The Spoken Word

Last week I went to one of my favorite little thrift stores. I received a blessing and wanted to share it with you as well.

As I was checking out with the treasures that I had found, the lady that runs the place and I were talking. Another shopping that came behind me ended up being a friend's Mom. She had seen me about half way through my chemo treatment. That was the first time she had seen me in a couple of years. Anyway so today she was at the thrift store - and as the three of us were talking -she made a statement that blessed my heart. She was telling me how good I looked and say "You are beautiful as always." Wow- what a blessing to my soul. Not only a comment as to looking good for just finishing up chemo - but also the compliment that I have always been beautiful. It really blessed my soul.

I think it is important for us to really pay attention to what we say. We can really bless those around us with kind, edifying words. Just a little lesson I learned and a blessing I received.

Love With All Your Heart.....series

True Love

 

Love that is true does not insist

Its own selfish way to receive;

It's never controlling, or forceful, or rude,

Demanding what self would achieve.

 

Love that is true does not whimper and pout

For selfish attention to gain;

It won't be offended and coldly withdraw

To wallow in pity and pain.

 

Love that is true is not angry and mean;

Destroying the trust of a friend.

It never will gossip or cruely lash out

With critical words that condemn.

 

Love that is true is not greedy and proud,

It never deceives or betrays;
It will not be scheming or ever give up

Or demonstrate unholy ways.

 

For true love is gentle and patient and kind;

It's giving and humble and meek.

True love is accepting, forgiving, and just,

The good of a friend it does seek.

 

And true love is loyal, and trusting, and firm,

Commitment is lasing and sure.

Love shows great compassion and builds up one's faith,
This love will forever endure.

Linda Driver

A poem from our "Love With All Your Heart" booklet. Our usual series will just be posted on Sabbath's, with the exception of today's post and the last post of this series - which will also be a  poem. 

Love WIth All Your Heart .....series

Today will be the beginning of a new series. I hope it blesses each of you as it has blessed me.

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Love With All Your Heart

A Treatise on True Love- 1 Corinthians 13

 

What is true love? We recognize that love is needed in relationships with others but often we mistake selfish passion for love. Love is actually the opposite of selfishness. True love comes from God alone: we do not have it naturally. Love is a gift that we must receive; in fact, it is the very best gift that God can give!

 

A beautiful description of this divine love can be found in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Here are inscribed 15 priceless principles that constitute true love. IF we allow God to weave these principles into the fabric of our characters, we will experience a transformation that goes far beyond any self-improvement methodology that modern psychology can offer. In fact, this heavenborn love is the most powerful principle in existence for it is the one by which God Himself is motivated. Every good and noble desire needs to be combined with the power of love in order to be truly successful.

If you want to make an impact on the world, try love. No other power can outmatch the power of love. Hard hearts will melt under the softening influence of love. When brought face to face with vicious animosity and opposition, love has been known to subdue and conquer, even against all odds. Whatever obstacles are looming up in your pathway, love can help smooth out the way. In fact, when you face the most trying circumstances love has the greatest opportunity to make a difference. You can come to see these challenges in life as Spirit-induced calls to tap into God's love in order to lift you above your own natural human reactions. And how extremely effective this love is@ What a marvelous sense of power can be found in maintaining a calm, peaceful spirit when all around you are berserk with rage. How awesome is that power of love that can respond in loving compassion when confronted with abuse and ridicule. That is POWER!

 

In every relationship love will sweeten the communication and strengthen the friendship. Love is the very core of relationships because love is the giving of oneself. And that is the rule by which the universe operates for it is the principle of heaven.

 

Yes, love is to be ultimately desired, and God is eager to bestow this love upon us if we are wiling to receive it. But in order to receive divine love we must be willing to let go of selfishness, that greedy, grasping, strangling weed that chokes out our happiness. And when we experience God's love by opening up our hearts, our joy will know no bounds!

 

Come with me as we explore this love chapter and discover the incredible power continued therein. Each one of us has areas in our lives that need to be brought to the mirror of God's Word in order to consider our inadequacies. And with that knowledge we are encouraged to come boldly before God and have our lack supplies. So then let us eagerly invite this transforming love to enter into our innermost beings. We will never be the same again!

These Five Statements

"When you and I find our places in Christ where God can freely fulfill His promises to us, we will also experience immeasurable blessing. Blessing is defined by neither ease nor worldly possessions nor stock-market successes. Blessing is bowing down to receive the expressions of divine favor that in the inner recesses of the human heart and mind make life worth the bother."

  Beth Moore- found in her "Believing God" book! :O)

 

This week I began reading Beth Moore's book - Believing God. It is an awesome book. I am not surprised - I really like Beth Moore. Her love for the Lord and studying His Word flows out of her.

This is just the book that I needed to read. If you ever get the chance to read it I would highly recommend it.

