A Year of Blessings - January 4, 2010

This blessing is of no surprise: a hot cup of coffee! My dearest husband starts my day off by bringing me one in bed (now THAT'S a blessing!) Some of my dearest memories are having coffee with friends and family. I study my Bible with coffee in hand and a phone call usually requires one, too. Now before you think all I do is drink coffee...I usually only have 2 cups a day. I just reheat the one I don't finish until it is all gone! Besides, part of they joy of coffee is warming my hands with the cup.

Ecclesiastes 9:7
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine (coffee*) with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.

*my interpretation

A Year of Blessings - January 3, 2010

This time last year I was busy adjusting to a new house: putting up pictures, moving furniture around to suit my taste, unpacking and running around with all the craziness that goes with making a place a home. By April I had decided to paint and redo the living and dining room in a more warm color. Getting samples of paint, I was just ready to start putting some color to the wall when my back started aching. Then there was pain that started down my leg. Within a few weeks I couldn't stand upright without extreme pain in both my back and leg. Walking was a real challenge and after two or three doctor visits, surgery was the only option to stop the pain. I took it. It has been seven months since surgery and I am better but not able to even think about painting the living room. I still can't lift more than ten pounds and have a constant 'funny' feeling in my legs and feet. I keep hearing..'it takes time'...and I keep thinking...'but I have so many things I want to do NOW!'

This morning I was talking with a friend who had endured many back surgeries. I complained about how the cold was awful, and the pain was a nuisance. He said quite bluntly, "You're upright aren't you? You're walking, aren't you? I figure any day I can get up and walk is a good day. The pain doesn't quit, but I can walk. And I will make the best of each and every time I can do that..and smile about it!"

Ok...he is right. It took someone pointing out this blessing in a very blunt way to realize how big a blessing it really is. Walking. I can walk. I am very, VERY blessed.

Isaiah 35:4, 6, 10
..."Be strong, do not fear; your God will come,"...
Then will the lame leap like a deer...
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

A Year of Blessings - January 2, 2010

Blessings are SO hard to narrow down today! So I chose one that has many layers to it...working on the KPC song books for this year. First blessing: Being able to work on projects with my very best friend. Pete has to be my second greatest blessing on earth (second only to my relationship with my Heavenly Dad). Second: My relationship with a friend who has blessed my whole family richly...Brenda...and her very had work of teaching kids to follow directions. Third: The joy of song and singing, especially with the children involved in our Kids Praise Chorus. Over and over again I hear the comment that they sound like angels singing...and I totally agree!

Psalm 86:11-12
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

A Year of Blessings - January 1, 2010

With the encouragement of my daughter, the two of us are going to do a picture a day for a full year of the blessings in our lives. For me, this will be a year of discipline to see what God is providing every single day. I will be doing this to consciously and deliberately grow my faith in Him. I know He is powerful. Now I will add to my knowledge an assurance that He works in everything, everyday.

The first blessing I am posting is my family. We have been through a lot the past few years and this photo means more to me than all the money in the world. It shows that our God heals, rebuilds, and upholds those that trust in Him. He grows us the way HE wants us to grow, sometime only in small baby steps. But each tiny step brings more forgiveness, shows more how He is in control and not us, and allows us to know deeply His grace and mercy. We are learning to give that grace and mercy to each other now...and becoming more like His son, Jesus. For that, I am truly humbled before Him...in awe and gratitude.

Isaiah 25:9
In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in Him;
let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

And now, a word from our Sponsor...

Are you stuck in a rut?
Feeling like you are hitting your head against the same brick wall day after day?
Can't seem to do what you really want to do?

Ready to have a little life in your life?
Try R & R! You will like it so much you will keep coming back for more!
R & R...good for the tough, rough, life!

....


"I'm so tired"
"My 'get up and go' got up and went"
"I just need to slow down and catch my breath, but it seems like everyone is yelling for more, More, MORE! What can I do?"

Does this sound like you?
Then go to the nearest QT for the 'pick me up' you need!
And remember: QT gets you through the rest of your day!

And now, for the REAL Word from our Sponsor...

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

"In repentance and rest (R & R) is your salvation,
in quietness and trust (QT) is your strength..."

So the next time you need a lot of Life and Energy to get you through your day, just head to Isaiah 30:15 and stop at the QT and do a little R&R!

Wise Men Still Follow You Today

To Be Impressed, or Not To Be Impressed, That is the Question

I've been kinda down lately. I was just feeling like I might be recovering from my back surgery for a bad disc, only to find out I have osteoporosis in the vertebrae. Talk about no backbone! And try as I might, I just couldn't seem to get out of the heavy, binding, sadness of the changes I've gone through in the past couple of years. So this weekend I just wanted to stay in bed and let the changes go on without me. They were just too much trouble. Too painful. Too, well, old-feeling.

I shared my diagnosis with my mom. She told me to join the club. She's had a bad back for several years now. And my dad, too. I got my dad's bad discs, and my mom's bad bones, but no sympathy from that region.

My grandson asked how my back was doing. Ah! A sympathetic ear! I told him. He looked at me in a very sad way and said, "I guess that means I will have to wait on you to make cookies for a while longer..." Alas, still no sympathy.

Ok. To the Bible. I told God about my problems and requested a few answers. I opened to Isaiah..."Woe to you!!" Nope. That's not it.

I turned the TV to the Joyce Meyers program. Ahhh...SHE was talking about depression. That's where I'm at! I anticipate the comforting answer for my hurting, heavy, sad, old feeling....I should have known better.

Joyce was the one that told me to 'get over it' a long time ago. Her new catch phrase? "I'm not impressed!" It seems that whenever her husband is faced with a situation that could get him upset, he simply says 'I'm not impressed'. If you are 'impressed' with something, you can become 'oppressed' by it, which leads to being 'depressed' with it. So don't let it impress you and it can't depress you.

*sigh*

Guess I will just have to get over it.

I'm certainly not impressed with the sympathy OR the answers I'm getting!