Thursday, April 26, 2012

Week of Praise! And, Our Winner of the He IS Able Card Set Give-Away!!

 "Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise..." 
(Psalm 51:15 NIV)
Hi Friends~

I have several things to share with you today!  The Scripture listed above has a special meaning to me.  And, I was recently blessed by it, and want to share with you what God has done with it...and me!  I learned this part of the Psalm when I went to a Jewish Camp for a week as a Senior in High School.  I learned it in Hebrew and in English, and they taught it with such a beautiful simple tune played on flute.

 The other day, I kept humming the tune...after not thinking of it in many, many years.  I knew that it wasn't a pop song or anything like that...and I just "somehow" knew that it was a gift for or from God...so I kept humming.  Eventually, after several hours of humming it...the English words started to form.  They are beautiful.  When that happened, I wanted to remember the Hebrew version, and offer it as a sacrifice of praise.  I want to remember things from my past.  I prayed for a while, asking Him to please provide the words in Hebrew to me...that I wanted to sing them to Him...with all of my heart.  I was told just keep singing.  So, I did. 

Soon it was time for bed, so I sang quietly.  Dave asked it I was praying.  I answered, "I'm being obedient."  I must have sang the beautiful tune another 50 times.  All of a sudden the words seemed to echo the English...I would sing a portion in English...and I could see and hear the words in Hebrew.  So, I started singing them to Him...I was so grateful for the gift of the words provided to me.  The tune was one we kids made up as we led the Worship Services at camp, and singing the tune would not help my parents know the words, because it was not in a traditional setting.  It was such a beautiful gift that He allowed me to share.  I cried. I woke up my not-yet-believing husband and shared how God is always good...and what had happened.  He held my hand happily as I sang until I fell asleep.  And, I felt that as I sang it quietly to Him...my heart would burst with happiness as I recalled blessings He had showered in my life...now including the words and tune to this Psalm...in English and Hebrew!  May you "open your lips and let your mouth declare His praise!" 

How about if you list some of the many blessings I am sure you have received in your life in the comment section?  Let's  have a Week of Praise!  Let's leave at least one item of praise daily for the next week!  Let it serve as way to encourage our Sisters and Brothers who may not be able to recall a blessing in their life right now. Or who may not know all that He is capable of!  I am so excited to read how He has blessed you. Or how you have served Him.  Of course, you can share anything in the comment section.  Whatever you write, gets you entered in the He IS Able Card Set Give-Away.  So, doing this will serve in many ways...including the most important...Praising God!

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So, let's announce the He IS Able Card Set Give-Away Winner!
Congratulations go out to Grace of  the Th-ink-ing of You blog! 

Congratulations, Grace you will have 2 beautiful cards heading your way.  I just need you to please email me, letting me know you would like to receive this gift!  It is our hope that you will use the cards to share about His Love, His Word, His Gift of Salvation with others.  I know that you do this in everything you do!  You are a wonderful example to me.

Grace's blog is filled with all sorts of amazing art.  She loves to share her love of Jesus through her art, as well as sharing on Christian based Design Teams like the Our Daily Bread Design Team.  (You all know that is one of my absolute favorite stamp companies anywhere!)  She shares from the heart about how Jesus has been a part of her life, and how amazing He is!  I promise you will be blessed if you visit her beautiful blog Th-INK-ing of You.

Here is Grace's comment:  "Hi Traci! Hope you are staying safe in the storms... I think they are headed here next. Romans 8:31 would be a reference for that verse! Looking down through your blog I'm just blown away by how beautiful you are doing on your cards!!!Your Copic coloring is really great! Don't you love them? They are so fun to shade with. Hoping you are feeling better!!! Have a great Sunday!" Grace

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And, if you knew that the Scripture  "If God is for us, who can be against us?" can be found in Romans 8:31, Congratulations! You are right!

So, since we were speaking of praising Him...who can tell us where this Scripture can be found? Be careful...many Scriptures have similar words in them, make sure you have the right one. Then go ahead and list the answer in the comment section--making you eligible to win our
 He IS Able Card Set Give-Away!

 "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."  (Hebrews 13:15)

He IS Able!
Traci Starkweather

13 comments:

  1. Hi Traci, good post today. God is so good and if we would praise HIM more we would worry less :).
    One of the things I praise HIM for daily, is my salvation. I am always overwhelmed that He saved me and continues to embrace me with grace.

