Great Books…

I’ve found some new (to me) Christian Authors recently, and I’ve been enjoying their work so much! The newest one is Karen Kingsbury. I’ve seen her name many times in the literature I get as Church Librarian, but recently, someone donated some of her books to the Library, and while checking them over for appropriateness, I’ve gotten totally hooked!

I’m reading the third one in the “Forever Faithful” series, and these books have all be “edge of the seat” stories that it’s almost impossible to lay down! The characters are all totally real with major problems in their or their friend’s lives, but through the faithfulness of God, they come to find that “Peace that passes understanding” in their lives. The first book in this series is, “Waiting for Morning,” and it is about a woman, Hannah, who is filled with anger, hate and overwhelming pain in her life when her husband and her oldest daughter are killed by a drunk driver. Hannah’s youngest daughter, Jenny, who was also in the car, and survived the accident in body, is deeply damaged emotionally.

The story is heart-wrenching and draws the reader in because we have all experienced these emotions from things that have happened in our own lives. Mrs. Kingsbury is an excellent story teller and pulls no punches about real life problems, but leads her readers to see that God is “Forever Faithful,” to be with us, whether or not we are open to Him when we are blinded by life’s difficult circumstances.

I totally recommend this book, for it reminded me again that the people who are the “thorniest” are often so full of pain and anger that they can’t see anything else, and though they may be the hardest to “love,” they need it the most. I need to remember that God wants to love them through me…

An Old Indian Story…

I heard a story once that has always stuck with me. It was about an old Native American Indian who was talking to a traveling preacher. The preacher knew that the Indian had accepted the Lord a while back and was asking how he was doing in his faith.

The Indian told him, “ I feel as if there is a black dog and a white dog fighting within me… one leading me toward evil and the other toward good!”

The preacher asked, “Which dog is winning?”

The Indian answered, “ The dog that I feed the most!”

This story explains why I try to spend a lot of time during the day listening to Christian TV programming or Christian Radio, why I read good Christian fiction, and why I read my Bible everyday. I want the White Dog to win within me. The more of the Bread of Life that I eat, and the more of the Living Water that I drink, the stronger my reborn spirit will become and the faster it will grow.

Puppies and Rainbows…

I have had so much fun watching Dott’s puppies as they play and learn over the past few weeks. Sure, they take a lot of work, too, but the joy they have brought into my life has made it well worth it.

Ok… so I take pleasure in some of the simple things in life, but letting God take care of my cares, and taking time to smell the roses or watch the Corgis play, makes life so much more satisfying than stressing about things that “may” happen, or things that I can’t do anything about anyway.


That is what is so wonderful about Corgi Country. It is a haven away from traffic, noise, and other sources of stress. I can always turn off the TV and listen to music or even just listen to the birds sing, or the horses munch on their hay. Doing what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34 has become my main philosophy of life I think… At least since I’ve tried to follow it this past year, and it has worked well for me! Essentially, it says to take one day at a time and don’t worry about tomorrow.

After all, I don’t even know if I will be here tomorrow (freak car accident, stray bullet, meteor coming through the ceiling, etc.), and if I’ve taken care of the important things between myself and God, then THAT isn’t a problem, so I need to just do what I need to do each day to keep things in running order.

I need to be careful not to add the world’s problems to my shoulders by feeding my brain depressing stuff I can’t do a thing about anyway… that doesn’t mean not to do my part, like voting intelligently according to my principles, but so many times I sit there and watch T.V. shows that just put junk into my head. Computer people say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” when talking about programming a computer, and some of those principles apply to what I allow to go into my brain.


Each day, I try to make an effort to feed my brain good things… things that bring joy and peace, and cut back on things that bring me down. This has been shown, by numerous studies, to lengthen a person’s life, by lowering blood pressure, and the levels of stress hormones in the body that tears it down over time… I try to take a walk with a loved one, or a dog (same thing actually) and really LOOK around. I look at the paintings God has created for me in the sky... I try to look at the rainbows in the diamonds of dew on the leaves, grass or a spider’s web. I watch a comedy or read a funny or uplifting book. I try to feed my brain good things!

I’m taking steps toward a more peaceful way of living each day, and trying to make it my way of life…

My Comfort…

I heard someone talking about this, and it really touched me…

Those loved ones that have died as Christians, are NOT only in your past, BUT are also in your future, so LOOK FORWARD to seeing them again as one of those treasures that are laid up in heaven, instead of looking backward, unless it is with good memories, and living in the past which only leads to depression…