holidays do make for reunions betimes

there were 8 of us including my cousin's husband, not counting animals. dave was real important, 'twas him kept the fire going and the coffee a going too (can't decide which was more important). it was the 3rd girls retreat at the farm. cuzzin cindi and dave have a farm outside hot springs in pearcy, 50 acres or thereabouts, bought from our uncle horace years back when cin and dave lived in california (they're forward thinking folks).  this '08 retreat was a suggestion my brother preston in delaware made to cuzzin cindi on facebook since he and his fam would be in arkansas for the holidays; one nevers knows what'll happen when you say it on facebook. as the winnie the pooh song goes: beware, beware, be very, very ware. (thx for the suggestion pres!)

it's quite a feat when you get that many folks together from so many places. z and norma (my mama) from little rock, sis-in-law vered from delaware, my sis heidi from atlanta, sis-in-law donna from monticello, andrea (cin's sis) from dallas. now only God could do such a thing (with help from pres' suggestion on facebook). none of us could remember who was at the first and second girls retreat (need a guest book to sign, nominate an historian, something). we know who came but not who came which time. it was an hilarious conversation trying to figger that out. 

thank the Lord and thanks to cin and dave for shopping and cooking and lettin' us come (cindi is a gourmet chef all the way  and she used fresh eggz from her hens in the quiche and breakfast casserole).  most of our time was spent eatin' and talkin' and that's what we love about our time at the farm besides being with each other, of course. with chickens hither and thither and lots of growing things - herbs galore, flowering cactus, even a pomegranate tree, fig trees and you wouldn't believe what all else. this is just some of what cin and dave do in their spare time; full time, they have a fabu used furniture store in hot springs called:

Home Again Used Furniture Etc Inc. 

check it out next time you're tinkering around hot springs. it's right near mcclard's bbq!!

morning bloggers.  yesterday i found myself quoting the shorter version of the serenity prayer about something as simple as my not being able to control my son's care of his doggie (they're both home for the christmas visit). i'd never heard the longer, original version of the prayer until the last few years and found it curious that it is quite a biblical prayer. i thought i'd share it today tho it has nothing to do with christmas eve per se! 

niebuhr was a methodist minister from missouri. i did some research on him just about a year ago for a presentation i did at alanon. alanon is a wonderful, free support group for family members of alcoholics, based on the 12 aa steps originally designed for alcoholics. i've been going now for three years this month. (i was also involved in celebrate recovery for almost a year and loved it as well. it is a great program that has added scripture to each of the 12 steps. can't beat that!)

unfortunately, alcoholism runs in my family. it is a(n) horrible disease. yes, i do believe it is a disease, not just a moral, weakness problem. anyway, before i go to preaching, here 'tis.

SERENITY PRAYER

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;

taking, as Jesus did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to Your will;

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

God will take care of you and me: part two

here's the rest of the scriptures i'd gathered on His provision for us, as well as a hymn. oh how precious is His Word when we take the time to peruse it.

JEREMIAH 32:27:  I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me? 

JEREMIAH 33:2,3:  This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it – the Lord is His name.  Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

ROMANS 8:28:  And we know that all things work together for good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

I TIMOTHY 6:6-8:  But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.  For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.  And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

HEBREWS 13:5:  Because God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Be Not Dismayed Whate’er Betide  (1904)

Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;  Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

Through days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you; When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you.

All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you; Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.

No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you; Lean,weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.

Chorus:  God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you.

God will take care of you and me: part one

here it is christmas week and the time for giving, stuffing stockings, serving bountiful meals, thinking of others!  and we have two toilets that won't flush consistently (time to call the plumber already in our new-to-us home), a $500 deductible from the car wreck i had in the ice, and i'm unemployed and in need of a job. i'm ready to watch "it's a wonderful life" to get all things financial in perspective. yesterday's sermon at church helped MUCH with tim's exhortation to praise GOD no matter what our temporal circumstances are because God isn't dead! i was wandering thru my handouts this am and found this one on God's provision with some of my favorite scriptures and a hymn and His rich Word again righted me that He hasn't forgotten about the new mortgage that's due, He hasn't forgotten any of our needs, nor my readiness to work, nor the time of year it is. He hasn't changed tho our circumstances have. and our circumstances compared to the rest of the world's? there is no comparison. i truly have no needs. only fearful, untrustful panic. praise Him that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. and His love for me - and you -  does not change, nor His faithful provision for me - and you either. amen.

GOD’S PROVISION FOR US

PSALM 37:25: I have been young and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendents begging bread!

PROVERBS 30:8-9:  Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.

ISAIAH 41:10:  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

ISAIAH 42:3-4:  A bruised reed He will not break.  And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.  He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law. 

ISAIAH 43:1-2:  But now, this is what the Lord says – He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel:  Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you talk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

ISAIAH 45:3:  And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

ISAIAH 46:4:  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. 

