Psalm 42

Psalm 42 (paraphrased by me)

As animals long for water to drink, to satisfy their thirst, so I want to long for you my God. I want everything in me to long for you. I want to know the living God. I want to meet with You everyday. When I go through difficulties and I have only my tears, I remember how I used to run to God and live in His comfort...and the times that I praised Him. It helps me remember that when I am sad/discouraged/angry that I need to put my hope in God and continue to praise my Saviour. Sometimes it feels as though my troubles are causing me to question where my God is...but I know that my hope is in God and I will continue to praise Him all day long. I know God is my rock.

"By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me

— a prayer to the God of my life."

Psalm 42:8

 

 

Psalm 63

Psalm 63 (as paraphrased by me)
You are my God and I want to continue to seek you. I want to long for you with all that I am. I have seen your wonderful works in my life and have felt your presence. You love is better than anything in this world. I will praise you and lift up my hands in worship. I want your love to satisfy all my deepest desires. Throughout the night, when I wake, I want to be talking with you. I know that you are my help through all my deepest storms and I will cling to you; even when I feel threatened and overwhelmed with this life.  I will continue to rejoice in you, my God.

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

~Psalm 63:7-8~

Psalm 27

Psalm 27
This is just Psalm 27 in my own words as I read it and pray it into my life.

No matter what I face in life, God is always my strength. I don't have to be afraid of anything because God is the anchor the one who holds me together and gives me my salvation. No one can take that away. I can be confident in my unchanging God.
I am looking forward to the day when I see the Lord's face and dwell in His home and see His beauty. For He continues to take care of me no matter what. Because the Lord saved me, I will sing His praises and worship Him. I will seek His face; please Lord might I find You? I know that even if everyone left me, or everything was taken away, the Lord would never leave me. He would never forsake me. Please teach me your ways. Help me to walk in your ways. May your desires be my desires.

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

~Psalm 27:13-14~

2015

Well, it's been awhile, but I guess that's what happens in life! Life happens!

The beginning of 2015 was busy with our Upward Basketball Season 4! We spent every Saturday in January and February and 1 in March at Basketball. It's a whirlwind of a season, but I think it was a good one. We had a lot of kids out this year...more than I expected which made for some stress in terms of organizing a number so large, but thanks to our Heavenly Father, He provided some new coaches, coaches who were willing to coach two teams and a venue within the school board at a local elementary school which was really awesome! It definitely paved the way for next year, and we should be able to continue to support that many kids hopefully...
A lot of our time over those months were dedicated to the Upward Basketball ministry. God has blessed this ministry with three partner churches and many many volunteers from young to old! The message of Jesus was shared to all our Upward players and their families! It can't get much better than that!
Also, this year, Micah got to play for the first time! Next year A will get to play...and she is already practicing and can't wait until it's her turn to play too. I can't wait to watch her!

Well we enjoyed a little down time in March and then we swung right into April and Easter. This year's Good Friday service and Easter Sunday service were both so powerful, awe-inspiring and encouraging. We are so blessed to be apart of our church family. 

I guess this post doesn't have much inspiration, but mostly just a catch up over the last few months.
However, I am hoping to blog a little more in the coming weeks as I hope to do a study on prayer with the Psalms. The devotion encouraged summarizing the Psalms to help with prayer life. Prayer always seems to be an area I need to work on, so I'm hoping this will help my prayer life. I always try to write down my prayer requests, or who I'm praying for and then remember to pray for them as often as I can...but I usually do really well for a bit and then I struggle with it again. I really want to have a consistent and meaningful prayer life with my Heavenly Father. It's only by His strength I can whether the daily storms. So stay tuned (hopefully) for a little study on the Psalms and prayer :)

I hope you've all had a blessed Easter and are renewed in your faith and looking forward to when our Saviour comes again!