WHIMSICAL TUNES

“COUNT ON ME” by Bruno Mars
"IF you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the Sea, I’ll sail the world to find you. IF you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can’t see, I’ll be the Light to guide you. IF you’re tossin and you’re turnin and you just can’t fall asleep – I’ll sing a psalm beside you…and IF you ever forget how much you really mean to me, I’ll remind you. “You can count on Me, like 123, I’ll be there”…..

“SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY” by John Mayers  "Even if hands are shaking, and faith is broken…even as your eyes are closing, DO it with a heart WIDE OPEN. Have NO FEAR for givin in….Have NO FEAR for givin over. You’d better know that in the end…it’s better to say too much, then NEVER say what you need to be sayin. Walkin like a one man army, fighting with the shadows in your head…living the same old moment…knowing you’d be better off instead…IF you could only say what you need to say, say what you need to say, say what you need to say."

“I'M YOURS” by Straight No Chaser
"Well You done, done me and You bet I felt it…I tried to chill but you’re too hot, I melted, I fell right through the cracks, and now I’m tryin to get back….before the cool run out, I’ll be doin my bestest and nothing goin to stop me but divine intervention! I reckon it’s again my turn to win some, or learn some. But I won’t hesitate no more, no more --- It cannot wait--- I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours…Lord Jesus! Hey, Hey best believe I’m yours, I’m yours. “NOW open up your mind and see like Me --- open up your plans and goodness, you’re FREE! Look into your heart and you’ll find love, love, love…Listen to the music of the moment…people dance and sing..We’re just ONE BIG FAMILY…and it’s our God-blessed right to be loved, loved, loved. So I won’t hesitate, no more, no more…it cannot wait I’m sure there’s no need to complicate…our time is short, this is my fate…”I’m yours, I’m yours….”

Meryl Streep Voices

Too many Meryl Favorites to mention, however, here are my top choices: Momma Mia, Out of Africa,Julie & Julia, Postcards, Plenty, House of Spirits, 2014 Into the Woods, Bridge of Madison County, French Leiutenants Woman, It's Complicated, Music of the Heart, Before & After, Hope Springs, The Iron Lady. Her acting is remarkable and her films engage and endure the soul. Yes I am a fan of moving pictures, of great messages that stir the heart. Listen and be AMAZED as Meryl voices her parts. Meryl is the supreme lady, and in "Plenty" when she has had enough empty talk, she retorts as boldly as she was scolded. She becomes more than the character, she voices the culture of each country superbly. Danish, French, Italian, Irish, German, the American country singer, the sister, mother, friend, wife, and Margaret Thatcher. Clips from Out of Africa with Robert Redford listening intently to Meryl telling her stories. It is wonderful to be enjoyed.

Do You Doubt Me?

Thomas doubted and he saw Jesus

Do you EVER doubt God, or think that Jesus never existed? Do you doubt that God could forgive you? The GOOD NEWS is that GRACE makes doubt OKAY! LUKE 22:34 "But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Between now and tomorrow morning when the rooster crows, you will deny me three times, declaring that you don’t even know me.” When Jesus emerged alive from the tomb...Peter had gone fishing...When Jesus approached him, Peter recognized Him.  Peter was too ashamed to look up, he was too busy counting fish...Jesus asks Peter "Do you love Me?" ...Are you even my friend? Peter responded "You know my heart, why ask me that?"  Peter was afraid to make a commitment for fear he would fail again! How about you? If you have ever doubted Christ...DO NOT QUIT...just ASK GOD to increase your faith. Go back to church and PRAISE JESUS...for the invisible wind, the indescribable beauty that surrounds you, and for the .... HOPE of being restored.  ....IF you grew up in church and then walked away, IF you suffered an illness, IF you have lost a loved one, or have waited on the Lord, and heard no small voice. IF you have prayed for healing or restoration and NO apparent answer comes...IF you have denied Jesus more than three times,  because you have never believed that the BIBLE was anything more than a collection of moral stories..watch this and FEEL hope while you RENEW your mind and build your faith in God's eternal presence and in His living Word. Be cheered and pass it on.

Romans 5:1-3 "So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in His promises, we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  For because of our faith, He has brought us into this place of highest

privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient." 

The Living Bible Romans 4:25 = "He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God, filling us with God’s goodness." (rose again to make us right with God, literally means, “was raised for our justification") 

WORTHY by Sandi Patty

Like the woman at the well, Somehow You knew the way I fell,
into a place I did not want to be...and You reached for me,
Like the woman once condemned, You see what I have been...
and cast away the stones, I so deserved, with gentle words...
You know the secrets that I keep, The darkness underneath...
But still it is Light and Love You choose to see....

