I REALLY like this silly little cartoon!

See?  I can be light-hearted!

Yesterday my 6 year old granddaughter (#11 out of the 13 grandkids) came upstairs and handed me a very stretched out but most beautiful bracelet that she had gotten out of a give away pile.  She said, "This is for you.  It's a friendship bracelet."  I wore it almost all day.  A little later she said, "You are the best grandmother in the whole world, and I love you so much!"

Yep, don't mess with the grands!

Who knows?  What we are experiencing now in our lives may turn out to be life's biggest blessing.  Our trials help us to depend on the Lord in a way that no easy time can.  Many times as he prophesied, Ezekiel quoted God as saying, "Then they will know that I am the Lord."   May we recognize His Lordship in our lives through every situation in which He allows us to be.

How good is our God, who grows us from dirt and darkness 
to cleanliness and light!  
Hallelujah!

Count YOUR blessings, name them one by one.

Count YOUR blessings, see what God has done!

Been there?  Done that?

God, Please Don't Let Me Cry

Eight-year-old Gilbert was the odd-man-out at the Cub Scout "Pinewood Derby" event.

All of the other scouts had sleekly crafted cars with cool paint jobs - obviously the result of father-son partnerships. But Gilbert's "Blue Lightning" was crudely made, lopsided and a little wobbly. Worse yet, every scout had a proud dad standing by his side, but Gilbert was accompanied by "Mom."

In a Pinewood Derby, wooden cars race down a ramp in an elimination-style competition. You keep racing as long as you win. And quite unexpectedly "Blue Lightning" kept winning, over and over again, until it was pitted in a final contest against the sleekest, fastest-looking car there.

At that moment Gilbert asked if he could pray. His brow wrinkled in concentration, he prayed for a very long minute and a half. Finally he smiled and said, "I'm ready."

To everyone's surprise, "Blue Lightning" won by a nose and the crowd roared with approval. The scout master approached with a microphone and asked, "Did you pray to win, son?" Little Gilbert shook his head. "No sir. That wouldn't be fair. I asked God to not let me cry if I lost." That simple prayer spoke volumes to everyone present. Gilbert didn't ask God to win, make things fair, or remove his pain. He simply prayed to endure it.

How well Gilbert understood the promise of Philippians 4:13 - "I can do everything

through Christ who gives me strength," or the promise of James 4, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to consume it on your passions . . . But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"

http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/

 My friend Angie wrote this on her blog today (angiesthatsthat.blogspot.com), and I want everyone who can to read it.  What a wise and wonderful statement of truth!

1 Corinthians 1;18  ''The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.''      This verse was in my daily Bible reading today and reminds me where to lay my burdens.  Every doubt, sorrow, worry, or anxious moment has been paid for at the foot of the Cross.
     ''Now I can trade these ashes in for beauty and wear forgiveness like a crown.  Coming to kiss the feet of mercy, I lay every burden down at the foot of the Cross.''
      I can honestly say God has won my heart and my trials are turned into victory thru Him and for His glory.  If you read further in the passage past this one verse, it talks more about our foolishness.  1 Corinthians 1;24-25  ''But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.''
     How come we can recognize how little we know when we get lost going from point A to point B, but we often think we know better than God or can do things without Him?  Arrogance needs to be humbled, anxiety needs to be calmed, and patience needs to be sought.  Where can you find such a peace-giving place?  At the foot of the Cross, where grace and suffering meet.

Our children

Oh, yeah!

Have a week filled with blessings as you take the time to enjoy (and discipline) those precious gifts from God who teach us in every way what life is all about--the fun, the blessings, the trials.  How they help us, beating our pride into the dust, lifting our spirits so that they soar, helping us to learn what it really means to love unconditionally.  Through good and difficult times,

THANK GOD FOR OUR CHILDREN

"If the Lord can calm a storm, He can prevent one. So when He permits you to go through storms, it’s to show you that you don’t have a problem He can’t solve; that you may be powerless in the situation but He’s not; and that through this experience you’ll come to know Him in a way you have never known Him before. So learn these lessons well and come out stronger on the other side."

 This was on the facebook page of Bobby Avilez, a missionary friend in Thailand.  By experience he understands this, and his family is a role model to us.  I thank God for you, Bobby.

From an Arkansas girl who likes hot weather--generally.

