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Psalm 37:31+

Psalm 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart;”
 
Thank you, Lord, for what you give us in
your Word:
your gracious wisdom,
your careful instruction,
your good direction.
 
Help me to meditate on your words, walk in them, to be alert to the wisdom you offer each moment rather than relying on my own thoughts and desires. Bring to mind the Scripture, the truth, the principles I need to heed.]
“his feet do not slip.”
[When we walk in your path, Lord, our feet will not slide, our ankles will not turn, we will not fall, for you open the way, bring the change necessary, protect us from our natural, sinful pitfalls.
I praise you, Lord, for the great and sweet privilege of walking on your way, of belonging to you, of being given such wonderful gifts.
 
I praise you, Lord God, for the greatest gift of all: being your beloved son, dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in—the opposite of what I deserve.
This is the outpouring of what you are, Lord God:
the great Creator,
the great Lover of our souls,
the great Forgiver,
the great Transformer.
 
Praise be to you for all you will do today out of your goodness and righteousness, wisdom and power. May I join you in obedience so that your Name may be lifted up before all the unseen hosts today.
May be an image of nature, grass and tree

Psalm 37:31-31

Psalm 37:30 “The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.”
[Lord, this is certainly does not describe the “natural me.” Help me to move ever more in this direction, spotting and turning away from the ungodly advice I tend to give myself, abandoning my tendency to gossip, and refusing to sit in the seat of the scornful, not looking down on and criticizing others (Psalm 1:1), but instead thinking on what is true and good and pure and lovely.
Help me to be like Job who properly and positively rebuked those who gave him ungodly advice (I need to rebuke myself when I am thinking ungodly thoughts).
 
Help me to know how to talk to myself and to destructive people in a way that will be edifying, speaking wisdom, uttering what is just. May you be glorified in it.]
Psalm 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart;’
[Here is the key: when your Word is hidden in the heart of a righteous man, constantly bringing insight and rebuke to him, influencing his thoughts, motives, words and actions, then he can speak with Heavenly wisdom.
 
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for your great and wonderful work to bring such change in us through Scripture.
 
Help me to cooperate with you in the process by consistently memorizing and meditating on your Word.
 
May be an image of tree and nature

More autobio

Chapter 49 Language Learning
Our main task, once we had settled in, was to learn the local language. There was no established program at the time, so John found us a teacher, and we, along with John’s wife and two OM girls, started having language classes each day.
 
After our first week of intensive work Barbara said to me, “If we keep up this pace, we are going to learn this language really well in our first year!”
 
I smiled at that good estimate, “Yup, that’s what I’m aiming for.”
 
“But…” she continued, “we’re also going to be divorced!”
 
I gulped. “Ok, let’s see if I hear you correctly. You are saying that this pace is too fast. Is that what you are trying to communicate? If so, I guess we can slow it down.”
 
My enthusiasm, my desire to be successful, to make myself feel good by achieving a lot, again drove me to take on too much. My old lust for speed was still there. I praised God for an insightful and “weaker” wife who brought perspective and helped us move at a better pace.
 
No matter what we did, though, it was slow going, for this new language has no relation to English or German. Rather, it is in the same language family as Korean, Japanese, Finnish and Hungarian.
 
Here is where my high school Latin lessons came in handy. No one had to explain to me about the use of cases, I already knew them: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative. this was a huge help to me conceptually.
 
In addition, although there was no actual relationship between Latin and our new language, the progressive addition of endings to words was also similar to the declensions in Latin.
 
The Lord had known I would have to learn this new language someday and had used my high school Latin classes to prepare the way. I wished I could have gotten in touch with my old Latin teacher, Mr. Daniels, and thanked him. [many years later I was able to do that.]
 
The locals view shame as a great motivator and it seems to work to a degree in their honor-based society —although I suspect it leaves untold emotional damage in students’ lives.
 
Our Turkish teachers tried to use this approach with me and would periodically say to our class, “You ladies are doing quite well,” and then, turning to me, add, “but you–you are terrible, an awful student.”
 
I did not find this particularly helpful, to say the least. Along with all the other pressures of adjustment, these denigrating statements from our teachers was almost too much for me to take.
 
