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