A Promise is Kept!

This morning I sat on my bed for my quiet time with Jesus. All the windows had been flung open to welcome in the 60-degree fresh air, and it was luscious! My legs were crossed Indian-style with my lapboard settled atop my knees, and on top of that was my Bible. Like I so often do, I read a bit, then look up and stare aimlessly out the window to ponder what I read (or get distracted with the day's to-do list). This time, when I looked out the window, there was a treat - my own private rainbow!!!

It's very sweet of the Lord to give me this colorful 3D reminder because I had just read and prayed King David's sweet prayer, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions" (Psalm 51:1).

Right after the very first rainbow ever, God made a promise to Noah (ark builder and faithful truster) --"I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done. For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop" (Genesis 8:21b-22 Message) --- and Jehovah has not failed in keeping it! Aren't you glad?!

So, now, next time I see a rainbow, not only will I remember that a promise is being kept, I am going to be thankful to our Lord God Almighty that His mercy endures forever! Hoooray for us!

Oh, Yeah, Baaaaby!!!!

I have a tradition. Wanna hear about it? I know you do because we all love the stabilizing, security-giving feeling of traditions. So, here it is (picture on the above):

Every year as soon as the pool is tolerable, in I go - backwards! Sometimes I can talk my friend Emily into doing it with me, but she's not gung-ho about it.

Not yet figuring out how to do a back dive and take my own picture, I had to use this one from a few Julys ago. Oh, well.

Remember: it's easier to dive into things when we can see straight ahead of us, but sometimes we must get brave and take the plunge when we can't!

Yipppppeeeee! I did it and summer is coming!!!!!!

Before... and After

This is a picture of my bushes before my pruning shears and imagination kicked in gear.... (Kinda what we must look like to the Lord, sometimes, before His pruning hits us.)

This is after an hour's hard and sweaty work... (Imperfect, but when the Lord does His pruning, it's a perfect work with a perfect result.)

This is before picture # 2 of two more of my bushes...

This is after much hard work in the warm sunshine; a labor of love....

When I was out there, I thought of my hard-working husband, who has been working a ton of hours of overtime this week. Though these hearts and X and O are my projects, I did many of his projects while I was out there. A team!

I also thought of the Lord's pruning in us.... Take one look at my bushes that I had neglected since last summer, and you will see what happens when we are left to ourselves! God cares for us, and takes great time with us, pruning us and refining us, to make sure we are shaped into the beautiful image of His Son, Jesus - and not left to grow wild and unruly! Hoooray!!!

And there's one more fun lesson, thanks to the continuous weeds in our veggie garden. It is this: pick them often!! Have you ever seen a veggie garden overtaken with weeds? Not a pretty or fruitful sight!! Weeds that are allowed to grow and grow will soon choke out the veggies' vitality. Same with sin, unforgiveness, bitterness, etc. in a Believer's heart. You get the picture! If not, then quickly grab the shovel of God's word and ask the Spirit to dig up anything growing in your heart that shouldn't be: "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24)!

Happy pruning and plucking!

Love's True Colors!

Look at my darling fixing our 10-year-old garden path! He is a very patient man, because each one of those gray-colored cement 'cobble stones' had to be lifted up, raked under, and new sand added to lift them back up (they had begun to sink into oblivion from all the spraying with the hose I had done), then carefully smooshed right back down in the same spot from whence they came. I would never, ever, ever, evvvvveeeeer have the perseverance for such a tedious task.

...Or would I??????

One of my favorite things to do is watch Mike puttering in our yard, keeping it beautiful. He's a hard worker! I know they have those personality tests that determine if you are an otter or whatever, but my man is definitely an ANT! He is moving and a'groovin' nonstop. Really, I would work alongside him, but the simple task of watching him exhausts me...and I'm only one woman.

