I Am the God that heals thee I mend the broken hearts I restore the shattered souls That have been torn apart…
I Am the God that heals thee Who bears with thee thy pain I bore upon My cross thy grief, Thy sickness, and thy shame…
I bore thy suffering, thy sin And by My stripes you’re healed And made whole within thy soul, Redeemed, forever sealed… Upon My heart, upon My hands You ever are engraved, Forgiven from thy every sin, Thy soul within is saved.
I Am Thy God that heals thee Within thy very soul, I’m working every day you live To ever make thee whole… Perfecting thee on thy journey Since it was begun, I will complete My work in thee Until Thy journey’s done,
“…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” ~ Psalms 30:5 KJV
“Lord my God, I prayed to you, and you healed me. Lord, you lifted me out of the grave. I was falling into the place of death, but you saved my life.”~ Psalms 30:2-3 ERV
“I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until He completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.” ~Philippians 1:6 ERV
“God has blessed you in ways that serve Christ. He allowed you to believe in Christ. But that is not all. He has also given you the honor of suffering for Christ. Both of these bring glory to Christ.” ~Philippians 1:29 ERV
Lord, many of Thy children are suffering. Please wrap Thy Holy arms around each one of them. Help them to know that You love them very much.
May they feel Thy tangible presence with them as they walk through the Shadow Valley; may they know without a doubt that You are with them, so they will have no fear.
May You comfort and encourage them today and give them peace and hope that You will surely bring them through this dark time; that there is joy and light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel.
Though weeping may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning, for so Thy Word has promised.
Lord, please hold their hands and pour Thy peace upon them without measure; let them know that You love them as if they were the only child that You had to love. Thank You Lord, we love You.
“The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” Psalms 121:8 KJV
In the illustration for this prayer card, the Lord inspired me to paint the central figure as a visual metaphor representing a female traveler. She is a student learning lessons on the path of life, collecting them in (metaphorical) note books that she carries as her life lesson journals in her arms next to her heart where they are engraved even as she lives them.
We are all travelers, sojourners on this earth. The face on my traveler is purposely in shadow. Who is she? What will be the outcome of her journey? That is the question in our own mind whenever we embark on some trip. We must go by faith and we proceed on our way (usually) with joy and optimism.
We pray in hope over our babies when they begin their path of life. We pray in sorrow as we watch loved ones depart on their journey into eternity.
Ever since I learned this Bible verse, Psalm 121:8 has been a foundational prayer that I offer to God daily.
We pray this beautiful prayer asking the Lord to guard our going out and our coming in from this time forth~ right now~ till forever ~ throughout our whole lives and for all eternity.
By praying this prayer we are acknowledging that our Creator is in control of all things that pertain to us and we are renewing our trust in His care as our Holy Protector, Good Shepherd, and Guardian.
The word the Psalmist used for *preserve is * shamar (transliteration) (BDB Thayer Bible Dictionary Definition) To keep, guard, observe, give heed… protect, save life…watchman… to keep within bounds, restrain…
The verse before the affirmation that God shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from now till forever promises: “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.” Psalm 121:7
The word for evil is ra’ ra’ ah (transliteration)~from the BDB definition) Bad, evil…disagreeable, malignant…giving pain, unhappiness, misery…displeasing, bad value…distress, adversity injury, wrong, ethical evil, from a word meaning… Ra-ah (phonetic); to be bad, be evil > to break, shatter, to be broken, be broken asunder, broken in pieces. Origin: a primitive root.
Now we know that we all have bad days. And we all get sick. I have severe migraines every day…though I pray this wondrous prayer daily, and many more besides.
So what exactly kind of evil does the verse promise that God will preserve us from then? The following verse defines the promise: “He shall preserve thy soul…” What does the soul mean? The word used means * neh-fesh (*Phonetic) The soul, self, life, creature, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion, /that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man/ the living being/ seat of the appetites/ seat of emotions and passions/ activity of the mind/activity of the will/activity of the character…
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught His disciples to pray something very important that is related to Psalm 121 every day:
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Matthew 6:13 KJV
As we continue to give God the control over our lives He is going to guard and to preserve our will, and give us self control, and work in us the grace to do what is good and right and proper.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 KJV
It is truly only God’s grace that protects each one of us from doing the unthinkable. God’s Holy Spirit will restrain our sinful impulses as we invite our Lord Jesus Christ to be our Guardian God to keep us from harm and danger, and surround us with His holy favor, so that we can live peaceful, happy lives that honor and glorify Him.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
As we pray such prayers from God’s word we are praying His will~for God’s word IS His will.
As we pray and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives, we are inviting our Creator to not only participate or share in our lives but to be our Guardian God, our Shepherd, and Guide, our Protector from all evil and temptations to do harm.
For all of us are sinners. God’s word says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Jesus Christ the Son of God suffered and died on the cross for the sins of all humanity to make people righteous by His spotless blood. He then rose again from the dead after three days and now lives forever to rule and reign over all the Universe.
He makes those who receive Him into their hearts a new creature reborn in their spirits in His image. He puts His Holy Spirit in our hearts and gives us the desire to love Him and other people and do the things that agree with His will. How does He accomplish these miracles?
By the gift of His almighty grace.
Long ago the story is told that as a Christian watched a condemned man being led to the gallows he humbly bowed his head and said, “But for the grace of God there go I…”
Praying the Traveler’s Prayer from Psalm 121:8 won’t guarantee that a soul will not have adversity. But it will invite our Creator to take over the reins in our life and guard our SOUL from evil.
It gives our Creator great joy when we invite Him through prayer to protect us. For He loves us and wants to share our lives with us in intimate fellowship. God longs to be our Friend. The Lord wants to guard our going out and our coming in from this time forth even to forever.
