As the children sang the last song of "JOY to the world" we all had tears in our eyes.  What a precious moment for my boy who could not walk or talk to show us all true worship.  His joy in the Lord, his contentedness in the midst of suffering and the "works of God being displayed in his life" John 9:1, were just a few ways he worshipped.
He is now worshipping in the splendor and glory with the Most High! 

This song is Samuel's song and constantly allows us to picture him
standing in Glory and worshipping.

 

John 4:23-24

^23" But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. ²⁴ God is ^[a]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”



Samuel is on the far left :)

I was working on my Bible Study and we were studying worship. I loved this explanation of worship!

'Worship is casting our perspective beyond what is immediate to that which is eternal. The psalmist was dismayed at the apparent injustices he saw around him until he entered the temple and his eyes were cast high to an eternal perspective and remembered that God would set all things straight eventually. (Psalm 73:16)".  (from More Grace more Love by George Robertson

 and Mary Beth McGreevy) 

 

Thinking eternally is true worship.

 

My word for this year is worship. 

 When I wake up in the morning I want to pray to the Lord,

 "what can I do to serve You today?" 

 This is an act of worship. 

 I want to thank the Lord throughout my day for His blessings,

 this is an act of worship. 

I want to have His praises upon my lips,

worship.

I want to have the Joy of the Lord in all I do and say.

I want to sing with joy to the Lord.

I want to pray without ceasing.

I want to give unconditionally.

I want to serve.

I want to encourage .

I want to tell others about Jesus and His love.

worship.

 

 

I want to rest in the hope of eternity and knowing that His strength is perfect

 when our strength is gone. 

 And one day all of the hardship of this life will make perfect sense!

  Isn't that wonderful news?! 

Thinking eternally gives my great joy!

 

Romans 8:18-25

^18" I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that  the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently"

 

 

 



"Worship is simply glorifying God;

 this means there is nothing required of us that cannot be done as an act of worship."

    Author: John MacArthur
    Source: The Glory of Heaven

Praying to have true worship for my Lord and Savior in all things this year!

May you be blessed this year!
 

 I love this song

I surrender by Hillsong and hope it brings encouragement as we worship the Lord!