ISAIAH 49:15.16:  Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

ISAIAH 65:24:  Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.

my friend's birthday is today

we met at church one day in 1988 when she was visiting unity pres in charlotte, NC where my husband was the solo pastor.  i never thot i'd see her again but there she was at a crisis pregnancy center training one nite, downtown charlotte. we gravitated towards one another during a break saying "don't i know you?" and have been fast friends ever since. kindred spirits, bosom friends as anne shirley says in "anne of green gables" (1985, i would've thot older).

i wish i could steal her away from work and buy her lunch today. shower her with my love and appreciation for the gift she is to me and all the things we have in common. two kids each, same age just opposite sex for older and younger. a love of the Word. a love of movies. joy in birdies and cats.  a love of mani/pedi's. dependency upon prayer to name only a few. listen to this:  she once prayed for God to send me a bird during a difficult time. the most fantastically bright yellow bird showed up on a high wire during the funeral procession of my husband's sister in memphis. now that's answered prayer wouldn't you say? what a God of details we have and how sweet is He to answer our prayers like that?

i cannot compare one friend to another, that's not my point. they're all too precious to me. i am very blessed by all the many friends God has given me, some since 7th grade!

but on their special birthdays when i enjoy celebrating how they were born into this world just to be my friends (it's all about me) and celebrating the days they were born again in Christ, i just long to be with them a little more than usual.  thank you GOD for my charlotte, NC friend. bless her today, real good, i pray, amen.

walking with God

http://walkingwithgod.net/audio-excerpts.htm

this is the link to john eldredge who's audiotaped reading from his recent book "walking with God." you may know more about it than i do. he's written "the sacred romance," "wild at heart," for men and his wife stacey wrote the companion for women.  sound familiar?

 

this book is taken from his journals. i like it so far, i'm about half way through. just thot i'd share it with you today on my blog. i've read several of his books and heard him speak live once so i figgered it'd be great. my friend harriet told me about it. hat tip to her!

life's analogies/parables

the streets were getting bad. there was black ice forming from a misty rain, some sleet. the temp was no higher than 25 degrees. husband called. are you okay? yes, i'm fine. i'll be careful. oh, he's such a worry-wart. my own personal jewish mama, he is. almost home. approaching the last traffic light to turn right onto my street. the light must've been red because the lexus was stopped (he told me later). all i know is i tried to slow down and i couldn't. my brakes didn't work. i thought: this is the first time my brakes have not worked. i knew i was going to hit that car. i tried to veer to the left of him so i'd at least hit the side not his rear as i sailed past him and the light, pumping my brakes to no avail until 30 or 40 feet past the light my rav came to a stop, the brakes finally doing their job. car off, flashers on, i went to check on the person i'd hit. he was digging out of his air bag that had deployed so i must've hit him hard, he was after all sitting still at the light. he said "i'm fine. no, it wasn't your brakes. you hit ice. it's very icy here. are you okay? we're both fine. it was the ice, it was an accident. you didn't mean to do it. let's get out of the street. i've already called 911." he was very kind throughout the whole incident. thank you, Lord.

God speaks to us, teaches us in stories, in parables, in analogies. what's the story here? what's He saying here? speculating, as it's only the morning after the wreck with not much time to ponder, my initial thought is: appeciate my husband's cautious, loving concern, no more poo-pooing of that. he knows things i don't know. i'm not such a smarty pants. 

looking deeper tho, my thoughts remind me of how we were sitting at the stop lite of life four years ago and were slammed by suffering in april 05, fall 05, then again in april 06, each time involving our children.  and we're not out of the proverbial woods yet with other dates i won't name here. (yes, we are ready for them to cease and are praying to that end.) i promise you, we were sitting at the light, minding our own business and life slammed into us. God providentially ordaineth suffering (the lexus driver may not realize my slamming into him was ordaineth by our God in the grand scheme of things). one day i'll have permission to share these particular slammings in blog fashion. in the meantime, please know that we have plenty of support from those who know all details and have listened, counseled and held our hands thru every bit of it. there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors and we have taken stock in that scripture! (proverbs 15:22)

Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647

III, I

God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;

V, I

God the Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, in the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.

sharing from andree seu

catching up on reading andree seu's blog today i came across this about her thankfulness for friends. she references 1 samuel 23:16 (the marvelous strengthening in the Lord david received from jonathan) and then 1 samuel 30:6 where david called upon the Lord by his lonesome for help, as it sometimes happens there's not a friend nearby. the scripture i have had on my msw business card is 1 samuel 23:16 because that's what i believe we do for one another - strengthen each other in the Lord. AND, i love the point she makes, that when we are alone, which can be often, when we don't have "another person with skin on" (who said that?), it's okay, because we can make it then, too!