Prayer Dear Heavenly Father, please guard my going out and my coming in from this time forth even to forever, in Jesus holy name, amen.
Psalm 121 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, Which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out And thy coming in from this time forth, And even for evermore.” ~Psalms 121:1-8 KJV
*To see more photos of the Travelers Prayer Card and read more information it, follow the link below to Etsy Shop “Wings Publications Fine Art, Cards, & Music:
“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10 KJV
I had intended this to be a short message introducing my new encouraging scripture music video about suffering that the Lord inspired me to make last week. He helped me make it to encourage myself as well as others who are suffering. The Bible assures me that I’m not the only one who endures challenges. How often we see this affirmed in our society every day. 1 Peter 5 helps me to keep it all in perspective. When I’m at my worse, I know that there are always many others out there somewhere who are worse off than I am. God’s word exhorts us to pray for just that one who is in a deeper pit than ours when we imagine we are in the lowest depths of hell and that everyone else has it better than we do. It’s in our most painful moments that we are just certain that the Lord has left us and gone off to party with everyone else, now that He’s made our life a dung pile…tears for fears and pity poor me…:( These are just the moments we need to turn to God’s Word because it’s in His Word that we find Him encouraging us. Consider the verse I mentioned from 1 Peter 5:
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5: 6-7 KJV
These verses mean that if we pray when we feel burdened or disappointed or depressed or worried or stressed that we can know God hears us; that He cares about us and our needs. God loves us. He wants us to bring our burdens to Him, to pour our troubles out on His Altar. He is real and He is listening even though we can’t see Him. We grow close to Him in our suffering when we cry out to HIM.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9 KJV
These verses are referring to our unseen enemy who is ever seeking to undermine us spiritually and pull us away from God through any means he can. And we must resist the enemy at all costs because what is more important than our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died on the cross to give us peace with God? This peace is what the enemy wants to destroy. Our peace with God and our fellowship with each other. He sows hatred, strife, and dissension. He will use any means he can. Resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are being experienced by everyone else in the world.
In other words we are not alone in our trials. Other people are being gossiped about, abused, slandered, persecuted, mocked, lied about, dishonored, treated shamefully…we are not singled out to be treated like cow pies. So what does that mean? We are not really cow pies~no! We are God’s precious children, but the Apostle John wrote it’s just that the world has not got the eyes to see how special we really are.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2 KJV
But one day the sons and daughters of God will be revealed and those who have treated God’s children so shamefully will be themselves covered with shame. Amen! God’s word assures us that we are His jewels!
Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.” ~ Malachi 3:16-17 KJV
Don’t take my word for it~read God’s word and encourage yourself. This is why the Lord inspires me to make scripture videos. His word is encouraging!
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10 KJV
God puts a boundary on all suffering that we endure. He will not give us more than we can handle. He knows what we can tolerate. All suffering is meant to refine our faith. (See 1 Peter 1, James 1)
11 To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. “ 1 Peter 5:11 KJV
The word dominion means sovereignty or control. This verse means that God is in control over all things. Even though the enemy takes aim at us and tries to harm us, the enemy is on God’s leash and can only go but so far. He, like our suffering, has boundaries placed on him. We serve a loving, merciful God. His love and mercy towards us reaches higher than the sky it says in Psalm 103. Read and meditate on the verses below from Psalm 103 about God and His love for us. And then watch and listen to the scripture video He gave me to share with you. May our Heavenly Father encourage your heart with the scriptures and comfort you with His peace and love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Psalm 103:8-19 *ERV 8 The Lord is kind and merciful. He is patient and full of love.
9 He does not always criticize. He does not stay angry with us forever.
10 We sinned against Him, but He didn’t give us the punishment we deserved.
11 His love for His followers is as high above us as heaven is above the earth.
12 And He has taken our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is as kind to His followers as a father is to his children.
14 He knows all about us. He knows we are made from dust.
15 He knows our lives are short, that they are like grass. He knows we are like a little wildflower that grows so quickly,
16 But when the hot wind blows, it dies. Soon, you cannot even see where the flower was.
17 But the Lord has always loved His followers, and He will continue to love them forever and ever! He will be good to all their descendants, 18 to those who are faithful to His agreement and who remember to obey His commands.
19 The Lord set His throne up in heaven, and He rules over everything.” Psalm 103:8-19 *ERV
Lana Lynn Higginbotham is one of the most gifted Authors writing today.
She has written Christian fiction and nonfiction books for both adults and young adults.
The following is a re-post of an interview with Lana Lynn by another excellent author, Ann Malley, from her Writer’s Blog https://annmalleybooks.com
You will find links to Lana’s books at the end of her article. All of Lana’s books would be great for summer reading!
Ann Malley has graciously given her permission to re-post her wonderful interview with Lana on Angelsong.
Check out Ann’s blog site for her other interesting posts about different authors, books, and the world of writing.
Thank you so much, Ann
The awesome strength of nature is amazing to behold.
Hey guys. I hope everyone is enjoying the shift in seasons and that nasty weather is on the decline. (We had a corker lightning storm Saturday night. Full on cracking, white light flashing in the wee hours. Lovely. But I’m weird that way.)
Meanwhile, I’m back with another author interview. Why do I do them? Because learning keeps us fresh. And the best way to learn is to glean wisdom from those who have gone before. Those who are doing what we want to do — keep writing. (Reading, too!)
So who is Lana Higginbotham? And why WRITING?
Lana Lynne Higginbotham – well rounded, firmly grounded, and sharing the realities of God and family — the foundation for satisfying romance.
Firstly, I am Lana “Lynne” Higginbotham (Did you all catch that middle name? It’s important, but we’ll get there.) As a…
