It's a New Week and a New Dawn

Nicole Nordeman sings wonderful, soul-touching songs that speak to so many of our our heart's cries - part of one of her songs ....

It's a fear that keeps me wide awake, In the middle of the night
When the expectations are too great and the bar gets raised too high.

So I do the best with what I've got and hope that no one knows...that I strain to see how high I can try to stand on these toes
until I'm measured, but you know better

So thank You, Jesus - Even when You see us just as we are, fragile and frail and so far from who we want to be
So thank You, Jesus - Even when the pieces are broken and small, dreams shatter and scatter like the wind
Thank You even then...

I can relate to standing on my tippy toes to try to measure up, and having failed (at least my own expectations). I can feel consumed with sadness, fear and a horrible resolve that as a failure, "it will always be this way" when in fact, every day is filled with new opportunity.

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

I can stand today knowing that I am loved and this is a new week, a new morning - fresh, clean and full of opportunity. We never have to fall into "it will always be" when we are promised otherwise with each new dawn.
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Enjoy a great new day!

(to hear the whole song go to http://www.music-lyrics-gospel.com/free_mp3_downloads.asp?artist=Nichole+Nordeman&id=art.14668 and select "Even Then.")

Of all the "attitudes" we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing. Zig Ziglar

Make it a Great Day!! Debby

New Day - New Morning - New Life

Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.
~ William Ward

I love to watch the Ironman Triathalon in Hawaii. My favorite part is actually before the race begins when the commentators highlight the lives of some of the competitors. There is the cancer survivor who decided after winning one physical struggle, they would take on one they had control over. There is the father/son team who've been racing together for years - son in wheelchair due to a degenerative disorder - father dutifully - even joyfully pushing him along the way. There's the accident victim who was riding his bike one day in preparation for his next race, hit by a passing vehicle and now competes as a paraplegic. Their stories are so inspiring and cause me to wince with shame at excuses for not accomplishing some of my own goals.

It is a good reminder to me to “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” Philippians 2:14-16

As the new dawn appears, with it's brilliant light, I too can rise and start again in the morning. All things new again. Join me?

Attitude of Gratitude - It's a New Day - Day 1

Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are, help us to spend them as we should.” Psalm 90:12 TLB

News of yet another random shooting, another fatal auto accident, another missing person fill the headlines once again. It’s a near-daily reminder that we are not on this planet at our own will and design and that each day is a day that can not be returned once spent.


Today is a new day – a new start – a new adventure and I want it to count for everything. Should tomorrow take me to heaven, I want to have lived and loved well…to not have withheld love, kindness, goodness or encouragement from anyone, but to have added to the lives of those with whom I come in contact.

So I will number this day 1 and tomorrow day 1 and the next day 1 as well, planning to live each with the life and newness every new dawn brings.

Let’s go out and live, love and learn this day as though it’s our first opportunity ever to do so.

Have a great day!