WFW and Praise the Lord in the Moment~ Hope and Praise

(photos of our grandson taken when he was 4, by photographer Megan Quist)

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and  my God.

Psalm 42:5

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You Can Be Everything God Wants You to Be

You Can Be Everything God Wants You to Be

by Max Lucado

Thomas Nelson Publishers

Max Lucado writes in a style all his own, and I enjoy the way he personalizes the topic he is writing about to our own lives. The title of this book summarizes it well - you can be everything God wants you to be. Not as the world says, that, "you can be anything you want to be," because in all honesty, that isn't really true.  Max writes, "Our Maker gives assignments to people, 'to each according to each one's unique ability'" (Matt. 25:15). He goes on to say, "God endows us with gifts so we can make Him know. Period." He quotes  1 Corinthians 13:7 "Each person is given something to do that shows who God is." (MSG)

This book is promoted as a good gift book for graduates, and this is true, but as a 50-something grandmother, I was encouraged by the Biblical perspective for us each to be the person God created us to be, no matter our age or vocation. Max encourages us to take a good look at where we are in life and what we are doing with a perspective of contentment, not for money or accolades.

It is a short book and an easy read, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to encourage others in their walk of the life created for them by God. They will not be disappointed.

I received this book free from the publisher through the Book Sneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

A Welcomed Rainy Day

I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and a gentle chorus of rain on the roof of our home.  I smiled with thankfulness for the rainshowers God began yesterday, along with cool, and I mean cool temperatures. The mosaic above is just a quick little view of yesterday's downpour, and it gently rained through the night and continues to rain today. The temperature is in the 50s, and I cannot believe we have gone from capris and tees and temps in the 90s to jeans, long sleeve shirts, and even socks! I'm lovin' it!

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44:3

Where do I blog?

I am SO glad that I heard about this blog party when my blogging spot was somewhat neat - much neater then it sometimes is! Even though we have 2 spare bedrooms, they are upstairs, and I prefer to be on the main floor. My blogging corner is behind our sofa in our living room, on a sofa table.

 I love having pictures of my family on the walls nearby, along with...

...Lucy laying on her dog bed, keeping me company!

This table works quite well for using the computer while watching tv, talking with

my husband as he relaxes in his old-and-needs-to-be-replaced recliner,

looking out the window as people walk by our house, and, well, eating...

Yep, this is pretty common, except I had to use a "cookie model" as I had already

eaten the one that was there just before I read about this blog party!

I love this mouse pad that is actually a memo mousepad with paper

to jot things down.. It is from Galison; lots of fun stuff there!

I'm also glad this area was as neat as it gets, because it

often looks like a paper bomb went off.

Especially if the JEMS (grandkids) are here..

They love Nana's computer spot, especially since they can reach the printer:

ON.OFF.ON.OFF.ON.OFF

You get the idea.

So, that's it! Now it's YOUR turn! Where do YOU blog??

There are lots and lots of blog nooks just waiting to show you their stuff!

Come see at Centsational Girl!

Praise the Lord in This Moment - From the Inside Out

Extravagant Grace

Do you enjoy a good challenge? Sometimes that is what it takes to get me going, and today I am joining eLisa @ Extravagant Grace to make a commitment to give thanks and praise God in the moment. So often I go about my day without praising Him for what He is doing in my life at that moment. But there are times when I do thank Him and praise him for even the small, incidental things that occur, and I want to purpose to be more mindful of this.

Will you join eLisa in making a 31-day commitment to intentionally give thanks and praise to the Lord in the moment? In eLisa's words, "We're going to open our ears to hear his voice, and open our eyes to see His work. We going to let Him soften our hearts to respond to His love and grace and mercy, and pass that on to others. And we're going to testify to God's power and sovereign hand in every situation."

If you would like to participate, just click here.

Today, I am participating for the first time, and eLisa invites us to do two things:

1. Search the word PRAISE on Biblegateway.com, and share a verse or

passage that strikes you first or encourages your heart in this moment.

I am sharing Psalm 106:48:

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, "Amen!"

Praise the LORD.

