Hope and Healing for Moms

Thursday, August 10, 2017 Meditation Styles: Meditation About Current Events With Biblical Perspective (Meditation, Part 10 of 10) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: 1 John 5:19 (ESV) We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Acts 17:30-31 (ESV) The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Acts 3:19-21 (ESV) Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Matthew 24:40-44 (ESV) 40...

Tuesday, August 8, 2017 Meditation Styles: Meditation Upon the Creation (Meditation, Part 9) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Job 12:7-9 (ESV) “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” Genesis 1:1 (NIV) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Psalm 104:1-24 (ESV) 3  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4  What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Psalm 8:3-4 (NASB) Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:2 (NIV) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wond...

Monday, August 7, 2017 Meditation Styles: “Re-Collection” or “Centering Down” (Meditation, Part 8) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: (All NIV) Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth.” Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Psalm 131:2   But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Isaiah 26:3-4 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Psalm 55:22  Cast your cares on the Lord     and he will sustain you; he will never let     the righteous be shaken. 1...

Friday, August 4, 2017 Meditation Styles: Meditating On Scripture (Meditation, Part 7) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Psalm 1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 119:15-16 I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success…” Psalm 77:12 ...

Thursday, August 3, 2017 The Inner Tabernacle – the Preparation for Meditation (Meditation, Part 6) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Revelation 21:2-4 2  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  3  And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,  4  and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be  any  death; there will no longer be  any  mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Psalm 84:1-2 How lovely is your dwelling place,     Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints,     for the courts of the Lord… John 1...

Tuesday, August 1 2017 Turn Your Eyes: The Imagination-The Place of Meditation (Meditation, Part 5) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Ephesians 1:17-18 17  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints… Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on thing...

Monday, July 31, 2017 Want to Want: Desiring to Hear the Voice of God (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. Psalm 63:1-2 A Psalm of David, when he  was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Devotional: It has been three days my last post, and all weekend I have been vacillating between the choice to slow down and allow us to take time to marinate and simmer versus not belaboring the point of meditation in my daily devotional. I am fighting a little humor in the vacillation his morning as I share this, because the irony is that the need to meditate and the need to learn about meditation  requires meditation. I strongly encourage each of ...

Friday, July 28, 2017 What Meditation is Not: Meditation (Part 3) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster) Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline (pp 20- , edited for length; additional explanations in parentheses): (Not the same as Eastern meditation): Whenever the Christian idea of meditation is taken seriously, there are those who assume it is synonymous with the concept of meditation centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two ideas stand worlds apart. Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind. The two ideas are quite different. Detachment is the final goal of Eastern religion. Christian meditation goes far beyond the notion of detachment. There is need for detachment, (but) detachment is not enough; we must go on to attachment. The detachment from the confusion all around us in order to have a richer attachment to God. Christian meditation leads us to the inner wholeness...

Wednesday, July 26, 2017 Space in Time to Listen and Obey: Meditation (Part 1) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster) Scripture: Psalm 119:97, 101, 102 (KJV) Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day….I hold my feet from every evil way, in order to keep thy word. I do not turn aside from thy ordinances, for thou hast taught me.” Psalm 63:6 (KJV) I think of thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the watches of the night. Psalm 119:148 (KJV) My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate upon thy promise. Psalm 1:1-2  (NASB) 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline (pp15-17, edited for length): The Discipline ...