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  2. What a wonderful testimony! I sure wish I could hear you singing that scripture, especially in Hebrew! I love the Psalms put to music, and I love hearing the Hebrew language! (My husband is a Hebrew and Greek teacher.)
    Your testimony reminded me something I experienced while living on the mission field in Kenya. I was going through a difficult time, and decided to place a pretty paper gift bag in the bedroom - with a paper of paper and a pen next to it. Each night before I went to bed I had to write something that I was thankful for that day (it had to be something different each day - no duplication) - and, place it in the gift bag. It was my gift from God that day. It helped me focus on the blessings of the Lord rather than a rather difficult situation I was facing. He is greater than any problem we face, and even if we never received anything from the Lord other than salvation (which, of course, we do), that would be plenty!!

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    1. Charlotte Ann- I love your idea. Many days I would find it hard to think so positively. Thanks

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  3. Another day, and another opportunity to praise HIM! Today I want to praise Him for the freedom I have here in this country to freely worship Him! We had such a beautiful worship service this morning. I think of our brother/sisters in other countries who don't have this freedom. They're beaten and imprisoned for owning a Bible, their houses are burned down because they meet and worship. I pray I never take this privilege for granted.

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  4. I praise my heavenly Father for his faithfulness. For His forgiveness, His grace and His mercy that is freely given.

    Praise is such a powerful tool - there is healing in praise as you take your own eyes off of all that is going on in our own lives and concentrate on our Father. If I would just learn to live a life of continual worship and praise my Father for who He is.

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  5. Today I'd like to praise my heavenly Father because His compassions (mercies) never fail. They are new each and EVERY morning! How AWESOME is THAT??!!

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  6. Today I want to praise God for sending me my awesome husband. I know that my life would be very different. He is so caring and truly demonstrates the 10 commandments more fully than anyone I have ever met.
    Remember I am praying for your needs written or only in your heart!
    Blessings

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  7. Getting about one day of sunshine every seven days I wanted to complain about the never ending rain and then the thought occurred to me, God has given us today's weather and I need to thank Him for it~~~I realize there are so many places that would love some of this rain, even in Oregon I know of a couple of spots that have been in a drought for over a year..........So I praise and thank you Father for all of this wonderful liquid sunshine!! i will learn to praise my Father no matter what each day holds.

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  8. Getting about one day of sunshine every seven days I wanted to complain about the never ending rain and then the thought occurred to me, God has given us today's weather and I need to thank Him for it~~~I realize there are so many places that would love some of this rain, even in Oregon I know of a couple of spots that have been in a drought for over a year..........So I praise and thank you Father for all of this wonderful liquid sunshine!! i will learn to praise my Father no matter what each day holds.

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  9. Oh, how I love to give praise to my heavenly Father! No matter what our circumstances He is worthy of all praise and honor - because of who He is! My absolute favorite Scripture passage is found in Habakkuk 3:17-18: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Joy is a noun, while rejoicing is a verb - requiring action. I choose to rejoice!

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  10. I had my 7 yr cancer free checkup today!! Praise God that he chose to heal me & allow me to witness to others what an awesome God we serve!!

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  11. On Wednesday evenings, our small pioneer work has prayer meeting, which we call Sweet Hour of Prayer. Last night we had such a sweet time of worship and prayer. And, it was made even sweeter beause one of our ladies who has been battling sickness for several months was able to be with us! What a joy it was to have her worshipping and praising God with us! Her recovery is truly an answer to prayer, as we nearly lost this young woman three times in the last several months. So, I want to praise God for what He is doing in her life! And, I want to praise Him for keeping both my husband and myself in good health - so that we can continue to take care of the sheep He has given us.

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  12. I've been swamped - preparing for our weekly ladies Bible Study, our Mother/Daughter Spring Tea, teaching our adult Sunday School lesson - and, I haven't had much time for the computer - so, I've missed a few days of our "assignment" to share "one item of praise daily". But, today, I wanted to share my thankfulness to God for my family - not only my husband and children(whom I love dearly) but also for my church family. It's such a blessing to see them encourage/uplift one another.

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Thank you so much for leaving your thoughts, ideas,prayer requests and comments! We love to read them all! And, if you had a prayer request, the Prayer Team will begin praying for your needs today. God Bless!