Today’s thought – It’s Raining Tenderness . . .

2009 QubecHappy 47th Anniversary to us.

Good Afternoon,

Genesis 41:50-52
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh:
For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim:
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

. . . Perchance some of God’s children are even now saying,
“O God, it is raining hard for me tonight.”

“Testings are raining upon me
which seem beyond my power to endure.
Disappointments are raining fast,
to the utter defeat of my plans.
Bereavements are raining into mu life which are making my shrinking heart quiver in its intensity of suffering.
The rain of affliction is surely beating down upon my soul these days.”

With, friend, you are mistaken.
It isn’t raining rain for you.
It’s raining blessing.
For, if you will but believe your Father’s Word,
under that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in that stormless, unchastened life of yours.

You indeed see the rain.
But do you see also the flowers?
You are pained by the testings.
but God sees the sweet flower of faith which is upspringing in your life under those very trials.

You shrink from the suffering.
But God sees the tender compassion for other sufferers which is finding birth in your soul.

Your heart winces under the sore bereavement.
But God sees the deepening and enriching which that sorrow has brought to you.

It isn’t raining afflictions for you.
It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Spirit, which are bringing into your life such a spiritual enrichment as all the fullness of worldly prosperity and ease was never able to beet in your innermost soul. –J. M. McC.

In everything give thanks . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 16, 2014 at 2:01 pm  Leave a Comment  
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March 1 – Verdant

 

LAUREL LOVE CLIPARTS

ver·dant
adj.
1. Green with vegetation; covered with green growth.
2. Green.
3. Lacking experience or sophistication; naive.

Spring
Fresh
New
Alive
Growing
Spreading
Establishing
Reassuring
After Darkness comes the dawn
The dawn shows what the darkness has produced.
mar 1 003Violet babies! Who would know they were there, verdant.

March  Prompt-A-Day

Published in: on March 1, 2014 at 12:45 pm  Comments (1)  
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February 20, Today’s thought – It is Possible

feb19 007A ‘burn day’ so the Farmer burns brush

Good Morning

Luke 1:37
For with God nothing shall be impossible.

It is possible,
for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and are found to be true.

It is possible
to cast all our care upon Him daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it.

It is possible
to have the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word.

It is possible
by taking complete refuge in Divine power to become strong through and through; and, where previously our greatest weakness lay, to find that things which formerly upset all our resolves to be patient, or pure or humble, furnish today an opportunity–through Him who loved us, and works in us an agreement with His will and a blessed sense of His presence and His power–to make sin powerless over us.

These things are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES, and because they are His work, the true experience of them will always cause us to bow lower at His feet and to learn to thirst and long for more.

We cannot possibly be satisfied with anything less–each day, each hour, each moment, in Christ, through the power of this Holy Spirit–than to WALK WITH GOD. McLaren

Believe in Possibilities . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on February 20, 2014 at 5:46 am  Leave a Comment  
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Ten on Tuesday – I Love Red!

ToT-Button

On Tuesday’s Carole hosts ‘Ten on Tuesdays’.
She chooses a topic – we list ten items.

10 Favorite Things that are Red

My title says it all, “I love RED”

Dark RED cherries

My RED and black PJ’s

RED ink pens

feb11 001

My tweedy RED sweater

RED headed little children

A ruby RED Park Avenue I used to own, I loved that car.

RED and white coffee cups

feb11 002

A Christmas tree decorated with white lights and RED bulbs

A RED shawl in the knitting, hopefully done by next winter

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and RED ketchup!

but I like to be in the BLACK   .    .    .   not in the RED.

Want to see what RED things others like click here.

 

Published in: on February 11, 2014 at 12:54 pm  Comments (4)  
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Write ALM – guilty pleasure(s)

First time  I’ve joined Write ALM  with a writing prompt, guilty pleasure.

I always feel a little guilty
when I go to the grocery store or bank or post office.
You see, that is not my main purpose.
I will go to the grocery store or bank or post office,
but I’ll fit those errands around
a quiet, peaceful, solitary time
of dining out with a book.

jan9 subMy chariot takes me to quiet moments.

Breakfast, my favorite,
lunch,
or coffee and donuts,
or maybe, Baskin-Robbins.
As long as
it is a quiet, peaceful, solitary time.

Published in: on January 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm  Comments (1)  
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Now the Day is Over

dec 27 001

Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep,
Birds, and beasts and flowers
Soon will be asleep.

Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tenderest blessing
May mine eyelids close.

Grant to little children
Visions bright of Thee;
Guard the sailors tossing
On the deep, blue sea.

Comfort those who suffer,
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil
From their sin restrain.

