Our Gifts and Talents Bless More Than We Know

Goldfinch by Dee Kamp

 

Our Gifts and Talents Bless More Than We Know

With a sigh I threw open the drapes across the big glass sliding door that faces our yard and the deep forest across the way. It was still dark! Why do I wake up so early what is there to see yet?

 That’s when I heard them and I was compelled to step out on the porch and enjoy their delightful gift of song.  

“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11 NIV

The air was filled what seemed like hundreds of bird songs. From the deep forest were fancy trills, from the tree tops whistles, from the shrubs and bushes sweet little chirps.

The birds didn’t have the slightest idea people would enjoy their singing, they were simply doing their job this was their bit of land to call their own.  

It’s the same for us, when we are using the gifts and talents God has gifted us with they are used by Him in ways and for more people and purposes than we can ever imagine.

Not all of us have voices to sing, nor the eye for art but we all have God’s special gifts unique to us that He has given for the good of others.

While we organize, while we sew, while we cook, while we care for children and elders, while we build bridges and fix cars, while we give health care and teach in the way that is our gift, others are benefitted as only God can create it all to be.

Let our hearts be content with how God designed us with our own unique gifts. And let our prayer to Him be filled with praise for His great wisdom in the many ways He is able to use it today.  

“Lord, lead me today as You see best. Use the gift You have given me to encourage others on their journey. Help me not to compare myself with others but to be content with who You have made me to be. Amen”- Joe Stowell, Our Daily Bread 2012

“Our Gifts and Talents Bless More Than We Know” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning© April 30, 2015

Being Still Lord

Man and the mountain by Dee Kamp

"Be still, and know that I am God!..." Psalm 46:10 NLT

 

Being Still Lord

 

In this journey I’m still learning

To trust and see, to hear all You do.

 

Being still Lord,

Waiting on You

In all the colors of Your creation

I feel Your love for me

Being still Lord

Trusting in You

I let my heart be my guide

And there I find Your love inside

Being still Lord

Finding peace in You

Sometimes you lift me like a choir

Sometimes hushed like a prayer

Being still Lord

Letting Your voice come through

When the world outside is spinning

I’ll let the mountains fall, and the ocean roar 

Being still Lord

I know You’re in control

I’m on my knees in Holy silence

I know Your love for me is all I need

Being still Lord

Letting Your love fill me 

I once thought that all my deeds

 Was the measure of your love.

Being still Lord

 Knowing now, it’s a gift-it’s forever  

Hear me, fill me, reveal Yourself to me

With all my heart I’m seeking You

 

Being Still Lord

Your love surrounds me.

“Being Still Lord” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© reprint from: September 18, 2012

The Gate Was Closed

Garden Gate by Dee Kamp

 

The Gate Was Closed

As we strolled the beautiful old gardens open to the public in our area, we were awed by the beauty of the three story high blooming rhododendrons of every color imaginable. From bloom to bloom we wandered, a little bit of heaven on earth. Then I came upon a garden gate which was closed and locked, no one was allowed to enter.

 “Therefore Jesus said again,” I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.”… Whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture….”  John 10 NIV

I could see through the gate, paths lined with flowers, trees in bloom and I so desired to walk through this gate to see them all. But I was not allowed, for it was to a private area of the gardens.

 It was at that moment I heard the Lord whisper in my heart, “Remember, I am your heavenly Gate.”  

Jesus’ promise of salvation, the key to the gate of forgiveness, the gate to unconditional love, peace, healing, and joy is free to everyone and Jesus holds the key. He is the key!

Although so many people live in this world feeling like there are nothing but closed gates, and dead ends, we can assure them that our hope is in Jesus, who is the Gate that is never locked but held open by all who have faith in Him.

The glories of heaven await

For those who believe

 The Son of God is our Gate

 

The trials of this life fade away

When we recall it’s the Heavenly One

We’ll see face to face one day

“The Gate Was Closed” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 28, 2015

Our Prayers are Sweet as a Songbird's Refrain

Photo by Dee Kamp

 

Our Prayers Are Sweet as a Songbird’s Refrain

At sunrise I heard the sweet songbird’s refrain. It made me think of how our prayers must sound and be received by God. Oh, how delighted He is every time we sing our heart out to Him.

