When I began to blog, it was almost a year before I actuallly figured out how to get back to the site.  I was such a novice.  A friend had a wonderful site, which shared her art, and I said I might like to try it, she said I should, and then I was stuck.  I was so embarrassed I didn't even know if I wanted to try again.  But I knew I wanted this format. I wanted to put my thoughts somewhere that I could revisit them. Unlike a journal, where it is a little more difficult to make oneself write often enough to see the progression, the blog encourages more of the inner me to participate.  I can be a little creative, or a lot. I can learn new elements to making a blog work or leave the blog just hanging for my personal use. I can look back and see in the links of the past how God carries me through, and I can build upon the foundation of it to expand its gifts.
Today is the 1000th post on My fellow blogger's site - MY WINGS ARE MADE OF FAITH - by Christy Cotterman.  When she asked me to share posting to her site, I counted it a privelge to lighten her daily load a bit, and expand my horizons.  Over the time we have shared, I have found her heart to be genuinely seeking God's perfect plan for our very unperfect lives.  That's the joy of it.  We can be real, and still seek the masterfulness of a loving God to work out his majesty in our lives.  Let no one ever accuse us of thinking we are so good at it that we never falter and fail.  That's the great thing about blogs.  Being honest about how we are seeking God's face in the midst of chaos, pain, dissapointments, embarrassment - through the lows and highs in our lives, is how God  wants us to share with people that he came to seek the lost.  If you think you have it all in order, you won't like our ramblings.  We are gleaning as much from our posts as we wish you will.  We are sharing how God feeds us his daily dose of blessing.  Hope every one who reads will be blessed in some way, but that they will take a journey as well, with confidence that all good things come from God, and they come through a process.  God has laid a foundation for that process to begin in Jesus Christ and his all forgiving salvation, the work of redemption through his death on the cross and his ressurection to the right hand of the Father.  We lean heavily on the blood shed there as a sheild and a reminder, that we are not alone in this world, no matter how few friends are near.  God never leaves or forsakes us. He is always near in his Spirit, and in fact, we accept and allow that his Spirit indwells us, forever. He is not only near, he is one with our own soul.
I am truly thankful for the opportunity to blog.  And since many of my friends are far away, I see the great opportunity to share my walk with God with friends far away, as yet another way God gave me to connect to people of like mind, whose heart's desire is to serve the Lord with Gladness.

Thank you Lord for blogs, and for friends and for your direction and indwelling Spirit. Continue to walk with us. Lord reach anyone who may benefit from our walk together, but I will be content to know you continue to bless my soul. AMEN

Dear friends of mine have just lost a son and grandson who passed suddenly into the arms of God.  He is the same age as my grandson.  His mother was in my Sunday School class years ago. Had we remained in Georgia, I have no doubt they would have remained aquaintances through church.  My heart aches for them, because I can not imagine loosing our Dakota. This sweet mother through her trauma has expressed her expectation of God's Grace to carry her through. She is looking early to the Lord for comfort and has claimed his Peace.  When I looked at her facebook page to determine where they lived now, I saw a comment on her page written when she put up her site.  She says something like- "courage in women is mistaken for insanity."  I can't help but think how insane it would look to some people to say you have the Peace of God in the death of your child.  I can't say that I would have that same courage initially.  I would have to fight back self and my own emotions, I believe, until I could seek God's peace. So I wondered, is that what it takes to turn immediately to the strength of God's Grace? Courage?  The fighting kind?  I know this family, and I know their faith. Faith, Peace and Courage won't give them a child back, but they wouldn't bring him back.  What is foremost in their minds, is their genuine love of Jesus. They see him with Jesus. They are looking at death the way Christ wants us to. He wanted us to see it as a passage into a better world.  Not that we should seek death, but rather that we should not fear it.  I think I have lost sight of that a bit.  Her son just walked through the doors of HEAVEN!  Jesus said we should rejoice in that day.  When I was a child I used to get excited when I thought of the day my Mom would run in Heaven.  I didn't fear death at all. As I enter the last era of my own life,  I let the sadness of things I could not accomplish in life overshadow the joy I should be having at nearing the day of my own passage to see the face of Jesus, to be in that better place. To join the saints who have gone before.  It is an assurance of the wonder of Christ's love that give the kind of peace that carries you through the heartache of losing a child.  May God bless my friends in their hour of need and I pray he holds them very, very close.  Love them Jesus, like you have never loved them before.  Show your mighty love. In ways they shall never forget. Replace the pangs of loss with infinite joy, in knowing your supernatural intervention. In your name and by your blood, dear Jesus, AMEN

Joseph Prince

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19).

Beloved, your past does not determine the future that God has for you. No matter what has happened to you, He can give you a fresh beginning.  http://josephprince.com/

 

 

This man so often blesses me.  He preaches the word, the truth. He represents Jesus well, and he gives hope in much the same way Christ would have.  Just  an acceptance of the words of God with simple faith.  I am often inspired by his encouragement, and today I pray for him as I often do. that God will continue to use him, for the sake of the world.  I hope so many will hear his message and respond.  God doesn't say we will have no challenges, he says he will never leave us, he will offer us the tools to meet the challenge, and he will build the road, prepare the map, and sustain us along the way.  There is just nothing else we need in life.  And if there is, God is aware of that need and will provide, as long as we are on the path where he establishes our progress.   Thank you Joseph Prince.

 

Lord Bless this man and his ministry, for he always points the way to you.  He reminds me of Jesus because he always has expectations of your ability to be the God we need, but also to be the God we don't expect, and are seldom taught to beleive in.  The world needs a fresh view of who our h

Heavenly Father is, how the work of Jesus is complete, and what your directive for our futures is from  a heavenly point of view.  At the same time, I rejoice that Mr. Prince reminds us that the heavenly perspective is not off in heaven somewhere, but is alive and present in our heart and daily lives. Much Praise, AMEN.  

My husband and I have upcoming fiinancial challenges, and more than anything else, finances tend to be one of my toughest humps.  Jimmy and I remind one another these days that God will provide, and often it doesn't involve money.  He knows where what we need is, and has ways of getting it to us. 
In addition, I have had headaches rather frequently lately, and I know it revolves around what and when I eat, and how and when I sleep.  Again there are challenges to making the changes I need, so I am seeking God for resolutions and strength to follow through.  Bless us Lord, and give us the ability to praise you, whole heartedly for every way that you supply each need.  I am looking forward to you making a road in my wilderness, and providing rivers in my desert. In Jesus' Name, AMEN

I am working on a web page that sort of brings the last several years of my attempt to learn a new skill together.  It summarizes the work I have done and in  way shows the progress I have made from the amatuerish learning stages to the slightly more refined stage of knowing a little about what I am doing. In life I always find that my expected goal is never my actual end goal, but find that goals are helpful in giving direction. It's kind of like I use the GPS to get me near my expected bird spot, but after that we turn it off, and we use our eyes to look for the birds.  Life is often like that. Once you get to where you were going along a planned route, you remain open for a new plan, or you look at the world of possibilities for doing a variety of things in that expected place. So many things in life are routine with an expected end that we sometimes miss the joy in discovery. My husband and I look forward to a vacation now and then.  We have spent a lot of his vacation time centered around a hospital. Because the only time off he had to have heart attacks and heal was his vacation time. So our favorite kind of vacation is when we go birding.  We ususally have target bird, target places, and target times to be at a certain habitat, (like be in at a spot before dawn.)  But beyond that we like to see the area for what it is.  Let it share it's treasures with us.  If we miss our target bird, we and that is all we expected from the trip, we would come away disappointed. But by going there, with a target, optimizing the time and habitat expectations, and being open minded, observant, and patient, we come away with so much more.  Often we see a bird we didn't target but have never seen before! How can that leave you disappointed? In everything in life, we must leave the expectations or results in a state of flux.
 I totally understand the importance of things having conclusion and working toward exacting goals at critical times. A  wedding should start on time if possible for example. Movie stunts and surgery could be disasterous without the intensity of focusing on the exacting of the process.  That isn't what I mean here. I am saying that if God is taking you on a journey, in every way follow his lead, but be wide eyed to the things he wants to show you along the way, and open to him showing you more about yourself and your future than you first expected. Or if like me, you have spent a lot of time learning a skill and you had an expectation of where God was leading you, and when you arrive God has something else in mind, be ready to follow, for you are going on a new adventure.

