Don't miss out on God's FUN blessings

Good Morning Friends!  Find HIS fun blessings, Friday!   Most of you know that I have 3 miniature donkeys, Cloe, Eyore, and baby Sky.  Their main home is a small pasture adjoining the front yard butting up to the chicken coop.  I like having them where I can see them from the kitchen window and be able to give them treats when I go outside.  A couple of weeks ago, we moved Eyore over to the fenced yard in the front of the house.  You can’t get the lawnmower in it, so we periodically put Eyore in there to mow, plus it gives the girls a break.  Well, the whole time he has been there, around 5:30 am, he lets out an ear piercing hee haw, keep in mind, he is right outside the living room.  Things are very quiet in the house at that time, as I am chatting with our FATHER and Kim is snoozing in his chair, so when the hee haw sounds, you can’t help but notice…and honestly usually I am a bit annoyed…..This morning however, when he started in with his serenade, I smiled, just couldn’t help myself, one of those oh gosh what a stinker, but sure glad you're mine, kind of smiles….Know what I mean, and I chuckled thinking of him out there by himself, wishing he was over with the girls eating hay…gosh darn silly donkeys, I just love them!  This weekend Kim and I are going to move all three of them to a pasture a ways back from the house.  I won’t be able to see them unless I take the time to walk out there, and the morning serenade will be no more…..I always hate it when we move them, but it’s necessary so that their pen can rejuvenate and grow some nice grass for the summer.  This morning as I sat in the quiet darkness, still smiling from our hee haw serenade, I said a thank you prayer to our Father for the fun blessing of Cloe, Eyore and baby Sky…..no matter how annoying at the time, I will miss my morning serenade, but look forward to the green grass growing so the little family can return to their home.  God blesses us with so many “fun blessings” but we must slow down to see them, hear them, even smell them…stepping outside right after the lawn has been mowed, geese flying overhead in perfect V- formation, babies laughing at my silly faces, stopping to look at a turtle crossing the road, fresh from the garden veggies shared by friends, counting how many green eggs with Katy, shopping at the $Tree for treats to send to Tanleigh & Tucker (affordable treats), hearing Tanleigh say “Nana”……fun blessings…in the hectic, stressful, hurry of life….take time to enjoy the fun blessings, the little things that God sends our way to brighten our day….and then share!  Thank you Father for the fun little blessings all around us.  Open our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to savor them, slow us down so we don’t miss out, bless us with attitudes of gratitude and joyful hearts singing praises to YOU.

 

Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.  1 Timothy 4:4.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (s)!  2 Corinthians 9:15.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:19-20.  Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.   Psalm 111:2.  Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:7.  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24.

Love you all.

Our Magnificent Creator

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in His loving arms, Wednesday!  Last Saturday, after a long afternoon of yucky paperwork, Mr. Johnson decided we needed to take a ride.  I agreed, grabbed a bottle of water, loaded Axel, and off we went in his cute little Suzuki Samurai that he converted into a feed truck.  We headed east and then north, back east one dirt road after another, some were pretty bumpy, others smooth, but lots of dust as we were in need of a rain.  Kim knew the area we ended up in because he had fought fires there, but it was new to me….we only saw one vehicle the whole time, just us and God’s creation….nice, the sun was shining, it was warm….just right.  As we tootled down one, new to me, road my attention was drawn to the size of the trees in a big open pasture….huge oak trees, tall, reaching up toward the sky….I knew they were very old because they were so very big around….Kim was driving real slow, so I had time to ponder their magnificence.  standing tall, strong, surviving for so many, many years….resilient….my heart leaped as I thought of if only they could talk…the stories they could tell….but there in the pasture, reaching to the heavens, I knew they were praising our Father, Creator of all….I smiled and thanked HIM for the wonder of trees and a husband that wanted to take a ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Father, our Magnificent Creator of the heavens and the earth, thank you for each and every piece of creation, given to us.  And Father, we thank you for the precious rain You sent from heaven yesterday to water the trees, pastures, settling the dust and blessing us with clear blue skies.  All Glory, Honor, and Praise to You!

 

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation;  seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.  And it was so.  The land produced…and God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1:11-12.  You alone are the Lord.  You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.  You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  Nehemiah 9:6.  For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.  1 Timothy 4:4.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the God gods.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the Lord of lords:  His love endures forever. To Him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever, who by His understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever, who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.  Who made the great lights—His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.  Psalm 136:1-9.  By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding He set the heavens in place; His knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.  Proverbs 3:19-20.

Love you all!

