Beyond My Understanding

 Beyond My Understanding

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.    Proverbs 3:5

Way beyond my understanding.
All I know is
It was a miracle that remains
And the miracle was a gift
Delivered to crumbling doorstep
Outside my sagging door locked tight
Nailed shut,
Yet breached,
It sat inside on rotting floor
Shining to be opened.
To be believed past unbelief
By miracle, not my doing.

Gift

It is salvation wrapped in grace undeserved.
The gift of faith to see hope once unseen.
A new heart unchained

Full with compassion
And repentance like a changing wind.
Heart to feel abundant love long unfelt
And mirror eyes to see myself as I am seen
Then others too, the same.
And mercy, charity, a call to pray,
A heart to sing, a heart to praise,
Hands to raise, a Book to read

All unwrapped and taken out,

When gift, upon gift, inside gift, unveiled
Then took away all fears and doubts
Healed my aching soul complete
And full and whole, then more, and more
A heart to tell of gifts and Glory,
Of His Great Love,

Holding out poor offerings,
And gratitude, a heart of thanks, 
I thank you JESUS, thank you LORD!

That You should care for me.
To rebuild my house,
To give me gifts,
To give me Yourself.

Oh, Miracles beyond my dull understanding,
Though nothing is beyond Yours,
I can but sit in rejoicing gratitude.
And no better gift
Nor more precious treasure
Could forever enter
Through my splintered door.

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Breath Of Heaven – Mary’s Song

 

Not even one of us can fully understand nor appreciate Mary’s plight…….

Rest in Peace, Donna Summer.  We still have your amazing voice.

These are video clips from The Nativity Story,  upload thanks to Peperamico.


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The Prayer

The Prayer

Thinking of Newtown.  Today this seems fitting from an amazing 7-year-old.

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Now I Lay Me Down – For Davey Christopher

Now I Lay Me Down
A Bedtime Poem and Prayer

This is the bedtime prayer that my mom taught me. I was told to say it every night without fail:

“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

The dying part scared me.  The implication of the possibility that I might die if I went to sleep was too much for my young mind to grasp, so I rushed through it which took the whole meaning, purpose, and heart out of praying it.
Recently, when I researched the history of this classic children’s prayer, I found that the earliest version of that prayer was perhaps written in 1711 by Joseph Addison in an essay appearing in The Spectator.  Mom’s version came later from The New England Primer.  Several different versions exist, some including child-watching angels.

I decided that Davey Christopher (and I, as well) needed a better bedtime prayer.   Davey’s prayer is a new version of the classic:

“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Stay with me, Lord, in dark of night,
And wake me with Your morning light.”

Davey made another verse:
(I helped him with the spelling)

“And as I go to sleep, dear Lord,
I’d like to ask for one thing more:
Be with me all my waking hours,
And keep me, Lord, for I am Yours.”

Here is Davey’s complete bedtime prayer (without all his personal “God blesses”):

“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Stay with me, Lord, in dark of night,
And wake me with Your morning light.”
And as I go to sleep, dear Lord,
I’d like to ask for one thing more:
Be with me all my waking hours,
And keep me, Lord, for I am Yours.”
“Amen”

Parents, think about your children’s prayers.  Pray with them.  Think, and pray, and teach them well.

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Announcing Publication of “The Godsend”

The Godsend
is now an  E-Book !

Words such as “inspiring”, “down to earth”, “honest”, and “will melt your heart” have been used to describe this author’s “initial public offering” of this E-book.

Set in the Upper Mid-West, in the decade following World War II, this mini-novel will take you back not only to a hopeful, encouraging, prosperous time for America, but to a magical time in a young boy’s life. This is the heartwarming story of a specially-gifted boy who is faced with a heart-wrenching situation.  Using his “sleuthing skills” he embarks on a journey “to find the truth” about himself, about Santa Claus, about the real meaning of Christmas, and about the existence of God Himself.

How will he find his answers? Will God reveal himself? Are there miracles in store for him? What is the real Godsend…….or who? Is it possible that we are all Godsent for each other?

The Godsend is rated Family Friendly.  Somewhere, there is a special child who has some very special parents, who needs to have this story read to him or her.  That is who this effort is for.  May God bless you in the reading of this story and in the reading of the REAL story of Christmas.

