His Grace is Great Enough

But he said to me,
“My grace is enough for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may reside in me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

The other evening I was riding home after a heavy day’s work.
I felt very wearied, and sore depressed,
when swiftly, and suddenly as a lightning flash,
that text came to me,
“My grace is sufficient for thee.”
I reached home and looked it up in the original,
and at last it came to me in this way,
“MY grace is sufficient for thee”;
and I said, “I should think it is, Lord,”
and burst out laughing.
I never fully understood what
the holy laughter of Abraham was until then.
It seemed to make unbelief so absurd.
It was as though some little fish,
being very thirsty,
was troubled about drinking the river dry,
and Father Thames said,
“Drink away, little fish, my stream is sufficient for thee.”
Or, it seemed after the seven years of plenty,
a mouse feared it might die of famine;
and Joseph might say,
“Cheer up, little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for thee.”
Again, I imagined a man away up yonder,
in a lofty mountain, saying to himself,
“I breathe so many cubic feet of air every year,
I fear I shall exhaust the oxygen in the atmosphere,”
but the earth might say,
“Breathe away, O man, and fill the lungs ever,
my atmosphere is sufficient for thee.”
Oh, brethren, be great believers!
Little faith will bring your souls to Heaven,
but great faith will bring Heaven to your souls.
–C. H. Spurgeon

His grace is great enough to meet the great things
The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,
The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,
The sudden storm beyond our life’s control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things
The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,
The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,
The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.
–Annie Johnson Flint

from Streams in the Desert,
complied by Mrs, C. E. Cowman

Enjoy your grace . . .Today

Published in: on February 27, 2018 at 12:02 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , ,

Maker’s Monday – Moody Spice of Life

Jeannie Gray said
” It’s Makers’ Monday. Tell me all about what you’re making.”

Moods of Change ran out of variegated and grey yarn,
I think on round 53.

I found variegated at Lions on line,
waiting for delivery.
I’ve accepted it won’t be the same die lot. Oh well.
Babetta’s Yarn and Gifts, my favorite local yarn shop,
had a grey that will work,
again not exact but acceptable.

So while I wait for ups.

I pulled Spice of Life,
a Sandra Paul/Cherry Heart Design.
out of time out.

I completed 52 rows since February 20.
I’ll work on this maybe 30 more rows and then a border.
Maybe less rows I’d like to have it done
by Saturday for a little boy due soon.

Spice of Life Ravelry notes here
Moods of Change Ravelry notes here.
Jeannie Grey – link up here

Published in: on February 26, 2018 at 7:20 pm  Comments (4)  
Tags: , , , , ,

Three on Thursday – Three Doors


Door of Memories

The last time I entered this door,
I was flooded with memories.
This was my dream house;
when I didn’t even know my dream looked like.
We lived and loved and learned and lost
behind this door for 13 years.
Weddings, births, Christmases, Birthdays,
Family nights, the-doors-are-open nights.
all those happened behind this door.
Chicken and rice, pot roast with all the fixings,
ham with cloves and dressing, grilled cheese,
Roundtable Pizza and Hing’s Chinese food
(home delivery please)
Strawberry shortcake, chocolate chip cookies,
bread pudding with whiskey sauce, brownie sundaes,
chocolate cake/vanilla icing and
vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup ‘up-a-top’!
Yep, we ate it all behind this door.
Books read in front of a stone fireplace,
knitting while listening to a book on tape,
quilts were pieced and quilted
behind this door.
Sometimes it seemed the walls would burst.
Sometimes it was very loud with laughter.
Sometimes tears flowed like a river.
I gathered all my memories close to my heart,
before I walked out this door for the last time.

 


Door of expectations

Behind these doors:
cookbooks,
color books with coloring pens and pencils,
Christmas decorations,
a suitcase or two
devotionals
yarn in boxes and bags
fabric sorted by projects, type, maybe someday
a couple sewing machines,
an ironing board
buttons, snaps, zippers, thread, needles,
scissors, lots of scissors
cutting mats, rulers, rotary cutters
patterns for clothing, aprons,
knitting, crochet, counted x-stitch
office supplies, cards and note paper,
crochet hooks and knitting needles
of many types and designs
wood, plastic, aluminum stainless steel, glass
cheap, expensive, short, long,
straights, double pointed and circular
games and puzzles
clothes that don’t fit
shoes and boots
a desk and a chair
and some other stuff
Everything expectantly waiting.


