The Twenty-Third Psalm For Today...Happiness

 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures...

Happiness

We will rejoice in thy salvation,

and in the name of our God we

will setup our banners: the Lord fulfill all they petitions.

Psalm 20:5

 

Know ye that the Lord he is God" it is He that have made us, and

not we ourselves; we are His

people and the sheep of His

pasture.

Psalm 100:3

 

Happy is he that hath the God

 of Jacob for his help, whose hope

 is in the Lord his God:...

Psalm 146:5

 

...but rather rejoice, because

your names are written in heaven.

Luke 10:20

 

But I have trusted in they mercy;

my heart shall rejoice in they salvation.

Psalm 13:5

 

 

*************************************************

I would suggest that you look these verses up in other versions of the Bible and see what they say. Some versions are a bit easier to understand.



Heart Gifts....series

No Prayer Goes Unheard

 

Often we pause and wonder

When we kneel down to pray-

Can God really hear

The prayers that we say...

But if we keep praying

And talking to Him,

He'll brighten the soul

That was clouded and dim,

And as we continue

Our burden seems lighter,

Our sorrow is softened

And our outlook is brighter-

For though we feel helpless

And alone when we start,

Our prayer is the key

That opens the heart, 

And as our hearts opens

The dear Lord comes in

And the prayer that we felt

We could never begin

Is so easy to say

For the Lord understands

And give us new strength

By the touch of His hands.

~ Helen Steiner Rice

 

Hello :)

Ok - I am just checking in - I do have some more posts planned about our vacation and some pretty photos and a great idea to share with you - I just don't have the time right now. It has been a busy week here. I was discouraged this week about several different things - but thankfully I was able to go on a Mental Health day with my sister today and so I am feeling much better. I did figure out that I had not been spending time to my quiet times and that when I started spending more time that I began to feel better. It is amazing what spending time in the Bible can do for the soul. It also reminded me that I need to leave the things that were bothering me in God's hands. He is quite capable of handling them!
I hope you all are doing well. :O)

Day Three... Kind Of

So our next disaster actually began at about 11pm - when our power went out. There was a pretty bad storm going on with high winds, heavy rains and even marble sized hail. With the power being out - several neighbor guys felt the need to walk around outside with bright flashlights and talk loudly to each other - for 2 1/2 hours. I am a light sleeper and take a fan along on trips because I want to have something to dull the noise. So I did not get much sleep that night- at least not until after 1:30am. The rest of the night I slept pretty good actually ---thankfully.

I was not too happy the next morning to find our car blocked in:

 

We had planned on staying 2 nights on SPI - but after all the noise and being blocked into our parking spot - we decided that we did not want to stay the second night. So we packed our things up.

Our plans for the day were in Port Isabel anyway - so we drove back over the Queen Isabel Causeway - which wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. And we headed to the Port Isabel Lighthouse- the main reason for this vacation. There are quite a few lighthouses in Texas but this is the only one that is open to the public. And since my husband loves lighthouses - this was our vacation destination.

Most of the tourist things don't open till 10am. So we had some time to kill- so we walked out onto the long pier. It is to the right of the causeway in the above photo. Here is another photo take of it while we were already on the pier:

 

Here is a photo of the pier from the top of the lighthouse- and you can also see a bit of the Queen Isabel Causeway to the right.

Once the lighthouse opened  - we went to the lighthouse caretakers home to purchase tickets - to not only tour the lighthouse - but also to two other museums that were across the street.

Here is another great photo of the lighthouse:

View from the top:

You can actually see the two museums that are across the street - the big white building and the one to the left of it.

 

 The white house down below is the lighthouse care takers cottage - well it used to be. And you can see the cause way from this photo!

After going through both of the museums - we were back on the road - probably about 12:30 - 1:00pm - heading back to Victoria Texas. I am going to have to do the rest of this day on another post - since I have more to share for day 3!

 

*By the way- when we first got to Port Isabel - my husband and I were both a little disappointed at how small the light house looked. We were thinking - is that really it?

But let me tell you what- with the steep, spiral stair case- I actually had to stop about 3/4th of the way up for a breather... I sure wished that more air got into the lighthouse- it was breezy outside- but not as much air inside.

