Prayer and Praise to God in C

I've never prayed like this before! I like it. Our prayer life to God is to be exciting and fulfilling and not one of doing it out of duty or feeling obligated. Most of my prayers are written in prayer journals and that's what I was doing this morning and I realized there seemed to be a lot of "C" letters. I'll share the prayer with you, it's for a purpose. I went to the table of contents in my study Bible, (everyone should have one), and I kept reading and writing as I went through the "C's." You'll notice I've used pronouns us and we, meaning the Church. This is an intercession for the Church.

Holy Father, Holy God, The work you do in our lives is a holy work. Your divine works separate us (or set us apart for His purpose, we are IN the world, but not OF the world) from this world to make us like You. Your work Chastens, Cuts, Comforts, Cures, Calls, we Cast our Cares on You. Your grace gives us a Cause to Celebrate everyday, Chains are broken, your grace Changes us, Chooses us for your very own people and we belong to Christ. You Circle us with Your love and grace.

You Circumcise our hearts, You alter our Circumstances to fit Your plan. Where we were once broken Cisterns, now we are Citizens of the heavenly kingdom. You give us Cause to Clap for joy. You make our way clear and You give us place to hide in the Cleft of the rock. You Clothe us with Your righteousness and one day You will return in Clouds in the air. You touch our lips with a burning Coal to speak Your word, You Call us, Come and I will give you rest.

You are our Commander and we Commit our lives to You. There is no other god that Compares to You, our God full of Compassionate grace, we are Complete in You. You Confirm Your word to us, You have taken away our Confusion and have made us more than Conquerors in our Christ Jesus. Now we praise and thank You in the Congregation of the righteous. We Consecrate our lives to You oh Lord. When we Consider Your steadfast love our hearts are filled. What great Consolation You give us!

You are our Guide, we Consult with You and we are given wisdom. Our zeal for You Consumes our lives. If all You are doing on earth were written in books, the earth could not Contain all Your works. You have made us Content in whatever state we are in. Your love is a Continual river flowing deeper and deeper. You do not despise the humble and Contrite heart. It was Conviction of sin that brought You near to us and with Cords of love You drew us to Your heart.

You are our Cornerstone and one day we will look on Your Countenance. You give us Courage to face the roaring lion, Courage to delight in doing Your will in the face of the lion. Your Covenant is everlasting, You Cover us in the Your shadow of Your wings. You Created in us new hearts, we Cried to You and You made us well because of Your sacrifice on the Cross.

One day in heaven, Your people will gladly Cast our Crowns before You because You deserve all the praise and glory. Thank You for enduring the shame of Your Crucifixion for all our sins. We will thank You face to face at the river of life, Clear as Crystal. You have given us a Cup overflowing with blessings. You are the Cure for this frame of dust, we are no longer Cursed, but blessed. We no longer have a Curtain separating us from our God.

All because of You Jesus.

Purpose, may all of us grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord.

That Childhood Dessert From the Fifties That We Loved So Much

Just amazing what our mom could do with her creativity to keep my brothers and me happy. One of her most famous creations we couldn't get enough of was a dessert out of a can. At least the beginning of the dessert.

First let me introduce you to our mother. Her maiden name was Amundson. Karen Alette Amundson. Over the years she became affectionately known as "Letty," or "Karen," but in her home in Rothsay, Minnesota she was always known as Alette (pronounced Aletta), or Alett for short. The shortened version Alett, went very well with the short and clipped sounds of the Norwegian that I remember.

I imagine Mom was creative for a variety of reasons. The government ration book of the war years allowed certain things and she used what she had, or maybe this tasty dessert was handed down for generations. Or, maybe it was because she didn't have much time to spend on cooking after coming home from work. Mom was one of two women in our neighborhood in the forties and fifties that worked outside their homes. The other mom was a widow. Whatever her motivation was, this dessert delighted us every time!

It was a big deal when we saw the new can she was about to open. It was time to gloat around neighborhood friends we had in our alley. Na-na-na-na! We get dessert tonight! All the alley games stopped to hear once again the full story of this concoction; baseball, marbles, tag, or Red Rover, it all came to a stop to hear the description. Life was so good!

Well, that's my story of the world's greatest dessert from childhood. Oh, I'll bet you wanted to know just what it was, is?? Here it is, get out the pencils. The can was the biggest we could afford, full of sweet peaches. Mom got out the chipped cereal bowls and crumbled up at least two whole graham crackers in the bottom of each bowl. Then she got Grandma's big "grey spoon" (it was silver but it looked grey to us and remains "the grey spoon" to this day.) Wonder if my brothers realize I have Grandma's grey spoon in my silverware drawer? Got sidetracked there. Up comes a huge spoonful of the juicy peaches over the graham crackers and it softens the crunchy-ness a little. Out of habit we chimed in at the same time, "more juice please mom." She was so accommodating! Next came the whipped cream, real whipped cream from the farm. Thick, so thick you could whip it up with a fork and just full of butter fat. Who knows how much butter fat, we didn't care. When Grandma brought fresh cream, the fresh home-made butter came with it. The whipped cream was generously poured over everything until it looked like the bowl was nothing but cream. Everyone should have such childhood memories.

