lost

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness

- Deuteronomy 8:2a (NIV)

 

I’m going to get lost for a few days.
Don’t worry, I won’t be really lost, but I am going to be away. 

I’ll be back, hopefully refreshed.
God’s people wandered the wilderness for forty years, the rest of the verse says to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.

There comes a time in our lives when we need to spend time with God, to renew our hearts, to find peace with ourselves.
To reestablish our faith in Him. 
Hopefully, you each find a way to do that regularly. 
For me right now, it is completely disconnecting and spending a lot of time in prayer.
Walking with and being led by people who have also walked with God.
My wilderness may not be as drastic as the one that Israel wandered, but I do hope to be in the presence of the Lord.
See you Monday.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

the cross

Everything in heaven and on earth can come to God because of Christ’s death on the cross. Christ’s blood has made peace.

- Colossians 1:20 (NLV)

 

I don’t know about y’all, but my last several weeks have been some of the hardest I have had to deal with.
Last Monday we very suddenly lost a beautiful friend, way too early and no one was prepared.
Her absence is felt deeply in my little circle of friends. 
Other things have been moving at a very fast pace bringing changes, and sometimes it feels like we can’t even stop to take a breath.
I know I am not the only one that feels this, many have opened their hearts to me, telling me of their hurt, their anger, their fear, and their depression.
All I can say is you are not alone, my friends. 
Music is a solace for me, and I always seem to hear the right song at the right time, like this one called The Cross by Anne Wilson and Chris Tomlin released just this year.
You've been tryin' hard to bear the weight of all your shame

And if there's a God up there, you're sure He forgot your name

When your steps are getting heavy, and hope looks all but lost

Just bring it all to the cross

Who told you grace can't reach the messed up ones like you?

Has the devil made you believe the lies he tells are true?

When you're sure that you're the one who's wandered too far off

It's not too late

Just come home to the cross

Come and see a Savior's love that would die to make you new

Nothing you have ever done, can change what mercy's done for you

And if you ever wonder if you're worth so great a cost

Look up and see the cross

Everybody's got a list at least a mile long

Of every scar and every sin from everywhere that we've gone wrong

But there's reason for rejoicin', and the reason is because

That list was nailed to the cross

Come and see a Savior's love that would die to make you new

Nothing you have ever done, can change what mercy's done for you (what mercy's done)

And if you ever wonder if you're worth so great a cost

Look up and see the cross

Oh, the cross

He was wounded for your wounds, pierced for all your sin

By His stripes you are healed, died so you could rise again

He let the blood and water flow, and did it all to let you know

You're the reason that He went to the cross

Oh, He's callin' you to run home to the cross

To the cross

Come and see a Savior's love that would die to make you new (oh, He's made us new)

Nothing you have ever done, can change what mercy's done for you (what mercy's done)

And if you ever wonder if you're worth so great a cost

Look up and see the cross (oh, look up and see)

Look up and see the cross (he died for you and me)

Look up and see the cross
Whoa. 
When interviewed by a radio station about this song, Anne Wilson said “The cross feels like it’s more than just a song to me. It’s an invitation. Anyone who’s ever felt way down or weary from trying to make their way through life, or for anybody who’s ever felt like they’ve made a bunch of mistakes in their life, and they mess up too many times, we can bring all of that to the cross. The cross means forgiveness. It means rest. It means a second chance. My favorite line in the song says, “everyone’s got a list at least a mile long of every scar and every sin from everywhere that we’ve gone wrong.” But there’s reason for rejoicing. And that reason is because that list was nailed to the cross.”
Y’all. 
We all have a list. 
We all have sin. 
But the cross means forgiveness. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

 

phone call

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

- Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)

 

There are several times in the Bible where we read “call on Me” or “come to Me”.

God wants us to call to him.

God often waits for us to ask before He blesses us what He longs to give us.

Yet we lack the ability to comprehend and receive all the great truth about God – that He is GOOD!
God tells us that we can ask Him anything!

Jeremiah was in prison when he heard this word from God.

