Sabbath Keeping

~ Ireland's west coast ~

"To you, O Lord, I call."

~ Joel 1:19 ~

"My gracious heavenly Father, with gratitude I bow before You today. I rejoice in the little, ordinary things which so often are accepted by me unrecognized and which so frequently pass by unnoticed. For life itself I give You thanks. For the breath which I borrow from you, I am grateful. For the strength to pursue a course of active labor, I offer my gratitude. That the lily of the field and the sparrow of the air are under Your guiding and protecting hand, remind me. ... In the name of Your Son, my Savior, I pray. Amen." ~ C. Ralston Smith ~ 

"Until women and men come to discover the truth of God's presence in their lives, and discover it not merely as some statement they affirm or deny but as a living reality, they will never recognize the fulfillment of the "not yet," the fulfillment of God's total gift." 
~ Ernest Boyer, Jr. ~

"Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries."

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning ~ 

"If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm and send you out. Launch all on God, go out on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and you will get your eyes open. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the smooth waters just inside the harbour bar, full of delight, but always moored; you have to get out through the harbor bar into the great deeps of God and begin to know for yourself, begin to have spiritual discernment.
"When you know you should do a thing, and do it, immediately you know more. Revise where you have become stodgy spiritually, and you will find it goes back to a point where there was something you knew you should do, but you did not do it because there seemed no immediate call to, and now you have no perception, no discernment; at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-possessed. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to go on knowing." 
~ Oswald Chambers ~

"Be present in all things,

and thankful in all things."

~ Mayo Angelo ~ 

"If we are each obedient to our visions the cities would have green spaces, birds in their trees, and architecture to quicken the awareness of the divine life throbbing in the whole of the world. And the towns? the towns would have galleries to hold the works of their artists; theaters for the performing arts would spring up in their squares; scientists and poets would confer with each other; students would gather for debate and reflection, children would want to continue in life, and church congregations everywhere would be struggling "to make serious use of the wings the creator had given." Everyone would know what it meant to be the servant of the Most High." ~ Elizabeth O'Connor ~

"God's gifts put men's best dreams to shame." 

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning ~ 

"God is not a belief to which you give your assent. God becomes a reality whom you know intimately, meet everyday, one whose strength becomes your strength, whose love, your love. Live this life of the presence of God long enough and when someone asks you, "Do you believe there is a God?" you may find yourself answering, "No, I do not believe there is a God, I know there is a God." 
~ Ernest Boyer, Jr. ~

"Coincidence is just God choosing to remain anonymous." 

~ unknown ~

"O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too much with me. You have been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to Your presence. Open my eyes that I may behold You in and around me. For Christ's sake, Amen." ~ A. W. Tozer ~

"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

~ John 8:17 ~

If you'd like a name added to the prayer list, please let me know. Names are kept for one week; around the world, people are praying.

Prayer Keeping ~ Mags ~ Maxine ~ Miki and Timi ~ Cathy's request ~ Ricky ~ unspoken requests ~ Sandra ~