A Year of Blessings - January 29, 2010

It's still snowing. Five plus inches and still coming down. I really prefer the warm inside to the frigid outside, but there is just something that is beautiful about white, white snow. It piles up and softens everything it covers. Even sound is softened, quiet, peaceful. Snow slows us down from the hectic lives we live.

Jesus does that to us. He softens the jaggedness of our lives with His love and quiets our hearts with his grace and mercy. He abides in us in peaceful rest. It's good to stop and remember.

Isaiah 30:15 (New International Version)

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,

A Year of Blessings - January 28, 2010

Ice is coming down. Snow is tomorrow. We have prepared the best we can for the worse possible. Flashlights handy, blankets, percolator coffee pot, food, toilet paper, batteries, cell phones charged...all checked off the list. The flicker of the fireplace sends a defiant warm glow around the room as the sleet patters against the window. We are ready. And I am blessed by the feeling of readiness.

Titus 3:1-3 (The Message)

He Put Our Lives Together

Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous.

It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.

A Year of Blessings - January 27, 2010

There is just something majestic about sunsets. There is never one quite the same, yet they all have a quality of beauty within them. I'm sure sunrises have their redeeming qualities, too, but they are placed at the wrong time of day for me.

Isn't it amazing how God never wastes anything in a sunset? Every cloud, every ray of sunlight, every speck of dust that makes up a sunset is important to making that spectacular, momentary event what it is. If God will do that everyday, year in and year out, for however many eons, just to make a sunset, why do we doubt He will use every part of us, good and bad, ugly and beautiful, healthy and sick, to shine for His glory if we just allow His son to surround us with His right-ness? We are much more to our creator than a mere sunset! He will not waste any part of us if we give it up to Him. Just think how majestic WE could be in Him!!

I am blessed to witness the wonder of God...in sunsets...and in His beloved people.

Numbers 6:24-26 (New International Version)

The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

A Year of Blessings - January 26, 2010

Ok, this was just FUN! I had taken a class on night photography and there was a section we never got to on making pictures with lights. So today I decided to try it out. I barricaded myself in my closet and stuffed every piece of stray light with clothes (sorry Pete), set up my tripod with my camera and turned out the lights. I had a red laser pin light and a regular pin light. I set the shutter speed at 20 seconds and then, like I said, just had fun! This was one 'drawing' I really was pleased with.

So I guess I was blessed today in a lot of ways...fun, enjoyment, photography...but I am footnoting a scripture about the subject matter: the Light of the World. He's my Greatest of all blessings!

John 8:12 (New International Version)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

A Year of Blessings - January 25, 2010

This is my retro swivel rocker that Pete and I found at a garage sale for $5.00. I sat in it and went 'ahhhh'...it was SO comfortable I had to get it, and we certainly couldn't beat the price! It is a fun chair! The kids love it as do many of the adults. I had it put in the front window to catch the sun and it has become my favorite reading place.

Who knew I would find a 'retro blessing'?

Proverbs 10:7a (New International Version)

The memory of the righteous will be a blessing...

A Year of Blessings - January 24, 2010

We live in Oklahoma...'Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!'. So I am learning to make peace with the wind. Putting up wind chimes at least makes it sound better than the howl it would have otherwise. These wind chimes were bought just for blessing this house, and they have the Lord's prayer on them. So I like to imagine the words of the Lord being sent by the 'breezes' into the air to bless all that may enjoy the wind as much as me!

Matthew 6:9-13 (New International Version)

"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'

A Year of Blessings - January 23, 2010

I am feeling better...finally! So as I thought about my blessings for today, the one that kept coming up before me was: doctors! They take so much of their lives to learn the knowledge of the complex human body, and then spend the rest of it putting up with patients (which are NOT patient!), unreal hours on the job, and continuing education.

Thank you for physicians healing touch!

Psalm 147:2-4 (New Living Translation)

The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem
and bringing the exiles back to Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
and calls them all by name.

A Year of Blessings - January 22, 2010

When my kids were little, I remember doing 4 loads of laundry per day. There was even one time I took all the laundry to the laundry mat because I had so much I couldn't do it at home. (We had all been sick for about three days...not a pretty sight!) I counted the washers, we used 32 of them! That must have been some kind of record! Maybe I should have called Guinness. Afterwards, I had tennis elbow from lifting all the laundry out of the washers...like I said...not a pretty sight.

I would joke to my friends that if I didn't make it to heaven I knew what Satan would have ready for me...I would be sentenced to work throughout eternity in the laundry room of Hell!

Now that season of my life has passed...I only do laundry twice a week now and sometime just look for stuff that needs freshening! I no longer mind doing it and find a feeling of accomplishment in having all the dirty piles neatly put away, smelling nice and clean.

So as weird as it sounds, my blessing for today is doing laundry! Isn't it strange how God takes the very things we feel are awful and makes them into blessings?

Isaiah 49:22-23 (The Message)

The Master, God, says:

"Look! I signal to the nations,
I raise my flag to summon the people.
Here they'll come: women carrying your little boys in their arms,
men carrying your little girls on their shoulders.
Kings will be your babysitters,
princesses will be your nursemaids.
They'll offer to do all your drudge work—
scrub your floors, do your laundry.
You'll know then that I am God.
No one who hopes in me ever regrets it."