Anyway, I digress. Sometimes he works in shorts and up-to-his-kneecap white socks. My daughter's old lifeguard hat will be pulled down on his head, complete with string tied under the neck, and, well, it is just endearing. You know how we moms love to tiptoe to the room of our napping tykes and lean against the doorframe, sighing over the beauty of being a mom --- when they're asleep? It's kind of like that feeling. When those little gems are all pink-cheeked and curled up under their soft cotton quilts we stitched with love, all memories of the terrible twos, etc., are melted into non-existence (till they wake up....oh, then we remember). Well, when I look out our home's windows and see Mike out there, all cute-like, all memories of the bumpy paths smooth over.

And thinking of this today reminded me that love is not only true blue. It is the yellow of the warm and sunshiny moments, it is every hue of pink, pink when things are more stinky. Gray has its arm in there, adding discouragement or disappointements (which, shoot, do happen when sinners marry sinners), and purple, when it extends the royal scepter of grace toward all offences and silly-spoken words. And let's not exclude red, for those hot, fun two-party extravaganzas. There are so many other colors, each with their own added hues and tones and vibrancies. You can see that love/marriage is a full rainbow of colorful moments!

This coming September that man and I will have been married for thirty, 30, three tens and a zero, years! Many are the times I've had to lift up our marriage to the Lord, rake under His grace any unforgiveness I've harbored, added some new and fresh attitude or action to plump up any ruts we've gotten into, and then plopped right back into the game, trusting the Lord and admiring the good and noble things I see in my frog prince.

Making marriage last a lifetime takes wheelbarrow loads of patience, endurance, and perseverance.

So, see? I DO HAVE perseverance, after all! And I bet you do, too!!!

"This I command you, that you love one another," (John 15:7).

In case, after reading this blog, you
think I let Mike do all the work, oh,
contrare. I pluck fresh juicy lemons
from the tree, give them a squeeze or two, add a little filtered water, lots of sugar, and tons of zesty yellow love, and walk out there with a refreshing drink to revive him for the rest of the day's yard work! :)

Oh, if you decide to do this for your own hard-working man -- remember
the straw! It will make him forget all
the times he was at 'his last straw' with you!

Keep on loving!

A Sound Mind

Hello on Wednesday!

A sound mind. Doesn't that have a nice, peaceful ring to it? It has been my prayer this week, because I have noticed how many thoughts I have that are not based on reality, but on my percieved reality, which gets proven false again and again. Phooey! Does this ever happen to you? My emotions and insecurities often tilt my thoughts toward unsoundness, and that's why this prayer had me doing a bit of research....

First, I noticed that insecurities, those wretched emotions that try to pull us away from rational sanity, can only be shaken off by truth, trust, and a willingness to be vulnerable (which is kinda hard to be, especially when lack of trust is presenting itself).

Second, confidence. It comes from God, His sure and solid and real truth, and beliving in both of those.

Which brings me to the third item -- renewing our mind. Now, how do we do this? By the word of God, of course! When we become children of God through belief in Jesus' work on the cross we want to please Him and be changed from what we once were. Our thoughts want to line up in trust with who God says we now are in Him and with who God says He is. We know His word is truth, we know God is faithful, cannot lie, and does not change. Also, we know we belong to Him, daughters of the Most High and fellow heirs with Jesus (wow!!!). Knowing this, all by itself, apart from all the zillions of verses God had written out for us, our thoughts can now be sound.

Sometimes, though, we have to remind our thoughts of this and lasso in any wayward ones that are a bit on the wild side of obedience. We bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

There is not a problem that cannot be answered with God's word, one way or another. For instance, the other day my thoughts were running amok with some wrong speculations. I actually was getting really worked up over what I was thinking was going on - you know, all those supposings..... Instead of coralling those thoughts and meditating on "whatsoever is true" I just allowed them to rule and reign without a fight. I believed the supposed reality of my thoughts. Well, later that day, they proved to be 100% wrong!!! I had wasted two whole hours in a mental uproar for nothing! I should have had the V8 of God's promises!!!

