#5 The Answer is Prayer, More About Jesus Seminar

It's always alright to ask. 

It is possible for a person to have a relationship with Jesus and also have sin in their lives, but eventually one of the things has to go. If we hold onto the sin - it becomes a cherished sin. 

Silver Linings of Covid...series...part 2

 Being sick with Covid for 3 weeks was tough but God blessed me through this time period and I was able to find the silver linings. 

I had already decided that I needed to change my hair style. I have done my hair the same way for years and years. You know when you find a good thing, why change? Well several things had convinced me that it was time to let it grow out. At my last hair cut in June we had tweeked one tiny thing with the plans of continuing the process. I had tried to change my hair at least once or twice but usually only made it one hair cut. 

It has been hard to change hair styles because I was so used to seeing my hair fixed a certain way.  So June 15th I got sick and for 3 weeks I did not fix my hair. And gradually I got used to seeing my hair flat. I like volume up a bit and out on sides a bit. So when I don't fix it like I did - it is pretty flat. But for 3 weeks I did not fix my hair and I got used to seeing it flatter. So ever since then I have styled it differently. I had a hair cut last week and we began that letting it grow out - by cutting about 1 1/2 inches off of the back so that the layers will even up quicker. Next hair cut we will cut a bit more off of the back and the the sides can catch up. I hope I am able to find something that is flattering for me and I love! I love what my hair does in the back - I actually have some curl to it. I am hoping the longer my hair gets on the sides that I will maybe end up with some curl in it too! That would be awesome! 

So Covid was rough but there have been some blessings that have come out of it. I am glad that I took the time to noticed the silver linings of Covid. Next week I will share another silver lining! See you then! :O)

Love Mandates What?

 "Love mandates freedom; freedom creates risk; but love is worth the risk.... God is love (1st John 4:8) ... His love is so genuine and deep that He has no choice but to allow us to love Him in return or not."

"See With New Eyes~ The true beauty of God's Character" by Ty Gibson

This is the book I am currently reading. It is an excellent book. I will share several great quotes - but just know that the entire book is great and well worth the time to read!! :O)

Look what I found in my garden!! :O)

So several months ago I planted a few of these seeds in a planter I have in the back yard! 
Before this year - I have never grown much of anything from seeds- and hadn't grown any flowers from seeds. I sure wish now I had have started growing from seed years ago! 

Last week I noticed something different about my salvia flowers- I thought they had a new pink addition to the flowers. 

On further examination I found the cutest tiny moths! I have never scene these before. In fact, I thought that these were butterflies at first. Didn't realize that moths enjoyed nectar as well. But a relative shared with me - that this is a Southern Pink Moth. I think it is so pretty! God's creation is such a blessing!! 

 

Is it Wise to Join Majority?

"Don't ever go by what the majority decides. In this world the majority has usually been wrong. So if you find the majority overwhelmingly agreeing on a particular point, the 1st thing to do is to suspect it and then study it out for yourself. It is dangerous to follow what the crowd does. It is dangerous to follow what the majority do."

Morris Venden in his book " God Says, But I Think"

This is the book I just finished reading. It was an excellent book. I have loved ALL of Morris Venden's books. If you ever get a chance to read any of his books- I highly recommend them!

#4 Blessed Assurance, More About Jesus Seminar

And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

John 11:26

28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 1 John 2:28

Hello! :O)

 Just stopping by for a few minutes to let you all know that I am doing pretty good. I am just busy working at getting things caught up around here. I am the one who takes care of our yard and garden and 3 weeks - of me not taking care of them - left a whole lot of jobs to do. Plus the things that I already had on my list to do before I got so sick. Anyway - I am praising God that mornings have been pretty decent weather - for now- so I have worked every morning I was able and have been able to get a lot of it taken care of. I still have things I want to do the the basics are done and a few more things as well and I am happy about that.

One of our sons has been out of town and I have been taking care of their garden and cats as well- and so that takes me there 2 times a day. Thankfully it is not a long ways to their house. 

Anyway I just wanted to stop by and say Hi! I hope you all are doing well. :O) 

Silver Linings of Covid series...part 1

 I don't know if I conveyed the fact that Covid kicked my butt! It was the worst shape I have ever been in my life. For a couple of days I was afraid I would die. It had me in such bad shape that I could do hardly anything other than get to couch, bed, or bathroom. And I spent a whole lot of time sitting watching TV.  Although it was a very hard time for me - I have to admit that there were silver linings and I will do my best to share them with you.

I have shared with you in the past about falling on my left knee 2 different times in the last 3 years. Once in our RV from an elevated step - onto a hard floor- no carpet. Then just in the last year - I fell on it in our sunroom on a concrete floor. It has really bothered me. It is hard to knee on it and over the last several months I had noticed that I could not sit in one of my favorite ways to sit with my left knee. I like to sit on the couch with my left foot under my right knee or vice versa. And over the last several months I could NOT sit with my left knee under my right knee. It just hurt my left knee too much. I had tried ever so often to no avail. But some how - maybe God's mercy He healed it and while I spent way too much time on the couch - I was able to switch back and forth of which ankle under which knee. I am SO thankful for the healing of that - it really helped me get through the 3 weeks that I was sick. And this is just the first of at least 5 silver linings that came out of my experience with Covid. I hope you will keep coming back to see how God worked good things out of a bad situation. Praise be to God!!! :O) 

Isn't Worth A Dime...

"May I remind you that "the truth" without the Spirit isn't worth a dime? God isn't looking primarily for people who know the truth about distinct points of doctrine. He's looking for people who know Him, who is the Truth, the Way and the Life (see John 14:6). And He's looking for people who have mercy and love."

~Morris Venden

In his book - God Says, But I Think

Sometimes Delays Are Blessings

Last week I shared how we had a memorial service to go to last week in San Antonio Texas. We had the option of driving 35W or 281- we choose 281. One of the reason we like taking the 281 route is that just north of Hamilton Texas is a store - Dutchman's Hidden Valley that we like to stop at. They make taffy and all sorts of chocolate candy. And we love to buy taffy the few times we go past this place. And this time we each got a chocolate covered peanuts- I got dark chocolate covered peanuts- yummy! It was quite expensive but yummy! 

Anyway towards the south side of town we came up to construction and had to wait a few minutes for our side to get to go. We stopped directly across from this!!! 

I had not noticed this the last time we drove through this town just a couple of months ago- 2x there and back. But it was a real blessing that we were stopped by construction or we would have never seen this nice display! 

With all the places taking down the 10 Commandments- it was refreshing to see a nice display of them here!! Sometimes delays are blessings! Be sure and keep your eyes open so you don't miss the blessing! :O) 

Another Tool That I Believe Helped Me Through Covid!

 So on one of my husbands stays at the hospital probably several years ago. He decided to bring this home with him. And we are so glad he did! I believe this is one of the things that helped me get through my recent bout with Covid. 

I knew I needed to keep my lungs strong and working well. And so especially when I was having issues keeping my oxygen levels up - I would use this machine. You put your mouth on the mouth piece and you pull air into your lungs steadily. You are trying to pull the ball that in on the right side up and keep it between the two arrows. I did this often and it really helped keep my lungs strong. And I truly believe it helped me get through in better shape - lung wise. 

So my suggestion would be if you ever have the chance to get one of these - take it home - and use it when needed! 

#3 Born Twice, More About Jesus Seminar

Christianity isn't about what you do but about who you know!!!  

 

A personal relationship with Jesus Christ 

~Said to be "the only string on his violin" speaking about Morris Venden 

Where Have I Been?

 I am so sorry I have not posted in a while. This week has been busy. I had to take my Mother in law to Dr appointment and it took much longer than anticipated. I had a hair cut - which I will be doing a post about it in the coming weeks. And then we had to head south to San Antonio. My husbands aunt who was 86 years old passed away on July 4th and on Thursday they had the graveside service and a memorial service for her. So we drove down Wed. since the services were on Thursday. We were lucky and got a hotel on the Riverwalk! 

We were not as close to the Alamo and Restraunts as what we thought we might be. We found that out when we had over 13,000 steps when we got back to hotel. But it was still fun! 

This monument is very close to the Alamo. By the time we got to the Alamo - it was closing so we did not get to do much but look around out in this area. 

Since I knew that we had the graveside service and then the memorial and then our drive home - after breakfast Thursday morning I went on a walk. It was nice to get to walk the riverwalk for my morning walk! :O) 

So good news is that I have been getting stronger and able to do more and more. I am still working towards getting back to 100% but I am SO much better shape than I was in just 3 weekends ago! 

I am still SO grateful to God for getting me through and thankful for a Dr that knew just what to prescribe for me! Thankful my body tolerated 3 powerful meds that I had never had before! God was so good to me! 

So I have a series coming up and I am hoping to be able to start working on typing up the posts this week end. But the series will be called - Silver Lining to Covid. Can you believe that I have at least 6 things to share with you and there could be more than that. I have at least one more post about something that I believe helped me get through Covid and it is something that we got from the hospital on one of my husbands stays at the hospital - was so glad that he felt that he should bring it home. Be looking for that coming up next week. Along with a post about the Silver Linings of Covid. 

Hope you all are doing well. Take care! :O) 

#2 What Is A Christian, More About Jesus Seminar

Below  you will find a little outline of the following sermon. I wanted to get it all typed up for you just in case you wanted to reference back to any of the main verses that he mentions in this sermon about what it is to be a Christian. Be blessed :O) 

What is a Christian:

 1. Focus on Jesus 

2. Daily experience with Jesus 

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23

3. Deep interest in the Bible 

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 

40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 

4. Meaningful prayer life 

 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,  Luke 18:1 

5. Desire to witness 

35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. Mark 8:35 

"If my primary interest in being a Christian is to get myself to heaven, I probably wont be there. 

If my primary purpose for being a Christian is to share with someone else the good news, I'll probably be there."

6. I admit I'm a sinner

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

7. Love for others 

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

8. Peace with God 

 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1 

9. Don't sin any more 

 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9

Transgression of the law is the result of sin. 

Sin is living life apart from God

 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,  1 Peter 1:23

A really cool tidbit - is that Morris Venden(one of my favorite authors) mentions Taylor G. Bunch 

(another one of my favorite authors) in this sermon. How cool is that?  

One of the Things That Helped Me Through Covid

 On Sunday a friend from church told me that Peggy from church was bringing me oxygen. Another an hour later my doorbell went off - and I got myself to the door. I was in very bad shape this day- she waved from her car - she had put a bottle on my porch for me. I picked it up and she said that this had really helped her through Covid the year before and wanted to help me out. 

She brought me a Methol- Eucalyptus scented one. I was not thinking/ reasoning at 100% so actually didn't use it properly but thankfully it still helped me out a whole lot. Later I had my husband go pick up a few more bottles. 

I had no idea they even had things like this. It's funny because it feels like an empty bottle, but it is like 10 liters of air. And if you are struggling with Covid - I highly recommend these canisters!!! 

I Really Thought I Might Die - several times....

 First of all I have to say that I am SO very thankful that several weeks ago I had gotten a good amount of posts set up to post. If I had not done this - you would not have heard from me for several weeks. 

June the 15 my blood pressure elevated as did my heart rate. I thought I had some heart issues going on. That night I had a horrible night - and was running fever so I knew I was sick. I was able to get in to see my Dr the next day. She checked me out and said they had no way to test me for Covid but that the numbers were so low she thought that what I had was an upper respitory infection. So she prescribed a zpak. I continued to run a fever for the next week But by the 18th my sense of smell and taste were off. So I took a Covid test - and sure enough it was positive. She told me to take several different vitamins, prescribed steroids' and breathing treatments and aspirin for the next 3 months. By the 23rd I stopped running the fever. I had been told that once I was fever free for 24 hours - I would no longer be contagious. So when my fever broke I thought that I was headed in the right direction. I would soon find out that was not the case. By Sabbath morning the 26th - I knew I was in trouble. I barely made it to the bathroom and then to the sewing room where we had the breathing machine set up. And I did a breathing treatment. There were several times from Sabbath - through Monday that I really thought I might die. It was that scary! 

