A City Life For Me

Continuing in the thoughts of my last post , when Jehoshaphat was faced with a difficult situation of almost certain anihilation, he turned his eyes to God and trusted the Lord to fight for him.  After the Lord sent a message through His prophet with instructions for Judah in the battle, their immediate response was to bow, worship, and sing praise to God.  God hadn't yet done anything, but Judah praised Him for what they knew He was going to do -- fight for them. These thoughts have been brewing for a little while, since the outbreak of COVID-19 that has turned our whole world upside down.  At first, our church wasn't able to meet at the public school we were renting because the schools were closed down.  So, we had church in our dining room for two weeks.  It was all very last minute, and unplanned.  My mind was swirling and things seemed uncertain.  I turned on my iTunes and started a playlist on random.  Each song, though having little to d...

For the last couple of months, in between my study time for ladies' Bible study group, I have been marinating in 2 Chronicles 20.  It is the story of King Jehoshaphat and the great multitude that comes against him in battle.  This force is more than he can handle.  Jehoshaphat has just been strengthening Judah, building the defences, and teaching the people from God's Word.  He is a good king. So Jehoshaphat doesn't just try to handle everything on his own.  He doesn't call up the reserves.  No - he leads his people in a national fast, culminating in a gathering before the house of the Lord.  And there Jehoshapat prays.  He adores God.  He praises God's strength.  He reminds God of His past works, and His future promises.  He calls God to notice that they have gathered at God's house to ask for God's help.  And then he throws himself at God's mercy, and leaves it all in God's hands, withwith these amazing words: "O our G...

I haven't always made Easter a big celebration.  Usually on Easter we pull out our new spring church outfits.  We always have a nice ham dinner.  But otherwise, Resurrection Sunday is a busy ministry day for our family. Recognizing that celebrating Christ's resurrection is just as important, if not more important, than celebrating His birth, I have been trying to make an effort to make it a special family holiday.  Here are some things I am doing to accomplish this! Sometimes our family celebrates Easter on Monday, when we can focus on it after the minsitry at church is completed.  I spread a nice table with tablecloth and our special dishes. I make a special menu. Sometimes Ben puts together a rough cross and we nail our sins to it, as a visual picture of what Christ did on the cross.  Then we celebrate His resurrection, recognizing that He did not stay dead, but conquered death, the cross, and our sins.  This year we will do t...

Here is another visualized hymn.  This one is made for the kids to color before it is laminated.  If you would like a playable file, you can find it HERE , along with a PDF of the musical score.  I prefer to use hymnal.net but sadly this song is not in their database. Download Printable PDF