The Godsend is available on Kindle or Kindle for PC here:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Godsend-ebook/dp/B00A8TPVPM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353944048&sr=8-1&keywords=lenn+snider

The Godsend is also available on Smashwords, for PC (in PFD format) Sony Reader, Nook, Apple I-Pad, Kobo, and most e-reading apps ( including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others) here:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/256725

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Too Much Me In me

 

 

Too Much Me In me

 

There’s too much me within me, Lord,

There’s too much me in me

So much too much, I wish you’d take

Away the excess You don’t need

Then more’s the room You’ll make

For work and glories You can use

Lord, empty all the wasted me

Replace the empty space with You!

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Satan Summer – Temporary Season, But Deadly While It Lasts

Satan Summer, Back Off!

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You are a bully, I’m oppressed

Your endless drought gives me no rest

You’re in my pers’nal space

You’re all up in my face

You’re breathin’ brutal monster breath

No matter what, I still have faith

My Lord will put you in your place!

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Your Daughter, My Mother

A slightly melancholy look at a child’s love.

A celebration for, and of, my mother.

A prayer for one whose absence is always felt.

Love You, Mom,

Me

Your Daughter My Mother

Dear Heavenly “Grand”-Father,

Many years ago; more than twenty-two,

You made Mom a place to live

When she went away

To live with You.

Would You go there today,

Right up to her house,

And give her, for me,

A nice new dress, a flowery skirt,

A pretty blouse?

Would You give her

Nice-looking sandals,

Some beautiful shoes?

Oh Grandpa, today I’m getting the blues….

Please tell her I miss her.

We are too far apart.

All the time and the distance,

She’s still in my heart.

Would You put a sparkling

Crown on her head?

Or just hold her hand?

Would You give her, today,

A big Daddy-hug?

The warmest kind as only You can?

And tell her that her prayers for me

Were answered by You,

And are being still,

To this very day.

Tell her I’m finally free.

I’m on Jesus’ path,

I’m following Your Way.

Maybe not all that she hoped and she prayed just yet,

But much closer, Grand-Daddy,

Much closer this day.

Today, she just seems much too far away….

So thank her for me.

It’s heavy to bear,

That it’s Mothers Day here and she’s way up there.

But tell her I will soon see her, perhaps!

Until then, maybe give her a dance.

Will you give her a flower?

Lord, give her a laugh.

Tell her that I can hardly wait.

I’ll see her at the garden gate –

The one on the west,

When I finally come.

Meantime, Grandpa, please give her my best.

Your best too, ’cause we love her.

And just because she’s Your daughter,

And because she’s my mom!


Introducing Inspired Ann

“Choices” is the first post on my dear cousin’s new website.  It is a very special post for at least two reasons.  It is about our Father and our older Brother, and it is written by a member of my family, my dear cousin Ann.  She has plenty of wonderful things to say at http://inspiredannotation.wordpress.com.  I hope you give her a “read”.  Ann, you express your perception of the glory of God in a uniquely beautiful way.   You have a gift and an anointing, and I am very proud of you!

CHOICES

January 23, 2012

I look at the marvels in Your kingdom and wonder,

why is it that anyone would choose to live in destruction?

I see the power in Your blood and ask, why is it then,

that people choose sickness, anxiety, frustration?

In this world death displays its power, but in You, life is freely ours.

I choose to live! I run to You! Jesus, You make everything new.

I look at the lives of those You have changed

and wonder, why would others not want the same?

I see the gifts You provide for Your children and ask,

can some deliberately choose ruin, emptiness and lack?

Could anyone really not want You as Father?

Of all the choices we make every day,

there is but one choice, the only true way

to find blessing, joy, abundance and safety

if we would only cry out and bow our knee

and declare that Jesus is Lord God Almighty.

Beautifully written! Well done! Congratulations on your great initial offerings, and welcome to the wonderful world of blogging/briteing.

I’m quite amazed at how similarly we “see” things, then I remember that we share blood – the blood of our fathers; the blood of our Savior!

I know why people choose to live in destruction. For the same reason I did when I was kept “blinded and deafened” to the Truth by an enemy who constantly seeks our loss, our death, and our utter destruction. That is the one who makes sin and death look like pleasure and fun, and who hides the resulting “ruin, emptiness, and lack” until it can spring, roaring at our backs, dragging us hopelessly to the ground.

From the place I’m standing now, I don’t see why people don’t want to embrace Him as Abba – Father, especially when presented with the message of the beautiful Truth written by such a one as you. That you exist, that you write so well from a joyful, overflowing heart is a testament to our merciful, grace-giving God. He has truly gifted the world – and me – with you, and I thank Him once again!