Through the long night watches
May Thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.

When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.

Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to Thee, blest Spirit,
While all ages run.

Sa­bine Bar­ing-Gould

To hear the music click here

Published in: on December 31, 2013 at 12:04 pm  Comments (4)  
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September 20, Today’s thought – Two Grand Links

482012 001God’s Word reveals to me His Love.

Good Morning

Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38  This is the first and great commandment.
39  And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.

Matthew 22:40

On these two – hang all the law and the prophets
– They are like the first and last links of a chain,
all the intermediate ones depend on them.
True religion begins and ends in love to God and man.
These are the two grand links that unite God to man,
man to his fellows,
and men again to God.

Love is the fulfilling of the law, says St. Paul,
Romans 13:10; for he who has the love of God in him
delights to obey the Divine precepts,
and to do all manner of kindness to men for God’s sake.

from Clarke’s Commentary

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10 KJV

Thankful for God showing me His love . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on September 20, 2013 at 5:51 am  Comments (2)  

March 13, Today’s thought — God Asks

Mar 8 bulbs 014

The Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is also to be feared above all gods.
I Chronicles 16:25

“Can anything make me stop loving you?” God asks.
Watch me speak your language,
sleep on your earth,
and feel your hurts.

Behold the maker of sight and sound
as he sneezes, coughs, and blows his nose.

You wonder if I understand how you feel?

Look into the dancing eyes of the kid in Nazareth;
that’s God walking to school.

Ponder the toddler at Mary’s table;
that’s God spilling his milk.

“You wonder how long my love will last?
Find your answer on a splintered cross, on a craggy hill.
That’s me you see up there,
your maker, your God, nail-stabbed and bleeding.
Covered in spit and sin-soaked.

That’s your sin I’m feeling.
That’s your death I’m dying.
That’s your resurrection I’m living.
That’s how much I love you.”

Max Lucado~~In the Grip of Grace

Accept God’s Love . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 13, 2013 at 5:14 am  Leave a Comment  

March 2, Today’s thought — I Carry You

P1030606

Good Morning

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand. Psalm 73:23

In the Old Testament,
when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place
once a  year to sprinkle the blood of the lamb
on the mercy sear to make atonement for sin,
he wore a breastplate that covered his heart and chest. . .
The breastplate was encrusted with twelve stones,
each one carved with one of the names of the tribes of Israel.
Wearing this breastplate signified
that when the high priest went into God’s presence,
he carried the names of God’s children on his heart.
The first of those stones was a carnelian.
And the last was a jasper
When John described the One Who sat on the throne,
he said He “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (Rev.4:3a).
A jasper was a clear stone, much like a diamond.
A carnelian, or sardus stone, had more the color oa a ruby . .
It is as though John was describing God saying,
even by the colors He wore,

“I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

I carry you by name on My Heart forever.”

When seated on the throne at the center of the universe,
preparing to judge the world.
Jesus gies you and me evidence we are on His heart!

Annie Grahm Lotz ~~The Vision of His Glory

Trust the one who loves you. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on March 2, 2013 at 5:02 am  Leave a Comment  

Yarn Along – Knit and Hearts

yarnalong_gsheller_gray

On Wednesday’s knitters go to Ginny’s to share all the wonderful projects being worked on, finished, frogged, cried over, and learned from. They also tell what they are reading and a little of the storyline or provoking thoughts. I think it is great. So many books, knitting ideas and hints on how to make knitting more enjoyable.

This week knitting along on Heather’s baby blanket
and Kathi’s shawl;
I’m seeing progress on both.
Feb 19 13 hearts 001Then Valentine’s Day slipped in
and I got sidetracked knitting heart bookmarks for ‘heart’ ones.

My audible listening has been The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield. I enjoyed the book so much.
from Goodreads:

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise—she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story.

Both women will have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets… and the ghosts that haunt them still.

If you like stories with a twist in the ending, this one is for you.

Published in: on February 20, 2013 at 9:15 am  Comments (4)  

Yarn Along – Focusing

yarnalong_gsheller_gray

On Wednesday’s knitters go to Ginny’s to share all the wonderful projects being worked on, finished, frogged, cried over, and learned from. They also tell what they are reading and a little of the storyline or provoking thoughts. I think it is great. So many books, knitting ideas and hints on how to make knitting more enjoyable.

Focused on these two projects this week:

This baby shawl, off the needles to see how it is growing.
Feb14 baby 001 (1)

Pretty, isn’t it?
Feb14 baby 001 (2) Baby is arriving soon.

Buster is guarding this quilt,
blocks together, half of border on,
Lord willing, to the quilter this evening.