 

"These five statements become a shield of faith to those who will allow them to penetrate the marrow of their belief systems.

 

God is who He says He is.

God can do what He says He can do.

I am who God says I am.

I can do all things through Christ.

God's Word is alive and active in me."

 

This is basically the foundation of the book and she goes more in depth with each of these statements.

 I will probably be sharing a little here and there as I continue to read through this book.
Hope you all have a wonderful day. We are going on a day trip. I can't wait to experience something new- will probably share about it later. :o)  

 

 

Memories, A Series, And a Continuing Work

This morning when I washed my hair- I had one of those moments when one of your senses reminds you of something in the past. While washing my hair - I was reminded of washing my son's hair when they were babies. It should not surprise me at all- I have baby hair- it is having to totally start over. If I wanted to describe it's length with a plural - I would have to use millimeters - at it is only about 1 1/2 centimeters "long" - it's funny to use the expression "long" after such a tiny measurement... lol

I am thankful that I have hair and that it is growing but it certainly is not growing as fast as I had thought it would grow. I am sure hoping that the longer I am away from chemo - the faster it will grow.
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This week end I am going to start a new series. I found a wonderful book that I think will be such a blessing to me that I want to share it with you all as well. It is called "Love With All Your Heart- A Treatise on True Love 1 Corinthians 13" by Linda Driver. It looks like it will take about 18 weeks to finish the booklet. I hope you all will check back to read it. I really think it will transform our lives once we get a better understanding what Love really is.
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Today I had a conversation with someone and it got me to thinking about my Christian life. Although I was raised in a Christian home and picked up a lot of my basic beliefs growing up- I did not stop my walk with God at that point. God has continues to work with me. He doesn't want me to stay stagnant, no He wants me to be spending time with Him- learning more and more about who He is and at the same time learning who He wants me to be. There is so much to learn - I don't think that the Christian walk is ever where we get to where we are going and have no more improvements to make or lessons to learn. There is always going to be something. God builds upon what we already knows- he teaches us step by step. And sometimes I am sure that he has to take tiny baby steps with us when we just don't get the lesson we need to learn. But God is patient and merciful and continues to work with us - as long as we allow Him to guide and direct us. Philippians 1:6 says:"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"    What God is doing in us is continual- He is working on completing the work - when Jesus comes to take us home. Until that day - we are being molded and shaped into what God created us to be.
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Oh - On a post earlier this week - I had said that I would share why I love a little thrift store nearby. On Sunday my husband and I went to this thrift shop- He picked out a great 1,000 piece puzzle. We also found some other great buys. Anyway once we got the puzzle put together- yep- he is already done with it. We found that the puzzle was missing 1 piece. Well while we were there - my husband had noticed a couple other puzzles and since she had only charged us 50 cents for it - I thought I would go back and get the lighthouse puzzle that he had liked plus a couple more. Anyway when I walked in the door- the lady that runs the shop asked if all the pieces that been with the puzzle we bought- As I began to tell her that one was missing she pulled a puzzle piece out of her drawer and said that she had found it after we left and had thought it went with our puzzle. How thoughtful was that? I bought 3 more puzzles- and only had to pay 25 cent each for them! I love a good deal. my husband has already started the lighthouse puzzle. It is a bit more challenging- but hey puzzles are fun to put together - so it is ok if it is challenging.

Today I went to another favorite thrift store- and I was happy to find a few things that I was wanting to have for this summer. I had wanted some ABC cookie cutters- for cookies and playing with play dough. I found a bag of ABC's and 123's - the only thing that was missing is the V and X. And that is alright - when you only have to pay $2.00 for something that you figured you have to pay a whole lot more for - the you are totally ok without having all the pieces - especially letters like those. Her name does not use either of these letters - so it is fine. I also found some shape cookie cutters! My son will have his daughter for the month of July so I am trying to plan fun activities for her- and finding these things will make the time much more fun for both of us and more educational as well. I will have to stop by my favorite thrift shops ever so often over the next month to see what I can find to my collection of fun things for her to do. And more of what I am finding I am putting up till July. 
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It has been a very warm week with our highs in the 90's. And it looks it will continue to be weather like that for the next week. I am sure praying for a mild summer- but with our temps already being in the 90's already - has me a bit worried.

Ok - I have some things I need to get busy on- so I better get off of here. Hope you all are doing fine. :O)

Validated or Invalidated?

This past week-end I was reminded how important it is to validate peoples feelings. We may not agree with what they are feelings or their feelings might be uncomfortable for us, but it is still a good idea to respect them by validating their feelings.

There were two different experiences that reminded me of the importance of validating feelings. The first experience - was when I was asked how I was doing - and I guess the tone of my fine - was not what the other person wanted to hear. So I was asked about it. And I shared a painful experience with this person. And what I got next was not what I expected. I had expected just understanding, but that is not what I got. I got a bit of a scolding. The situation really bothered me and it took me a while to figure out that what had really bothered me was that my feelings were not validated.

