God - My Completion

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3-6 NIV

How is it possible that Christmas advertisements are on TV already and trees adorn the stores? Wasn’t winter just six months ago? Didn’t the crocuses bloom only yesterday? Weren’t the trees full of color a few days past and most are now barren and waiting for the freezing snow? Will I ever make peace with the calendar?

I don’t mind getting older. I mind my life flying by like a movie in speed mode. How can I possibly see everything in my life that is so beautiful? How do I not miss the tiny miracles that fall around me like a mist of diamonds? How do I talk to each blessed soul that comes my way and not miss a single smile or falling tear?

As an author, I spent three hours on Saturday at the Allen County Public Library at a large author fair along with seventy other writers. The wonderful expressions of joy from readers who were obviously comfortable visiting the library on an afternoon were exciting to see. Yet, there was so much, I couldn’t take it all in. I had to wonder what I may have overlooked.

I’ve decided that I don’t have to worry about sights I miss or melodies unheard. God will hold every precious memory in His own heart. "I thank my God every time I remember you . . ." can be thought of in two ways. 1. Every time I think of you, I thank God for your presence in my life. 2. Every time God reminds me of you, I thank him for those memories.

God can hold every moment of our lives close to His own heart and keep it there forever. I can spend eternity seeing the sights and hearing the sounds that I didn’t really missed, I just didn’t attend to as I hurried by. For God holds all that was and is and will be in His heart, and when I am in harmony with Him, He will sing the words of my life over and over to me, so that each darling face will always be before my eyes. Blessed is He, my memory, my daily companion and the joy of my future. May He fill your life to perfect completion as well, both now and in the always. Let us pray:

"Holy Father, wise council, memory-keeper of all that is good, I praise your precious name. May your eternal kingdom come and dwell within me, that I may enjoy the peace of Heaven even as your angels do. Today, I ask that the joy of living may continue in me and spread to all those around me. Take away any fear of doing or saying so that your glory may be visible. Let my life touch another’s in such a way that any fear of living may be healed within them, but do not let me know when, or with whom so that I cannot boast. Forgive me when I have missed one of your children who needed your smile, as testified to through me. Let your peace, presence, love and companionship fill me, and all of us here, to overflowing so that all those who witness our lives may see you. In the name of your precious son, our Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen"
Doris
Doris Gaines Rapp
Copyright 2014 Doris Gaines Rapp

I will be signing Hiawassee – Child of the Meadow and Smoke from Distant Fires at Barnes and Noble, Jefferson Point Mall, Fort Wayne, on Sunday, November 23 from 2-4pm during Discovery Weekend.


Books by Doris Gaines Rapp available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Cokesbury and others:

Prayer Therapy of Jesus - Training in Prayer Therapy as used in all of these devotional prayers
Waiting for Jesus in a Can’t Wait World – Advent Devotional for 2014 including Social Media Shares
Hiawassee – Child of the Meadow
Smoke from Distant Fires
Escape from the Belfry
Length of Days – The Age of Silence
Lincoln’s Christmas Mouse – Reformatted to smaller size – available soon