Much of my “terribleness” had to do with pronunciation. Barbara had a great advantage, as the phonetic sounds of German were much closer to this new language than English, and also shared the umlauted letters Ü and Ö. For an English speaker, however, forming these and other sounds was a new and difficult task.
 
My self-consciousness also hampered me from being more aggressive in trying to make the right sounds. Sometimes when I was out with a local friend, I would say something to a shopkeeper who would then look at my friend and ask, “What did he say?” My friend would repeat exactly what I had said, and the store owner would understand him perfectly. It was frustrating.
 
I’d actually gotten my first lesson on the importance of pronunciation on that day of our arrival in the country when Howie and I had gone to the corner grocery. He had asked the grocer for a “mum,” a candle, which he pronounced in the American way, like the name of the flower.
 
The grocer had no idea what he meant, because in this new language the word is pronounced with an “ooo” sound: “mooom.”
 
Such a small difference, but such a gulf of misunderstanding it produced! We finally had to act out lighting a candle, and then the grocer understood and produced one from under the counter.
 
The Lord came to my rescue in my weak pronunciation by giving me Tom as my new language helper. He was an architectural student and had a marvelous ability to discern what I was doing wrong. He would say the word the way I mispronounced it. This enabled him to then draw a picture of the inside of my mouth to illustrate how it looked when I said it incorrectly, and then drew another to show me the right way to place my tongue to form and say the word.
 
Part of my problem was that almost all sounds of this new language are pronounced in the front of the mouth, while a lot of English sounds are produced in the middle. For instance, these folks trill an “r” sound, while we arch our tongues in the middle to produce it. In contrast, the Germans make an “r” sound in their throats.
 
Tom would have me practice just a couple of pronunciation adjustments in each class. I would then repeat these over and over again on the drive home until they became almost natural.
 
It is actually a beautiful language. First it is thoroughly orderly and is cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the language having the fewest exceptions in the world: three.
 
Each letter has only one sound. There are no glides. There are no masculine or feminine or neuter words like in German—that in itself removes half the complexity of a language. And instead of “he, she or it,” the third person singular is the same for everything: “o.” The way to figure out what the “o” refers to look at the context.
 
Syllables have only two or three letters, making it easy to pronounce. This means that little children can start speaking earlier than children who speak other languages.
 
For instance, say, “My daddy came.” Notice all the glides and extra muscle manipulation needed. In this new language it’s simply, “Babam geldi.” No glides, all in the front of the mouth, all easy to say.
 
On another front, it is a great language for literature and bureaucrats, for you can just keep adding endings to a word, resulting in long words like: “Hristianlastiklarimizdanbirimisiniz?” meaning, “Are you one of ours who has become a Christian?”
Every ending has an exact meaning, so if you know the root word, which is always at the beginning and very short, you can easily decipher a long word you’ve never seen before.
 
You can also build seemingly endless sentences, stretching out to a full page if you are a practiced bureaucrat. The difficulty in reading these marathon sentences is that the verb comes at the end, so you have to read the whole thing before you can get the meaning.
 
It’s also great for writing traditional poetry, because you can just add the ending needed to make it rhyme.
 
All in all it is a delightful language, but so different from English that it takes a while to lay the foundation that leads to being an effective speaker. Years, in fact. But with God’s help we persisted.
Picture: Tom with me and the boys
 
May be an image of one or more people, people standing and outdoors

Psalm 37:28-29

Psalm 37:28b “They [his faithful ones] will be protected forever,”
Your commitment to your children is iron clad, rock solid and monumentally strong, something we can rest in more and more as we get to know you more and more. Praise be to you, Lord, for your strength of character, your utter dependability, your never changing, perfect and powerful love.]
[You, Lord Jesus, live forever to intercede for those you have purchased with your blood. You live forever, so our protection will go on forever, in this life, through death and on into eternity.]
“but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;”
 
[Sadly, those who refuse to submit to your Kingship, your Word, your Truth, your offered Salvation and Love, will be cut off forever–they and their children who follow them. How sad this makes your heart, yet you rejoice for each one who does believe and follows you.
Psalm 37:29 “the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.”
[A repetition from verse 27, a bookend to this thought of your great and gracious giving of what is good to your children. Yes, we will inherit your land and we will live in it with you forever: no death, no depression, no end, no evil, no loss, no sadness, no sickness or sin.
You, Lord God, are the only One to be followed, obeyed, worshiped and exalted. You are worthy, you are wonderful, you are wise, the Only True God. I bow before you this morning, I give you glory, exaltation and praise. May you be honored in my life today as I praise you in and for all. Amen.]
 
