Blocks are Done...

Well I thought I would check in again and let you know I got my blocks done. So now I am all caught up.

 

In the glass above I have some wonderful Cherry Key Limeade. I have shared how I make it before - just click on the link. It actually ends up being a very good and pretty cheap drink. The bag of key limes that I bought cost me $1.86 and I will probably get about 6-7 batches of it. And with getting my sugar at Aldi's - and only paying $.99 a bag for that - it is a very economical drink. Just remember that it is best to keep your key limes in the fridge.

I am missing my granddaughter already. When they were fixing to leave our house - she was crying cause she did not want to leave her Daddy. It about broke my heart. I do not like divorce- it damages so many people. And we carry those hurts around in baggage that we take into our own relationships and have to unpack them - and it is awfully painful to do so.

Anyway I am praying for my sweet, tender hearted granddaughter. We do get to see her this week end with is great! But it will be 2 weeks before we get to see her again- that will be hard.

Ok - I need to get off of here and get some things done. Have a good evening! :o)

Working in the Sewing Room Today

Just checking in. Today my son has taken the day off and they are going to take SweetPea to Imagination Station. I hope they have a wonderful day. I miss her. I knew I would. Yesterday did not go as smoothly as some days. Some days just seemed to have a great rhythm to it - but yesterday a few things did not work out as smoothly as I would have liked them too. And I found myself realizing that God knew how hard it was going to be on me when July was over. She will go to her mothers tonight- a blessing is that Friday at 6pm - my son will go pick her up since it is his week end with her. So we will get to have her this week end. Then it will be 2 weeks before we get to see her again. That will be SO hard.

Today I am working on my newest BOM block- tomorrow is Block of the Month and this will be the first one I have gotten to go to in a LONG time. In September it will be time to sign up for the new block of the month. I will try to get photos of the choices that we have of what block we want to do. Some years I have done both - this year I am so glad that I only did one. It has been what I could keep up with. I need to make this block and then I have the block before it still to do - to really be caught up this year.

I do hope you all are doing well. It has been a quiet day here today. I have gone through the clothes that we have for SweetPea and going to send a bag of clothes home with her. I try to make sure that we have enough clothes for her for the summer - but at the end of the month that we have her - I try to send some extras home - to help them out. It helps me keep a little more organized here as well- with not having too much stuff.

Ok - I am off to spend some time in my sewing room. Ya'll have a good day! :O)

A Sad Day...

It's a sad day....

Today our white bird - Bert - died.

 

We had asked someone at Petsmarts - what we needed to do about a problem with our birds. He told us it would probably be a good idea to get a second cage and separate the birds -and then reintroduce them and that maybe that would fix the problem. We had asked on Facebook if anyone in the area had a bird cage we could borrow for a few day. No response. Anyway - we don't need to borrow a cage now.

 

Now we are trying to decide what to do. We don't want to get another bird if there is a chance that they could pick on each other. So we don't know what to do.

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I don't have a lot of time right now- I have a few things I want to get done before I get to bed. I have to be at my son's house earlier tomorrow morning cause he has to be at work early. Anyway like I said I have some stuff I need to do to get caught up.

 

I hope you all are doing well. I know there are a couple of you really struggling right now - and please know that you are especially in my prayers. May God strengthen you and give you the comfort needed. :o)

 

 

What a Haul!

Don't have much time but I wanted to share a special blessing that we got today.

As my husband and I were out running errands - I suggested that we stop by Goodwill.

As we drove up to it - there was a 50% off sale going on. We almost did not go - because I don't like to go shopping when there are a while bunch of people.
Well I am so glad that we went ahead and went because we got some great deals!!

 

Here is a photo of all the cloths that we got. We found a pair of Docker pants for my husband. Which by the way was a real blessing because he has a trip coming up that he needed a nice pair of black pants and sure enough- we found some. I needed to hem them but we got such a great deal - $3.00 for them  - that it was totally worth it.

 

Then we got this list of things for SweetPea:

6 long sleeved tops

1 short sleeved top

9 pairs of pants

4 pairs of shorts

1 onesie pair of pajamas

1 dora explorer pajama set

3 pairs of pajama pants

1 Old Navy coat

 and the Dockers for my husband!

