Archive for September, 2009
I read having a Mary Heart in a Martha World – Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life by Joanna Weaver over the summer. A book I now highly recommend for all women, young and old to read. I have been actually sharing my findings as I journey through the accompanying Bible Study Mrs. Weaver placed at the end of the book on my blogs. Here is the latest question I studied out and gave commentary on.
Questions for Going Deeper – Day Twelve
6) Read Psalm 103. List at least five of the many ways God shows his love for us. (If you are struggling to know the Father’s love, consider memorizing this chapter so you won’t forget “all his benefits.”)
The benefits that stand out for me are as follows, the complete chapter follows my highlights:
- God forgives us of ALL our generational sins (iniquities) and he heals us of ALL our diseases (things that don’t put us at ease.)
- God redeems our lives from evil and makes them beautiful, dignified with his loving-kindness for his sake with tender mercy.
- Through our confessions he renews our youth like that of an eagle.
- God does not hold grudges.
- He removes transgressions from our lives.
Psalm 103 (Amplified Bible)
Psalm 103
[A Psalm] of David.
1BLESS (AFFECTIONATELY, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!
2Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits–
3Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,
4Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;
5Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!(A)
6The Lord executes righteousness and justice [not for me only, but] for all who are oppressed.
7He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
8The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness.(B)
9He will not always chide or be contending, neither will He keep His anger forever or hold a grudge.
10He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him.
12As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe].
14For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust.
15As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.
17But the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, and His righteousness is to children’s children–(C)
18To such as keep His covenant [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it] and to those who [earnestly] remember His commandments to do them [imprinting them on their hearts].
19The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.
20Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.
21Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, all you His hosts, you His ministers who do His pleasure.
22Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion; bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul!
Cross references:
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
To be continued… I welcome your comments!
The previous article can be found here.
Lela Jefferson – http://www.memoirsofablackgirl.com
I read having a Mary Heart in a Martha World – Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life by Joanna Weaver over the summer. A book I now highly recommend for all women, young and old to read. I have been actually sharing my findings as I journey through the accompanying Bible Study Mrs. Weaver placed at the end of the book on my blogs. Here is the latest question I studied out and gave commentary on.
Questions for Going Deeper – Day Eleven
5) In Mark 4:34-41 the disciples echoed Martha’s question: “Don’t you care?” What does this portion of Scripture teach us about the difficult times in our lives? (Consider Isaiah 43:1-2.)
What these two passages of scriptures teach us is that even when it looks the most difficult; God has already said in HIS word (referencing Isaiah 43:1-2) that he would be with us. We need to stop having stock, believing in what we see with our natural eyes and begin to have faith in what he has promised us in his word. Jesus who was the word made flesh was in the boat with the disciples (referencing Mark 4:34-41), yet and still they had fear that they would perish. They were still in a state of disbelief. For even after he had calmed the waters and the winds; they could not comprehend the matter of man Jesus was. They still did not understand the authority or blessing they had amongst them. Praise God for our sake they eventually did!
To be continued… I welcome your comments!
The previous article can be found here.
Lela Jefferson – http://www.memoirsofablackgirl.com
Folks, I have a new set of blogs for you to check out, written by the MommyWriter
|
|
Dominique is a wife and mother to a very active 12 month old in NYC. In addition to her full-time job she is also a freelance writer, blogger, and non-profit organizer. Her writing topics run the gamut from book reviews, parenting, education, Christianity, freelancing/publishing, and a lot in between. Dominique in her own words… While I write mostly about parenting and education issues, I also write about Christianity, writing/freelancing, and any other topic that come my way. As you will notice on this blog and on my webzine Balancing Act I I started this blog to chronicle my journey in the freelance writing industry, while hopefully offering some lessons from the trenches to other writers who are beginning their careers . Besides my writing I am also the founder of Mommy Writers, a non-profit organization built to offer a community to writing mothers. TheMommyWriter
http://www.blogher.com/blog/mommywriter FreelanceWriterForHire
http://freelancerforhire.wordpress.com/about “A blog beginning writers can really sink their teeth into. Practical advice alongside the encouraging, sometimes funny, but always relatable experiences of a beginning writer. Read along as I search for freelance success." – Dominique Rambert |
. A young military wife that is living 
|
One of my passions in life is reading; it has been for as long as I can remember. As a little girl my parents fostered it in me with weekly trips to the library and introducing animated storytelling into our nightly bedtime routine. Though my parents separated when I was young; their joint nurturing of my love of reading did not cease. No matter where my father lived after their separation and even still in my mother’s home, he had milk crates and shelves spilling over with books. He was an avid reader and collector. Come to think about it…I don’t think I can ever recall my dad telling me, he was reading just one book! We would have weekly discussions catching each other up on what new book we had discovered…that the other just had to read. |
 |
|
Like him, I generally have 3-5 books on my coffee table that I am working on completing and have a growing library. Recently, as I am learning how to slow down and enjoy the lulls of life. I have begun again to read for enjoyment. Of course this means since I LOVE sharing what good finds I discovered, I want to share them with you my readers a listing of the books that I am either reading or plan to read. From the realms of history, poetry, spirituality, how-to/self improvement, fantasy, and even romance… I bring to you titles straight from my own collections. See through the windows of my soul; the current year reading schedule of author/poet and performance artist, Lela Jefferson. |
|
There is something about obeying that small voice of reason otherwise known as the Holy Spirit…
This past Saturday after attending church, I was led to go book shopping at Borders. I had been debating for some time with myself about buying a Message Bible. See for the past year when I did my home bible study, I would use the website Bible Gateway to look up the Message Bible translation of a verse for a deeper understanding. My main reference translations have been the King James and Amplified up until then. I was first introduced to the Message Bible by a minister from my church’s parent ministry during a service he taught us here in NY.
