Life is Good Because He is…….

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to Sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves……
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory….

 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1: 3-14
There is nothing I can add to this!

Lord of our Harvest

Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35

I have always wondered when people say they can’t pray. I think, Why can’t they? Praying is just talking to God. I have always felt, if you can’t pray, then you need to pray about the fact that you can’t pray……

Lately though, I have found a mountain standing in the way of my prayers. The mountain has a name and it’s name is resentment. It snuck in while I wasn’t looking. Like those weeds that choke out the Word, resentment has crept in and made itself at home in the corner of my heart. It thought I wouldn’t notice it there.

Then I noticed another thing, a very miraculous thing…….Those tares that grow side by side with the wheat? They have not been able to choke out the Thanksgiving. It has become a way of life and now it seems I can’t stop counting the blessings.

It is something Supernatural, and God Himself did it.

And now? When I focus on everything that the Lord has already given, I have a harvest where I thought there was none. It is a different harvest that the one I expected, and it seems the more I gather, the more the resentment is beat back into a dark corner where it belongs.

And here’s another thing I noticed. Now when someone says they just can’t pray?

I understand.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Psalms 126:6

A repost from 2009……

Jeremiah 31:1-6
 

1 “At that time,” declares the LORD,
“I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”
2 This is what the LORD says:
“The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the desert;
I will come to give rest to Israel.”
3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.
5 Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.’ “

When I read Jeremiah 30-33 the compassion of God seemed to leap from the page this morning as I was reading in my “prayer closet” I selected just a portion above….when I think of how many times Israel turned their backs on God and yet, He reached out to them with hope and healing, longing for their restoration.
What are you exiled from today? A child, a church, God, a marriage, a friendship? It seems in life there are many forms of exile we face, but God seeks to restore us; always there is hope. Cling to His word, there is promise there.
I close with this verse, again from Jeremiah, 33:3….”Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things,which you do not know.”

The God Who Sees

“Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Genesis 16:13

El Roi…..The God who sees. One of the names of God. Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God who sees us? Who notices what we do?

We all want to be seen……be noticed. Even nature commands our attention……..

It invites us to look…..deeper. And it always points toward its Maker………the Grand Designer of us all.

Our God is the God who has searched us and known us……just as we want to be searched and known by others…..especially the ones we love.

Something in us wants to be remembered……..and we want others to remember the ones we have loved……even little cats spelled with a “K”

Few words this week folks…….one of those “treading water” weeks.

As timing would have it I came down with a killer cold the day before I got a new trainee at work. So I have been drugged up with Dayquil and fortified with Vitamin C during the day, and knocked out at night so I can sleep and get up by 4 am.

Two more days to go……God is good. He has kept me going. I can almost see the end of the week in sight.

Prayers please for my caregiving friend who just may head off to parts unknown really soon if she doesn’t get some relief……

all pics taken in and around Payson, Arizona by me

I see the moon,
The moon sees me
God bless the moon,
And God bless me…….old nursery rhyme
 
When Elaine first noticed the dome of this moon barely cresting the top of the Superstitions, she pointed and said, “See you later.” I grabbed the camera and went to the back gate, which was malfunctioning (again). I did a very fast three point turn and by the time I got across the street to the golf course, it was already this high in the sky………
 
I promptly forgot everything I learned in my photography seminar about ISO, Exposure modes and all the rest. In my haste to get the shot, I threw my camera back in auto mode. What can I say? It was just coming up too dang fast!
 
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. Psalm 8: 3-5


Using our talents to give back…….

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15
At the end of the first half of the photography seminar I had the pleasure of attending on Sunday, my brain had so many facts whirling around in it, it felt like the inside of a pin ball machine. It was so exciting to see the world renowned photography of David and Ally McKay right there in front of us on a big screen. After our halftime break the lights dimmed as everyone gathered back into our seats. I was sitting there in a worship kind of mode, it being Sunday morning.
How surprised was I to hear the music of Brandon Heath and Leeland singing these lyrics along with a breathtaking backdrop of unbelievable photography of children and people in need all over the world:

“You live among the least of these, the weary and the weak. And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away……….”

