Lamentations 3:20-25

20 My soul still remembers And sinks within me. 21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.

Lamentations- A lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.


Thought to be written by Jerimiah, Lamentations is full of grief, regret, and mourning.  I am drawn to these passages sometimes when I am down and discouraged, not because I need to wallow in someone else's misery but I need to see the hope that is shared through the passages.  We've all had times like these where we feel as though God has left us and we are in the deepest, darkest place...the pit, if you will.  Although I don't feel like that now, I can still draw encouragement from this passage....I can relate to my soul remembering and crying out to the Lord.  It is in those times that words aren't enough, the Holy Spirit interprets our 'groanings' and our soul cries out to our Heavenly Father for hope.  Hope is there.  It's always there, even when we can't see it.  Sometimes we just have to wait just a little longer.  Our dependency in the Lord grows and so does our faith.  I have a favorite song right now and I could sing it all day long....My Soul Sings by Martin Smith:
Open my eyes and see


The wonderful mystery of love

Falling into You

I'm drawn to the gravity of love, of love


We're standing still

In a moment of eternity

Where worlds collide

And I feel the breath of heaven over me


My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You

My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You



Open the page and see

The wonderful history of love, love

I start and end with You

I'm pulled to the gravity of love, love, love



We're standing still

In a moment of eternity

Where worlds collide

And I feel the breath of heaven over me



My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings, oh I love You

My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You



My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings, oh I love You

My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You



My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You

My soul sings, my soul sings

My soul sings how I love You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INDE9vAFDjg&p=A90A6C4B008147BB&playnext=1&index=29

Let the Lord sing over you today!

Not out of Fear

I was reading a devotion for parents last night and this verse stuck out to me.  It's buried in the "hall of faith" where there is a list of all the faithful things the heroes of the Bible did.  Hebrews 11:23 says "By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the kings edict." 
Wha????  When you read the story of Moses what is the first thing that comes to mind as to why his parents hid him?  In my mind it was because they were AFRAID to lose him to the wicked Pharaoh's command for all of the male Hebrew babies to be murdered. 
By Faith...  I have a sign hanging over the entryway door in our house.  I painted it at a time in our life when faith was all we had...day by day.  It's sad, though, that we get to a place where we think we can live on our own, raise our kids on our own, without faith and without God's help.  I don't think we do it intentionally, but when we have what we need OR when we are in the midst of crisis that we can't fix, we go into survival mode.  When I look at this verse, I am reminded that we must have faith and not fear.  How many times do we hide our kids in order to shield them from all the scary things in this world.  How about we have faith and hide our children in the arms of the Lord?  Satan is out there to steal, kill and destroy....and our children are prime targets.  How do we keep them from Satan's grasp without being fearful? 
1. Pray for them, daily, hourly.
2. Hide them from the things that can pull them in the wrong direction.  Monitor who they hang out with and what their eyes/ears  see and hear. 
3. Teach them God's Word.  Don't just expect them to soak it up through once a week Sunday school.  Show them through every situation what the Lord would have us do.  When we mess up, fess up and show how forgiveness works. 
 
The book I was reading by Gary L. Thomas gives two of those examples and also gives Psalm 91 as a reference as to why hiding our children is not out of fear, but faith. 

Our kids are special!  They are "no ordinary children".  They are lean, mean, God loving machines.  Raise them in such a way that God receives the glory and watch them be the mouthpiece of God!  He does great things with those that just have faith, just finish reading Hebrews 11 to find that out!

Be blessed!