Do you want Peace in Your Life?

“Do you want Peace in Your Life?” This is what the Lord seemed to be asking me, today, as I listened to a Daily Devotional I try to hear each morning when I get up.  I put it on the computer and then listen while doing the “early morning, getting ready for my day,” type of stuff.  HERE is the link to the one I listened to today.

It talked about the belligerence that seems to be getting more and more common… road rage, etc. and what God says I can do about it to have peace in MY heart as I walk through this life.  He uses and IF – THEN statement.  This is common terminology in the computer world…  IF such and such happens, THEN this will happen.

The verses that “Our Daily Bread” gave are found in Philippians 4:4-9. (Scripture below) First, it says to Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS.  I thought, that means for me to keep my eyes on Him so that I can see all that He has done, and IS doing in my life… the blessings I have.  Each time I focus on those blessings, I can rejoice.

The next verse says to be gentle (that’s the only way others will see that gentleness IN me), and I CAN do that if I KNOW that He is “at hand,” and right there with me.

Then God tells me to not worry, but to be talking to Him constantly about everything… asking, and thanking Him because I know He is faithful to answer in the ways that are BEST for me.  That CAN mean “wait for HIS perfect timing…” but trust that He knows what is best better than I know what is best for me.  I am His child and like a little child that wants candy and THINKS that is BEST for him/her, the parent really knows what is best and that might be candy as a treat, but generally, it is more like vegetables or fruit. (Pout!)

IF I am constantly in communication with Him, AND trusting Him to be working everything out for my BEST, THEN the Peace of God, in times of crisis will flow over me, so that others that are watching won’t understand it.   This Peace (from a consistent relationship) will guard my heart and mind because I know Christ Jesus is with me.  After all, He loved me enough to pay for MY sins with HIS blood!

Lastly, in verse 8, God tells me that there are things I need to do to help my mind to stay healthy.  Another computer thing is GIGO.  Garbage In, Garbage Out!  I NEED to make sure what goes into my mind is NOT garbage, but things that lead to gentleness and kindness.

I need to put things that are TRUE (what God says is TRUTH), things that are noble, and just and pure into my mind.  Think about lovely, beautiful things and things that are good and happy, and virtuous… things I can Praise God for… THESE are the things I should be filling my mind with most of my day. 

When I see sad and awful things, I need to take them in through my senses, but let them go OUT again through the flow of my mouth and mind and into GOD’S hands, through prayer, because HE can handle them.  He may use me to handle some of them, but He doesn’t want ME to take on the weight of the world, just whatever tasks He gives me, and He promises that those things will be light and not terribly burdensome because He shares the load (taking most of it.)

Yep… He keeps finding ways of reminding me of these things all the time, as I walk this road with Him.  I wish I weren’t so forgetful!  :)

Philippians 4:4-9

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meditate on These Things

  
⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Uplifting Friends and Verses…

I have a wonderful friend that has shared a devotional with me almost every day for a few years now. So many times, these verses have spoken to my heart as if God is talking directly to me, and I believe that is exactly what is happening for He DOES use others to speak His words down here. So many of you have done that for me, too.

As many of you know, I’ve had some major health issues going on continually since last October… Bronchitis, Asthma, Pneumonia, and lately, Borderline Congestive Heart Failure, which they are hopeful that they have caught in time to stop or slow way down it’s progression. Needless to say, I’ve also had some days when I’ve been fighting depression, but almost always, God has sent an angel… sometimes named Angela, Sandie, Betty, Monica, Kellie… and many others, to help bend down and lift me up with words, cartoons, jokes, prayer, etc.

This was the verse I read from my friend’s devotional today… Isn’t it wonderful when looked at through my eyes…

From SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns: You have had many opportunities through adversity to fall down and stay down. I call to you to gather your strength and get up. You are not without help; I am with you to lift you up again if you will refuse to give up. Exercise your faith and seek My help, says the Lord, for surely I will hear your cries and come to your aid. Trust Me to lift you up again.

Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

I also read another verse from Jeremiah today. It is one that has always touched my heart:

Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

With promises like these, to remind me of God’s love for me, I have been, and will be able, to continue on the path that God has for me until He calls me home!

