The colors of creation!

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully His, Thursday!  I needed to be to work a little early today, so I took special care to stay ahead of schedule.  Because I was earlier than usual it was not as light…funny how just a few minutes can make everything look so different.  The sky was amazing…..varied shades of pink and purple clouds looked like they had been colored by my sweet angel in heaven!  I smiled thinking about Hayden sitting on our Father’s lap coloring the sky….no limits when you are coloring in heaven and the colors…breath taking!  The colors were breath taking,  up in the sky, as well as on the ground!  Have you ever thought of how many different shades of brown there are?  Brown you’re thinking, dull, drab brown….oh take another look……and then imagine Hayden on our Father’s lap with tons of crayons…..greens, blues, pinks, reds, oranges…..Soon He will painting our world with the colors of spring and the drab browns will be a mere memory!  There are times in our lives that seem drab….but those times help us to appreciate the spring times in our lives; He wants us to be at peace and content in every season….and we can if we are with HIM, when we let go of the drab worries, stresses, burdens in our lives, we are going with HIM.  Oh we might not be sitting on HIS lap like Hayden, but HE is holding us up, guiding us, comforting and protecting us….coloring our world with HIS love, contentment and peace beyond all human understanding!  Father, thank you for coloring our world with Your Love, whether it’s drab brown or perky purple!  Help us to see You in all the colors of creation!

 

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider:  God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.  Ecclesiastes 7:14.  Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:33.  Seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer.  1 Peter 3:11-12.  I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have earned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  Philippians 4:11-12.  The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7.

Love you all!

Help me trust and believe

Good Morning Friends!  My oh my, what an Awesome God is our Maker, Monday!  Yesterday, Papa and I had Cooper and Katy all day!  Good times!  After church and a lunch of hotdogs, we all settled down for a cozy nap in the living room!  Papa put on an old western, Cooper’s favorite and we each snuggled into our little space and had a little nap!  Oh I do love those Sunday afternoon naps.  After naps we had the serious job of feeding all the cows and according to Katy, Papa really needs their help!!!  So we all loaded into the old feed truck, including the dog and headed out!  The wind was bad, but the sun was warm so it was a wonderful outing, in and out of the pastures dumping feed!  Thank goodness,  Cooper is really getting good at opening the gates gives the old Nana a break!   Job complete, we headed back to the house.  Cooper, Katy and I had our usual chores, chickens, bunnies, donkeys to feed as well as filling the wood box, silly kids love to fill the wood box!  Papa headed out to move some animals.  They grabbed their donkey feed cans and headed to the feed room, I opened the door and then the feed bin….Katy was in front so she reached in to fill her can…..she gasped, “Nana, look!”  I looked into the bin surprised to see several red wasps, feasting…..then it happened, Cooper began screaming, “And it just got me, it just got me!”  He was crying and jumping up and down in pain, I thought it was under his shirt so I was trying to get his shirt off, “No, Nana my hand, he got my hand!”  Bless his heart, sure enough already his little hand was red and his finger swelling.  I put my arms around him to console and head him to the house where I could treat it.  “Come on Cooper, come with Nana, I will fix it for you, let’s get to the house……”  He ran to the house, crying and shaking his hand, I headed him to the kitchen counter and began making my magic potent for stings.  I explained what I was doing, promising the mix would help his hand to feel better.  The tears continued, but he stood still and watched as I mixed the baking soda and vinegar…once I had it mixed I took his hand and began bathing it in the stinky mix….he didn’t flinch or fight me…..Cooper knew that I would take care of him….no matter how silly the method seemed to him, he knew that he could trust his Nana to take care of his problem…..No questions asked, no arguing or pulling away….he simply trusted and believed.  In no time at all he was smiling again and ready to go back outside…..as I cleaned up the mess, thankful that I could help him, my heart took a leap….That child totally trusted me to take care of him, no questions asked….why oh why can I not trust and believe in my Father like that……Oh Father, forgive me for all the times I pull away from You, question You, struggling against Your will….strengthen my faith Father, so that I trust and believe in Your will for me…..completely.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5.  The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in Him.  Nahum 1:7.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  Isaiah 43:2.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.  Isaiah 26:4.  Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.  Psalm 55:22. 

Love you all!

Everlasting SONshine!

Good Morning Friends!  Wondrously wrapped in HIS loving arms Wednesday!   This winter and it’s drabness has, seems to me, been the gloomiest one I remember for a long time too….the sun is having a terrible time coming out to shine on us….must say I was really happy to see it for a little while yesterday, but today, cloudy again.  I have gained empathy for people (my grandkids) that live in places like Alaska and Sweden (Ryan) where there is relatively no sunlight for several month and understand why depression, alcoholism, and suicide are so high there.  We need the sun to thrive….oh yes we crave that natural vitamin D…so at times like this winter it’s natural to feel down at times.  Every day someone, including me, whines about the lack of sun….I just love all the fun flavors of body wash these days!  I don’t usually pay much attention to the name just the ingredients, but for some reason this morning as I climbed into the shower my eyes went right to my recently purchased bottle of body wash…..Everlasting Sunshine….that’s the name of my body wash…..Everlasting Sunshine…..I knew that our Father had a lesson for me…..and it didn’t take me long to get it…..We have Everlasting SONshine every day of our lives…..God’s SON, our Jesus, shines HIS Everlasting love and forgiveness on us day in and day out……Life may seem gloomy, clouds of worry, pain, heartache hanging over us, but don’t fret needlessly….We are glowing in Everlasting SONshine!  We need the SON to thrive in faith hope and love….everlasting!  Thank you Father, for the light of Your SON no matter how gloomy things seem around us…..help us put our hope in His glow and thrive!  And Father thank you for the sunshine that is headed our way!

