My Strength and My Shield

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My Strength 
and My Shield
 A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. 
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song. ~

What an awesome thing it is to have the Lord as our strength and shield. If you really ponder that for a moment... it does make you heart leap for joy. If I were to try to recount the many things he has done for me each and every day it would exceed a library full of books.
 
A while ago I was given the most beautiful outfits by a woman who likes to shop and when her closets get too full she passes these out fits on. I have been blessed to be on her hand me down list. I know some people are not excited by hand me downs. For me it is a huge blessing, I don’t generally enjoy shopping for clothes, I believe the Lord knows – its just part of how he wired me. More than once in my life I have been clothed like the lilies of the field. Clothes are just not something I worry about and yet the Lord makes sure I am dressed as an ambassador for His kingdom. He knew I was heading into a season of more public ministry and he provided everything I have needed to do what He had called me to do.

My heart trusts in him and I am helped. I don’t think trust just happens - it develops and grows with each act of kindness and mercy from the hands of the Lord. Its sometimes so easy to be focused on our problems and struggles that we miss seeing the places that God has been our strength and shield.  Trust  comes from following God and knowing learning that God is good, that God cares, that God provides, that God will work in and through our present circumstances. Sometime He will help us to make needed changes and sometime He will help us change to grow.

Things to Ponder:
Do you really trust God to hear your prayer and to answer?

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for being my strength and my shield. I trust you with my life. When I think of you I want my heart to leap for joy. Help me remember to make up songs of thanks today.

Keep Hope Alive

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Keep Hope Alive
A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; 
they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Ok this one is from the refrigerator verse collection – here is one we all know and love.
Hope in the LORD renews strength. We can soar and run and walk on the strength that comes from hope. Hope is choosing to believe the impossible is possible. Hope delayed will arrive any time now. Hope gives us something to look forward to. Hope gives us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I always love the part in the JR Tolkien stories where Frodo and Sam have gotten rid of the ring. There they sit on a lava flow and they know there is no rescue possible. They have accepted that the job is costing them their lives. Yet they talk about the Shire and they keep the hope of home alive.  The eagles come and swoop down and grab them in their mighty talons and carry them to safety.
This verse comes to mind when I see that part of the movie. Oh for friends like Sam who will sticks by you to the end. Friends who will recount the good, remember the noble cause. It is in those moments of faith in the face of the impossible, that God is blessed by our hope in Him.   In that moment where we are at the end of our endurance and we can bear no more - He swoops in on wings like eagles.

Who are the people who inspire hope in your life. Keep those folks near but better yet let us each endeavor to be the people who keep hope alive. Can we stir those around us to hope and belief?
I may not know how God will deliver me but I know my situation has not caught him by surprise. I must be one who keeps hope alive even when others around me can see nothing but the dark reality of the here and now. I want to see with eyes of hope and faith.


Things to Ponder:
Think of times where God has come though in the past - remembering helps us to hope in him now.

Are there areas where you feel weak and run down? Check those areas to see if you have lost hope.

Think of five people in your life that help keep hope alive - spend more time with them.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Help me as I put my hope in you to find renewed strength. Help me to soar on the winds of your mercy and love. Help me run and not grow weary, help me walk and not faint. Cause me to grow in hope and to inspire hope in others around me. Let me soar and run and walk in you today.