For all those having a hard time right now!
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“When I wander through the desert and I’m longing for my home, All my dreams have gone astray.”

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There are so many people hurting emotionally and/or physically right now. So many lost homes and everything in the Texas fires. Hundreds have lost everything in all of the devastating tornadoes plus the hurricane. There is nothing that we can count on to last in this world…and that’s when we hold on to our faith in God. He’s our Strong Tower!
Please pray for all of those hurting. This song is for them and for all of us:
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Here’s a great new song with a great country sound:
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Most people will never forget what they were doing ten years ago today. Some of us watched in disbelief! It was surreal, like watching a horrible scene in a movie…only it wasn’t a movie! One thing that seemed so strange that day was that we did not see one plane in the sky, nor for many days to come.
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We took our son out of school (5th grade then) and drove a couple of hours to where our daughter was in college. My husband was planning to drive there anyway that day to take something to our daughter, so we all went. We didn’t talk much. I think we prayed silently most of the way there. When we got to our daughter’s apartment, we all hugged and were so thankful to all be alive and together. But there was a sadness, too, because we knew many, many families were hurting terribly.
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The scenes we saw on TV kept replaying through my mind like some nightmare, only I couldn’t wake up and say that it was only a dream.  I, like many others, feared another attack.  We all knew that our world had changed.  Although I grew up during a time when we had air raid drills in school and feared being bombed, since then our country had developed a false sense of safety and ease that we had grown accustomed to.  9-11 was a wake-up call!
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So how are our lives different now from ten years ago? Mine has changed! I don’t worry like I did back then. Today, I have a friend who married and moved to the states 20 years ago, and a couple of years ago converted from her Muslim faith to Christianity. Ten years ago, I would have been too scared to be around her. But God has helped me with my fears (and in many more ways than this)!
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I don’t know exactly why, but this song came to mind to share in this post. Back then, my prayers joined the thousands of prayers for God to ease the pain in the way that only He can! This song maybe sums up those prayers. It talks about peace, victory, overcoming, and no more sorrow or pain. Some day, we will all have a wake-up call when our life is over. Hopefully, everyone will have this peace and victory!
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(By the way, Chris Tomlin sang this song at the 2009 Dove Awards. The live version on YouTube is great, if you’re interested.)

“I won’t be shaken by drought or storm” are words from this fairly new song which shares the hope we have in God to take care of us.  No matter what storm we’re going through (loss from an actual storm or drought, illness, loss of job and income, family problems, and the list goes on), God is the only solid rock we have.  Circumstances can change, people can change, but God never changes.  He is our fortress in any storm!

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Isaiah 40:28-31
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

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This is such a cool song!  Not only is it a happy and fun song to listen to, it also has deep meaning to it.  Whenever I hear this on the radio, I always think of the passage of scripture below that is from the Bible.  This is a song about the heart of God, and it’s a song written from Jamie’s heart, most definitely!  Hope it’s as encouraging and uplifting to you as it is to me:

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• 11 He (God) tends his flock like a shepherd:
  He gathers the lambs in his arms (His people)
  and carries them close to his heart…”
  Isaiah 40:11   New International Version (NIV)

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