He will bring us through

So this was the devotional in my Streams in the Desert devotional. I just had to share. I think I would have to say that Annie Johnson Flint is my favorite poet! I hope this blesses you! 

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All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me (Psalms 42:7).

They are HIS billows, whether they go o'er us,
Hiding His face in smothering spray and foam;
Or smooth and sparkling, spread a path before us,
And to our haven bear us safely home.
They are HIS billows, whether for our succor
He walks across them, stilling all our fear;
Or to our cry there comes no aid nor answer,
And in the lonely silence none is near.
They are HIS billows, whether we are toiling
Through tempest-driven waves that never cease,
While deep to deep with clamor loud is calling;
Or at His word they hush themselves in peace.
They are HIS billows, whether He divides them,
Making us walk dryshod where seas had flowed;
Or lets tumultuous breakers surge about us,
Rushing unchecked across our only road.
They are HIS billows, and He brings us through them;
So He has promised, so His love will do.
Keeping and leading, guiding and upholding,
To His sure harbor, He will bring us through.
--Annie Johnson Flint

Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain.

The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship.
--Selected

Hit Another Wall...Or Was it The Same Wall...?

The last few months have found me in a heap in front of the newest wall I have stumbled against. Yes- I have stood back up and even began climbing the wall only to be struck by a fiery arrow and knocked to the ground again. But I have resolved not to allow this to keep me down. God is working on some things in my life- specifically the amount of power I have allowed what others have thought of me. God wants me to learn it doesn't matter what others think. He totally understands what it feels like to not be liked. there are many examples in the Bible when ready about the life of Jesus. And we know that Jesus is a mirror image of who God is! He came to this world to show us what God is really like. Anyway I may have hit another wall or was it the same wall as last time... who know...what ever the case I have hit a wall and am fighting to get past it, and it is very painful at times, but I trust that through this time that God will smooth out the rough areas of my life and teach me how to be more like Him. Not everyone liked Jesus so how can I continue to think that everyone will like me. I realize now that my desire for everyone to like me stems from my people pleasing ways. And that is not healthy for me. It is painful to move away from the bad habits we develop here on earth. But God know what we need to learn and He will continue to work with us as long as we are willing to surrender our lives to Him. Correcting some unhealthy behaviors in me has causes me to hit another wall and has caused me a tremendous amount of pain but I continue to put my trust in God and allow Him to guide and direct my steps and through His power and strength I will conquer this wall as well.

What wall are you facing?
God can help you conquer it as well!!

Best Deal

Today's "Best Deals" were actually great deals I got several weeks ago - I just haven't had a chance to write up a post about them! Plus I have been so very busy I have not gotten to do much thrift store shopping and when I have - I haven't found much. Found a new to me favorite short sleeved top - which is rare. It seems more challenging around here to find great short sleeved tops. Anyway on to today's post. 

My favorite little thrift store has been having an excellent sale on books lately. I think it is because they have so very many books. So when I found this completely revised Texas Gardening book for 50 cents - I jumped on it. I had an older book but there were several things about this book that made it worth the investment - not only is it revised and updated - it was actually signed by the author. And there was a photo of the author in the book! One of my nieces wanted my older copy of the book and so I am going to give her the book and the photo. I think it will mean more to the person she wants to give the book to! 

And the other excellent deal going on at my thrift store is cookbooks for a quarter a piece!!! What an excellent deal!!  

I used to enjoy watching Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals. And had thought it would be nice to have a cookbook. I am thankful that I have not invested a lot of money into them because I have looked through this book briefly and it just doesn't speak to me. But the Taste of Home 5- ingredients cookbook has a different story. I have already tried a couple of the recipes for my husband and he has liked them. It was just the sort of thing I was looking for - some quick recipes that I could make up food for my husband on these busy days of so many appointments and things to do. 

If any of my readers would like the Rachael Ray cookbook - I would be willing to mail it to you if you will email me and let me know you are interested in it and send me your address. 

talia72288@gmail.com 

Sabbath Praises

Better late than never for the Sabbath Praises post today. This is a beautiful song that I heard for the first time today at church. Enjoyed it so much I looked it up when I got home. Anyway I wanted to share it with you all. Hope you have had a blessed day
. Be sure and come back by tomorrow for a "best deal " post. :)

Mysterious...

