Meeting God on a Snowny Morning

Snow, small at first, just a shining in the cold morning air, comes down faster now, larger flakes floating like feathers from the colorless sky to a colorless world.

It's beautiful and today, it feels personal, intimate. Watching it I feel a settling in my churning spirit as if God's grace is floating down around my shoulders.

Somehow, watching this snow, it seems God's reply to my restless heart, to its anxious cry.
Soothing, comforting me, saying,

"I am listening, child.
I AM giving,
I AM blessing,
I AM enough
to cover your world of chaos and pain
(temporary and light afflictions)
with beauty, grace, love.
My mercy is enough to forgive and cover the ugly parts of you.
My grace becomes yours.
I AM.
I hear from heaven and answer,
sending as many blessings
as there are snowflakes falling from the sky."

Abba Father. Abba father.

The snow is mercy, falling from above, covering me.
The candle glowing is grace, creating light & hope in the grey of today.

I lean on Your tender heart
You are here, I AM,
and I am gonna be fine.

Five Gifts Friday

"Brightly colored sunsets, majestic mountains and shining seas,

and fragrant fields and fresh-cut flowers

are not even half as beautiful as a soul who is serving Jesus out of love,

through the wear and tear of an ordinary, unpoetic life."

Frederick W. Faber, Streams in the Desert.

Watching from my porch of praise I see blessings galore parading down my avenue.

76. Children skipping, running, walking to their future at the school around the corner.

77. Beaded hair-dos, bright new clothes and happy back-to-school grins.

78. Bittersweet hints of August slipping away in the coolness of a morning breeze.

79. I am a child of the Creator God,

Favored by the Father,

Loved by the Lord of Life.

80. Yesterday I answered this question "In God's heart, I am..."

with this photo.

Now it's YOUR turn. Just fill in the blank:
"In God's heart, I am _________..."

http://youtu.be/mnQvp8_41Uo

Five Blessing Friday.

I LOVE this prayer from David, the man after God's own heart:

"Satisfy us in our earliest youth with your lovingkindness, giving us constant JOY to the end of our lives." Psalm 90:14, Living Bible

After a frazzled, stress-filled week (mostly due to ME) I have been asking God to open my eyes to his mercy and grace. For me that's a prayer He always answers. Here are some of my rainbow of "Joys" this week:

66. JOY--sweeping the floor, dusty with the tracks of happy feet of my wonderfully grand-nieces & nephew & grandchildren PLUS my sister. What a blessing to relive the fun of watching races, playing games together and yummy root beer floats!

67. JOY--Washing the dishes from the abundant food we have each day here in this country. Please remember Somalia in your prayers AND don't forget to give.

68. JOY--Thank you Lord that you don't love me "because..." You simply love me. (idea from Cec Murphey and Dt 7:7-8)

69. JOY--Indoor plumbing, showers, feeling clean and smelling good.

70. JOY--"Negative feelings are only emotions; negative feelings are not reality."* Thank you Lord that negative feelings pass quickly.

By the way, the colorful text is because JOY is just too wonderful to be only one color!

*Cecil Murphey

Five Blessings Friday

"Because I have a happy heart, so I have continual JOY in Your presence, Lord.
Proverbs 15:15 KJV, "...he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast."


Here are Five Merry Making Moments I've experienced lately.


56. Eavesdropping on my dear sons-in-law, Craig and John, discussing the merits of a kids' PBS show, "Martha Speaks" and how the letters of the alphabet soup Martha ate wound up in her doggy brain instead of elsewhere. (Craig, John, a Martha fan and a future Martha fan.)


57. A very special God moment came last week when my 5-year-old grandson Ethan was visiting us. As we were chatting, I asked him, "Ethan who do you love MOST in the whole world?" I expected him to say his mother, but he emphatically said, "JESUS!"
I found myself taken aback, both thrilled, surprised and a little embarrassed at my shortsightedness. He further told me that we were all supposed to love Jesus the most and I gave him a BIG hug and agreed.
How blessed am I that my dear daughter(in-love) and son are teaching their children to love Jesus most of all and to remind their dear Grammy when she forgets!
To God be the glory for the blessings from the mouths of babes!

58. Re-connecting with old friends, Mike and Jan, Diane, Mary & Steve. Thank You Lord, for forever friends.

59. Reading 2 Chronicles this week I was caught up in the awe of Solomon building a magnificent Temple for God. Even so, Solomon was well aware that it was not good enough to contain our awesome God and His glory.
How incredibly humbling to realize that today, God chooses to make His home in us, simple, dusty, fragile, often unlovely jars of clay. Blessing beyond my comprehension.

60. My pastor's shirt tail. That man will do anything to reach unbelievers. He wears his shirt tail out b/c he cares more about relating to the lost, looking like a real person leading a real life than about pleasing the eyes of men. Whenever I see that shirt tail, I am challenged anew "...to meet people wherever they are on their spiritual journey and lead them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ in order to change the world."

Five Blessings on a Monday Morning

Happy Monday! Here are five great blessings to start the week, even if you are sitting there at a messy desk!

My "blessed" desk is littered this morning with:

51. A "Miffy" book read over Skype to a granddaughter last night.

52. A brochure from Indiana dunes where we had a wonderful vacation last month.

53. A heart made of Lego blocks that my grandson Ethan and I are sharing.

54. My cell phone making all those I love just a few beeps away (for those of us who lived before the age of cell phones, that is a wonder.)

55. My Daily Walk Bible, where today I read this wonderful prayer of David:

"Yours is the mighty power and glory and victory and majesty.

Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom.

We adore you as being in control of everything." I Chron. 29:11

What blessings does God have in store for you today? Ask Him to open your eyes to see through the messes all the way to the "blesses"!

May God grant you a blessed Monday and may you rejoice in the knowledge that He IS in control of everything!

Five Blessings Friday PLUS Five More

Psalm 103:2: Let all that I am praise the Lord: may I never forget the good things he does for me. (NLT)

41. For a wonderful Dad who let me know how much I was loved. He choose my name which means "father's joy." I am so thankful for such an incredible blessing from God.

42. Spending time with family, creating precious summer memories to warm us all year long.

43. Listen, dancing and playing to Mozart, Beethoven and Carmen.

44. Vallarie asking "Is this Beethoven?"

45. Playing Legos with Ethan

46. Antibiotics

47. Nicolas "making coffee" by shaking marbles in a metal tin ala "grinding coffee beans". Black marbles only.

49. My "porch of praise," a little retreat every morning where I enjoy the blessings of the Lord's creation as I read His word, pray and praise Him.

50. For the wonderful guy who is father to my children. "Today and every day, I have a million things to be thankful for, but my thoughts always circle back to you, our family and our very special love."

Happy Father's Day, Honey.

Five Blessings Friday

"In daily life we must see it is not happiness that makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy."
Unknown from Holly Springs by Jan Karon

Five Blessings Pondered at 20,000 Feet



36. Hearing a fellow flyer share Life with the passenger next to him.

37. "47.0 pounds"--my baggage came in at just under the 50 pound limit after I removed the books & some shoes at home before I left. Saved myself $25. (It weighted 48.5 on the way home.)

38. After having my Chicago-Houston flight canceled because of weather, American was able to get me onto Delta and I wound up arriving 6 minutes earlier than the original plan.

39. The reserve soldier sitting next to me on his way to Iraq--leaving his four-month-old daughter for me, for you, for us all, out of duty to his country. God please protect this new dad and bring him home safe.

40. Hearing my granddaughter say, "Sit by me, Grammy."