Thank you Lord, For new adventures.  Can't wait to see where you are taking me. Your loving child.  AMEN

Always Near

Christy's post this morning praises God for bringing her through the storm, and for being able to stand on his promise to never leave or forsake us.  It was such a blessing to hear from her, because they just went through a Hurricane last night. She had to have known we were wondering how she was. Today I am so thankful for social media that let's us be in contact, but even more so for a God who gives that kind of peace.
Praise you dear God, from whom all blessings flow.  What a glorious thing to be able to see past the storm, because the Lord is near. AMEN

Praise the God of Blessings

According to Cyberhymnal's website, the old Hymn, PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW, otherwise known as the DOXOLOGY, the words written by Thomas Ken in 1674, are for the last verse to an even older piece of music. The hymn, Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun* is from the Old 100th, Ge­ne­van Psalt­er, 1551, at­trib­ut­ed to  Louis Bourgeois.

I want to find several occassions during this month leading up to Thanksgiving to Praise God.  This great old Hymn of praise is the best way to start. 



Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

AMEN

*In my last post, I spoke of how the morning son had emblazened the leaves of the trees from beneath, and how my first thought was of this song.  My heart was lifted to praise. How interesting that in 1551 a hymn writer named his piece, Awake My Soul, and with the Sun, and in 1674 another man used its tune to write the very words that came to my mind at the rising of the Sun.  I love how God connects us to the centuries, and to others who have worshipped him before, through things like music.  Even now we praise him with the same Psalms that David wrote and sang thousands of years ago.  Praise is a way we are connected - to God and to all the saints of the household of God.  Scripture says, even to the angels. It is a unifying act, as well as a singular blessing. God made it to be the gift we can give to him, and in return we are blessed for the act.  The more we Praise him, the more we are blessed.  A unique attribute of being one with him.  Today is the best day, to praise him.

 Psalm 148:2
Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

As the sun peeped through the trees at daybreak, the only day this week that the fog or rain didn't block it's view, it was shining up at an angle from the horizon to under the leaf canopy of the newly turning fall colors.  It had the effect of makin them glow.  They were so lovely, that I could not help but think of that old harvest song, PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW. We sang it every year at school as we neared Thanksgiving every year.  I imagine that now, children don't even know from whom their blessings flow.  I regret that for my grandson's who will not have that to recall one day when they are feeling blessed.  How do we convey those kinds of things without the marvelous old songs, or the Psalms we quoted.  Our teachers were allowed to teach us that being thankful to a God our ancestors served was a part of their history.  To me it is difficult to even explain the holiday without God in it. It makes no sense at all, for even the Indians were offering Thanks to the Great Spirit, as they called the God whom they served. I was taught that the Indians also knew that the offerings of the land and gardens, had a source worthy of being praised.
This year I intend to give more diligence to praise.  I have a lot to be thankful for this season, and God is worthy of my praise.  I sometimes wonder why something so lovely as praising God ever became a stange thing in the eyes of God's people.  In some communities, it isn't true, but in many it is, and I for one, believe it should be a regular as sunrise, to find something worthy of praising God for.  Even if it is as simple as the morning sun turning the shimmering leaves into gold. 

I praise you Lord. And give thanks.  AMEN

Im Content

I look back over the last 2 years and I think of all the changes in my life, and that of those near me, and I am thankful that all the negatives have not discouraged me.  I give credit to God for allowing that to be true, but I also give a lot of credit to Blogging.  Not only has writing things down been a blessing, it has been a means of connecting to others, of guiding my walk, of finding encouragement, and of growing in Christ.  I laugh when I ask my children, to make sure the nurses, who are in charge of my care as I grow senile, ask something other than what day it is. If it were not for blogs I would forget the days.  But it helps me to focus on Christ in so many ways as well.  Each day I am reminded of his nearness in new ways.  I am able to believe as when I was a child, with greater ease, the promises of his word, and I am able to not become bogged down in things that would otherwise take my focus from so great a savoir! 
I begin early asking for my toddler grandson's salvation, and for my teenage grandson's  attention to God's will for his life as he focuses on finishing school.  For my adult step-grndsons, I pray for newness, and direction, and relationship with God for family life they are planning.  And for my step gr. grandson, I pray he will continue to seek God as he does with child-like faith.  I want to see God working in new ways in the lives of all around me.  My prayers may not be the great movers in lives around me, but I trust that Jesus will honor His promises if I will come into agreement with him.  May his Grace abound to anyone who happens to stumble into my little garden.  Let us always remember, that God actually is the ONE in control.

Jesus help me serve you with all the joy and faith that is possible for one individual.  Not that I am capable, but that your Spirit is and I wish to allow your power to be fully employed by every ounce of my being. AMEN 

A Moment in Time

This morning, my husband came to where I was to ask me to come see something he found online. I thought by the way it had obviously touched his heart that it might be something that involved his ancestry research.  He often comes to where I am to have me come help him save images and web pages he has found so they won't be lost.  I sometimes ask for a minute to finish what I am doing, but not this time. The look on his face was unique, and I knew immediately this was something extremely special to him.  I was unprepared for it to involve me.
What he had found, was a picture of a room with a row of Ham radios, and two rotary dial phones on a plywood desk. "This is the Mars station, where I called you from Vietnam." It took a second or two for me to understand what he was saying to me." That is the very phone I used to call you with." His voice broke as he recalled the preciousness of those moments.
Calls from Vietnam were only possible by way of a Ham radio operator back then.  So much depended on who was operating radios when the call bounced around the world, and if there was interferene, or weather that distorted what you said.  I both loved and dreaded the calls.  I loved them because my beloved was on the other end of the call.  I knew at that moment he was alive and well, if I could understand what he was saying. But I dreaded the hardship of not being able to talk more than a minute or two, and trying to say more than "I love you," in such a short time.  I dreaded hearing a warped sound that was supposed to be him, but sounded nothing like him, and not knowing how to answer the garble.  Was he really OK or was this a call to tell me he was wounded.  Did he ask me something and I was not giving the answer he had hoped for and spent so much energy to get a chance to ask.  I always felt like my legs were going to fall out from under me once the call was lost.  How could the contact be so short?  For an instant, he was there and was gone and sometimes I didn't even know if he was OK.  Was it as difficult for him as for me if he couldn't hear my voice?  But I remember every call,  and the helplessness of wondering if it would be the last.
I tried to reassure myself, he would call again, next chance he got. And I prayed that the next time I would be able to hear every word, his voice..."Please dear God, his voice."