The Lighthouse…

Many of you already know that I took a blogging break because things were piling up around here that needed to get done and I just didn’t have time to get them done. Well, apparently God had different plans for the break that He told me to take, because I promptly got sick and have had some very difficult times with illness for several months now. I won’t go into all of it, but I know I wouldn’t have made it without the thoughts and prayers of my friends reaching out to God on my behalf, and without the touch of His mighty, healing, loving hands.

Looking out through the darkness and holding on to the light… just knowing that He was there for me… reaching up and touching your fingers and seeing the “Light” of your love… you angels (messengers of God) that have helped me through with your blogs, emails, and the laughter in and from them (which the Bible says is like a medicine to the soul) all have helped me get to this point.

I am breathing better, my cracked tailbone is achy, but tolerable, the tendinitis in my shoulder is being worked on. Let me tell you, being ABLE to breathe without a total struggle, is wonderful!!! The last tests came back and the signs of cancer that were in the last two are totally gone and so is the pneumonia! Praise God!!!

Meanwhile, NOTHING got done around here, but I hope to be able to drop a post in here now and then, because GOD IS GOOD… and I wouldn’t be walking AT ALL without him (Title of this blog). Sometimes, you’ve got to just put one foot in front of the other and keep your eyes on the light of God’s love… and if you can’t “see” it out there, look for it in the Psalms or gospel passages in the Bible. Let the words of Psalms cry out FOR you, and let the life of Christ, and His love for us all, “relight” the pilot light in your soul. LISTEN to Praise Songs for they will help lift your spirit up to heavenly places.

I want to give you a gift… please take about three or four minutes and shut your eyes and just listen to the words (below) of this beautiful old song… It’s helped me so many times!

The Lighthouse

(Jesus is The Lighthouse)

Words and Music by Robbie Hinson

© 1971 - All rights reserved

There's a lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's sea.

When I'm tossed it sends out a light that I might see.

And the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead me home,

If it wasn't for the lighthouse, my ship would sail no more.

Chorus

And I thank God for The Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him.

Jesus is The Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin,

He has shown the light around me, so that I might clearly see.

If it wasn't for The Lighthouse, Where would this ship be?

Everyone that lives around us, says tear that old lighthouse down,

The big ships don't sail this way anymore, ain't no use in it standing round.

But then my mind goes back to that stormy night, when just in time I saw the light

With the light from that old lighthouse, that stands there on the hill.

Chorus

And I thank God for The Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him.

Jesus is The Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin,

He has shown the light around me, so that I might clearly see.

If it wasn't for The Lighthouse, Where would this ship be?

A Wonderful Weekend!

We had a really good weekend! We went up to Mick’s town and attended Anna Elizabeth’s Dedication Service, and a lot of family was able to attend. Both of my sisters went, along with my Brother-in-law and one of my grand-nieces….

Another thing that was great, was that my eldest son, Charles was able to attend, too. He had spent the last week driving out from St. Pete, FL, and he got there a couple of hours before church started. He’d driven 28 hours straight from E. TX, from my son, Jay’s house to get here. He is out here to visit and to attend his 20th High School Class Reunion.

A lot of my daughter-in-law’s family were also able to come up, and we got some great “5 Generations” pictures.

Their church is a lot like ours on their Baby Dedication Services. We know that a baby can’t make an informed decision about following Christ, but that it is the adults around that child that have the responsibility to lead and teach that child in the way they should grow. We choose to make a covenant with God that we will do the best we can to accept that responsibility. It is not JUST the parents, but the extended family AND the church family that seek to be good role models and teachers.

It was so great to see Charles, as well as my newest grand-daughter, and it was a fun visit for everyone. Jenn’s family are all wonderful people and we all get along really well.

My grand-niece, Jamie, is the one that looks a lot like Kody and is close to the same age. They really love to play with each other, too, so it was a good day for Kody and he got a lot of attention, too.

Robert had to work at our church, so he wasn’t able to go, but he took OC, Dott, BG and Mercy into town, to my sister’s place, so OC was taken care of and didn’t have to go with us. (We can’t leave her here by herself because she needs her wheelchair to go outside with.)

