Psalm 122

Psalm 122:1 I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The author is the Psalm, David, wrote this for those people going on their pilgrimage for the holy feasts. He had a picture in his mind perhaps of all the individuals coming together in the community for the gathering. To be invited to go to church in a new place is something big. I remember when I was in college, we had a small Catholic Church on campus. I didn’t know anyone on campus, and was scared to go by myself. So someone I had met at registration invited me to go to church with her on Sundays, and even though it was a church I belonged to, a church anyone could freely enter, I felt so relieved to be invited to go with someone.

I had that church in Monroe, then the church I grew up in in Erath, then a church in Lafayette when I moved there, then Shreveport, Little Rock, and now Manhattan. I love my church, St. Thomas More, in Manhattan. We have a moms group that I belong to, which made the new area so welcoming 3 years ago. This group became my extended family. Our group hosts a moms Bible study, in which we have sitters to watch the kids while we go through the Bible. We also host a Trunk or Treat in the fall and a Valentine’s Dance in the spring. And an Easter Egg hunt. Besides these events, our church hosts several other family and community events.

Now with this virus, and things being closed, and safety precautions in place, I haven’t been inside the church for Mass since March. And it hurts my heart. We do set up our basement every Sunday with chairs, and our church records the Saturday evening Mass and has it available online. So Sunday mornings, the girls and I wear our veils, get the song sheets on the iPad ready, and prepare ourselves as if we were still in the house of the Lord. There are many services available online, and when we went visit my family in Louisiana for two weeks,  my mom offered for us to watch the one she had taped that week for Mass. I politely declined, because though it was also a Catholic service,  seeing our Father Coady up on our church’s alter makes us feel closer to being where we should be.

It is very important for people to gather in prayer. Being in our church community, praying together brings so much joy to me. I know then time will come when we feel comfortable going back in public
(Masked or not), but for right now, it is too much of a risk for us to bring the virus home, then my husbands lab shutting down because he gets sick. We pray weekly while watching our Mass that Jesus comes into our hearts for a spiritual communion, since we can’t be present for the physical one. I do miss our church, but I know that God is present in my home as well, and I pray that he finds our worship acceptable during this time.

Do you have a church that you attend regularly? How do you find joy in your church?

Psalm 121

Psalm 121:1-2 I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

This Psalm is one many people recite as a blessing for someone who is leaving on a journey. It helps people to remember that even though the road ahead looks scary, the woods may be dark, the mountains high, God is there with them always. He is not confined to a pace or time. He goes where ever we go. Every step we take, day or night, God is by our side.

Even when we are on a spiritual journey, we don’t have to wait until the end of it, or until we have arrived to the church we were searching for, to find him. People jump from church to church because they can’t “find God,” but that is a mistake. God is always with us in the journey itself. He is our guardian, watching our steps. He is there to protect us from evil. He is there during the night to keep the darkness away. All we need to do is trust in him.

Lord, I pray that you continued to protect me on this journey I am set upon. I put my faith in you Lord, let thy will be done.

Psalm 120

https://womenlivingwell.org/2020/06/good-morning-girls-resources-psalms-116-120/

“ Chapter 120

God is faithful. He is a God who hears our prayers. He hears our cries for help in the midst of distress and he delivers his people.

Have you ever cried out for help and felt like God did not deliver you? I have. But now that I look back at those times, I am able to see that God was working something else out in my life that I could not understand in that moment and he truly did hear my cries. Is there something stressing you out right now? Tell God about right now and ask him for help. Then wait on the Lord and trust that he does hear the prayers of his people. God loves you!”

There have been many times when I cried for help or restoration after being wronged, and I felt like God didn’t answer me. Looking back now, I see and know that he did. His answer just wasn’t what I wanted to hear at the time. But his answer was better. His will is always better than what we envision for ourselves.

We do have something stressing us out now. It is not something we are ready to talk about openly. But I am praying that God helps us with this situation. I trust in the Lord, that he will hear our prayers and will guide us. That he will reassure us.

Psalm 119

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path

Psalm 119:130 The revelation of your words sheds light, gives understanding to the simple.

Most children at some point become afraid of the dark. I know mine all went through phases of needing some kind of nightlight during bedtime. Light brings us comfort.

God’s light is our guide in the darkness of the world. His word is our lamp. His word gives us a path to follow. Even when we are lost in the darkness this world brings, Or in the midst of shadows put forth by evil, God will always create a path for us to get out. If we find ourselves stuck in a situation that seems hopeless, if we remember God’s words, he will shed light for us.

Just as God only provided enough manna in the desert for the Israelites for the day, God sometimes only provides enough light for us for the current situation. He wants us to continue looking for the light each and every day. If he had given the people manna to last for the unforeseeable future, they wouldn’t have needed him to provide the next day. If he gave us the light today for us to see the rest of our life played out, why would we need to turn to him tomorrow?

Everyday we need to remember to turn on God’s light, to use his words, just as we put on his armor before starting our day. Every day, there is a chance for us to face some sort of darkness. If we prepare ourselves ahead of time, we will be ready to use the light of God to find the path through it. But even for those who have not seen the light or used it in a while, those for have forgotten what light even looks like, can find it again just by calling on him. What a great and loving God we have!