 

When we got to the top we could see for quite a ways all the way around the lighthouse.

 

We realized how steep the stairs were - especially on the way down. And when by the time we got to the museum across the street - we both really felt sore in our thighs. One of the museums had 2 flights of stairs to climb. Oh goodness. And surprisingly the going down those stairs were almost as bad. We were do glad that the lighthouse had not been any taller!!

It was worth the time, effort and money-but goodness what a workout! :O)

Day Two

The next morning we had a great breakfast along with a Texas shaped waffle! I had hoped to check out a thing or two in Victoria, Texas but we were in a hurry to be on our way to our next destination- so we packed up and headed out.

After about 4 hours later we arrived at Port Isabel -

Although the closest that we could find a hotel that was one that we could stay at and earn points- we ended up staying on South Padre Island

On our first day there we checked out several cool places.

 

At the Convention Centre there is what is called the Whaling Wall" -where there are 3 walls with these great murals painted on them. They are 23 feet in height. The visitors booklet says that it took 111 gallons of paint and 100 volunteers nearly 4 days to complete.

 

Right off to the side of the Convention Centre is a nature trail - which draws a lot of awesome birds- which in turn draws bird watchers- that is why we knew there was something over there - because we saw a whole LOT of people with lots of BIG, cool cameras.

There were a couple of board walks which take you over some marshes and even out over a part of the ocean.

As we watched we saw some awesome things - like a crab scurrying about. We saw a male and female bass spawning down in a circle- it was awesome to be able to be above and look down and see them. Probably would not have ever got to see that event if not.  

 

My husband actually found an alligator- he was about 2 1/2 feet long. J started making a clicking sound and the alligator actually came over closer to where we were.

  

I saw the cutest lizard. I wish I had have made a video of him to share with you all- but I did not think of it till later. Anyway he would stand up and then blow the skin on his neck out - it was an orange/pink color. Then he would lower himself back down closer to the tree- and repeated that. It was cute!

  (so I have some photos that I wanted to add in here - for each of these things but it turns out that they are on my laptop and I will have to add them later - so be sure and check back to see photos)

 

Next we went to the Visitors Center. We found what is called the largest outdoor sandcastle in the USA. 

And this is just one side of sandcastles- Hopefully my husband got some more photos and if so I will share more on another post. But this gives you an idea.

There was actually a guy working on one of the sandcastles while we were there.

 

Oh and this is the sandcastle that was inside:  

What is really cool about the outdoor sand castles is that we got a very heavy rain - along with hail and strong wind - and we drove by the next day and the castles didn't get damaged as much as I thought they would!

 

Now no trip would be complete with out an oops moment, and we had ours. While we were visiting the visitor center and we were about to go- my husband and I put our pamplets into the car and then my husband said something about going to get a better photo of the castle that the man had been working on. Well I didn't realize it but he had thrown his keys to the car onto the drivers seat - so I could start the car. I didn't realize that and I locked the car and shut the door....oops.....

The good thing is - a real blessing from God - is that my husband had rolled his window down about 1 1/2 inches or so. And that a lady in the visitor center actually had a wire hanger- so my husband d was able to use the hanger to get the keys and pull them out. Disaster avoided! Of course, the rest of the trip - we would ask the other one if they had the keys before we locked the doors. Lesson learned, thankfully it was an easy lesson to learn.

 

Next we went to the beach. 

 

 

 So when we were planning our trip and we were looking at places to eat on SPI - We noticed a place called Senor Donkey. It looked cool and we wanted to try it out. And then I was watching a House Hunters show or Island Living show and they had one about SPI and they actually showed a scene of the people talking at Senor Donkey - or as it's also knows - "The Big Donkey"

 

They had very good food! In fact - I don't think I have ever had as good of Spanish rice as what they served- it had carrots, corn and bell peppers. Yummy! I am looking for a great recipe so if any of you out there have a great Spanish rice recipe - please share! Pretty Please :)

 

Oh we did end up with another "disaster" or close to it on this trip - come back for "Day Three - Kind Of" to read about it.