Growing towards the Light

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty and Marvelous is our God, Monday!  A couple of weeks after Christmas we put all the decorations away at church.  Someone had donated quite a few poinsettia plants, but didn’t want to take them home, so they were up for grabs.  I had wanted one for my office at work, but Kim and I were going to be out of town for the whole week, so I didn’t think I should take one.  One friend was pretty persistent that I take one, so I finally told her why I was so hesitant.  She said so what, just take it home, water it, and it will be fine; take it to work when you get back.  So I did….now February 8, it is still beautiful!  It’s beauty is amazing, but what I have really noticed about it is that it grows to the light.  I have it on a coffee table in our lobby, we have big double glass doors, so there’s lots of natural light.  When I put the flowering plant on the table it was straight….but in a week or so, it seemed like it was leaning towards the glass doors….the light.  I didn’t say anything, but just kept watching it pointing to the light. I kind of wondered if it was just me imagining, until a co-worker said to me, “Looks to me like the poinsettia is growing towards the light.”  Wow, I wasn’t imaging it, the beautiful flower is growing towards the light!  We made the joint decision to turn it around and see what happens.  I turned it, so that it was leaning towards me, rather than the light of the doors….It’s been less than a week….the flowering plant is now upright again, with just the slightest lean towards the light….I would say in just a day or two it will once again been leaning….towards the light.  WOW!!  All week I have pondered this plant…smart plant!  As I sit at my desk, admiring yet another beauty of God’s creation, I cannot help but think that I need to take a lesson from it….I too need to grow towards the LIGHT.  The LIGHT of the world….Jesus our loving Savior….our LIGHT and our LIFE…..He tells us in John 8…..”I am the LIGHT of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a good way to go!  Father, help us to grow to the LIGHT of the WORLD Your SON our SAVIOR.  Nourish us with light of Your word, so that we grow strong, ever faithful.

 

The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?  Psalm 27:1.  “Arise shine, for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.  See, darkness cover the earth and thick darkness is of the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.  Isaiah 60:1.  Your word is a LIGHT to my feet and Light for my path.  Psalm 119:105.  This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you:  God is LIGHT; in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is the LIGHT, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin.  1 John 5: 5-7.  “…God is LOVE.”  1 John 4:8.

Love you all!

 

Memories of a duckling and a chicken hawk

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in HIS loving arms Wednesday!  No friends, I am not crazy, started this yesterday and then found my services were otherwise required!!!!!  Hence……let’s add…..Thankfully loved by HIM, Thursday!  I was talking to my son, Shawn, the other day, telling him how cute our bunnies are.  “Oh yea,” he said, “there’s nothing cuter than baby bunnies and baby ducks. Do you remember when……?”  I knew immediately which memory he was about to share……Many years ago when the kids were young and we lived in California we decided we needed some ducks!  The boys, especially, loved animals and we always thought it was good for them to have the responsibility of caring for them.  Once we decided on ducks, we headed to the feed store; after careful examination of every duck, we finally agreed on the perfect  mommy and daddy ducks!  We fixed them a little shelter and filled a little wading pool for their swimming pleasure!  Oh so  proud of our ducks and beyond excited when we had ducklings, the whole family couldn’t wait for them to be covered in yellow baby- feathers and join mommy and daddy in the pool!  The boys were quite proud of their beautiful ducklings and mommy and daddy took good care of them…..Then one day, after school, Shawn and I went out to check on our family of ducks, fill the pool, check their feed…..we were happy as we walked out to the pasture, anticipating our family having fun in the pool.  As we got close we could see that most of them were indeed swimming, it was a beautiful spring day…..blue skies boasting of God’s wondrous creation….Then…..out of nowhere……Shawn and I, at the say moment, caught site of a…..oh no…..surely not…..no, please don’t let that be…..no, no……please no….but in fact there was a chicken hawk circling over the family in the pool….closer and closer….Shawn and I ran screaming towards the pool, hoping our screams would scare the vulture away…..our earnest attempts failed…..we were both sick and heartbroken as we watched, totally helpless…….the skilled hawk dived towards the pool and in one quick swoop snatched a tiny, precious baby duck, covered in fluffy, yellow-baby feathers, swimming happily with his family totally unaware of lurking danger.  Gone….in one fell swoop….Shawn and I were devastated as we stood silently watching the chicken hawk carry our duckling away….Ever since our conversation, the memory of that precious duckling’s fate has lingered in my mind……causing me to think how very vulnerable I am…..strutting through life as if I had everything under control……swimming in a pool of selfishness, misplaced priorities, edging on disaster at any time….unaware of the dangers because I am too preoccupied with today……me…..mine…..So vain, thinking no chicken hawk would dare swoop down and get me……HUH!!!!  Praise God, our fate does not ever have to be the same as our little duckling’s.  Our Heavenly Father is there watching over us, at all times…..ready to fell the hawks…..There was nothing the duckling could have done to stop his fate, but we….we have every opportunity to spend time with our Father, reading His word, growing in faith, finding comfort and strength through our prayers and conversations with HIM….He does not want us to be swooped up by this world.  No siree!!!!  He wants us as HIS very own, safe and sound, through life everlasting with HIM!  Thank you Father for loving us so much, for wrapping Your loving arms around us!

 

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am they God:  I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  Isaiah 41:10.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:7.  Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart.  Psalms 119:2.  Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them:  for the Lord they God, He is it that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  Deuteronomy 31:6.

Love you all!

Kathie A. Johnson

Receptionist

Administrative Services

Division of Housing