Speak it Out Loud

Cascade Mountains Washington State by Dee Kamp

 

Speak it Out Loud

“Who are you talking to?” my husband asked me with obvious humor. I was caught in the act once again, talking out loud when no one is around me.

I seem to be doing more of that lately. The older I get the more it seems necessary to say stuff out loud as I wander about so I’ll remember what it is I’m doing and what it is I wanted to do when I got there! But quite often I’m not really talking to myself, but rather speaking out loud to my Lord.

“I cried out to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy mountain.”

Psalm 3:4 NLT

Praying out loud and reading God’s Word out loud is not only quite acceptable, it’s practicable and very pleasurable. It’s that comfortable feeling of sharing with a very good friend,

Speaking out loud helps us to keep our thoughts from wandering. Praying our prayers out loud and saying the Scriptures out loud exemplify our deepest needs and desires. Speaking our words intensifies our expression of our love to the Lord and is pleasing to His ears.

Silent prayers are often our truest and purest prayers but there are times when it’s helpful to give voice to the cry of our heart.

It’s the truth, it’s guaranteed—we are never just speaking out loud to ourselves when we speak out His Name. So go ahead—just speak it, shout it and sing it to the Lord—He is but a whisper away.

“How often we say of our earthly friends, “How I long to have a good, long, quite talk with you!” And shall we not have the same with our heavenly Friend, so that we may really get to know Him?” Hannah Whitall Smith

“Speak it Out Loud” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 31, 2013

I Had a Dream

Reflections  Photo by Dee Kamp

 

I Had a Dream

Do you ever have dreams that linger even after you are awake? Are there some so lovely, so mysterious and full of wonder you want to share them—even if they seem foolish to others? I had such a dream last night, a dream about God.

As I get on in my senior years I seem to have more and more dreams like this. I write them down in a little journal called, God in My Dreams. I no longer discount these God dreams as whimsy but rather have begun to ponder and pray over them the next day.  

In this dream I saw a beautiful shining cross glowing like highly polished sliver. Rays of light spread out all around it and I remember saying, “Oh it’s so lovely!”

Then I saw a silver crown come floating down with the cross still shining and floating above it. “What is this, Lord?” I whispered in awe.  

That’s when I heard His voice, the one my heart always knows is His, saying, “It is your crown of righteousness. You are righteous in my sight because of your faith in Me.”

First thing this morning I thanked God for the dream and then I asked for a Scripture confirming the words I heard. In an instant I feel impression to turn to Romans 3. And there I discover the Lord has led me to His truth and understanding of how one such as me could ever receive a crown of righteousness.

  

 “The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:22 NLT

I wear a crown of righteousness because of my faith in Jesus! Not by what I do, how much or how little faith I have, but who I am in Christ Jesus. It’s our amazing free gift from God.

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 Righteousness comes to me (and all) through faith in Jesus Christ! There is no such thing as too little faith, too old for faith, or one too young for great faith. It’s our faith that swings open the gates of heaven to bring us all into sweet fellowship with the Lord, night and day.  

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” Corrie Ten Boom

“I Had a Dream” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 30, 2013

Hope Minus the Less

Photo: Yosemite Falls by Dee Kamp

Hope Minus the Less

Hope is what gets me out of bed in the morning. Hope is the chauffeur that drives me through the day.

This thought of hope reminds me of an incredible woman I often waited on at our little Beaver Valley Country store years ago. She had a life filled with one difficult situation after another. Her month was longer than her meager check from her part time and she was slow and careful selecting her goods. We knew her husband had been injured on the job and out of work. They had been waiting for months for his disability to be approved by the state for assistance and times were just plain tough.

Though she rarely spoke of her faith, it was her faith that spoke through her—it was her contagious smile and her buoyant hope that continually encouraged others.

Time after time I witnessed her cheering up someone as they shared their troubles with her. They would ask what her secret was to be so strong, so-hopeful.

 I never tired of hearing her favorite phrase when she would say, “Even in hopeless is the word hope, so hope is found when you minus the less.”

“For what you have done I will always praise you

 in the presence of your faithful people.

And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.”

 Psalm 52:9 NIV

It might make a person frown for a minute to catch on to the way in which she said it, but soon they would smile, nod their heads in understanding and be uplifted.

 We tend to think of hope as a mere trickle we might receive, forgetting God is unlimited in His love for us, in all that He can provide.  God is our great waterfall of eternal hope.

