Month: April 2016

Each Step of the Way

Posted on By Tina "Richele" Ballinger No Comments on Each Step of the Way
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My favorite moments are those quiet times, in the stillness of the first light of a new morning when I pause to spend time sitting with my heavenly Father. I can literally feel Him place His arms around me and hold me close. I breath in the strength of His love, and for a few moments of time my whole world is at “peace”.

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalms 5:3

In those first moments of the new day, I find the very essence of eternity as I am renewed in spirit finding strength for the day.

“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16

As I begin to breath in a renewed sense of strength, I am reminded that I do not walk alone. Whatever comes in the course of the day, my Heavenly Father has already walked the path and knows each step that I should take. I may not see it, I may not understand it, but I can trust in Him because He knows the way.

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalm 32:8

We are never out of God’s sight, His eye is upon us, watching us . . .  knowing our coming and our going . . .

“The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” Psalm 121: 5-8

He is with us “each step of the way” . . . and so I greet a new day 🙂

“And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8

 

A Clearer Vision

Posted on By Tina "Richele" Ballinger No Comments on A Clearer Vision
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While traveling last week I watched as people were hustling about going here and there in an apparent hurry; I paused for a moment to look at their faces and reflect on their final destinations. Not just for that day, but for eternity . . . I paused to reflect on the reality of of a far reaching moment in time, the moment when each of those faces would come to the end of their race here on Earth.  What would be their end? Did they realize the true frailty of life? Had they given thought to the value of their eternity?

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.” Psalms 39:4-5

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” Psalm 73:17 

As I began to think of each one as a person with a final destination, I began to contemplate my own vision. When I look at others do I see an eternal soul, or just another face in the crowd? Do I have a clear vision of the reality of eternity?  I’m afraid the answer would be no . . .  my heart cries within me as I realize just how cloudy my vision for the souls of others has become. So much of the time I go about my life at a mad-dash without reflection or thought to the frailty of life. I spend my time working toward a to-do-list that in its very existence is primarily filled with items that hold no relevance when compared to the moments of time that reach into eternity. Looking inward I begin to cry out to God for a “Clearer Vision”.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35

Please help me to see the harvest, open my eyes to clearly see. Give me a “clearer vision” of each person that crosses my path enabling me to focus on the reality of their eternal end, their final destination.