May be an image of nature, tree, sky and twilight

More Cowboy Wisdom

More Cowboy Wisdom
 
During the night his horse nickered, and Cody was awake at once. He silently got up from his blanket, took his rifle and moved carefully to the door of the barn. There was no light on the horizon, so it was still the middle of the night.
 
He could see nothing to explain the horse’s warning, but he waited, keeping in the shadow of the barn. Then he heard a footstep, soft, but enough to alert him. Looking in that direction, he was able to discern some movement. Suddenly a light flared and he realized it was a torch being lit, then a second one.
Dodge’s men were going to set fire to John’s cabin!
 
Coby was in a perfect situation. They could not see him, but they were perfectly visible in the torch light. As the two arsonists moved towards the house, Coby knelt and took careful aim, squeezing off two quick shots, hitting both torches, which were dropped to the ground while the men ran. Cody immediately changed position, and just in time as three shots were fired from the right side of the yard. Those men had probably been waiting for John’s family to run out of the burning house so they could be shot.
 
“So, there’s more than two here,” he thought. “I hope John and Amanda remember what I told them,” for they would certainly be awakened by the shots. One thing he’d told them was not to light a lamp in a night attack and not to come outside.
Another shot sounded, this time from a window of the house, and a man shouted in surprise and pain. Cody heard running feet, and then a shotgun blast from the house. Two men cried out, hit by the buckshot.
 
“They won’t be hurt too badly,” he thought, “but they’ll have trouble sitting down for a while!”
 
Then came the sound of horses’ hooves as the attackers mounted up and retreated. Coby waited a while, the called out to the house,
 
“Are you all ok?”
 
John answered, “Yes we are, and you?”
 
“I am fine,” Cody answered and cautiously stepped out of the barn. He stayed away from the still burning torches so as not to give anyone a chance to get a shot at him. The torches were lying in the dirt and would burn themselves out soon.
 
Cody circled around and came to the house door from the side. “It’s me,” he said, and John opened the door. He had his rifle in his hand, and Amanda her shotgun. He could see that she had already reloaded. “Well done, you two!” he said.
 
Amanda was shaking some and her son was wide eyed, standing there sleepy in his night clothes. “That was a close one,” John said, “Dodge really does mean to burn us out.”
 
Cody nodded. “It’s a good thing my horse is so alert and woke me up! I’m not sure how many there were, but at least 5. In the morning we’ll look at the tracks and that will give us a better idea. They won’t bother us again tonight–they got a lot more than they bargained for–so go back to bed and get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.” Cody turned towards the door, then paused to ruffle Sam’s hair. “See how God protected us?” he asked. Sam nodded.
 
Cody went back to the barn and laid down. Sleep was hard coming, but in the end he dozed off.
 
Early the next morning, before light, he was up, prepared for the next step, and read his Bible before breakfast. At breakfast he made an announcement. “I’m going to the fort to talk with both the Captain and the land office. They should know about your situation–and maybe able to do something to help.”
 
“How long will you be gone?” Amanda asked.
 
“Two to three days, if all goes well.” He finished his coffee, put on his hat and headed out the door, Sam right behind him, following him to the barn
 
“Are we going to be safe while you’re gone?” he asked.
 
“Well, from a human point of view, it’s not possible to say. But if we trust in God, and join Him by acting wisely, there is a good possibility of nothing happening while I’m gone. Besides, Dodge doesn’t know that I’m leaving, so it’s unlikely he’ll try something right away.
 
Cody swung into the saddle, gathered the reigns and rode out of the barn, careful to avoid the warning rope at the gate.
 