My Thanksgiving

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27TH, 2008 | 7:40 AM

If I have to choose one thing to thank God for this year, it would have to be friends who help me find strength in the Lord. This is one of the God’s greatest gifts. This is the gift God gave David in Jonathan. I don’t know how long a trip it was from the royal palace to the wilderness of Ziph, but Jonathan evidently thought it was worth the trouble. “Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God” (1 Samuel 23:16).

And now I know how Jonathan did that because I have friends who do that for me: He spoke truth to him—the full, big picture truth, and not just the little particle of the truth that we tend to focus on when we’re afraid, as David was, being pursued like a flea by King Saul.

Sometimes it happens that you don’t have a strong friend around to strengthen you in the Lord, so you have to do it to yourself. This is not the ideal (Hebrews 3:13 says it’s good to get a little help from your friends), but it can be done. David was down to zero friends after the raid at Ziglag; there was talk of stoning him. So he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). Same method. Talk truth to yourself: God loves me. God is my refuge. God has a purpose for me.

Jesus was down to zero friends as he hung on the tree. He came to his lowest point ever: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). How do you think that in a few minutes’ time Jesus went from that sentiment to this muscular movement of the will: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Same method. He reminded himself that he had come from God and was going to God (John 13:3).

grace, part two

Here are a few scriptures to remind us of our salvation by grace and of our need to live daily by grace from the time of our salvation, throughout our sanctification, and until glorification.  If you believe in grace but live as if you are back under the law, pressuring yourself to do all the right things, condemning yourself or others when you or they don’t, and if you tend to believe that God is angry with you for not being good enough, remember to preach the gospel of grace to yourself every day and then, offer this same grace to others.  

Romans 3:19-26

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 8:1

There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Galations 1:15   

But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.

Galations 2:21  

I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (NASB). (Again, in a different version:) I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (NIV)

Galations 3:21  

Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God?  May it never be!  For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

Ephesians 2:4-9  

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

2 Timothy 1:9 

(God) who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

Titus 3:4-7   

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.                                            

HBF/3.08

grace, part one

here's another handout in two parts from the files. i needed to re-read this one myself yesterday as i was being hard on myself for so many things. it doesn't get any better than "preach the gospel to yourself every day."

THE GOSPEL OF GRACE  

For my husband’s 40^th birthday (March 1994) I surprised him with a trip to Dallas, Texas for a conference on grace! People really knew what a weird couple we were by this manner of celebration and teased me, saying “What? Don’t you think he’d like a golfing trip or something other than a bible conference?”  I replied “Absolutely not!  He’ll love it!” And so he did.  It was a wonderful, memorable weekend.  We heard R. C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, Kay Arthur and Jerry Bridges. There were probably others, my memory fails me.

What we do distinctly remember is being encouraged by Jerry Bridges to “preach the gospel to ourselves every day.”  (He has written The Pursuit of Holiness, Transforming Grace,  The Discipline of Grace, among other books.) In the forward of The Discipline of Grace Bridges credits Dr. Jack Miller “from whom I acquired the expression ‘Preach the gospel to yourself every day.’”  At the conference, Bridges explained that though most Christians believe that they are saved by grace not by good works, after salvation they treat themselves and each other like they are back under the law.   He said we tend to 1) evaluate our own Christian life by works, 2) evaluate others’ lives on this basis as well, and 3) most significantly, we still believe and act as if God evaluates us on the basis of keeping the law, following a list of do’s and don’ts, and doing lots of good works while we’re at it.  Bridges pointed out the unbiblical-ness in this way of thinking and relating to self, others, and God.

We know we aren’t good enough to attain salvation but then we try to act as if we are good enough to please Him on a daily basis as we go throughout life.  Here’s a bit more of what Bridges says about this in The Discipline of Grace.  “Only perfect obedience is acceptable to God…Yet the average person walking around today, if he or she has thought about it at all, is confident God will accept him or her because he or she is generally a decent sort of person. As Christians, we know better.  We readily acknowledge that we can never through our own obedience attain a righteousness that is sufficient for salvation.  But then as believers we act as if we can live lives acceptable to God”  (p. 48).  “It is important to realize that our Lord Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the law of God, both in its requirements and its penalty.  He did what Adam failed to do – render perfect obedience to the law of God.  Then by His death He completely paid the penalty of a broken law.  So from the standpoint of obedience to the law and of paying the penalty for breaking the law, He perfectly fulfilled the law of God” (p. 49).

Of course, good works and obedient living are important for our daily lives.  But, says Bridges (p. 46), “we must pursue holiness or any other aspect of discipleship, in the atmosphere of the gospel.”  Martin Luther said  “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does.”  Living by biblical principles is imperative. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul tells us: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.”  James says “faith, if it has no works is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17.) And Paul warns us that just because grace abounds, we do not need to take advantage of it by sinning all the more.  Romans 6:15:  “What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  May it never be!”

