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Inspirational Gems for Each Day --
                     VOLUME 7,  Part 2.

                    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.


16.  FILL ME

May my heart shed all insurrection
In light of Christ's glad Resurrection;
Keep not, my soul,
           your tattered mourning,
But rejoice in Light's bright morning.
Let my troubled heart grow calm
With the Lord's anointing balm.
I shake off, Lord, this wearied dullness:
Fill, oh fill me with thy fullness.

            "And to know the love of       
       Christ, that which passeth know-
       ledge, that ye might be filled with
       all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:l9)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


17.  LIVING TO HIS HIGHEST

The Lord has a plan for each of us.
He will enable us to become who he wants
us to be.
Only because he has given us his unmerited
favor,
  may we go on hoping to live to his
highest,
     even when we feel we are at our
lowest.
Our life and purpose is in God.
Let us rest in him: he will fulfill us.

           " ...To them who are the called
       according to his purpose."
          (Rom. 8:28b)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


18.  LORD OF ALL LIFE

Lord of all life,
Help us.
We are in such strife.
Deliver us.

The world is rife
With trouble.
Pain, like a knife,
Bends many double.
Lord of all life,
Help us.
We look to your Life:
Hope's answer for us.

            " ...His divine power hath given
       unto us all things that pertain unto
       life and godliness, through the
       knowledge of him that hath called
       us to glory and virtue..." (II Pet. 1:3)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


19.  LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE

     Oh Lord, bring forth a spirit of
refreshment upon your people.  Many seem
weary, bereft, lost, tired, hopeless,
not-cheerful, fearful, hurting, broken. 
This is the state of your world today, oh
Lord.  Where will people get their hope? 
They are looking in all the wrong places. 
They must look to you.  Yes, let them look
in the right place: the right place to find you!

            "But seek ye first the kingdom of
       God, and his righteousness: and all
       these things shall be added unto
       you."   (Matt. 6:33)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


20.  A SPRIT OF REFRESHMENT

Oh Lord, bring forth a spirit of           
              refreshment,
      that the captives may go free.
Send forth your word with power, and give
them liberty.
And set their hearts on high with thee,
And make them free indeed: oh, free!
Come, oh Lord, with liberty.

           "Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that 
       the people may know that thou art
       the Lord God, and that thou hast
       turned their heart back again."
          (I Kgs. 18:37)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


21.  from the Scriptures

     "That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of him:
     "The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the
hope of your calling, and what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
     "And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty
power.
     "Which he wrought in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places,
     "Far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named.. "   (Eph. 1:17-21)


22.  LOOK TO THE LORD

Let us not look to the confinement of
circumstances
    or to the weightiness of problems
   or to the heaviness of responsibility
         or to the burden of man-advice
      or to the encumbrance of "things".
But let us look to the mightiness of the
Lord our God,
      who has promised to provide for us,
        and to order our steps in his way
     and to lift us up to heavenly places
          and to be our Guide and Friend.
Yes, let us look only to the Lord our God.

           "But blessed are your eyes, for
       they see: and your ears, for they hear.
            "For verily I say unto you, That
       many prophets and righteous men
       have desired to see those things
       which ye see, and have not seen
       them; and to hear those things which
       ye hear, and have not heard them."  
                   (Matt. 13:16-17)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


23-24.  WE ARE YOUR PEOPLE, OH GOD

We are your people, oh God.
We come before you,
Bringing our pains and groans,
Thanking you that the Holy Spirit ever
lives to make
intercession for us, with groanings too
deep for words.

We are your people, oh God.
We, the little ones
Who hurt so much,
Who come before you to plead,
"Father, do not pass us by."
"Do not forget our tragedies and hurts.
For we hurt so very much."

We are the forgotten of this world, Lord,
We sometimes get buried by the world.
But we are still here,
Patiently waiting
For you to touch us; for you to heal us;
For you to release us
from our deadly pain.

Thank you, Father, that you
do not bypass us;
We plead for tender mercies and
lovingkindness.
We are the litttle people of the world,
Lord.
So very much in pain.

Most people don't notice us.
We sometimes feel forgotten.
We laugh to keep from crying,
Joke to keep from cracking,
Speaking joy amidst our creaking,
Asking holiness above all, Lord,
That we may bear this pain gracefully
Not in our own strength, but in
      your power.
Rekindle our hope in you, Lord,
For we trust you to deliver us.
Show us your compassion as we wait
   with arms outstretched,
Patiently waiting for you to come and
touch us,
And save and heal us by and by.

            "...For the Lord hath
       comforted his people, and will have
       mercy upon his afflicted.
            "But Zion said, The Lord hath
       forsaken me, and my Lord hath
       forgotten me.
            "Can a woman forget her        
       sucking child, that she should not
       have compassion on the son of her
       womb?  yea, they may forget, yet
       will I not forget thee.
            "Behold, I have graven thee    
       upon the palms of my hands; thy
       walls are continually before me."   
        (Isa. 49:13b-16)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


25.  BLUE FLOWERS

     In a residential district in a small town
on Oregon's South Coast, there's a little
pioneer cemetery.  Not many recent
graves show up there.  Some of the
elegantly ornate tombstones date back to
the 1870's.  A few markers have toppled
over from shifting ground and old age. 
Few living persons come here, either.  So
this cemetery is a peaceful place to go
and think, to look at glory-clouds flying
in the sky, or to talk to God.

     This is not your modern cemetery,
with neatly clipped lawns and uniform flat
headstones -- it's a "spot of countryside".
 A row of seedling cherry trees fringes
one edge of the plot.  Two tall cedars,
and many smaller shrubs -- lilacs, wild
roses, spirea, vine maple -- create their
own refuges of glory.  The grass is
untended and left to its wild state until
it reaches a foot in height.  Before being
mowed down at last, the ripened seed
heads bloom out, waving tra la la in the
breeze.