John called to Sam, “Come on let’s see how much we can get done on that fence today.”
Picture: the arsonist (from the internet)

May be a closeup of 1 person, fire and outdoors

Psalm 37:23-24

Psalm 37:23-24 “If the LORD delights in a man’s way,”
 
[Lord, it is a wonder that you can delight in our ways when we are so prone to sinful, selfish motives, thoughts, words and actions. Praise you that you view us with the perfect and proper balance of love and forgiveness, chastening and grace.
 
Help me to walk in such a way as to give you delight, to be responsive to your leading, your Word, your conviction, your wisdom. Correct me immediately with your staff as I begin to wander. I praise you now for the direction you will give.]
 
“he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.”
 
[Praise you, Lord, that you are actively, powerfully, wisely at work in my life, smoothing the way, protecting my steps, keeping my spiritual ankles from turning.
 
In spite of this, I stumble at times–but you are there to catch me and keep me from falling fully. I praise you for your personal, intimate, gracious, constant involvement in my life. You, Lord, are the One I can trust, the One I can rest in, the One I can praise at every happening, whether it is pleasant or painful.
 
You are the Sovereign One:
wise,
good
and firm,
always doing what is best, right and gracious.
 
Help me to walk with you today, Lord, to move forward in your protection, in your love, in your preparation. Help me not to run out before you, but to wait for your timing. Help me to walk in a way that is delightful to you, that will bring you glory before the angels, demons and people around me.
 
As my rock, my high tower, my salvation, it is a joy to bow before you every day in surrender. May I honor your today.
May be an image of nature, tree and lake

Blessings or Curses

 
 
Psalm 37:21 “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;”
 
[Here is a clear contrast between those who submit to God’s character and those who don’t. The wicked raise money and possessions to the level of an idol, holding onto to them even when it means stealing.
 
The righteous, however, are willing to part with the money God has entrusted to them, distributing it to those in need. And, as we know, giving away money makes us happier; for your principles, Lord, are always the best. Help us to follow your wisdom, walking in the fear of the Lord, caring deeply what He thinks.]
 
 
Psalm 37:22 “those the LORD blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off. “
 
[And here is the outcome of obeying or disobeying God: receiving riches or being rejected. The choice is clear. I, for one, want to be blessed by God.
 
This begins with belief in His Word and His provision of forgiveness, being born again; and it continues with walking in His Way, growing in our knowledge of God and His commands, listening to the Spirit, obeying what we know to be true, doing what is best.
 
Then blessings roll more and more, and we will inherit the land, whatever land that may be, whether here on earth (like our family farm pictured below) or there in heaven.
 
To be cursed is what we were at birth: alienated from God, living in darkness, a resident of the dominion of darkness, under the devil’s power, cut off from grace, without hope, meaning or purpose. There was nothing in our future but being permanently separated from God, heading into a Christless eternity.
 
But, praise you, Lord, that you made the way out from under that curse, taking it upon yourself and thereby providing the possibility of forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation for every person who has ever lived. So, with the enabling work of the Holy Spirit, we can each make our decision to remain under the curse or move out into your righteousness. You are so gracious, O King, you are so good, O God.]
 
Praise you, Lord God, for what you, in your goodness and wisdom, will do today. Praise you, Heavenly Father, for how you will provide, guide, protect and carry us through the difficult, dark time we are in at the moment with Barbara’s depression (this was written years before now).
 
Give me your wisdom, your guidance, your care today. I thank you for what you will do, knowing that from your hand comes only what is good. May my life bring you glory today. Picture: the farm in CT where I grew up.
May be an image of outdoors and tree