A devotion from my Streams in the Desert devotional book. Wanted to share it with you. 

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I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument (Isa. 41:15).

A bar of steel worth five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered, and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

May this parable help us to be silent, still, and longsuffering. Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others.
--Selected

Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still,
And bear Thy will;
Courage to venture wholly on the arm
That will not harm;
The wisdom that will never let me stray
Out of my way;
The love that, now afflicting, knoweth best
When I should rest.

Life is very mysterious. Indeed it would be inexplicable unless we believed that God was preparing us for scenes and ministries that lie beyond the veil of sense in the eternal world, where highly-tempered spirits will be required for special service.

Pondering This

Could it have been that it took Moses 40 years to become obedient and surrendered and that's when God showed up?

This is something I heard a pastor say and I think it gives us something to think about in our own journeys.

Creativity is good for the soul

It has been so warm here in Texas that my latest electric bill was higher than any electric bill for this month since we lived here! Thankfully it seems that maybe fall has finally arrived with a trend of weather nice enough to have the windows open at least half the time or more. And I love that kind of weather!

Several years ago my husband got me a very nice quilting machine. I was able to quilt several quilts and then something happened and I started having issues with it - the stitching would go along nicely for a while and then there would be some very long stitches. Well we have worked with it and worked with it and then about a year ago when I spent ALOT of time unsewing the quilting that I had done to a quilt caused me to just put a sheet over my quilting machine and give up for a while. Although I have been so very busy lately - I decided I really need to get it running again so I can get moving on my quilts - I have 3 baby quilts ready to be quilted along with another quilt. So my husband came up with a great idea! You see the way the machine is on the quilting frame - it makes it hard to really work with the computer part of it. So he decided we would take the machine off the frame and see if I could get the machine to do even stitches that way. So last night I spent about an hour playing with the machine. Turns out it isn't as complicated as I thought it was- when you can get to it - it really is easier. It seems to be working smoothly. So next step will be to put it back on the frame and do a practice run on a small project. And I am praying that the problem has been resolved. It would truly be an answer to prayer if it has!

I also spent some time painting this week end.

Sorry this photo didn't capture the whole thing - but gives you an idea of what it looks like. Yes - i cheated a bit - by using some stencils - but trust me there was still a lot of creativity with this. And it helped restore my soul a bit.

I am trying to spend some extra time thinking on my blessings, especially since I have had some real blows lately that just eat away at my peace. Situations I can not control can cause a lot of pain and discouragement if I let them. And I have struggled with discouragement the last few days. Anyway working on these projects have really helped me alot!

I better close- Will be heading out again shortly to take my MIL to the first appointment of 4 this week! Thankfully I have a fun appointment coming up this week for me as well - And it's fun to look forward to this!  :O) 

Sabbath Praises

Just came across this song - this week - it is one of my new favorites. I hope you like it as well! :O)

I thought I had a week

Yesterday after my MIL Physical Therapy appointment - I was called back so that we could set up the next 4 weeks of appointments....I had thought that they would do that next week - since we already had those two appointments scheduled - so I was not as prepared to set the appointments. I think this and the fact that no only did I take her to this appointment but I also took her to her 3pm appointment to get her hair cut and permed made for a long day. As I got the text at 5pm to pick her up to take her home. Thankfully I had thought ahead and had worked on a menu and a grocery list so that once I dropped her off at 3pm - I ran back to the other town nearby to hit the Aldi's and the Walmart to get groceries. I had enough time to get both stores taken care of - drive the 15-20 minutes home and get things mostly put away before I needed to head out again. It was a long day and I was drained by the end of it. But oh SO thankful to have my groceries taken care of now I don't have to do that today. Today I can go to the park for a walk and I can work on cleaning my house and fix food for my family. It will be the very first day in several weeks where I have not HAD to go somewhere. And I am so thankful for this day. I need the down time.

My husband's battery on his car went out yesterday and then so did the battery on my oldest sons car. My youngest son got - I use the word got loosely... to sit at the hospital for another 8 hours - second time this week. I am sure he is tired of hospitals by now. His girlfriend had a procedure - and will have to have a pretty serious surgery as soon as they can get it scheduled- which may not be for another couple to several months....meanwhile she is in pain and has been through so very much and just ready to have this all taken care of and behind her.

