Gimli Lutheran Church

08/16/2026

We surprised Tom with a Celebration for his Birthday...We are truly Blessed here at Gimli Lutheran to have Tom as a Congregational and Worship Leader.

08/16/2026

The Seeds We Sow - Galatians 6:7-9 (KJV)
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Every day the soil of our lives receives seed. There is no neutral moment. The thoughts we allow to linger, the words we speak, the way we meet another person, and the quiet posture of our hearts all fall into the ground. God has spoken the unchanging law: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He will not be mocked.

The harvest will match the seed.

• We can sow love or hate.
• We can sow listening or interrupting.
• We can sow understanding or misunderstanding.
• We can sow contentment or discontentment.
• We can sow balance or imbalance.
• We can sow peace or chaos, confidence or insecurity, certainty or uncertainty, assurance or doubt, courage or fear, trust or distrust.

Each choice is a seed.

▪️The flesh is always ready with its familiar packets:

• the sharp reply that interrupts,

• the restless discontent that refuses rest,

• the imbalance that drains both body and spirit,

• the misunderstanding that hardens into distance.

▪️Yet the Spirit offers better seed.

📍LOVE that chooses the good of another.

📍LISTENING that makes space for a soul to be heard.

📍UNDERSTANDING that seeks to know rather than to win.

📍CONTENTMENT that rests in what God has already given.

📍BALANCE that honors both the need for strength and the need for stillness.

These are seeds sown to the Spirit, and they will produce life everlasting.

The danger is not that we will sow nothing. The danger is that we will sow without noticing.

One hurried interruption,
one unchecked wave of discontent,
one day of living out of balance,
one moment of choosing to misunderstand rather than to understand - these are seeds of the flesh, and they will grow corruption.

One deliberate choice to listen fully,
one quiet return to contentment,
one steady step back into balance,
one patient seeking of true understanding - these are seeds of the Spirit, and they will grow a harvest of righteousness.

Do not grow weary in well doing. The season of reaping is coming. Keep sowing the good seed in the ordinary hours. Keep breaking up the hard ground where old patterns of hate, interruption, misunderstanding, discontentment, and imbalance have taken root.

Keep seeking the Lord until He rains righteousness upon the field of your life. In due season the harvest will come, and it will not lie.

Father, open our eyes to the seed we hold in our hands each day. Forgive us for the times we have scattered hate instead of love, interruption instead of listening, misunderstanding instead of understanding, discontentment instead of contentment, imbalance instead of balance. By Your Spirit teach us to sow what brings life. Make us faithful in the small plantings so that the fruit of righteousness may rise from the ground of our lives. Keep us from growing weary. Let every seed we sow today honor You.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

© 2026 She Loves Boldly. All Rights Reserved.

08/16/2026

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08/16/2026

08/16/2026

FIRST READING: Genesis 45:1-15
[After Judah offered himself in place of his brother Benjamin,] 1 Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.’
12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

PSALM 133: 1-3
1 How good and how pleasant it is, when kindred live together in unity!
2 It is like fine oil upon the head, flowing down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, flowing down upon the collar of his robe.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon flowing down upon the hills of Zion. For there the LORD has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.

SECOND READING: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
[Paul writes:] 1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2a God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so also they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.
32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

GOSPEL: Matthew 15:21-28

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.

08/16/2026

Morning Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the gift of a new day. Before the busyness begins, I choose to quiet my heart before You. Thank You for the breath in my lungs, the strength to rise, and the promise that Your mercies are new every morning.

Lord, You know what each person reading this is carrying today. Some are facing grief, uncertainty, illness, financial burdens, broken relationships, loneliness, or anxiety. Others are simply weary from the weight of life. Whatever stands before us today, remind us that nothing is greater than Your power, Your love, or Your faithfulness.

Help us to begin this day with hearts full of gratitude instead of fear, faith instead of worry, and hope instead of discouragement. Guard our minds from negativity and our hearts from bitterness. Fill us with Your peace that passes all understanding, and help us to trust You one step at a time.

Give us wisdom in every decision, patience with every interruption, kindness in every conversation, and grace for every challenge. Let our words bring life, our actions reflect Christ, and our attitudes point others to You.

When we feel weak, be our strength. When we are uncertain, be our guide. When we are overwhelmed, remind us that You go before us, walk beside us, and never leave us nor forsake us.

May we not waste this day chasing things that will fade, but instead seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Open our eyes to opportunities to encourage someone, show compassion, forgive quickly, and love generously.

Lord, help us remember that today’s trials are not the end of our story. You are still working, still providing, still healing, still restoring, and still fulfilling every promise according to Your perfect will and timing.

We surrender this day into Your hands. May everything we do bring honor and glory to Your name.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen!

08/16/2026

Strength helped David encourage himself in the Lord even when it looked like God had abandoned him at Ziglag. (I Samuel 30) When all was against him, and even his friends wanted to stone him, he looked toward heaven for his help yet again.

When it seemed he had lost everything he had, including his family, he was able to still find the strength to trust God to help him recover all that he had lost and redeem himself in the eyes of his family and friends.

Strength doesn’t just show up to rally us in our big momentous moments, but it slides in ever so quietly beside us and breathes new vigor into our lifeless places.

It whispers to our heart on a hard day, “You can do this.” And it keeps whispering it until you believe it.

It convinces you to keep walking even when your feet don’t feel like they could have taken another step.

God’s strength helps us hold on through the hard times till we behold the good things He has planned for us.

God is still proving He is our strength to hold it all together even when we are at our weakest.

And on the hard days, we can be thankful God will renew our strength.

See you in the field,
Susan

08/16/2026

sharing from the page of The Deaconess Community

“Woman, great is your faith!” — Matthew 15:28
In today’s Gospel, a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter.Others would send her away. She is an outsider whose voice could easily be ignored. Yet she persists.
She speaks. She challenges. She trusts. And Jesus listens.
Her story invites us to ask whose voices are too easily ignored in our own communities. Who is asking to be heard? And are we willing not only to welcome them, but also to listen and allow ourselves to be changed?
Faith active in love listens, crosses boundaries, and makes room for voices the world too often pushes aside.

08/09/2026

The closer we walk with Jesus, the lighter our burdens become. We don't have to carry tomorrow's worries or control every outcome. Peace grows when we place each day, and everything we can't change, into God's faithful hands.

If these daily reminders encourage your walk with Christ, we'd love to have you join our free weekly devotional. And if you're looking for worship music to help quiet your heart and keep your focus on Jesus, explore our worship playlists through the link in our bio. We pray they fill your week with peace, hope, and His presence.