HELP me to believe...
that I am worthy,
Worthy of this mercy...
And as You breathed me into being, You knew my life would need redeeming,
LOVE was all You were believing, and heaven was singing, singing...
I am Worthy...I am worthy...I am worthy...
Worthy that You love me...
Worthy to be loved,
Worthy of this mercy,
Worthy of the cross You carried for me,
The way that you adore me, I am worthy,
Worthy that You love me,
in the eyes that speak ONLY what is GOOD in me....

Jesus came to serve man, to wash us from sin. When He encountered the woman at the well, the woman who had slept with many men, who hid in shame...their encounter encourages us that we can all be forgiven IF we just ask.  JOHN 4:" the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”  Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” Obediently I responded to a personal request that I sing in the church choir on Sunday July 28, 2014. Surprised to be asked because I am absolutely tone deaf, I sang out confidently with gusto to my Lord.  I was also the reader of scripture that day, and even though my voice trembled, the Holy Spirit delivered the worthy Word to all hearts thirsty hearts attending.

Treasure Found

Have you ever been on a treasure hunt? As part of a birthday party game, kids in the 1950's were dispatched into the neighborhood to locate a list of every day items such as; a bobby pin, a matchbook, a QTIP, safety pin, pencil, a dash of salt etc. Each child would be assigned one block to canvas. The kids were required to ASK for what they were searching for from strangers.  A time limit was set and the child who returned with the most items got the prize. Kids today gladly seek eggs hidden as treasures in the garden, or in the home. The custom of inciting the thrill of seeking a hidden treasure was practiced by Martin Luther. Easter eggs were adored for their color and surprise. The egg symbolized the tomb in which the wrapped body of Jesus Christ was laid. Men hid the eggs and the women and children went out seeking where their Savior was. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus became the delight of each child who found the egg. Jesus was NOT inside the egg, but He was inside the child who believed. The child found the

egg, and rejoiced in the truth, that Christ had risen and took up residence in them!  "The women, deep in wonder and FULL of JOY, lost no time in leaving the tomb.  They ran to tell the disciples.  Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks.  "Good morning!" He said. They fell to their knees, embraced His feet, and worshiped Him." Matthew 28:8 The Message. Each day when we awake, is it not a recurring JOY to be greeted by Jesus with a personal word?  Is Jesus a stranger to you?  He knows you, He created you, and He loves you. Have you been on a treasure hunt to find more meaning in this life? Listen to what the Spirit is saying personally to you while reading this treasured Word of God. "We continually ASK GOD to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that

you may have great endurance and patience, and giving JOYFUL thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light....The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him ALL things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; ALL things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before ALL things, and in Him all things hold together.....For God was pleased to have ALL His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross...but now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation --- IF you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do NOT move from the HOPE held out in the gospel...I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness -- the MYSTERY that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord's people...My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may KNOW the MYSTERY of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.  For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and DELIGHT to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is." What has God told us about Himself in this inspired word found in the holy book of Colossians chapter 1 and 2 ?

1) That Jesus is the image of the invisible God
2) That Jesus is the first to be born
3) That Jesus is over ALL creation
4) In Jesus, ALL things were created
5) Jesus created ALL things invisible and visible
6) Jesus holds ALL things together (the stars, the sun, the ocean)
7) God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus
8) God reconciled His created people to Himself through the blood Jesus shed on the cross
9) God did this to present you holy, without blemish, free from accusation to Himself
10) God presents to you the word of God in its fullness
11) The mystery of who God is, and why He sent Jesus is disclosed to you
12) God's goal is to encourage your heart with complete understanding of His purpose
13) That you may KNOW the mystery of God, namely Christ
14) All wisdom and knowledge is contained in Jesus
15) Jesus is absent in body, but present with you in spirit
16) God delights in your firm faith in Christ

Worship God in song.  ASK God to overtake your soul with courage and confidence in who you are in Him....precious in His sight. Sing these words..."Christ alone holds all things together, Jesus is always before me, on this glorious journey. His words of life and majesty, teach me truth and duty.  Holy Bible, book of love, inspired by God, it is above, all my thoughts, all my ways.  It helps me grow, and it humbles me to know...His grace never runs out, even though I raise my fist or pout! I ask God to break up the hard soil of my heart, to change my habits, Lord give me a fresh start."  Lord Jesus I thank You for all that You have done for me.  You died that I can approach Thy throne wearing a robe of righteousness. There is nothing I must do to earn your love.  There is nothing I can do, say or pay that could compare to the immeasurable love you lavish on my soul. Thank You for revealing the truth, the way and the light.  Help me to honor God with the NEW soft heart that replaced my heart of stone.  I am astounded by Your mercy, extended by Your grace, and blessed by Your endless flow of forgiveness, love and perfect sufficiency for all my needs.  I love you Lord Jesus.  AMEN