The Staff

When my husband goes for walks out by the pond, he always grabs one of his rods, or as he calls them, his walking sticks. It makes him look like a mountain man to me, rugged, strong, surefooted, outdoorsy kind of guy, someone I like to follow. My mountain man of a husband has always taken care of me and loved me through thick and thin, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Just like my Lord and Savior. Psalm 100:3 says,

“We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” He is the great shepherd who goes ahead of me and points the way, showing me lessons I might not have learned if I did not follow Him and His staff.

The shepherd’s rod was used to protect the sheep from other animals. The meaning of staff is something to lean on, to trust, to support. So you could say His rod protects us, and His staff is something we can lean on, trust in, and be supported by. I can trust His leading. Even if sometimes the paths are rocky and there are holes here and there, just like the paths to the pond.

If I follow my Savior’s leading, I know I’ll be fine at the end. He doesn’t promise a smooth path through life but He does promise to be there with us; He will either go before us, with us by our side, or carry us when we feel we can go no more.

Not all of my paths have been smooth, but He has been there guiding me all along. I can look back on my life and see how He has protected me. He has provided for me. He has comforted me, carried me, and has helped me become stronger.

Although pretty close, my husband is not perfect, yet I can’t help but smile as I see him walking in front of me with his staff and compare how he is like my Heavenly Shepherd; strong, loving, caring, taking the lead and protecting me. This week we will celebrate 32 years of marriage. That's a lot of steps we've taken together. I pray we have many more.

 

Thank you Lord, for being my Great Shepherd and for giving me an earthly one as well.

 

 

“Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23:4


linking with

 

 

Dancing In the Light, 2

 

My 80 year old mother lives by herself in her home in Oklahoma.  God has blessed her with a wonderful family next door.  A wife, husband and three small boys.  The parents do not speak English well.  My mother learned Spanish over 60 years ago but hasn't used it since. But she is able to say and hear just enough with the mother Maria that they have formed a close relationship over the years.  I think with Maria's mother many, many miles away and cannot see her, she sees my mother as her second one.  I'll share her, it's ok:)

My mother had shared with me how Maria has a plastic flower in a pot that dances when a strong light hits it.  Maria has it in her kitchen window which faces my mothers kitchen window.  My mother looks over there and can see the dancing flower and it gives her that little piece of happiness inside that just makes her smile.  She shared this with Maria.  Some time later, Maria knocked on my mothers door and gave her her own dancing flower.  Now they can look out each other's window and see their friends flower dancing along with their own.

This makes me smile:)  It makes me ponder and picture in my mind how when we let the light of Christ shine down on us, we can't help but dance, some of us literally, and some of us just in our heart, but I bet we all smile. I also ponder about friendships and how special they are.  When we have the light of Christ in our hearts, we want our friends to be happy and one of the best things we can do is pray for them each day, asking the light of Jesus to shine brightly down on them until their heart dances.

My heart goes out to some of my friends right now who need to dance.  And there are days when I need to dance, but the feet are draggin'.  And then later I feel better and lighter and moving in an almost graceful way and more times than not, someone will call or send me a note saying, "I've been praying for you."  I smile and whisper in my mind. . .I know. . .I know. My dear friends, I am praying to the Dance Master for you.

I'm so grateful to serve a mighty, majestic King of Kings God, and how He cares enough to want us to dance. . .and if it takes a plastic flower in a pot in a kitchen window, then that is what He does.  He cares enough about you and me in this great big world full of mess and he brings us to someone's mind that brings them into His presence on our behalf.  He sees, He listens, He cares, He directs, He leads. . .are we following, allowing Him to lead on our behalf?

If you're in the dark, step out onto the dance floor and let the light, His light shine down on you and feel the music of his voice, his love, let it move you, and begin to dance.  He's the best dance partner I know.  Go on, take a spin, twirl and dip and sway to the music. . .are you dancing yet?

 

Part 2

 

A dear sister in Christ that battled cancer for years passed away a few nights ago. She inspired everyone who knew her. She oozed Christ's love. Her closest friends say she is now dancing without shackles. Yes, she is dancing in the Light, with the Light of the world, her Savior, Jesus. Many of you that did not know her, prayed for her. Thank you!