I would think that when one is at the lowest point of their life they would indeed call out to God. 

Jeremiah received a word of hope and promise when he heard the Lord speak. 

Can you hear God when you call?
Let’s go back to 2001, Nicole C. Mullen released a powerful song Call On Jesus: 
I'm so very ordinary, nothing special on my own.

Oh, I have never walked on water,

And I have never calmed a storm.

Sometimes I'm hiding away from the madness around me

Like a child who's afraid of the dark

But when I call on Jesus,

All things are possible

I can mount on wings like eagles' and soar

When I call on Jesus,

Mountains are gonna fall

'Cause He'll move heaven and earth to come rescue me when I call

Weary brother, broken daughter,

Widowed, widowed lover, you're not alone

If you're tired and scared of the madness around you

If you can't find the strength to carry on

Call Him in the morning, in the afternoon time

Late in the evening He'll be there

When your heart is broken,

And you feel discouraged,

You can just remember that He said

He'll be there

But when I call on Jesus,

All things are possible

I can mount on wings like eagles' and soar

When I call on Jesus,

Mountains are gonna fall

'Cause He'll move heaven and earth to come rescue me when I call

Can you hear God when you call?

Set your mind on Him and focus, He will answer, but you may not like what you hear.

God promised to care for you and love you and show you the way to Him.

Seek the truth and He will answer.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

 

clean clothes

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day.

- Exodus 19:10-11 (NKJV)

 

Growing up my mother had a wringer washing machine.
I remember spending hours in the basement with her, watching her push clothes from the wash basin through the wringer, into the rinse water tub, then through the wringer again, the into the final rinse (usually with fabric softener), through the wringer once more then out on the clothesline to dry. 
I was probably about 10 years old when she got her first automatic washer, and I remember that she hated it.
She said it never got the clothes as clean as her trusty wringer washer. 
Some people will buy new clothes for a special occasion, planning well in advance what they are going to wear to that wedding, graduation, Easter Sunday, Christmas, or other formal event.
Some people have a favorite suit or dress dry cleaned and pressed so it is in perfect condition.
Today’s verse signifies a couple of things, wearing garments of grace and the third day.
Clean clothes are garments of grace - faith in Christ brings the forgiveness of sins, the washing of our robes in the blood of the Lamb.
In the Book of Revelation, (Revelation 22:14) people with clean clothes may enter the gates of the golden city, and they will be permitted to eat the fruit of the tree of everlasting life.
When we put on our very best attire, we are making an effort to look good for what ever event is on our calendar.
Shouldn’t we make the same effort to be clean for Christ? 
The third day is significant because it is repeated several times in the Bible. 
God appeared on Mount Sinai on the third day, King David recovered all on the third day, Jesus turned water into wine on the third day and above all, Jesus was resurrected on the third day.   
Three days seems pretty important just from my understanding of the Bible. 
If God tells us to be ready for the third day, let’s make sure we put on our cleanest and best clothing to meet with Him.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

we all cry sometimes

Jesus wept.

- John 11:35 (NKJV)

 

We all cry sometimes, even Jesus.
The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35 – Jesus wept. 
In October 2020 I used this verse, and I wrote “Jesus was moved to tears by the sorrow of Mary and Martha over the death of their brother Lazarus.

All their friends were crying, mourning the death of their friend.

Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were friends of Jesus too, and He shared in their sorrow.

I’d like to think that Mary and Martha found comfort in His tears.

I’d like to believe that when I am sad, Jesus cries with me too.”