Feb 14 ds quilt 003

Listening to, again, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, I am fascinated by the twists and turns of this book.

Published in: on February 14, 2013 at 10:23 am  Comments (3)  

February 5, Time Out – Frazzzled by Life

KAL2012 003The second part of my favorite knitting toy;
the yarn is placed on the swift
and then threaded thru the metal guide
and on to the yarn winder.
After I turned the handle for a while
I get a yarn cake. Tomorrow’s picture.

Good Morning

If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him? Matthew 7:11

A minister friend told me about a phone call he received one night.
At one or two in the morning, he was awakened by a caller
who was sobbing and rambling on in a way that made no sense.
Trying to wake up, calm the caller and make sense of the problem,
my friend became exasperated and said sternly,
“Now settle, down, get a grip on yourself and tell me your name.”
In a moment came the startled reply, “But, Dad, it’s me, Joel!.”
Instantly my friend was wide awake, totally sympathetic,
filled with love and compassion, listening to a tale of woe
only a college student pressured by grades, girls and loneliness can experience.
Why the sudden change?
It was his child.
No one on Earth mattered more to him.

When I am frazzled and call out to God,
He responds with total understanding, compassion and love.
For I am His child.
And so are you. ~~Eric Fellman

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Psalm 121:3

Call on God day or night . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on February 5, 2013 at 11:34 am  Leave a Comment  

Five Minute Friday – Afraid

5-minute-friday-1

“This is where a brave and beautiful bunch gather every week to find out what comes out when we all spend five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here.” With Lisa

‘Writing for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking’ but I always check the spelling ( I have blame my mother for that quirk.

Prompt – AFRAID

I have been afraid of trying most of my life. As a teenager I didn’t try things for fear of how I would look, whether I could do it right or do it good enough.
I backed myself in a box.
As I grew older I would learn a skill, then degrade my abilities because I didn’t do it as well as someone else.
Then I took a basic accounting class at a junior college.We had recently started a business and I needed to brush up on my high school bookkeeping. I was 38 years old.
I got A’s on almost all of my work.
I looked at those grades.
I knew how much effort I put forth.
It was not 100% by any means.
I realized,
I was putting the bar of accomplishment ‘way higher than it needed to be.
I could do my skills well.
I was able to do ‘A’ work, I had proof.
I didn’t have to knock myself out to do it, either.
I didn’t have to be afraid to try.
I just had to be brave enough to try.

stop

silhouettes-pole-vaulting-thumb9880147

Published in: on February 1, 2013 at 11:02 am  Comments (6)  

October 15, Today’s thought — Silent; Watching and Waiting

Grocery store violet – I like.

Good Morning

“Friends, when life gets really difficult,
don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.
Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what
Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process,
with glory just around the corner.”
(1 Peter 4:12-13. The Message).

Sometimes things can get so difficult that even the most ardent believers look heavenward with serious questions about whether or not God is involved in our affairs anymore. Even Jesus Himself cried out on the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Sometimes God pulls just far enough away to awaken and alarm us by His absence. Perhaps we may have grown so accustomed to His blessings and benefits, that we inadvertently began taking them for granted; failing to humbly acknowledge His presence and His provisions in our daily lives. Living presumptuously, without showing our gratitude to God for who He is and what He does.
Nothing snaps us out of that indifferent daze more quickly that a good dose of real difficulty, with a side order of God’s perceived absence. When all hell breaks loose, and heaven is no where to be found — that will get your attention!
But, God is not absent, nor is He distant. He’s just silent; watching and waiting for how we handle the situation. Will be bellow in unbelief like those who know not God at all? Or will we, like Job of old, trust Him though He slay us.
The truth is that the difficulty you are facing is a spiritual refining process; God is separating the gold from the dross in your life. And if you will quietly trust Him through the ordeal you will soon discover it was worth it all — for glory is just around the corner.  ~~Rylie

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Peter 4:12-13 KJV

Published in: on October 15, 2012 at 4:46 am  Leave a Comment  

October 11, Today’s thought – Without Any Limit


Wild sunflowers,my sign that fall is near

Good Morning

“If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God…

And that He came into this world
and went to the cross of Calvary
and died for our sins
and rose again in order to justify us
and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven —

If you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction:

Namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives

– without any limit whatsoever.”

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Romans 12:1-2
I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren,
and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God,
to make a decisive dedication of your bodies
[presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God,
which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service
and spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age),
[fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude],
so that you may prove [for yourselves]
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God,
even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect
[in His sight for you]. Amplified Bible

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on October 11, 2012 at 4:21 am  Leave a Comment  
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