Multitude Mondays

Patience

This…….plus……this

Will hopefully result in some photos, as soon as I can manage to read the manual and get them loaded on the computer……

With prayers and some reading, I hope to have them up here soon.

Thank you for being patient. I sure had a blast with this camera, my first real grown up camera.


Now if I can just learn to use it!

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” Romans 8: 24, 25

Joining Ann and all others in continuing the Gratitude Count today, among those I count as precious in my bouquet of memories brought back from home are these……

Being able to join my family in church for the first Easter in a long, long time. The first song raised the roof and the little impatient one sat through the whole service……that was a miracle in itself. She was enthralled by the large woman in purple with a streak of purple in her hair that belted out an incredible song.

Taking pictures with my Dad, just he and I, walking downtown, riding around town finding just the right light at twilight…..

Conversations with dear friends…….

Seeing my sixth grade teacher whom I hadn’t seen in years……I was amazed she knew me right away!

Dyeing Easter eggs that for some reason turned out only two colors……the glitter made it work.

Enjoying time with Mom, holding her hand and going to a Christian Women’s Luncheon with her…..the bonus was I won the doorprize she wanted and I happily gave it to her. That was a God thing!

Going to breakfast with my brother and seeing my Arizona neighbor there…..a pleasant surprise!

A special answered prayer…….

And then coming back to my Arizona home is always a wonderful thing, I appreciate so much the sacrifice it took just now for me to go. What a wonderful friend I have…….#679-687

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God’s Place of Rest

“These are the words of God, the God of Israel, to you, Baruch. You say, ‘These are bad times for me! It’s one thing after another. God is piling on the pain. I’m worn out and there’s no end in sight.’ Jeremiah 45:2 The Message

“Just how much more does God expect me to take?”

You feel out of control, like one of those plate spinners……one false move and they all come crashing down. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” you say…..but you know that just under the surface lurks an erupting volcano. You feel like any little remark can set you off. When you pass a Dunkin Donuts or In-N-Out Burger you feel the drive-through sweeping you in like the pull of the tides. (Or in my case, the local Walgreens for a bag of Whopper Malted Eggs)

Tears come easily, and so does unexpected anger. This is sometimes what caregiving feels like.

But God’s place of rest is there in the midst of it. He is ready and waiting to do a work in you and me, but only if we release it to Him. He longs to take our burden, but He knows that sometimes He has to “pile it on” so that we will have no choice but to dump it at His feet.

We don’t have to take it all on……..He will.

It is so hard to tell someone that.
Someone who is trying so hard, dealing with so much.
It feels like one more thing they have to do.

It feels like we are saying, “Just tie a knot and hang on, sister…..”

Except that they aren’t just any old words, they are God’s words, and His words are backed by His promises.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16

Lord, I pray for everyone today who feels overwhelmed and beaten up by the world. I pray that they will trust You with their every burden and care, and they will find that place of rest for their souls that you have promised them in Your word. Hide them under your mighty wings today, as the mother eagle shelters her young and give them the faith they need to release everything to You, knowing that You will give them peace in exchange. Amen

Great music in church yesterday, moments of refreshment and peace, little joys of flowers in the desert, singing into the phone and making someone smile, a good night’s sleep, a refreshing rain on the roof, unexpected moments of exhilaration, a great lunch at Chilies, 39 dollars from coinstar I didn’t expect I had, a time of peace at Starbucks while blogging…..
#668-#678

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A walk through the weeds…….

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

We humans can turn on a dime. Yesterday I was counting blessings, participating in the One Thousand Gifts over at Ann’s, thinking positive, counting blooms and blessings. Today on my walk, it seemed all I could count were weeds! I saw the brown trees this years freeze destroyed. I saw weeds in several yards…..My mind was like a ticker tape of negativity……”Why doesn’t the park enforce their own rules?” and “Why do we even have a home owner’s association?” I went on like this halfway around the perimeter until something strange happened. I got ticked at myself.

Something happens when you really start to count gifts. It changes how you think, and you no longer want to think the other way, the old way. We talk about paradigm shifts a lot at work. That is what happens in your mind when you cross over to living a life in gratitude to God, when you keep count. It not only changes your thinking, it changes your life.

It is a new determination you have……not to give in. So I walked on determined not to see the weeds or the brown trees this morning. I told myself and God that I was not going home until I started seeing beauty and blessings. I am kind of stubborn that way. Do you suppose that was God’s plan for me today?

This is what I saw…….A dove nesting in a spiny cactus……..groups of quail walking across the road. A bunny eating the veggies someone had left out. I heard the cry of a cactus wren, I call them all “Renny” for the one who lived in the cactus next door. Here is the thought that came to me…….These little desert creatures scurry about very happy to be what they are. They don’t pay attention to the weeds unless they can find something useful about them. If they can’t eat them, or use them for shelter they ignore them.

