Praising Family

Every day, I feel so happy and blessed with what God has given me. I have a wonderful husband and we are truly best friends. We fuss at each other and we disagree sometimes, but most times we laugh together and make decisions together. We support each other and care for each other. It's wonderful to have someone I can share anything with and know that whatever I say, he won't turn his back on me.

The blended family we have created is awesome! Together we have eight children. Through the years we made a lot of memories. Now, we can sit together at family gatherings and reminisce and laugh. Even now, we learn things our children did which they didn't tell us at the time! I love the sense of belonging to a family.

We are also blessed to be a family of Christians. And we have a wonderful church family. As I close my eyes, I see all of our families blended together into one huge family, surrounding us with love and protection. And I see God's loving arms wrapped around all of us.

I opened my bible this morning and this is what I read in Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 (NLT, Tyndale Red Letter)

"I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, 'Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?' It is all so meaningless and depressing.

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

One Beautiful Lone Flower

In Ohio, we've had very cold weather, nights close to freezing, frosts in the mornings, and rain. Not a typical October. How quickly we were given our first glimpse of the winter months ahead.

Hubby and I were outside preparing the cat shelter with fresh thick comforters in preparation for their comfort over the winter. With hubby's bad health, he hasn't been able to keep up the outside landscaping. The knock out rose bushes in front of the swing have grown so large they look like the brambles in front of Sleeping Beauty's house while she slept. The arbor over the swing houses climatis vines and grape vines, both long dormant. I pulled one grape vine branch out of the chain supporting the swing and poked it back through the lattice of the arbor. I walked to the outside of the arbor to weave it one more time and God amazed me! Amid all the dormant vines and leaves rested one perfect purple climatis bloom. My heart squeezed.

What a beautiful reminder of God's ever present love and promise. God hugged me.

I was reminded that we only need to open our eyes to see God's abundant and glorious gifts.

Psalm 89:1-3 I will sing of the Lord's unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.

God's Blessings in Troubled Times

I don't normally blog on Tuesdays, but I feel compelled to write my thoughts this morning.

I woke up at 5:20AM and wondered why the furnace was running and I was so hot. I turned on the downstairs hallway light and the further down the stairs I walked the colder the air felt. I headed to the thermostat and immediately saw the problem. The basement door was wide open and the screen door was also propped open! I immediately thought hubby must have been painting in the basement and forgot to shut the doors. But then I knew that I would have felt the cold the night before and I had been in the basement to do laundry and everything was locked and secure. As I walked back toward the family room, I saw pictures on the floor and thought the cats must have done it...probably spooked by something. No! Our flat screen TV was missing. I quickly scouted the area and noticed nothing else that seemed to be missing. My office was intact; my purse intact and all my computer stuff...fine. I hurried upstairs and woke up hubby and told him we'd been robbed. We came downstairs and couldn't figure out how anyone could have come in through the door. It had two slide bolts as well as a regular lock. Nothing was disturbed. The door hadn't been removed from the hinges.

I went upstairs and saw the entry point. Someone had come on our deck, removed a bug screen from one half of the window (inside the deck), and then had gone outside, used our ladder and climbed up to lift the window screen and the window. They came in through that half window area and went downstairs to get the TV. As we investigated the path, we realized they had snipped the alarm wire on the door they used to exit. Not too smart of a crook, because if we had actually set the alarm before retiring, that would have broken the circuit and set off the alarm.

Anyway, we are out one 42" flat screen television, but no one in our home was injured. Nothing else was taken.

I truly believe God was watching over us. It could have been so much worse. In today's world, we might have been killed. If we had woken up and caught them in the act, who knows what might have happened.

I also believe God is giving us a wake-up call. We have safety measures on our windows to keep them from opening. We have locks, and the kitchen window was unlocked. We have an alarm system and we hadn't set it. From now on, we are utilizing all our safety measures, and we are thanking God for the blessing in the violation.

God is good, all the time.

Laughter is God's Gift for a Happy Soul

God doesn't promise that we won't have trouble in our life. But He promises that if we love and follow Him, we will have joy and everlasting life.