I just Praise God for His goodness and mercy that my kids are following him and teaching my grandchildren in the ways of Life that are promised to those that follow Him. I am so very thankful that Charles was able to make it out here safely, and am praying that he has a great visit and makes it home safely too.

God is so good! Sometimes it is hard to put our beloved children and grandchildren all the way into His hands, but it really is the very best place for them, for, though it seems impossible, He loves them more than we do, and He knows the paths their lives are on more than we do. Some of life’s lessons are hard and some are glorious, but all are in HIS hands.

If you would like to see more pics of Anna and the Dedication, you can click here:  Anna’s Dedication Facebook Album

Tuesday’s Show and Tail: Big Horn Sheep

It’s time "Tuesday’s Show & Tail" time again! Angela, over at West Virginia Treasures.  Angela has been hosting this special time for almost a year now, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! This is the 51st week that Angela has hosted this meme to share about past or present pets, animal friends we’ve known, or interesting stories about animals. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines.

I got this in an email from a cousin and thought that it was truly amazing!

Hard to believe that these sheep can stand up let alone walk across this wall!

We don't need no stinking bridge! Big Horn Sheep taking a stroll at Buffalo Bill Dam, just west of Cody, Wyoming

A whole new meaning for being "sure footed!"

Notice that some of the sheep in this picture are heading the opposite direction of everyone else.

Isn’t God’s Creation AWESOME!!!

An Explanation for my Blogging Absence…

I thought that since I haven’t had a chance to blog very much lately OR visit my friend’s blog much either, I should post a bit about what’s going on so everyone will know what’s up.

Many of you know that my husband’s Auntie passed away in March. There was a Will stating that she wanted my husband to be the Executor and sole heir of her estate. We thought that would take care of things, but apparently, at least in the state of California, “A Will is just a ‘suggestion’ to the court of the wishes of the deceased” as explained to us by our lawyer (which we had to get) THIS state has laws about exactly how much of an estate the lawyers are to get and the State is to get, and they want their share!

We had to find a lawyer, and they had to petition the court for a Court Date for a Judge to “appoint” Hubby as the Executor. THAT took until June 10th to get the Court Date, and then it took until mid- August to get the paperwork back from them so that Hubby had authorization to start getting things liquidated, etc. He’d already had her neighbors, which had wanted her house for 20+ years, asking and asking about it, but we couldn’t clean it out or do anything else with it until we could get some money to be able to get a c-train (large metal storage container—10 x 10 x 40 ft.) to store everything in.

Meanwhile, there were break-in after break-ins until almost every thing of any monetary value had been stolen. We finally got the c-train about 3 weeks ago, and since then, Robert and I have had to make the 2 hour round trip over to the town she lived in and work on cleaning up the mess the burglars made. They had dumped every closet, drawer, etc. onto the floor, overturned beds, etc. looking for places an elderly lady would hide stuff. There were 40 years of stuff all over that had to be gone through, to at least get the “treasures” like pictures of family members that were all that was left. Auntie was also a “hoarder.”

We found so many pictures with nothing on them that are very old. Some of the old pics had things written on the back and so we were able to figure out who some of the other pictures contained. For your kid’s sakes and family members sakes, please try to include names, dates, etc. on the backs of the pictures you take. We found pictures of Hubby’s grandfather that had passed before he was born and that he had never seen, as well as things in his precious Grandmother’s handwriting on family tree info, etc.

These things were all mixed in with newspapers and old cards, and junk because of the burglar’s sifting through the drawers. It has taken us quite a long time, and we have not been able to clean a lot of the things like many, many stuffed animals and clothes, etc. We have just had to pack them up and haul them out here to be put into the storage container. She collected stuffed animals as well as so many other things that were stolen. The burglars didn’t take the stuffies, and once washed, we will be selling them and donating proceeds to our local Animal Rescue as Auntie was all about saving dogs and animals.  Here are just a very few with Dott hiding in them...

The clothing, once clean, will be donated to the Thrift Shop for our local Battered Women’s Shelter. Those things as well as the furniture that wasn’t broken or stolen are all in the storage container and at least are now out here for me to work on. 