 When people first sat down there was much lively talking, but as the scenes and lyrics spilled across the screen, everyone started to quiet down…..how could they not?

“All my needs You have supplied, when I was dead, You gave me life. How could I not give it way so freely?”  

As the song went on, photos were shown of people and children picking through a garbage dump……and a breathtaking one of a tattered pair of worn shorts that a child was still inside….scene after scene. I wondered where all this was going because this was an overtly Christian message I was seeing to my complete joy and wonderment. I wasn’t expecting it here.

“Use my hands, Use my feet, to make Your Kingdom come to the corners of the earth, until Your work is done…….Cause faith without works is dead, and on the cross, Your blood was shed
So how could we not give it away so freely?”

Then a scene of someone praying…..and a cross. Whoa. Am I in church? And here was a mixed group of around 400 people seeing this. The message couldn’t be ignored. It was loud and clear. As the song ended, a very emotional David McKay, famous photographer, couldn’t speak.

He said he gets emotional everytime at this part of the seminar. He went on to explain that as he and Ally went all over the world and saw such tremendous need, they realized they couldn’t not do something. So they formed Vision Culture. A way of linking up individuals who love photography and want to help people at the same time.

I thought how great this was. They had all the acclaim and all the recognition, but they wanted something more. To help people in need.

I left that seminar with more than tools to be a better photographer, I left inspired that people were moved to do more, even with everything they had. They felt moved to give back……..I would encourage anyone with an interest or love for photography go to their site. You won’t be disappointed.

And I’ll
Follow You into the homes of the broken
Follow You into the world
I’ll meet the needs for the poor
And needy, God
I’ll follow You into the world

If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? James 2:16

The Doctor will see you now….

I put this picture of my niece Lauryn on my screen saver at work because I knew it would make me smile all week……Each time I booted up there she was, all suited up and ready for her first patient. I smiled just as big this morning as last week when it was first forwarded from my brother last week. Now I ask you, would you worry about what she might do with a needle?

Other things of note……Saw my first 2012 Beetle last weekend. Wish I could say new cars didn’t tempt me but this one did. I can still remember when I brought my current new “Buggy” home in 2005….I had wanted one for so long, well, since they first came out in 1998! I don’t like to think of myself as fickle…..but I will not lie, I wish I would have been on Oprah’s favorite things show this year to get one……

I would name it Ruby Sue…….Just FYI

Wishing I could see some brilliant orange and red leaves against the sky today, but I am very grateful that it is cooler here and the season for open windows again. That makes all the difference! Ate outside for the very first time this week….it was a blessed event.

I am looking forward to my Photography seminar tomorrow. It will be very exciting to learn more of what I can actually do with my camera. Thank you Elaine for buying me such a generous gift…..

I will close with the Message version of Romans 12:1,2

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Impossibly Rich

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. ~G.K. Chesterton

I scooped them up and stacked them in a little pile, my Birthday cards from August. I had them all sitting on the top of my dresser, face out. It was like being smiled at each day. Finally I decided it was time to dust, so afterwards I went to store them away. Instead I read them again……

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t put them away just yet. Not when I read the words and felt the love behind them all. I wasn’t quite ready to let them go…..

I get cards every year and every year I treasure them. But his year, they meant more. Maybe because I needed them more. Maybe because when I stack myself up against the fruits of the Spirit, like I did this morning, I see where I am lacking.

I see how far I have to go……But when I read the words in these cards, the lives and the love behind them lurch at my heart. I read:

“You are the best sister a brother could ask for and I think of you everyday.” My brother was sweet to me when I was small. He held my hand, walked me to school and didn’t let me out of his sight….but then adolesence came and well, let’s just say, he was in the cool crowd and I was not. Now as we get older we are recapturing time lost. He has remembered what we had. That he has a sister that loves him, has always loved him.

And from my Mom…..”You are my special present in life, thank you for always being there for me.” Yet, so many moments I worry that I am 12 hours away and not there nearly enough. I worry about all those times I am not there. But she makes me feel like I am.