 

The pants were the highest priced thing that we got. 

A lot of the things we got were like .65 cents-1.00 each. The coat was 1.00! And it is really a nice coat! For everything we got - plus several other small things - our total spent was 30.00! And we also got the 3 stamps on a card - that once we get 10 stamps - you save $10.00!

 

Anyway such a blessing it was to find these great deals. So thankful that we stopped by.

 

Hoping you all are ding well.

Hair Update

Well I know it's not the best photo- but I have not done an update on my hair lately - so I thought I would share a photo today. Maybe next week I can get a better photo. I have just been very busy.

I have been spending a little bit of time each day mowing our back yard. It is really pretty big and then there have been some mornings that by the time I have a chance to mow - it is quite warm already. After July - I will start getting up and mowing before my shower and while it is still decent outside. Then I will be able to get more done each day.

Anyway I better close _ I let SweetPea play outside with water, dirt- "mud pies anyone?"
So now she is in the tub- with shaving cream paints while we get lunch ready. A nice little break. She really enjoys it and spend at least 45minutes to an hour in the tub. Later today we have to go get groceries.

I hope you all are having a good week. Praying for each of you. :o)

An Update

Sorry I have not updated sooner.

Continuing from Tuesday when I last posted....
Ok - so we waited around at the hospital all afternoon. The stress test was done and hours later my husbands main dr came in and said that the results from the stress test were not back yet.

Well after my husband had his supper - he ended up throwing up several times. We let them know. Then about 8:35-8:45pm - the nurse came in and said that the stress test came back clear and they were sending him home. I could not believe that they would test one thing and then since it came back clear send him home. No effort to figure out why my husband was experiencing pressure on the heart, pain, and all the other. We asked for a different Dr but apparently since the Dr that my husband had was the chief of staff - we could not get a second opinion or any other help. So unhappily we left.

The next morning I called my husband's primary Dr and asked her what we needed to do. She set up an appointment for him -for this morning. And when we went - she set an appointment up for him to see a cardiologist tomorrow morning. She also set up an appointment for a scope - I think it is an upper gi. Since he has barrett's esophagus he is suppose to have it checked ever other year. And it has been about that long since he has had his last one. So that is set up for the first week in August. 

I have slowly been trying to get our back yard mowed. I have had to take it in sections. I am so happy that my husband got our mower done. And I love our mower- its pretty easy to start- the first day it started on the first pull - today it was a bit more challenging- but I got it. Was not able to mow much today because my husband had to leave for his Dr appointment. Anyway it is still very warm here in Texas - with temps in the triple digits most of this week - if not all week long.

Well I better get off of here- my SweetPea wants to color and wants me to color with her.
Thanks so much for the prayers and the "Happy Anniversary"'s - found out several of you ladies out there have your anniversaries this week as well. So a Big Happy Anniversary to you too! :O)

Shattered Plans

I've have had another chance to learn that it is wise to hold your plans loosely....again.

On Sunday my husband said, "Hey- I'm gonna take off on Tuesday for our anniversary." He then offered to go over to our sons house Tuesday morning so I could take care of stuff I wanted to take care of.  Well our mowers have been down and he had been able to get our push mower running on Sunday so he had mowed the front yard and while he was doing that I had used my reel mower to mow a section of the back yard, but there is still the chicken run and a large part of the rest of our yard that needs to be mowed. So my plan was to get up Tuesday morning and mow the back yard. Then get my shower and get ready for the day.

Then Monday morning my husband called and said that he was not gonna be able to take the day off. Plan #1

So plan #2 was gonna be a regular Tuesday for me. I would go to my sons house at 7am and wait for SweetPea to wake up.

Well several hours later I would learn that the plan would be changing again.

My husband started having chest pains - gave me a big scare when after he told me about the chest pains I could not get ahold of him for several hours. Then he decided to go to the hospital. He got to the hospital by 1pm and by about 4pm they had decided to keep him overnight.

So now we were at plan #3 for my Tuesday.