The "Rest" that God has Promised

I promise that I will get back to posts about our vacation, but this morning during my quiet time some verses caught my attention and so I dived in deeper to find out more about them and I would like to take a little time this morning to share a few gems that I found.

There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into His rest,

 he also has ceased from his own works,

 as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:9-10

 

As I read these verses and reread them- I desired a better understanding of them so I got my Bible Commentary out and began studying Hebrews 4.

 

I found this written in italics in the very beginning of this study:

 

"1 The rest of Christians is attained by faith, 12 The power of God's word.

14 By our high priest Jesus the Son of God, subject to infirmities but not sin,

16 we must and may go boldly to the throne of grace."

 

There was so much written on these two verses but I have picked out just a couple of the cool things that I found to share with you all today.

"We enter into God's "rest" when we "consider" Jesus (ch. 3:1) and listen to His voice (chs. 3:7, 15; 4:7) , when we exercise faith in Him (ch. 4:2,3), when we cease from our own efforts to earn salvation (v.10), when we "hold fast our profession"(v. 14), and when we draw near to the throne of grace (v. 16). Those who would enter into this experience must beware of "an evil heart of unbelief" (chs. 3:12) , of hardening their hearts (chs. 3:8, 15; 4:7). They must strive to enter into God's "rest" (ch. 4:11)."

 

"Those who enter into God's "rest" will "hold fast" their "profession" (v. 14). They will "come boldly unto the throne of grace" to "obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (v. 16)."
*These two quotes are from SDA Bible Commentary, volume 7 page 423*
 

"The rest here spoken of is the rest of grace."

"It is "the true rest of faith."

(these quotes are from EG White)

 

 

Day One

For the last month or so we have been looking forward to a little vacation that we had planned. The closer it got to time to go - we noticed that the forecast did not look very good. In fact, it looked like we had a chance of storms every single day. Ugh... I was not too happy about it at all. But one of the times that I was thinking about not wanting bad weather for our trip - I was reminded that God is in control and that I needed to trust Him. Again later I was talking negatively about not wanting storm filled vacation and my husband then reminded me of the same thing. Giving me the example of when his group of Pathfinders were camping and there was a large storm coming and it ended up going around them. Ok - I again decided to try to trust God.

Sunday afternoon at about 3:30pm we began our adventure by traveling south. Our first stop, and a lot of you might find this funny, was a cool - well it is a pair of silos that have been converted into bathrooms! A friend had mentioned that they had stopped by there and how cool they were. So I wanted to check them out too!

These photos were actually taken on the way home- because on the way out it was sprinkling and yucky and I had not desire to stand out in the rain to get photos.

 

That wasn't the only cool rest area that we stopped at. In what my phone tells me is Sarita Texas - there is a rest area that in the medium between the highways. I thought it was a beautiful set up. The buildings area all built together - but each side their own restroom. As you walk into the bathroom - you see these beautiful murals.

 

Oh and I just have to share a few of the beauties that I saw outside of the restrooms:

On this first day of our trip - we faced storms moving through, thankfully we only hit about 30 minutes or so of heavy rain. It was not super heavy rain but it was rain that was coming down hard enough that I had to slow down and just take it easy. And of course it rained on my turn of the driving for this day!

We arrived at our first destination at about 9:00pm.

 

Be sure to come back tomorrow to hear about day two! :O)

We are home Safely!

Hello! Just checking in to let you know that we are back from our little vacation. I have some neat things to share with you all. It might not be until next week that I have a chance to get my posts written up and all the great photos gathered together. We have things here to catch up on and a really cool idea that I saw at one of our stops that I want to reproduce. Hoping I can find the elements needed in order to create it in my style!

I have some great stories of how God answered prayers and how a situation or two that could have been horrible ~ He helped them go better than expected. I can't wait to get them written up and shared with you all! See ya soon! :0)

Blessing Others Blesses Us

One of my very best friends is a very thoughtful and caring person. She is always doing nice things for other people. Making meals for other people is one of the things that she does. When I had my hysterectomy a couple of years ago- she brought over the fixings for a whole meal including desert. What a blessing it was - to have a meal already ready to go once I got home from the hospital.