     In summer, amidst the feathery tall
grass, the clover heads and ubiquitous
dandelions, there's a rich-in-wonder
carpet of blue flowers.  This is milk
grass, labeled an "uncommon weed"; and
indeed, it seems to grow no place else in
town.  But here in the cemetery, there's a
milk grass prolifery.  The grass-like
stalks reach six to seven inches tall, the
topmost two inches a blooming spike of
many very tiny blue flowers.  Such a
pretty shade of medium blue!  The
miniscule trumpet-like blooms range down
both sides of the central stem.

    Long ago, people thought that the
presence of milk grass in a field would
increase the milk production of dairy
cows.  There are no cows here in this
peaceful cemetery, however.  Just a bluey
carpet to remind of God's abiding love.

     May God bring our own lives into
fruitful production, and shine in us -- in
pleasant circumstances of life or
difficult days -- to cause us to become
beautiful reminders of his loving care. 
May others be as thrilled with the Christ
they see in us as passersby are to enjoy 
a carpet of blue flowers growing on a
grassy verge next to a quiet residential
street.

             "That ye might walk worthy of 
       the Lord unto all pleasing, being
       fruitful in every good work, and 
       increasing in the knowledge of
       God..."   (Col. 1:10)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


26.  FOG

     The day had been clear, and glorious. 
But then the fog rolled in.  How the view
from the jetty changed!  Gone were all the
rows of picturesque sea-stack rocks just
off shore.  The horizon line likewise
vanished.  The shore breeze, which had
been soft soft and low low, arose in a
stiff contest, whipping up mounds of
breakers.

     Such a sudden change!  And still
sunlight on the jetty.  But a draping wall
of fog all around the Point.

     Even so, our God shines yet.  Amidst
the weather changes and fogs of our
obscurity, the whipping winds of
circumstances, he is still our Light: the
only real Substance and Safety and
Security and Peace of our lives and times
and days.

            "For God is not the author of  
       confusion, but of peace..."
          (I Cor. 14:33)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


27.  HE CARES

He cares about your life.
He cares enough to lift your spirits when
you feel low.
He cares enough to give you a home and
family,
He cares enough to bring you to himself.
He cares enough to notice little things
  that others never even see about your
  moods and life.
He cares for you,
He cares about your life.

            "The Lord rules in stately
       dignity from the sacred sanctuary
       of worship which some call
       'heaven', ever reaching out to his
       children, keeping a close watch on
       everything that happens on the
       earth."   (Ps. 11:4, MM amplified   
         paraphrase)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


28.  CALL TO PRAYER

May God ever call our hearts to prayer.
May he call us to go on loving him even
when we don't know how to "feel" loving.
May he ever remind us of himself:
of his majesty and power, but also of his
tender mercies.
May he ever call us to "see" what needs to
be seen.
And may we respond to his lovingkindness.

            "Save me, O God, by thy name,  
       and judge me by thy strength."
          (Ps. 54:1)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


29.  GROWTH RINGS

     (On seeing the sawn-off part of an
ornamental plum tree branch.)

Heart of the plum tree:
I didn't know you were so beautiful!
Do I, too, have growth rings
             so strong to see
In my character -- to be this colorful?
Dare I dream of such beauty inside me?
Ah, but how wonderful!
Does God see glory-markings in me?
Then, oh, it is he who is bountiful!

            "The fruit of righteousness is
       a tree of life: and he that winneth
       souls is wise."   (Prov. 11:30)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


30.  MY WINDBREAKER

     The weather was very "iffy," one day
when I drove to the beach at Bandon,
Oregon.  Earlier, the sun had been
shining.  But by the time I got ready to
leave home, the sky had turned overcast. 
The big black cloud over the hills toward
the east, didn't make me change my mind
about my outing -- but it did prompt me to
take my rain gear.

     Once at the beach, the blue patches
of sky and high-spirited white clouds
laughed at my notions of needing a
raincoat.  The weather, in fact, was so
balmy that I actually walked along the
beach in just my lightweight corduroy
jacket -- and that doesn't happen very
often on our stretch of windy Pacific
coastline.

     I almost felt foolish, carrying a
raincoat as I marched down the beach.  But
long-time Oregonians know how quickly the
weather can change.  The tide that day was
quite low.  I could go past some of the rocks
whose feet, often awash with water, turn me
back.  But this time I walked farther than
usual.  By the time I started back, the wind
had come up.  I really needed the raincoat --
not because any raindrops fell, but for warmth,
as a windbreaker.

     May God be my windbreaker to protect
me from the terrible winds of circumstance
 that chance to sweep through life.  May he
be my raincoat covering to protect me when
I face the damp "suddenlies" of storm.
And when days seem fair and full of delight,
let me not forget to take along that rain
gear of God's full, wonderful, undeserved
grace and favor.

            "And I [the Lord] have put my  
       words in thy mouth, and I have
       covered thee in the shadow of mine
       hands..."   (Isa. 51:16a)
 (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller   


31.  from the Scriptures

     "The Lord by wisdom founded the 
earth: by understanding hath he
established the heavens.
     "By his knowledge the depths are broken
up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
     "My son, let not them depart from
thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and
discretion:
     "So shall they be life unto thy soul,
and grace to thy neck.
     "Then shalt thou walk in thy way
safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
     "When thou liest down, thou shalt not
be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and
thy sleep shall be sweet.
     "Be not afraid of the sudden fear,
neither of the desolation of the wicked
when it cometh.
     "For the Lord shall be thy
confidence, and shall keep thy foot from
being taken."   (Prov. 3:l9-26)
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