Here it is 7pm on Tuesday - we are still at the hospital. Waiting on the results from the stress test. He has begun to throw up so there is a good chance that they will keep him again. We really need for the dr to get to the bottom of what is causing his pain. Hopefully we will have some answers soon.

So my time off to get more rest and be able spend more time having quiet time-- has not been so quiet. God has blessed me with a little time here and there for me to refresh my soul., and I am thankful for that. Today has been a long day and I'm tired and worn down. So please keep my husband and I in your prayers. :0)

***A big thanks to my husband for the title of this post. Told him I was having a hard time coming up with a title and after a brief description of what it was about he came up with it.

It's the Two Step... of Life

It's the Two Step - of life that is. When I seem to make some progress in my life - it seems that the next thing is a few steps backwards. And that is what happened to me this past week - really the past few days. I had felt like I had made progress in a couple areas of my life and then it was like my legs were knocked out from under me and I am in the process of trying to sort things out in my head and get back to a better place. I should not be surprised because life just seems to go this way. And then to top it off - since I had my hysterectomy and I am not able to take any kind of hormone replacement - sometimes I struggle not only with circumstances but with my emotion- the absence of the hormones making it a bit more difficult on me. And I am a bit discouraged, but God will get me through this as well.

I just need some time to regroup. And I think that I need to try to spend more time in Bible study- The past few weeks I have not had hardly any down time and my quiet time has consisted of reading my devotional and a quick one minute devotional that "It is Written" does every day. And while both of these are excellent, I really miss my time of studying the Bible and more quiet time to hear Him speak to me- through the Bible, nature, whatever. Anyway so I am going to take a little blogging break. I will be back soon. I just need to spend more of my down time in Bible study and prayer.  Hope you all are doing well. <3 :0="" p="">
By the way - if you would like to sign up for the "It is Written" devotionals - just click HERE.

Uniquely Me - Uniquely You

Yesterday I was challenged by my son's girlfriend to post 5 photos to facebook in which I felt beautiful.

 

My first response was the 1 photo here- I have grown to love this photo of me. I am 12- maybe about to turn 13 in this photo- I love the wind blown - carefreeness of the photo. It is a natural beauty and I love the photo.

 

The one under the that one is one taken of me and my husband just before we got married- maybe a month or so before.

 

The top right one - is after we had been married about 6-7 years. It's a great photo - yes - my husband does not like to smile for cameras and really does not like his photo taken.

 

You all have seen the photo in the middle- taken last year at the Dallas Arboretum. It is such a pleasant photo with all the flowers.

 

And the one that probably was the most shocking one for people to see that I picked out is the bottom right one. But I just had to post it in this bunch of photos. For several months I did not have any hair at all. And Praise the Lord- I was given a spirit of acceptance- this of course was prayed for - and had to be prayed many different times. I would be doing ok with it - and then something would happen and I would need to pray for the acceptance again. And so fast forward a couple of months and my hair is growing back - my eye lashes and eye brows are in nicely and my hair is coming in. And I am SO thankful for it all. Trying to pencil in eye brows is hard - I have sympathy for those who have to do it all the time. I know that putting on make up during the hairless time period was difficult. Many times my husband would hear my frustration and complaints sometimes of how hard it was. Now make up goes on quick and easy. More quickly and more easily than it was... lol

 

One more thing that I would like to share in correlation with this photo being picked as one of my 5 photos in which I feel beautiful. Since I have taken off my hat and begun to live life as normally as possible- there is such a freedom that comes along with it.

 

I have gotten a few stares and weird looks here and there. But the wonderful support that I have gotten from my friends and family has helped give me the confidence to live my life. Don't get me wrong - there are still times - like yesterday when I walked out to the mailbox to get the mail and to bring the trashcan back up to the house - that I feel like I forgot to put the hat on and then braced myself. But over all - I am learning to accept me. Just the way I am. That is all any of us can do. Embrace yourself - learn to love who God created you to be. You may not meet other people's expectations- but that is ok. You weren't meant to. You were created to be you. Uniquely You.

Wow- I did that!

Yesterday morning the temperatures were in the 70's so I decided that it would be a great day to take SweetPea to the park. It was a beautiful day and no one else was at the park so we had it all to ourselves. Well at least the play area of the park. There were plenty of people walking the walking trail.

 

I could tell that SweetPea was thinking about climbing this:

 

But she was kind of scared to try. So I thought that I would do it and help encourage her. And believe me when I say I have not played on play ground stuff in MANY years.

Anyway I did it. About halfway up - where it starts to curve - I thought that maybe I should not have done this. But I was able to do it and I felt good.

Then while I was up there I thought I should go ahead and go down the slide.
So I did!

Then SweetPea was looking at this and you could tell she was trying to decide if she wanted to climb it. Well I thought- I climbed up the other one this one should be easier and sure enough it was. Then I went down the slide again because - well I was up there and I had been tense the first time and thought that I could probably enjoy it better if I did it again. 

And sure enough I did.
It felt so good to challenge myself and to be able to accomplish things I had not done in years.

 

 

Today it has been rainy so no park time for us today. But we have found all sorts of other things to do today. I am feeling more tired today. But I am looking forward to tomorrow- cause my husband will be off. That means I will get to sleep in one hour!! Yay! And then He has volunteered to go over to our sons home - and then when I am ready I will go over there and relieve him - so he can go have some blood work done.

Then we will run some errands together. And that should be fun. :O) 

Truth Has a Counterfeit

The other morning I heard a guy on the radio telling of a study that he had read about. In this study, a man put people in a dark environment for 14 hours a day. I think is what he said. The study went on to explain that at the end of the study that a lot of the people had gotten into a rhythm of sleeping 4 hours and then getting up and doing things for a few hours and then sleeping another 4 house. Therefore, he concluded, that the best sleep cycle for people is this 4 hours of sleeping - then up for a few hours and then another 4 hours sleeping.

I find it funny how these experiments are done and then how they come up with their own ideas of how things should be. I mean seriously.

First of all - it is really an unrealistic way to live. How many people have 10 - 12 hours that can be devoted to sleep?

And when you really think about it- it really does not work for so many reasons. I am not going to go into all of those reasons- that's for sure. I'll leave that up to the experts. I am going to hit more of the common sense factors though.

Going back in time - 100 years or so - we find people getting up a little before dawn(or at dawn) to take care of their animals and such. They worked hard and when the sun went down -they spent some time doing things by candle light or what ever - but then they went to bed. And the cycle continues.

Going back in time even further - When God created the world - he created day and night. The sun and the moon were set up to set the rhythm of our days.

I think we need to use common sense when it comes to what we hear. Many of these studies are funded by companies and people who have an agenda - so the big bucks are spent to prove or disprove things that will help their cause the best. We also need to remember:

   Be sober, be vigilant;

because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,

 seeking whom he may devour.   

1 Peter 5:8

 

There is an adversary and he has his own agenda and believe me when I say that his agenda is always a counterfeit to the truth. And we need to hold onto the truth and not allow false ideas to sway us away from the truth.

 

    Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Gracious Words

Forgive me if I have already written about this topic.

I have been so busy- I think of things I want to write about and then most of the time I just haven't had a chance to write them out. But there is a chance that this is something that I have written about. But even if it is- I feel it is an important topic and that even if I have written about it before- it is worth the extra look at it.

 

 

(Something floating around Facebook)

 

You all know how hard this cancer "adventure" has been for me. Especially in terms of losing my hair, eye brows, and eye lashes(as I wrote this- I teared up- I had not anticipated that at all- but it goes to show how very deep the emotions go in regards to this.)

Never was I ever very comfortable wearing a hat or a wig. But I am so very thankful for some very special people that don't base beauty on a person's looks only.

 

My husband has been very supportive. He is probably the one person who truly knows how hard the past 8 months have been on me. And he did his best to reassure me of my beauty and he also helped me see the humor in this "adventure."

 

God blessed me with several best friends who also base beauty, not on the outer person only, but also are able to see the beauty that comes from within. They have been my cheerleaders throughout this journey. They have called me "beautiful" when I did not feel beautiful at all.

 

I have also been amazed at the loving support and acceptance I have gotten from so many people from my church. Some of them have gone above and beyond to show how much they care. And it has meant so much to me.

 

and I can not forget each one of you who have been so very supportive to me throughout this whole journey. I have trusted you guys with photos of me - with hardly any hair - and that says a lot. I did not even post the first 2 photos on facebook. Your positive response helped give me courage and strength to finally come to the point of taking off the hat and moving forward in this journey and I want to thank each one of you.

 

 

 It was because of all of these loving people that were willing to use their words to be of encouragement to me that helped give me strength to face the world each day.  

They also helped counteract the negative responses that I got. People can be cruel and I am so thankful for people who are willing to use their words to encourage and to heal. We need more people like that. :O)

You Don't Have to Try

This is a song going around Facebook and since I have been pretty busy. I was only able to finally able to watch it yesterday and thought that it was an amazing message. One that I have thought needed to be spread-even thicker than the message that tells us that we have to be perfect.
Anyway just in case some of you have not had a chance to see it yet- I thought I would share it.

A great song

A great message

What Burdens Can Do

November 2012 - a very good friend gave me the amazing devotional - "Streams in the Desert" - although I was going through different struggles last year - this devotional was very helpful to me. And it has not ceased to amaze me this year either. Different problems, yet the same blessing as I spend time reading my devotional each morning. I am so thankful for it especially this month - because I don't have time for a whole lot of other Bible study so it has really been a blessing to my soul.
Today's devotional will not disappoint either:
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They shall mount up with wings as eagles

(Isaiah 40:31).

There is a fable about the way the birds got their wings at the beginning. They were first made without wings. Then God made the wings and put them down before the wingless birds and said to them, "Come, take up these burdens and bear them."

The birds had lovely plumage and sweet voices; they could sing, and their feathers gleamed in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. They hesitated at first when bidden to take up the burdens that lay at their feet, but soon they obeyed, and taking up the wings in their beaks, laid them on their shoulders to carry them.

For a little while the load seemed heavy and hard to bear, but presently, as they went on carrying the burdens, folding them over their hearts, the wings grew fast to their little bodies, and soon they discovered how to use them, and were lifted by them up into the air -- the weights became wings.

It is a parable. We are the wingless birds, and our duties and tasks are the pinions God has made to lift us up and carry us heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and shrink from them; but as we lift them and bind them about our hearts, they become wings, and on them we rise and soar toward God.

There is no burden which, if we lift it cheerfully and bear it with love in our hearts, will not become a blessing to us. God means our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to receive a load, is to decline a new opportunity for growth.
--J. R. Miller

Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming,

which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders.
--F. W. Faber

Strange Place to Find Vineyards

This was a devotional that I had earlier this week that I thought I would share with you all. I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing pretty good. We are still trying to get the mower going- have hit a few snags in the way. Might end up having to take it to the John Deere place to get it fixed. My brother in law might be stopping by with his mower sometime this week to mow. I thought that was so very sweet of him. I am still very busy taking care of my granddaughter. I am going to have to get to bed earlier tonight - cause I am very tired. Have a great day :O)


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I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness…

And I will give her her vineyards from thence

 Hosea 2:14-15

 

A strange place to find vineyards--in the wilderness! And can it be that the riches which a soul needs can be obtained in the wilderness, which stands for a lonely place, out of which you can seldom find your way? It would seem so, and not only that, but the "Valley of Achor," which means bitterness, is called a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth!
Yes, God knows our need of the wilderness experience. He knows where and how to bring out that which is enduring. The soul has been idolatrous, rebellious; has forgotten God, and with a perfect self-will has said, "I will follow after my lovers." But she did not overtake them. And, when she was hopeless and forsaken, God said, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."
What a loving God is ours!
--Crumbs

We never know where God hides His pools. We see a rock, and we cannot guess it is the home of the spring. We see a flinty place, and we cannot tell it is the hiding place of a fountain. God leads me into the hard places, and then I find I have gone into the dwelling place of eternal springs.
--Selected

Truths About My Life

Over this week-end, while spending time with family I found out something that kind of surprised me and in the end helped me realize some truths about my life.