Psalm 106:48

2. Share a link to a favorite praise song!

We sang this song this morning during

 our time of worship and praise,

and it is a big favorite of mine.

The message of God's everlasting light

shining in His mercy and grace

does indeed cause my heart

to cry out in praise of our Lord!

From the Inside Out (Everlasting) Hillsong United

From the Inside out

A thousand times I've failed

Still your mercy remains

And should I stumble again

Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart and my soul, I give You control

Consume me from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise, become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains

The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart, my soul, Lord I give you control

Consume me from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

From the inside out, O my soul cries out

My Soul cries out to You

My Soul cries out to You

to You, to You

My heart, my soul, Lord I give you control

Consume me from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

From the inside out, O my soul cries out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

From the inside out, O my soul cries out

From the inside out, O my soul cries out

From the inside out, O my soul cries out.

Saturday ~ This Old House

It is Saturday, and This Old House is on PBS. I like to catch TOH whenever I can because I live in an old house. Oddly enough, I watch the program but my husband does the work on this place. Right now, he is outside painting the south side of our house. He has been working on scraping, sanding, priming and now painting all week. We had a couple of hot days, so he moved inside and took out our sink and toilet in our main floor bathroom. He got the new floor in yesterday and the toilet is sitting there but not yet hooked up. It is so nice and cool outside today that he is back at the house painting. I do my best to give him moral support and cool drinks.

I took a couple of photos of the tops of the shelves that divide our entry and living room, just because this is about the only area of the main floor that looks normal. What you can't see is that there was a bathroom pedestal sink at my feet in one of them.

front entry with door open to catch the cool breeze

other side, with a summer vignette

Yep, that's about it. The rest of the house has bathroom stuff strewn about. That's fine with me, because it won't be long and it'll all be back where it belongs. I so appreciate the work my husband puts in around here. I am hoping to feel well enough to paint the woodwork upstairs and down, but today I need to rest up from a busy but always enjoyable week spent watching the grands.

                       

WFW - 20/20 Vision

We don't yet see things clearly.

We're squinting in a fog,

peering through a mist.

But it won't be long before the weather clears

and the sun shines bright!

We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us,

knowing Him directly just as He knows us!

1 Corinthians 13:12 ~ The Message

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Word-Filled Wednesday ~ Do Not Worry

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

 what you will eat or drink;

or about your body,

what you will wear.

Is not life more important than food,

and the body more important than clothes?"

Matthew 6:25

Our Golden Retriever, Lucy, relies on us to feed and water her twice a day, to let her outside when she has the need, to keep her coat brushed and clean, and to love her unconditionally. But because she doesn't understand all we say, we can't tell her if we are going to be home past her usually feeding time, and perhaps she gets a little worried about that if her tummy tells her it is time to eat. But God's timing is perfect and He always provides for our needs. God can be counted on, so why worry? Recently, He has been showing me that He is with me no matter what I may be going through, and that I may count on Him to provide for all of my needs, and I have peace.

Fill your cup with the Word at the Internet Cafe!

If You Give a Nana a Cookie...

In my previous post about eating the right things to guard your heart, I admitted that my husband eats healthier than I do. No surprise to anyone who personally knows me, that my favorite food is....drum roll....CHOCOLATE! I imagine most of the women reading this are nodding their heads in agreement and thinking about going to get something chocolate to eat or drink before they finish reading this.

Yesterday, my day started out innocently enough with a breakfast of whole wheat toast, fruit and juice. I always eat breakfast and I always eat a healthy one. So far so good. Then, around 10:00, I thought I would get a small glass of milk because I usually have one at breakfast but didn't, so I poured myself a glass of fat-free milk to avoid taking the AAAACK large calcium pills I sometimes seldom take. Of course, I knew a few Oreos would be delicious with the milk, and knowing we had a package in our pantry, I got a few, sticking to the recommended serving amount (3). (pat-on-the-back) Yummmm, so good!

The day went on, and I ate a healthy lunch of a salad of fresh veggies and something-else-I-cannot-remember, maybe a roll or some healthy crackers. So far so good. Again.

