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Text of the page (random words):
experience many options are available online you can use the box as is cover the lid in wrapping paper or decorate another way make it a pleasure to pull off the shelf for each card you ll want to include the name of the person s or ministry at the top with the date you re starting to pray for them names concealed to protect privacy if there s a specific need write a short summary statement include the date if it s different than the one recorded at the top of the card we can also pray for the health of their spirit their strength of faith a life of integrity daily awareness of god s love in palpable ways rest in his shalom and a wide ripple effect from their life let s not forget linda s helpful verbs either when possible include a scripture that relates to the request the best praying man is the man who is most believingly familiar with the promises of god after all prayer is nothing but taking god s promises to him and saying to him do as you have said charles spurgeon from the secret of power in prayer record evidence of progress praise god for his involvement include request cards for yourself especially those concerns that impact your relationship with god and with others you may wish to intersperse cards of inspiration as well record the answers as they come enjoy the delight of citing evidence of god s attentiveness creative solutions miracle working power and more of course sometimes the answer isn t what i asked for but i record those too knowing that everything god does somehow serves divine purpose when god says yes he increases our joy when god says wait he increases our patience and when god says no he increases our trust in his higher ways isaiah 55 8 9 keep the cards of answered prayers in a separate place as proof of god s involvement boost your confidence in god and the power of prayer as the stack grows isaiah 25 1 and remember a praying saint performs far more havoc among the unseen forces of darkness than we have the slightest notion of oswald chambers biblical psychology 1912 perhaps a faithfully used prayer box will help create more havoc image credits nancy ruegg www commons wikimedia org 2 nancy ruegg 8 take note a new resource for you do sign up below for the monthly newsletter that includes a collection of quotes and scriptures focused on hope to encourage you and to share with others scroll to the end of the newsletter to access this resource join my mailchimp audience submitting form by clicking submit you agree to share your email address with mailchimp and me to receive the newsletter use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time processing success you re on the list whoops there was an error and we couldn t process your subscription please reload the page and try again posted in encouragement faith god s goodness prayer uncategorized tagged answers to prayer faith isaiah 25 1 isaiah 55 8 9 power of prayer prayer prayer cards 43 comments choosing to remember may 28 2026 by nancy ruegg mom dad and great granddaughter about 2011 as he got older my dad would occasionally quip my memory is so good i can remember things that didn t even happen actually dad remembered accurately many past events numerous jokes a plethora of interesting trivia and an impressive amount of bible knowledge well into old age some years ago i happened to recall a fun song from my childhood but a few lines of lyrics had escaped my memory dad was in his upper eighties by this time but i asked anyway do you happen to remember the lyrics to cheer up cheer up he remembered them perfectly and we enjoyed reminiscing about the scottish pastor who d taught us to sing the chorus with a scottish accent delightful memories are one of the joys of getting older in fact but god designed our memory capacity for more than just enjoyment he had in mind important purpose as we use this ability to foster our relationship with him for example remembering god s interventions contributes to our hope looking back over our lives we all can remember how god has brought us through challenging times miraculously supplied urgent needs and guided us in difficult decisions as a result we can affirm if he took care of those situations then he can certainly take care of this situation now and we find hope beginning to bloom remembering god s mighty deeds bolsters our faith like the psalmist asaph wrote i will ponder all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds your way o god is holy what god is great like our god psalm 77 12 13 remembering is a form of worship and as we rehearse with him the miracles we ve witnessed and experienced our fears subside doubts shrink strength increases and our confidence in god expands remembering god s faithfulness fosters gratitude and peace brain research has confirmed that engaging in gratitude rewires neural pathways combating anxiety that means with every remembrance of god s faithfulness we re taking advantage of the ability he s given us to calm our stress and hard wire pathways to peace remembering the past encourages personal and spiritual growth we find wisdom for the present from the lessons learned in the past one lesson i ve learned along the way was actually proclaimed eons ago by a greek playwright aeschylus happiness is a choice i can choose negativity and spiral downward into discouragement or i can look for the blessings in my life and give my heart a good dose of cheer proverbs 17 22 i d rather do the latter remembering the past contributes to obedience as we consider how god has provided throughout our lives we re more able to obey the instructions as we praise god for what he s accomplished in the past we ll sidestep complaining about a difficulty in the present as we remember the joy of liberal generosity acts 20 35 we ll avoid tight fisted possessiveness and as we strengthen our faith by remembering god s amazing deeds we fight against spiritual complacency with the psalmist we can affirm we have no need for wishful thinking remembering things that didn t even happen pondering all the wonders god has performed for us will keep us happily occupied into eternity https cfc sebts edu faith and culture why remembering matters and how it shapes our lives and our brains image credits nancy ruegg http www easy peasy ai http www canva com http www heartlight org nancy ruegg http www dailyverses net http www canva com do sign up below for the monthly newsletter that includes a thank you gift thirty ways to stretch and enhance our gratitude to god scroll to the end of the newsletter to access this resource join my mailchimp audience submitting form by clicking submit you agree to share your email address with mailchimp and me to receive the newsletter use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time processing success you re on the list whoops there was an error and we couldn t process your subscription please reload the page and try again posted in appreciation bible study blessings encouragement faith god s faithfulness god s goodness hope meditation obedience peace praise renewing the mind thanksgiving uncategorized tagged faith hope isaiah 26 3 memories memories and relationship with god psalm 111 2 3 psalm 77 12 13 using memories to good purpose 46 comments there s pride and then there s pride may 21 2026 by nancy ruegg gus gave the toy chest one last buffing to make the wood glow then stepped back to survey his work yes this would serve his pastor s family well