Greetings Siestas and a hug to each of you! What a joy and honor it is to share here. Outside my dear family, there is no other group that I have enjoyed doing life with as much as with friends from this dear community. My name is Lora Lovin Osburn, and I live in Tennessee. I have been married to my husband Gary for 26 years and we have two lovely daughters. Our oldest, Audra Elizabeth, was married last year, and Victoria, our youngest, is studying pre-law. I enjoy the beauty of GOD’s creation, architecture, art, lamp lights, gardening, earrings, poetry and walking with my family and Lilly Belle (our 12 year old Maltese). Some of my best days are Sundays at my church with my family seated nearby, serving on the prayer team, and worshiping and applying the word with them.
We have had a year full of major life events including our youngest going to college, my invalid father moving in with us, our oldest getting married. There were numerous hospital trips, then selling our home, and moving to a new town. Many times the circumstances within the major events made me think that a hidden camera must be following me around! Life just seemed crazy at times. Though I would not have chosen the events of the last year to be knitted so closely together, I can say that my faith is stronger, my family is closer, my friends are dearer, and my sweet Jesus seems even nearer. The abundance GOD allowed me to experience through this year is why every phrase in this verse just lept off the page and into my heart:
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest,
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11 NLT
“You crown the year”
I see GOD giving a crown at the beginning of the year. I cannot imagine any reality TV show that would start the season by announcing the winner or giving the prize at the beginning. Although it would seem to make for a lackluster, anti-climatic season to know in advance who wins; I feel like GOD has done that with us. Why would HE, who holds the highest rank and title, give a reward of victory, before the season begins? Because HE loves us and is for us! This is going to be a glorious year! I believe that every day of the year is encircled with a diadem from HIM.
“With a bountiful harvest”
Growing up working in our family garden, I thought that my dad had planted to feed an army, and not just for our family, because of the abundance; but Dad was able to give generously of the harvest, and I see our heavenly Father doing the same. When I see HIS overflowing cart of good gifts for us, I can’t help but think that this verse applies to us not only as individuals but also to the church. HIS Word also confirms that the harvest is great in the world. In spite of what we are going through ourselves, there is kingdom work to do! Let’s be active in picking up a basket and harvesting the fields where GOD has placed us so that many souls will be added to HIS kingdom. May we witness an outpouring of HIS SPIRIT on all people and may many lives be impacted by and for the Kingdom of GOD.
“Even the hard pathways”
If I had the choice of “two roads diverged”, I would certainly choose the one that resembles a flowery Monet painting, not a hard pathway. Who would choose a hard pathway? But, that aptly describes my last year. The example JESUS gives when faced with difficulty encourages me. JESUS submitted HIS will to GOD at the cross and wore a crown of thorns. GOD did get the glory with JESUS, and I pray HE does from our GOD-ordained steps.
“Overflow with abundance”
When the children were little we’d take walks to the park, and our youngest would stop and pick up rocks along the way. She wasn’t mining gems; but she was finding delight in the daily, ordinary pathway. Sometimes I just want my path to be easy like the walk to the park; but GOD has crowned the year with so much of HIM, so much of HIS glory, that even the hard, the difficult, the part that I think I’d rather not have, overflows with abundance. Even though we may be walking in a busy season, through a complex or challenging situation, or facing intense personal concerns, truth states that hard pathways overflow with abundance. I love that this is present tense! Hallelujah!!! I need that on my pathway today! How amazing is our GOD!!! There is such a sense of celebration here because HE can be seen, felt, experienced, and praised even during difficult days! Glory to HIS Name!
Let us offer thanksgiving, sing, dance and praise:
GOD pours out abundance on our hard pathways!
Believing that many souls will be harvested and saved,
And at the outpouring of GOD’s Spirit, may we be amazed!
I’m living in and looking for HIS overflowing abundance,
So thankful for this year and GOD’s crowning circumference.
Kenora, ON Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Rom. 8:23 (NIV)
Rom 12:11-13
11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Megan Allen – Hillsboro OH
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV
Kristi B.
