The magnificent taste of the goodness of the Lord

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully loved by HIM, Thursday!  A couple of days ago, during my scripture time, I came across a verse from Psalm 34 that I just couldn’t get out of my mind.  Verse 8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”  I was all about the “blessed is the man” part, but the  “taste and see”  I know the LORD is good, but the “taste” part has me pondering ever sense I read it.  Now I have read that verse who knows how many times in my life, it’s highlighted in all of my bibles, but for some reason tasting the Lord just got me wondering…..how do we taste the Lord, besides in Holy Communion…..well, like I said for the past several days “taste the Lord” has been rolling around in my head….until last night, finally came all together for me….Kim had a call from a neighbor with a joining property;  he was calling to let Kim know we had sheep on his place.  Oh boy, we were relaxing on the porch at the time, I really didn’t relish the idea of loading into the truck and roaming pastures to get them back home.  However, that’s what we did…..the windows were down in the truck, and it was so nice I didn’t roll mine up….gosh, I thought, the air is so fresh, no wind either, as we headed up to where the sheep are we first passed the cows grazing on the most luscious green pasture!  I had not been out in a week and I couldn’t believe how much greener everything was and the calves are getting so big; the black cows look so magnificent against the luscious green….then we hit the sheep; lots of them were home where they were supposed to be, quite happy to see Kim in the feed truck, little did they know they were not getting fed again….we headed out into the pasture to find the roamers, look at the trees they are really starting to leaf out, oh gosh are those wildflowers blooming…yes, wow, beautiful!  We got the sheep in, found the hole in the fence, visited with the neighbor and headed out.  I couldn’t help but point out the fantastic sky….grey and white clouds mixed in joy with the rays of the setting sun illuminating them….magnificent….the ponds are so full, oh look at that flock of ducks flying overhead in a perfect V formation….What a wonderful evening….I felt so much more relaxed and at peace as we pulled back into the yard…Kim grilled us a steak and I fixed some veggies,  my first bite of steak “tasted so good”……hmm, I paused and said a thank you prayer….not for the taste of my steak, but for the magnificent taste of the goodness of the Lord, through the magnificence of HIS creation!  Oh Father, thank you for the beauty all around us, the miracles of YOU!  Help us to use all of our senses to “taste” Your goodness, and be filled with Your eternal love….to rest in Your peace.

 

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.  Fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.  Psalm 34:8-9.  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.  1 Peter 2:2-3.  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Psalm 119:103.  Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.  1 Timothy 4:4.  The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.  Psalm 29:11.  Amen!  Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever.  Amen!  Revelation 7:12.

Love you all!

This IS the day the Lord hath made, rejoice and be glad in it!

Good Morning Friends!  Fabulous Friday, loved by HIM!  Gosh, after two nights of very restless sleep, I finally had a good sleep last night.  As I sat in my cozy recliner, snuggled in my blanket made by my granddaughters, bible in hand, I had to say a thank you prayer for feeling so awake and refreshed!  One of my readings was Psalm 96, the words fit my mood, filling me with such joy and praise as I read, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.  Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.  For GREAT is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are in His sanctuary .” (1-6).  My mood just got better and better, we had a simple but yummy breakfast, no bickering and I got out of the house early, so I could go to the bank before work!  I was feeling quite happy, positive, praising our Father with each step to the car, and singing “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow” as I buckled my seat belt!  Oh yes a fabulous day indeed…..and then…Well, let’s say my perfect little day got a bit bumpy.  Kim was calling, for goodness sakes, I wasn’t even out of the driveway yet, what could he want.  “Do you have time to….?????”  My mind went ballistic…and I am sure my tone matched….My perfect day was all set, leave early, go by bank before work and have all lunch hour to work out….yep perfect.  Until, “do you have time?”  Kim wanted me to wait while he printed off a bid that just came via email; the bid along with others, needed to go to Commissioners office…Oh no, that meant I had to go at lunch, giving up exercise time….Ugh!  I felt my mood rapidly deteriorating, but I said yes, but hurry.  In a minute he called and told me to go on because he couldn’t find the other bids….I said ok and once again began to pull out of drive, at that point he had discovered the bag of chicken scraps sent home with me last night by a good friend…they had defrosted all over the bbq where I had left them when I got home last night.  Usually I give them to the chickens right away, but we were going to dinner with Cooper and Katy so there wasn’t time. I meant to do it when we got home, but of course….completely forgot.  Well, he was irritated by the mess, so I stopped the car, unbuckled, ran to the porch and grabbed the yucky, wet, sloppy bag, and headed to the coop.  Kim’s irritation serenading me all the way.  OK, bag emptied, hands rinsed, back in car, buckled and headed down the road, quite irritated myself….The phone rings again, Kim…I figured he was calling to apologize, nope….he found the bids and wanted me to come back and get them!!!!  I could not believe my ears!!!!  I flipped a Ueeee, and headed back to the house…..making no effort to disguise my disgust,  I grabbed the papers from his hand and headed out again!  My positive mood from earlier gone!  Thing is, the words from Psalm 96 kept resounding in my mind….. "Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength..  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name.”  Oh dear, was I giving God glory with my attitude…wow, look at the blossoms on those trees, they are about to bud, my goodness what a huge flock of turkeys, amazing, that pond is sure full…spring is really going to be beautiful….Oh my… "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for He comes, He comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His truth.”  The words of the Psalm were all I needed to bring me back….to fill me again with joy….joy in being HIS child, blessed with the beauty of HIS creation and love of family and friends day in and day out.  “This IS the day the LORD has made!”  I am rejoicing in it!!!!  Forgive me Father, for letting the little things in my life get in the way of YOUR GLORY!!!  All GLORY and HONOR to YOU!

