Joyful Expressions

Have you ever noticed the joyful expressions throughout the Christmas story, as told in Luke 1 and Luke 2? Through fresh eyes as I reread this familiar passage this past Christmas, joyful feelings resonated with me.

Seven Times A Day

As I was reading Psalm 119, I became fascinated by verse 164, which says "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments."

Recall that this is the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses, where practically every verse highlights the attributes of God's Word, all from the very personal perspective of its author.

The Word of God can literally save a life: George Wishart was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the 17th century. Wishart was condemned to death and would have been executed. But when he was on the scaffold, he made use of a custom that allowed the condemned person to choose one psalm to be sung, and he chose Psalm 119. Before two-thirds of the psalm was sung, his pardon arrived, and his life was spared. [Source: blueletterbible.org]

Back to verse 164 - what makes a person so emphatic in their declaration of praise? Well, one quick answer is already noted in the verse - it's because of God's righteous judgments. He has seen that God has always done right by Him; He has never left or abandon him.

Peaks, Pits, Praises and Prayers

I've never done this before, but you know I have a love for alliterative sentences and the one in this title is perfect for this post.
So I'm linking up with a fellow blogger  Katie @ Married With a Pup for her Peaks, Pits, Praises and Prayers.

Peaks: highlights of the week; overall positives
Pits: low point(s) of the week
Praises: praising God for specific things that have happened throughout the week
Prayers: prayer requests that arose during the week or have been lingering

Peaks:

• It's Christmas
• All the children come home
• Humor

Pits

• Seems I hurt my knee while jogging on Thanksgiving; it hasn't been the same since
• Family member was in a second car accident within the past 2 weeks
• Marriage relationship ebbs and flows
• General dissatisfaction with life

Praises

• Life
• God   that his ways are not like mine! I can't figure Him out, but trusting Him is worth it.
• Fruit trees in my back yard.
• Southern California - so different from NY, but not so bad. 
• Husband - just what I needed though I sometimes fall victim to my emotions
• Moving - it forces you to grow up
• Old friends - though we don't talk daily its good to know we are there for each other
• Enthusiasm of a 9 year old - she's selling chocolate again and so far she's sold 22 cases! She's determined to get to 26; her prize is a kindle fire. The sale ends 12/17 - I think she'll make it.
• The ability to share via writing.

Prayers

• Everything in the Pits

Sure hope I linked up correctly. Faith, I borrowed this from you because I loved it. Thanks for getting me to do my first ever link up. As I wrote this, I realized that as I focused more on the Praises, I got happier and I was reminded of the verse that says - In everything give thanks! Everything!  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Do you have any Peaks, Pits, Praises, Prayers? Do share.

Today......

Today is Earth Day, Good Friday and my daughter's birthday. When my daughter was born on this day, I had no idea Earth Day existed; so do your part to save the Earth but more importantly honor the one who made the Earth.

Good Friday - what was good about it? In a nutshell, someone died for you, so that you can have eternal life. That someone was Jesus. Can you name anyone who would die for you? I can't; only Jesus did.
So as my Jamaican compatriots would say: Big up di real BIG Man Jesus...who else would die for you???