So last week I decided to make up a meal for her family. Her husband had come over on a recent Sunday afternoon and had helped my husband as he was trying to get our tiller going. It didn't take long at all, but we were so thankful for his willingness to help. And so I wanted to say Thank You in a tangible way. And making a meal for her family seemed like a great idea.

So I got everything made up and since I know she drives by my house when picking up her kids - I sent her a message to see if she would be going by - sure enough she was. And she said you must have been reading my mind because I was fixing to see if you were home because I had something to drop off. Oh it worked out perfectly! So an hour or so later- she stopped by with a very thoughtful vacation baggie- with all sorts of things that would be handy to have for our vacation.

It looked even nicer when she brought it over. I did not think to take a picture before my husband and I looked through it.

Anyway as my friend drove away - I thought how wonderful God is! He used me my friend to bless me - and at the same time - He used me to bless her.

Don't ever underestimate what kindness can do. Doing for others blesses us - even if we do not get a tangible blessing- we are blessed in our souls. I know I sure was - not only by the gift that I received but by the feelings that were in my heart to know that I meant that much to my friend that she would, in the middle of her busy schedule, get a sweet little vacation bag together for my husband and I.

Validation~ An Important Thing We Can Give To Others

I have learned- or say I have relearned a valuable lesson this week. I sure wish I did a better job at remembering the lessons that I have learned. Maybe I need to do a better job at writing those lessons down in my "A-HA" book... seriously.

Anyway I learned that it is important to validate other people's feelings. I may not agree with what they are saying, but I can always validate their feelings.

My husband was sharing his feelings about a situation and I fell back into that peacemaker mode - and was trying to make everything alright. And that is when it hit me. I was not validating his feelings. I had to stop right there and tell him I was sorry that I was not validating his feelings. And I was happy to be able to figure out that that was what I had done.

I, myself have found myself upset because others have not validated my feelings. Sometimes it takes a while for me to figure out why I was upset in the first place. But I really think it helped me to be on the other side of it and to figure out what I was doing wrong. And now I can be more aware of it.

I just hope that I can remember this lesson and the others I have learned and put them to use in my own dealings with other people.

Just wanted to share- just in case this was useful to someone else. :O)

Stretching the Food Budget

 Ok - so I wanted to share a bit of a money saver with you all today.

A lot of times on Sabbath for lunch - especially when the family is all here we have spaghetti for lunch, especially since our granddaughter like spaghetti. My husband likes his spaghetti sauce with meat. I like mine without meat. And some of our family do not really like spaghetti sauce - so we serve ours separately.  Which turns out to be a really good things - especially when we want pizza for supper. What we have done - is I make up pizza crust. I will add the recipe to the end of this post for the pizza crust recipe that I use. Anyway - so on the pizza or half of pizza - which ever is wanted at that time- for my husband - he will use the left over spaghetti sauce with meat - and that way he has hamburger on his pizza- then the cheese and onions are added to his.

 

What I have done is put a bit of olive oil over the pizza crust - then add a bit of pizza sauce/ spaghetti sauce- or tomato sauce with some seasonings added- that is what this jar is- the left overs from the last time I made pizza. I will add that recipe as well - just in case anyone is interested in it.

Then I put some cheese down - and then I add various veggies- I really like onions, olives - both black and green, red peppers(or any of the colors- what ever I have at the time) And then I might sprinkle a bit more cheese over the top if I want.

 

This ends up being a very economical meal. You would not believe how easy it is to make your own  pizza!  

 

Here is a pizza that my husband and I shared last week end. My side is the one with olives.

What I have learned is that I want to either get my pizza crust thinner - or cook it a bit more.

 Oh and the above is before it was baked.

 

Pizza Crust

1 package (or 2 1/2 tsps) of active dry yeast 

1 Cup warm water

2 1/2 Cups flour

2 T. oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

 

Dissolve yeast in warm water in medium bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Let rest 5 minutes.

Recipe says it makes 2 pizzas.

 

(This recipe is from my Betty Crocker Cookbook)

  

 Pizza Sauce

1~ 15 oz. can of tomato puree - or tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground thyme

 

Mix this altogether. Then spoon onto crust and spread around. A thin layer will do. So this could actually last for several different pizza meals!