There have been times in life that I longed to hear the voice of God as much as I longed to hear Jimmy's voice when he was so far away and unable to make connections without the aid of those precious Ham operators.  A friend told me tonight that he connected someone to her loved one oversees in the 80's, and I was able to thank him for doing it, even though I could never thank the ones who connected myself and Jimmy. I am so thankful that I don't have to go through someone else to talk to God, and know that he hears me. Every word clearly.  Some faiths seem to teach we aren't worthy or able to go directly to the throne of God, but the Word teaches that we have access. And I am so thankful for that, because it would be horrible to think I had to go through someone else to talk to the greatest love of my life...my savoir, best friend, most precious family member, and Lord of my life.  I want nothing to ever come between our conversation, ever.  And as for, my conversations with my husband, thank God for cell phones, but I still hate poor reception.  Always will.

Jesus, speak to me even in my old age, even if I become an invalid, and my mind fails.  Please let me hear your voice clearly for all eternity. AMEN  

Cast Your Bread Upon the Water

Ecclesiastes 11:11

When I started this blog, I had several things in mind.  I wanted to learn something new, I wanted to have a place to journal.  I wanted to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren of what I really believe, and some of my inner thoughts.  I wanted to play with my art in a new form. I wanted to make a public stand for God. I wanted to look back and remember things I had prayed for and see the changes God had made in my life and how I grew and changed because of them.  I wanted some place colorful and grounded to go when I was feeling blue.  I wanted to never lose my journal, by tucking it away on a cleaning day and forgetting where it was.  I wanted to strengthen my mind, and expand my spiritual boundaries. And I wanted to share my journey. 
I never really wanted to do the social media thing as much as have a means to put my touch on something that might be a gift to my children like some of the things I found when I cleaned my mother's house just before she passed.  Her little notes that described certain things really touched me.  I felt like I knew her on a new level.  And I felt like she knew us, me, better than I ever knew. She was in my mind when she wrote her little notes.  I so wished we could have spent some more time doing things together before her mind began to fail.
But, when I started this blog, I had one more thing in mind.  I was hoping that if someone was seeking Christ, or God that he might lead them here and they might find a seed for their faith.  I wanted not to just go to my Garden of prayers and posts, but to plant things there as well.  I wanted to be constantly reminded that what we do for Christ, no matter how small, is like planting a seed, that is intended to grow and bear fruit.  I learned a long time ago that we do not always know what fruit we bear.  But the older I get, the more I know two things.  Sometimes, that fruit is not so good, and you can't go back and ungrow it. It can be like a weed which out grows the good things. And two, it can be an annual or a perenial, fall on good ground or bad, but it can fall in the most unexpected places.  Often, where we expect to plant something, is not where it ends up growing best, and it can or must be transplanted.
So now, I am wondering....although this has and is functioning for me, perhaps I should also print it. I have thought about this before.  There is still something to be said for a book on a shelf to make purusing the pages visible to anyone who will pick up the book.  If I really target this for my children someday, it is highly unlikely they will ever see much of it here.
I have found that my blogs are more for me than for others, and in the end, I always knew they would be.  Yet, as a guest writer for Chrisy, I have had so many people say they read the combined blog because it is uplifting to them. I find there that Lori and Christy do as much to uplift me as I never could do for them. Our readers comment that they feel encouraged by our vulnerability, and by our choice to show the love of God and how it trumps everything else we ever knew about God. 
God said to cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it will return.  For give me for not pulling up the actual verse here. That verse seems so odd until you understand that it means, it is OK to put something out there, into the virtual realm of "I don't know who this is for, or who may ever see it;  I am just casting it on the waters." In fact, God wants to use even the thoughts we share with no one but him, to bless someone one day. So this blog is exactly that. It is me casting my faith upon the waters, as if there were no one at all but me and Jesus standing by the waters, setting tiny paper boats afloat and watching them drift away.   What God feeds me with, I cast some of it out there, upon the wind and water, just because it is still in a place drifting upon cyberspace for someone God directs to find it, may.  Now or never, I only expect God to know when or if.  And I am totally OK with that.
Lord, this is yours, to use in any way you choose.  My heart, my thoughts, my feelings, my failures, my joys, my bad days, my blessings, my all.  It is all yours.  Use it as you will. In Jesus name, AMEN

I never remember being as sick as I have been this last week since I was a child with measles.  Due to infections, and contracting a possible virus on top of them, the resulting dehydration and wash out of potassium from my system, I have experienced an ongoing vertigo that has put me in bed for days.  Yesterday, I finally didn't have much vertigo, but I was weak - yet I was able to sit up and stay sitting up for a while.  Sudden motion doesn't affect me as much and I am able to eat.  What blesses me most is that the reason I seem to be getting better, is that when I prayed, "Lord, I accept your healing, in whatever way you determine to send it," I landed in the ER, and was getting better thanks to fluids and medications a few hours later.  It is sometimes God's provision to give us help from wiser sources than we.  I am genuinely thankful for that wisdom from other people.
It should be an ongoing attitude to receive the wisdom from almost anyone God will place in our path, in answer to our prayer, and sometimes before we know we need their help. 
My husband who tends not to "get it" when I am sick, was incredibly supportive in cleaning up the mess I was making when sick. If God hears immediately when we call out amidst the storm of illness, he also hears when we call out amist the storm of finance as well. So now I pray, "Lord, provide for payment of the bills for those to whom You sent me, for the wisdom needed to help in my healing."  I confess a faith, and ask for help should I doubt for this provision.  God intends to bless, and I am accepting that blessing in whatever way he makes the way to provide. God is Good. 

Just praises this morning for the wonderful ways that Jesus is actively present in our lives.  He is riding with my daughter as she travels, and was with my grandson who traveled yesterday through nasty storms.  He protects my son in law each trip he makes on the trains, and my son on the lake on the boat.  I count on him to guard my son on his bike who is training for a run in the fall, and I will look to him to make straight his path then, as well.  Each day I am thankful that there are angels watching over my toddler grandson, who is active beyond our ability to keep up, and will need God's blessing to resolve all that energy before school in a year or two.  God has made a way each time we thought our financial expectations had failed. And he continues to feed us and provide a roof over our heads.  The birds continue to grace my deck with their beauty and song. And I am thankful for the mental and physical rest from scarey and unpredictable things.  I am basking in the joy of the Lord. Just praises.

You are precious to me, dear God. I am so in love with all the ways you are present in my life. Continue to minister to me, as my Heavenly Father, The indwelling Holy Spirit, and my wonderful Lord of Lords and King of Kings, Jesus Christ.  One God, who presents his love in every way that I could possibly need your presence and grace. Become real to someone who does not know you today.  And to all who know you but struggle with knowing how you are working in their lives, open their eyes to your presence and love. In Jesus name, AMEN 

