“The Lord has helped us ·to this point [this far]"

“Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV)

" Light .. Rivers ...Happy New Year"

"On the last and greatest day of the feast,

 Jesus stood and cried out,

 “If anyone is thirsty,

 let him come to Me and drink."

John 7:37 (MEV)
Rivers of Living Water

"And there will be no night there
—no need for lamps or sun
—for the Lord God will be their light;
 and they shall reign forever and ever."

Revelation 22:5 (TLB)

"...Invisible and Unmistakable..."

"Has God forgotten me?" 
Vaneetha Rendall Risner, author of the book - The Scars that have Shaped Me- How God meets us in Suffering- encourages us that at times God's care for us is Invisible and Unmistakable:)

"Some days are harder than others. Some mornings I can be cheerful even in the midst of difficult circumstances, and other days those same problems overwhelm me. Some days I wake up full of faith, and other days I doubt if God cares at all....
Part of really living is being willing to face sadness. ....honestly and openly telling God where I am and asking him to show me truth. Letting him, the God of all comfort, comfort me. Letting him, the God of hope, fill me with hope. And letting him, the man of sorrows acquainted with grief,
bear my sorrows for me....
Then I realized that Scripture never mandates that we constantly act upbeat. God wants us to come to him in truth. And so the Bible doesn't whitewash the raw emotions of its writers as they cry out to God in anguish, fear, and frustration when life ceases to make sense.
It was one of those difficult mornings when discouragement was almost suffocating me. I read Psalm 77. I pondered the last line long and hard; "yet your footprints were unseen"
(and still no one can spot Your footprints.)
I need to remember my own stories. 
They are unmistakable evidence of God.
Times when the Lord has helped me....
Remembering the past gave them hope for the future."

Psalm 77:1-2, 9-10, 12, 14, 19 (VOICE)
I cry up to heaven, “My God, True God,”...and He hears... In my darkest days, I seek the Lord. Through the night, my hands are raised up, stretched out, waiting; And though they do not grow tired, my soul is uneasy. Has the True God forgotten how to be gracious? In His anger, has He withdrawn His compassion?” pause “I can’t help but be distraught,” I said, “for the power of the Most High that was once for us is now against us.” I will reflect on all of Your work; indeed, I will study all You have performed. You, God, and Your works evoke wonder. You have proved Your strength to the nations. Your way ran through the sea, Your path cut through great waters, and still no one can spot Your footprints."

"when..your eyes are weak..."

"And when you are old,

 I will still be there,

 carrying you.

        When your limbs grow tired,

 your eyes are weak,

    And your hair a silvery gray,

 I will carry you as I always have.

        I will carry you and save you."

Isaiah 46:4 (VOICE)

"...Generous God..

Thankful God is a "Generous God" and the Giver of every good gift, and that we are to
Hope in God,
not be anxious, 
cultivate thankfulness 
and imitate our generous God.
Started this morning by reading Morning by Charles Spurgeon 12/5. 
The scripture and reading were of the same line- and motivating he stated:
"If all these things are to be had by merely knocking at mercy's door, O my soul, knock hard this morning, and ask large things of thy generous Lord. 
"Ask, and it shall be given you."
Matthew 7:7
or
“Just ask and it will be given to you; seek after it and you will find. Continue to knock and the door will be opened for you.” Matthew 7:7 (VOICE)

Christmas season is a time for me to rekindle my heartfelt belief in a generous God.
" I went to the Lord for help, and he listened.
He saved me from all that I fear.
If you look to him for help,
he will put a smile on your face.
You will have no need to be ashamed."
Psalm 34:4-5(ERV)

"broad rivers and streams"

"But there the mighty and magnificent Lord 

will be for us

A place of broad rivers and streams,"

Isaiah 33:21 (AMP)

"All that you are suffering, all that you are enjoying, all that God sends you,

has this one design, to make you fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."(CHS- GOD’S THOUGHTS OF PEACE, AND OUR EXPECTED END)

"thoughts of peace and not of evil"

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,

thoughts of peace, and not of evil,

 to give you a future and a hope 

(an expected end).”

Jeremiah 29:11. 

Thinking of our country presently, 

Depicted in this art -Talk of Red, Blue, now Purple,

cracked up close,

Black, White, Brown,

Bright shades of light and fresh hope as well!

Together reflect a peace, a calm, and continual expectancy that 

"The Lord not only thinks of you, but towards you. 

His thoughts are all drifting your way."

God's Thoughts of Peace, and Our Expected End

Sermon No. 1965 Charles Spurgeon)

"This morning my desire shall be to comfort any of God’s people who are in a state of perplexity, and thus are carried away captive. I would assure them of the Lord’s kindness to them, and urge them to trust and not be afraid. God’s thoughts towards them are good, though their trials may be grievous."

"The Lord not only thinks of you, but towards you. His thoughts are all drifting your way. This is the way the south wind of His thoughts of peace is moving; it is towards you. The Lord never forgets His own, for He has engraved them upon the palms of His hands."

"Once more, and then we shall have fully compassed this text. The Lord’s thoughts are all working towards “an expected end,” or, as the Revised Version has it, “to give you hope in your latter end.” Some read it, “a future and a hope.” The renderings are instructive. God is working with a motive. All things are working together for one objective, the good of those who love God. We see only the beginning; God saw the end from the beginning."  

"Our relation to God should, next, be one of continual expectancy, especially expectancy of the fulfillment of His promises...His promises are good words; good indeed, and sweetly refreshing. When your hearts are faint then is the promise emphatically good. Expect the Lord to be as good as His good Word." 

(CHS)