And from my Aunt, I would recognize her perfectly slanted penmanship anywhere. Even though she is suffering right now the sadness of a husband in the latter stages of dementia and is now rattling around in a lonely house….she writes a hearlfelt paragraph…….she has kept her postive attitude and healthy sense of humor intact.

And from Diane…..she writes with love that God has placed me in her life, thanking me for being the friend and sister she never had.

And I know my Dad went to the store and hand picked this card out, it’s a pink bicycle with a verse from Deuteronomy 14:2…..”The Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession.” He chose the bike because one of the memories he treasures in his heart is when he taught me to ride a bike. All those hours running along behind me in case I fell….and me looking back to make sure he was still there. He says: “Now you have become the strong anchor or faith and stability for Mom and I.”

……..and I guess it means so much because too many times, all I see is how I am lacking and how I miss the mark.

But these people I love and who love me, see the fruit of the Spirit in me somehow. This amazes me. How could I feel anything other than impossibly wealthy?

I will tuck the cards away another day, probably soon, just not today.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22, 23

Eight Words

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because……..  
      All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the LORD endures forever.”
1 Peter 1:

I have felt out of words lately…..and that’s okay because sometimes you just like drinking things in.

There is a time for contemplating….watching……listening……absorbing.

There is a season for that as well as writing. After all, before the writing comes the feeling. So, this morning I thought since I had none of my own words, I would go to God’s word.

And somehow, that seemed to set things in motion.

The Word brings the life, and the life gives birth to words.

God stirred my heart up and I saw people around me differently. Sometimes I need my eyes opened. Well, most of the time I do.

I went to get gas and drive my car through the wash. For some reason when I got gas it didn’t give me the option of getting a wash so I went inside. The nice gal I see in there all the time was busily working away. I always notice how helpful she is. I explained the situation……and as usual she was very accommodating. We talked and joked, and I went to get my wash.

While the soap suds were flowing down my window……..God kept bringing her to my mind.

The Spirit said, you should let her know that you appreciate her….that she is doing a good job. I said, I will tell her next time.

He said, maybe she needs it today.

I went back in. I let her know that what she does is noticed……appreciated.

As I was drying my car I saw a man coming out of the store. He smiled sheepishly, as if he wanted to be friendly……once on the way in the store and once on the way out….I think he wanted to say something nice. But I got the feeling that maybe he didn’t know if it would be appropriate. Men have to worry about that now. About how we might take it, I guess. I gave a smile back.

He was driving a cement truck. Just a hard working guy on his way to a job. Not an easy job either. He touched me. It touches me how he is part of me, part of our country. How we are all part of each other when it comes right down to it.

Maybe I am feeling a bit protective of our country lately. It seems almost popular to beat up on America….at least it seems that way to me. We are all just doing the best we can here. Dealing with prices going up on just about everything we buy.

But we won’t give up. We will keep going, keep trying. We will do the best we can……..Because it’s the right thing to do. Because giving up is not what America has ever been about.  

So tomorrow I may get impatient and suck in my breath at how others drive on the freeway, but right now I love everyone. And I think it all started when His word sparked a fire that leapt to life with these eight words:

Love one another fervently with a pure heart.

Nature as prayer……

In an interview with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Dan Rather asked her, “What do you say to
God when you pray?” She thoughtfully said, “I listen.” Flustered, he tried again. “Well, then what does God say?” Mother Teresa smiled…….”He listens.”

Yesterday I felt like the whole day was a prayer. God spoke through His creation once again……

……….and I listened. Nature speaks more clearly of God than anything else I can think of. If we only open our eyes and ears and let Him speak through it. So I give you some photos from yesterday’s trip north to a place I used to live.

The Psalmist wisely says……

“The Heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the works of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech…..

And night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words; where their voice is not heard.

Indeed, God has touched every last corner of the earth with His nature, and only the coldest heart is untouched by it…..

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world…..

In them He has placed a tent for the sun.

It’s rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of the world.

Down to the smallest detail……..God has brushed our earth with His divine fingerprints. It is up to us to find His mark…..it is everywhere!
My soul exults. I breathe a prayer of thanksgiving once again for His marvelous works.

All pictures taken in and around Payson, Arizona and Tonto Natural Bridges State Park