Houston, TX
Proverbs 10:19 NIV
“Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”
Alisha Hoschton, GA
Numbers 23:19 ESV
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Debbie, Atascocita, TX Romans 8:18 (NIV)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Vivienne B, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
KhakkiBonner Nashville, TN
Deuteronomy 30:20 NLT you can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, & committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life
Vanda – Kansas
Dear Lora; I have to borrow your verse this time. The last year has been a path I would wish on any one. In the last 32 days both my mom and dad have taken the beautiful journey to Heaven. I was blessed to be with both of them at their passing knowing the angles were guiding them home. I have seen and felt the abundance of God’s grace through this journey.
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest,
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11 NLT
Becky Mims, Midland,Texas
“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is any one happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” James 5:13 NIV
Emily C, Bothell WA
1 Peter 1:15-16 NIV
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Jedonne, Nashville, TN
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” Jonah 2:2 (NIV)
Susan Brown. Mandeville, LA
Ephesians 5:15-16 “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” NIV
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. Psalm 119:2
1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Charlotte, NC
“If anyone says ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.”
1 John 4:20 (HCSB)
“Let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:6
Leslie Warnick
Oakland MD
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galations 2:20 NIV
Janet Bell
Pinson, Alabama
But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will song of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 59:16. NIV
Penny; Loganville, GA
Luke 1:37
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
NASB
Carla, Pierre, SD
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:6-8 NIV
Jean Crawford – Boring, OR
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest, even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
Psalm 65:11/NLT
Dawn Tolley, Appomattox, VA “May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.” Psalm 25:21 (NIV)
riTa, Upland, IN
Romans 6:18 (HCSB)
and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
Romanos 6:18 (RVC)
y una vez liberados del pecado llegaron a ser siervos de la justicia.
Hebrews 3:13 NIV
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Debi Detroyer Emmett, MI
Revelation 3:20
” Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
sorry, my verse was from the NIV…
Have a blessed day sisters!
Mayetta Curtis, Springfield Missouri
“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith” (NIV)
Kerry Babb, Houston, TX
“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”
Romans 8:18 (NLT)
Highlands Ranch, CO
Phil 3:14. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
“No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you.
Joshua 1:5 NIV
Kathy Leamington Ontario Canada
The 2nd verse of what I started last time:
vs l “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you.
vs 2 Come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you.”
Isaiah 64:1,2. NIV
Michelle O’Banion ~* Grandview, TX
Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13 NET
Molly Petrey
Paris, KY
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV) A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
Karla K
Broomfield, CO
Matthew 19:26 ESV
But Jesus looked at them and said, “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Kathy, Danvers, MA
1 Peter 5:10 NASB
After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Terri Lundskow – Hughesville, Maryland
John 14:15 ( NIV) – If you love me, keep my commands.
Krista Valdes Zamora Round Rick, TX
“We praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”
Ephesians 1:6. NLT
Kristin Kellett, Tulsa, OK. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 (NLT)
Cedarville, OH
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.” Psalm 65:11 NLT
From Tishomingo, OK
You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
Marcelene- Tucson, AZ
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. NKJV
” For by one sacrifice he has made us perfect forever those who are being made holy”
Hebrews 10:14, NIV
Taryn Schairer
Lititz, PA
Sherilyn, Warsaw, IN
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:1 NIV
Becky Douglas, Houston, TX
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34 NIV
Ann from Odessa, FL
“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
â€â€Hebrews‬ â€12:14‬ â€ESV‬‬
Gina Campbell, Katy, TX.
O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
â€â€Psalms‬ â€139:1‬ â€NLT‬‬
Joan Wetzel, New Orleans, Louisiana,
(Part of a passage from Matthew 22:1-14)
” ‘ But the king was enraged, and he sent
his armies and destroyed those
murderers and set their city on fire.’ ”
Matthew 22:7 (NASB)
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. NIV
Jeanne Warner Robins, GA
Proverbs 21:23 (HCSB)
The one who guards his mouth and tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
Janet,Torrington,WY Psalm 65:11 NLT
“You crown the year with a bountiful harvest,
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.”