Back to the twenty-first century. I went out to the kitchen to help with clean-up and guess what? Jim is fixing the world's greatest childhood dessert! Every step the same, crunched up graham crackers, canned peaches with plenty of juice. But the cream is different, it's Reddi-whips finest canned whipped cream. The taste is great, crackers a little crunchy and a little soft from the peach juice. Peaches sweet and the cream passes the test. Still have the memory of every detail from happy days, and now you do too.

Have any memories of childhood desserts from creative moms or dads?

Sunday Night Thoughts

It was -17 in Fairbanks today. Relatives are really cold and heater cables for car engines are plugged in again.

@zacjs8 needs prayer. His twitter today said his stomach is at war and feels like carpet bombing.

Jesus said, "Remember me..." He was broken for us.

I'm so thankful for my husband Jim.

Bought a hot pink tote bag today. Now for something silver! Never had anything hot pink before. Ever!!

Ladies of TRC love being with each other. 55 of us met in the Hub today planning for the women's conference with Lisa Bevere in May. You can't miss it!

Friday night women met at TRC , "Love Letters." Powerful word about being God's authentic love letters to the world today.

Monroe has it's very own Inflated Big Blue Monkey at the Dodge dealership and I took a picture of it for Tony Morgan, a collector of such pictures.

Had Thai lunch today after church with Brad, Katy, Riley and Olivia. Benjarong in Monroe.

Tomorrow is another day. Whatever missteps, misunderstandings, or disappointments, cover it all with love and make a new beginning.

Jesus loves you and so do I.

Encourage Each Other

That's one of the gifts that God has given to us in the Church, encouraging each other. God shows us how to do that in His word, He is always an encouraging God! The only God that can. We'll be successful at encouraging people in the Church by imitating God's example and the example of other Christians.

Today I had such a great experience with a friend at church, it just wouldn't all fit in a twitter, so here I am, blogging. Love the doors the Lord opens up in the twenty-first century for communications! This experience was about the power the Lord gives to us every day, just because we are His. I told my friend I noticed some big changes in her and her child since they have been coming to TRC. A child previously too shy to go to her class and a mother who was too nervous to bring her child and leave her in this new area in children's church.

The day came when in Jesus name mom and daughter each took big steps. It came a little slow at first and it included some pacing for mom, but God is faithful! His power is for children taking their first big steps of faith and so I encouraged my friend of the powerful God changes I have seen in her and her daughter. On their own, they could not do it, but in the power of His might, it's being done to the glory of God.

I was getting ready to tell my friend that I have been thinking of reading the book of Acts again, all because of the powerful way God worked in His early Church. My friend asked, "why don't we read the book of Acts this week and then talk about God's power next Sunday and see what He has done?" Don't you love the way God works?

So this week is my Acts of the Apostles week. What more do you have in store God? Acts is one of the greatest adventure story! If you want your kids to know that power God has for the Church today, start by reading the book of Acts together. The twenty-first century is a pretty adventurous timeto be living in. We can expect God to be faithful to His word!

zacjs8

The title of this blog is the twitter address of a young man who lives in Anderson, South Carolina. He is a member of New Spring Church and has a ministry of keeping the technology flowing for his church.

A few weeks ago I started following his twitter when I read a request for prayer for him and his family on another twitter. I'm touched by this young man's life and the grace that God has given him. He doesn't complain, he would rather talk of the work God is doing in his life. That is part of the tension of desiring healing and not being healed yet. Along with the facts of cancer he must deal with everyday and the truth of God's word. Getting through that tension area is truly the grace of God.

Everything in his life is being threatened by this disease, but he and his family are secure and comforted by the Lord and the support of his family and church. They are all learning the value of focus on Jesus, even though zacjs8's life is in the balance.

Here's how I pray for zacjs8; first thanks to God for who He is, for healing and for grace. On this earth we will never fully understand the power of that grace that is completely enough in EVERY situation. God said that. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2Cor. 12:9 One of the key words is "weakness." That would be our weakness!

Grace for today for zacjs8 and his precious family. Grace for the next hour. Grace for sleep this evening, the entire night. Grace for peace on the whole house all night. Grace that sustains and gives deep-seated joy that can't be explained. zacjs8 is learning the lessons of gratitude and faith. Contentment in whatever state he is in.

I treasure the life of zacjs8, his wife Mandy and their three children. They are the story of God's grace.

If you want to see the vid of zacjs8's testimony, you'll see it when you go to New Spring Church and P. Perry Noble's blog. It's well worth the time.