The secret to facing each new day is to look at the positive things rather than the negative. Find joy in the small gifts...sunshine, flowers, children, family, pets, friends, and so much more. Start each day with a smile and laugh often.

It is a proven fact that those who laugh often life longer. Laughter is healthy, it is calorie free, and it lifts spirits. Take pleasure and enjoy life--the life God has given.

Negativity breeds negativity. Laughter breeds laughter. Both are contagious. Which would you rather have in your life?

Try smiling and laughing. Tell the devil to remove himself from your life. Tell him OUT LOUD. Then thank God for being with you and go into the day with a smile on your face.

God bless you and may your day be filled with much laughter and many smiles.

Healing Hands of Jesus

I suffer from foot cramps. They usually occur at night, waking me so that I walk the floor trying to relieve them. But, occasionally they occur during the day. Once I was shopping when a cramp seized my foot and calf. I tried to walk but the pain continued. Suddenly the other leg cramped as well. I left everything in the cart and slowly, painfully made my way to the car. Ten minutes of pain and tears and then the pain blessedly left.

That was several year ago, when I believed in God, but I hadn't truly put him first in my life.

Two weeks ago, as I drove to work, my right foot began to cramp. The pain intensified, but I couldn't stop the car. The road I travel has no place for a vehicle to pull off the road. I began to pray and asked Jesus to let me please get to work without harming anyone. I prayed that He would help to ease the pain. Nearly blinded with the pain, I continued to pray, over and over. As I approached a dangerous blind curve in the road, I knew Jesus was with me. I saw the road. I knew I was driving, but I also saw a beautiful outline of his white robe and felt his hands surround my foot. The cramps eased and quit.

Even today, miracles occur. He is with us. Please don't forget to say thank you when He blesses you. I did.

When God is Your Top Priority

He is always with you. I had a nice talk with my daughter last night about this very thing. Sometimes we find ourselves running in circles, working hard, trying to meet all our obligations, and pushing God to the outside. These are the things that make us stressed out and the more we do, the more there is facing us.

However, if you just take a step back and find God, then make Him a part of your daily life, FIRST AND FOREMOST, then you will find that there is time to do so much more than you ever did before.

God is a part of my daily life. I talk to Him all the time. And the most important thing is listening for His words. No, He doesn't talk to me in a loud booming voice that rocks the walls of my home, but He is a voice that speaks to me softly. I hear Him loud and clear. He directs my life, and He is so good. He is always with me.

No, He doesn't make everything a garden of roses, but He's always with me through all the storms of life. He loves me. How can I not love others?

Lord Jesus, I pray that everyone reading this blog today will open their hearts to let You in, to accept Your unconditional love, and that they in turn, will share that love with others. Amen.

Through the Storm

On Friday, we had a terrible storm. The sky was a strange yellowish green color as it rolled in with lightning and thunder just in time for rush hour. I am so frightened of lightning and the loud booms of thunder (which is why I avoid fireworks). The thought of having to drive to work in the storm had my muscles clenched in terror.

The rain pounded against the ground like the sound of horses galloping across an open plain. Before I made it out of our subdivision, a huge bolt of lightning complete with jagged forks of fire flashed in front of me. Hunching my shoulders, fingers tight on the steering wheel, I began to pray.

I prayed that God would not let me hurt anyone else on my journey, and that he would get me safely through the storm. I kept praying over and over those same words and then moved to repeating the 23rd Psalm. One mile down the road, the rain began to let up. The sky looked even more ominous, but no further lightning or thunder resounded across the sky. I only had three more miles to travel. I drove through deep puddles of water as the sky continued to whirl in deepening threat. I kept praying the 23rd Psalm, eyes on the road, and arrived at work. I walked into the building without having to put anything over my head to protect me from the rain.

As soon as I went through the double doors, the rain resumed with crashes of thunder and galloping horses.

I thanked God for sending Jesus to ride with me. Every day there are small miracles which occur. God is good, all the time.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind...

Recently I attended my grandson's wedding. I always cry at weddings, but I didn't cry this time. The setting was beautiful, outdoors beside a beautiful pond in a local stat park. I focused on the faces of my grandson and his bride as they spoke their vows. Shining faces filled with love and the excitement of a future together--forever.

