Today is Valentines Day, the day for love and lovers. The day merchants and flower shops hope to ring in big bucks as we buy things to show people how much we love them. Why do we have to buy something for them? Why can't we be with them, send them a note or e-card expressing our love and care for them?
Our Father expresses his delight in us by singing over us. I am his favorite. Then so are you. I don't recall ever making a big deal out of Valentines day. I would put a heart table cloth on, light a candle, and we would do something special for dinner either by going out or cooking something special or ordering pizza. The best part was just being with someone and putting in a movie or a Gaither DVD and listen to God's love for me. Now my Father takes delight in me.
The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. Zeph 3:17
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Jan 2
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isa. 43:18-19 (TNIV)
Let us watch and see what the Lord does this year and watch for new things in our lives and neighborhoods. The things that come to life in our lives can be brought into our jobs, churches and in the places we live
Let us watch and see what the Lord does this year and watch for new things in our lives and neighborhoods. The things that come to life in our lives can be brought into our jobs, churches and in the places we live
25 Things
1. I am in school.
2. I have a tattoo
3. I have become cityfied after growing up on a farm.
4. I love ice cream as long as it is not chocolate.
5. I don't like chocolate except for when I have a chocolate day.
6. I am a music junkie.
7. I could start my own library and that is after I have given away some books.
8. I would like to meet any of the Grahams.
9. Diet Coke is my caffine fix.
10. I have tried to give it up and can not get very far.
11. I hate doing laundry.
12. I love my Jimmy.
13. I like watching Overhauling.
14. I am a die hard football fan.
15. I like watching the final four in Basketball.
16. I love being a grandmother.
17. I have a hard time not burning grilled cheese sandwhiches.
18. I am an classic movie fan.
19. I would like to attend a Gaither homecoming taping.
20. ER is my favorite TV show.
21. NCIS and CSI are next.
22. Potatoes are a stapel.
23. I can't sleep if my feet are cold.
24. I like to sew.
25. I want to take mission medical trips.
2. I have a tattoo
3. I have become cityfied after growing up on a farm.
4. I love ice cream as long as it is not chocolate.
5. I don't like chocolate except for when I have a chocolate day.
6. I am a music junkie.
7. I could start my own library and that is after I have given away some books.
8. I would like to meet any of the Grahams.
9. Diet Coke is my caffine fix.
10. I have tried to give it up and can not get very far.
11. I hate doing laundry.
12. I love my Jimmy.
13. I like watching Overhauling.
14. I am a die hard football fan.
15. I like watching the final four in Basketball.
16. I love being a grandmother.
17. I have a hard time not burning grilled cheese sandwhiches.
18. I am an classic movie fan.
19. I would like to attend a Gaither homecoming taping.
20. ER is my favorite TV show.
21. NCIS and CSI are next.
22. Potatoes are a stapel.
23. I can't sleep if my feet are cold.
24. I like to sew.
25. I want to take mission medical trips.
Jan 26
Here I am at the brink of the Red Sea and the enemy coming from behind and I am sitting on the beach not wanting to cross not wanting to go back wanting to just sit there. The problem is I keep getting this nudge to go forward and I have kept ignoring it. My mood has been getting bleaker and the desire to move forward keeps waning but again I keep getting poked to go forward. The connection comes that maybe if I start going forward the mood will improve and I will see sunshine. The area to work on is the desire which may have to come from above but there is also this choice I need to make. I should choose to move forward and not just sit there. Like Israel had to choose life or death or blessing or cursing. Like Cain had a choice to do well or choose to be resentful and angry. Like choosing who you will serve. Like the crowds had a choice between Barabbas and Jesus. Choose to get up and move and the sea parts and you can walk through on dry ground.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
December 23, 2008
The darkness is all over outside but in my apartment there are snowflakes flashing, two electric candles in the window, tree lights are on, and candles burning giving off scents of cinnamon and gingerbread. Two days before Christmas and as I look out from my ninth floor window I can see snow coming down but at least I can see the street lights. My apartment has finally warmed up from the south wind and I sit here wrapped in my prayer shawl and watching Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.
Today I went and got my books for next semester The Family in A Psychological Crisis. I downloaded all the info I need. This is my last semester and I pray I can handle it. The stress from last semester about put me over the edge and I am so grateful for the next two weeks off. My plan is to repair my psyche.
