He turned to me

After I read the chapter the Lord took me to, I had a thought. 

What if the Lord turned to me?

When I thought that, I had a shiver go up my spine. Not for fear, but for feeling truly awe-struck. 

To have the Lord turn to me. . . His eyes meeting mine. . . Wow. That just leaves me without words. What am I, to have the Lord of all, looking, at me. 

The other thought to this, is the fact that He does. When I come in prayer to Him, He's looking right, at me.

Psalm 40

Psalm 40

    For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
 ¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
   out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
   and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
   a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
   and put their trust in him.

 ⁴ Blessed is the one
   who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
   to those who turn aside to false gods.
⁵ Many, LORD my God,
   are the wonders you have done,
   the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
   were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
   they would be too many to declare.
  
⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
   but my ears you have opened—
   burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
   it is written about me in the scroll.
⁸ I desire to do your will, my God;
   your law is within my heart.”

 ⁹ I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
   I do not seal my lips, LORD,
   as you know.
¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
   I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
   from the great assembly.

 ¹¹ Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD;
   may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
¹² For troubles without number surround me;
   my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
   and my heart fails within me.
¹³ Be pleased to save me, LORD;
   come quickly, LORD, to help me.

 ¹⁴ May all who want to take my life
   be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
   be turned back in disgrace.
¹⁵ May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
   be appalled at their own shame.
¹⁶ But may all who seek you
   rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
   “The LORD is great!”

 ¹⁷ But as for me, I am poor and needy;
   may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
   you are my God, do not delay.

To have you turn to me O God, I am truly blessed.

Alyssa

Innocence of heart

I will never be able to say that I am completely innocent in my heart. I'm human, and have sinned. But I can still try my best to make the thoughts of my heart innocent. 

I was given that reminder tonight, through my conversation with The Lord, and the reading He took me to.

I came with a feeling of, I suppose, slight anger and jealousy. Then I read. And my heart was put at peace, and contentment. 

How I love how my Daddy has something so beautiful to share with me when my heart hurts.

Job 4-5

New International Version (NIV)

Job 4

Eliphaz

 ¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

 ² “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

   But who can keep from speaking?

³ Think how you have instructed many,

   how you have strengthened feeble hands.

⁴ Your words have supported those who stumbled;

   you have strengthened faltering knees.

⁵ But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

   it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

⁶ Should not your piety be your confidence

   and your blameless ways your hope?

 ⁷ “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

   Where were the upright ever destroyed?

⁸ As I have observed, those who plow evil

   and those who sow trouble reap it.

⁹ At the breath of God they perish;

   at the blast of his anger they are no more.

¹⁰ The lions may roar and growl,

   yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

¹¹ The lion perishes for lack of prey,

   and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

 ¹² “A word was secretly brought to me,

   my ears caught a whisper of it.

¹³ Amid disquieting dreams in the night,

   when deep sleep falls on people,

¹⁴ fear and trembling seized me

   and made all my bones shake.

¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face,

   and the hair on my body stood on end.

¹⁶ It stopped,

   but I could not tell what it was.

A form stood before my eyes,

   and I heard a hushed voice:

¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?

   Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?

¹⁸ If God places no trust in his servants,

   if he charges his angels with error,

¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,

   whose foundations are in the dust,

   who are crushed more readily than a moth!

²⁰ Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;

   unnoticed, they perish forever.

²¹ Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,

   so that they die without wisdom?’

Job 5

 ¹ “Call if you will, but who will answer you?

   To which of the holy ones will you turn?

² Resentment kills a fool,

   and envy slays the simple.

³ I myself have seen a fool taking root,

   but suddenly his house was cursed.

⁴ His children are far from safety,

   crushed in court without a defender.

⁵ The hungry consume his harvest,

   taking it even from among thorns,

   and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

⁶ For hardship does not spring from the soil,

   nor does trouble sprout from the ground.   

⁷ Yet man is born to trouble

   as surely as sparks fly upward.

 ⁸ “But if I were you, I would appeal to God;

   I would lay my cause before him.

⁹ He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,

   miracles that cannot be counted.

¹⁰ He provides rain for the earth;

   he sends water on the countryside.

¹¹ The lowly he sets on high,

   and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹² He thwarts the plans of the crafty,

   so that their hands achieve no success.

¹³ He catches the wise in their craftiness,

   and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

¹⁴ Darkness comes upon them in the daytime;

   at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵ He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth;

   he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.

¹⁶ So the poor have hope,

   and injustice shuts its mouth.

 ¹⁷ “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;

   so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸ For he wounds, but he also binds up;

   he injures, but his hands also heal.

¹⁹ From six calamities he will rescue you;

   in seven no harm will touch you.

²⁰ In famine he will deliver you from death,

   and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

²¹ You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,

   and need not fear when destruction comes.

²² You will laugh at destruction and famine,

   and need not fear the wild animals.

²³ For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,

   and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure;

   you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.

²⁵ You will know that your children will be many,

   and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

²⁶ You will come to the grave in full vigor,

   like sheaves gathered in season.

²⁷ “We have examined this, and it is true.

   So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

 How wonderful it is, to hear Your voice, O' Lord.

Alyssa

Someone to lean on. . .

Tonight I needed someone to lean on. Someone to wrap me in their strong arms. I needed something deep. I needed love, a love that's only found one place. In prayer, pouring myself out totally, with my Father. 

I needed my Father to tell me He loved me, that He would wrap his strong arms around me without letting go. 

I came to my Father who knows me so much more than I know myself, my Father who knew exactly what I was feeling, even when I didn't quite know myself.

I went to my Father to say "I don't know!" but He said "I do!" 

Psalm 111

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 111

Psalm 111

 ¹ Praise the LORD.    I will extol the LORD with all my heart
   in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
 ² Great are the works of the LORD;
   they are pondered by all who delight in them.

³ Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
   and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
   the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
⁵ He provides food for those who fear him;
   he remembers his covenant forever.

 ⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works,
   giving them the lands of other nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just;
   all his precepts are trustworthy.
⁸ They are established for ever and ever,
   enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He provided redemption for his people;
   he ordained his covenant forever—
   holy and awesome is his name.

 ¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
   all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
   To him belongs eternal praise. 

To Him belongs eternal praise!

Alyssa

Clay in His hands

"Like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand Israel." 

Jeremiah 18

New International Version (NIV)

 Jeremiah 18

At the Potter’s House

 ¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

 ⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

 ¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ ¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

 ¹³ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

 “Inquire among the nations:
   Who has ever heard anything like this?
A most horrible thing has been done
   by Virgin Israel.
¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon
   ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
   ever stop flowing?
¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me;
   they burn incense to worthless idols,
which made them stumble in their ways,
   in the ancient paths.
They made them walk in byways,
   on roads not built up.
¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror
   and of lasting scorn;
all who pass by will be appalled
   and will shake their heads.
¹⁷ Like a wind from the east,
   I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face
   in the day of their disaster.”

 ¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

 ¹⁹ Listen to me, LORD;
   hear what my accusers are saying!
²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil?
   Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you
   and spoke in their behalf
   to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹ So give their children over to famine;
   hand them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be made childless and widows;
   let their men be put to death,
   their young men slain by the sword in battle.
²² Let a cry be heard from their houses
   when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
   and have hidden snares for my feet.
²³ But you, LORD, know
   all their plots to kill me.
Do not forgive their crimes
   or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
   deal with them in the time of your anger. 

Alyssa