Knowing that we aren’t alone in the dark can bring us hope. If you see the light clearly, who can you direct it too today, so that they aren’t alone in the dark?

Psalm 118

Psalm 118:8 Better to take refuge in the Lord than to put one’s trust in mortals.

All throughout our lives, we have been disappointed in someone. Whether it is a friend, spouse, family member, church leader, government leader, someone has let us down. God NEVER will. God is wiser, stronger, more faithful than anyone else in our lives. It is painful to feel betrayed or rejected, let down or disappointment. God is trustworthy and will never let us down. God will always lift us up, instead of trying to cut us down.

We will have many people in our lives. When we are in need, some could help but won’t. Others will wish they could help but can’t. Some people are too proud, have to much vanity to lift a hand to help. It is better to put our trust in the Lord, to always ready to him for help first, instead of depending on man.

Lord thank you for always being there to help me. Even if I didn’t notice it at first, you were always right beside me. I trust yo Lord, in every storm.

Psalm 117

Psalm 117:1-2 “Praise the Lord, all you nations! Give glory, all you peoples! The Lord’s love for us is strong; the Lord is faithful forever.”

This is a very short chapter today. I have written the whole thing on this blog. Only two verses. But it says so much.  “All you nations,” wasn’t just referring to the Israelites, but ALL the nations. Including the Gentiles. So, today, would be calling not just the Christians, but all the people of every denomination or belief. Even those without beliefs. He didn’t create the world and heaven just for one  religion, for one color, for one type of person. God’s love overcomes our man-made borders and  territories. It breaks through our racial prejudice and hate. God wants the whole world to know and love him.

This message is repeated in Romans 15:11, “And again: ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.’”
Can you imagine how beautiful it would be if all the tribes, all the nations gathered to praise God’s name together? All the people of the world, all the different customs and clothing, all the different skin tones, hair colors, languages all praising God. That is what he wants.

“ God’s love is not just for Israel but for all of the nations. He loves both the Jews and Gentiles. That steadfast love reaches all of our hearts and should cause us to praise Him!
God is faithful and worthy of all our praise for many reasons. One of those reasons is his love for all the nations. How have you seen God’s love for the nations displayed? If you know the name of a missionary, say a prayer for them today as they proclaim the love of Jesus around the world.”

My birthday and Corona openings

So yesterday was my birthday. I’m a big ole 36 now. We had a good day, starting with my oldest making eggs for breakfast. The kids and I had a lazy day, meaning instead of doing our daily education work, we watched movies. I cooked buffalo chicken for dinner, and we had chocolate cake.  

In the middle of my birthday, I read our state department of education and our local district’s plan for opening up schools. So, school was supposed to start August 12, and we were to register this Monday for what choice we wanted for our children. Choice? Whether we would send them to school for on-site learning, or keep them home and they would do online Remote Learning (R.L.). That is a tough decision in itself. The governor has since issued a mandate that schools won’t open until after Labor Day, and kids/staff/teachers will wear masks on campus. 

The reopening plan includes contingencies for those who choose on-site learning. If needed, the district could switch to plan A, which is Hybrid Learning (HL) that would include a few days at school and a few days online at home. They would rotate students, so some would be on-site Mon-Tues, and do online Wed-Fri, and others would do online Mon-Wed, and on-site Thurs-Fri. They would both be doing online on Wednesday, and that would give teachers/staff time to clean the building between on-site students. The district could also decide to go to plan B if the area gets bad enough with cases of virus. Plan B is called All Distance Learning (ADL). ADL means those on-site would be all online. I do not know if they would be doing to same as the R.L. during this time or not. There are still several questions unanswered.

Another thing that I have found out is that if a student in a classroom tests positive for COVID, all close contacts need to quarantine for 14 days. Close contact is less than 6 feet away for more than 10 minutes. So pretty much, the most of the class would need to quarantine. Furthermore, siblings of a positive test need to quarantine, obviously. Here is the kicker: the siblings quarantine doesn’t start until the positive test is finished with their isolation. So the positive test can go back to school after 14 days, and then the siblings have ANOTHER 14 days at home. So siblings might have 24-31 days home because of a positive test. The school could choose to close for 2-5 days after a positive case occurs. Or they could just rope off the areas the positive test had been known to be to thoroughly clean them. 

So my thoughts are now, what is the point of sending them to school? Yes the likelihood of the children getting and spreading virus is a lot lower than the actual, but it could still happen. As of now, they are likely going to start the on-site learning in either plan A or B, not full time on-site. So the on-site kids will just be thrown around this semester, depending on the case load in or state, and depending on the small chance of someone bringing the virus into school. 

We all pushed to return to “normal” after the shut down. It’s frustrating, because there will not be a “normalcy” this year for school. Even for those doing the RL, this is far from normal. Not seeing their classmates, not being able to play in school sports, being in front of a computer most of the day for learning, etc. This is what I plowed through on my birthday, and I still have no idea what is best. I’m going to really be putting my faith in God regardless of the choice I make.