The week before a friend had told me about a Dr who prescribes the actual meds that help fight Covid. Sabbath morning I knew I needed the real meds. I contacted the Dr and asked if he would prescribe the meds and God moved in a powerful way and he said yes. Several hours later my Mom brought me the meds. 

Let's back up just a bit - so the Dr said that these 3 meds he had prescribed to me work the best and quickest when prescribed at the beginning of sickness - and at the point I finally got the meds - I had been sick for 12 days! 

By Sunday I was in even worse shape. My body was in such bad shape about all I could handle was to walk to the closest bathroom to use the bathroom and then get back to the couch asap. I could not handle being up longer than that. It was so taxing on my body just to be up on my feet.  

My husband was so worried and was really wanting me to go to the hospital. Sunday evening I was talking on the phone to my youngest son - he was trying to talk me into going to hospital. As we were talking the local city ambulance pulled into my driveway. My daughter in laws mother had called them to come check on me. They came in and spent an hour here checking me out and answering questions. Come to find out that I was doing everything that I needed to be doing and that it would at this point just take some time to get better. Sabbath I had taken my first 4 pills of covid killing med and Monday I had the next 4 pills to take. I had also been put on 2 other meds. And the Dr wife made some essential oil spray that was to be sprayed on my chest and my back. She also made up some capsules of some oils to help. The first several days I could not taste these oil filled capsules - but several days later - I sure could. All these things really helped me. So the paramedic thought it would be fine for me to stay home. It was such a God thing that they came out when they did - otherwise I would have ended up in the hospital and that was the LAST thing that I wanted. 

Monday the 28th of June - I wanted to get a shower - I hadn't been able to get on on Sunday. I took the fastest shower ever and when I got out - I was coughing and struggling big time. I went to take a breathing treatment - the whole experience was so rough on me - I went into a migraine. Thankfully there are several essential oils that helped with that (I will do a post about this later) and I went to my bed to try to get a nap. I don't usually take naps but for 1 week - I could not make it through the whole day - I was not sleeping good at night so I had to get a nap. 

One of the main reasons why I was not sleeping at night is because I would wake up many times throughout the night with cotton mouth and throat. I got in the habit - still having to do this- I keep a couple of small bottles of water near the bed - and any time I get up at night I drink water as well. 

So by Tuesday I was very, very slowly gaining a tiny bit of strength and ability to be on my feet. Not for very long and I would have to get back to sitting down and recover often. Sabbath - after my nap- I was feeling good enough that I cleaned up the kitchen from our lunch and could tell I finally had taken a turn for gaining my strength back. It felt SO very good. It seemed like there for a while that my road to recovery would be a very long one. 

Sunday July 4th We needed some groceries and so we decided to go to walmart and aldis. We only got a few things at walmart - did not go but to grocery side and only went down a couple of the rows. I had a bit of recovery time as we drove to Aldi's. Once we were done with both stores I was so very thankful that I had been able to get out - I had been home for 18 days! 

Monday our little town had it's parade. We parked at the top of the hill and walked the couple of blocks down. God blessed us with a beautifully cool morning - well cool compared to normal July temps. I think it was only about 77 to start out - warmed up I am sure. It felt good to sit in the sun and enjoy the granddaughters enjoying the parade and candy. Walking back up to the car was a bit of a challenge. But I had been sleeping SO horrible and I had decided that I would make a goal of getting at least 6,000 steps a day - and that walk each way helped with my goal. 

Wednesday was the day my husband went back to work. I had another rough night - dry mouth. And woke up at 5:30am. So I decided to try to do a Rise Up Ministries Weight Workout. I need to get my strength up - so after I had quiet time and took care of animals - I did a work out! Was SO thankful to be able to do that. It feels great to be getting my strength back and able to do the things I love to do! 

