Job 37:5-6

Mornin', y'all! :)

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Job 37:5-6
God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, "Fall on the earth"; likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.

Elihu, one of Job's friends, saw the snow as something that showcases God's character. I've also always been mesmerized by snow. Today, San Angelo is blanketed with a white covering, and more of it is falling softly. We don't get snow here very often, which I suppose makes us appreciate it more. I love to just stare out at it, amazed at its power to transform something so ordinary into something so extraordinarily beautiful as it falls gently, quietly. It's one of those great things beyond our comprehension that God does. We are captured by its beauty as our lives are slowed or sometimes even stopped by it. I wonder if maybe God created snow to make us slow down and reflect on Him. He reveals Himself in all of nature; His power to transform anything into something beautiful is somehow represented by the silent transforming power of the snow. This transformation by God is beautifully portrayed in one of the more famous "snow" verses--"'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the LORD, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'" (Isaiah 1:18) After all, that is the ultimate transformation; and it is definitely a great thing that I cannot comprehend!

Father, thank You for the transformation You have already accomplished in my life--that of guilty to not guilty; from dirtied with sin to white as snow. You are so great, beyond anything I could ever hope to understand! Continue to transform me into the complete masterpiece You have created me to be!

May the Lord richly bless you as you marvel at His beyond-comprehension-greatness!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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Psalm 119:17

Good morning, y'all! :)

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Psalm 119:17
Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.

There are those who would say that to live according to God's word would be "restrictive", perhaps even boring or dull. But I would propose that the only way to truly live is by keeping His word. A life lived apart from God's word is just going through the motions; only as we live by His word do we find true abundant life and liberty.
Note that the Psalmist isn't asking for God's bountiful dealing so that he can be happy and free from care; or so that he will be richer than his neighbor; or so that he can fulfill any earthly desire, however innocent. His purpose in longing for God's blessing is that he might serve Him more. That he might live more fully for Him. That he might be ever truer to His word. Therefore, I don't think the "deal bountifully" is a request for earthly blessings, but for spiritual. He is longing for more of God's grace, presence and power, more of Him flowing through his life. He is crying out, "Oh, God--pour Your grace out on me, that I might continue to live in service to You!"

Father, You have already "dealt bountifully" with me, in so many ways! Continue to pour Your grace and power into my life, enabling me to live to serve You and keep Your word!

May the Lord richly bless you as you live and keep His word!

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails, simply e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Exodus 2:1-3

Good afternoon, everyone! :)

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Exodus 2:1-3

And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

 

I have often wondered just what Jochebed (Moses' mother) was hoping to accomplish by placing her infant son in the river in a basket. This little action really seems to have no rhyme or reason. I may never know (until I get to heaven) why she placed Moses in the river; but I wonder if it was sort of symbolic. She was placing her baby wholly in the hands of an unseen, unpredictable God; she had no idea what God's plan for her baby's life was or how He was going to work it out, just as she had no idea where the river would take him. She simply placed him there in faith, and walked away, trusting her baby--so dear and precious to her heart--wholly and completely to God in a very real way.

 

Father, help me to trust You completely, as Jochebed did, with even the things I hold most dear! To place them in Your hands and leave them there for You to do whatever You want.

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you choose to trust Him!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website
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If this e-mail was forwarded to you and you would like to receive the Mornin' SunShine e-mails on a regular basis yourself, you can e-mail me at mornin_sunshine@psalm686.com with "subscribe" in the subject line. If you would like to unsubscribe, just e-mail me at the address above with "unsubscribe" in the subject line and I will take you off the list.

Isaiah 58:4-9a

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

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Isaiah 58:4-9a

Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'

 

In the first kind of fast described here, the people were focused on outward things; trying to look like they were fasting, look like they were spiritual. They also went into this fast with their own idea of what should happen, and then when God didn't do what they thought He should, they got upset with Him. This kind of fast is useless, a waste of time and completely lacking in power.

But look at the fast that God has chosen!! In this fast there is great power--the power to break the chains of sin and slavery, the power to lift heavy burdens, the power to set others free, the power of healing and the power of a ready audience with God. In fact, this fast that God has chosen is not about an outward appearance at all; it's all about the releasing of God's power in a situation by obeying Him even when we don't understand why, or how He's going to work. It's all about simply being willing and available to be a vessel of His power to a world in desperate need of God! It is a glorious mystery beyond our comprehension, why and how God uses His people as conduits for His amazing works. But the fact is He does, and He is longing for a people who will choose the fast that He has chosen that He might pour out His power through them. Will we be that people?I

 

Father, I want to be one through whom Your power flows!!! I give myself to You; help me to choose You in every choice I make, big and small; to live my life yielded completely to You for You to use as You see fit. I will choose to live this fast that You have chosen--even when I don't understand what all that means!

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you yield yourself to be used by Him!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website

Genesis 1:24-25

Hey, y'all!

Well, I noticed the other day that the e-mail I tried to send back in December explaining that we were in the middle of moving and it would be after the first of the year before I got back to Mornin' SunShine got cut off. I'm sorry about that! We had no internet so I was trying to do it from my phone, and apparently it didn't work too well. The good news, though, is that we are pretty much settled here in San Angelo, and I'm back! :)

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Genesis 1:24-25

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 

Everything on the earth "brings forth according to its kind". It started here in Genesis 1, and continues to this day. Dogs have dogs, cats have cats, apples produce apples and peaches produce peaches, etc., etc., you get the picture. So what's the point? Simply this: since everything reproduces after its own kind, shouldn't we strive to be the difference we want to "bring forth" in the world? If we want to go out into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) who are passionate for God and who obey His word, wouldn't it follow that we must be passionate, and we must obey His word?! If we want to see Christ-like results in our lives and ministry to others, shouldn't we be pressing on toward being Christ-like??

 

Father, I want to make a difference, but first I must be willing to be that difference. Help me to press on toward being more like You, trusting that as I become more like You, the fruit of my life will be Godly fruit.

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you strive to be like Him and "bring forth" a Godly difference in our world!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website

Psalm 119:136

Hey, y'all--happy Thursday! :)

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Psalm 119:136

Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law.

 

When I think back over the things that typically make me cry, I don't know that "because men do not keep Your law" would be a common one. Yet, I can't help but think that God's heart weeps over the rebellion of His creation, and the heart of a true worshipper is broken by the same things that break God's heart. So when I look around and see a world that is rejecting God's word at every turn, shouldn't it break my heart?? Shouldn't it cause me to weep and cry out for revival??

 

Father, soften my heart and make it sensitive to Yours. May the things that break Your heart break mine; may the things that bring tears to Your eyes cause me to cry, also. I want to weep and yearn over a fallen world the way You do!

 

May the Lord richly bless you allow your heart to be broken by what breaks His heart!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website

John 10:9-10

Hey, everyone! :)

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John 10:9-10

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

 

There are four things offered to the person who "enters by Me [Jesus]", that is, comes to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ and lives by this faith: 1. salvation--"he will be saved"; 2. liberty--"he will...go in and out"; 3. peace and provision--"he will...find pasture"

On the other hand, the world and the counterfeits it offers only bring death, deceit and destruction; the comparison seems pretty easy to me! I'll go for that "life...more abundantly" deal! :)

 

Father, as if just being Yours wasn't blessing enough, You heap blessings upon blessings on those who trust in You! Thank You!! Help me to live fully in the abundant life You have given to me.

 

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him!

 

Dancing in the rain,
Haley "SunShine" Miller
"Exhort one another daily while it is called 'Today'" (Hebrews 3:13)
Mornin' SunShine Website