Moments of Grace: The Privilege of Serving with Gladness...

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with Gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us,

and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

and His truth endures to all generations."

Psalm 100

Yesterday was a special treat for me.  I had the privilege of hosting our monthly area Ladies' Prayer Fellowship in my home.  One dear lady called me this morning to thank me for hosting, and we both decided that our group should be called "Lovely Ladies of the Lord".  I like that...for that is what we are.  Not necessarily in the physical sense of the word "lovely", although everyone truly is lovely in that way, but more so in the spiritual sense.  Lovely in spirit, lovely in heart, lovely in GRACE.  These women come together from different parts of the county to pray for one another, to encourage our sisters in the faith, and share the loveliness of our beautiful Savior. And when we come together in one accord, it is something truly lovely to behold.  

Yes, it was a joyful privilege to clean my home, prepare the food, (and others brought in tasty dishes to share as well) set the table with my best dishes instead of paper plates and cups...even though they needed to be carefully hand washed before and after...(and my wonderful "lovely ladies of the Lord" helped with that also)...and to truly "SERVE  the Lord with gladness".  

What a joy and privilege to "come before His presence with singing".  We sang the old hymn I told you about previously this week...http://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2016/01/moments-of-grace-who-do-you-see-in.html  "O To Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer".  As our voices blended together we made this song our prayer.  Then one of our ladies spontaneously blessed us with her lovely voice as she sang "Amazing Grace"...and what a thrill that was, especially as I watched my 92+ year old mother in law harmonize along with her. 

The beautiful miracle of the morning was that about an hour prior to our time of gathering together there was a powerful storm galloping through our area with gale force winds and pounding rain. As I watched the trees bending to and fro in turbulence outside my window, I feared that the phone calls would start coming in from ladies cancelling out due to being afraid to drive in the storm. I wouldn't have blamed them, but it would have been such a disappointment after so much anticipation and preparation for the day. So I started praying...for the storm to pass through quickly, and for the ladies to not be afraid or harmed in any way.  Almost as quickly as the storm started it stopped.  The winds died down and the pounding rain gave way to sprinkles.  No one called. At the appointed time the cars started arriving in the yard.  I ran outside with my umbrella and welcomed them in and the "Lovely Ladies of the Lord" (even more than I had originally expected!)~~~

"entered into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise."

And then we all were 

"thankful to Him..."

and blessed His name...

"For the Lord is good;

His mercy IS everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations."

Amen

God even provided these lovely flowers for our centerpiece...picked fresh from my yard before the storm could
knock off the blossoms from the plants!
What a surprise to find these in the middle of January!

Remember this bookmark?  (click on the link for the story)

My ONE WORD - GRACE, for 2016, is getting quite a work out already...and it's only the middle of January! But that's okay. I love these little Moments of Grace, don't you?

What are some of the "Moments of Grace" in your life today?  Think about it. There may be more than you realize.