That was my lesson today.

I just had to laugh last night, as I picked up Elaine’s Mom from the nursing home where she had just visited her husband of 60 years, “That man is the most negative person on the planet, he finds absolutely no good in anything.” What?? This from a woman who is equally negative about anything and everything. Once, the three of us were walking along on an impossibly beautiful sapphire blue sky day. Elaine made a comment about how beautiful the sky was, and her Mom said caustically, “Well, Elaine the sky is always blue.” We still joke about it.

Like she says…….”Where did I come from?” She learned to count blessings a long time ago, against all the odds. Despite her surroundings, despite the people who raised her.

Yes, Lord……despite our circumstances, surroundings……..we can be positive, it is possible, if we let the counting, and God renew our minds.

Photo credits: Public Domain Pictures
Weeds by Andrew Schmidt
Dandelions by Petr Kratochvil

The List Can Wait…..

You can’t always get away and sit by a restful stream in the mountains……
but you can always find a moment to kick back and be like a cat.

put the list aside for later……sometimes later is okay.
Sometimes the time is right…..
A little slice in the day.
Just make room.
Sydney approved of my plan…..He said it was a very good one.
He even settled down to let me read a bit!
 Sometimes letting yourself break away for just a few precious moments, makes the day a little celebration all it’s own. Cats have mastered this……
I am learning from them.
Keeping count in my heart today, in gratitude for all these moments. I don’t want to let them just slip by unnoticed because they will never come back. I am determined to learn to live in the present.
I want to shrink the amount of time I look back unless it is to treasure a memory.
And minimize the time I look forward, unless it is with my eyes firmly fixed on God.
Who holds all the future.
Celebrating thanks today for every moment I have been given thus far……

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all pics taken with iphone

Prayer Request

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

I have a special prayer request from my blog family today. My best friend Elaine is struggling under a heavy load right now. She just started a new job, which was a very good opportunity she didn’t feel she could pass up, but now she is wondering if she made the right decision. She also has what feels like another full time job, taking care of her folks. She is wondering now whether she should have taken the job at all…….and also wondering how long she can do both without it adversely affecting her health, which is it already doing. Today she cut off her unemployment, and it feels final. No more safety net.

She thought she would be able to ease into her new job, but they loaded her up the first day, knowing she had experience. The prayer she needs most right now is to learn to let go. To learn how to leave work when things are unfinished. To let it all go at 5:00 and not carry it home, where the other job, the other stress  starts.

I feel helpless. I can help, but only so much. It is the internal struggle and burden she alone carries that I can do nothing about. But I know One who can. And she has prayed about it, over and over. What do you tell someone who is carrying this kind of burden and has no clue how to unload it? It is all too easy to speak platitudes: “Just give it to God….” I know she already has. I wonder why God doesn’t just do a miracle inside her and fix it. I ask myself, “Doesn’t He know all the things she is doing?” But I know He does. It just seems to me He is biding His time. She needs help now.

And yet, I see all He has brought us through since all this started.

And I know He has been there, and will continue to be.

The statistics of caregivers dying before the ones they are caring for are way too high. I have heard it over and over again. I don’t want her to be one of those statistics. She doesn’t want to be either. She has too many others who depend on her. God knows that.

Thank you in advance for praying. I breathe thanks for all He has brought us through today. And for what I have learned from this thus far:

That maybe I am more of a caretaker than I thought I was….. that I am doing things I thought I could never do……that in spite of it all, there is still joy and laughter to be had……. for extra leaning on the Lord for our strength…..for noticing beauty in the midst of quiet moments of rest……for appreciating even more the support of good friends…..for the prayers going up from dear friends and family……for extra physical strength and steady attitude…..for hope to see what God will do through this…..extra understanding for others going through the same struggle….and for the Lord who holds my friend and me in His palm……#656-667

When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. Psalm 37:24

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The Best Offering

“It was by faith that Abel brough a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.” Hebrews 11:14

The question was posed to me, “How can a loving God send a person to hell when all their life they have done good things, maybe living a better moral life than a believer?” Many people have grappled with this question, and it has become a major stumbling block. It has caused some to question their faith, and it has kept some from seeking a relationship with God. The problem is, they are looking at it from the wrong angle. They are thinking that the works themselves are what makes a person righteous, when in fact, works by themselves can never save anyone.

The person who counts on their own good works to get them into God’s good graces, rejects God’s plan and provision for salvation. They are saying in effect, “I think my offering is good enough.” Look at what Isaiah says: “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” 64:6

And it’s not only unbelievers who can fall into this trap, many in the church today are trying to do good works apart from the Holy Spirit, and as a result they are burned out, discouraged, and ready to quit. We were never meant to do anything apart from the Spirit. Sometimes we try to go back to doing things through our own efforts we fall flat on our face. And God lets us!