Apparently, I am not the only one who believes that because in 2023 Riley Clemmons released Jesus Cries:
It's no secret that life

Gets a little heavy sometimes

Like it's too much for one heart to take

Your smile's wearing thin

Just tryin' to hold it all in

But it feels like the dam's gonna break

You are not alone facing that flood behind your eyes

Heaven already knows every tear that you cry

So let 'em fall like the rain

Let 'em roll down your face

Let 'em run like a river

That carries your pain

To the Savior with scars

Right there holding your heart

When you weep, He's there weeping with you

Jesus cries too

Mm-mm-mm

There's no answer sometimes

For the hurt that's inside

When the healing feels so far away

But in the ache of your soul

There's a love that comes close

And catches your tears when they're all you can pray

Let 'em fall like the rain

Let 'em roll down your face

Let 'em run like a river

That carries your pain

To the Savior with scars

Right there holding your heart

When you weep, He's there weeping with you

Jesus cries too, Jesus cries too

At the edge of the grave

In the valley of pain

When the sadness won't shake

It's true (Jesus cries too)

When the suffering is long

When you can't see the dawn

He feels all the sorrow with you

Jesus cries too

Jesus cries too, yeah, yeah

Let 'em fall like the rain

Let 'em roll down your face

Let 'em run like a river

That carries your pain

To the Savior with scars

Right there holding your heart

When you weep, He's there weeping with you

He's never been closer

It's true

Jesus cries too
It is such a comfort to know that I will never cry alone. 
A comfort in knowing that someone cares enough about me that He is right there, holding my heart.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

 

step by step

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

- Psalm 63:1 (NIV)

 

Some of us remember The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show from the 1960’s – “Now here’s something we hope you’ll really like”!
Most of us just saw re-runs, but this show was fun, had multiple characters with their own plotlines and there was even history to learn!
The “Peabody’s Improbable History” segment had a fictional time machine invented by Mr. Peabody called the “Wayback machine” that would transport Mr. Peabody and his adopted boy Sherman to a time and place of historical importance so Sherman could learn the history of the world. 
So, let’s hop into the Wayback machine today and return to 2002 when Michael W. Smith released the song Step By Step.
Oh God, You are my God

Oh God, You are my God

And I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning

And I will learn to walk in Your ways

And Step by step You'll lead me

And I will follow You all of my days
King David, while in the wilderness of Judah, knew that the only one he could rely on was God.
He knew that his spiritual survival would not last long with out the help of God.
The intense longing that he felt for God mimics that of extreme hunger or thirst.

We cannot live without food or water, and we should not try to live without God.
We should find out way to him, step by step. 
 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

can’t get enough

Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

- Proverbs 27:20 (NKJV)

 

Our outlook on life often seems to depend on our circumstances, wouldn’t you agree?
If we are healthy and have plenty of money, a great job that we love and a wonderful family, we have a positive attitude and a pleasant demeanor.
Sadly, so many people in the world just can’t get enough of even one of those things, and therefore are never satisfied.
I heard a song on the radio last week just released in 2024 from Cochren & Co. called Money Can’t Buy and I was floored at how the lyrics resonated with me:
I set my sights on shiny things

That crumble into rust

That fade into the dust

I bought the lie that someday I

Would finally have enough

But it never is enough

So, wake me up

From this slumber that I'm in

Take me up

To a brand new horizon

Oh Lord, give me eyes to see

That what I need don't cost a thing

You fill my life

With something money can't buy

I'm done chasing after gold

Rip the price tag off my soul

You fill my life

With something money can't buy

(Something money

Something money can't buy

Something money

Something money can't buy)

It's the peace that comes from perfect love

The wonder in the stars

The beating in my heart

Sometimes you gotta stop

And look at what you got

That's when you realize

Ooh, the gift it is to be alive

Oh Lord, give me eyes to see

That what I need don't cost a thing

You fill my life

With something money can't buy

I'm done chasing after gold

Rip the price tag off my soul

You fill my life

With something money can't buy

Your love is all I've ever needed

Only You, only You can wake me up

From this slumber that I'm in

Take me up

To a brand new horizon

...
Some of those lyrics may have hit a little too close to home.    

Sometimes we really do need to stop and look around, to see everything that we have no matter how little that may be and realize that it is a gift to be alive.

We try to set an example for our children and our grandchildren and it seems as though the last few generations have been setting the wrong example.
Money can’t buy our way into heaven. 
Money can’t by love. 
Money can’t buy happiness. 
Money can’t buy life. 
But God can give us all of that and more. 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible