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.

The wolf and the lamb...Isaiah 11:1-9

Good Morning Friends!  Totally His, Tuesday!   A couple years ago I was having a terrible problem with mice in the house….it was bad and I was aggravated.  People kept telling me I needed some outside cats, but much to my chagrin, my hubby hated cats and had always refused getting any!  Well, let’s say he has mellowed a bit in his old age and when a sweet friend offered to give me a few of her barn cats he said ok!  I was so excited, I brought my friend a live trap so she could catch a couple and we met on Sunday in town and I took them home.  I let them out by the old chicken coop where Kim had put food and that was the last I saw of them for a while, even though Kim saw them occasionally during the day.  Oh but I knew they were there because things got much better in the house.  A few months had past when we discovered we had kittens…..same thing didn’t really see them all the time, just occasionally, except one pretty little tiger-striped kitten….silly thing started hanging out in the chicken coop!  At first she was really skittish, running from me, but hoping I was bringing scraps…she would eat with the chickens and sleep on top of their feeder!  Really cracked me, didn’t seem to be a lot of animosity between the very different critters.  It wasn’t until last week during the bitter, bitter cold spell that a passage from Isaiah really hit me…..”and the wolf will live with the lamb….”  I walked in the coop to feed and water the rabbits and give the chickens some scratch….I couldn’t believe what I saw….There on the ground was the kitten totally surround by the hens…when I say “surrounded”  I mean totally covered, protected by their feathers….the sight was breathtaking.  The small cat, crouched on the ground, peeking out from under the hovering hens….the hens were keeping her warm….cats and chickens….natural enemies, like the wolf and the lamb……living together in peace…..more than peace….compassion….can you imagine how warm and toasty it was under all those feathers!  Oh Father, please help us learn a lesson of love and compassion from YOUR critters…..help us to live together in peace and accept everyone as they are….feathers or fur!

 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirt of counsel and power, the Spirt of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.  He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.  Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.  The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  Isaiah 11:1-9.      Let’s work to do this now! 

HIS strength is never zapped!

Good Morning Friends!!!  Wrapped in His loving arms, Wednesday!  Yesterday after I got off work, Kim had a couple chores we needed to do….first, at long last we got to move Chloe and Eyore (my miniature donkeys) from wayyyyyyyyyy back behind the house back to their regular little home in the front yard where I can see them from my kitchen window.  At a certain point they run out of grass there so we have to put them out in another pasture and I miss seeing them and giving them treats every day.  So last night was the time, I was excited, but had not considered their temperaments after a lengthy stay in a big pasture….oh my goodness, did Kim and I ever have a run (literally) for our money!!!!  But finally, they walked right into to their pen…..darn stubborn donkeys.  OK, that done we headed to a neighbor’s house to get a hay ring made specifically for horses/donkeys!  I wasn’t sure exactly what “picking up” the feeder would entail, but was sure I was up for it.  Hmm, it was huge and quite heavy I might add and I was a bit apprehensive as I listened to Kim telling me how we would lift it up and slid on the back of the truck….alrighty then….here we go.  Not without some grunting and groaning we completed the job and headed home…..to unload it in the their pen.  Oh boy, I got out and got Kim backed up to fence, helped him unstrap it and took my position to help hoist it over the fence….Oh my gosh, this is so heavy and I am so tired….the thought ran through my mind, “good grief, this is no job to attempt at the end of a long day!  First thing in the morning ok, I’m all over it, but now, 7 pm, worked all day…..not sure I can do it.”  And Kim was not much better off than me, he had worked really hard all day and was ready to be done….take off his boots and relax!  Well, it wasn’t pretty, but we did finally manage to get it unloaded; Kim headed to the house while I went to feed rabbits and lock up the chickens….Gosh I thought, “sure am glad that our Heavenly Father never gets tired….morning, noon or the middle of the night!  No siree, HE is always up for the task, whatever it is that we might need….HIS strength is never zapped, HE’S never worn out from a long day, overwhelmed by too much to do….Our FATHER is on the job, all-knowing, all-powerful, all the time!  Oh Father, me oh my, thank you for never being too tired for us.  We are so blessed.  Increase our faith and gratitude to Your glory!

 

 

For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of a the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.  Isaiah 25:4.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the stronghold of my heart and my portion forever.  Psalm 73:26.  He who fears the Lord has a strong fortress.  Proverbs 14:26. “ I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Revelation 1:8. 

Love you all!

 

Kathie A. Johnson

Off with the old, on with the new

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty Marvelous is our God, Monday! If you could see my yard and chicken coop you would think that the poor chickens had been in a major war!  There are feathers everywhere, white ones, black ones, red ones….feathers….Good thing is all the feathers my girls have lost are being replaced by brand new, beautiful feathers.  This whole process is called molting and happens, in a normal year, during the early fall.  It had been a couple of years since my girls had really gone through a good molting, so I had forgotten how bad they look during the process.  Poor things, practically naked while they shed their old feathers and wait their new ones.  Finally, the new feathers are really coming in and most of my girls are looking much better….I am so glad, bless their hearts they just looked pathetic.  Off with the old and on with new………”Father, is that you?”  “Yes, Kathie, it’s Me….I was wondering if you realize the significance of what you just said?”  “What’s that Father?  Off with the old and on with the new?  Yea, so they lose their old feathers, looking quite shabby for a while and then get beautiful new feathers….so, what’s Your point?”  “Well, my child….that’s the way it is with you, all my children, as you grow in faith, you shed your old ways, your worldly ways and replace them with My ways, My love takes over your heart, mind and body as you become My precious child, dearly loved, cherished, forgiven.  Off with the old and on with the new…..through My love and forgiveness you are as beautiful as your hens with new feathers!”  Oh Father, thank you for loving us so much that You make us new through Your love….sin makes us as ugly as these poor hens, but You Father make us beautiful in Your sight.  All honor, glory, and praise to You!