We have to wait another 4 months for any creditors to petition the State in case they feel she owed them money, and then another couple of months for the NEXT Court Date to finalize things.

Hubby and I have found out that the way to go, at least in THIS state, is a Revocable Living Trust because then you don’t have to go through the courts at all because your estate is handled like a company and the “CEO” and Successors to that post, just handle things according to what is written down. I’d suggest to everyone that doesn’t know about these things, to find out, because it’s a mess otherwise. At least she HAD a Will that stated “without bond” which helped a bit.

We finished the house yesterday, but still have several weeks/month(s) of stuff to go through and clean that is now stored out here. This is all on top of regular life and sick and injured corgis. Praise God I HAVE Him to lean on!

THIS is why I haven’t been on and the corgis haven’t gotten a chance to blog much either. I just wanted to let you all know that we love you all and really miss reading your posts, keeping up with your lives, and letting you in on ours. I hope that this will help you understand… It may still be a while before we are back regularly, but what’s got to be done, has got to be done. Grammy, from Corgi Country

Silent Sermon ... an Email

My daughter-in-law shared this email with me and it's something that speaks louder than words...

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. 

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. He sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, 'Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.

We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

Remembering 9/11

I posted this last year at this time, but I have more people following and everything I wrote then, is still true...  Today, this country should stop, and take time to remember the tragedy of 9/11 AND it's hope! It is something that we should never forget. We, as Americans, are NOT invulnerable to terrorist attacks, and we should be praying for this country, and its leaders, everyday!

I also want to keep in mind the wonderful way that so many people became heroes that day, just by showing love and care to those around them.

So many risked their lives for people they didn’t even know, and for so long afterward, so many “linked arms” and worked together to support each other in their times of sorrow and suffering.

9/11, for me, was also the day I knew my Mama (or Nana, as everyone called her) was going to die VERY soon. She had been fighting cancer for quite a while, and that day, when she saw the horrifying start of what I know she thought would be World War III, instead of fighting back, by praying as she had always done in every trial, she told me to turn off the TV because she was just too tired… Her body lasted another 5 days, but she finally let go and went home to her rest in Heaven with all of her loved ones here on earth to say good-bye, for a time, around her. I know, at that same time, that all of her loved ones up in Heaven were there to meet her and have a glad reunion the second after her spirit left here… her sister, her brothers, my dad, my brother… so many that had left ahead of her that she loved.

I have a hard time, at this time of year, remembering, but I also try to remember that here on earth, all things have an end except the love that has been shared. I know that she is just one more of those precious treasures that are laid up in Heaven for me to see when I get there. I am so thankful for the time I had with her and for the lessons in love that she taught me.

Nana wasn’t perfect, and neither was my Daddy, but that was because they were human. They did the best they could and they ALWAYS tried to do things out of love for us and others. They didn’t “preach” but just lived lives that showed their love and faith. My Ma would answer questions if I asked for advice, but she didn’t tell me how to run my life... she showed me, through hers.

When I was young and went my own way for a time, she let me, but I always knew I could come back and that she would love me, and she did. I know, now, the tears that she shed for me and the prayers that she said for me, for I am a mother now, with children that have gone on to lives of their own away from my area.

I was truly blessed by the gift of my wonderful parents that God gave me, as well as the gift of having had the chance to live in this country. Though things are bad and in many cases, getting worse, there are still a lot of good, wonderful, loving people in this country, and I need to do my part, whenever possible, to be a servant that shows the Master’s love to those I am brought in contact with.


Thank You, Lord, for the life You’ve given me… for my parents, and other loved ones, and for this country. Forgive me, Lord, for the times I have misused the privileges you provided, and help me to walk in your steps, daily, so that others see You in me, like I saw You through my Mama. Amen.


Here are the words to a song that helps me when I need encouragement. God truly does "Raise Me Up..."

Turn on your sound, you will be able to hear this wonderful, uplifting song. Enjoy… and get out the hanky…

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;

When troubles come and my heart burdened be;

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,

Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up… To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up… To more than I can be.

There is no life – no life without its hunger;

Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;

But when you come and I am filled with wonder,

Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up… To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up… To more than I can be.