What I will be doing on Christmas is still unknown to me. Mike, my son and Kary, my daughter-in-law will be in Hesperia with her folks, Sam and Brian are in Indiana and I can't get down there yet and Tim is in Muskegon but is banned from Hartford Terrace because he has spent 14 nights with me when I was recovering from knee surgery. Tomorrow I will be taking Pam shopping and then we are going to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" in the evening.
I did get a chance over Thanksgiving break to read "The Shack" and I really enjoyed it. I have made notes and underlined in the book. A couple of things really stuck out to me and I am praying that they sink into my brain and heart.
One is that maybe I don't trust God because I didn't believe He is good. I know He is good and I see Him being good to others, and I see his goodness but deep with in my heart I disn't believe He would be good to me. I had perceived and believed that if I were the last person on earth He would not have died for me because He would have found that intrinsic character flaw that would have canceled the deal. Whether it would have been the fact that I was female, my eyes were blue, too tall, too big, or I looked like my dad, got C's on a report card, or was too self-righteous, or too hard to live with or something else would have canceled the deal. Yet He did die for me and He dearly loves me. I have been meditating on how much He loves me and letting the Holy Spirit work on destroying the lie and replace it with my Father's truth. He dearly loves me.
Another thing that resounded in me was the fact that God does not want to justify my life but redeem it. Wow!
Here I have been working so hard for grace and it has been here all along and poured out on my life. My life has been of one performance after the other but it never impressed my Father because He loved me as He was knitting me together in my mother's womb. Now I am learning to live with this unconditional love and trusting Him with and in my life.
This truth is very new for me to revel in and allow the Spirit to imprint it in my being but I am letting Him and asking the Spirit to help my unbelief because Father says, " For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)" He knows the plans He has for me and I was OK with that but then I realized I don't have to have a Plan B because the Father will take care of that but I must admit I freaked when I realized Father does not have a Plan B and that it is Plan A all the way. Yeaks!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this check list, a place for everything and everything in its place, every blank filled person that was a panic attack waiting to happen! I am doing better now with that truth but this will take me a little bit to totally digest.
Redemption born in Bethlehem to a teenage mother and a stepfather carpenter that only shepherds came to visit whose first bed was a mangter filled with hay that animals had been eating out of during the day. Yeah I can relate to that.
Today I went and got my books for next semester The Family in A Psychological Crisis. I downloaded all the info I need. This is my last semester and I pray I can handle it. The stress from last semester about put me over the edge and I am so grateful for the next two weeks off. My plan is to repair my psyche.
What I will be doing on Christmas is still unknown to me. Mike, my son and Kary, my daughter-in-law will be in Hesperia with her folks, Sam and Brian are in Indiana and I can't get down there yet and Tim is in Muskegon but is banned from Hartford Terrace because he has spent 14 nights with me when I was recovering from knee surgery. Tomorrow I will be taking Pam shopping and then we are going to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" in the evening.
I did get a chance over Thanksgiving break to read "The Shack" and I really enjoyed it. I have made notes and underlined in the book. A couple of things really stuck out to me and I am praying that they sink into my brain and heart.
One is that maybe I don't trust God because I didn't believe He is good. I know He is good and I see Him being good to others, and I see his goodness but deep with in my heart I disn't believe He would be good to me. I had perceived and believed that if I were the last person on earth He would not have died for me because He would have found that intrinsic character flaw that would have canceled the deal. Whether it would have been the fact that I was female, my eyes were blue, too tall, too big, or I looked like my dad, got C's on a report card, or was too self-righteous, or too hard to live with or something else would have canceled the deal. Yet He did die for me and He dearly loves me. I have been meditating on how much He loves me and letting the Holy Spirit work on destroying the lie and replace it with my Father's truth. He dearly loves me.
Another thing that resounded in me was the fact that God does not want to justify my life but redeem it. Wow!
Here I have been working so hard for grace and it has been here all along and poured out on my life. My life has been of one performance after the other but it never impressed my Father because He loved me as He was knitting me together in my mother's womb. Now I am learning to live with this unconditional love and trusting Him with and in my life.