We recently became aware of a gentleman's need to know how to make a positive change in his life,  to find a reason to believe in life itself.  A reader, who commented that he would be glad when life was over in order to solve the issues in his marriage, was feeling hopeless. He sounded as if he believed there was nothing he could do to bring change into his life that would make it worth living.  I have been there. I totally understand the desparation of feeling like a victim of your own life.  Prolonged dispair and dealing with the stress of it all begins to make bio-chemical changes in our actual body/mind functions. It can become dangerous to our physical health. It is possible to deplete vital chemicals and biological elements,which our minds need to function rationally. Just as a lack of vitamin C used to cause "Ricketts" in days gone by, before people understood the value of that vitamin, an onslaught of unexpected events, or a series of traumas, or years of unhappiness use up vital nutrients that keep us functioning with joy in our lives. Not being aware will cause an exhausted individual to have difficulty thinking their way through their struggle.
I am not a doctor, psychologist, or any other person who has a degree to explain these things. But you cannot live through a similar circumstance yourself without becoming educated on some level. Childhood traumas may set you up for not being able to deal with adult traumas. Add to that, the fact that we find ourselves drawn to others who also have lived in some kind of trauma, you will find two individuals who don't know how to live, and cannot help one another. This makes a shaky foundation for meeting lifes ordeals with strength.  Often an outside person is not just recommended, but is also critical to help walk us through the bad times. But that person must be healthy, and strong enough not to become what is called Co-dependant to you.  In addition, this person must not be someone who will jeopardize your marriage or relationship with your children, and most especially with God.  In other words they must not be someone who just slips into the empty slot which occurs when a relationship in your life goes sour. They must be someone who can come along side and help us refocus.  And they will direct us to medical help sometimes.
As I am writing this an image comes to mind of my poor flowers which have lost all thier blooms from the stress of having too much rain lately.  It is also too hot for a lot of them.  Struggling to survive, they quit sending nutrients to the blooms.  They fall away much more quickly than they might have, and they don't put on new buds until the stress is past.  All living things are like this. Some of my plants I have moved around trying to sheild them from the elements. But the silly thing is, I sometimes don't do the same kindness for myself.  There's an old saying that we should have sense enough to come in out of the rain. Sometimes the simplest choices are the hardest to make under stressful circumstances. It stands to reason that we lose our bloom when we are deep into life events that make us feel like we are drowning. Solution, get out of the rain.  God promises that he has a future for us.  Unlike the plant, we can make choices that move us into a better environment.  And that is vital for our health.  Our hope is in knowing God is on board with choices that move us out of the circumstances that are destroying us!
God's promise is a future with hope:
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

And also abundant life:
 John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

He also says He will not give us more than we can endure:
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

And he asks us to choose life:
 Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.
We totally must choose to hang on these promises and realize that anything that seems otherwise is a lie of Satan.  He is doing everything he can to deceive you.  So it is up to you to choose...God's promises or Satan's lies.  Rebuke Satan. Jesus did. That's step one to open your eyes to God's truths. Ask, believe and receive the wholeness of God.

It's always good to realize that you are not alone in the desparation that life can bring you to. Historically, some great men of God have been where you are. Job is the most notorious Bible character, but consider this verse from the New Testament:
2 Corinthians 1:8
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

Choosing a Path to Renewal

I was raised in a home where being thrifty was a virtue.  My mother truly believed that God blessed that attitude more than any other.  I often admired her for her ability to make every cent go the distance.  She helped us save money, and was faithful to a fault about giving her tithes. But when she was young she also had a lovely passion for change about her. When she thought it benefited her greater plan, she resewed buttons, and washed and saved curtains, and patched clothes. But every season that rolled around she completely refreshed the house. She pulled out or purchased curtains and bed linens, fresh towels and cloths for the bath and the kitchen, and new rugs at each door.  I remember her ritual as some of the happiest times in my mother's life. It was such a passion for her to make her home as lovely as possible, not just for us, but also so her neighbors would enjoy.  Her flower gardens and her Christmas decorations were her greatest pride. And the collections in both grew with the years.
As time went on, money didn't go as far, in spite of her good money sense, and circumstances stole her joy, Mom changed. In the end, she was holding on to things she otherwise would have trashed in her earlier years. She began to be afraid to spend money on new things, and she locked herself into a world of the past. Down through the years, my finances have not allowed that  could change up my whole house in spring and in fall. And I have felt somehow cheated that her passion couldn't also have been mine. But I have had to look closely at my reasons for wanting to be like her. 
One, is that I truly love home decor.   Yet for me, I have to be careful that it doesn't become an obsession for visual appeasement, rather than a passion for newness, and having a clean renewed home. In addition, I have to revisit occasionally my attitudes toward "thrift."  Sometimes, I back completely away from the natural state of life's renewing, and find myself frozen in time, thinking, "I don't have money for that." I will fall prey to my own conception of God loving the thrifty, to the point of abandoning his love of provision and newness in all things.  I have caught myself before, wondering how you can be both. But the clue is that early in Mom's marriage, she wasn't thrifty as an excuse to hang on to things, she was thrifty as a means of being in a constant state of change, of newness.  That is what was Godly about it.  Not that she saved something to be used again, as I presumed over the years, but that she used the money she saved to dress things up and make our world a brighter, happier place. I believe God blessed her in this for a lot of years, until she began to care more for the things than the dressing of the house.  There is a fine line that when we cross it, we digress into selfishness, and lack of faith. It is a battle that I often wage with myself. And I confess that I have to make a spiritual adjustment on a regular basis.
The Lord has given me a word, which I now use to describe my design work.  I want it to brand my work, and my mind. The word is "PRINK." It means dress for show, preen. On the surface, it would seem to be a word of boastfulness. "Dress to show off?"  But it is anything but.  Prink signifies for me the very process of God to desire newness and redressing, and beauty in our world.  We dress our children to be presentable at school. We dress for work to set a tone at work, to make our clients comfortable with whatever we do, so they might trust our sincerety. We dress our windows to regulate the light and heat coming into our homes.  We dress our food so that it is appealing to eat. Need I go on?  Our lives are in a continual state of dressing and redressing almost everything we do. And for me, I have to find a place where it is not so much about the finished product, or the design as the doing of it. I need it to be a passion and joy, a reason for living, but not an obsession to the details. I need to let the Spirit of God which designs to live through me, and be able to trust him to provide for my life's work.  I need to be willing to let go of the old and welcome the new.  I need to grow in this area of my life, and move forward with the restraint of thrift where necessary, so that I can bring change that is continually refreshing and Godly into my family's world.

Lord, see my need, and hear my confession. Strengthen my will to let go and find new. And help me not see thrift as a do nothing state, but a careful use of what you provide so that I might fulfill your passion to make all things new in MY life. AMEN

When I take pictures, my favorites are the macros.  Being behind a lens that magnifies the details of tiny things that I often can't see with my eyes, simply amazes me.  But more than that, it gives me more reasons to believe in God.  My understanding of God grows with the glimpses I get of beauty and design in every thing that exists. It is difficult to get a picture of a flower which will sometimes seem static, without finding there are tiny bugs living among the leaves. Like the song about the frog in the pond, there is always something tinier. As with the universe there is always something bigger.  That says to me that God is so much grander than I can put my mind around. But the very assurance that it is true, is why I beleive there is a God.
The patterns, the images, the colors, the systems, the designs, the likenesses and differences, the fact that things stay together in an environment that is pulling apart...the more I know the more I believe that there is something that holds it all, molds it all, remakes it all, renews it all, and gives it power and beauty. The cycles of life and death, and the workings of things as inanimate as minerals to bolster life, are parts of a design to me. And because God is a designer, I love to see his majesty working through little ole' me.
When I was a child, I loved that he gifted me with the ability to see his great works. But when I had a friend in school who was blind, I loved how he gifted her to experience his great works. She simply amazed me how she was even more a part of her elements than I could ever be.  She lived in constant communion with things I missed.  She used sound and air in a way that I only saw through her eyes.  Without sight, she understood things with a unique means of observation.
Every thing on earth is linked in some way to every other thing. It is so difficult for me to believe that there is nothing that links them.  Just a pure old accident of an explosion? It leaves a lot for me to question about what was there before the bang! So much organization, repetition, with great contrasts of myriads of color and varieties in uniqueness....it has to be by design and to be such there must be a designer.