For some reason the divorce of my parents, which happened 33 years ago, came up. My mother then continued to say that for me it was the worse thing that had happened to me. Apparently it had affected me much more than my sister who is a couple of years older than me.

Later in the day as I was thinking about this conversation - I realized some truths about it. I was young and I did not have very many tools of life in order to help me process things and help me understand what was going on. I had been so sheltered up to this point in my life.

I still remember the day - and the conversation that happened that day that I found out. My Mother, sister, and I were driving to some friends' house that lived several towns over from us. I was sitting in the backseat. My mother said that she and my dad were getting a divorce. The naive 11 year old in the back seat said, "What's a divorce?" I had no idea of what it was. And over the next few months we moved from the small town of Pecos, Texas to Oklahoma City. From a quiet neighborhood to an apartment complex in the middle of a large city.

The divorce of my parent's was a tough experience for me, and it caused me to have quite a bit of baggage that I carried into my own marriage. It has taken me years to process and unload that baggage...probably still have some of the residue left over from it.

And the conversation went on(this week end) I asked the question - "really? With me having a cancer diagnosis and all the procedures and chemo - and losing my hair and still in the middle of a hard part of it all - the part of having to go out in public with hair that is barely, maybe 1/2 inches "long" and you think that the divorce was the worse thing that has happened to me?"

As I thought of this conversation later in the day I realized the big difference of these two experiences. The first one- I was young and I did not have very many tools in which to use to help myself get through it. I did not have anyone that I could really share my feelings with. And probably did not even know how to share my feeling.

I have been blessed over the last 5 years or so - with learning more of the life skills in which to deal with the blows that come along with life. I have friends and family in which to share my thoughts and feelings with. And I have a much closer relationship with Jesus Christ - who gives me strength and courage to get through the bumps and blows of life. And although life can sometimes be so very difficult - I know that He is always there - that He will never forsake me. That no matter what happens -He is always there. 
 

Busy, Busy

Good Morning- I just wanted to check in and say hello. I am praising God for a holiday so close in the beginning of taking care of my granddaughter. She is such a good child, but for this lady who is still working on getting her energy back and who is not used to interacting with people all day long- it is a little bit of a challenge. I love my time with her, but I did need a little bit of a break.

My days are busy- waking up at 5:50am - getting my husband off to work - then I take care of animals, get my shower, do my quiet time, get dressed and ready for the day- having to be ready by about 7am. The last two days I have had to drive to my son's house because SweetPea was still asleep and we wanted to let her get enough sleep. So anyway thankfully she slept at least another hour after I got there. Then we come back to my house. And all the normal activities of taking care of a 4 year old. Lots of reading and learning activities, outside time, and playing time. Making supper for everyone every day, which is a little challenging. All through chemo - there was a week that I did not feel like eating a normal meal - so many times - we just got what sounded good to us. And sometimes that dragged into the other two weeks. And I have had a bit of a hard time getting back into the rhythm of planning menus and such since. I can do it for some of the days but it just seems challenging to do it all week long. I am trying new recipes trying to see if that will help.

Anyway then our riding lawn mower - got a flat(totally damaged tire) and when my husband went to replace it some how the axle came loose. Anyway so my yard still has not been fixed. Yesterday afternoon my husband and son spent several ours taking it apart and putting it back together- it is almost fixed. And we are hoping then we will be able to get the yard mowed - maybe even today!! I sure hope so.

We have a push mower that has been giving us problems does not want to start- it tries but won't start. Well with this how fiasco - I have decided I want to get it fixed - even if we have to pay someone t fix it. And then there is my reel mower- I am hoping we can get the blade/s sharpened so that I can mow with it also. So if everything goes how I would like it to go - I will have all three of them running/ working properly by the end of the month. But if nothing else just one of them and the yard mowed would be very, very nice.

Anyway - so my days are much more busy than usual with not as much down time. And I am hoping that it will help me build my strength up. So far I am achy and sore and worn out by the end of the day. Anyway I will make it- just a little challenging.

Anyway I hope everyone has a great 4th of July!! Be safe everyone :O)

Except Under the Feet ...

