My husband has been preaching through the Psalms on Wednesday nights in our church. The past two weeks, he has preached from Psalm 18.

I find it amazing how God is sovereign in what is going to be preached. My husband is just going through the Psalms one at a time, and this psalm just “happened” to be the psalm for these two weeks. This psalm has so many encouraging verses when we consider the unsettling and difficult few weeks we are going through.

Let me just share the chapter with you as well as some thoughts and pictures:

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

² The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Look at all those names of God that we can call upon!

• He is our rock– He will undergird us and give us the stability we need.
• He is my fortress — He will protect me from evi.
• He is my deliverer.
• He is my God.
• He is my strength — He will give me the strength that I need for any situation I am going through.
• He is trustworthy. Sometimes today, we don’t know who to trust. Which news should we listen to? Who is telling the real news? No matter what happens, we can trust God.
• He is my buckler — my shield or protector.
• He is the horn of my salvation.
• He is my high tower. I can run to him when I am attacked or in danger.

³ I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

After reading verse 2, we should be overflowing with praise to the Lord!

⁴ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

⁵ The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

Have you been fretting or tempted to worry about the Coronavirus?

Instead of worrying, let’s cry out to God! He alone has the answer.

⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

⁸ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

¹⁵ Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

God is almighty! If He can control nature and weather, then He can do anything!

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

¹⁸ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

I love this verse. Isn’t it amazing that this awesome God that we just read about delights in us?
He delivers me! He delights in me!

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²² For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

²³ I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁴ Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

²⁵ With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

We can take comfort in the fact that God sees when we try to live holy and righteous lives. He will even reward us when we do what is right before Him.

²⁶ With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

²⁷ For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.

²⁸ For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

²⁹ For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

God’s way is always perfect. Of course, sin has left it’s disastrous mark upon our world. But when we trust Him, even when everything seems to be falling apart, He will be our buckler, or our shield.

³¹ For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?

³² It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

³³ He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.

³⁴ He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

³⁵ Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.

There is no one else like our God!!

³⁶ Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

He will even keep me from slipping!

³⁷ I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁸ I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

³⁹ For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

⁴⁰ Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.

⁴¹ They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

⁴² Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

⁴³ Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

⁴⁵ The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.

⁴⁶ The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

We can always take comfort that God is alive! He is with us — right now. He sees what we are going through, and He cares. Let’s exalt Him for all He does, but especially for the gift of our salvation!

⁴⁷ It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.

⁴⁸ He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

⁴⁹ Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

⁵⁰ Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

I hope this psalm brings you some joy! Get into God’s Word and stay centered and focused on what is truly important.

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I have mentioned before that I am a teacher of a very small school. There are only 9 kids — my 4 kids and 5 other kids.

In one sense, it is easier to teach only 9 children. I get to teach many subjects one-on-one. Subjects can be taught quicker. If a child knows the material, I don’t have to wait for all of the kids to get the concept. I can move on.

However, it is harder in the fact that I have 8 different grade levels — kind-of. Some grade levels are combined for certain subjects. I am very eclectic. We use some Bob Jones, A Beka, All About Spelling, Sonlight, Apologia, Saxon, Essentials in Writing, Jump In, and more. I love that I can do that! But it is hard to keep it all straight sometimes.

At the beginning of the year, I was ahead. Now I am just keeping up. And with our current Coronavirus crisis, we are going to have to do some schooling from home. Technically, I could continue school. We have only 10 people — plus a helper every day. But we are definitely staying home next week as a couple of the students live in homes with compromised parents or grandparents. We also want to watch to see if the numbers of affected people rise.

However, I do not want to stop school. I don’t want to go into the summer with school. I am a pastor’s wife. If this settles down, I will run a ladies’ Bible study in the summer; my husband and I will be taking kids to camp; I am the director of our church’s VBS in late July; and school starts again in August that I need to get ready for. I need a few weeks break.

At first, I was only going to get ready one week’s worth of work. We can’t go online. We don’t have those resources (although a few of the classes are already online.) But then I decided to try to do 4 weeks worth of schedules and material so that if it does get much worse, the parents and students have what they need. In our state, the public schools will not be going back to school until at least April 15. If we are able to come back to school earlier than 4 weeks, then I will be ahead, which will be wonderful.