Thank you God for the diversities and similarities in the great design of the universe and all that is in it. We will never lack a reason to know more about your marvelous creation. Thank you for the Word which helps us try to wrap our mind around the immensity of it all. Thank you that in the hugeness of it all, you considered human kind worthy of your special love and consideration. In Jesus name, AMEN

On the "MY WINGS ARE MADE OF FAITH" blog this week, God impressed me to share examples of how we can know we live in a perpetual state of renewal from the nature of sin, and I stuggled a bit to write it in such a way that I hoped Satan would not turn what I was saying into something I was not saying.  For instance, someone might believe that I was saying that when you go to sleep you awaken each day sinless.  Well, no.  We can pray any time of day or night on the literal sense to receive the gift of renewal in the spiritual sense.  But it is like resting from our sin nature and waking as refreshed as if we never sinned.
Since the Lord uses the day and night as a reference himself in Hebrews 4, I found it difficult to escape the appearance that we go around living part of the time in sin and part of the time sinless and I knew that was not what the Spirit was teaching me.  It was the nagging twist of Satan to confuse my understanding of what God was saying.
So to resolve this, I asked God how I should easily see clearly what He was trying to tell us. And he made it so simple.
If we see ourselves like the earth, not as a being on the earth the image is clear.  The earth is constantly turnng before the sun. If we are earth and God is the sun, the sunny side is not in darkness which we will define as sin, and the dark side (sin) is never in the direct view of the sun, (God).  In other words, we are constantly in the presence of sin and God at the same time, but God put sin away from him. He is always at work shedding his light on the darkness. Sin cannot withstand the Son. And the side of earth that is in darkness may also be at rest, in confidence that the light will soon touch it's face. We are in a constant state of turning from sin to sinlessness.  And the Sun always, causes the darkenss to flee. It is a perpetual, constant state of renewal.
What's more, in this scenario, if I am made by God and this is how he made things to be, then I can be content that I don't have to make changes in the plan. Instead I can rest in the perpetual state of being turned from darkeness to light. I should regard the time I am in darkness as an opportunity to sleep, and not worry about my sin. Because God is in a perpetual act of taking care of my sin.
Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

Thank you Father, that although I can clearly see myself totally in the darkenss of sin without your light, I can rest that, in your light, it is as if I were totally without sin. And that the side of me that you look upon is the side on which you see only your reflection. You see YOU in me. Not my sin. Just as if the earth would be lifeless without the sun, I am lifeless without you. But if I walk not in darkness but in the light, I live in renewal and rest.   AMEN

So many uses for smooth flat stones

This tiny shell with coral attatched is so cute.
It reminds me of a little lamb curled up, or a baby's bootie.

Since my blog has changed its format, it doesn't seem as familiar, and I don't enjoy blogging as well. Also, like most updates, things that were once very easy are more like another blog I use and are hard.  Sometimes progress just isn't progress. But I have been spending alot of time doing some things I have wanted to do for a long time.  One is to take pictures of my seashells.  There are a few logistics to getting pictures of something like seashells. One is that you need a container that is low and flat and doesn't cast shadows. Two, is you need a surface that allows you to move all or some of them at once. Three, unless you use sand or water, most backgrounds take away from the pictures.  So, the reason I haven't already taken pictures of my shells, is that I had not figured out the logistics. Well, the answers dawned on me this week, and it turns out, that I didn't have to buy a container like I thought, and I had everything I needed to make stuff disappear and not get caught up in the pictures. Plus, I did't have to spend hours on my knees, breaking my back and neck bending over sand.  What I needed has been here ever since we brought home our smooth river stones.

These are about the size of a dime, but
I love how white they are.

I love my bucket of rocks. They are good for so many things. But what I found out, was that they are excellent to stand around the edges of my tray as a background.  They look so natural.

As I went back to my set up, again and again over a couple of days, the light changed and I rearranged the stones and shells to make different groups of shells and I attempted to get in every shell I loved. While I worked, a song from our children's church years ago ran through my head. 
"Only a Boy named David....Only a little brook. ....Only a boy named David and 5 little stones he took."  I have no idea who wrote  the song, but we sang it often to teach the children that whatever task God gives us to do, he will provide what we need to get it done.   David needed stones for his sling shot, and though he would use only one, he took from the abundance of small smooth rocks, 5 to be assured that he was prepared for now and later as well.
I have learned over the years that I ususally have access to what I need, I just need to be inventive, or open my eyes and look around. 
Thank you Lord for your provision, and for the beauty of things like seashells.  Like the pink clouds that are clinging to the evening sky, every little thing you made in this world amazes me and gives me delight to see.  Help me use the pictures in some way to bless someone. AMEN

Joyfully Ignorant, but Learning to Learn

It is going to rain for 4 days they say.  I cannot be sad for the rain, but I hope it doesn't do damage to crops the way it destroys my flowers to have so much at once.  Yet the thirsty ground and the trees will benefit greatly.  I too may benefit, because I can't be outside so much.  I would almost rather be out than in lately, and my house is beginning to show it.  With clothes to wash and so much organizing still to do in my basement, I should be glad not to feel obligated to the gardens.  This year I am wishing more than ever that we were able to plant a veggie garden.  Because of the mildew here, anything in a container gets the mildew, and I hate to eat it.  We have passed by the fields on the mountain and there are no tomatoes in the gardens there.  Purhaps they are rotating the crops, but we can't find them open yet.  I so want to have some green beans this year to can. May have to ride to NC to get the ones I like; no one grows them here.
Only a short time now til Jimmy retires. And he is so excited. And I am excited for him. We are looking forward to getting on a schedule that means being awake in the daytime hours.  At least most of the time.  I have a camera in my hand about half my waking hours these days.  It is as if I take a picture, I will have a better memory of it than my mind will keep.  I don't download the pictures nearly often enough, because it takes so long to go through them all. So I have gotten in the habit of going through them on the camera while I have a little idle time, and deleting the less than perfect ones. At least what I can tell is blurry or not as lovely as I supposed it would be on the tiny screen.  But I am slowly learning what I like about an SLR camera as opposed to a point and shoot. Each day I try to learn something new.  I spend a lot of time while Jimmy is sleeping learning how to use the GIMP program I downloaded.  It gives me great joy to keep learning. But I have to make sure I spend enough time moving around as well. We have talked often of spending more time on our bikes once he retires. I hope that happens.  We so need some better exercise.
Since it is raining, I have thought I might spend some time playing with watercolors and paints.  Some things are so challenging when I use watercolors.  For a very long time I couldn't paint a rose, then finally I could see it in my mind, and I could paint a rose.  Photos help me so much.  I have oodles of photos that I want to paint. But then I thought I might just open them on the computer and paint them from there. Finally, it occured to me, that there were ever so many other pictures of - mountains for instance - that I could find inspiration in online, that I downloaded several from around the world. So I have plenty to look at.  No excuses, I need to tackle just doing it. Like every thing else lately, I learn from the experience of just doing it.  And I am so blessed to be able to find something new to learn every day.  I am so glad for the daily opportunity to be challenged and grow.  And I love that God blesses each attempt, whether I am good at what I am doing or not.

