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Inspirational Gems for Each Day -- VOLUME 3.

             Written by Marilee Miller

Copyright (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller.

PLEASE READ THIS!

Copies may be given privately to about six friends, providing that text is not changed, and
that this full notice accompanies each document or part thereof.
One GEM or parts of two, per Volume, allowed for a public review or article, under the fair use clause.
No other public circulation, no mass copying or commercial or for-profit use without consent
of  the author -- e-mail to:    kingfisher crossing at gmail com (close up the spaces, etc.).

See the complete archive of 365 thoughtful Christian devotionals -- Gems -- at:
www.wordforlife.com/kingfisher/gems-complete/gems-menu

Scripture texts are from the King James Version.


1.  TODAY

Lord, I feel as if my life is sorely lacking,
So fill me with your love and power,
That today may be my shining hour,
Not because of who I am
But because of who my God has declared     
   himself to me to be.
I come and wait for you, oh Lord;
And when I praise you with a merry voice,
In return, you say,"My child, you're mine!
Rejoice, again rejoice."

            "As the deer yearns for running
       water, so all of my inner being longs
       for you, oh Lord.
            "The deep places inside me
       are thirsty for the living God.
       God, when shall I come into your
       presence and appear before you?"
          (Ps. 42:1-2 MM paraphrase)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


2.  GOD KNOWS MY FUTURE

     As for my future, God knows!  I
certainly don't.  Each day I just have to
trust, as best as I can, in God's faith-
fulness and mercy and loving-kindness.  I
know that he has a plan for my life, and I
just have to keep reminding myself that
"faithful is he who promised."

            "The Lord be a true and
       faithful withness between us..."
          (Jer. 42:5a)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


3.  WEAKNESS

When we are weak the Lord is strong.
When we feel we cannot go on,
He empowers us with himself,
           his might to go on.
When we cannot run the race of life,
He is there, and we are his work.
He has said he will "keep us from falling,
And present us faultless before him
                in that day."
And he has promised to preserve
          our "goings in
And comings out from this day forward".

May we be aware that it is not within
                    our power
To do the Lord's holy work.
Ours is the willingness,
But his, the responsibility
To keep us, hold us, save us,
And to make our lives count for him.

            "For your Father knoweth what
       things ye have need of, before ye
       ask him."  (Matt. 6:8b)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


4.  PRAYER FOR BLESSING

Dear Lord,

     Bless me.  I need a friend today.   A
special friend, an irreplaceable one.  No
ordinary human will do.  What I need, dear
Lord, is ALL OF YOU!  Please send your
best gift, your own precious self, your
Holy Spirit moving power, to me today.

     Give wellness and strength, and lift
burdens.  The  Word of God says -- "He
[God] will joy over you with singing." 
(Zeph. 3:17d)  Lord, let me know you are
willing to do that for me today.

     As you, the living Lord, sing along
my way, may there be in me a perfect
resting -- a chance to "rest beside the
weary load and listen to the angels sing."
*   Thank you, Lord, and bid me sweet
Amen, Amen.
--
* fm Christmas hymn, "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"

            "...This is the rest wherewith ye
       may cause the weary to rest; and this
       is the refreshing..."    (Isa. 28:12)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller     


5.  THE LORD WILL COME SPEEDILY

     Some of us, at times, feel like we "just
have to have a hug", or some reminder that
someone else really does care about us.
How we need to hear words such as "I love
you" or "you're great!" or "I thought of you
today"!

     We don't always receive from people
the love or courtesy or "approval" that we
crave and seem to need.  However, God
loves us mightily.  And he is the Perfect
Friend.  He is always there, with his arms
outstretched to enfold us.  When we hurt a
lot, or feel all alone, how good it is to know
that we aren't really alone after all. 
He never forgets us.  And he will help us.

            "Bow down thine ear to me:
       deliver me speedily: be thou my
       strong rock, for an house of
       defense to save me."  (Ps. 31:2)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


 6.  ALWAYS

He is always there,
He will always care;
He will hear our prayer.
He holds us with his hands,
Our cries he understands;
He will break our bands.
God is very good.

           "...We look for the Savior, the
       Lord Jesus Christ."   (Phil. 3:20b)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


7.  BLESS ME

     Lord, bless me today.  Let me know
you are working in my life most mightily,
even when I am not able to see that.  I
trust in your name, precious Lord and
Christ and Father.  May you bring me to
the place you want me to be, and make me
the person you have called me to be.  Free
me from oppression and want/lack.

     Lord, touch my life.  Offer me your
gentle ministrations.  I am willing to
serve you, whatever the cost.  Please
raise me up to be a beautiful, wonderful
child of the Heavenly King.  In Christ's
holy glory-name, Amen.