Psalm 37:19,20

Psalm 37:19 “In times of disaster they [the blameless ones] will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.”
[Your hand of protection is always over us, your sustaining grace is always enough. We need not dry up under the withering heat of disaster, nor worry nor starve in famine, for you will provide what we need and will save us either by miraculous provision, by grace, or by death.
In you we can trust, Lord, in you we can rest. I praise you that you know how much to provide to carry us through our trials and you give us more than what is needed.
It is up to us to take up and use it so that we can be “like a tree planted by the streams of water, which will bear its fruit in its season, its leaf will never wither and whatever he does will prosper” (Ps. 1:3). This is your promise we can experience as we take up, learn and live your Word–which is another huge portion of our inheritance.]
Psalm 37:20 “But the wicked will perish: the LORD’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish—vanish like smoke.”
[You will send what is needed to destroy the wicked while giving shelter to your people. I praise you, Lord, that you have planned this, that we can know you are going to carry it out.
As we see the madness of some nations, the hatred of different religions, the bitterness, oppression and violence of militant groups, we praise you that you will deal with them after you have used them to prepare many hearts for the gospel. I praise you, Lord God, for your wonderful and powerful plan which you will bring to pass at the right time.
You, Lord God, my heavenly Father, my Lord Jesus, my indwelling Holy Spirit, are worthy of all my love, all my devotion, all my obedience, all my praise. Help me to give these to you throughout this day, trusting in you, resting in you, living your Word’s way as you empower and give wisdom. May you be honored in my thoughts, words and actions today. Amen.
 
May be an image of flower and nature

More Autobio

More Autobio: child raising
 
As time went on and we slogged on through language study, teaching English and the difficulties of every day life, I was personally amazed and encouraged to see how much joy God gave me in being where He wanted me.
 
Leaving behind the physical work, the mental stimulation, the success of business, and the beauty of home had not had the deleterious effect I’d expected. Obedience brings joy and God was setting me free from my natural inclinations.
 
In making these adjustments, however, tensions did surface between us. One morning Barbara and I had a strong discussion. At one point I pounded my fist on the table and said, “Who’s the boss here, anyway?!!!”
 
Josh immediately replied, “The landlord!” We burst out laughing. His comment brought us to our senses and we were able to resolve the issue in harmony.
 
After our arrival in Turkey, we were also struggling with finding a balance in our parenting. What with the month long trip from Connecticut to here, dealing with all the changes and constant adjustments, we had trouble being consistent in our responses to the boys. My anger was always floating near the surface and could emerge at the slightest provocation.
 
John noted this and had a fatherly chat with me. “In our house we have only three rules,” he said. Boy, did that get my attention! I had so many rules for the boys that even I couldn’t remember them.
 
He continued, “These rules are: obedience, honesty and respect. Even a small child can understand what obedience is, and yours are old enough to understand honesty and respect.”
 
I knew what he said was true. Josh had lied to me before he could speak and knew it was wrong. He had been playing with something on the coffee table and while I watched him, he accidently broke it. I said to him, “Did you break that?” He looked at me and shook his head “no.” He knew danger when he saw it and instinctively sought to protect himself.
 
John went on, “You need to explain these limits to your boys and then tell them what discipline they will get when they cross the line. Not if they cross, but when, for they certainly will disobey.
 
“When they cross it, ask them what they have done–this clarifies the offense: disobedience, dishonesty or disrespect. Then ask them what they have asked for: a discipline—this clarifies their responsability. You don’t give them a discipline, they ask for it.
 
“The discipline you use should be immediate, painful and bring repentance. We use spanking. Things like ‘time out’ or ‘no TV for a week’ are ineffective because they don’t get the child’s attention sufficiently.
 
“One other thing,” added John, “When you discipline them, if they cry loudly, keep it up until they cry quietly. You are looking for surrender. This is a battle of the wills, and if they cry loudly, they have won. Make sure you win, it will be for their benefit. If they don’t learn to submit to you, later in life the police will have to help them submit to authority.”
 
Wow, that seemed so clear, so easy. I was struck with how this type of correction was just what the Lord had done for me, disciplining me in my depression, bringing me out into a greater freedom. Now I had the privilege and responsibility to do the same for my children.
 
I went right home and shared that with Barbara. Then we sat the boys down and explained this to them. Our discipline would be a spanking using a wooden spoon. Proverbs 13:24 was our basis for this: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”
 
[What comes next may not be what some of you like, but I ask that you look at the outcome: what our boys as adults are.]
 
This new framework brought a lot of clarity, but it also brought a lot of spankings. On a scale of compliant to strong willed, Josh was off scale on the strong willed end. He was not negatively rebellious, he was just determined. When he wanted to do something, he would just push forward with it.
 