Thank you Lord for the newness of each day, and the realization that if I don't know how to do something, I can still try to learn. Thank you for challenges, and opportunities. Thank you for time and tools. Thank you for rainy days to change my pace and direction. Thank you for a continued desire to grow and awareness that there is so much to life that continues to give me reasons to wake in the morning, with a childlike attitude of "I can't wait to get at it."  What ever you place before me Lord today, I rejoice for the challenge to just do it.  May someone today, who is lonely or afraid, discouraged or depressed, find the inner peace to enjoy a simple act of letting themselves know its OK to start from what they don't know and learn something new.  May the simplicity of just challenging themselves be its own reward. In Jesus Name, AMEN

100 DAYS

Thursday morning, my husband said, "This is day 99."  I couldn't help but be amazed at God again. This week I posted about our countdown to Jimmy coming home from Vietnam years ago on Christy's MY WINGS ARE MADE OF FAITH blog, where I am guest writer.  Part I of my post went up on Wednesday, one day before.  That means Wednesday was day 100 - of our new countdown.  It has been over 40 years ago now since we counted down our first short-timer's calendar, marking the days until Jimmy came home from Vietnam.  That time it was from war.  This time it is to his retirement date.   Once again he is coming home.  Once again he is really full of expectation and plans for a future. He is so excited. How perfect that I first posted about that calendar on day 100 of his present countdown, and had no idea that I was doing that.  You see, short-timer's calendars start with day 100. God has the best sense of humor.  And he once again marks my heart with assurance that HE IS REAL and is involved in the daily processes of my life! What an Amazing God. First, my  Hallmark datebook for 1971, about which I had forgotten, ended up in plain sight where I would have to pick it up and look at it.  NO coincidence. But before I picked it up, the Lord gave me the "establish your heart" verses. Then while I was writing the blog, I decided to pick up the little calendar lying in the floor, and I could see God in everything I was doing.  He designed a blessing for me and I hope for our readers! You are amazing God, AMAZING!
Today is Part II of "Establish Your Hearts" on WINGS.  Get the whole story and be amazed with me. Can you see God in the things you do.  God will reveal himself to you, just ask him.
Lord I love you!  AMEN

I lost my rocks

River Rocks in a violet dish garden

My husband and I picked up some river rocks one day along the edge of a creek, with which I intended to dress bulb gardens.  They were in a plastic grocery bag. One day I set them on  the stairs to bring up from the basement, to use.  A series of things happened which required we clean up and store some things very quickly, which resulted in the bag of rocks being placed where we cannot find them now.  We have looked and looked.  I have said so many times that I can't believe you can lose a bag of rocks, that the family has a joke now, where they ask me have I found my rocks. Remeniscent of the boy in Peter Pan who was still searching for his marbles when he was an old man.  I still can't get over the fact that I lost a bag of rocks.
Anyway, as a sweet gesture, my husband stopped by that same creek one afternoon as we returned from Atlanta, to pick up more of the smooth stones. He went to great lengths - stopping to pick up subs, and while I ordered, he went next door to a dollar store to get a plastic pail, to put the rocks in. He reasoned we surely could not lose a bucket of rocks.
This time, rather than just a few, we filled the bucket until I was embarrassed we were taking so many, but also worried that we might not be in an area where that was allowed.  But when a park ranger coming off the mountain, out of the park above us, slowed, saw us collecting rocks, then pulled away, I accepted the gift my husband was lovingly giving me.  And we came home with a bucket of smooth stones.
I planted the bulb gardens, and as soon as they sprouted, I placed the stones around the bulbs, loving the texture they added to the gardens.  But now I had a residue of stones, gladly. I set them in a corner on the deck to await the next time I would use them.  At least I would know where they were.
When my toddler grandson visited, he saw the gardens which were enhanced by stones and he proceeded to place rocks in a dish where I had placed some violets I wished to transplant.  He, in effect, made a dish garden from my yard violets.  I love it. Such an innocent imatation of my bulb gardens. Now each time he comes he rearranges the rocks. Sometimes, he stands them on end, sometimes he stacks them flatly one on another. Sometimes he uses the same rocks, sometimes new ones.  But as he lays out the stones to select which he wants to use, he examines each. I am amazed how enthralled a toddler can be with a bucket of rocks.We made a game of selecting only the ones that will fit into the hole in the birdhouse, saying "little" or "too big." Now it is routine. When he comes, he finds the bucket and begs me to bring it to the table, so he can find yet another way to busy himself with a stack of stones.
Well, my neighbor's grandson, who is preschool age, came and saw my grandson's stack of stones, and his mind began turning.  In no time he was occupying himself with stacking those stones. Now when he comes he also seeks out the bucket and spends all the time he wants playing with them. 
What does losing your rocks have to say about God?  Well, God saw two little boys who would find them fascinating, and thought they needed a few more. And he taught me how little joy can cost.  I may never find the bag of lost rocks, but if I do, I will add them to the bucket, until I need them. And I will clean them off the deck table over and over so little boys can spend all the time they need touching, tasting, stacking, standing, and imagining what they can do with these amazing textural toys. 
It will be years before they think back on those rocks and become aware of how amazing they really are.  Each stone is the product of the natural elements that many years have formed.  Each tells a story, is a composite of elements, and has a history. Yet God himself cared enough about those rocks to share them with me, my husband, my daughter for whom I made the bulb gardens, and two curious and imaginative little boys. And he used something as simple as rocks, to be a meeting point for relationship building. My husband's gift, my gift to my daughter, the time I spend with my grandson and the little boy next door. And the gift of memories, that is built around how anxiety over little things can be turned around, showing God can make something good out of anything! Even a bag of rocks.
Lest we forget, Christ is the Solid Rock...when all else is sinking sand.
Thank you Lord for simple blessings.  I really love my bucket of rocks.


http://youtu.be/qDn-jnbQ744

Sensing Nature’s Beauty in Sound, Scent, and Touch

Sensing Nature’s Beauty in Sound, Scent, and Touch

Cornell's birding resources includes this great blog, and I love how this teacher is taking her blind students out into the woodlands to touch, smell, hear the marvels of God.  And she is doing something that I have thought for years should be required education for the blind... she is teaching them to bird by knowing their calls.  Just another great way to be in the Gardens of God's making.  Next time you are in
your garden, close your eyes and see what you can sense.  With your eyes closed, thank God for your senses, and for all the things you can recognize with your senses only.  And if you need a new challenge, take your backyard birding to new heights by learning the calls of certain birds by recognizing their call. 
You can count on Cornell University's "BIRDING BY EAR" for that, available at most birding and book stores.  Or order it online.  Just another great way to love being in the garden.

The sounds of the Blue Jay are more challenging than
you might think.