Anyhoo, "we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, we are taking every (every!) thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

The book at the top is one I read years ago and just pulled off my bookshelf to peruse again....

Waste Not; Help Out!

Happy Sunday!!!

I am one lucky dog because I got to spend almost this whole day doing one of the many things I love to do -- sewing!

Our church's annual missionary fundraiser, which is a tri-tip dinner and a silent auction, is coming in just a few weeks. In my email-box the other day, I got notice that they needed more donations. Well, with budgets being watched, I prayed about it. The perfect idea came (see what happens when you talk to the Lord about things?). The answer came to sew a baby blanket....

So, I went into my sewing room (which is also a jillion other things) and hunted up a pattern. I found this darling choo choo train paper-pieced pattern that I had purchased online a couple years ago. Then,I went through my drawers and boxes and pulled out all bits of fabrics and began the fun task of choosing what went together.



I found lots of scraps from last year's quilts I made my boys, so layed them out on the ironing board to see how they worked together - a perfect fit! It was so exciting to get to use what I had and not spend one single dime extra!

Paper piecing is pretty easy, and I was certain I'd have this small quilt finished in no time. However, I did not count on making sooooooo many mistakes and having to put my seam ripper to good use. Sheesh. It was a labor of love! For the missionaries it would help support, I cheerfully took out all mayhaps, and thanked the Lord.

Below is the pattern that I used. When I bought it, it was on a regular-sized paper and made a 6" square. I have no patience making squares that small. So, I hopped in my car and drove over to the reasonable-priced blueprint place and had them blow it up 400%. Ah, better - a 24" square!




















I had to cut apart each of those nine patterns, sew each one, then sew them together. Kinda fun, but it takes a little time. See? Below are the pieces coming together.... Can you tell what it will be?????? :)

And then, I kept sewing and sewing...I think I can, I think I can... and pretty soon - ta-daaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

I think that our God Jehovah does the same with us. He uses scraps of this trial and scraps of this joy and pieces them all together into quite a quilt of a life. His stitches are perfect, though sometimes painful when we're poked. But it's only for our good. What He purposes to sew is something for our good, other's good, and His glory! Isn't that nice?????

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). He never quits on us, until He can display the finished product in heaven!!!!

My Annual, Sweet Gift From Jehovah!

Good morning!!!

I've already been to Winco, where I spent waaaay too much money. The sad thing is that I bought mostly the usual things. Yet... prices soar, up, up and uppppp! And my money flies out of my purse faster than I can say, "Good-bye Mr. Lincoln." I've been reading Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, Volume 5. These sweet Bible stories began to be written in 1954. When I was little our Dr. Clerou had them carefully laid on on the children-sized plastic tables, along with the kids' Highlights magazines. We loved those! All the fun puzzles, mazes, pictures and stories kept us from remembering that we were soon gonna be banged with a needle! Anyhoo, Volume 5 begins with the story of Elijah. There's a picture of him by the Cherith Brook, and up above his head are the obedient ravens, cheerfully dropping down the morning or evening's chow for Elijah. God had told him, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." And it happened just as God had said - of course! Remember that!!! So, my whole point is that if prices keep soaring, I will have to look to other things that soar, like ravens, to feed us! Well, that's really not the point at all, is it? The REAL point is that God knows our needs and can supply them however He wants. For Elijah, it was ravens. For taxes for Jesus and Peter, it was a fish with a tummy of coins. For us, well, it could be anything! Keep your eyes open! :)

No one on this planet gets as sidetracked as I do, surely. It was my sole intention to get on this blog and tell you the story of my Sweet Jehovah. Long ago, and not too far away - in Kingsburg, to be exact, which is 87 miles north of Bakersfield, I did not plant my Sweet Pea seeds, and therefore had none of the fragrant blooms to perfume my home. So, I asked the Lord for some. Sure enough, a friend brought over a bounteous bouquet of them, every color imaginable, and that was the beginning of God supplying my need for those darling flowers. (I know. I could plant them every year, but it seems I almost always forget.)