It’s kind of like what happened to Cain. He thought his offering was good enough and then was mad when it wasn’t accepted. Abel, however sacrified from the choicest of his flock to give back to God. Somewhere along the line, Cain held back his best. He rejected God’s plan, and then sulked even when God came to him:

“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Genesis 4:6-7

God never intended anyone to go to hell, in fact He is not willing that any should perish……and all we have to do is reach out and take God up on His offer of salvation. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us so that we might become righteous. He is our righteousness!

The best offering………….
Blessings of this past week…….continued strength and humor inspite of difficulty and challenge……the joy of the Spirit in the midst of joyless company……good conversations about God……fellowship and shared commiseration with friends…..knowledge that we are in the midst of Grace at all times……fruitful quiet times that carry me through, and enable me to help others go through…..questions from others that renew my faith….the support of a best friend who understands…..continued good health……furry ones who give comfort….#647-657

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Photo by Brunhilde Reinig: public domain pictures

You can’t outgive God

“Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10

There is much talk and debate about tithing in the church today. I grew up with the idea of tithing. People say now that we are in the “church age” we are no longer under the Old Testament law of “tithing.” People go back and forth about how much we “should” give. But I think that is missing the point. Giving is all about the heart. This is how Paul put it: “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

The New Testament is full of verses about giving…….

When we take the obligation out of giving, everything changes. It liberates us to give out of the abundance and gratitude of our heart.  We give because God has given so much to us. We can never outgive God, He has already given all He has. He gave us His very treasure, the thing that was nearest and dearest to His heart.

God gave His Son…..
And Jesus gave Himself…..

Out of our tremendous gratitude, we give ourselves.

This is not easy sometimes. Especially giving that calls for a sacrifice. Giving that hurts, costs us something. But God attaches a blessing to that, when we do it……”Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” Deuteronomy 15:10

He knows it is not easy. All her life my Mom had to budget. Before computers and online banking, which she has never used, she knew exactly how much money she had in the bank. She still does. My Dad worked two and three jobs, always. He hardly ever took sick time. Mom did childcare in our home. They saved. We didn’t go to fancy restaurants, didn’t go to Disneyland……but they always gave.

They are a testimony of what happens when you spend a life giving……..My Mom says: “I told your Dad how much money we had in our checking account and he just laughed!” She says, “The money just keeps coming in.” And my Mom keeps giving it out! To friends, neighbors, everyone with a need…….She always runs it by Dad, who says, “Don’t tell me how much, just do it.” He has learned you can’t outgive God.

There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:24-25 NAS

Here is the same verse in the Message…..”The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.”

So don’t worry about how much you should give, just give and you will be blessed!

Today I give thanks for all who have sown seeds of giving in me:

the blogging community for contributing their time and talents back to God…..my parents, who went without themselves to give me braces and send me to a dermatologist among many other things……so many friends who over the years, gave me time, support, kindness, laughter, prayers and shoulders to cry and lean on…..relatives now gone who went above and beyond to pay medical bills when I was born, teachers who stayed to visit after school, giving encouragement….Pastors who rightly divided the Word of truth all along the way……And lived it….God, of course, who gave all He had so that I might live…….#639-646

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A bouquet of praise………

“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11

Corrie Ten Boom was released from Nazi Death Camp Ravensbruck due to a “clerical error.” All women her age were killed soon after her release. Shortly before her sister Betsy died there, she and Corry led church services from inside Barracks 29. She or her sister would read from their one “secreted” Bible. Here is how she describes one of those typical evenings there surrounded by the unspeakable evil of everything that was going on around them:

“At first Betsie and I called these meetings with great timidity. But as night after night went by and no guard ever came near us, we grew bolder. So many now wanted to join us that we held a second service after evening roll call. . . (These) were services like no others, these times in Barracks 28. A single meeting night might include a recital of the Magnificat in Latin by a group of Roman Catholics, a whispered hymn by some Lutherans, and a sotto-voce chant by Easter Orthodox women. With each moment the crowd around us would swell, packing the nearby platforms, hanging over the edges, until the high structures groaned and swayed.”
“At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text we would translate aloud in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, and back into Dutch. They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the light bulb” (Ten Boom 1971, p. 201)

Betsie’s last words to Corrie before she died there in that concentration camp were: “…(we) must tell them what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.” (Ten Boom, 1971, p. 217)

Corrie spent the rest of her life traveling around the world and speaking to people about all the things she had learned through her experiences. After every engagement people would gather around her and thank her for so greatly encouraging them in their faith. Every time she would give the glory to the Lord. She would go back to her room, get down in her knees, and present those compliments in thanks to God. She called it giving God a “bouquet of praise.”