The Twenty-Third Psalm For Today...Security

The next 12 weeks we are going to be doing a special series on the 23rd Psalm. I found an awesome book at a favorite thrift store called~ "The Twenty-Third Psalm For Today" it was compiled and illustrated by Royal V. Carley. So please come back every Sabbath for another installment of this great series. I am sure we will all have a better understanding of this special Psalm by the end of the 12 weeks! :O)

So you know how many times books are very plain and so a book cover is added? Well this little book came with a book cover. And I am so glad that I took the time to take the cover off because  - well what I found underneath was so much better than the cover. I guess the cover is more from today - and what is actually on the book is more based on Bible times.

 

See what I mean!? I love the detail. It just made the book even more special to me.

"The LORD: is my shepherd, I shall not want."

Security

"Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? .... For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Matthew 6:31,32,33

 

"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd:..."

Isaiah 40:11

 

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Psalm 27:1

 

"The Lord shall preserve thy going out and they coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."

Psalm 121:8

 

"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."

John 10:11

 

"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19 

Heart Gifts...series

Warm Our Hearts With Thy Love 

 

Oh, God, who made the summer

and warmed the earth with beauty,

Warm our hearts with gratitude

and devotion to our duty,

For in this age of violence,

rebellion and defiance

We've forgotten the true meaning

of "dependable reliance"_

We have lost our sense of duty

and our sense of values, too,

And what was once unsanctioned,

no longer is taboo,

Our standards have been lowered

and we resist all discipline,

And our vision has been narrowed

and blinded to all sin-

Oh, put the summer brightness

in our closed, unseeing eyes

So in the carewarn faces

that we pass we'll recognize

The heartbreak and the loneliness,

the trouble and despair

That a word of understanding

would make easier to bear-

Oh, God, look down on our cold hearts

and warm them with Your love,

And grant us Your forgiveness

which we're so unworthy of.

~ Helen Steiner Rice

Jericho Road...part 3

"Look Who the Good Samaritan Is!

Let's redo the story now, with the most exciting part, because this is the story of Jesus. Long ago, the father of our race went down- way down. He went down from a Garden, with two trees, and his wife went with him. They went down, and the race has been going down ever since, degenerating in physical strength, mental power, and moral worth. The thief and robber who stripped them of their garments of light had gone down before them, down from the heavenly courts. He wounded them and left them for dead. The wounded victims tried to stitch fig leaves together to replace the garments he had taken from them. But it didn't work. And the human race is still on that downward path.
Then the Good Samaritan came. By chance? No, He planned it. He came on purpose. He saw us and had pity on us. He left His home, the safety of His beautiful home , to come down to this world of trouble. He came in contact with us. He touched the untouchables. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He put His robe around us, sacrificing His own life to save ours. He poured in oil and wine, the oil of the Holy Spirit and the wine of His own shed blood. With His stripes we are healed.

And then He takes us to the inn. Do you know where it is? There's one in your town! It may be a simple building, or it may have steeples and stained glass. But it's there. And He gives instruction to the innkeepers. If you haven't found yourself in the story yet, you'd better now! For He says to the innkeepers, "Take care of him. Take care of him, and when I come again, I will repay you." And now you are one of the innkeepers!

The Good Samarian doesn't just stop by once and then disappear. He' coming back! And He's promised, "When I come again, I will repay you."

Quoted from "Parables of the Kingdom" by Morris L. Venden page 31

Jericho Road...part 2

Today is part two of our series!



"Who Could Believe It?

The Samaritan slows down. He sees you. You brace yourself for the worst. But he comes closer. He speaks gently to you. "What happened?" You're hurt! Let me help you." You can't believe it. He touches you, carefully examining you so as to cause you the least pain possible. He comes close. He begins to bind up your wounds, pouring on the oil and wine. He feels your clammy skin and realizes how cold you are. He takes off his own garment, in spit of the coolness of the evening, and wraps you in its warmth. And then kindly and tenderly he helps you onto his donkey and takes you to the closest inn, all the while encouraging you to hope for a full recovery.