 

Have a great weekend…no matter what!

Love you all!

Using the gifts God gave us

Good Morning Friends!!  Forever His, Friday!  I found a cool, fun, yet learning project for my Sunday school kids for Lent.  They are making posters depicting the events of Holy Week.  To get us going we read the events starting with Palm Sunday through Christ’s resurrection from the Gospels; then we went over each major event and talked about how they could make posters for them.  I let them pick the event they wanted and told them to be as creative as they wanted to be.  Thanks to lots of generous crafters and friends that donate cool stuff, we had more than enough things to cut and glue and paint and color…..from popsicle sticks to colorful feathers, live palm leaves, and  real pokey thorns for His crown!  They were so excited as they started gathering things, the teachers and I kept very busy finding their requests and making some little suggestions, but I was very adamant that I wanted the posters to be the kids….however they turned out….the kids were doing their best!  Sometimes it is very hard for us to let the kids do their own thing, seems like we often think we know how to do things better than the actual doer!  So, as hard as it was for us adults I insisted all the way that the kids could do it their way….with the skills that they have.  Each child has different creative abilities, so the posters are all very different, some quite intricate others simple….but each one perfect because each child did their very best with the skills that our Father gave them….I even let them pick the place in the church they wanted to hang their posters….they decided on the big hallway between the fellowship hall and our classrooms….perfect…Now the plain white walls are adorned with  HOLY WEEK…..the children are proud of their accomplishments….I am proud of them….As we hung our last poster I thought, sure hope the congregation likes them…..doesn’t judge them….but appreciates that the children did their best to God’s glory.  As I have pondered our posters this week, I know that God wants each of us to always do our very best…..using the skills that we have from HIM.  We are all different, so we don’t do things the same way, that’s ok… "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve other, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.  If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”  1 Peter 4:10-11.  “Each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, anther has that.” 1 Corinthians 7:7.  Point is, use it….God gives to us, and desires that we use our gifts to His glory and….”Encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians.  So,….”Serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  If you seek Him, He will be found by you.”  1 Chronicles 28:9.  Father help us to, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever!”

  2 Peter 3:18.

Have a great weekend!  Love you all!

The 'Perfect Mentor'

Good Morning Friends!  Wise and Wonderful Wednesday!  My husband has been doing a small construction job with a young man in our neighborhood.  They work together quite often and David loves to tease Kim about teaching him (Kim has a life of working experience and he likes to share).  Kim said the other day as they got started, David said, “Well are you going to teach me anything today?”  Kim laughed, but went on to share some stories about the “job” things he tries to help David learn to make the job easier and more efficient.  I chuckled to myself, Kim is mentoring David. He shared how he told David to take care of his tape measure.  They were finishing up for the day and it had been kind of a damp day so Kim told David that when he got home, he needed to pull the tape measure all the way out wiping it with a try cloth and then spray it with WD-40.  David looked at him kind of funny, so Kim continued, “keeps it from rusting and locking up.”  David just shook his head, “I had to throw away 2 good tapes because they were rusted shut!”  Kim just laughed and told him “I’m just trying to help you and make things easier.”  As I listened to Kim telling me about his time with David, how he was mentoring him, helping to get the job done easier, with less problems, it hit me…..Oh my….”Yes Father, we have the ‘Perfect Mentor’…..YOU!  Like David on the job we can make things so much harder than they need to be!  If we would simply pay attention to what You tell us in Your word our job of life could be so much less stressful, we could avoid so many troubling “issues” if we would, “Cast all your anxiety on God because He cares for you.” I Peter: 5:7.  We want to just barrel in without thinking…not trusting that God has us covered if we trust in HIM….blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in HIM.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat (or sickness, or financial problems, or work) comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  Jeremiah 17:7-8.  No worries….wouldn’t that be great…I know since we are the weak humans we are, that we will always tend to worry some, but really friends we don’t need to let our lives be consumed with worry!  Our Father, if we go to HIM, and really, really trust in HIM, we can really, really let go of the yucky stuff and let HIM guide us!  I promise, I wouldn’t steer you wrong on this, I know it’s not easy, but gosh when we do it….