I like that…….Corrie learned the secret of praise, and counting your blessings even when it seems there are none to count. She learned that if you start praising and thanking God, the blessings come……I am counting with Ann today and everyone else in the Gratitude Community, and remembering Corrie.

people who give even at the risk of their own life, people who have inspired me, encouraged me in my faith, some I have known, some I have not, people who have not only shared my burdens, but worn them, people that have stood behind me all my life so that I never had to go through anything alone, God who is faithful, who never asks me to do anything without His strength! 631-638

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Modern Day Miracles

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” Ephesians 3:16-18

I have been extremely grateful, ever since I got back from my trip back home…….I got the chance to see again what miracles God is doing in the lives of people. At times, it leaves me speechless, and at those times I just breath a prayer of thanks and gratitude. Endless gratitude. God is performing miracles in the lives of people, yes indeed, and I got to see Him again at work in those I know and those I don’t.

I have heard about two families brought back together from impossible places, a family who was torn apart by addiction, both homeless and scattered across the far reaches of a place I can’t even imagine. Children who weren’t sure where their next meal was coming from or where they would stay the night….I think of the agonizing nights and days spent praying for these people, these children. Lives on the brink of ruin, close to death, living out destruction. They were prayed for by so many people, for so long. Everything was done for them that could be. But in a situation like that, there is only so much that can be done…..and then our prayers landed them in a mission. That mission gave them a roof over their heads, some food, the husband a job and the Good News of Jesus Christ. We kept praying that it would “stick.”

The wife came back, got sober and clean, and so did the husband! They have now been baptized into the family of believers……my best friend got to attend church with them, her Nephew and his family, when she was there. They recently got their 2  year certificate of sobriety…..To hear of this miracle from her, to know that 6 kids are now safe and doing well, against all the odds. That is something only God could do.

Yet another friend has also been released from the prison of addiction, one we didn’t even know about until recently, a friend from long ago. She is now clean and sober, part of the family of God reunited with her daughter. She is now working with other recovering women, her life a testimony of praise!

Two impossible situations, two families brought from death to life…….No, my friends, I do not need to see anyone walk on water to believe. I see change, real and permanent, and lasting. The power of the Living God at work……

The list goes on:

Changed lives around me
Our answered prayers
The tears of gratitude
The grace that was extended
A real apology resulting in changed actions…..not just words.
Courage to rise from the ashes of bad choices
Faith to believe it is real
The knowledge that it is real
Joy that comes from seeing the heart-changer at work
A testimony of changed lives in all of us…..#631-641

Endless gratitude today, celebrate it with me, Ann and so many others……

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This is how I write…….

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write……” 2 Thessalonians 3:16,17

I saw it laying on the table when I got home……a letter from my Dad. Again I thought, I will miss not seeing one of these, someday. So personal, handwritten letters. Like a bit of that person traveling across the miles. Their mark is on it, in their own handwriting. I call him before I read it, “He says to me, “Well, after you read it you may be sorry…..” I was not. Emails are great, they are instantaneous, they are convenient, but nothing beats a handwritten letter. There is much you can read in between the lines, you can sense the depth of their feelings and their emotions by how they form their letters, how big or small the writing is, how it scrawls across the page.

When someone sends a handwritten letter or card, they are saying to me:

“This is really important and I want you to hear what I am saying.”
“I want to show you how important you are to me.”
“I trust you with these feelings.”

It is hard for me to throw anything handwritten away……As I leaf through the pages of Dad’s letter, I feel that there are not so many miles between us after all.

A couple of times in my life I have gotten a long letter from my brother, one time very unexpectedly and at a time when I really needed it. I never forgot it, I remember riding somewhere on my bicycle with the precious cargo laying in my basket…feeling the strength from it.

Letters have tremendous power. In war times, letter carriers masqueraded as harbingers of hope or angels of death. We are all seen the bicycle-riding, telegram bearing scene in the movies, how everything and everyone stopped and held their breath, hoping that it wasn’t their house, their door……My Parent’s generation remembers those times.

Over and over in his letters Paul states……”I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand” He wanted there to be no mistaking his message or who wrote it.

Maybe someone specific is on your mind today. Their name keeps coming up and won’t go away. I encourage you to sit and write them out a note, a letter. Maybe you don’t mail it, just leave it where they can find it. Maybe they will do the same.

Counting along with the gratitude community today…….toward 1000 but not stopping there, grateful for all the ways God speaks to me:

In the written word of ones I love, in the sunrise and sunset, His salutation of love, His Spirit who prompts me to love others, sparks of spontaneous joy at unexpected times, in the words of gifted teachers of the Word, through kindness of strangers, through answers to specific prayers, through hope that never leaves, nature who always speaks loudly of His touch, through the community of believers called His church…..#622-632

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photo from google images