As you sink back into the warmth and comfort of the bed provided for you at the good Samaritan's expense, you can hardly believe your good fortune. He cares for you all through the long night, and in the morning, when you are feeling stronger, you hear him make arrangements for you to rest there as long as necessary- at his expense! You think about your family and friends and know they will never believe it when you tell them_ but you can hardly wait to share the good news of what happened to you on the road to Jericho. "

Have you figured out who you are in the story? And how about the Good Samaritan - who is He? Come back tomorrow to find out! :O)

Quote from "Parables of the Kingdom" by Morris L. Venden page 30-31

Jericho Road...part 1

Today is part one of a 3 part series! I hope you stay tuned and read all three for the fullest blessing!




"Put Yourself in the Picture

The best way to personalize a personalize a Bible story such as this is to put yourself in the picture. When you read about the thief on the cross, you're the thief on the cross. When you read about the blind man by the side of the road, you're blind Bartimaeus crying out, "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." So when you study the story of the good Samaritan, your the good Samaritan...No you're not! And I'm not either! At worst, we're the ones who beat him up in the first place. And at best, we're the one who was beaten up.

So you are the man, traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. It's a trip of about twenty miles. Jerusalem stood at a higher elevation, so you are walking downhill. You walk briskly, for this is not a safe place to loiter. This is a place that has recesses and caves, where thieves and robbers lurk and frequently waylay travelers, as you well know. You go down through a narrow ravine, known as the Valley of Blood, and the inevitable happens. A group of armed men attack you from behind. You haven't a chance even to defend yourself. They take your money and your watch and even your clothes. And then, as if that were not enough, they mug you and finally leave you unconscious, weltering in your own blood.

You lie there for a long time. Finally you come to. The sun is hot. You try to move, but find you are unable to get up. You groan and struggle, but it's no use. But there's good news. You see the preacher coming. Surely the preacher will help. But he doesn't even slow down. He passes by on the other side of the road barley glances in your direction.

Don't Blame the Preacher

Don't be too hard on the preacher! He may have been late and was hurrying to deliver a sermon at the synagogue in Jericho. Maybe he was even planning to preach on brotherly love. If he hung around the Valley of Blood, where someone had already been done in by the robbers, the same thing might happen to him. It would certainly be the lesser of two evils to leave the man and hurry on to Jericho. The spiritual need of his parishioners certainly should come before the needs of one man who was probably going to die anyway. Surely the priest must have done some rationalizing like this, as he hurried on his way.

You're getting chilled now. The sun ahs gone down behind an outcropping of rock, and you lie in the shadows. You're afraid it's all over for you, for not many travelers are on the road at this time of day. But good news! Here comes the church treasurer! He not only can help you to safety, but perhaps he can pay for your medical bills and even get you some clothes. Hope rises in your heart as you see him come over to where you are.

You try to speak, but your words only come out as a groan. Your lips are parched; you can hardly move. he looks down at you and then glances quickly around to see if robbers are lurking nearby. And he hurries on toward town.

Of course he must hurry on. He's carrying a bag filled with the offering money. It wouldn't be right to risk losing the Lord's money by staying in a place like this. Furthermore, his wife and children are expecting him, and running the risk of getting beaten up and robbed on the Jericho Road would not be the fatherly thing to do. He must have thought it through carefully as he hurried on his way, pausing now and again to glance back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed.

It looks hopeless now. You struggle again to move, but find you are too weak. You are left dizzy and short of breath from even the attempt. It's almost dark, and you are chilled to the bone. You try to resign yourself to slowly losing consciousness and giving in to the inevitable. Even if another traveler comes this way, he wouldn't be likely to see you there, off the side of the road in the shadows.

But you ear footsteps Can I be possible? You strain your eyes to catch a glimpse of someone approaching- and your heart sinks. Oh! It's a Samaritan. You know how you have treated Samaritans yourself in the past. And you shrink back inside yourself, knowing that if your roles were reversed, you not only would not help him, you would probably spit in his face. "

Quote from "Parables of the Kingdom" by Morris L. Venden pages 29-30

Was all hope lost? Would anyone help? Come back tomorrow to find out!! :)

Leave the Choice with Him

The Weaver and I

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver's hand
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.               