Don't ask me where the idea came from, but I thought it would be fun to take a picture of milk and Oreos for a blog post. Maybe use it to illustrate a story for one of the memes I like to participate in. So, I set up the props; a nice, fresh glass of milk and a few Oreos on a pretty little plate,  and I found a place to take a photo with my little point-and-shoot camera. This was the moment; lights, camera, action...

WA LA!!

So innocent, so simple and so all-American. Why, who doesn't remember the

Oreo cookie song? In case you can't quite remember how it goes, here it is...

Of course, after I finished taking the picture, I had to eat the cookies I dropped,

 but I did put the rest back. I also had to drink the milk so that I didn't have to take my

 AAACK large calcium pills!

In my defense, they were Reduced Fat Oreos...

For dinner, I had a salad and a rotisserie chicken. No dessert...

Sigh

Guard Your Heart

My husband has high blood pressure, and so I gathered a few cookbooks to browse through so that we could make a few changes where needed.  He actually eats healthier than I do (I'll post about that soon!), and even though he loves a bowl of ice cream, he has cut back on how often he has it. Because I love him, it is important to me that I help him to guard his heart so that he will be able to grow old with me and enjoy time together and with our family.

In Proverbs, we read that we must above all else, guard our hearts, for our hearts are the wellspring, the place where we may store up good things, and when we do so, our actions and our words to others will be kind and gentle. What a beautiful word picture comes from the word "wellspring", for it is from our hearts that our emotions, our thoughts, and our actions come from, like a spring bubbling up from the ground. A natural spring provides cool and refreshing water, something desired by those who thirst, just as our hearts thirst for the Word of the Lord.  

But there is another spring called a hot spring. Yellowstone Park is well known for its hot springs that are created from super hot water. These springs do not provide refreshment, but are in fact, very dangerous. There are warning signs posted near each hot spring, warning visitors of the park to stay on the trails and boardwalks, and those who do not heed the signs suffer severe burns and may even lose their lives.

Like the cookbooks we are using to keep our hearts healthy, God has provided His Word to show us the way to live a healthy spiritual life, and His Word is thorough, providing everything we need to have a clean and pure heart, and also "posts warning signs" for us to heed so that we may be safe from sin and harm.

God

knows the desires of our hearts.

heals our broken hearts,

cleanses our hearts,

 hears our hearts cry out,  

lifts up our hearts,

 gives us glad and sincere hearts,

fills our hearts with joy,

purifies our hearts,

has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

searches our hearts,

made his light shine in our hearts,

sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,

strengthens, encourages and directs our hearts,

put His laws on our hearts,

is greater than our hearts...

...and the peace of Christ rules  in our hearts!

These are just a few examples of the word "heart" or "hearts" in the Bible! There are literally hundreds of scripture references to the heart, far more than the recipes in these cookbooks! Our hearts are very important to God, so we  do well to guard our hearts in all ways.

Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

Word-Filled Wednesday ~ Fireflies

photo: fanpop

"I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows Me

will never walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life."

John 8:12

Growing up on a farm in the midwest, fireflies were a common sight on summer evenings. We called them lightning bugs, and we loved to catch them and put them in a jar, fascinated by their mysterious glow. We do not see fireflies where we live now, and it is something I miss showing to our grandchildren.

But there is a light that shines everywhere, no matter your physical location, because it is the light that lights the way for life, the Light of Jesus. He is the Light of the world, and as His followers, we reflect the light that shines from Him to the world.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

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Dear Abby

What is Lucy peeking at out the window?

Aha! Abby has come for a visit!

Can you believe that this sweet little dog is 14 or 15 years old?

Abby visits when her family is out of town, and Lucy

 is always a little jealous at first, but the 2 of them get

 along quite well.

Abby loves people, but her favorite person at our house is Lauren.

When he gets home, Abby sits with such devotion at his feet,

 and makes a little whining noise, begging for his attention.

I think he secretly likes it, although he pretends not to.

He calls her "Dear Abby".

Her hearing is fading, she isn't as fast as she used to be,

and there is a little gray around that cute little puppy face,

but she will always be Dear Abby.

Thanks to her family for letting her stay with us awhile.