Well I am off for the day. Hope you all are doing well... :O)

What God is Like....

“Jesus came to this world to remove our fear of a God who wants to destroy us. Jesus was exactly like God. He said it in John 14:9, “He that has seen me have seen the father.“ And Jesus was the kind of Person that little children loved to be around. Sinners and harlots and thieves were not afraid to come into His presence. That was what Jesus was like, and is like. And that is what God is like.”

Just a quote from one of the books that I am reading right now 

"The Pillars" by Morris Venden - one of my favorite authors. 

Clothes, a Stereo and Curtains

Last week our temperatures here in Texas actually flirted a bit with Autumn weather and so I spent some time pulling all but my favorite summer tops out of my closet. Then I hung up my fall tops and my jeans. I had already went through everything and tried stuff on. Once I had went through them I just folded them up and set the piles on my shelf in my closet- just waiting for some appropriate weather to arrive. I also went through my toppers and tried them on and organized them. I pulled a few pieces that I never did wear last year and felt like I would rather pull them and take them to consignment shop then have them take up space in my closet. "It will do" items are slowly making their way out of my closet, creating more space for things that I love. Only issue I have is that for the next couple of weeks I will be too busy to even really go shopping. I will be planning a good shopping trip for as soon as there is an opening in my schedule to allow for one. Till then I am just going through what I have and pulling things to take to consignment shop. I took a load last week and I have another small load to take sometime soon. I have been too busy to even set up an appointment so I am so thankful that they have it where you can do drop ins when you have small loads like about 10 things or so. That is what I did last week - and I am hoping to be able to get another load taken later this week, if not next week. I am so thankful that I have had a bit of time here and there to get my closet organized and ready for what ever season the day brings.... lol . This is the time of year that you just never know. As I write this(Tuesday afternoon) I am actually wearing sleeveless top and a pair of capris- But there is a good chance that tomorrow will have me wearing jeans- probably 3/4 sleeved top for the first half of the day and then changing into short sleeves later in the day. I am just so thankful that Fall is finally here - even if it is just visiting for a day here and there... lol

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A couple of years ago my sister in law and I traded exercise equipment. And I ended up with a treadmill. We set it up in the sun room and my husband bought me a stereo that actually worked like a blue tooth - don't know the right way to word that - what ever the case - I can play songs from my phone on the stereo, listen to the radio or play cd's. I enjoyed it out there. But I didn't enjoy the treadmill. And we moved it to the shed. I just preferred getting outside to walk - that way I get the sunshine and fresh air as well- both are very important! Anyway about 6 months ago or so we sold the treadmill. I could kick myself because I left that stereo out there up on the shelf. One day last week I was thinking how nice it would be to have a stereo in my bedroom and I though - I have one!! I just need to move it. So over the weekend I moved it to my bedroom. I was so thankful that we had went with a smaller stereo so it doesn't take up much space on my dresser - it was easy to move things around this way and that for it. I love my stereo, which by the way has a remote control. I love having the stereo and not have to get out and spend money to fulfill a wish I had.

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Remember me sharing about a house being built next door? Well they have some lights set up at the corners of the back of the house and for some reason ever so often they leave the lights on all night. I would not complain except that one of the lights shines into my bedroom and bathroom. Thankfully we have nice thick bedroom curtains that block most the light but I had my summer curtains up in the bathroom still. Again I was thankful that I had made some winter curtains for the bathroom a couple of years ago. Since the light shined into my bathroom and was disturbing my rest - I decided to put those curtains up. I had bought some pretty crocheted "ribbon" that I had cut pieces off of for tie backs last year ( or the year before?) Anyway I went and found the roll of that and cut off a couple more pieces of that and I am very happy with the results.

It makes me happy when I am able to make do with what I have. It has made me think twice before just going and buying something because just maybe I have something that will work. I just have to take a bit of time to think about it or maybe look around the house.

Well I better close. I am needing some time to refill the gas tank. God has been so very good to me so that I could be very kind and pleasant with all of the running I have going - but I do need to take some time to recharge. I hope you all are doing well. Can't say I am back to every day postings yet -since the next week and a half will be busy- and then I found out that my MIL PT will probably continue through the middle to a bit later in November. Plus we will have 4 appointment to reschedule once she is feeling up to doing those. Then I have a couple of appointments myself. Lots to do - refilling the tank and recharging when I can. :O)

The Gas Tank

This past week end our pastor used a gas tank to explain how introverts work - and after hearing his explanation I realized how true it was for me.