Fast forwarding back to the present, the message my pastor had taught on that evening had been on acting on the voice of God behind the word of God we hear or read. The word I kept hearing as he was preaching was that it was time for me to get my Message Bible. Being obedient I did get to Borders which is just outside of the venue where we had service that evening and proceed to go on upstairs where I knew the bibles was housed.
When I got upstairs, I actually almost missed the aisle of bibles. They have them so far back in the store that I thought that they had relocated them somewhere else since the store is currently undergoing renovations. When I did see the titles I saw there were several of them actually with funky book jackets in different colors, versions and formats. The one that called to me; however was a parallel copy that included the TNIV (Today’s New International Version) with the Message REMIX that was in a convenient travel size. The complete bible title in itself looked like a hardcover novel; that could easily fit in my day-to-day hand bag!
Ironically the bible was even priced less than the first one I looked at and included as I mentioned the Message REMIX which includes bible book introductions and general scripture references to do cross study. Talk about favor! Before leaving the store, however I was led again to see if one of the authors/poets I wanted to do a further study on collective works was in the store.
This brought me to one of the store’s kiosks, to check their inventory. The poet I was looking for was Nikki Gionvanni. Once it was confirmed that a collection of her works was indeed in the store by an associate I proceeded to go towards the downstairs escalators. Upon reaching the main floor, my eyes were drawn to the clearance rack where I found a treasure for sure!
Just sitting there so sweetly was this volume called Poetry Speaks Expanded- Hear Poets Read Their Own Works from Tennyson to Plath. The volume itself includes 47 of the world’s most renown poets ever recorded complete with brief bio and essays written about them from living legend poets such as Sonia Sanchez and three CDs of the poets reading their own works. The oldest recording is from the 1800s! Originally priced at $49.99 now $9.99!!!
To make a long story short, I left the store with four titles; the fourth was a book for my pure leisure The Devil Wears Prada. A fifth book was purchased. However, it was one donated to local charity that gives books to grammar school kids. I was just blessed beyond measure with my selections and in the end was blessed to be a blessing. This was all because of being obedient to the voice I heard behind the message.
For your quick reference here is the purchase information for the books I bought:
- TNIV The Message Remix Parallel Bible – Zondervan
- Poetry Speaks Expanded – Hear Poets Read Their Own Works from Tennyson to Plath (Book w/ CDs)
- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Gionvanni 1968 – 1998 P.S. Insights, interviews and more…
- The Devil Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger
Bible Gateway | A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages
Lela Jefferson, © 2009 All Rights Reserved
http://www.memoirsofablackgirl.com
|
This past Friday night September 4th, 2009 I had the opportunity to relive a joy of my youth, roller skating. See, I recently learned that a roller skating rink had opened up in Brooklyn. Though seasonal Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink located off the boardwalk in Coney Island in my home borough of Brooklyn, NY is a fun excursion that should not be missed. |
 |
|
Friday was the first “Saved in My City” official event night. Preparing to leave my house I packed up my Sketchers skates and my new Sony Webbie MHS-PM1 HD Camcorder (Violet) The following video clip and photos chronicle my evening. Though I was a party of one I had a blast. I came home with sore body parts after almost 3 hours of skating; however, energized and encouraged enough to do it again!
|
|
and purposed to head to Coney Island.I recently finished reading having a Mary Heart in a Martha World – Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life by Joanna Weaver. A book I now highly recommend for all women, young and old to read. For the next 12 weeks, I plan to share my findings as I journey through the accompanying Bible Study Mrs. Weaver placed at the end of the book.
Questions for Going Deeper – Day Ten
1) In this passage how did God minister to Elijah in the midst of his discouragement (1 Kings 19: 1-8)? How has God ministered to you when you felt alone and were hurting?
In this passage of scripture Elijah is ministered to by God with the answering of his prayers. He told the Lord that he felt he was not strong enough to continue on to fight Jezebel and her maneuvers; that he was no better than his fathers before him. God being true to his form; gave Elijah what he asked for. He released him from his assignment, but at the same feed and protected him.
When I have felt alone and hurting. God has presented me with others to minister to, to keep my mind off myself. To show me that what I think may be bad only pales in comparison to what someone else maybe going through. Other times he has even humbled me; by allowing me to hear the testimonies others that endured and were able to praise God in the end.
Nothing that the world can toss me I cannot overcome, with God and through my faith in him!
To be continued… I welcome your comments!
The previous article can be found here.
Lela Jefferson – http://www.memoirsofablackgirl.com
ABOUT
The Writings and Experiences of Lela Jefferson.