Sunday Blessings

Our church celebrated it's 25th Anniversary today. The celebration included a video that was a collection of photos that journaled the last 25 years of the church. There were also candid photos of most members displayed in the lobby. I enjoyed the photos and the video but I think the thing that impacted me the most was when they had people stand. They asked those that had been saved in the church to stand. Then they asked those who had been baptized since going to the church to stand. My son had been baptized in this church...I had forgotten.  You were asked to stand if you were married  in the church. Children were asked to stand if they were dedicated in the church. It was such a visual reminder of God's many mercies and how blessed I really was. My son...married in this church, all four grandchildren....dedicated in this church.

Sometimes my focus is all wrong, how easily I forget where we have been, I forget what God has done...his many mercies in our lives, but... I remembered today. When they had all those people stand... I remembered... I remembered what God did...and I have much to be thankful for.

Planting Party

Our ladies group had a little planting party last week. The concept is very similar to a cookie swap. Each lady brings twelve plants....all the same...that's either two six packs or three four packs. The type of plant you brought was your choice. The hostess provided the plastic pots...which can be found at the dollar store or you could bring your own (she also provided the dirt)

This is an outdoor project...gets a little messy. Each lady takes one of the plastics pots and  fills it with dirt and a selection of plants that were brought ...no wrong or right way. We had Snap Dragons, Sweet William, Creeping Jenny, Asylum and Marigold to choose from, above picture shows some of our masterpieces.

Our church has small groups. Our group is a great mixture of young and not so young, marrieds and a couple of singles. The entire group meets twice a month then the men and women each meet separately once a month. Most of the time we dig deeper into Sunday's sermon, or review a chapter in a book or we may spend the evening in worship and prayer. Occasionally there might be something called "sovereignty bowl".... digging deeper type questions you pull from a bowl.

Care group, it's where relationships are formed...it's where you walk through life together, it's where you care for each other...and it can be a place to grow. It's a place to rejoice together, cry together, praise and pray together....and sometimes just have fun together.

Warriors Welcome Here

Just a quick update for all. Although we have no " official " news yet concerning bone scan results, we have peace that all is well.

I was supposed to have a doctors appointment tomorrow, but my husband is traveling this week and wanted me to go with him. Easy decision, rescheduled the doctors appointment for next week packed my bags and off we went.

Now to the many folks who have been praying for us, all I can say is thank you...people I know and people I only know through cyberspace, I have been truly blessed by the outpouring of support and prayers.


To the friend who stopped over my house, to pray and talk to me...thank you. To the friend who called me that evening and tried to help me see truth, then drove me to the scan and sat with me for two and a half hours...thank you. To all the friends who were texting me and emailing with prayer and scripture...thank you

It's comforting to know you are not standing alone, that others are praying when you cannot, that there are people who can remind you of truth, those who are sensitive to the leading of the spirit and will respond to his leading.

One of my very favorite Psalms is Psalm 16 , and the verse that has been most speaking to me these last couple of days is Ps 16:8

I have set the the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

The body of Christ is a precious gift we all have available to us

Time to Stop and Breathe

We have had another busy week attending to all the details involved with "sweet lady's" move from the mountains to the flat lands. Things are now beginning to fall into place, her ID came in the mail this week, we were able to get a doctors appointment and we think we may have found a place for her to live.

Coffee with a sweet friend helped me with some direction in finding the perfect place for "sweet lady" to live. There were many things I thought were important but she helped me see things differently. In her experience it was all about location, she told me the most important thing I should consider was how convenient it would be for us to get to her. We want her to be involved with our family and activities, we could make any place special.

The move will happen sometime in June. She gets to pick out paint color for the room, we will go shopping for some furniture, curtains and bedding. I don't think she has ever done that before. We brought all of her decorations and pictures from her apartment so things will look somewhat familiar. I feel overwhelmed at times, I cannot imagine how she is feeling.

We have tried to make this a smooth transition, when your memory is bad, change is hard. Most of her memories right now are when she was a girl on the farm with her grandparents, they are happy memories.

I am thankful for the friend who was willing to have coffee with me...she is a little further down this road...great insight...reassuring... encouraging. Wasn't God good to put her in my path, her counsel was just what I needed. I also received a message from another friend today with scripture that was perfect, for the way I have been feeling, it was in Joshua.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go"  Joshua 1:9

Caring Nature of God

Woke up this morning, thinking about what we needed to do today, formulating a plan, getting ready to sit down and do some devotions with "sweet lady" when I received a text from a friend. This is what she sent me

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am humble and gentle in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light"  Matthew 11:28-29

Timing was perfect,This was a reminder that  I needed this morning, God caring for us through his people. So I start my day knowing God is with me, he is interested in the details of my life, he wants to give me rest...turning my day over to him.

Relationships

Thanksgiving holiday is over and what a sweet time it was. Got to spend time with my two sons, my daughter in law and grandchildren, always enjoy that, such a blessing. We were also able to see friends we have not seen in almost thirty years...what a joy that was. I was amazed at how easily it was to just pick up conversation, like we had just seen each other, when you are united by the blood of Christ you are family, time and distance are irrelevant. I have been thinking about the importance of relationships. We are not meant to walk the Christan life alone, God has put people in our life to walk the walk with us. People that will rejoice with you, laugh with you, celebrate with you, cry with you. People that will walk along side of you when you are going through tough times, that will help bear the burdens, that will point you to the promises of God, that will love you with the love he provides. People that will encourage but will also be willing to point out error in your life. To experience this it requires a willingness to be transparent. This has always been difficult for me, It will require me to be real, to be open with my struggles, my pain, my fears, my dreams. I am at the point in my life that I welcome this, I want God to continue to change me....and I believe the people he puts in my life are all part of the process he will use.

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways"   Psalm 139:1-3

Promise of a Better Spring

Today was errand day. Had a doctor's appointment first thing, then had to pick up some odds and ends that I would need after surgery. Found some warm up jackets at thrift store to wear post-op. Had looked on line for mastectomy shirts but they were pretty ugly, not to mention expensive. These jackets are perfect, I just bought them in a larger size. Picked up my prescriptions, anti-nausea stuff thats supposed to help in vomiting post-op, a problem I know I have and some numbing cream. I can thank the breast cancer navigator nurse for the numbing cream. When I found out I would be awake for the injecting of the dye my anxiety level went way up, she arranged for the surgeon to call in a prescription for this cream.... Thank you! Bedroom is done and it is beautiful, just have to move the furniture in, seems a shame to have to put anything else in there but I guess I can't keep our dressers in the hallway forever. Today was another beautiful day and I spent most of the afternoon outside gardening. I planted more pansies and tulip bulbs all the while thinking, why do we plant bulbs. I plant bulbs because it's something to look forward to in the spring, something beautiful after a cold dreary winter. I hate winter. I kept thinking these kind of represent our hope for a better spring, a healthy spring.  Then I started looking around and I had all this dead stuff hanging in pots and  in the garden beds. I had probably two dozen dead dried out sunflowers towering above my six foot fence. I just had to pull those things up, I couldn't look at these dead things all winter long. I began pulling them up and just kind of lost it, had a mini meltdown, I couldn't even finish the job. I asked my husband to please finish it, then went upstairs to shower still in tears. About five minutes later A friend was at our door. She had an obelisk (tower trellis kind of thing) some old windows for cold frame and seeds. Talk about God's timing, we talked about what was going on, we walked the garden, talked about how tears are ok, God keeps track of our tears. Her unexpected visit was again God's reminder to me of his loving care.

"You keep track of all my sorrows, you have collected my tears in your bottle, you have recorded each one in your book" Psalm56:8