When you are around people your tank goes down and you need alone time to recharge. 

I enjoy my time around people - sometimes more than others....lol. Sometimes I have to make myself participate in certain activities in order to push myself to grow. However, one thing I have noticed over the last couple of weeks that have been so busy for me - with many activities - many of which are good in and of themselves. Is that I really need my time alone to recharge. It is a good thing to understand yourself enough to know what you need. 

I really do enjoy my time connecting with other people and it does my soul good as well but there is a balance to it all. And some days I can feel the results going one direction further than needed.

I am still finding time to walk and I have actually gone over my goal of miles walked for the year - 30 miles at this point. And I continue to walk. It will be interesting to see how many miles I clock for this year!! 

Anyway I hope you all are doing well. I have had a lot of stuff going on and I am hoping to get on here later and share a little bit of some of the things I have done and learned with you all. But till then I hope you are enjoying this fall weather. Ours tends to go fall for a bit and then maybe a bit more summer... I am hoping it makes up its mind - I am ready for fall. :O) 

Sabbath Praises

Just checking in to share a beautiful song a friend shared with me this week. Blessings to you. :0)


C

for now

Boy I thought this month was gonna be busy but I had no idea. This week I had to take my Mother in law to three appointments, next week- 3 more, the next week 4, and for now only one the next week but I have a feeling that one of our appt on the week with 4 will lead to at least another apt or two. Then there are the things I'm involved with that I want to continue. Plus a couple of appointments of my own. So when you add all those up I don't have hardly any days off .
All this to say- right now I feel it would be best for me to take a bit of a blogging break. Not sure how long this will be right now. But I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I will check in when I get a chance. :0)

Southern Ingenuity

Today I wanted to share what my husband calls a redneck hack. I am so glad my husband taught me southern ingenuity. Last week I needed to add windshield wiper fluid to my car but I couldn't find the funnel, so I made my own. 

Easy as can be and I was able to add the fluid without a spill. :O) 

"That's A Lie"

September 23rd is the official first day of fall but for those of us in Texas that doesn't mean much. 

 In fact This is what our September looked like:

There are hints at a bit of a cool down for the beginning of next week. What does this mean? It means our highs might only be in the 80's and not 90's. Our temps have continued to be quite warm. Our lows staying in the 70's- and more the mid 70's at that.

Although I have been seeing people wearing sweats, long sleeves and even sweaters,  my fall clothes are still on the shelf in my closet waiting for a cool down to arrive. I am SO looking forward to some cooler weather. I have some great new things in my wardrobe that I want to try out! In June I found a couple of like new pairs of jeans that I only paid a dollar a piece for - that I will need to pull down and try on and see how much I need to hem them so they will be ready for cooler weather.

And just because some cooler weather might be on its way does not mean it will be jean weather yet. It might just transition over to capris and short sleeved tops. But that it alright - I will be SO thrilled for cooler weather it won't bother me one bit. :O) 

How is the weather in your neck of the woods? Has Fall actually arrived? 

Expanding My Goals

In July of 2016 I realized the importance of setting a goal with my weight loss. Little did I know how important this would be to me, not only for losing the weight but also sticking to it no matter what! Since that time there have been many, many stumbling blocks that I have had to struggle with and climb over. In the past, without a goal, I would have hit those blocks and take the easy rout - given up and allowed my flesh to win. Not this time. Setting this goal has helped me be persistent. Persistence is important in life - not only with weight loss but also in our Christian life.


Without this goal, I would not have just kept working towards it even with a step or two backwards from time to time. Because my 50th birthday is quickly approaching I have already been pondering what I want to set as my new goals.. I have decided to expand my goals.Having weight loss as the only goal is way to narrow for me. I want to grow in other areas of my life as well. God has made that clear in all the ways that He has been pressing me beyond my comfort zones.

Be watching for my post talking more about my goals - closer to my birthday in November. I will also update you all on my 50 by 50 goal in that time period as well.

Oh speaking of birthdays - Did you know I am almost as old as Sesame Street? We looked it up and I am only about 2 weeks younger! lol :O)