Thank God for unique things

Time and again I am drawn to the living growing things of God's creation. From taking pictures of the tiny details in the throat of a Lily, to chasing birds along woodland trails, or by the ocean waves, I am never disappointed with the inspiration I find there.  God's amazing designs are complex and renewable. Today, we clipped the long strands of ivy which are hanging from the limbs of a dying tree. Long, long vines, about 20 feet long or more, some of them branching into several strands, are perfect for making wreaths or baskets.  That's inspiring. It will get my mind going, trying to make up my mind which I will actually do.
But I can't help but realize, that in all this, God made provision for his creation to live on.  The renewal found in the garden or by the sea is assurance that He wanted it that way. Some find it difficult to believe there is a God in control of all of it.  I find it more difficult to believe there is not.  I do believe God is nothing like our small minds can comprehend.  He is so much more supernatural.  Accidental interactions between man and environment just don't make sense to me. 
I can understand that if my husband continues to cut my favorite color violets with the lawn mower year after year, only the short ones survive and are selected by their environment to be the future of my baby blue violets.  But a seed of a tall one found it's way to a hiding place under mother's zigzag spiderwart.  It will be the future of the tall ones.  So there was a way made for the variety of this unique color to be able to survive.  But it didn't become a different plant.  It is still a violet, whether blue or purple, or tall or short, it didn't become a spiderwart.  Or something new all together.
Natural selection, and breeding are one thing, but a certain thing growing a new bone to be able to live in it's environment??? uhntuh.  That means no.  How very unusual would it be for an animal to just start growing bones because it needed them.  I can see that an animal that for some reason was born with a new neck bone had to seek out a place, where using that bone made living more possible (to eat leaves that were higher up for instance), and if it's genetics made each generation afterwards, that had a new bone grow, caused it tohave to look ever higher for food.  But never as some TV shows say that the higher food made the animal grow a bone to adapt. If only the extra boned animals survived because the food was high, then I can see that too. But not by accident. 
I don't see that the changes made by changes of genetics over the years, eliminate a sentient being knowing what was happening to his creation, or that He was the one who helped the longer necked animal find food and new environments in which to survive is somehow no longer believable.  In fact, I find it hard to believe that the accident of a genetic change and the accident of finding a new source of food actually occurred so often in history, that new species "evolved" at such a rapid pace as they presume would happen.  In other words, I don't think it was accidental when the plants and animals of the eons changed.

I seek the new and God knows it-

  I always love finding new things for my garden, and the lawn and garden stores are making that possible this year.  I have heard of Lenten Rose, but never saw them in the garden centers before. I am so pleased that I could add them to my plants this season.  Hope I do well at keeping them through the summer and winter.  The blooms on mine,which are green with blushes of purple, bloom along a long stem. In the same pot is supposed to be a peach one as well. Almost everyday I go look for a bloom vine coming from the peach one.  So far only leaves.  Oh well.
Each time I go out to the place where my Lenten Rose pot is tucked into the filtered light of the trees, I visit one of my other favorites.  This one was a gift from God.  I used to go to the mountain sides to take pictures of this one. It is a protected wild flower.  Trying to transplant them is almost impossible, and is illegal.  But appearantly God transplanted one for me in the mass of my vinca vines.  It first appeared when the Vinca was still short and getting established.  Jimmy accidentally cut it off trying to weed around it and we feared it would not come back. But the following year it did. This year we watched often for it to emerge somewhere in the tall Vinca, but feared the overgrowth would prevent it from appearing. Alas one day, Jimmy proudly announced he had found it.  I carefully pulled back the long vines and opened up a place for it to thrive, but was saddened when that evening I found it drooping from the heat of the sun.  A limb that had broken in a wind storm left a large area for sun to concentrate on this shade loving jewel.  I knew I had seen them along the road sides where they were exposed to sun, and where water would dry up quickly, so I was a little surprised that it was limp. But I watered it, and found a plant spike that had a ring at the top which gently supported the bloom on it's spindly stem, and watched in relief as it perked up.  It now stands like a gem, and I check it often to be sure it is not being choked out by the vines. What is this gem?  It is called Trillium.  Another green petaled flower. Actually, I guess the green is it's leaves and the dard red/wine center is the flower, but the way they grow so close together make it look as if the whole thing is a flower. Also it is unusual in that it has only 3 petals.  The only other flower I can think of right now that I have which has 3 petals is the Spiderwart.

Trillium found its way back through the thick ivy and Vinca vines. Hurray!

I can't wait to find out what other wonderful new thing God will add to my gardens. I just love seeing his eye for diversity and design. 
Thank you Lord for being a wonderful designer of all things beautiful, living and growing...AMEN

Morning sun shining through the petals reveals the lovely veining and degrees
of colors.

Hoping this gem grows more stems this year.
God gave it, so I am asking God to bless it.

Easter, and God in Contol

It is Easter, and I find myself wondering just how close the time is for Christ to come again.  The dogwoods bloomed early this year, as did the azaleas, so my yard is once again looking a bit blah.  It is no matter as long as there is green grass for hiding eggs, and lots of lovely neighborhood children in colorful clothes out searching for them.  We had our first strong storm, and the hail bashed some of the blooms that have not faded, but I was thankful that I had staked the Peonies well, so their heavy pods ready to bloom did not fall over and break their stems.  The clematis has climbed nearly to the top of the arbor at the mailbox.  And the Shamrock almost totally sprang back up just to face the sun. 
Some of the container gardens have way too much rainwater standing in them, so I have to continue to tilt them to pour it off, but the precious Trillium that I staked so it's gangly stalk would not fall prey to the vines, is quite content since the earth drank some of the deluge that settled about it.
I changed into work clothes and began to water the things the wind and sun had managed to dry out front, even though I thought I might have made it through the day without working the garden at all. But no. 
My neighbor who injured his head is some better, but could not stay at the rehab center, but was returned to the hospital.  My father-in-law was able to return to the nursing home, but he is still a little in need of totally getting rid of all that ailed him.  The stroke has left him half the man he was however, and that is likely to remain with no remedy unless God intervenes.
My water heater was finally replaced thanks to the fact that my son used his few off hours, and at some personal expense was late to supper at home a night or two, for which his wife did not let him live down.  But I must admit, I see him so little that I begrudge that bit of time I got to spend with him, even though we never are able to get him around unless we need his help.  So SAD.
It is life and it continues to challenge us, and remind us how much we need our Dear Lord.  The day is a bit cool, the sun is delightful, the clouds are skipping by in the gentle winds, it feels for a few moments like all is well with my soul.
Lately, I seek this awareness.  That everything is well with my soul. No matter the struggles of life, or the fears for the future, I have a great deal of peace that a real and loving God is in control.
Happy Easter to all who might wander here.  God bless you and your families.  I pray for the salvation of any who are lost.  May every seeker hear quite loudly the voice of God calling them, "come home."
Lord bring souls to the body of Christ today and everyday. Us our words and works if it is possible and according to thy will. Amen.

Imputed to whom?

Middle Creek Church, TN

SIN:

• Missing the mark – aiming for God’s best and falling somewhere outside the bull’s-eye.
• Lacking a governing principle or power – a governor on a motor restricts it from going past a certain point. 
• An indwelling fear of coming before God – replaced through the cross by and indwelling spirit directing us to come speedily before God.
• The course or action that leads to the condition of sin – that condition being a constant spiritual dying or downward spiral, without the ability to stop it.
• Trespass – to be in places restricted to us.
• Prison of guilt- held guilty, awaiting the death penalty.
• Driving in reverse – going away from God’s best.
• Continual presence of a domineering negative force in our life – as opposed to individual acts, (should be dealt with as such.)
• Continual practice of submitting to the sin nature – A state of constant backwardness.
• A condition, resulting from random acts –  a state of spiritual illness.
• A tendency toward death – not hearing the admonition to “Choose Life.”
• Against men and God – away from relationships and emotional commitments.
• Against one’s own body – that which tears down the place where life resides.
• A condition of our past – having sinned already, it abides in our inner being, like an inner tattoo.
• Indebted – in need of a legal remedy.
• Inner nature leading to out ward offensive acts – first the nature that leads to the acts, not the acts to the nature.
• Lawlessness – self driven.