for years to come he d put all his expertise as a cabinetmaker into creating the handsome yet sturdy toy chest but when gus and his wife delivered the gift to rev peterson they received apologies and regret oh gus this is absolutely beautiful their pastor cried you must have spent hours laboring over it and i thank you with all my heart but this is so embarrassing i never intended for you to invest so much time when i asked you to throw together a box for the accumulating toys you ve given us a piece of furniture how can we thank you enough for such a gift you have to understand responded gus s wife she lovingly reached out to touch her husband s arm gus is a cabinetmaker he could never as you say throw a box together his pride would not permit it his pride would not permit it some might read that statement and wonder should gus be prideful of his work doesn t pride go before destruction and precede disgrace proverbs 16 18 11 2 a quick check in a thesaurus helps settle the question first pride can mean arrogance self importance and self glorification which the bible does warn against but pride can also take the form of pleasure joy and satisfaction that s the kind of pride gus experienced creating the best toy chest his skills could produce resulting in a satisfying sense of achievement is this type of pride mentioned in the bible yes remember when god surveyed his creation what did he think about his work did he say well i guess that will do no god saw all that he had made and it was very good genesis 1 31 emphasis added he acknowledged the worth of his work and took pride delight and satisfaction in what he d accomplished god also inspired king solomon to write and what did god say about jesus after his baptism this is my son with him i am well pleased matthew 3 17 that sounds similar to what parents say as their children demonstrate honorable character or achieve success in an endeavor only instead of saying we are well pleased with you mom and dad declare we re so proud of you different words same meaning in fact the apostle paul expressed such satisfaction in the church at corinth writing i take great pride in you 2 corinthians 7 4 of course even a healthy satisfaction in character growth spiritual maturity or other achievement can slide into arrogance and self glorification if we re not careful so what might help us maintain wholesome pride and avoid the harmful variety here are a few suggestions acknowledge the work of god in our lives everything does come from him james 1 17 be satisfied our audience of one sees our efforts avoid seeking accolades from others matthew 6 1 be wary also of self deprecation we are god s workmanship ephesians 4 10 we ve been amazingly and miraculously made psalm 139 18 take delight in that learn humility resist arrogant thoughts philippians 2 3 4 turn to god frequently praying for his empowerment to do what s right even when no one sees isaiah 40 29 31 understand that prideful self glorification results in turning away from god psalm 10 4 most of us have never heard of gus the builder of that exceptional toy chest but it s probable you know of his pastor eugene h peterson author of many books and the message a modern paraphrase of the bible peterson shared about gus in his book run with the horses the story embellished a bit in this post he included the observation that toy box has been in our family for over fifty years now and rebukes me whenever i am tempted to do hasty or shoddy work of any kind 183 gus taught his young pastor to take pride in his work and peterson took that lesson to heart for all the subsequent decades of his ministry peterson pursued excellence in the sermons he preached the books he wrote and the leadership he provided impacting thousands it s likely gus never realized what an important role he played i think he would ve been ok with that his healthy pride was enveloped in holy humility published by intervarsity press 2009 image credits http www pexels com tima miroshichenko http www dailyverses net http www easy peasy ai http www canva com 2 do sign up below for the monthly newsletter that includes a thank you gift thirty ways to stretch and enhance our gratitude to god scroll to the end of the newsletter to access this resource join my mailchimp audience submitting form by clicking submit you agree to share your email address with mailchimp and me to receive the newsletter use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time processing success you re on the list whoops there was an error and we couldn t process your subscription please reload the page and try again posted in bible study encouragement excellence god s delight god given abilities humility self esteem service success uncategorized tagged colossians 3 22 24 ecclesiastes 11 2 eugene h peterson healthy pride pride take delight in work take pride in work 46 comments when god s people pray may 14 2026 by nancy ruegg harry leigh dunmore listened to waves strike the shore and gulls shriek overhead a year ago he mused i d have considered this a lark sitting on the beach under a sunny sky but this was may 25 1940 and harry found himself waiting on the french coast for rescue while dozens of german panzer tanks barreled westward toward him and more than 300 000 others of the british expeditionary forces gathering on the beaches of dunkirk the germans had blitzed through belgium holland and southern france surrounding the allied forces and leaving them stranded on the coast rumors spread that ships from britain would soon rescue them but how could such an effort be mounted in time and for so many harry dared hope they d find a way in the distance he and every other soldier heard the rumble of the luftwaffe the german air force approaching again from the east quickly they spread out and hunched down small and tight to make themselves difficult targets there wasn t enough cover to protect them all meanwhile in england in spite of predictions that only 20 000 to 30 000 men could be rescued prime minister winston churchill had sanctioned operation dynamo on may 20 to begin on sunday may 26 vice admiral ramsay called for every boat or ship owner willing to participate in the dangerous mission to gather their crafts around dover on the southwestern coast more than eight hundred began to assemble 1 the plan called for smaller boats to shuttle the soldiers from the shallow waters of dunkirk to larger vessels and naval ships anchored further out that would then transport the men back to dover french ground forces and the raf would provide cover king george vi a man of strong faith received briefing of the plan and the dire predictions on may 24 th he called for a national day of prayer to occur as evacuations would begin may 26 within hours of that call to prayer hitler halted that western bound panzer assault just ten miles or so from dunkirk 2 in order to give the german infantry time to catch up 3 german general göring assured hitler the luftwaffe could decimate the beach stranded soldiers even though only one run per day was possible they had to fly from germany and attack quickly in order to conserve fuel for the return trip 4 on sunday may 26 th as the rescue mission began millions of britons overflowed the churches into the streets praying for god s intervention on behalf of their boys on tuesday more stormy weather grounded the luftwaffe wednesday brought uncommonly calm waters in the english channel making it possible for the smallest of boats to participate in the rescue a...