“Inspiredannotation” – Perfect !!!

May God bless this, and all, of your endeavors!
Lots of Love,
Len “Gloryteller”

(Re-posted with permission.  Many thanks, my cousin.)

P.S.  Chaff Rantley is my “adopted” cousin;  Ann is my “real” cousin.  Love you both, hehe.

I Will

Only look my way                                   

And I will love you

Like a whisper is to the shout

Of how Christ always has.

Only reach for me

And I will hold you close

Like a candle is to the furnace

Long kept aflame for you.

Only say the word

And I will lift your name to Heaven

Like one precious note is to His great symphony,

And these just a little like He will

When you say “YES”.

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I Strive, Therefore I Rant

I’m Chaff Rantley (Gloryteller’s erstwhile cousin and alter ego) and I thank Gloryteller for this forum.  Sorry if I step on any toes in here, but I gotta blow some steam off.

What set me off was when I saw how some gubmint types were tryin to tell Californica people how their kids WAS gonna git vaxinatened  to prevent their STD’s.  Also how the kids CAN’T git a tan, both of these whether the parents want it or not.  Elsewhere, they want to go around the parents on healthcare things and abortion too.  Apparently parents aint smart enough anymore to make decisions about there own children and aint able to raise them and give them values without “help” from the Power That Be.

Lately, well fer the last couple years, I been hearin’, readin’, and watchin’ how the gubmint, (ok – guv-ern-ment) has been growin’ bigger and bigger and more powerful to boot.  They’s spendin money jist like they actchally have it – which they don’t.  (and won’t unless they Tax Somebody harder)

I read where the Chief of the Administration – the Prez – has appointed hisself about 32 or more Czars (ain’t thet a Russian word?)  and not a single one of them is elected, or is accountable to us or our representatives only to the president.  We pay them but what they do, God only knows.

The Supreme court seems to be makin law from their high benches which they have no constitutional right to do.

And if that aint bad enough, the Congress – our own dang personal representatives – somehow can’t seem to do what WE want them ta do, but only what benefits THEM personally and politically and finanscially.  THEY ARE MAKING AND ENFORCING LAWS WHICH AFFECT US BUT THAT THEY, THEMSELVES, ARE EXEMPT FROM.  THEY RAISE THEIR OWN PAY AND BENEFITS AND LET US PAY FOR THAT.

I say make them ALL – all the branches of gubmint, all them politicians, judges, lawyers, Presidents, Czars, Senators, Representatives, legislators, and governers live under OUR minimum wages, Our Medicare,  Our Social Security, our lack of jobs, our lack of control over our own lives, and then tax the livin’ hell outa them besides.  Make ’em live within a budget!  Balance their checkbooks!  No bale-outs!  No 100% lifetime pensions and free stuff when they “re-tire”.  THEN  JIST SET BACK AND WATCH!!!   Kin y’all imagine how fast things would change then?  (Yet, I know that we, the public would not want anything, any change, that raises debt for us or our children.  We see the need to live within our means whether we have learned this through parental wisdom or through bad experience with  oppressive debt. IF AMERICA HAS TO BITE A BULLET, WE ALL SHOULD BITE A BULLET)

Here’s a comment I gave to the smart, nice, lady writer,  Rebecca LuElla Miller when she wrote and ranted a little about this topic.  I took my rant a bit farther, Rebecca.  Hope thets OK, cuz I really tried hard to be my most formal, my most rational, and spellin’ right too . . .

“That is the liberal mindset – that the ‘governance’ is smarter, knows more, and is more able to make wise decisions concerning how we spend our money, how we raise our children, how we run our businesses, and what values we hold. To a liberal, it is government who giveth and government who taketh it, in turn, away; and to most perfectly achieve those ends, the governing body should be as large and powerful as possible. This is unacceptable doctrine. It demeans us as individuals and as a society. It far exceeds, even perverts the original tenets and intentions that we have a REPUBLIC; of, for, and by the people. Yes, in a republic, supreme power lies with its citizens.
Let us apply our rants where they will have the most effect – send the clearest message – in OUR polling places backed up by prayer in OUR places of worship (while they still remain OURS)!”

Lord, help us fight the selfishness we ALL have!  And let us not hate, but do what is right and act as You would have us do.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen

I’m Rantin’ Chaff Rantley, American, and I’m jist sayin’…..