 

Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?”  Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.  You have fill my heart with greater joy than when their grain and wine abound.  I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  Psalm 4:6-8.  Why are you downcast, O  my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 4:11.  You are my lamp, O Lord:  the Lord turns my darkness into light.  With Your help I can advance against a troop; with  my god I can scale a wall.  2 Samuel 2:29-30.  For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.  Psalm 84:11-12.

Love you all.

Small miracles around us

Good Morning Friends!  Totally trusting in HIS love Tuesday!  My goodness, hasn’t our environment turned to winter drab in a hurry?  Seems like just a week or so ago there was still green grass in the pastures and leaves on the trees and now….the pastures and lawns are brown, the trees empty just brown branches sticking up in the air….drab.  My commute to work…well when you look around and only see dead grass and empty trees it can get a little, well you know it’s just not the same as spring.  Bleak…..like our lives without our Savior, bleak and dead from sin……But hold on…..look out the window by the chicken coop…..bright red, magnificent cardinals….one, two, three, four….gosh five beautiful, red cardinals on my fence.  Gosh I just love the bright red birds of winter…..they overtake the bleak…..As I stood at the window my heart filled with gratitude….The red birds…..red like blood….the red birds take the bleak out of winter…..Jesus blood gives us life….The cardinals are a small miracle from our Father, a dash of color in an otherwise drab environment…..Jesus’ death and resurrection is the miracle of miracles….life everlasting for us if we simply accept HIS mercy and grace.  Oh Father….my goodness, forgive my whining and help me see Your small miracles all around me, You are an awesome God.  And Father, more than anything, thank you for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son…..the red of HIS blood makes us white as snow. 

 

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.  We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.  We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:1-11.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  2 Corinthians 9:15. 

Love you all!

I can do it myself!

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in HIS loving arms, Wednesday!  Well, how about this cold….I feel sorry for people that have to work outside like my husband and his buddy Cooper, who has been spending his days with Papa while school is out.  On Monday when it was sooo very cold Papa and Cooper had to head out the same time I did.  Well Cooper had come prepared, hat, ear muffs, gloves, long johns and the final touch, his insulated, camo coveralls!  The boy was determined to stay warm.  I was gathering up my things to head out and couldn’t help but stop and watch Cooper working so hard to get his coveralls on.  He really seemed to be struggling, so I asked him if he needed Nana to help him.  Quite adamantly he said, “No, Nana, I can do it myself!”   I said, “OK Coop” and headed out the door, chuckling.  Little stinker I thought doesn’t think he needs any help…..Oh boy……I could feel HIM next to me…..I paused.  “Kathie, My child, you are laughing at Cooper because he thinks he doesn’t need any help, when you know that if he just let you help him, the task would be so much easier…..Kathie, you are making me laugh because you are so much like Cooper at times.  So often you struggle so needlessly….worry and stress take a toll on you….when if you would just let ME help….You know that’s what I’m here for to help….carry your burdens, ease your stress, heal your pain, watch over your kiddos and friends, wrap My arms around you, comfort and protect you…..if you would just let go and LET ME….I love you.  No matter how big or small the issue is, precious child….I can handle it!  Call on ME!  Thank you Father, oh my goodness…..forgive me for trying to go it alone…..help me to simply trust and believe in YOU!

With all your heart you must trust the Lord and not your own judgment.  Always let Him lead you, and He will clear the road for you to follow.  Proverbs 3:5-6.  Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for HIM.  Psalm 37:7.The Lord is good, giving protection in times of trouble.  He knows who trusts in Him.  Nahum  1:7.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalm 91:2.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18. 

Love you all!

Christmas is never over!

Good Morning Friends!!!!  Marvelous is HIS love, Monday!   Merry Christmas!!!!  No, I have not gone completely nuts….but I have spent a lot of time taking down Christmas decorations the last few days….Yep, I begrudgingly hauled the storage containers into the house thinking Christmas is over….time to get this stuff down and packed up for another year!  I figured the task would not take too long….take it down, put it in container and go one to the next thing right…..Well, about the third little ornament I held in my hands I realized the job was not quite as simple as I had first thought….Each decoration had its own story….memory….some were made by our children or grandchildren, some given to me by precious friends, some I picked out myself….each one telling its own story…..suddenly I didn’t want to take them down and pack them away….I wanted to keep them out where I could see them and remember their stories……but I thought that’s silly, Christmas is over!  At that moment, I could hear our Father, I could feel HIM close to me…..I could feel baby Jesus in my heart….alive and well…..CHRISTmas is never over!!!!  We may just officially celebrate once a year, but our hearts and lives must celebrate every day!!!!  Oh gosh, let’s not ever pack Jesus away…..let’s love HIM, serve Him, worship and praise HIM every day….in every way we can….Let’s keep Christmas on going all year long….. "On the 364 day of Christmas my JESUS gave to me….love and forgiveness…..every day of CHRISTmas HE loves and forgives us and that’s not an easy task…so let’s not pack HIM away…never ever!  Father, thank you for the gift of YOUR SON our SAVIOR, help us to live our lives every day with the true CHIRSTmas Spirit…..Joy to the World, The Lord has Come and is staying!

 

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as bride adorns herself with her jewels.  Isaiah 61:10.  Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.  Psalm 100:1-2.  And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  Luke 2:7, “  She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  ”…….There was no room in the inn, but oh yes….there must always be room in our hearts for HIM!

Love you all!