Wednesday women in the word

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I thought I'd share a couple of things I like to do to add to my quiet time each day.  I don't always do this, but sometime (like on Monday night when I had time to kill before I headed upstairs for bed), I tacked this on to the end of my day.  I like to end the day like this sometimes, particularly if I've felt a little gloomy, or even when I'm feeling extra thankful to the Lord for how He has brought me through something.

I almost consider this a funny fact about me, because nobody would ever guess how much I love YouTube except for my best friend Missy.  We share this love and we both utilize it ALL. THE. TIME.  There are several bands and pastors that I've subscribed to.  One pastor is Francis Chan, so when he uploads a video, I get a notification.  I watched a video last night of him teaching on Jeremiah 1:5.  It was so good!  He uploads short videos all the time, at least once a week, and I love to hear him teach.  They're usually about fifteen minutes long.

I also love to subscribe to some of my favorite worship leaders, like Elevation Worship, CityAlight, Kari Jobe, Hillsong, and others like them.  I love worship music and to have it playing all throughout my day.  Since we've all been quarantined, one of the biggest things I've missed is going to church for worship.  It's not at all the same to worship here at home during the Sunday service.  In lieu of that, I worship the Lord at different times during the day, like when I'm cooking or if I'm in my bathroom upstairs getting dressed.  I have a couple of bluetooth speakers in my house that I use when I play music.  One is my Google Mini Nest here in the kitchen.  I can say to it, "Hey Google, play ________.", and usually a playlist from Spotify will start playing.

We are Spotify subscribers, too.  You can join for free, but we like to be able to listen without ads, so we have a family plan for a small amount each month.  We're able to listen to all kinds of music on here, and my husband uses this exclusively in his truck while he's driving.  I have playlists that I listen to on Spotify all the time, and my favorite is one I made that has a lot of worship songs that I like.  (I'm really particular about worship music....not every Christian radio song is a worship song.  My preference is when they're taken out of Scripture.)  The other bluetooth speaker I have I keep in my bathroom, and it's a little Bose speaker that Todd bought me years ago for my birthday.  He loves to buy me electronics.  I love that thing!  It's portable and can be moved, but it pretty much stays up there, except for when we take it out on the deck with us.

I love music and ever since I was a young girl, the Lord has used songs in my life to bring me closer to Him.  Some of my earliest memories from childhood involve music.  Even Sunday when I went to see my stepmom and dad for Mother's day, we sat and listened to music together while I was there.  Almost every time we're together, we do this, it's nothing new.  Dad loves older music, but he also loves all of my newer stuff.  There have been many a Friday when we sat in my living room and worshiped to a Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir song I pulled up for him to hear.

A lot of times when I'm listening to a song that I know is out of Scripture, I will turn to the passage in my bible and read it along with what I'm listening to.  I just did this last night as I listened to one of the newer songs that I currently love, The Blessing, by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes.  It's taken from Numbers 6:24-26.

I just think that doing this at the end of the day is really sweet.  It's like the lyrics that you've listened to are emblazed upon your heart, and what a sweet thing to listen to right before you lay down at night.  Look at these lyrics of that song The Blessing that I mentioned.  This was what I listened to right before I went to bed:

May His favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And tHeir children, and tHeir children

May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you, and within you
He is with you, He is with you

In tHe morning, in tHe evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping, and rejoicing
He is for you, He is for you

Isn't that beautiful?  I love to pray these verses in Numbers 6:24-26 over my family, and I love the other verses the song mentions.  I'll write them out.

But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.  Exodus 20:6

Know that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.  Deuteronomy 7:9

But from eternity to eternity to LORD's faithful love is toward those who fear him, and his righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant, who remember his precepts.  The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.  Psalm 103:17-19

I love to pray Scripture over my family, and these songs are what leads me to this a lot of time.  So that's just another thing I like to do sometimes.  Like I mentioned, I don't do this every day, but I do when I have the time or if I'm wanting to fill the time and don't like what is being watched on the living room tv.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.