God smiled down that day, blessing this couple, and blessing those who observed.

I felt so blessed to spend time with my grandson and his new bride at the reception, but even more so, when they came to the house on two separate occasions before they left for Arizona again. My grandson has grown into a strong, compassionate young man. I watched him grow up. Home videos capture the baby, the toddler, the school years, and now a man in a uniform who serves his country and has taken a bride.

I've never felt so blessed.

May God smile on your today.

After the Dust Settles, Look for God

On Wednesday while getting my clothes out for work, I felt extreme pain in my thumb. Since I have arthritis,I'm used to these events; however,this time the pain did not go away. To make a long story short, I took off work and went to the doctor. Hubby drove. On our return, our house alarm trouble alarm was sounding.

If I had gone to work, I would have been in a Senior Manager's Meeting and my hubby wouldn't have known what to do. Thankfully, I was home and able to contact the right people to rectify the situation.

Three hours later, we had the alarm fixed and signal going to the alarm monitoring company, my telephone line corrected, and I had a thumb stabilizer to help with the medical situation.

Sometimes, God works in ways we don't see until after the dust settles.

Got at Work Today

A true story as told to me by a friend who works part-time in a grocery store:

A young man pushed his cart of groceries to the counter. He watched as the items were keyed into the register, but his mind was home with his pregnant wife. It was late and he wanted to be home with her. The cashier ran the final item through and told him the amount he needed to pay. He reached into his back pocket...and found he'd forgotten his wallet.

Embarrassed, he asked if she could hold the groceries while he went home to get his money. The cashier told him she'd have to void out the items and he would need to run them through when he returned.

The woman in line behind him told the cashier it was all right. She would pay for his groceries and for hers, too. And she did, despite his protests.

This is a true example God working in today's world. You won't see it in the headlines of the newspaper. You won't hear it in the news. But this one deed will endure and spread and the rewards await in heaven. Amen.

A Simple Thank You

My hubby and I were having dinner at Boston Market on Christmas Eve before attending candlelight service. While we were there a young city policeman arrived, but didn't get in line to order food. He sat at one of the tables and I wondered if he was supposed to be providing security. From time to time he'd get up and walk around staring out the windows as if looking for something or someone.

We'd been eating for about ten minutes when another policeman came in. The first one told his friend he'd been worried about him. Voices low, they shared a story...perhaps about a call he'd been on. Then they ordered their dinner and sat conversing.

I thought about this being Christmas Eve and these two men being separated from their families to protect us. This tugged at my heart continually until we finished our dinner. Before we left, I approached the policemen's table and said "Excuse me."

They both looked up and said, "Yes Ma'am," probably expecting me to complain about something. I just smiled and said, "I just wanted to tell you thank you for what you do and God bless you."

The smiles and expressions on their faces spread a warmth through my heart. They thanked me and we left.

Perhaps this wouldn't be such a big deal for someone else to do, but for me, the eternally shy one, I had to step way out of my comfort zone to approach those total strangers. I've felt so blessed after this experience, that I know God used that moment to teach me how to share his love with others.

God bless, and thanks for visiting.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Have you made any New Year Resolutions? Each year I jot down a few things that I plan to accomplish through the year. Being a writer, I set goals to accomplish a certain number of pages per day or number of manuscripts per year. I usually set goals to focus on getting healthy--eating better and getting daily exercise. Two years ago, I set a goal to read the entire Bible in one year. I purchased a Bible that had daily readings and by reading the alloted passages each day by the end of the year I would have read it all. I accomplished that and I'm so glad I did. But...it shouldn't stop there.

Whenever I open my Bible, I find something that inspires me in one way or another. So, this year, I'm setting a priority to read from my Bible daily. Last night I opened my Bible to this passage: Colossians 3:16-17

"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."

It spoke to me of what I need to be doing not only this year but every day of my life. So this year, not only am I going to set aside time to write, time to exercise, time to read the Bible, but also take time to share God's love with others.

So, how about you? Are you setting any resolutions for this new year?