So, this year, like so many others, I was moaning over the fact that, once again, I let the months of September and October go by without planting my Sweet Pea seeds. Phooey, I thought! Well, Mike wanted me to help him in the garden, and what do you know??? --- a Sweet Pea plant, just one, was growing and had already produced two sweet pink-colored flowers! Clapping my hands with glee and thanks to God for His sweet, annual gift to me, I plucked it off the vine and plopped it in a small glass. Thank YOU, Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The point of this story is that God sees allllllll of our needs. Not just physical ones, like chow. He sees the frivolous romantic ones, too - like a longing for flowers! "And my God will fully supply your every need according to his glorious riches in the Messiah Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Talk to Him about what your heart is longing for and see what He will answer. :)

Look Who's 94!!!! (NO, not me!!!)

Most people freak out on tax day, April 15th, for obvious reasons. But for me and my family, it's a day of happy celebrating - 'cuz that's when my grandma was born! Isn't she beautiful? At 94 she still is fun and funny and smarter than smart! One secret about that is that she daily grabs her #2 pencil and does multitudes of Word Search puzzles. Really; it stimulates the mind! Mostly, though, I think she has kept her wits because she's kept a good attitude in this life. I am like her in so many ways, but need to really learn this from her!!!!!

So, today, we celebrated. My Aunt Joy, who lives with my granny (and, yes, they still love each other very much - everyone loves my grandma; she's special), treated us all to lunch at B J's Restaurant. Yum.

My grandma was telling my older sister, Theresa, how to kill and cook a chicken. My grandma used to do this all the time when she lived in the country. You had to be tough and not squeemish back then, and that is grandma. I could throw up just writing this!

Writing this has made me think of that yummy and very comforting verse in Isaiah. 46:4: Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. That's a lot of 'I wills' from God! Jehovah is so good to us!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!!

Get Your Garden Growing!

Are you ready to learn how to get that garden of yours ready for summer's luscious pluckings? Let's begin....

1. First, find a spot of soil that gets at least 6 hours of wonderful sunshine. It can be a large plot of soil, or small spaces in between your shrubs. Clear all weeds and debris, then add some soil fertilizer. I use this Miracle-Gro product for veggies; it's not a miracle, but my plants do gro-w!

2. Pour the fertilizer over the soil. Take your shovel - the long skinny trenching shovel, if you have one (or reg one), and stick that shovel blade nine inches into the ground and upturn the soil. You'll be tempted to do this fast, but be smart and do tiny sections at a time. Like this...

Do you know why you want to do tiny sections? Because you don't wanna break off your shovel blade, for one, but for two, you want to get all that soil well-loosened - this is where your veggies roots will stretch and grow -- and they will need lots of soft soil to do that without hindrance. Ok, moving on....

3. Grab your metal rake, break up all the clods, and smooth the plot. It will be so pretty!!!!
4. Get your Dahhling to come out and help you! Bribe him, act dumb, whatever it takes. When Mike helps, I am assured that my projects will get done in 1/100th of the time it would take this dawdler to do it alone. In the pic below he was making a funny face because he knew I had my camera on him.

5. If you just copy what Mike is doing in the pictures (he did the work; I had the camera. See how smart I am?!!!!), then you will know what to do with all those potted veggies you bought at the nursery. :)


6. 7. 8. 9. 10. After all is said and done, sprinkle snail bait around your work. CAUTION: Kids and pets don't know it's for snails only!!! It is said that marigolds, those pretty, flourishing summer flowers, are natural snail repellents.

11. For your precious tomatoes, it's important to stake them up somehow. You can buy tomato cages, or like us (okay! Like Mike...), you can use poles.

12. Water them. Weed them. Watch them grow. Pluck them. Share them. Enjoy them with thanksgiving!

This is a bit of work, but remember what Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her (of course it's a her) ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest." Happy gathering!!