            "That the Gentiles should be
       fellowheirs, and of the same body,
       and partakers of his promise in
       Christ by the gospel...according
       to the gift of the grace of God
       given...the unsearchable riches of
       Christ."   (Eph. 3:6b, 7b)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


8.  NESTLED IN GOD

Chaos, the randomness in me,
    may try to draw my life
         as meaningless, aimless circles
  or hopeless spider webs.
But God surrounds my chaos,
    turning it to an open flower,
Or a bright butterfly --
because he lives and cares.
What I thought was chaos
    isn't randomness at all,
       for by his loving thought
    I am brought to safe arrival
           in the kingdom-of-God haven --
   where I'm nestled inside God
             and his love.

            "They who put their trust in
       the Lord shall be as firm as Mount
       Zion, which can not be removed, but
       remains God's dwelling place
       forever." (Ps. 125:1,MM paraphrase)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


9.  A CRIMSON ROSEBUD

     May you be like a fair crimson rosebud,
hid amidst the brambles.  If you must peep
through some cruel barbed wire fence of
life, may your blossom yet be bright. Even
though you may feel you are only a wilder-
ness rose cramped within a tumbleweed
patch, just let that Jesus-living-thing bloom
sweetly inside your heart.

     May he make you a welcome to every
lonely, weary traveler who has strayed
from the broad trail in search of peace
or rest.  Oh crimson rosebud, hid in the
bramble patch, remember that the Lord was
a rose too.  The rose of Sharon, growing
in the fruited plain.  He will bring you
to fruition.  When others look at you, may
they behold him, instead!

            "I am the rose of Sharon, and
       the lily of the valleys.
            "As the lily among thorns, so
       is my love among the daughters."    
         (S-Sol. 2:1-2)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


10.  HOPEFUL

     Look and hope and love and wait.  God
sees your need.  He sees your heart.   He
shines forth in loveliness for you.  May
his love create in you something hopeful
and new.  Christ loves you truly.  He will
use you.  Draw near, draw near to him.

            "Now the God of hope fill you
       with all joy and peace in believing,
       that ye may abound in hope,
       through the power of the Holy
       Ghost."   (Rom. 15:13)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


11.  THE LIVING WORD

     May the living word be imparted into
your heart.  May the living Lord be
imparted into your life.  When the Lord
looked upon his creation, he saw that it
was "good".  And in him, you stand covered
by his love -- and so when you come to him
with a willing heart, he sees you as
"good".  In essence, he says:

  I am your Lord, caring, true:
  A living Lord who wants to protect you,
  Bringing you close -- for I love you!
  I like you.  I want you!
     Come.  For I am the living Word.

            "My soul longeth...for...the
       Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth
       out for the living God." (Ps.84:2)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


12.  COME

     Come to me today.  For I, the Lord,
love you unconditionally, no strings
attached.  I love you just the way you
are.  See, I hold out my hands.  Will you
come to me to stay?

            "Let us therefore come boldly  
       to the throne of grace, that we may
       obtain mercy, and find grace to
       help in time of need."  (Heb. 4:16)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


13.  BREAD FOR THE HUNGRY
           (from the gospel of John)

     "Then said they unto him, What shall
we do to work the works of God?
     "...This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent...
     "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you,...my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven.
     "For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life
unto the world...
     "Then said they unto him, Give us
this bread.
     "And Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth in me
shall never thirst...
     "And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." (John 6:28-29, 32-35,40)


14.  MY THOUGHTS

If my thoughts could be gathered
     just like floral nosegays,
I'd send you a garland
     of my "okays".
Thanks for being you.

            "The Lord hath appeared of old
       unto me, saying,  Yea I have loved
       thee with an everlasting love:
       therefore with lovingkindness have
       I drawn thee."   (Jer. 31:3)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


15. GOD'S SURPRISE

You surprised me with a deer today, Lord,
Just when I thought life was so hard
I couldn't possibly find strength to go on.
Outdoors, walking,though
              I yearned to rest,
But fresh air is supposed to be
                good for me,
And legs need exercise even if
Body hurts and longs to rejoice in bed.

I stood on lonely hillside near my home,
Not expecting to find anything of you
                   at all, God,
My mind "too far gone" to be looking
           actively for miracles,
Though I had prayed before I came,
That you would help me keep on going,
Press on through.

"You've delivered my soul and mind         
      before, Lord.  Do it again."
But I didn't know how to believe
           you would reach down
 through my tiredness and hurt, just then.

I stood and drank in a peaceful scene,
Oblivious to its deeper sight
        but willing for any hope
To be glimpsed or any lesson learned
in brittle twig or dying blackberry vines,
Or misted-over background hills
    across the rain-puddled valley floor.
Yet a movement caught obliquely
              against corner of my eye.
And then the deer came walking by:
A young buck with three inch single spike,
  its matching prong vanished
                      I know not where.
He skirted me at a distance of some        
            fifteen feet,
In slow stately march, one eye cocked
                to watch me,
But serene in his own world, and unafraid.

One of Nature's creatures,
              a happenstance to cheer?
No, I say you, Lord, led him there,
A reminder you were very near and dear.

"You did it again, Lord.  You reached me,  
                    just now.
And gave me new courage to keep going,     
                    somehow."

           "Restore unto me the joy of thy
       salvation; and uphold me with thy 
       right spirit."   (Ps. 51:12)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   
=

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