The Redeemer of My Soul

The Redeemer of My Soul
(by Melissa Webb)

There are times during the stillness of night
when I feel my life has truly been a waste.
I know without Your loving grace,
Your beautiful light, I would not rise.

The warmth You give overwhelms me with fear,
fills my heart with everlasting love.
Reminding me I truly owe my life,
my very soul, to You forever.

The mere thought of Your everlasting love
surrounds me with a wonderful joy.
I pray Your greatness will be know by all,
The redeemer of my life, my very soul.



Today I am thankful to the Redeemer of my soul and His loving grace, everlasting love and wonderful joy!

Inward Peace

"Be desirous, My son, to do the will of another rather than thine own. Choose always to have less rather than more. Seek always the lower place, and to be inferior to every one. Wish always, and pray, that the will of God be wholly done in thee. Behold, such a man entereth within the borders of peace and rest." Thomas a Kempis - Imitation of Christ.

This is one of my favorite readings. I cannot take credit for always obeying these four simple ways of having inward peace. However, when I do continually strive to follow these callings I do find great peace and rest. Whenever I find disquiet within myself I know that I have strayed to the callings of self will rather than that of God. I reflect on the above reading and can almost immediately see where I have failed to do the above. Only through the grace of God can I readjust my thoughts and actions to follow these four things and regain that inward peace that gives me rest in His loving arms.

Today I am grateful for the simple ways to find peace rather than the callings of worldly thoughts and actions.

Calmness of the Storm

"O let me hear Thee speaking
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will.

O speak to reassure me,
To hasten, or control;
O speak and make me listen,
Thou Guardian of my soul."
(anonymous)

The above came from a reading in my favorite book "God Calling". The reading is about how "all sacrifice and suffering is redemptive'; that His plan is perfect and all that we sacrifice and suffer is not by chance, but is to teach us or to be used to help others. I know for me, this is often hard to accept. However, I also know that when I see others suffer, or myself, all that I can do is to go to Christ and ask Him to embrace us, heal us, and show us His loving Light. I do not always hear him in the midst of my self will; however I know that he will quiet the storm so that I can listen and know that he is the 'Guardian of my soul' and of others. Only He can speak to us in the sufferings we bear.

Today I am grateful that I can go to Him and hear the calmness of the storm.

Always Calm

"In quietness and in calmness shall be your strength" Isaiah 30:15

I was reading this morning from one of my favorite meditation books, God Calling, about how being calm will build good and at the same time destroy evil. The reading says in the face of difficulty or evil..."always first be still and know that I am God. Then act only as I tell you. Always calm with God. Calm is trust in action. Only trust, perfect trust can keep one calm." It also says to not be afraid of the circumstances that help us cultivate calmness. I know that in my own action(s) I can do nothing, but if I am quiet in stillness I am guided into the right action...fear dissolves and calmness overcomes the storm.

For me..."to be still and know that I am God"...is usally all I need in times of difficulty or fear and it gives me a great feeling of calmness and peace knowing that I am with God, trusting and knowing, that he will give me the right direction.

Today I am grateful to know the strength of quietness and calmness.

Awakening

I watched the video (shown below) about awakening and I was given a powerful message that reminded me that each day is a time to awaken to the Christ spirit that is within each of us. A new day to let go of what you thought you were and to allow the Light of Christ within to shine on a new day...a new love, new joy, new peace...to guide you into new awakenings of the Divine Spirit that dwells in each of us.

My everyday experiences and memories of the past can affect my inner love, joy and peace in negative ways if I allow them to and many times I do. But each day I am given the opportunity to 'drop the armor' of yesterday and awaken to great and vast new experiences of who I am meant to be...the Christ image within reflecting love, joy and peace to all. If I allow myself to breathe in new life and exhale old life; new experiences surround me and I am given new opportunities be me!

Today I am grateful for being able to breathe...and for that I am grateful.


youtube.com/watch?v=V8bZGLSbFaI

Perfect Light

I read and meditated today, again from a reading by CS Lewis, 'The Joyful Christian', about perfection. He talks about when we ask God into our lives for something specific He will grant it to us or cure our ailment. Although that may be all we ask of Him, He will give us "the full treatment"...He will make us perfect unless through our free will we push Him away. In His effort to render us into absolute perfection, and whatever it may cost us in our earthly life, He will not rest or let us rest until His Father can say He is well pleased with us...this He can do and He will do nothing less.

For a long time I was afraid to commit myself unto the Lord for fear of failure. Today I know that I can never achieve perfection through my own will. Only through him will I achieve absolute perfection...and nothing less. Yes I will stumble and fall, but He will always pick me up and only I can prevent my progress into the Perfect Light.

Spring Is In The Air

Although it is still about four weeks until spring is officially here, I am looking forward to new growth in not only the trees, grass and flowers, but also in myself. I read this morning from CS Lewis, "The Joyful Christian", about how we sometimes long for the first fervor of our christian conversion and are disappointed and sometimes remorseful that we do not feel that way anymore. In essence, he said that they are simply memories and if we only except them as that they will nourish us. He says the bulb is planted and if we leave it alone the flowers will bloom; but if we dig them up and fondle and sniff them hoping to get last year's bloom nothing will happen.

I have been guilty of this in the past...wondering why I don't feel that same awesome warmth and joy I have felt many times in the past. Today I realize that as long as I feed and water the seed, great "new" flowers will bloom! For that I am grateful

Keeping The Peace

'First keep the Peace within yourself, then you can also bring Peace to others.'
-Thomas A. Kempis

I have been sitting here for a couple of hours contemplating God's Love and a great sense of peace came over me. It always does when I really take the time to experience how infinite His Love is and what He has done not only in my life but in the life of others. I think about all living things in His universe and I am truly filled with awe...He cares for every living thing and sees that all are taken care of...the birds are fed, the flowers and trees are watered, the earth is renewed by the leaves that fall...He does it all! His Universe is at Peace and through it we finite human beings are given the opportunity to find Peace within ourselves.

Today I am grateful for the leaves that have fallen in my life...for they have renewed my soul!

Sunlight

I love days like today...with lots of sunlight and somewhat of a chill in the air. I love to just sit outside in the sunlight and feel it warm me all over. As a young teen I used to love to go in our backyard and lay in the swing, eyes closed and swinging only slightly, and feel the warmth of the sunlight. I would feel this great sensation. Winter can be harsh on my spirit because of the lack of sunlight and I struggle with depressive moods. A day like today reminds me of His Light and how when I am chilled with loneliness His Light will always warm and guide me into wonderful reflections of love. Today I know that His light, like the sunlight, fills me with love, peace and harmony and I am so very grateful for His Light.

Missing Laughter

Today I was missing my friend Petey. It just seemed to come suddenly...I had the urge to call and hear her laughter...but then I could not because she has gone. Oh how I miss the wonderful laugh, the talks we used to have and the light that shines from her eyes. She always told me that laughter heals as does the light. Some days are just harder to realize that she is not physically with us anymore. But I, and all that knew and loved her, know her presence is here and that her light will always shine on us. Today I missed her laughter.