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To Meet Him There – An Act of Worship

 

TO MEET YOU THERE

 

Your creations, oh Lord,

Capture me

Convince me

Confirm You.

Immense mountains

Majesty and mystery

Massive earthrock moving skyward

Magnificence like mercy’s power,  Your Prominence,

Your Eminence,

Away and up, I climb to meet You there.

Color – carved canyons

Complex, winding wide

Cut in solid stone, rim to rim

Connecting continuous flowing Truth exposed.

Down in, I climb, to meet You there.

Verdant valleys I find,

Filled full for every need

Verifying You –  Your care for me.

Daily, hourly, each moment, I see

Your good, Your kind, Creativity.

 

Oh, God !  You make me to walk in wonder.

Wonder like a child

Wonder with which I can worship You

Wonder I never want to lose.

And as wonder unwraps faith, my Lord,

Faith shows me farther,

Deeper into unseen wonders

Where Your wondrous glory shines,

Then, through that thin place I climb,

To meet You there.

 

 

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Remember Our Defenders


Remember sacred memory

Of those who chose to sacrifice

Their single, treasured, earthly life,

Like Christ, their neighbors to keep free.

No greater love has any shown

Than Christ who gave us perfectly

His Life and Love that we could know

God’s freedom, peace, security.

For all your sacrifice and pain

We pray our people wake and see

We are released, unbound, unchained,

Not hobbled now, but running free.

This, thanks to Christ and such as these,

This, thanks to Christ and such as these.


Your Daughter, My Mother

After the church service and worship I am celebrating my mother, but early this morning I was a little melancholy as you will see:

Your Daughter My Mother

Dear Heavenly “Grand”-Father,

Many years ago; more than twenty-two,

You made Mom a place to live

When she went away

To live with You.

Would You go there today,

Right up to her house,

And give her, for me,

A nice new dress, a flowery skirt,

A pretty blouse?

Would You give her

Nice-looking sandals,

Some beautiful shoes?

Oh Grandpa, today I’m getting the blues….

Please tell her I miss her.

We are too far apart.

All the time and the distance,

She’s still in my heart.

Would You put a sparkling

Crown on her head?

Or just hold her hand?

Would You give her, today,

A big Daddy-hug?

The warmest kind as only You can?

And tell her that her prayers for me

Were answered by You,

And are being still,

To this very day.

Tell her I’m finally free.

I’m on Jesus’ path,

I’m following Your Way.

Maybe not all that she hoped and she prayed just yet,

But much closer, Grand-Daddy,

Much closer this day.

Today, she just seems much too far away….

So thank her for me.

It’s heavy to bear,

That it’s Mothers Day here and she’s way up there.

But tell her I will soon see her, perhaps!

Until then, maybe give her a dance.

Will you give her a flower?

Lord, give her a laugh.

Tell her that I can hardly wait.

I’ll see her at the garden gate –

The one on the west,

When I finally come.

Meantime, Grandpa, please give her my best.

Your best too, ’cause we love her.

And just because she’s Your daughter,

And because she’s my mom!


Marriages vs. Weddings

Despite my seeming cynicism about the ‘royal wedding’ I have nothing against marriages. (Except maybe the casual kind, the selfish, loveless, or meaningless/vain kinds)  In fact, I’m rooting for Kate and William to be in love and married together forever, and to be the shining example of everything God intended marriage to be. I’m rooting for all traditional (no, I’ve no time for that subject) marriages everywhere to be all that God meant them and wants them to be.  I pray that couples will keep Christ the center of their marriages and their lives. I pray that they make their vows in all sincerity and call upon the Holy Spirit to help keep them. The wedding, however has little to do with any of the above except to provide special circumstances in which to make sacred promises to God and to one another.  The obsession with all the worldly trappings surrounding the wedding have little to do with the success of the resulting marriage. If as much thought, time, planning, dreaming, and praying were applied to the actual relationship, to loving the other person involved, to the realities of a great marriage, then the wedding would become secondary instead of the other way around.  I’m just saying……..

In the end, when Christ comes to “marry” His beloved bride, His Church, the Royal Wedding will be wonderful, but the marriage will be forever spectacular. I’m out of time. Dear readers please supply the appropriate verses – you’re so good at it!

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Things Beyond My Understanding

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.    Proverbs 3:5

Way beyond my understanding.