Sin is not singular acts alone, but a nature that leads to performance of sinful acts, which leaves us in a state of spiritual illness, which tends to an inner death.  No amount of trying to avoid the individual acts can fix the sinful nature, or heal from the effects of constant sin, which has eroded our body, mind and soul in the past.  It is a life issue, a legal issue and a supernatural issue. 

Psalm 32: 1-2

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Transgression – illegal act for which a “ticket” may be written.

Imputation – Layed to one’s charge, charged on one’s account, reckoned as your possession. 

In the years from Adam to Sinai, there was no imputation of transgression.  No breaking of the law could be laid to the account of individuals, because there was no law.  The law was of conscience, which guided one to know either you served God, or you didn’t.  Sin was recognized as a place in ones character, which reckoned you sold yourself to God’s ways, or to man’s ways. If you belonged to God, God would not charge you with or impute to you iniquity, because He was responsible for your “ticket.”  They clearly understood that sin was a condition of man’s inner self, and that God only could redeem the Sinner - pay the price for failing to serve God.  It was much simpler than when the Israelites demanded “laws” to externalize their sin condition.  They failed to understand that it is not the acts, but the condition that God seeks to resolve.

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You are Holy, dear Lord.  I ask that you lay no charge to my account, because of my sinful nature, based on the fact that my sin was imputed to you on the cross.  I thank you for paying the price on my behalf.  And I receive this gift, with the greatest of Praise for your Name. AMEN



A Garden of Good Things

 The Garden is all about Rebirth, Renewal, Regeneration. The Cross is merely a picture of the same. It is most appropraiate that we celebrate Easter in the spring, because Christ's death, buriel and resurrection speak loudly to the way God created life to go on. When Christ arose, people didn't immediately recognize him in his new form. He had to convince them of his presence.  He said, "I have not yet come into my glory." He was like the new growth emerging from the ground. If we know a plant well, we will recognize it if we look closely as it emerges from the earth. But we would not recognize it as well as if it were in full bloom. In the days to come these hiacinths will become splendid in their full color and form. For now, it is not so easy to know them.  Jesus had yet to return to His Father, which would be the real glory for him. His work was complete only when he returned to stand at the right hand of the Father, and take his position in Glory. He would not be "in full bloom" before he stood on the golden foundations of Heaven.
Nothing in the Biblecal stories is idle talk.  We sometimes don't immediately recognize the true reason why a certain part of a story is included in the whole of the story, until we see the picture God is painting for us.  Jesus prayed in a garden for a reason. It was to set the stage for a "type" or image of a spiritual principle.  One of the priniples of life was repeatedly used by Jesus in his teachings. It was the cylce of plants across the seasons. Over and over he referenced some element of that cycle to make a point. He was trying to help us understand that there were comparisons to be made between the birth, life, death and resurrection and ascenssion of his existance on earth to the growth cycle.  And his whole point would be that he came to give new life - a promise of rising from whatever has taken you to your lowest place, has buried you by the effects of sin, is only the earth from which you will rise to newness. 
I am so thankful for the picture, and I belive that baptism should reflect that image as well. It is why I believe in full emersion baptism. 
Lord thank you for painting the pictures, and giving us "types" like fingerprints to be able to identify the truth. Thank you for new llife. Bless us today with your regenerating power. Loving you with all my heart. AMEN

Jesus refered to himself in comparisons to so many elements of his creation ~ light, wind, water for example.  He refered to life as being like a flower, and fig trees.  He spoke of harvests and shepherding. He was able to make his points by making reference to the things in the everyday lives of the people he ministered to.  I have always loved that he prayed in a garden.  I am always taken to a place of feeling the oneness I have with him, when I am doing something gardeny.  We are taking down the old things in our yard.  Helped along by circumstances, my swing was leaning, my arbor was sagging, my vines are overtaking everything, and the stepping stones are  hidden under the overgrowth somewhere.  I had already pulled the little figurines and decorations from the garden last fall, and stored them.  But what we were facing, this year, was a complete clean up and start over...or so I thought. 
We had already removed the old swing set which had belonged to Dakota.  But my wooden swing, had to be taken apart. I dragged the timbers as Jimmy deconstructed it, to where the children's swing had been. I made a back drop for what was about to become my new Bird feeder station, and outdoor photo studio.  Wanting to use what we had as much as possible, I began to place the broken tree limbs which were beginning to be covered with mushrooms in strategic places, as if they had been laying there all along.  I took the concrete urns from MOM's, which I will fill with flowers in her memory this year, and placed them like she would have.  I pulled the table I had made from wood recycled from the old deck repair to one end.  I rearraged the stepping stones we rescued from other old paths no longer used in the yard.  Jimmy made me a flat surface feeder and raised it a few inches off the ground. I lay a limb in front to camoflouge the edges of the board and make it more natural.  I placed the statuary around in nooks that had been created with the arrangement.  Then I placed seed in the crevaces of knot holes in the logs, and anywhere that I thought birds would feel sucure enough to come and feed.  I stood a long limb against the tree and hung one of the wind chimes and a little bird house that Dakota gave me on it.  I put up two logs, standing them on end, on the table, and set the birdhouse, that had come off a standing peice of decor my sister had made years ago, on top. The stand had rotted away, but the birdhouse still was solid.
When I though it was acceptable, I went to my hiding place and pulled up my camera to see if the angles of things were photo ready.  And then....I got up before dawn to be in hiding before the birds awakened.  I adjusted cameras to the best picture I could take in minimal light that would be easy to adjust as the light became brighter, and I sat and waited.
At first, there was nothing but a bold Robin and a stubborn squirrel.  My favorite birds sung in the edges of the yard, nestled safely in the bushes.  And then it happened. Daylight approached and they began to cautiously emmerge.  I struggled to get focused on the birds in time to take clear shots. But I kept at it. The birds came to the seed and when the camera made sounds, they flew. Uggh.  So I moved back into the darkness of my hiding place a little further and readjusted the camera focal lengths, and then it happened.  First one shot, then two, then several.  Please help them not be afraid of me, I prayed.  Then silence. I searched about and found a cat sitting on the steps to the deck.  After shooing him off..I waited again....Finally, Brown Thrashers, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, White-throated sparrows, Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Towhees and Robins.  Much to my surprise, I was getting nice shots even in though it had begun to rain. 
All the while, I recalled that Jesus chose this atmosphere in which to pray.  I don't know if there were birds about.  In an olive grove they probably had ways to disuade birds from coming there. But He chose a place where he could hide away, close to his creation.  As I am able, there will be a couple of places where I can sit or kneel in my new garden spot.  I can imagine having little bits of inspiration dotted about. But for all the nostalgia of such places...we must always come away, able to face the world where we actually live.  Having this place gives my mind a resting spot.  But as Jesus often did, we arise from the place of prayer and we go live.  I have known of people who just felt like the more and longer they prayed the closer they might come to getting an answer from God.  I watched the little birds going about life, searching for food, selecting mates, guarding territories, and I knew that all of God's creation does not stress over whether God will answer their prayer for provision and care. They just attack life with their whole being. 
Jesus himself explained that God never forgets the sparrow, so how much more he will take care of me.  So I came away from my experience of being in the garden with him and his little birds, knowing how much he cared for me. As if he were there...
Oh yes, he still comes to the Garden to pray, with me. He IS always there.
When the scarey things of life come sneaking up on me, Lord, help me wisely fly away, until all is clear. But help me be about living life, and loving it.  With gusto, and purpose. Help me not to tarry too long in the garden...Life is for living. Thank you for that. AMEN