After working all day — and getting some church stuff done as we are going completely online there as well as well as texting parents about which direction we should head for achievement testing and ordering books we will need to finish out the year as our library will no longer transfer books between libraries in our system and taking my oldest to work and making sure the family was fed — I have 6 kids’ schedules done. I still have to do three kids.

Having 6 kids out of 9 kids done sounds good, but I still have to do fill-in-the blank study sheets for 2 science chapters and one big history unit. I don’t see how I will get that done tomorrow as well as verse bookmarks for 4 students for 4 weeks and the quiz sheets for verses done for all 9 students for 4 weeks. Then I have to finish the 3 student’s schedules for 4 weeks (that’s 12 schedules), and at 10:30, a mom is coming in to help me make copies and put the bundles together for each student. Parents are supposed to come pick up everything Friday morning.

At least I don’t have to bundle up my 4 kids’ stuff — even though I have to do their schedules as their subjects overlap some of the other kids’ subjects.

I felt sorry for my kids as stress was definitely getting to me. I was a bit snappy with them. How do you handle stress? I get short with people — especially my family — and I want them to move quickly.

As I was coming home at 11:30 p.m., I was thankful that even though I am stressed, I am not worried. I am not worried that I will get sick or even die. I am not worried about losing money in the stock market. I am not worried that people are acting crazy and buying out the stores.

I am not worried, because I know ultimately God is in control.

Obviously, I still plan. I bought enough eggs and milk and bread before everything went crazy to last me a couple of weeks. We have food. I am trying to make sure my students are set to do school so that we can get our school year done and they know their material. I am not purposefully putting myself in harm’s way.

But if I get sick, God has a purpose for that. If it is my time to go, I know where my final destination is. If I lose all my money, God will provide my needs.

I don’t need to worry. God’s got this!

When we feel tempted to worry, we need to “think on those things.”

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8

It helps to meditate on things that are true — on God’s promises. Here are some wonderful truths:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7

Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:1b-2

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Not only can we meditate on these wonderful promises, but we can take comfort in the fact that God is sovereign. He is in control. This has not taken Him by surprise, and He knows what is best for our lives.

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:13-15

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:9-10

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: Isaiah 14:24

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Psalm 135:6

What do you take comfort in during these stressful times?

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Right now, my world is small. Which is really nice at times. Of course, I watch the news; but the last couple of days I have purposefully unplugged. So when my sisters started sharing some emails of precautions from her work, church, and workout center due to the coronavirus disease, I decided I better listen to the news again. Especially as many people at church were talking about it.

I found out all the buzz was due to the fact that the virus had been upgraded to a pandemic so there were many changes. Maybe I am too trusting or naive, but this did not make me nervous for my family as we are young and healthy. Since our church is full of old people, I do pray that all these precautions will make this pandemic short-lived on U.S. soil.

I thought about what I could share with all of you about what we should do when we feel afraid. Many people are fearful today. It may not be about the coronavirus. It may be about a family member that has an illness such as cancer. It may be fear about finances. There is the fear of a dangerous relationship. Children making wrong decisions cause a lot of fear and worry.

What should we do when we are afraid and worry?

I could write a whole new post, but I went back and looked at some of the posts I have written in the past. I’ve written often about topics related to fear and trust over the years. God’s Word does not change. We always need to turn to God’s Word when we are afraid.

A good Scripture we can turn to when we are fearful is Psalm 31. I shared this passage a long time ago. Look at these wonderful promises we see in this chapter:

In another previous post, I shared a song of Keith and Kristyn Getty that is very encouraging. Look at these great lyrics:

Still my soul be still
And do not fear
Though winds of change may rage tomorrow
God is at your side
No longer dread
The fires of unexpected sorrow

God You are my God
And I will trust in You and not be shaken
Lord of peace renew
A steadfast spirit within me
To rest in You alone

On that same post, I shared many other verses that promise us God’s perfect peace.

