[Membersandfriends] Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Mon Aug 23 22:02:38 PDT 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Tuesday, August 24, 2004

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Writers' Workshops Led by UPPER ROOM Editors

Looking for ways to sharpen your writing skills? Workshops led by editors from THE UPPER ROOM magazine will be offered at a number of regional writers' conferences in 2004. Follow the URL below for additional information.
http://www.upperroom.org/ur_home_viewer.asp?item_id=141429
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GREATER HELP
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Psalm 139:1-18 (NRSV)

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; 
    you discern my thoughts from far away. 
You search out my path and my lying down, 
    and are acquainted with all my ways. 
Even before a word is on my tongue, 
    O LORD, you know it completely. 
You hem me in, behind and before, 
    and lay your hand upon me. 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; 
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.  

Where can I go from your spirit? 
    Or where can I flee from your presence? 
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; 
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
If I take the wings of the morning 
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
even there your hand shall lead me, 
    and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, 
    and the light around me become night," 
even the darkness is not dark to you; 
    the night is as bright as the day, 
    for darkness is as light to you.  

For it was you who formed my inward parts; 
     you knit me together in my mother's womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.  
    My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret, 
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written 
    all the days that were formed for me, 
    when none of them as yet existed. 
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! 
    How vast is the sum of them! 
I try to count them--they are more than the sand; 
    I come to the end--I am still with you.

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Thus says the LORD, ". . . As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you."
- Isaiah 66:1, 13 (NRSV)
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WHEN my children were young, I was usually with them. When I wasn't, they were under the eye of a trusted caregiver.  If they wandered into a dangerous situation or veered from acceptable behavior, someone was always there to pull them back.  The constant supervision of someone older and wiser offered them help, guidance, and correction.

Now my children are often away from me; and I worry, Who will give them help, guidance, and correction when they need it?  Who will take care of them when I am not with them?

I am comforted by the words in Psalm 139.  They assure me that no matter where my children go, God's hand will guide them and hold them fast.  I pray for my children daily, knowing that God offers them greater help, wiser guidance, and better correction than I ever could.  As they continue to grow and move farther from my direct care, I take great comfort in knowing that God will always be with them.

Prayer:  God, we entrust to you those we love.  Help us remember that you loved them before we even knew them.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Those we love are held in God's loving care.

-- Beverly W. Dillard (Georgia, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Parents whose children are leaving home

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RELATED READING ...

Maxie Dunnam's best seller, THE WORKBOOK OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER is a seven-week study that offers participants an opportunity to experience the impact they can make on other people's lives. Participants deepen and strengthen their faith as they pray for others by using daily exercises and small group study.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=12612

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.