PRAYING HANDS

There are hands that help and comfort,
Hands that plan and teach,
Hands that rest and hands that strive
For a goal just out of reach,
Hands that grasp and hands that give,
Hands that work and play,
Friendly hands and loving hands
That soothes life's cares away.
But praying hands are dearest
In the sight of God above
For in their sweet and earnest clasp
Are reverence and love.
No hands can do an unkind act
Nor cause another care
Nor sin against Our Father's love
When they are clasped in prayer.
Author Unknown

Gracious God, thank you for opportunities where I can grow and be lifted up. Thank you for your love shown in different and exciting ways. Thank you for your direction in my life, so that I am challenged to be all that you want me to be. Help me to spread your word in this world. Amen.

Hitch your wagon to a star.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
Pamela Vaull Starr

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
Jeremiah 17:7

Surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5:12

The eagle was once nothing but an egg, but what would we know about the nature, the meaning, the possibilities of that egg had we never seen the eagle soaring in splendor against the sky?
Author Unknown

We must, despite ourselves, turn heavenward our eyes.
Alfred De Musset

Ever wonder about the abbreviation A.S.A.P.? Generally we think of it in terms of even more hurry and stress in our lives. Maybe if we think of this abbreviation in a different manner, we will begin to find a new way to deal with those rough days along the way.

There's work to do, deadlines to meet;
You've got no time to spare,
But as you hurry and scurry -
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

In the midst of family chaos,
" Quality time" is rare.
Do your best; let God do the rest -
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

It may seem like your worries
Are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather-
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER

God knows how stressful life is;
He wants to ease our cares,
And He'll respond to all our needs
A.S.A.P. - ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.
Author Unknown

How gracious the Lord will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
Isaiah 30:19

Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.
John 15:7

Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Mark 11:24

Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16

There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's Master Card. I'm sure you've all received their applications in the mail.
However, I'm here to advertise a different card. You see, my life is a product for others to see. I'm a card carrying representative for The Master's Card.
That's right, The MASTER'S CARD.

Let me tell you about it. There are no finance charges, no payments due. My bill has already been covered...it's a prepaid deal. I couldn't afford the price, so Jesus stepped in and paid it for me. My Name is written on the card for all to see. It is accessible twenty-four hours a day from anywhere in the world. The MASTER'S CARD has so many benefits it's hard to list them all.

Let me share some of them with you...you might want to apply for a personal card yourself. Just for starters there is UNLIMITED GRACE. That's right, there is no preset limit to the amount of grace you receive from The MASTER'S CARD. Have you been looking for love in all the wrong places?

Then, look no farther than The MASTER'S CARD. It offers the greatest rate on love that has ever been offered.

The MASTER'S CARD gives you access to many "members only" benefits. Want real joy despite the difficulties of life? Apply for The MASTER'S CARD. Want a lasting peace? Apply for The MASTER'S CARD. Looking for something you can always rely on in a jam? The MASTER'S CARD is perfect for you. Another great thing about The MASTER'S CARD is that it never expires and will never be canceled. Once you're a member, you're a member for life ... eternal life, that is. Membership has its privileges, you know.

So why not apply today? It's only a prayer away.
Author Unknown

We praise Thee, O God, for this day, which are both a beginning and an end. You have brought me to a new birth in my life. Now the past and present will merge into what is to become my future -- a future filled with uncertainty, courage, weakness and doubts. Help me, Lord, to live one day at a time. Thank You that Your grace is sufficient for today and tomorrow. Use me as you wish.
Amen

“ Before (my people) call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 65:24

Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7 - 8

This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it – the Lord is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:2 - 3

For all the scientists out there, and for all the students who have a
hard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the
Bible here's something that shows God's awesome creation, and that He is
still in control.

Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has
been called "myth" in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President
of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, Maryland, and a
consultant in the space program, relates the following development.

" I think one of the most amazing things that God has done for us today
happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at
GreenBelt, Maryland. They were checking out where the positions of
the sun, moon, and planets would be 100 years and 1,000 years
from now. We have to know this so we won't send up a satellite and have
it bump into something later on in its orbits. We have to
lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite and where
the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down." They ran
the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries, and it
came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which
meant that there was something wrong with either the information fed
into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They
called in the service department to check it out, and they said,
" What's wrong?" Well, they found there is a day missing in space
in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair.

There was no answer.

Finally a Christian man on the team said, '"You know, one time I
was in Sunday School, and they talked about the sun standing still."
While they didn't believe him, they didn't have an answer either, so
they said, "Show us." He got a Bible and went to the book of
Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one
with "common sense." There they found the Lord saying to
Joshua, "Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there
shall not a man of them stand before thee." Joshua was concerned
because he was surrounded by the enemy, and if darkness fell, they
would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun
stand still! That's right. "The sun stood still and the moon
stayed and lasted not to go down about a whole day!" (Joshua 10:12-13)
" The astronauts and the scientists said, "There is the missing day!'"
They checked the computers going back into the time it was
written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time
that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20
minutes... not a whole day. They read the Bible, and there it was
" about (approximately) a day."

These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in
trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes, you'll still
be in trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found
because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits. As the
Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the
Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists
told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and
read these words in 2 Kings that told of the following story:
Hezekiah, on his death bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who
told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as
proof. Isaiah said, "Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?"
Hezekiah said, "It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees,
but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees." Isaiah spoke to the
Lord, and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees
BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes!* Twenty-three hours and 20
minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings
make the missing day in the universe! Isn't it amazing?