All i know is

It was a miracle

And the miracle was a gift.

Delivered to crumbling doorstep

Outside my sagging door locked tight

Nailed shut.

Yet breached,

It sat inside on rotting floor

Shining to be opened.

To be believed past unbelief

By miracle, not my work.

Gift

It is salvation wrapped in grace undeserved.

The gift of faith to see hope once unseen.

A new heart unchained

Full with compassion

And repentance like a switching wind.

Heart to feel abundant love long unfelt

And eyes to see as i am seen

Then others too, the same.

And mercy, charity, a call to pray

A heart to sing, a heart to worship,

Hands to raise.

All unwrapped and taken out,

When gift, upon gift, inside gift, given

Then took away all fears and doubts

Healed my aching soul complete

And full and whole and more and more

A heart to tell of  gifts and Glory

Of  His Great Love,

And gratitude, a heart of thanks,

I thank you JESUS, thank you LORD!

That You should care for me,

To give me gifts,

Rebuild my house,

To give Yourself.

Miracles beyond my full understanding.

But nothing is beyond Yours!

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In Desperation, I Prayed (Continued)

As a self-proclaimed atheist/agnostic, the last thing I would have thought I would catch myself doing was to pray.  Yet, circumstances had changed.   I had become aware of a friend who desperately needed help.  I really wanted to give aid, but helping was circumstantially impossible.  That  may have been one of my first experiences with sincere, unconditional compassion. 
There was nothing I could do. Or was there?  As the situation got worse for my friend, I got desperate.  There remained only one thing I could think of that I could do, and that was to beg to the God, of whom I didn’t acknowledge the existence, if indeed He existed at all, for help.  Now, how’s that for a sentence?  Anyway, I went out on a limb with my philosophical principles and prayed, although, at that time, I refused to call it praying.  It went something like this:

Desperately, I Prayed: “God, are you real? Are you there?  Some people think you are, and they say you hear when people talk to you.  If you are listening, can you prove it?  Would you please, please help my friend?”   I felt nothing except a vague sense of relief that I had exhausted the last possible solution.

And, in a short time, He showed up!

It wasn’t long before the situation improved dramatically.  It dawned on me that only God could have worked it out in this precise and exact way!  It was NOT coincidence nor superstition! Those arguments – my old crutches – could no longer be applied.  I knew it had to be Him!  I could feel the truth being made manifest in my heart.  He was saying  “Yes, it’s Me,  yes, I am here,  I Am!”    Then He made sure that I knew it was Him through miraculous signs and wonders keyed just for me for the next several weeks.  Actually, He has never stopped!

I had opened the door a crack and He stepped in.  I am certain that the Holy Spirit was responsible for helping with my decisions, as well as holding off the enemy until I could stand on my own.  That’s not to say I can do much of anything on my own, for I rely on His strength every day.  On my own efforts, I might never have offered that first prayer.

Six years later, I know that a prayer in behalf of someone else is called ” intercessory prayer”.  “Standing in the gap”  in sincere, unconditional prayer for others is  important.  So is ‘the sinner’s prayer’ – an admission of guilt and a plea for mercy .  So are prayers of praise and of thanksgiving.  But that one short, confused, desperate prayer was integral in leading to my redemption, salvation, rebirth, and transformation.  Thank you Jesus! 
And thanks be to God that  in desperation, I prayed.

“In desperate prayer for someone else,
I brought the Lord unto myself.”

03-02-2011

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I don't own, and have no claim on, these music videos. The following are simply links inside my website pointing back to the original locations of the videos. The names of the creators of these videos are cited wherever possible, and only "embedding-enabled" selections are used.

The Basic Christian Library

"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. This is fundamentally what Christianity is all about.

"The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. Another converted atheist presents His compelling case for believing in Jesus.

"Left To Tell" by Imaculee Ilibagiza. This profound work is her own extraordinary story of endurance, discovery of the Holy Spirit, grace, healing, and an astonishingly compelling account of the necessity for forgiveness.

Compelling Christian Fiction Reads

"The Circle" 4-book series by Ted Dekker.
A man is the bridge between two very different worlds. Sound familiar? Can he save both? This T.D. work is brilliant in my book.

"This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness" by Frank E. Peretti. Tales of spiritual warfare from a unique perspective. Stirred a small controversy, but sold millions. What are we Christians afraid of? Hey, it's fiction!

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