Door of adventures

How many trips have started by opening this door . . .
weekly errands,
groceries, bank, post office, cleaners,
chiropractor and doctors appointments
visits with children close in town
visits with family farther away
quiet times with a book
eating lunch behind the steering wheel,
downtown Sacramento, just because
day trips:
Truckee,
Placerville,
quilt shop hops,
San Francisco,
Half Moon Bay,
Ruth Bancroft nursery,
South shore Lake Tahoe
Bodega Bay,
Fernley, Nevada 😉
Grass Valley,
vacations:
Monterey/Pacific Grove,
Washington State Quilt shop hop
Phoenix
to the airport, Hawaii, Georgia, New York, Illinois, Florida
Oregon
Mexico
Idhao
2007 Topcrain Journey, 10,000+ miles
2017 Topcrain Journey2, 13,000+ miles
and the door is still open
coz’ I haven’t seen it all yet.

I didn’t expect all of this today.
Linking with Carole’s Three on Thursday here.

Published in: on February 22, 2018 at 3:31 pm  Comments (2)  
Tags: , , , ,

Makers’ Monday – Moods 2

Jeannie Gray said
” It’s Makers’ Monday. Tell me all about what you’re making.”

Okay.

Last Monday, February 12, on row 32 –

this Monday, February 19, working on row 50!

Quite a bit of ripping went on
row 43 had 442 double crochets.
I finally got that right . . .
then row 44 just would not count out right.

I ripped and re-crocheted more than once
and finally fudged,
(for non-crocheters that does not mean I ate fudge;
it means I pulled out my stitching and redid the stitches)
and the continuing rows have worked out well.

31 rows to go – but I know I don’t have enough yarn.
Question – just crochet until I run out of yarn,
trying to plan a pleasant end or
go buy more knowing exact dye lot won’t be available.
I’ll have to see how different the colors are.

A friend laughingly asked when I was going to make her a blanket.
I asked, “what colors?”
She said “black and grey” duh?
“Can I add a little teal?’
“Sure whatever leftovers you have”
We parted laughing.

Knowing me, well, you may not know me,
but that request has lodged in my cluttered brain.

So when I ran across this pattern
(don’t you just love blogs, Facebook, Pinterest etc.)
I knew it was her pattern  (link).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Optical Art is a method of painting concerning the interaction
between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing.”
[John Lancaster. Introducing Op Art, London: BT Batsford Ltd, 1973, p. 28.]

I took a little while on Sunday to see if my fingers
remembered how to work with three double pointed needles.


Sorry I took needles out before picture.

A little rough but I can do it!
Where this falls in the queue, anyone’s guess.

Ravelry notes here
Jeannie Grey – link up here

Published in: on February 19, 2018 at 5:13 pm  Comments (2)  
Tags: , ,

Five Minute Friday – Why

Many new and experienced writers,
mostly women, join this write-a-long.
If you want to read what others have written
or join in the fun, click here

Why

GO

Why is an automatic response.
A young child continually asks, “WHY?”
He doesn’t really want or understand
the elaborate explanation we give over and over
until we finally tire and say,
“Because I said so!”

So we are as a child,
when meet we something we don’t understand —
WHY?
Not because we are unbelieving.
Not even because we want an elaborate answer.
But because we need our Father’s attention.
We need to know we are not alone.
We need to know  are cared for and
we can trust the one who is holding our hands.

Until we hear those reassuring words,
“Because I said so, my child.”

stop

“For God Himself has said,
I will not in any way fail you
nor give you up
nor leave you without support.
I will not,
I will not,
I will not in any degree leave you
helpless nor forsake nor let you down;
nor relax My hold on you!
Assuredly not!”
Hebrew 13:5
The Amplified Bible

Published in: on February 17, 2018 at 12:14 am  Comments (5)  
Tags: , ,

Three on Thursday – Signs of Spring


First Signs of Spring at Cozy Acres
along the garden path.

First to be seen along my pathway are the white violets.

  Then these precious bells appear.

Last, but not least,
(really not even the last blooms that reappear)
are the purple violets.
These will continue to bloom long after the white violets and bells are gone.

Just one more, please
The spring bulbs need separating,
but I love them bright and compact.
The little bells grow in a row to the right of this picture.

Linking with Carole for Three on Thursday .