It's not really known who has written this poem - but it was such a blessing to read and I wanted to share it with you all. He has a different perspective than what we do and so we may not understand why things are allowed to come into our lives. But we can trust Him, because God rules! :O)

Be sure to come back tomorrow. I will be starting a 3 part series about the Jericho Road - some great questions will be answers and new understanding into a parable will be shared. See you then! :O)
       

It's Free!

"The kingdom of heaven is free, yet it costs everything. It cost Jesus everything. He held nothing back as He came the full length of the road that reached from His house to ours. He did not spare himself. And as we accept His free salvation, we can hold nothing back. If we do, we will find our hands full of our own baubles and toys and be unable to reach out to accept what He has to offer."

Quote found in Morris Venden's "Parables of the Kingdom" book pg. 42~ an awesome book!! 🌺

God's Part /Our Part

"The farmer's job is to sow the seed, to give it regular water and cultivation, and then leave it alone. God takes care of the rest of the process.
We aren't expected to watch ourselves, constantly checking ourselves to see if we are producing fruit. Our part is to sow the seed. And remember what the seed represents-- it is the Word of God. We study God's Word for ourselves, we accept Him into our lives day by day, and then we let Him do His work. We may not understand how He does it, but this doesn't matter. What's important is that we understand how to do the work assigned to us." 

from "Parables of the Kingdom" by Morris Venden pg. 40

Make Your Own Granola

Granola

7 C. Oats

1 C. wheat germ

1 C. coconut

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. slivered almonds or chopped pecans, etc.

1/4-1/2 C. oil

1/2 C. warm water

1/4-1/2 C. honey

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix above dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Add liquid to dry ingredients.

Mix thoroughly.

Put in large shallow pans.

Bake at 250 degrees until golden brown and crisp (about 2 to 2 1/2 hours) or bake slowly at 170 for 6-7 hours.

I spread it on two cookie sheets and then about every 30 minutes or so I take a pancake flipper(can't thing of actual name)

and I stir and flip stuff around. So that way everything has a chance to get browned and crunchy.

Sometimes it take longer to cook - so play it by ear.

Oh and you can add things like raisins and dates - but you will want to add them after the granola is cooked- if not they will be quite hard to chew.

This is a very yummy recipe. And it is very economical - especially when you compare the prices of the store bought granola. Plus - home made ones taste better! :O)

From This to That.....Another Dream Come True

Sorry I have been MIA. It's been very busy around our place.

 

 Especially since we had this pile of dirt:

 

 

That needed to be moved to here:

 

 

 Well of course this pile was burned down and the hole was left- from when we had an above ground swimming pool - but they had to cut down about 6 inches to level it up.  

 

Our granddaughter enjoyed a ride or two.

 

And here is our beautiful garden area now!

 We have not planted anything yet. Will be working on that this week.

I will be sure to get on here and update you all on what we end up planting.

 

Oh and an update on the rest of our garden so far:

We got a freeze- which we were afraid had killed our potatoes and tomatoes. Well our potatoes are doing well. And one tomato plant looks like it might make it. We did get several more to plant - just in case.

 

Our purple onions are doing great! As are the multiplying onions that we transplanted! We have 6 of the 10 strawberry plants seem to be growing and our black berry plants are doing well.

I will try to take photos of things and share soon.

 

Oh and by the way - getting this garden set up is also a dream come true for us. We have wanted to put a garden here for several years. And it just did not seem to work out. And each time it did not - we were very disappointed. This year - I am SO thankful to God for all the little pieces working together for us to be able to get this garden going.

 

1. My husband getting some over time so that we could afford to get a load of dirt brought in.

2. Us finding a company to deliver the dirt - oh and the discount that we got since my husband is a U.S. vet.

 

3. My husbands uncle being so kind as to let us borrow his tractor to move the dirt- so no huge cost to rent something!

 

4. And the time and energy to get this ready to go.

 

5. And I can't forget to praise God for the blessing of the things that have come back since last year - like my rosemary, oregano, sage, parsley~ What a blessing!

 

And so many more!!

 

Hope you all are doing well. :)