Spirituality
Better Than a Hallelujah
This one made me cry, get the Kleenex first….
BETTER THAN A HALLELUJAH
by Amy Grant
God loves a lullaby
In a mother’s tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes
God loves the drunkard’s cry
The soldier’s plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah
The woman holding on for life
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah
Better than a church bell ringing
Better than a choir singing out, singing out
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah
We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah
(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)
Better than a Hallelujah
(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)
Transformed
TRANSFORMED Transformed from glory to glory, as the LORD renews my mind. Restored by the image of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. I’m changing from day to day, as I behold His face. I’m just a reflection, of His Spirit in me. I’ve been planted by the Master Gardner, with the seed of the … Read more
You Can Do It!
When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
~Harriet Beecher Stowe
Why “Prayers and Promises”?
Daily Prompt: All About Me Explain why you chose your blog’s title and what it means to you. “Prayers and Promises” came to be when God spoke to me and asked me to ‘quit playing church’. I didn’t grow up in church. It wasn’t till I was 30-40 something that I even cared. And, like many … Read more
God Blesses What Was Broken
GOD BLESSES WHAT WAS BROKEN © 2013 Diana Rasmussen I refuse to be bound by my past, I will not be defined by your label. Only God knows the road I’ve traveled, God blesses what was broken. All things work together for good, ‘Cuz I am called and chosen. Nothing will be wasted or thrown … Read more
God Blesses What Was Broken
GOD BLESSES WHAT WAS BROKEN © 2013 Diana Rasmussen I refuse to be bound by my past, I will not be defined by your label. Only God knows the road I’ve traveled, God blesses what was broken. All things work together for good, ‘Cuz I am called and chosen. Nothing will be wasted or thrown … Read more
Unwritten
When we judge, it’s like putting a period at the end of a sentence that God is still writing.
I have to admit, one thing that drives me up the wall is when people judge. I am not my past, I am not a mistake. Why do people look at me through tainted lenses? Let me explain. I ran into an old “friend” last week. We haven’t talked in about 4-5 years. The first thing out of her mouth was “Are you still married?” I think she was shocked when I said yes. It seems some people just want you to fail.
Then, I had to look at myself. If I see something in someone else and it bothers me, it may be that I have that same issue. Do I want myself to fail? Do I look at myself through my mistakes and failures? Or do I look at myself through the Word? I have to admit, sometimes I see myself through my failures. Sometimes I think that things will never change. Once again, I am amazed at how quickly I go back to the old tapes, and beat myself up. Help us Lord. Let me not put a period on my life, You are still writing my story…
I like this song Unwritten because it reminds me that my future is yet unwritten. I don’t need to have all the answers, I can trust God with the end of my story. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of my faith…
“I am unwritten
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined
I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned”
GOD’S PROMISE TO YOU:
So be merciful (sympathetic, tender, responsive, and compassionate) even as your Father is [all these].
Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released.
Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6: 37-38 AMP)
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. (Romans 8:28-30 MSG)
MY PRAYER FOR YOU:
Dear Lord,
Help me see the good in people. Help me see the good in me. Help me see what You see. I do not want to throw rocks at your children, or beat myself up with them either. Let me be slow to speak, and quick to listen. I trust You to work all things out for my good. I am not the Savior, and it is not my place to “fix” someone else. Don’t know about you, but I’m putting down my rocks today. 🙂
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Morning Story and Dilbert – Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee
Very Inspiring Blogger Award – Thank you!
Thank you LEAD OUR LIVES for the Very Inspiring Blogging Award. Lead our Lives, aka Carrie, is a life coach and her blog is amazing. My favorite post of hers so far is called COMPASSION. I love how Carrie writes, it’s almost like you are there in the room with her having a cup of … Read more
Famous God Quotes
for the days I forget awesome God is
There is a Treasure in You
Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in my favorite chair, reading some of your awesome blogs, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon me. Perhaps you know what this feels like. All of a sudden you are transported somewhere else when you yield to God. Your body may be here, but the rest of you … Read more
God’s Love
Yesterday I shared about what love is NOT. All of that pain led me to Him – the Healer, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus. He is faithful, and true. He is what love looks like. I poured out my pain as I cried at his feet. It was not wasted. It mattered. It was costly. He took my head in His hands, and looked in my eyes. For the first time, I felt loved.
“If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;
if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.” (Psalm 34:18 MSG)
GOD’S LOVE
V1
God’s love is faithful,
He’s forever true
He loves me with mercy and grace to be new.
His love has no ending,
His covenant stands.
A promise between us,
and I’m in His hands.
CHORUS
God’s love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things,
God’s love never fails for me.
God’s love never fails for me.
V2
How great is the love Father lavishes on me,
now I am called a child of God.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived what God has for me!
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
My God is love,
I now live in God,
and he lives in me
REPEAT CHORUS
© 2102 Diana Rasmussen
GOD’S PROMISE TO YOU:
“And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)
“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
MY PRAYER FOR YOU:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for your love today. You are faithful and true. You loved us even in our darkest days. You are close to the broken-hearted, and will bind up all our wounds. We are putting our trust in You, in Jesus’ Name.