We had a good 4th of July--we played Volleyball in the Anthony 4th of july tourney---from 8 AM til 5 PM--of course I got overheated and had to skip the final game BUT WE ended up getting first place--i was kinda excited to get my first annual 4th of july oversized unstylish tank top. :)
After a cold shower and alittle nap Kregg and I headed out to celebrate with Kyle and Crystal +kids. We skipped the whole bbq thing and just got pizza (very American of us, right?) If you look at my legs you'll see bruises***Kregg doesnt beat me although this made for an interesting day of jokes at volleyball. It involves the dog- my hands full- kreggs front porch...don't ask- not my most proud moment. take a minute to read this please.
After a cold shower and a
I got a 'devotional' from my dad on the 4th- that I really enjoyed- and thought was very interesting--
and I would now like to share a quote from Abraham Lincoln. On April 30, 1863, in a proclamation for a national day of fasting and prayer, Lincoln wrote:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
If Lincoln's statements were true in 1863, they are even more true today. America and Americans have forgotten God. We have truly become intoxicated with our unbroken success. We have become too 'self-sufficient' to feel the need to recognize and acknowledge God, our creator.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God says:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