The next time that I was faced with not validating some one's feelings - I was actually at fault. My husband has said something and it was how he said it with the tone of voice and all that made me feel uncomfortable. He was sharing his disappoint about something - and because I have a personality of thinking I need to fix things- really felt a lot of pressure because there was nothing I could do. So I had felt defensive and what I ended up saying - was not helpful at all- and it certainly did not validate his feelings at all. It took me a bit to figure out what I was doing. And once I did- I apologized. This was not the first time that I have done this - and it probably won't be the last- but the good news is that I am figuring out what I am doing quicker each time, which enables me to apologize and then be more open to listening to his feelings.

I have to say one more thing about the first experience- I know that this friend meant to be of encouragement - but it did not encourage me. In fact- I had recovered from the original experience but after talking to her- I was upset again. And it took me some time to gather my composer again.

Other people's feelings are important - even if we don't always agree with them. Sometimes people just need to share their feelings in order to let it go and move on. I hope I can do better to validate other people's feelings. And I also hope that I can quicker come to the conclusion when I feel invalidated because then I can move through those unpleasant emotions quicker. Just knowing why I feel the way I do, often times helps me process the emotions and let it go sooner.

Anyway I hope that this lesson that I have been reminded of again - will help someone else. :O)

This and That - and Yes - Really That!

Just thought I would take a little bit of time today to share a few things with you all. Kind of a this and that kind of post.

 

First up - well last week I had shared last week that my eye brows were coming in. Well they are still quite light because they are little tiny hairs. And the last few days I have just been going without my eye brow pencil. The reason I have been not using my eye brow pencil is it is very challenging for me to use it now that I have a lot more area that is darker so it is harder for me to use the pencil and make the brow the way I want to make them look. Well when using my hats - it works just fine to go without my eye brow pencil. But Sabbath morning - as I was getting ready for church- I had a surprise. Once I put my wig on- I was shocked at how very light, non existent that my eye brows looked. Well my husband and granddaughter were ready to go and I felt pressured. Using my eye brow pencil has always been challenging for me - I have only been using one for the past month and it has been hard for me to make my eye brows match. Anyway so I was feeling pressured but it looked awful to have my make up on and my dark wig - and then my eye brows look so light. So it was a stressful time. My husband was very helpful and had SweetPea help him with something to give me a little extra time. Anyway I was able to get it done.

 

I have decided to share a photo with you all - of me without my wig or hat.

I finally got a decent photo - and you can at least see that I have a tiny bit of hair. It has gotten darker - thankfully - it's easier to see then the peach fuzz it was to begin with.

 

Feel privileged that I shared this photo- I do not go around without something covering my head and hardly anyone that is not family have seen my bald head. But I just felt that since I got a decent photo of it - where I don't look as horrible as most of the photos that I have tried to take have turned out. So you are lucky to get to see this photo. Hey- it is part of my "adventure" and a part of my reality. So it is just something I feel like I need to do- like a freeing experience maybe. I don't really know- but I have felt like I am suppose to share it. There are others that may have to go through this - and I want to be a good example to others to show that what ever God allows to come your way - He will give you the strength and courage to get through it. I would have never thought that I could have gone through the last 6 months but I have made it- and I still face months till my hair is at a length that I would really like to have it at- but God will continue to give me the strength and courage to face each and every day.

 

Oh - and guess what- I continue to lose my eye lashes. My right eye has virtually none- well I can't see anything - maybe a hair or two but I have to REALLY look to find them - my left eye has a few more. But the truth is that I don't have enough eye lashes to even waste time putting mascara on. Just think of all the time I will save.....no.....seriously - it takes a whole lot more time to try to put mascara on when you hardly have any lashes. So today I am not even using mascara - and it will be a while before I use it again. At least I have learned how to use my eye liner on both top and bottom area of my eye lashes to make me look better. I just have been surprised. I had read how people had said that there eye lashes were the last to go - I just had no idea that 3 weeks after chemo was totally behind me - that I would have continued to lose eye lashes and have to start from scratch. I guess since the new stuff will be coming in soon - that the old stuff is coming out to make room for the new stuff. Have lost more of my eye brows but at least there is a shadow where the new growth is.

 

It has gotten warm around here- it will be in the 90's all week long. So I am having to try to get my outside jobs done in the mornings- before it gets too warm.

 

I am going to spend some time this afternoon - looking through the vhs movies that we have - and make a list of them. And also of the kids books that we have. So I can use those lists to plan what I am going to do with SweetPea this summer. I am thinking of doing themes each week and trying to incorporate books and movies in with what we are doing to reinforce what we are learning. I am also working on getting projects ready.

 

Well I better close- I have a list of things I want to get done tonight.

I hope this finds you all doing well. :O)