 Hope is God’s gift to us in the eternal hope of Jesus Christ. Hope minus the less, is minus one’s way of negative thinking. Hope is always and forever the truth we can hold on to when all seems hopeless.

When we fill our hearts with God’s Word, He brings spiritual hope to our souls.

“Hope Minus the Less” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 29, 2013

Fresh Every Morning

Sunrise in Rockies Photo by Dee Kamp

 

Fresh Every Morning

I stepped out onto our deck and felt the fresh cool breeze of the morning. The days had been unusually dry and hot. Oh how we love things fresh every day, I thought to myself.  In this season of the year one can expect fresh. But to find fresh in a dry and hard place in one’s personal life can come at a most unexpected place and time from God.  

“…There is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends.

It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction.

Great is his faithfulness; his loving kindness begins afresh each day…

I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:21-24 TLB.

I smiled remembering that one unforgettable day nearly twenty years ago when God changed me forever with the promise of fresh.

 It was just days after my son had died a sudden and unexpected death. I had to get out of the house to breathe; too much had happened too fast for me.  So I called out to my faithful dog Rosie and led her for her favorite walk down our little country road.

I wept so hard I could barely see through my tears and finally I simply slumped to my knees right in the middle of the dusty road.

That’s when God met me right there in my greatest despair. I heard in my heart a choir singing the old sweet hymn, Great is His Faithfulness. I felt in the company of angels! Not a line or two did I hear, but to my amazement the whole thing, verse after verse. I could hardly breathe; I was very still and didn’t move as I listened and soaked up each word. Oh how it soothed my aching heart.

To this day I still don’t understand it; I had never memorized all those verses.

After a time, I was able to stand back up. I dusted myself off and said out loud in great wonder, “Lord, do you mean your compassion is new, fresh every day?”

The thought of God’s compassion fresh every day, that I could depend on Him for strength to face the future, astounded me. Had I been wondering in my heart that I was the one who had to keep going on in my own strength? I felt so abandoned until this moment. A fresh thought, a fresh new and unexpected promise had just been give to me at that moment and it changed everything for me in an instant—I had hope.

I knew then God would never abandon me-ever.  He understood my heart and sadness like no one could. This side of heaven, who but our Mighty God can possibly endure and understand one’s deep, deep sorrow? 

One song, one Scripture gave me fresh strength for each day. It was a pivotal point in my life.  I would never be the same for the sorrow I endured, but I would be forever changed by God’s love and faithfulness— fresh every morning

 “Fresh Every Morning” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 26, 2013

Perfect Perspective

Photo: Seeking Special Stones by Dee Kamp

Perfect Perspective

“If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”

Psalm 139:10 NLT

On this summer day looking out across the sparkling waters of Puget Sound, my mind drifted back many years to the sweet memory of our son's first summer time water experience. 

That morning I dragged the toddler size plastic pool outside and put just an inch or so of water in it to be warmed by the hot summer sun. This was going to be a big first time experience for my little son.

After his nap I dressed him up in his cartooned decorated swims trunks and led him to stand beside the pool of shimmering water.  The bright sun shot sparkles of dazzling sunlight caught his eye drawing him to stand close by the little pool.  

 I did not immediately pick him up and set him in the pool; instead I picked up his favorite match box toy and dropped it in the water. Why not something that floats? This was a lesson to help him not be afraid of water and to trust that I would be there for him. With great curiosity he stared at the toy just out of his reach and soon became upset.  

I took his hand and splashed it in the water encouraging him to reach down into the water and get his toy. But each time he tried to grasp the toy  by himself, it was never in the place he thought it to be.

The sun light on the water distorted his perspective of where the toy actually was in the pool.  He tried again and again finally turning and grasping my hand for help. From my higher perspective, I was easily able to guide his little hand and retrieve the toy.

Like toddlers we will rush to reach, stretch and try too hard, and too long on our own before we turn to our loving Father who stands right behind us.  

God is omnipresent—He is present everywhere. And this is good news for those who know, trust and love Him. Because no matter what our age or where in the world we are, God has the perfect perspective to guide, direct and give us a helping hand exactly when where we need it the most.  

 “Keep close to Me and you shall know the Way because, as I said to My disciples, I am the Way. That is the solution to all earth’s problems. Keep close, very close to Me. Think, act and live in My presence.” From God Calling, a Devotional Diary, A. J. Russell

“Perfect Perspective” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 24, 2013