Hi Brian!

Today's "Evening Meditation" by Charles Spurgeon is SO clear!

"All they that heard it wondered at those things." — Luke 2:18

We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God's glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer, yet it silently adores. Our incarnate God is to be worshipped as "the Wonderful." That God should consider His fallen creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom of destruction, should Himself undertake to be man's Redeemer, and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed marvellous! But to each believer redemption is most marvellous as he views it in relation to himself. It is a miracle of grace indeed, that Jesus should forsake the thrones and royalties above, to suffer ignominiously below for you. Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness; you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this. Feeling the presence of the mighty God in the gift of His dear Son, you will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvellous things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and the cross? What is there wonderful left after one has seen the Saviour? Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard, but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.

I have found at various times in the 46 years since I received JESUS as LORD and SAVIOUR that I was operating on previously received knowledge and NOT on currently meditated on TRUTH! I then remind myself, rather forcefully, that for my FAITH to remain powerful, strong and current, I must stay consistently in the Word of God AND in fellowship with like minded believers! As I am NOT a 'people person' this can be hard for me sometimes! My prayer for you concerning this is that HIS voice will become even clearer to you than it has ever been! That is so needful in these times when so many people have an opinion and they want to share it! Holy Spirit is ALWAYS present IN US to help us discern HIS WILL rather than the ideas of society! In times like this, I like to go back to some simple kids praise! So here, for YOU, are Hillsong Kids with "I Give You My Hallelujah!":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

As I was praying for you and your family I was impressed, again, with how much you and Kristine pour yourselves into your girls and give them every opportunity to succeed, especially allowing them to try different things that interest them! This brought to mind again this verse that I am sure we covered before, but is always a good reminder! 

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. KJV

This is a GREAT promise, but in the Amplified Bible it is even better!

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.  AMP

The underlined part is my very favorite part! God MADE them so unique and individually gifted to do GREAT things in their lives! What a great promise! HE celebrates our diversity! He did NOT want clones, but individuals who would love and serve HIM from our own individual personalities. HE desires that WE be uniquely US! You have given each of your girls the space opportunity and freedom to explore those things and find out! I will continue to pray for great WISDOM for you both so that you will have CONFIDENCE that you are doing a GREAT job and that HE is WELL PLEASED! Here is that verse from The Passion Translation!

Proverbs 22:6 Dedicate your children to God and point them in the way that they should go, and the values they’ve learned from you will be with them for life.

And here is another song for you in keeping with that theme! Brandon Lake and Benjamin William Hastings with "More" because when we seek Him first, He is ALWAYS doing MORE! 

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

 Hi Brian!

I apologize again for missing the blog! These holidays really messed up my timing! So we will pick up again now with our first post of 2026! We will be looking at a devotional by Charles Spurgeon that has been very encouraging to me! 

"I have prayed for thee." — Luke 22:32

How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never- ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is advocating our cause, and by His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the word of comfort addressed to Peter—"Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but"—what? "But go and pray for yourself." That would be good advice, but it is not so written. Neither does he say, "But I will keep you watchful, and so you shall be preserved." That were a great blessing. No, it is, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." We little know what we owe to our Saviour's prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us, how we shall praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mischief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank Him because He never held His peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names upon His breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had forestalled him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy outruns malice. Mark, He does not say, "Satan hath desired to have you." He checks Satan even in his very desire, and nips it in the bud. He does not say, "But I have desired to pray for you." No, but "I have prayed for you: I have done it already; I have gone to court and entered a counterplea even before an accusation is made." O Jesus, what a comfort it is that you hast pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined their mines, and unmasked their ambushes. Here is a matter for joy, gratitude, hope, and confidence.

NOTHING in our lives ever takes HIM by surprise! He knows what we face. He knows what we are going through. In fact, He KNOWS what we face even before it happens. And HE has already provided the next step for us to take when we spend time with Holy Spirit and the WORD! Reading this brought to mind this song by Hillsong from a few years ago called "Oceans". I have always loved this song because it is an encouragement to me to step out in faith for each new thing KNOWING that HE is leading, guiding and directing my ev ery step! And YOUR, too! Here is that song! I hope that you are as blessed by it as I am!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!