Published in: on February 15, 2018 at 5:14 pm  Comments (2)  
Tags: , , , ,

But for right now . . .

I Corinthians 13:4-7, 13

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

But for right now,
until that completeness,
we have three things to do
to lead us toward that consummation:
Trust steadily in God,
hope unswervingly,
love extravagantly.
And the best of the three is love.
The Message

Today

Published in: on February 14, 2018 at 6:52 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , ,

Blessed Are the Merciful

I gathered these pretties yesterday.

from my morning Bible reading:

Mercy – compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone
whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.

Luke 6:36
Be ye therefore merciful,
as your Father also is merciful.

A merciful or compassionate man easily forgets injuries;
pardons them without being solicited;
and does not permit repeated returns of ingratitude
to deter him from doing good,
even to the unthankful and the unholy.
Clarke’s Commentary

Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.

“The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him who gives, and him who takes::
Portia in William Shakespeare’s
The Merchant of Venice

Luke 6:36 Amplified Bible
So be merciful
(sympathetic, tender,
responsive and compassionate)
even as your Father is [all these.]

Today . . . Help me exercise Mercy, Lord.

Published in: on February 13, 2018 at 1:23 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , ,

Makers’ Monday – Moods

Jeannie Gray said
” It’s Makers’ Monday.  Tell me all about what you’re making.”

Okay.

The mess of Moods of Change I found in ‘Crochet time out’.

I don’t know when I started it.
I don’t know what size needle I used.
I think I know where I left off . . .
but I ripped it out anyway and started over on February 6.


By this afternoon, February 12,
I had finished row 32 with 364 single crochets.
Some people stop at this point
making a mini Moods of Change.
I have many more skeins of yarn
so I’ll keep going around and around
depending on my ‘mood’.


Pictures show red as rosy but it is more country brick.

Moods of Change designer, Frank O’Randle
Linking with Jeannie.

Ravelry Moods of Change notes

Published in: on February 13, 2018 at 12:56 am  Comments (3)  
Tags: ,

Five Minute Friday – Privilege

Many new and experienced writers,
mostly women, join this write-a-long.
If you want to read what others have written
or join in the fun, click here

Privilege – a right or advantage gained by birth

Romans 8:15-17
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,
at we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together.

Go

When I first read the word privilege
and looked up the meaning
I was concerned with the thoughts of entitlement,
better or less than another,
this is mine.

I let thoughts come and go through my mind all day.
Then as I read through some of the five minutes of others
“what a privilege . . .”
caught my eye.
and what I was trying to put down jelled.

I feel so privileged to be a child of God.

Not because I was special,
not because I had talents,
not because I was born in a certain place,
had special parents or
spoke English.

I could have had a completely different ethnicity,
I could have been born in a different country,
I could have had a different level of learning
and I could still be a child of God.

Because “for the LORD seeth not as man seeth;
for man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
1 Samuel-16:7

Because I am a child of God,
the privileges I have are beyond measure.
I can call on His name in prayer;
and He hears.
I can crawl on His lap when I am afraid;
and I am comforted.
I can receive grace for each day;
and have strength for every situation.
I can love my neighbor as myself.
I can forgive,
because He first loved and forgave me.

Stop.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
refrain
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
refrain

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Written by Elisha A. Hoffman, Cyril A. Mclellan, A Showalter •
Copyright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group
Published in: on February 9, 2018 at 7:13 pm  Comments (1)  
Tags: , ,

Yarn Along – February


What is ‘Yarn Along’?
Yarn Along is a place at Ginny’s blog where Knitters meet
(Crocheters are welcome, too)
to share all the wonderful projects being worked on,
finished,
frogged, (ripped out all the hard work)
learned from and cried over.
These dear people also share what they are reading,
or like me are listening to,
adding a bit of the story line
or a provoking thought.
(I haven’t been able to read and knit/crochet at the same time.
Sometimes I can’t even talk and knit/crochet at the same time.)

Yarn Along
~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading
and I love sharing my projects and current reads here.~
This is how Ginny begins her blog, Small Things,
on the First Wednesday of the month.

TA-DA
Ripple for Travis is finished!
Approximately 48 inches X 80 inches
nice size for a 6 foot + son-in-law.

Next Project in the Time Out pile.
Moods of Change by Frank O’Randle
What I found!

After checking everything out,
trying to figure out where I left off
AND what size hook I was using,
I decided to start all over!