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:17-18.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  Galatians 2:20.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off our old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge in the image of its Creator.  Colossians 3:9-10.  Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Colossians 3:12.

Love you all!

Dazed and confused...

Good Morning Friends!!!!   Wonderfully and Thankfully wrapped in His loving arms Wednesday!  Well, it has been a wild and crazy week….but I am determined to spend a little time with you today!!!!  Hope you are having a most blessed week wrapped in His love!  A few days ago for some reason or another Kim and I decided to start letting the chickens out of their coop during the day.  I love to have them out in the yard eating bugs (as well as leaving little treats for us), but we had so much trouble with critters terrorizing them that for the last couple of years we have just left them in.  Several years ago, Kim fortified their coop to be critter proof (well other than snakes, they still find their way in and steal my eggs), that’s when we started leaving them in….Well, like I said for some reason or another we have been letting them out and oh boy do they like it!  They hunt and peck through every blade of grass, hay bales, leaves, tore up the insulation around the faucet and they love to go in and pester the donkeys!  Well, the other night it was getting time to lock them back in their coop, so I looked outside to see if they were about all in roosting for the night.  Yep, all but one, she was in the donkey pen obviously dazed and confused, pacing back and forth along the fence that butts up to the coop!  I watched as she went back and forth, wanting desperately to get out of there and into her house!  I kept hoping she would find her way, but after a minute or two I knew I would have to go out and catch her.    The donkeys shelter made a dead end alley way and I waited until she got in there and then grabbed her!  Bless her heart she went crazy, screeching in a tone that told the world she just knew she was going to die!  Squawking and flapping her wings I carried her over to the coop…..all the while her rooster was having a fit…..an absolute get-me-out-of-here, my lady needs me-fit!!!!  Crowing so loudly I am surprised that Kim couldn’t hear him in the house….Although he couldn’t get out of the coop, that rooster, man of the coop, was giving it his all to try and rescue one of his hens!  As soon as I put her into the coop, everyone calmed down, but I was just so touched by the roosters leap into action…..no concern for himself….his loud crowing let the world know he was on his way!  Thinking about him the last few days, I have had to wonder how often I miss opportunities to leap into action to help someone in need…I kept thinking about how loud he was; then this morning I ran into a verse in God’s word that just really hit my heart…..from Luke 6:45…..”For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”  Oh my….based on what was coming from his mouth, there could be no doubt what was flowing from his heart!  He wanted to help his hen, his fellow chicken and he let the world know….kindness, understanding, empathy, concern……that’s what came from his mouth.  I had to hang my head in shame as I thought of so many times I have spoken unkind words, selfish, thoughtless words with no concern for the consequences…..Oh my goodness never giving one thought to what my heart must look like to our FATHER!  How sad to think that people in my life might me pacing around in a “dazed and confused” time in life and I stay quiet or worse yet say unkind, thoughtless things…..Father, forgive me when my heart does not reflect you…..enable my words and actions to reflect the love in my heart for YOU!  Our glorious Heavenly Father!

 

May my lips overflow with praise, for You teach me Your decrees.  May my tongue sing of Your word, for all Your commands are righteous.  Psalm 119:171-172.   Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.  Proverbs 12:18.   Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.  Psalm 141:3.  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your moths, but only what is helpful for building other up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  Ephesians 4:29.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Psalm 19:14.

Love you all!

June 7, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Wonderfully wrapped in His loving arms, Wednesday!!  I have a couple of hens that have been quite persistent in “sitting.”  Sometimes they get that “need to nurture” attitude and sit on the eggs that someone else has helped to lay!  Every night when I go in to gather eggs, I have to pull them out of the nests to get my eggs!  I would much rather eat the eggs than have baby chicks!  Well, the other evening as I went in, my two “wanna- be” mother hens let out a couple of clucks and jumped out of nests.  I thought well good, they finally got over that sitting stuff…about time….such a pain!  I stepped into the nest area and immediately realized why my hens had exited the nests so quickly!  Woven between the nests and slightly draped over the edge was a big ol gross, slimy, yucky, big nasty snake!!! And he had an egg…..my egg….bulging from his body!  I hate snakes….terrified of them…..but there I was home alone and it was eating my eggs!  I knew what I had to do…..as I rushed out of the coop to get a shovel….I asked our Heavenly Father to help me meet my fear head on…..I ran to the carport, grabbed a shovel, and headed courageously back to the coop…..I felt positive… I could handle the mission in front of me…..boldly, I entered the coop making my way to the nests….he was still there, lurking….who knows how long he would have stayed, terrorizing my hens and devouring my eggs, if I had not meet the situation head on….bravely…..I got him on the shovel threw him down and immediately began chopping at his head….egg yolk was flying everywhere….my conquest was not easy….but I did not give up…..How many times have we each been confronted with our “snakes”……a situation seems so dire….we feel so helpless…..depression consumes us.....finances are out of control…..sickness…stress at work…..broken relationships…..How was I able to conquer my fear head on???  Only because I let go and let God have my fear….HE and HE alone can see us through anything…..HE can lift the gloom, heal the sick….see us through…..fill us with confidence and a peace that passes all human understanding….joy when you think there is none…..love that holds us up, fills the empty gaps…refreshes…renews…..gives us strength to keep on keeping on…TRUSTING AND BELIEVING…that with HIM anything is possible!  Father, we come to You sad, hurting, empty….we give all our pain to You….Thank You for carrying our burdens and seeing us through!

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5.  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:26.Fear of man will prove t be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.  Proverbs 29:25.  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 comes; its leave are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8.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 443:2..The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in Him.  Nahum 1:7.

Love you all!