Oh, and lest you think me, the picture-taker, a sluggard with the gardening, I assure you it's a team effort. I dug up and raked half of our soil, purchased all the plants, water, weed, pick, and bake, steam, bbq the bounty. Oh... and help eat it, too!!! Such fun!

A Time to Plant

I'm ready! Ready for summer's bountiful produce popping up in my garden and in my mouth!!! All this green beauty was purchased at Lowe's and Walmart. Hurry, join me! Go pick out your favorite veggies, and this weekend I'll walk you through the planting process!!!! Ready? Get set - go get those pony packs!!!! See ya this weekend!

Just Beachy!!

Okay, I've put my sewing down so that I can play Show & Tell with all my beachy lessons.

Monday, Monday. We're on our way, with clear, sunny skies! Hopes are soaring for a vacation of full of fun!

The entire trip Mike was in meetings, from the wee hours of the morning to the late night hours. This left me alone with Jesus and my old journals... I had big plans to read through a whole stack of them. Little did I know that I would barely scale a few pages in only one! But God knew; and His plan was definitely different than my own!

Through those few pages the Lord revealed that deeeeeeep in my heart raged a blazing fury. Well, drats. I had poured cold water over it enough to keep it controlled, and I thought I was doing so good, but those journal pages were like a match being thrown on an overturned gasoline tanker - KABOOM! God cares about that deep-down stuff - AND HE WANTS IT UP AND OUT!

So, Wednesday evening I packed up me and my bad attitude and headed out to Morro Bay Beach. No cell phone. No friends. No computer. Just God's creation, me, and Jesus. Up and down that gorgeous trail of ocean I walked for hours; griping, venting, praising, praying, thanking, singing, sighing, reciting truth, taking pictures.
There comes a time when we have to meet our heart's wretchedness face-to-face. It's no easy aquaintance. In sunny times don't we like to think our faith will stand against life's dashing waves? And yet, when it's revealed to us that we are no stronger than a sandcastle built by the water's edge, well... it's discouraging. I imagine this is what Peter felt after hearing the distant rooster calling his bluff. Of course I confessed to the Lord this utter weakness of mine, this wanting to "fly away" as King David sighed, but guess what? It was no surprise to Him. To the One who sees every secret of the heart, He knew. It made me tear up when the Lord's response to my confession was a whispered "I love you." It was a shocker. And then, I had to laugh with joy, because "while I was yet a sinner, Jesus died for me." I really wasn't any worse that day on the beach then that day sitting in Calvary Chapel, Bakerfield, when I raised my hand during an altar call. It's so easy to let grace's wonders get sidetracked with worksy attitudes. Anyhoo, I had read that morning in Proverbs 24:10 that "If you faint in adversity, your strength is small." LOL - Yes! it is! But, Luke 22:32 says, "...but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Yay!

If you think that God is not real and paying attention with lots of loving thoughts, then let me show you some pictures. I snapped these photos without touching anything on the sand. I felt God was reminding me on my treks up and down that cold beach that He loved me...
This is a long blog, isn't it? There's just so much to tell!!! I'm beginning to understand what John meant when he said, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." I'm barely telling anything about my trip and lessons, and look... lo-oong!

Anyhoo, when I left that beach I had thought of Joseph's life. So much happened that was not in his boyhood dreams. Yet he trusted, and ended up saving a nation. Jesus trusted when He walked on earth, and ended up saving souls. About some of the things in my life that were not in my girlhood dreams, I wrote in my journal that night, "Lord, why is this best for me? Maybe, duh, it's not about me. All of Joseph's whole life was so that God could have HIS WAY and save His people." Maybe somwhere down the end of my life's road my experiences will also save someone from something. I thought of 2 Corinthians 4:12. "So death works in us, but life in you." Like sand crabs. There are tons of their lifeless white carcasses all over the beach. Why? Their deaths provide food for the birds. And I caught this happening in a photo (though it's hard to see it).
I remembered that many have gone before me in this life. We are not alone! And Jesus walks with us!
Elisabeth Elliot says, "In acceptance lies peace." Always, I viewed that with accepting my lot in life. But on the beach I thought of it as in accepting the truths of God. In acceptance that there will be trials and tribulations, that ours is a God who is near and not far off, that sometimes we have to wait, that He sends rain on the good and evil, that changes take time, that in all things God's will is that we give thanks...."Yield now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. Please receive instruction from His mouth, and establish His words in your heart" (Job 22:21-22). It always comes back to surrender and trust and obedience, doesn't it? Oh, and God's grace, and help, and strength, and love and mercy... :)

