Happy Serving the Lord!

What a joy to spend our days serving the Lord. And what a joy to find old friends still serving the Lord after many years apart from each other.

We had the wonderful honor to spend time this week with Andrew and Laura (Plummer) Steers. We knew them back in our college days......which is starting to seem like a very long time ago! "Iron sharpeneth iron...." We feel refreshed, convicted, encouraged and challenged after spending time fellowshipping with these humble, Godly missionaries.

We are honored to serve God alongside hundreds of other friends literally around the globe. May each of you have a wonderful Sunday!

Determination

This is growing out of my bird feeder post. The post is about seven feet high. This little plant must be determined to grow. It is lacking ideal growing conditions. It has no friends to cheer it on. It is a long ways from the dirt that would help its root system so very much. It is simply determined to do what God made it to do-grow.



I wonder if I am so determined to do right? To live for God? Or am I waiting for ideal conditions? Am I complaining about what I lack? Giving excuses why I cannot grow?


I need to be determined to follow whole-heartedly after my God.



Whatever path God has for you today, be determined to see it through.



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Sweet Words

Jack gave this to me a few weeks ago...



As any mother would understand, the misspelled words do not bother me a bit. The love and sentiment warm my heart.

I give love freely to my children. I do it because I want to...I love loving them. I love them without expecting anything in return; but it is a wonderful moment when some of that love boomerangs back to you. In moments like this my heart overflows and I do nothing to stem the tide.

I did not create my children, but God used me to help bring them to this earthly life. And though I am older, wiser and smarter-and although it is I who helps to meet and care for their daily needs-and regardless of the fact that in all honesty they have given me more work and responsibilty than I have ever had before-I find it all joyfully rewarding and fulfilling as I enjoy their praise, love-and most of all-their presence.

I would gladly sacrifice more to enjoy the charges God has given to my husband and I.

All that to say...

I wonder if this is how God looks at me.

I have nothing to offer Him.

I have caused Him a great deal of work. (Have you seen what my sin has done to this world?)

I have caused Him a great deal of heartache. ( My sin put His Son through Calvary.)

Yet, He loves to hear my praise. I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Psalm 116:1

He thinks about me all the time. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Psalm 139:17-18

He loves me with a love that no one can equal. He loves me when I give Him nothing back. He loves me with the most unselfish love I will ever experience. He created me uniquely special and wants my adoration and praise. No one can ever take my place in His heart. And He will go to great lengths to prove that unwavering, unconditional love.

And so today I say with the Psalmist, I will praise thee with my whole heart...

It is the least I can do.

I hope you will, too.

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The Greatest Story Ever

This past Easter every Sunday School class in our church taught the Resurrection Story. It is the same wonderful story that we have told our children over and over again.

When church was out and we were at home our Jonathan told us all about his class. (He LOVES Sunday School and adores his teacher!) He pulled out his coloring page that had three crosses. He told us about the two thieves. He explained how God died on the middle cross. He shared about how God was placed in a cave. He had alot to tell and we listened gladly.

But this story has really gripped his heart. Almost daily he asks for a piece of paper. He starts drawing and tells me "not to look!" And when he is done he brings me this:



Just like the story is always the same, so is his simple childish drawing.

There is the sun in the sky, the three crosses on a hill, and a cave in the corner. He takes the time to explain each item to me carefully. He will tell it to anyone who will listen.



Daddy said that if Jonathan only remembered one story that he had chosen the greatest story ever told.

And I wonder how many more people would know the story if I told it as much as my son does?

And if you do not know the Greatest Story Ever Told, please let me encourage you to find out about it here.

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I Love Sundays!

Life is very busy here right now. We enjoyed a wonderful weekend with Bro. Steve Heidenreich. Listening to his stories from the mission fields around the world remind me once again how very blessed I am. I own many Bibles, yet many people thrill at receiving one page of God's Word. A missionary gave his Bible away one page at a time to people who had never seen one. They were exceedingly thankful to have a few verses of God's inspired Word. I am so rich in material things, yet sometimes think I do not have enough. The need for God's Word is so great around the world and I was deeply challenged. I want to be tender to how God can use me and my family to make an eternal difference.

We "enjoyed" more rain, but I love how it brings the birds out for all the worms.

Here are some pictures from our day. Have so much more I would love to tell, but will just post these for now.





Love on your family today. We are holding a funeral in a few hours for a dear lady who went to Heaven. Her family has loved her and been very close to her. They have no regrets. Though they are grieving they have sweet peace they treated her well and spoiled her. May we live with no regrets. Pass on some love today.

I am honored that you visited!
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My Feathered Friends

I love all the beautiful birds God sends my way. Each one refreshes my spirit. Each one cheerfully busy doing what God created it to do. May that be the theme of my own life as well.

Oscar, our Baltimore Oriole...


A beautiful cardinal...

A spectactular goldfinch...

An industrious sparrow...

A Red-winged Blackbird...

A stately woodpecker...