References: Joshua 10:8 and 12,13 and 2 Kings 20:9-11.
Author Unknown

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in ever good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7

Oh Lord, help me to be an example of your love so that strangers and friends will see and feel your grace. Amen

At Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC recently the Sergeant Major of the Army, Jack Tilley, was with a group of people visiting the wounded soldiers. He saw a Special Forces soldier who had lost his right hand and suffered severe wounds of his face and side of his body. The SMA wanted to honor him and show him respect without offending, but what can you say or do in such a situation that will encourage and uplift? How do you shake the right hand of a soldier who has none? He decided to act as though the hand was not missing and gripped the soldier's wrist while speaking words of comfort and encouragement to him.

But there was another man in that group of visitors who had even brought his wife with him to visit the wounded who knew exactly what to do. This man reverently took the soldiers stump of a hand in both of his hands, bowed at the bedside and prayed for him. When he finished the prayer he stood up, bent over the soldier and kissed him on the head and told him that he loved him.

What a powerful expression of love for one of our wounded heroes! What kind of a man would kneel in such humility and submission? It was the wounded man's Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush; a true leader.

This story was told by the SMA at a Soldiers Breakfast held at Red Arsenal, AL, and recorded by Chaplain James Henderson,

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2

Generous God, thank you for the opportunity to do your work. Thank you for the chance to take a leap of faith, trusting that you walk beside me leading the way, so that others will come to know and experience you through me by what I do and say today. Amen

Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8–9

The way to God has properly been described as “letting oneself fall,” and has been compared with the first flight of a baby eagle, pushed out of the next by its parents, and then discovering to its amazement that the invisible ocean of light in which it is dropping is capable of bearing it up. The presence of God which surrounds everyone is like this invisible ocean which bears us up more surely than do all visible means of security.
Karl Heim

Oh God, awaken me with hope when I doubt where you are sending me. Let me never forget that all things are possible in you. Amen

It could have been any night of the week, as I sat in one of those loud and casual steak houses that are cropping up all over the country. You know the type- a bucket of peanuts on the table, shells littering the floor, and a bunch of perky college kids racing around with longneck beers and sizzling platters.

Taking a sip of my iced tea, I studied the crowd over the rim of my glass. I let my gaze linger on a few of the tables next to me, where several uniformed military members were enjoying their meals. Smiling sadly, I glanced across my booth to the empty seat where my husband usually sat. Had it had only been a few weeks since we had sat at this very table talking about his upcoming deployment to the Middle East? He made me promise to come back to this restaurant once a month, sit in our booth, and treat myself to a nice dinner. He told me that he would treasure the thought of me there eating a steak and thinking about him until he came home. I fingered the little flag pin I wear on my jacket and wondered where at that moment he was. Was he safe and warm? Was his cold any better? Were any of my letters getting to him? As I pondered all of these things, shrill feminine voices from the next booth broke into my thoughts.

"I don't know what Bush is thinking, invading Iraq. Didn't he learn anything from his father's mistakes? He is an idiot anyway; I can't believe he is even in office. You know he stole the election."

I cut into my steak and tried not to listen as they began an endless tirade of running down our president. I thought about the last night I was with my husband as he prepared to deploy. He had just returned from getting his smallpox and anthrax shots and the image of him standing in our kitchen packing his gas mask still gave me chills.

Once again their voices invaded my thoughts.

"It is all about oil, you know. Our military will go in and rape and pillage and steal all the oil they can in the name of freedom. I wonder how many innocent lives our soldiers will take without a thought? It is just pure greed."

My chest tightened and I stared at my wedding ring. I could picture how handsome my husband was in his mess dress the day he slipped it on my finger. I wondered what he was wearing at that moment. He probably had on his desert uniform, affectionately dubbed coffee stains, over the top of which he wore a heavy bulletproof vest.

"We should just leave Iraq alone. I don't think they are hiding any weapons. I think it is all a ploy to increase the president's popularity and pad the budget of our military at the expense of social security and education. We are just asking for another 9-11 and I can't say when it happens again that we didn't deserve it."

Their words brought to mind the war protesters I had watched gathering outside our base. Did no one appreciate the sacrifice of brave men and women who leave their homes and family to ensure our freedom? I glimpsed at the tables around me and saw the faces of some of those courageous men, looking sad as they listened to the ladies talk.

" Well, I for one, think it is a travesty to invade Iraq and I am certainly sick of our tax dollars going to train the professional baby killers we call a military."

Professional baby killers? As I thought about what a wonderful father my husband is and wondered how long it would be before he was able to see his children again, indignation rose up within me.

Normally reserved, pride in my husband gave me a boldness I had never known. Tonight, one voice would cry out on behalf of the military. One shy woman would stand and let her pride in our troops be known. I made my way to their table, placed my palms flat on it and lowered myself to be eye level with them. Smiling I said, "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I am sitting over here trying to enjoy my dinner alone. Do you know why I am alone? Because my husband, whom I love dearly, is halfway across the world defending your right to say rotten things about him. You have the right to your opinion, and what you think is none of my business, but what you say in my hearing is and I will not sit by and listen to you run down my country, my president, my husband, and all these other fine men and women in here who put their lives on the line to give you the freedom to complain. Freedom is expensive ladies, don't let your actions cheapen it."

I must have been louder than I meant to be, because about that time the manager came over and asked if everything was all right.

"Yes, thank you." I replied and then turned back to the ladies, "Enjoy the rest of your meal."

To my surprise, as I sat down to finish my steak, a round of applause broke out in the restaurant. Not long after the ladies picked up their check and scurried away, the manager brought me a huge helping of apple cobbler and ice cream, compliments of the table to my left. He told me that the ladies had tried to