He got spankings every day. Nat took his cue from this and avoided spankings as much as he could. While Josh’s approach was a frontal attack, Nat was more for doing end runs. For instance, one time when we were packing things up to move, we discovered that Nat had been quietly working at making it harder for us to spank him: under his mattress were all the wooden spoons we’d been unable to find!
Following John’s advice led to an important and positive showdown with Josh. He began to go in his pants again. He’d be playing outside and come in wet or dirty.
 
At first we wondered, “Is it the stress of change? Have we done something to injure his little psyche?” No, it was simple: he was too lazy to come in and go to the bathroom.
 
While on a trip we stopped at a gas station. “Everyone go to the bathroom!” I said.
 
Josh piped up, “I don’t need to go!”
 
“Ok,” I said, “But don’t miss the opportunity!”
 
Then, about five miles down the road, a distinct odor wafted up from the back seat. I pulled over beside the road and turned around.
 
“You went in your pants, didn’t you?” I asked angrily. Josh admitted it. After getting him cleaned up and changed, I got a stick from a bush beside the road.
 
“You did not obey me when I told you to go to the bathroom,” I said, “and you did not tell us you needed to go so we could stop for you. So I am going to discipline you. What discipline have you asked for?”
 
Josh bowed his head, “A spanking,” he said quietly.
 
“Right, and I am going to spank you until you surrender and promise you will never do that again.” I laid him over my knee and began to spank. I kept it up until I thought my arm was going to fall off. At last Josh said, “Ok, ok, I promise I’ll never do that again!” This was a major turning point in his life, the positive breaking and reshaping of his will that later led to his surrender to God.
 
It was also this struggle to bring the boys to surrender that made me understand Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” If we fail to discipline our children properly, we open the way for them to struggle with authority all their lives, and that will in turn hamper their surrender to God.
 
One time after I spanked Josh when he was five, he got down off my knees, turned, pointed his finger at me and said, “Dad, you did that wrong.”
 
Here was this little guy, speaking with me like an adult. Trying not to laugh I said, “Really? What did I do wrong?”
 
He looked at me seriously, “You were still angry. You should have waited until you were calmed down.”
 
I let out a sigh, smiled and said, “You are right, son. Would you forgive me?”
 
“Sure, Dad, everyone makes mistakes,” he said as he turned and walked off.
 
That made me think of something I’d read by Dr. Dobson where he said that the best of parents make the right parenting choices about 51% of the time. That could be comforting or disconcerting, depending how you look at it!
 
He continued by stating that if the kids know you love them unconditionally, they will forgive you for all those mistakes. I guess josh felt secure in our love.
 
When Josh was twelve, he and I were going somewhere in the car, when without any preamble, he suddenly said, “Dad, you are the best Dad in the world!”
 
“Really?” I said, quite surprised. “What makes you say so?”
 
“Because you always spanked me when I needed it!” he replied. The testimony of a twelve year old on this subject is something to think about.
 
Picture: little Nat with the children of my language teacher
May be an image of 2 people, child and people standing

Inheritance

Psalm 37:18 “The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,”
 
[My times are in your hands, Lord; you determine the number of my days and all the happenings in them. You, who live outside time, know completely how long I will live and all that will happen during my lifetime.
 
You, Lord, watch over your children who are blameless only because their sins are forgiven in Christ. Praise you for you mighty and wise protection. Today I read in an article that those who believe in God and practice their faith live longer (average of 7 years more) and are more healthy than those who do not. Interesting confirmation of your Word.]
 
“and their inheritance will endure forever.”
 
[You have made us heirs, Lord, heirs of the riches of your Kingdom, all of which are eternal. “In his great mercy [the Father] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…” (1 Pet. 1:3,4).
 
The first treasure in our inheritance is our relationship with you, the wonder of knowing you in spite of our depraved and sinful nature. I thank you with all my heart, that you are the Great Lover of all your creatures whether they are good or evil.
 
I praise you for your other gifts to us: eternal life, the indwelling Spirit, the written Word, the wisdom, grace and guidance, the protection, provision and power that are ours in you. And in the life to come, untold riches will be poured upon your children so that we might bring more glory to you. I praise you now, Lord, for all that you have already given us, and for all that will come in eternity.]
 
May be an image of tree, body of water and nature