So as you can see - had I not already had some great posts ready to go - you would not have heard from me for several weeks. I have never ever been that sick in all of my live. Cancer and Chemo were not this hard on my body. But I am SO thankful that God was with me every step of the way. He strengthened me and He brought things needed to me by friends and family. That will be another post. 

I pray you all are well and I would say - that you really may want to be taking Vit C, D3, and Zinc - these things are excellent to strengthen your immune system. These are things I have been taking - And I will continue to do so to keep my system strong. :O) 

One Step Further!

 Last month I shared a post about how planting radishes around your squash plants may help with squash bugs. And I have to say that this year I have experienced this(maybe along with the marigolds - and nasturtiums) being very helpful and I have had less squash bugs than in the past. But I have still had some bugs. 

One of the ways I have found to combat them is as I am watering the plants to pay special attention to the inner stems and such - the squash bugs will start moving around when you are watering the plant. I will grab them - yes  - with my hand and thrown them on the ground and squish them. This works pretty good. But by chance I happen to learn of how to take this method one step further! 

So I was watering my plants one day - I did my usual - I picked off what bugs I saw and killed them. Then I took care of a couple of other jobs and as I walked back by my squash plants - I noticed like 4-5 squash bugs up on the top of the plant on the leaves. I grabbed them and threw them to the ground and killed them. Then I checked out all my other plants and found at least 18 bugs in all - that I killed. So I call this the ambush method. And just like when the bad guys in old westerns would ambush the stage coach - it takes patience. I watered and then went by the plant a little later. And actually then I finished a job I was doing and I went by them again - and the last time I was able to get 2 pairs that were mating...I was happy to get them for sure! Dead squash bugs are the best squash bugs!! 

#1 Can We Be Friends, More About Jesus Seminar

I found another great series of sermons that I just have to share with you all. On the first Sabbath afternoon when I found these sermons - I watched Morris and Lee Venden all afternoon - 6 sermons altogether and this was after going to church that morning. I was blessed by every single sermon! And I want to pass a bit of that sermon on to you this morning! Be blessed! 

Just a few things to be listening to while you listen/watch this sermon: 

*Enlarge the circle of love 

*God seeking to restore relationship with man kind.

Work Smarter, Not Harder ....series

 Today I wanted to share another installment of working smarter, rather than harder. I don't know how often I will post these- but for now I thought of something that I knew would fit perfectly under this title so here we go. 

So this year is the first year I have used mulch for my garden and I just have to say that it has made a huge difference. And I am SO thankful that I finally started using mulch. I had heard people talk about it for years but not until this year did I fully understand that it benefits the garden in a multitude of ways. 

So first of all mulch helps retain the moisture. Here in the south it is pretty important to retain the moisture - especially in the raised beds that I do. When you water your garden the moisture will stay there longer when there is mulch on top of the soil. And I am sure the plants appreciate that in the hot sunshine. 

Another great reason to use mulch is that it is a barrier to weeds. With a good layer of mulch on the soil - it will make it harder for the weeds to grow. And after hours and hours of weeding in the garden this turns out to be a great reason in and of itself to use mulch. 

Mulch also adds back some nutrients into the soil when it breaks down. This year I have basically used this stuff that I found at TSC. This 2.5 cubic feet bale runs $14.99.  

Now last year I started doing something and I am sure I shared it with you all and that is that I started working on leaf mould.  This link should take you to the post about it. Anyway basically I ran my mower over leaves - chopped up the leaves and then they went into the mulch bag on my mower and I poured the stuff into my composters. Now when you use dead leaves - it is a great idea to make sure there are some living things put into the bins as well. If you cut grass at the same time - then this will be great. If not each layer would greatly benefit with some greens things chopped up and added.  I think it is said that this stuff takes about 6 months to a year to compost. Anyway this stuff would make a great mulch. And as it decomposes it would feed the soil as well. 

So by using mulch you can retain moisture longer, you have a weed barrier and also put some nutrtion back into the soil. There could be other things it does as well - if you know of other things be sure and leave a comment - I would love to know. And by using mulch you work smarter, not harder! :O)