Growing into spiritual maturity is becoming less self-conscious and more God-conscious.
From Psalm 18:28: “It is You who light my lamp; the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.”
Mark Batterson (born 1969) is an American pastor and Christian author.
My poem serves as an introduction for praising the gift that God has shared with my dear wife, Colleen. From a bag filled with a collection of writings, she has crafted a book from her faith-filled heart about family and God.
Mother’s faith-filled love
Embracing Father’s grace
Teaching her daughters
About Heaven’s special place
Daughters’ faith blooming
Accepting Father’s love
Learning from His Word
His presence reigning above
Mother’s writing pen
Following Father’s heart
Serving as His light
Book begins initial start
Daughters growing up
Living in Father’s peace
Welcoming next steps
Faith maturing, piece by piece
Colleen fills so blessed to share God’s light with others. After nearly seven months in the publishing process, her book is now in print. The book is currently available on Amazon, but it will soon be featured on other platforms such as Barnes & Noble.
The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.
From Psalm 126:6: “Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American naturalist, poet, and philosopher. Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of his writings reflected upon living in natural surroundings.
Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.
From John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch priest, professor, writer, and theologian.
Standing
With Jesus
Encouraged to forgive
Making peace with past
Together
Nourishing
Faith’s strengths
Capacity to forgive
Maturing in spiritual waters
Growth
Receiving
Father’s counsel
Acts of forgiveness
Filling with His light
Grace
Every human heartbeat should be a silent refrain of thanksgiving to the God who created the heart and gives it life.
From Psalm 100:3: “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
David Jeremiah (born 1941) is an American pastor and Christian author.
Start a new habit on today’s events: Think first of the eternal difference your choices will make.
From Proverbs 16:3: “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.“
David Jeremiah (born 1941) is an American pastor and Christian author.
Personal Bible study is the best way to sink your roots deeply into the faith. You’ll be like a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in season.
From Psalm 1:2-3: “But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”
David Jeremiah (born 1941) is an American pastor and Christian author.
As a tree by the waters grows, in spite of drought all around it, so I, by drawing upon the life of Christ, grow into His strength.
From Job 14:7-9: “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.”
W. Phillip Keller (1920-1997) was born in Africa as the son of missionary parents. His life’s mission would allow him to become a world citizen as a photographer, agronomist, and Christian author.
Faith is not to get you out of a hard place but to change your heart in the hard place.
From Ezekiel 36:26: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
David Wilkerson (1931-2011) was an American evangelist, Christian author, and pastor.
Big Sky Buckeye 