This truth is very new for me to revel in and allow the Spirit to imprint it in my being but I am letting Him and asking the Spirit to help my unbelief because Father says, " For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)" He knows the plans He has for me and I was OK with that but then I realized I don't have to have a Plan B because the Father will take care of that but I must admit I freaked when I realized Father does not have a Plan B and that it is Plan A all the way. Yeaks!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this check list, a place for everything and everything in its place, every blank filled person that was a panic attack waiting to happen! I am doing better now with that truth but this will take me a little bit to totally digest.
Redemption born in Bethlehem to a teenage mother and a stepfather carpenter that only shepherds came to visit whose first bed was a mangter filled with hay that animals had been eating out of during the day. Yeah I can relate to that.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Year Ending
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,..."
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, about the era of the French Revolution
January started off with a knee replacement and the operation and recovery was fantastic. Physical therapy didn't wallop me too much. My right leg is now pain free.
March 19 I was ready to go back to work but my job was scaled down and I had Tim living with me again and after thinking I was going to move I ended up staying at Hartford Terrace. Tim also got an apartment here until he moved to Big Rapids in August to attend Ferris State university. He now has two semesters left and is working as an intern for a company there in Big Rapids.
April I turned 50, my year of Jubilee and it was celebrated at one of my favorite restaurants Flamingos II on Laketon with family and friends. I Loved it!!! I also got my first tattoo. Samantha organized the party and she and Brian are now living in Avilla, In. Gwen is 5 and Ambree 4. She is homeschooling this year and now the youth director for Calvary Lutheran Church. Brian is head maintenance man at Impact 28:18 a camp in In.
June 30 my dad entered heaven and is now united with his Lord and other family members. It was rough to see him go but I knew that is what he wanted so it was also a blessing.
September I started the nursing program again and that occupied my fall. Mike and Kary were blest with a beautiful baby girl, Jaylee Lynn on December 10 and weight in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 18 inches long. That make 3 for them Laben is in first grade and Noah in headstart. Mike is currently laid off but is applying at temp services and at Gerber's in Fremont.
This year has also been one of much learning for me and the Holy Sprirt has been very patient as he has repeated some of those lessons. I am grateful.
My prayer for all is we really enjoy the blessings we have now and in the new year. I also thank my Father for all of you.
Click here for pictures then click on slideshow in the upper right. Show info tells you all about it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/24609558@N06/
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, about the era of the French Revolution
January started off with a knee replacement and the operation and recovery was fantastic. Physical therapy didn't wallop me too much. My right leg is now pain free.
March 19 I was ready to go back to work but my job was scaled down and I had Tim living with me again and after thinking I was going to move I ended up staying at Hartford Terrace. Tim also got an apartment here until he moved to Big Rapids in August to attend Ferris State university. He now has two semesters left and is working as an intern for a company there in Big Rapids.
April I turned 50, my year of Jubilee and it was celebrated at one of my favorite restaurants Flamingos II on Laketon with family and friends. I Loved it!!! I also got my first tattoo. Samantha organized the party and she and Brian are now living in Avilla, In. Gwen is 5 and Ambree 4. She is homeschooling this year and now the youth director for Calvary Lutheran Church. Brian is head maintenance man at Impact 28:18 a camp in In.
June 30 my dad entered heaven and is now united with his Lord and other family members. It was rough to see him go but I knew that is what he wanted so it was also a blessing.
September I started the nursing program again and that occupied my fall. Mike and Kary were blest with a beautiful baby girl, Jaylee Lynn on December 10 and weight in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 18 inches long. That make 3 for them Laben is in first grade and Noah in headstart. Mike is currently laid off but is applying at temp services and at Gerber's in Fremont.
This year has also been one of much learning for me and the Holy Sprirt has been very patient as he has repeated some of those lessons. I am grateful.
My prayer for all is we really enjoy the blessings we have now and in the new year. I also thank my Father for all of you.
Click here for pictures then click on slideshow in the upper right. Show info tells you all about it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/24609558@N06/
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Storms
The snow if fiercely coming down out there and right now reminds me of the what is happening in me. I don't want to be depressed or alone but here I am and it makes me susceptible to being bushwhacked. I know some of the plans God has for me and I just have to depend on Him to fulfill those promises. And I have to keep the door closed to the outside voices that would try to tell me other things.
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