A Piece of Stone

And the Virgin brought forth her firstborn son. 
A cave and a piece of stone chiseled out for food or perhaps water for lambs. 
From His mother’s womb to her loving arms to a slab of stone — it was the best they could do for Him.

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Thirty-three and a half or so years quickly passed and she was there to watch His body placed on another cold, hard piece of stone, this one hewed for a wealthy man. A borrowed tomb.
I am so thankful, He wouldn’t need it long. 
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Mark 16: 1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.  And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.  And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.  And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.  And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.  But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.   source 

I thoroughly believe Mary all the days of her life did the best she could by her Son, especially on that day whatever day it was that she also KNEW HE was her LORD. 
I would that we all do our best by HIM, that is by knowing HIM as our LORD. 

Life is hard, BUT GOD is good!
Kathie 

Starters

Father GOD, thank You for the week we have hopefully more than survived. We hope we have well served You. We hope we have pleased You. You have pleased us with life, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. With people we love and who love us. With air to breathe, water to refresh us, and clean the grime from our hands and feet. And that’s only for starters.
You know the days that are coming. Days of anything but peace and anything but joy. Forgive us. Come LORD JESUS and rescue the captives. Come and retrieve the earth from the clutches of the evil one and restore it to its original beauty. Come, LORD, and bring judgment and redemption to not just the planet but we the people here on this sod.  We long for Your Return. For the Sky to break open and reveal You in Your Majesty as King of Kings and LORD of Lords. We long for You to ride across the horizon and speak the Word that will silence all Your enemies and bring Your People to unanimous rejoicing with Your timely Glorious Appearance.
But until then, Father, help us to keep on singing, keep on proclaiming Your Gospel and loving You and each other with all our beings. Amen and amen in the Merits of JESUS, Your Holy and Perfect Son, our Savior and LORD.

A Look at PrayerKathie

Clichés

Is this month speeding by for you too? 

Two weeks and this month, this year, will be done — in the books

Are you making plans for 2024?
Are you thinking you want to do better in 2024 than you did in 2023? 
Me too! 
Watch after family and friends better. Pay more attention to my calendar. Bring my thoughts captive more. Study more. Read more. Are you thinking about those things too? 

That’s what we do at the end of one year leading into a new one, right?
And that’s not bad. It’s good to reflect. Visions and plans are good too. 

What does the Bible say? 
People perish where there is no vision.  Proverbs 29:18

What else does the Bible say about our plans? 

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”  source
Don’t miss the verses before and after. We will surely need them in 2024.
We need them now.

Depending on the circles in which you read or listen you may be getting wind that 2024 may hold some rougher times than did 2023. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps not. 

But on this, we can hang our hat, take it to the bank, and other clichés we hear or say, GOD will NOT forsake His Children. 

A Look at Prayer

 

 

Kathie 

We are glad you are here; stay a while, look around, and be encouraged. We estimate there to be over 3,000 posts here at The White Stone Blog. Please know my hope is ALWAYS to help and NEVER harm. I have voiced many opinions and thoughts here since 2007 and by now I MAY NOT EVEN AGREE with all of them and some of my grammar and punctuation likely needs editing. But this is changeless: JESUS is our ONLY Savior and Hope. Do you KNOW Him?