And three years ago, I shared 13 promises to pray when you are fearful. When we feel the fear start creeping in, we need to turn to the One who can give us peace. Go HERE to see those precious prayer promises.

This post was a “mom” post as well, but it includes 11 verses that we can claim when we are going through trials or struggling. God has the answer! We just need to go to Him. He doesn’t promise to take away illnesses always — but He promises to always be with us.

How do you handle fear? Do you trust Him?

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We are going to do a ladies coffee activity at our church in a little over than a week. I had the task of coming up with a devotional that could be done at tables. Instead of having one main speaker, we are going to have a hostess for each table that directs a scripted devotional that will end with everyone making a card that can be taken and given to someone.

Our theme is ” Brewed in Friendship, Steeped in Love.” I wanted to have seven Bible references as there will be seven ladies sitting at each table. So I started out with a reference about Jesus being our friend and loving us as that goes with our theme.

The second and third verse was how Jesus says we are His friend when we obey His commands and He commands us to love one another. I then posed the question, “How did Jesus love others?” He is our great example of how to love, so we should follow His example when we love others.

We will talk about 3 ways Jesus loved while He was here on earth:

He loved us sacrificially; we should love others also sacrificially.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

There is sometimes a cost to loving others — we lose time and resources. Sometimes we love others and get hurt by them. Yet, He loved us sacrificially — He left heaven and died for us. Sometimes when we love others, we will have to love sacrificially.

He loved indiscriminately; so also should we show love to all.

He went to the poor, the outcasts, the heathen, those rejected by the religious elite, the sinners. If we are to love as He did, we cannot love just those who look like us — we must reach out to everyone. After going to Zacchaeus’s house, he said in Luke 19:10:

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

The greatest way we can love others is to introduce them to our Savior. If we help them externally, but they never get helped internally, then they are eternally lost. Our goal should be to always be to show them the Savior who is calling the sinners to repentance.

He loved compassionately; we also must show compassion.

He noticed the needs of others and he met those needs.

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. Matthew 14:14

Here he healed the sick, and then He fed 5,000 men and women and children. Meeting others needs is a way to show them Christ’s love. People see Jesus in us when they see our compassion. Our acts of mercy are a bridge to the Savior. We can be compassionate because He had compassion on us.

There are so many ways that Jesus loved. What a great example we have!

Next week, I will share my script and printables that I made for the verses. Go out and show the love of Christ to others this week!

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I teach at a tiny school. This has been a busy week. We have had a spirit week which included a big day on Tuesday as it was our 100th day of school. I also wanted to do something special tomorrow for Leap Year as it comes around only once every four years.

We don’t have school on Friday, so I needed to have whatever I will do ready for Thursday. Since we still have a day of work to do as well as spirit week going on, I didn’t want to make a big deal about leap year, but I did want something that they could look back on later.

I looked around on the internet, and a lot of what I saw was dated for four years ago or it wasn’t applicable to multiple ages. I teach 9 children ages 5-14. So I made my own printable!

The first page of the leap year printable are papers you could put in a time capsule or keep for a memory album.

It records their memories of what they are like now and they can look at it in 4 years and see how they have changed.

The second page of the printable is spiritual in nature.

I wanted them to have something that they can look at for the next four years of their life — and longer — to remind them of how God loves them, how He has a plan for their lives, and how their goal should be to glorify Him.

My plan is to print the printables on one piece of paper (back-to-back), have them fill it out, and then laminate it so they can have it for a keepsake.

Here are what the printables look like:

Both of these printables are in one document, but if you only want one of them, you could print off just one of the papers.

Here is what the verse printable says:

God loves you — now and forever!

• Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: Jeremiah 31:3

Because of His love, we can be forgiven.

• But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9

Nothing can separate you from His love!

• For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

He has a plan for your life!

• For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Your main goal should be to glorify God!

• I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. Psalm 86:12
• Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

I also made one set without the year 2020 on them so that they could be used for other leap years in the future. You can click on the links below to print them off. Happy Leap Year

You can click –> HERE <– to print out the Leap Year printables for 2020:

You can click –> HERE <– to print out the Leap Year printables that do not have a date on them.

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