Except for one picture, the rest were birds I enjoyed this week.
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Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents! On Sunday it will be 39 years of marriage. I have watched my parents go through many, many things-good and bad-and I am proud to say that they have met each challenge together. Thank you for unconditional love and your unwavering example. I am proud of you both and deeply indebted to you. Have a wonderful day!



I trust that you will enjoy a wonderful Lord's Day. Drink in God's love and goodness. Gather refreshment and strength for the week ahead.

And as I have said before...
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Wish You Could Have Been Here...

This week has quickly become overwhelming. There have been so many emotions-so many needs-so many joys-so many responsibilities-so many blessings...

Today I allowed myself to be overcome with all that still needed to be done. I needed to just be still for awhile but wasn't finding the time.


With a thousand thoughts whirling through my brain this evening I glanced outside to see if our deer were back. They weren't. But the sky was breathtaking and I wanted to capture it on my camera. I grabbed my camera and aimed for a picture-but there were raindrops all over the window from the late afternoon rain. So I padded out in my slippers. (Amy & Stacy, you are really rubbing off on me!) I took alot of pictures. Of the sky, the trees, the lone bird soaring overhead. Then I just stood still. I felt the gentle breeze blowing my hair. I heard a thousand crickets singing in my field. I watched one lonely insect searching for whatever insects search for. I smelled the air still scented with rain. And I was quiet and still...and at peace.


I then came in the house refreshed. I decided to tackle some music I need to learn. A dear lady whom we love has gone to Heaven and the service for her will be on Monday. I opened the song book to the appointed page with my heart still outside admiring the sunset. I started to play and sing:

Beyond the sunset, O blissful morning,
When with our Saviour Heav'n is begun.

(Thank you, God! I needed this, too!)

Earth's toiling ended. O glorious dawning;
Beyond the sunset, when day is done.


I wish you could have been here with me and have allowed your senses to drink in God's creation with me. It was glorious!

O LORD our LORD, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Psalm 8:1

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My View

It rained on and off all day yesterday...and we awoke today to more of the same. That is fine with me as it is soothing to hear raindrops dropping on your windows as you work. I also love the scent in the air during a good rain.

I spend a great deal of time looking out my windows. I pause often in my household duties to take in the nature God has surrounded my home in. I love the wildlife I get to observe from my front row seat! I included a couple of the views I enjoy on a daily basis. These pictures are a part of what means home to me.


My kittens spend alot of time looking out of the windows, too. I believe they spend their time looking out for a different reason. They desire to be outside! They continually watch the birds. They explore the door areas anytime someone goes in or outside. We must be careful to latch the screen door so they won't escape.

We do not keep our kittens in the house to make their lives miserable or dull. Just the opposite is true! I have lived in this home on and off for the past 21 years. In that time we have lost a few animals to the road we live on. On the other side of our beautiful trees is a major thoroughfare between two cities. Many trucks go through at 55 miles per hour. An animal on the road is almost always roadkill. We love our kittens and want what is best for them for the long haul . I am not overly concerned with giving them their every desire and whim.

Yet, as I watched my kittens at the windows again-dissatisfied and wanting more-I was struck by how often I do this to God. I think I know what is best for me and my family. I want it now. I need it for my happiness. I could serve God better if...and on my reasons go. But God truly knows what is best-and sometimes the best thing for me is "no". I cannot see the whole picture. I do not know the destruction of others before me who did their own thing. And though I know in my mind that God knows best...and though I say that I trust Him, you can often find me pacing the windows of my heart still longing to go out. To have what I want now.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11

May I learn to "rest, and be still" as the book of Jeremiah admonishes. God always knows what best. May He inscribe it on my heart.



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Umbrellas

As child I enjoyed walking and playing in the rain, but somewhere along the way I grew up.



I discovered that rain is an enemy of hairspray and make-up and my vanity made me run for the protective cover of my umbrella.


I have been through the normal succession of umbrellas throughout the years, but my current (and favorite!) is pictured here. A few years ago as my ter-Rick-fic husband and I strolled through the sports section of Wal*Mart we spied wonderful BIG umbrellas for golfers. My discerning husband quickly bought me one--knowing that our future marital bliss depended on it. ;D


So, why all this talk about my "can't-live-without-it" umbrella? I have been thinking about it because of some wonderful dear sweet ladies I have been helping.

I am quickly discovering in my own life, and the lives of others, that most of our problems in life are because we leave the protective umbrella that God has given us.


"For thou hast been a shelter for me..." Psalm 61:3

If I live under the umbrella of submission, my marriage goes along wonderfully.

If I live under the umbrella of schedule, then my priorities get done.

If I live under the umbrella of a budget, I live without stress.

If I live under the umbrella of humility, I do not get my feelings hurt.

But the moment I leave my umbrella, I face the storm alone---and I WILL get wet. And fussing at the rain will not get me dry again. I must run to my umbrella (God's Word) and place myself under God's protection again.

Lord, please help me to use my spiritual umbrella as faithfully as I use my earthly one.


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