Have a blessed weekend, and just remember that heaven will have perfect weather all the time.  This is a short stay here on earth.  We have all eternity to enjoy perfect weather.  Are you prepared for eternity?

I love this!  My beloved husband is not always the most romantic man in the world, but he is a faithful to the end kind of guy, and for that I am eternally grateful.  Our love goes much deeper than just a romantic feeling, but thank the Lord, that's a part of it, too!  What a blessing to have spent 44 years with the same man and to know that our covenant between one another and God is still intact.  I look forward to growing old (er) with him.

There were some things about the "good ole days" that were really, really good.  Like swimming in the creek, or sand lot baseball and basketball, or paper dolls (even making your own), playing outdoors without the fear of abduction.  How can we get rid of ipods, iphones, tablets, computers, and television for just a few days--or weeks or months--and get our kids active again?  Life in the fast lane can get way too fast (and fattening.)

AMEN AND AMEN!

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."
--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

As you remember our nation and our soldiers, our president and our statesmen, please pray for them that they will grasp the heart of the men who began our nation. Pray that once again hearts will be turned toward the spirit of true liberty and that God will be honored in our land.

Happy Independence Day!

What's this all about, anyway?

"If you think of this world as a place

 intended for our happiness, 

you find it quite intolerable;

 think of it as a place for training and correction,

 and it's not so bad." 

Enough said!

Just a little word of encouragement

 to all the mothers and grandmothers

 who may be stressed

 with the everyday grind of life.

  Some things are urgent--

but some things are

 IMPORTANT!

 

 

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

 

Armed for It

This is a post from my friend Angie at http://angiesthatsthat.blogspot.com/.  Angie is assigned to a wheel chair for the remainder of her life with a rare and debilitating disease.  Yet she is my inspiration and my role model.  If you don't read another blog daily, I would encourage you to read this one.  It is an inspiration!





     I think this caption points out the value of reflecting upon our past.  I can personally think back on times where I felt scared or lost in what to do but was always equipped with a solution in His timing.  'I will never forsake you' is a comforting thought in stressful situations. 
     People often say 'Life isn't fair.'  Who said it was supposed to be?  I think we see others trials and wonder if we could handle it as well.  I think God equips us in a specific manner for specific ordeals. As I was going somewhere the other day I was a little anxious about needing to cough.  I saw a church sign that said 'Trusting God relieves panic.'  The storms of life will come to test you so your foundation must be solid to withstand them.  God gives us a full set of armor to fight our battles. We are to always speak the truth, always do the right thing, always be ready to witness to others, always trust with faith what we do not understand, always guide our ways thru the Word, and pray without doubt.  This is how we make our way thru a dark world with the light of the Son.

Ephesians 6:13-18  ''Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.   Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. '' 

We Failed To Ask

"Because you Levites did not carry the Ark the first time,

 the anger of the Lord our God burst out against us.

 We failed to ask God how to move it properly.”

1 Chronicles 15:13-14

Oh, the lessons to be learned from the life of David, King of Israel! The ark of the Lord had previously been moved from the land of the Philistines and from one place to another.  In the second moving of the ark, one of the men touched it as it began to tip and died instantly.  David's response was anger toward the Lord.  His heart was right in wanting to move it; his desire was to move it to Jerusalem, where it rightfully should have been.  So in David's mind, why would God do such a thing?  Chapter 13 tells us: 

David was now afraid of God, and he asked, 

“How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?”

 So David did not move the Ark into the City of David. 

Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath.

 The Ark of God remained there in Obed-edom’s house

 for three months, and the Lord blessed the 

household of Obed-edom and everything he owned.

 

But David, being a man after God's own heart, did what any man of God should do:  He sought the Lord.  By seeking God through His Word, he found the answer to his query, "How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?"  God's answer?  Do it right!

 

How many times have I gone out on my own to do something that I thought was surely God's will--without seeking His answer through His Word first--and fallen flat on my face?  I believe that we can find most answers to life's queries through the Word that He has given us.  Our response to Him should be, "Yes, Lord.  I'll do it your way."  Unfortunately, our mortal minds can make anything seem like the will of God for us, or make us think that God has spoken to us in a certain way.  Was it God's will for David to move the ark?  Yes.  Was it God's will for it to be moved in the method by which it was moved? No!  

 

He failed to ask God.

 

Let's not fail to ask,

Gloria