Learning to Know All of God

God is our HOPE - our confidence, trust, expectation or desire. 

It certainly seemed like January was long, but February was super short! I am grateful to see the sunshine bringing about my Lenten Roses and can tell the days are getting longer. Praise the Lord for that!! And for our upcoming time change next weekend. 

This email includes your March Prayer Guide. These guides came about as a way to know God more completely…to praise Him and become nearer to Him through all of His attributes and characteristics as we pray. It is my personal practice to pray using this framework. I don't carry the sheet around with me all the time (although you can), but I do use it at times when I am praying at home and I look up additional scriptures that help me focus on the attribute or characteristic for that month. What I have noticed is that I'm learning to know ALL of God rather than just one perspective from my own limited view. He also directs my mind and I see more of that particular attribute. That is the reticular activating system (RAS) God has given us. He created us so that whatever we focus on, expands. Help your mind, heart, body & soul to know Him more deeply by joining me in this monthly practice. I've designed it to be simple to print, fold & clip inside your Bible, journal, or wallet. Put it wherever you can retrieve it easily. Challenge yourself to pray it from memory by the end of the month. 

Click here for March Prayer Guide 

Firm Foundation: Resilience After Trauma (the book I've written)

Honestly, I have become a little weary on this subject while awaiting the formatted version. Formatting makes sure there are no widows or orphans on the pages (if you've ever been a typist, you know!!) There are blank spaces and lined spaces for the reader to journal and make notes in the book. Proper formatting insures that those are correctly placed. The Table of Contents and page numbers have to match. Paragraph indentations are uniformly presented. Personally, I have taken all of these things for granted with the books I have read. But I got all of this back from the publisher on Friday 2/27 so I have been working hard to proof it all from this perspective. So tedious. Hopefully I can finish this tonight and tomorrow afternoon to return to the publisher by Monday in order to keep moving along to the next step. After this step is finalized, they will have ONE copy of the book printed. Once the publisher approves that one book, they will print multiple copies. So long and laborious especially for someone like me who works another job and this is secondary to the rest of my life. 

On My Nightstand are these three:

1. Beholding and Becoming - The Art of Everyday Worship by Ruth Chou Simons - If you have ever read any of her books, they are filled with beautiful words to help us set our mind on Christ. Her artistic designs fill the pages with beauty from our Creator. I bought two copies after a client recommended it to me and have already gifted one to a precious new friend.

2. Uneasy Street by Becky Wade - This is on my nightstand because I am still reading it. The story is excellent to keep my attention, but not so stimulating that I stay up half the night reading it. I appreciate that. There is no smut, foul language or other things I prefer to avoid in the books I read. I tried to order others in the series from Amazon and they were out so I ordered from the authors website. She emailed me to apologize for the delay and is including an extra book in the series just because I'm waiting. (Wow, how nice. Especially since I am still reading this one and not ready for the next yet anyway!)

3. Experiencing God - Day by Day - This is the daily devotional I mentioned last month. The one on Amazon has normal print that is growing too small and I really saw how God knows all the details of our lives when He provided me a larger print copy the very week I had been searching. It came through my friend, Dianne, who “just happened” to find two copies at her church's former library that needed a new home. Isn't that amazing for God to show up in my life to say He knows my every need?!

Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase—at no additional cost to you.

I had planned to include a list of Bible versions to help you choose which one you might use and for which purposes, but there have not been enough hours in the day with the spring real estate rush arriving a bit early for my daughter, Miriam, and I. If you are shopping for a new Bible, I highly recommend the bookstore at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. And of course if you are local to me, you are welcome to come over and look through all the versions I have. 

I will keep you informed when I have finished the Bible version list and will share it with you.

Thank you for those of you who communicate with me via email, messenger, text, and phone. I love hearing how you are encouraged, where you see God at work in your own lives, and how you are responding to Him. May the joy of the coming spring allow His Spirit to fall afresh on all of us.