Begin
February 6, 2018
I like the pattern,
the repetitions are make sense
and are easy to follow.

Row 20 completed at 1:30 am 2/8/2018
about 24 inches across.

Sporadically, reading

from the back cover:
Boundaries in Marriage helps you understand the friction points or serious hurts and betrayals in your marriage
–and move beyond them to the mutual care, respect, affirmation and intimacy you both long for.

I’m hoping to learn how to be a better partner in my marriage.

Linking with Ginny’s yarn Along @ Small Things

Published in: on February 8, 2018 at 2:17 pm  Comments (1)  
Tags: , , ,

Three on Thursday – On My Wall

As you walk up to our trailer,
you’ll see these three things hanging on our wall.

An internet repeater,
we share internet service
and this little box helps us have reasonably consistant service.

Our keepsake from our 2017 Topcrain Journey,
purchased in Ohio in Amish Country.

Our keepsake from our 2007 Topcrain Journey,
I didn’t look up where we purchased this star;
it is made from old metal roofing.

Before you ask,

from a picture I gave the Farmer,
I received this coat stand for Christmas one year.
the Farmer can make almost anything from a picture.

Linking with Carole and her Three on Thursday .

Published in: on February 8, 2018 at 1:05 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , ,

Makers’ Monday

Jeannie Gray said
” It’s Makers’ Monday.  Tell me all about what you’re making.”

Okay.

Finished!
Ripple for Travis

February 5, 2018 about 1:45am

Folded up ready to deliver
Approximately 48″ X 80″

Mood of Change is the next project to be finished.
I don’t know when I started this.

Linking with Jeannie

Ravlery Ripple for T notes
Ravelry Moods of Change notes

Published in: on February 6, 2018 at 12:36 am  Comments (2)  
Tags: , ,

Hope is Still a Promise

from 2013, still true today.

First violets are white.

“And this hope is what saves us.
But if we already have what we hope for,
there is no need to keep on hoping.”
Romans 8:24

Faith is a power, and Hope is a promise.
For Hope is always about that which is yet to come;
never about what we currently possess.
Faith reaches into the future
and brings into the present
a borrowed power that enables us
to live today in the strength of tomorrow;
to posses this earth with heaven in mind;
to live in the presence of the “not yet.”
But Hope differs in this regard:
it knows what is promised,
even though it cannot see it,
and though it will never lay hold of it
until the day it actually arrives —
Hope holds firm without wavering.
Faith is for this world;
Hope is for the next.
There will be no need for Faith
in Heaven once we are there,
so we should spend all that we have while we are here.
But our Hope will pay off huge on That Day
when we cross the threshold of Time into Eternity
and see what our hearts have only imagined.
Hope is a promise
that holds our hearts forward to a better day,
that lifts us above the present darkness of a bad stretch
and keeps us buoyant in the midst of turbulence and trouble.
But sometimes Hope flags in the face of delays;
and Hope deferred can make the heart sick.
Thus weakened with soul-sickness,
our hearts may lose their grip on what is promised;
our Hope may fade
and our passion to keep a forward view
can diminish in the dusk of uncertain turns.
That’s when Love steps in to lift Hope back on its feet
— for Love never fails.

For we are saved by hope:
but hope that is seen is not hope:
for what a man seeth,
why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 8:24-25

Hope . . . Today

Published in: on February 3, 2018 at 4:52 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , ,

Five Minute Friday – Agree

Many new and experienced writers,
mostly women, join this write-a-long.
If you want to read what others have written
or join in the fun, click here

Agree – to have the same opinion

Go

We agree, the Farmer and I
that the Road Trip we took in 2017,
the year of our 50th anniversary was perfect.

Did we always agree?
NO.
There were disagreements;
sometimes slightly or
not so slightly raised voices
and even louder silences.

Did we have a good time?
Yes!
We met people who became friends;
visited with people we knew who became dear friends;
sights we saw that we would visit again in a heart beat
and memories when dusted off shine with great brightness.

Road trips are like life:
bumps, pot holes and u-turns
scenic surprises and sunsets
(I don’t get up early enough to see many sunrises)
shared hopes, accepted flaws
and great love anyway.
We agree.

Stop

Amos 3:3
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Published in: on February 1, 2018 at 11:41 pm  Comments (11)  
Tags: , ,
« Older Entries