Good Morning~  Today begins the month that I will be taking care of SweetPea - our granddaughter. I may not be able to post as often as I would like to - I am just going to play it by ear and see how things go.

SweetPea was tired and slept in today. She has woken up congested. Hoping she is not getting sick.

Today I would like to share my devotional from "Streams in the Desert" for today.

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When thou goest, thy way shall be opened up before thee step by step

(Proverbs 4:12, free translation).

The Lord never builds a bridge of faith except under the feet of the faith-filled traveler. If He builds the bridge a rod ahead, it would not be a bridge of faith. That which is of sight is not of faith.
There is a self-opening gate which is sometimes used in country roads. It stands fast and firm across the road as a traveler approaches it. If he stops before he gets to it, it will not open. But if he will drive right at it, his wagon wheels press the springs below the roadway, and the gate swings back to let him through. He must push right on at the closed gate, or it will continue to be closed.
This illustrates the way to pass every barrier on the road of duty. Whether it is a river, a gate, or a mountain, all the child of Jesus has to do is to go for it. If it is a river, it will dry up when you put your feet in its waters. If it is a gate, it will fly open when you are near enough to it, and are still pushing on. If it is a mountain, it will be lifted up and cast into a sea when you come squarely up, without flinching, to where you thought it was.
Is there a great barrier across your path of duty just now? Just go for it, in the name of the Lord, and it won't be there.
--Henry Clay Trumbull

We sit and weep in vain. The voice of the Almighty said, "Up and onward forevermore." Let us move on and step out boldly, though it be into the night, and we can scarcely see the way. The path will open, as we progress, like the trail through the forest, or the Alpine pass, which discloses but a few rods of its length from any single point of view.
Press on! If necessary, we will find even the pillar of cloud and fire to mark our journey through the wilderness. There are guides and wayside inns along the road. We will find food, clothes and friends at every stage of the journey, and as Rutherford so quaintly says: "However matters go, the worst will be a tired traveler and a joyful and sweet welcome home."

I'm going by the upper road, for that
still holds the sun,
I'm climbing through night's pastures where
the starry rivers run:
If you should think to seek me in my
old dark abode,
You'll find this writing on the door,
"He's on the Upper Road."
--Selected

6 months later ~ my word

Just wanted to share a great photo from last week end!

You know how at the beginning of the year a lot of people talk about what their word for the year is going to be. Well I might be slow or something because it took me about 6 months to figure out what my word for this year is.

 

I have had several hints and really should have caught on a lot sooner, but like I said I am slow.

Actually God has been working on me for over a year with this word. But it was probably this year - in which I have realized that I had to put this word into action.

 

My word is Courageous - or Courage.

 

One of my favorite verses:

 

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage,

 And He shall strengthen your heart;

 Wait, I say, on the Lord!   

Psalms 27:14

 

This has been a favorite of mine for several years.

 

But this last year - I have had it more of a practical thing that I had to do in order to move from day to day.

 

January 24th- the day of my second chemo - I think is a day that this word became even more a part of who I needed to be and who I am becoming. As I walked into the waiting room of my oncology place- I noticed all the people waiting- some for chemo- some just to see Doctors- but all of them facing cancer. And I thought to myself - this is the face of courage.

 

It takes a lot of courage to face the challenges of our lives head on.

And when the word cancer becomes a part of your life - you are thrown into a life of courage - whether you like it or not. The choice is yours.

 

Once you go through chemo, you realize that aches and pains and discomfort that comes along with it and you also know that many times chemo is cumulative - meaning that the symptoms that you have many times progressively get worse. And when you show up for chemo #2 - that is courage. Plain and simple courage.

 

There have been many other things that I have faced this past year which have called for courage.

One of the most recent is the choice to take my hat off and face the world - with only 1/2 or less inches of hair. It's not easy. It take courage. But what is so cool is that each time you face those fears - your courage gets stronger.

 

So now you can understand why this years world just has to be

courage-courageous.

 

And I want to end this post with a comment I got on my photo that I shared with my Uterine Cancer group-

" Do it, and do it fabulously! "