She is free from cancer, free from pain, free from this world. She sang not too long ago,

You can have all this world, Just give me Jesus.

 

 

It makes me smile to think of her dancing with Him now.

Don't you know how happy she is!

 

One day I will butt in. Will you? Do you know someone who doesn't have that dance card waiting?

 

Let's tell them the steps so they can share in the dance.

 

Liz would want that.

 

Jesus calls us to do so.

 

Let the music begin! 

The Video/Imagine

 

 

 

 

 

We are ready to begin our 5th year of collecting donations of blankets, new and gently used, sleeping bags, coats, gloves and caps.

 

Do you have a thermostat to turn on when the air gets chilly?

Do you have a favorite blanket, a coat, a pair of gloves?

Do you have a bed to crawl into at night?

You may not think it's too cold yet, but to the homeless out there in the night, it is.

 

Please watch our video of the Blanket Ministry and imagine that you didn't have any of those things.

http://vimeo.com/75529630

 

 

Please consider donating wherever you can.

Bring a blessing of warmth to where there is cold.

Bring light to where it is dark.

 

Thank you to all who have and who will donate.

You are helping to share the love of Christ in more ways than you know!

 

Thank you and God bless you!

Pray With Me?

Lately, I have seen a lot of ranting filled with worry, filled with anger out on the social media.

I hear words like furloughs and shut downs. I hear confusion. All these emotions I have felt myself.

And so I hit the pause button on my day and hit the ground on my knees, head bowed and I pray to my Lord and Savior. . .will you join me?

"Lord, heal our land, give discernment and guidance to our leaders, to us. Protect our country and may she always be the land of the free. I pray Lord, fill her citizens with peace, provide the provisions for all, help us to trust You and to be content with whatever Your will is to be. Show us when to stand up, speak up, what to say, when to sit still, be quiet and help us to always be willing to accept, "Thy will be done."

In Jesus Name

Amen

 

I hit the play button on my day again and away I go ~ because I know who is in control ~ and He doesn't sit in the White House. . .He sits on a throne.

Reduced To Tears

It's not hard. I'm just like my mother. Sorry mom! It doesn't take a lot to reduce us to tears.

 

Right now it's formatting my book that is making my face tear stained. I'm still not totally comfortable with all the workings of WORD and I have this little. . . ok, ok, BIG fear I'm going to delete. I've done that before with blog posts. But I'm talking about over two years worth of work here. And this formatting is more work than I thought. It's not the work I mind, it's just the shaky hands on the keyboard, the unconfident hands hitting keys and symbols and I'm thinking of thousands and thousands of words that could be gone in the blink of an eye. Yes, I have a back-up on another laptop. I think the breaker of the dam came when someone next to me was saying do this, do that, and I am someone who needs to think a minute, or two, or three before I make changes. After all, this is serious business. I want to do it right. I want to do it well. And sometimes I just need to think longer than the person next to me.

And then there are the pictures. Yes, I have pictures all through out the book and I had them all in place. But the publishers guidelines say the manuscript needs to be double spaced and all paragraphs indented. That's no problem. . .until it comes to the pictures! Changing the movement of the words is throwing the pictures all out of whack and I don't know what I'm doing.

Maybe I'm thinking this all out too much. I know I'm fretting to much. It's just that this project is so important to me and I have put my heart and soul into it. People have trusted me with their words. I want to do a good job and I want it to bring glory and honor to my Lord.

So, then I ask myself. . .Did God not lead me into all of this? The answer is  "Yes!" I have no doubts about that. Do I trust Him to take this where He wants? The answer is  "Yes!" SO, why am I crying?

Because I am silly. That's the best I can come up with. And because I can control being silly, I will stop it. And I will keep going until this job is done.

What about you? Do you cry over silly things? Please do tell! :)  Do you fret? Will you trust the Lord with me that He is in control and believe that we are just asked to do the best we can? Will you agree with me that we will put one foot in front of the other, keep typing on those keys, formatting those books, parenting our kids, you fill in the blank_______________ with what's going on in your life.

Let's breathe in God's strength and divine power and I'm going to say a "thank you" to Him for putting up with me.  Let's get going!

Just let me go get a Kleenex first to blow this nose of mine and I'll be right there.