"The Lord gives strength to His people (that’s us….you and me); the Lord blesses blesses HIS people with peace.  Psalm 29:11.  “Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you.  Job 22:21.  Really!!!  I wouldn’t steer you wrong on this….nope steering you right into HIS loving arms and PERFECT PEACE!  “May the God of Peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  2 Thessalonians 3:16. 

Love you all!

 

Our forever Valentine

Good Morning!    Last week, a day or two before Valentine’s Day, we got a Valentine in the mail from Cooper and Katy.  Of course, we love that!!!  I picked up the phone and called them to say thank you….after visiting with Mommy for a minute she gave the phone to Katy.  Katy was so happy to talk to me, I thanked her for the card and told her I had a Valentine surprise for her too!  She was all excited, we visited a little longer when I heard Mommy tell her to let Cooper talk too.   “Cooper, want to talk to Nana?”   she hollered at him.  I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard him holler back, “NO.”  Well for heaven’s sake I thought, little stinker.  I told Katy, “you tell Cooper he isn’t going to get his Valentine surprise if he doesn’t talk to me.”  Katy was most happy to deliver that message with the silly delight of a little sister whose  big brother was about to get in trouble!  Immediately, a little voice came on the phone and said, “Hi Nana.”  “Hi Cooper, how’s my boy?”  “Good, nana do you have a Valentine surprise for me?”  “I sure do Cooper, thank you for our Valentine, I love you.”  “ Your welcome, I love you too, Nana, bye.”  The conversation was short and sweet, but as I was relaying the details of how I had to threaten our little stinker to get him to talk to me, I suddenly felt sad…..Gosh, sure glad our Father doesn’t ever threaten us to get us to come to HIM….He waits lovingly, patiently yearning for us to come to HIM, sit with HIM…..unburden our troubled hearts, confess our sins, receive comfort and the most wonderful LOVE surprise, everyday not just once a year!  Father, oh I thank and praise YOU for loving us so abundantly….freely, always without a threat….just the promise of life everlasting with YOU!!  How good YOU are how Blessed are we!  I love you Father, all glory to YOU!

 

You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding love and faithfulness.  Psalm 86:15.  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trust in Him and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.  Psalm 28:7  The Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for Him!  Isaiah 30:18.  Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you.  Job 22:21.  The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; d not be discouraged.  Deuteronomy 31:8.  Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.  Luke:12:32. 

Love you all!

April 15, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty Awesome is our God, Monday!  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Whether we feel like it or not……!!!!  Gosh seems like we are in one of those spells, when you think nothing else could go wrong and then….it does!  Sitting here feeling sorry for myself, my thoughts turned to David….and his words in Psalm 40.  I am not sure what had happened that led David to write what he did, but I get the feeling he was in a spell like we are, but he starts out…”I waited patiently for the Lord;” gosh it’s hard to do that sometimes isn’t it….he continues, “He turned to me and heard my cry.”  Can you hear me Lord?!!  I’m crying, like a big baby…..hear me?!  “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”  Ah…..a solid place would be nice….Lord, give me courage to step out in faith and feel You, solidly beneath me…hold onto me as I get through the mud….David goes on to say, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”  Hmmm, a new song….that’s what I need…..how about the laughing song….Do you know that one?  “ho, ho, ho hosanna, ha, ha halleluiah, He, He He saved me, I have the joy of the LORD!”  A joyful song because I know that He hears me, loves me and cares…..I can rejoice with David because, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust….”  I do trust You Father……Thank you for lifting me out of the mud…….forgive my weakness. 

The email below was sent to me by a sweet friend, I thought it was really worthy of a share….God bless you all.  Love you

The Holy Alphabet- Although things are not perfect Because of trial or pain Continue in thanksgiving Do not begin to blame Even when the times are hard Fierce winds are bound to blow God is forever able Hold on to what you know Imagine life without His love Joy would cease to be Keep thanking Him for all the things Love imparts to thee Move out of "Camp Complaining" No weapon that is known On earth can yield the power Praise can do alone Quit looking at the future Redeem the time at hand Start every day with worship To "thank" is a command Until we see Him coming Victorious in the sky We'll run the race with gratitude X alting God most high Y e s, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but... Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad! "I AM Too blessed to be stressed!" The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything. Love and peace be with you forever, Amen.