You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.   The Holy Bible (Amplified Version), The Book of Isaiah Chapter 26 Verse 3 This particular scripture in this particular version has played a big part in my life in my 30's.  God literally woke me up one morning years ago by speaking it to me.  I know.  Question that all you want but I know what I know.  I was dead asleep and my eyes popped open at a voice speaking these words to me.  I didn't even know where in the Bible exactly it was until I enlisted the aid of a concordance.  Since that time God has continued to put this verse in front of me to either remind me of its truth or to compel me to share it with others. Want peace?  Then fix, literally, your mind on all of God - his character and his promises - and press in to him.  Y...

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.      Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.      I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 NLT I think life is pretty scary.  It asks us to take risks, it asks us to have courage, it asks us to feel things we'd rather not, it asks us to be open to things we may never consider on our own.  Life has joy, sorrow, happiness, fear, and every other emotion you can think of.  Life holds lessons for us, if we are willing to learn.  Life is pretty scary.  And sometimes the scary is good, thrilling even.  But sometimes the scary is bad, isolating at best.   I know a fair number of people.  I watch them all tackle life and I wonder, when the bad scary of life hits, how they do it.  How do they get through loss of any significant kind, tragedy, etc without grasping the hand that created them in the first place?  I...

Stars can't shine without darkness.   Unknown True fact.  We can't see the stars until there is darkness.  And the beauty of darkness is that there are stars that shine.  So even in darkness we have a little bit of light.  There's always a little bit of light (i.e. hope, faith, etc).  Grace gives us pinpoints of light in the dark.  Look for them.  Be grateful for them.  I'm going to take it a step further and say be grateful for the dark which enables those pinpoints of light to shine.  We wouldn't see them or be aware of them otherwise.  And those stars hold treasure for us.  They are hidden by light and are only revealed by darkness.  This is what came to mind in relation to today's quote..." I will give you hidden treasures,  riches stored in secret places,  so that you may know  that I am the  Lord ,  the God of Israel, who summons you by name." (Isaiah 45:3)  Some treasures we will only...