So, you think I should be finished yakking, and maybe I should be, but I'm not. Oh, no! "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5). Oh, yeah, babay! After the day-long struggle on Wednesday, joy came and stayed! Thursday was our last day, and I had 12 whole hours left to celebrate at the beach...

I checked us out of the hotel and drove to sunny Avila Beach (did you notice that both beaches' weather matched my attitudes? Coincidence? lololol).
First thing I did was swing in the sunshine. I love to swing! Did you know that? Then, having a front row ocean view, I sat in my car and did hours of hand-stitching and journal reading.
This is me very content. The windows were down, allowing the warm whisp-of-a-breeze to blow through.... yum! (I took this pic of myself and forgot to smile, as I was concentrating on not dropping the camera.)
After this, I went to Avila's Red Barn for some fresh produce. I ended up buying jacks, too. Remember those???
This guy was in their petting zoo. While all other goats were busy about, he was content in the sunshine. Me, too!
All in all, the trip was fantastic. On Wednesday I had the chance to go to Disneyland with my sis' fam. They were taking five-year-old Brandon, whom I love, for the first time. Since he's my only 'grandson' they wanted me to be there. Disneyland is my fav place. I felt like the Lord wanted me to stay where He put me. He said to me, "There will be blessings if you stay." Now, keep in mind that WEDNESDAY was my bad attitude day full of lessons. I told the Lord, "I exchanged Disneyland for this???" However, like I said, He had a plan. The blessing was in revealing what was in my heart so that He could deliver me and set me free. Also, that I could have a fresh breath of His love in a personal way, despite all my failures. Oh, and just so much more. Sometimes blessings come in strange packaging....and sometimes we have to wait to see them. But they are all worth it! Being with Jesus is the happiest place on earth.
And then I picked up Mike and we sailed off into the sunset (Bakersfield). THE END!

SPRING - Inside Out!

Tomorrow I will tell you about my fantastic beach trip, including all the photos and lessons. But today, I want to just take a moment and relish springtime's invigorating ways!

So, this is springtime inside... camelias and lemon blossoms from my yard.
This is springtime, out... in part of my little, neglected side yard.
If you haven't done so yet, sloooooooow downnnnnnnnn... Stop. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply. Smell the blossoms? Listen. Hear the lawnmowers, the twitter of birds? Feel the breeze upon your face? Stand in the sunshine for just a minute and let it melt away the last of winter's chill. Perk up - like SPRING!

LeT aLL WhO hAVe BrEaTH prAise THE LorD!

Happy First Day of Spring!

The grass is green, the toes are pink, the flip-flops are click-clacking on my feet - it is SPRING!

Even without all the above, and despite that it could have been a dreary cloudy day, or even if the grass still hadn't shrugged off its winter's brown coat, my calendar says that today is the first day of Spring - and that makes it so!

This is why Christians can be "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10) - because despite how dreary things might look, or how pink toes get all chipped and ugly-looking, or how the grass looks greener on the other side, it changes not God's sure Word! The Most High is still on His throne, He still cares, His voice is still booming enough to cause a dear to give birth (oh, yeah, I said it... see Psalm 29:9), He rejoices over you with singing, and even when it seems like He has utterly deserted you, He is still near, never leaving you or forsaking you.

God said so in my Bible - and that makes it so!

So, everyday can be like spring in our hearts! God is ours and we are His and fa la la la laaaaaaa!