Prayer simply stated is a heartfelt conversation between two who love each other. Prayer doesn’t require words spoken but is always heard and understood when it’s from a humble and hopeful heart.

“Then when you call, the LORD will answer.

 ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.”

 Isaiah 58:9

Prayer is the lining up of the soul and mind and heart to God. No matter if we feel our words are too weak, or that they are not in perfect order, and though may be sung a bit off key-it’s still a prayer dearly loved by God.

Prayer and love and are linked together. It’s what prompts us to pray not only for ourselves, but for those whom we love and even for those who we may not agree.

Prayer is what urges us in our most stressful moments to be to still desire to praise God in all our daily circumstances and situations. Our prayers acknowledge God and show our dependency upon Him.

 Feel free at any moment, in any place or time, even just where you are right now- to pray! From a human side, prayer disconnects us from this world and places us instantly at His mercy seat.

By God’s Sovereignty, forgiveness, mercy and unfailing love we find our rest, our strength and heavenly peace. And to God, our prayers are as sweet as a songbird’s refrain.

 

“Our Prayers are Sweet as a Songbird’s Refrain” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 27, 2015

Winners

Photo by Dee Kamp

 

Winners

When our baseball team, the Mariners, are winning, the stands are full! Everyone loves a winner and the prospects are high, big wins really packs them in.  

“You have made them to be a Kingdom and priests to our God’

and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:10 NST

 

But the world is fickle, as soon as the team struggles and the losses are happening more often than wins, most of the crowd turns away. In this culture we live in, you are loved if you are perceived a winner.

Jesus loves us just as we are. He calls us to come now, don’t wait for a winning season. It’s this truth about Jesus that makes absolutely no sense to this world around us.

Jesus died for sinners, the lost, the forgotten, the failures and the famished for hope. Jesus loves losers! With our faith in Jesus, our sins confessed, we are all winners, we are always on the winning team.

There are those times when we are trying too hard for perfection on our own, when we feel as if we lose more than we are winning.  It’s God who will take us to the Cross every time and remind us, we are His beloved and we belong to Him.

The world can’t help us win a victory over our sins, victory over disease, victory over addictions, victory over the broken heart― but Jesus can and He will continue to do so every single time we bring it all to Him.

 

When eyes of faith are fixed on Jesus

 Hope abounds for all us sinners

Looking to the Cross of Jesus

We acclaim in Christ we are winners

 

“Winners” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 20, 2015

At the Top of the List





At the Top of the List 

I recently read about an eight-year-old boy who had been invited to be a guest on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show many years ago. Johnny and the guests correctly guessed after a short conversation with this little boy, a hero being honored, that he was a Christian.

The Master of Ceremonies asked him what he had been studying in Sunday school. And he told them they had just read how Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding. The audience laughed, even roared at his statement.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water: so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water

 that had been tuned into wine… John 2:7-9 NIV

It was obvious the boy on the Johnny Carson show hadn’t really thought this miracle through and how it would sound to the audience. But the next thing he did made the audience go quiet and wait in anticipation. The little boy bowed his head in thought. Then he looked up and said with a smile, “If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!”

It was a real miracle for Jesus to change water to wine, but oh the joy in realizing, Jesus still has the power and does miracles today behind the scenes of our lives.

Jesus waits expectantly for us to invite Him into every aspect of our daily life from our ordinary to and to the special events. Miracles of water to wine is special but our Lord is able to change our deep sorrows to gladness, our heart wounds to fresh wonder and take old stale thoughts into new creative possibilities.

It’s wise for us to always invite Jesus to come as our special guest to whatever we attend, where we work, the walks we take, and even weddings we attend. Oh, just imagine all He can do― when we put Him at the top of our list as our honored guest!

I love to dwell on the thought

That Jesus waits for me

To invite Him as I ought.

 

And I wonder what would be

At what miracles I would miss

If I did not invite Him along with me

 

 

 

 

“At the Top of the List” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 15, 2015

No River Alone

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No River Alone

It was 5 AM in mid-July at a camp ground on eastern border of Washington State and Idaho. I’d slipped out of bed quietly so as not to waken husband Bill. With great anticipation I grabbed my camera to catch the sunrise over the beautiful Pend Oreille River.

 

I wondered as I made my way to the edge of the cliff overlooking the river, what message the Lord would have for me today. So often I have discovered He has a lesson for me in the parables of His creation. 

 

I looked up into the sky for Osprey or the local Bald Eagle, and neither was there. I gazed down upon the river and smiled in delight―for coming out of the reeds along the river were eight little goslings were hesitantly wading into the shallows of the river. But they weren’t alone, in front of the flock of these beautiful Canadian Geese is mother goose and behind gooslings is father goose giving the last little hesitant gosling a nudge into the water.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

 I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8 NIV

The goslings instinctively gathered close together as they dipped one by one into the quiet river’s edge. Like feathered body guards, the parents act as a shield from predators as they swim before and behind their young. The goslings can swim in confidence, they know they never face the river alone.  

 

Sometimes life is smooth paddling in safe, familiar waters for us and our families and friends; but quite often we find ourselves trying to swim in unfamiliar and challenging rivers of unexpected circumstances. In those times it’s good to remember Who is watching over us too.

Parents of the goslings know strength and courage isn’t built in the shallows and safe harbors of the rivers. And it’s so true for us too. If we put our trust in the promises of the Lord we are assured He’ll provide for us the best river guide we’ll ever need, a heavenly wise and able Teacher― His Holy Spirit. 

 

In the glow of the sunrise, in the whisper of the winds in the reeds along the river where little goslings adventure for the first time, is God’s magnificent promise, His lesson for the day ―we will never face our rivers alone.

 

“No River Alone” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© July 4, 2014 reprinted April 14, 2015

Those Moments of Magnificent Knowledge

 

 

Photo by Dee Kamp

 

Those Moments of Magnificent Knowledge

 

There are times in our spiritual journey when questions so long burning in our heart about God are answered in a twinkle of an eye. With brilliance and magnificence one realizes it can only be from God. It’s a treasured moment, an epiphany of such clarity you are you simply amazed by God’s timing, His goodness, wisdom and love.  

“My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart! Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you LORD, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May our glory sine over all the earth.” Psalm 108 1-5

Watch for it—wait for it—those moments of magnificent knowledge of God’s character. Oh the joy of such a great and unexpected discovery! The instant when Love comes down and comforts and clarity brings strength and one’s heart is filled with eternal hope.

 

It can be in the midst of a busy day or the other side of sleep just before we awaken. It can be when reading God’s Word, or a song, a time alone with Him. God is able to surprise us at any moment with the beauty of who He is. He alone can heal a broken heart; bring streams in the desert and flowers of hope to bloom all over again in our heart.

 

“….I learned at last that Christ was the “express image” of God, and where I became therefore in measure acquainted with Him, and discovered to my amazement and delight His utter unselfishness, and saw it was safe to trust in Him. And from this time all my doubts and questioning have been slowly disappearing in the blaze of this magnificent knowledge.” Quoted from: Hannah Whitall Smith The Unselfishness of God

 

“Those Moments of Magnificent Knowledge” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© May 13, 2013 Reposted: April 13, 2015

God Gives Us Landmarks Along the Way



God Gives Us Landmarks Along the Way

When one of our sons was very young, around five or so, and we were off on a trip in the car, he had this urgent and constant need to know, “Are we there yet?”

Then one time a solution came to me. It reminded me a lot of the lesson in faith and obedience like the one needed by the frightened Israelites who were about to go on a journey into the scary and unfamiliar place called the Promise Land.

“After three days the officers went through out the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” Joshua 3: 2-4 NIV

God gave the Israelites something to look forward to, to keep their eyes on for the journey they must travel. They moved from blind fear to bright hope by keeping their eyes on the Ark and trusting God would give them landmarks and directions along the way.

For our little son, whose fear was great because he couldn’t see or understand the way, we gave him landmarks too. One thing at a time to look for up ahead.  A building, a barn, a river and more. Each time he spotted it we gave him another to watch for making him eager for what would come up next. When at last the place we were going was spotted he would give a great hearty shout of joy.

For us too this lesson still goes one. We must trust God will give us just what we need for our journeys in life. He promises to guide us, and in His perfect timing provide the landmarks along the way to assure and encourage us. Our God has plan for everyone’s life, for a trip of a life time that will lead us eventually bring us to His Promised Land in heaven.  

Tune our anxious hearts to trusting

Walk by faith where sight is dim

Our loving God so assuring and trustful

Let us leave everything to Him

 

“God Gives Us Landmarks Along the Way” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© April 8, 2015