There was another very memorable moment at this conference on grace.   R.C. Sproul stood up in front of the packed auditorium and began his talk with the following statement and then an immediate pregnant pause:  “We are saved by works.”  There was a noticeable hush with a few spontaneous gasps rippling throughout the crowd as people responded to Sproul’s statement.  Then he said something like “The perfect works and life of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Righteousness is required for salvation  - His righteousness on our behalf.  The perfect, righteousness requirements of the law were met in Christ.”

pushing away from the gate

seems such a smooth, calm process (albeit loud) when you're in an airplane and that 4-wheeled truck outside pushes, really drives, the plane backwards, away from the gate. the truck backs off and goes to its next chore while the plane eventually gets in line for takeoff.

why can't it be that way when getting my kids in line for take off, for launching from the childhood nest? it has been anything but a smooth, calm process. a different sort of spiritual trouble could start a brewing if i tarry asking the "why" questions about this (or anything). the scripture is replete with dialogues between God and men along the lines of why so this is nothing new. but somehow  - even with the benefit of scriptures -  posing the questions is still therapeutic and i believe God knows we're gonna pose them anyway. He built us, He knows our frame through and through and knows our angst as parents and our kids' angst as they try to grow up and launch. a little rhetorical why is good for the soul, for them and us. now this is very important:  i'm not going to dwell on it, i know nothing comes of that. but acknowledging what is, sure helps me a lot.

in searching thru the book of job, i found a handwritten notation by chapter 38 where God begins asking job questions for three chapters. He asks job ~ 80 ?'s. but He never tells job "why" he suffered.  there was comfort a plenty for job in who God is.  amen.

it's all God's money anyway

i want to talk about the several times we've saved for things, thinking "now, this is the greatest plan, we'll use this money for this great idea and it'll be so wonderful, won't God be pleased and we'll go the way of cash and won't that just burn the hides of our visas, too many plastics in our pockets to count?"

case in point:  years back, we saved and squirreled away money for a trip to DC with our kids. we made a mental list of "to do's" with our kids before they were grown. DC was on that list. we were ready to go, had our plans to drive and see all points from here to there. we were so excited!

and then the plumber said "uh, m'am, we're gonna have to replace that plumbing of yours from the house to the street. yeah, it's got what we call orangeburg plumbing in there and it always has to be replaced at some point. now's the time."  there went the DC trip literally down the drain! we kidded about that for a long time tho it wasn't very funny. we talked about how nice it was to have cashola to pay for such a big plumbing project and wasn't God good to provide cash for that? and since we know God is sweetly sovereign, we also could say, "ok God, it's all Your money anyway, if THIS is what You want to spend Your money on, then so be it.  we'll go to DC another time."

one more example and then i'll let you ponder your own stories like this because i'm sure you've got'em. for five years my husband and i saved for our 25th anniversary trip to somewhere. the only way we coulda done it was to have the money taken out of his paycheck, week after week between our 20th and our 25th anniversaries. well, come the year of our 24th year of marriage and up come another need. we were thinking:  aren't we glad God knew ahead of the fact that we'd need this - not for our 25th anniversary trip - but for this particular need? and then this year, the year of our 25th, once again, another need arose that only He could have known about. isn't God good? but isn't it all how you look at it, from a human perspective i mean? resentment or appreciation? sometimes it takes me a while to get from the one to the other.

it's all God's money anyway.  by faith, we went this summer and got our passports!!! we're going somewhere, sometime together and we may yet make it to DC with our kids, too. we're praying we'll pay cash for both these trips but only God knows the when, where and how of it. we're not worried - it gets frustrating at times, fo sho. but He is such a good and faithful God, we'll trust Him, keep saving and see where He wants the money to be spent.

favorite sayings and psychobable: part two

here's part two of the handout. enjoy! this handout could be MUCH longer. there's so many great things said by so many people. this is only to wet your whistle! :) (funny, i noticed i changed this second part to lowercase but the first part is in uppercase because it's copied from the original; everything i've ever done since the dawn of my e-mail life has been lowercase, fyi.)

14. you cannot impart experience. (friend michelle’s answer to my question of why our children won’t just take our word for it when we try to impart wisdom gained from our experiences.)

15. a man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.  Mark Twain.

16. anxiety is not so much about what we are feeling (anxious) as much as it is what we are not expressing.

17. the body says what words cannot.  martha graham.

18. if he’ll (the married man) do it with you (the other woman), he’ll do it to you. dr. phil.

19. i’d rather be healthy alone, than sick with somebody else. dr. phil.

20. we should not be ashamed to discuss what God was not ashamed to create (sex)! (howard hendrix said this i think?)

21. denial ain’t just a river in egypt!

22. if you don’t go within, you go without.  wynona judd, recovering from addictions, including compulsive overeating.

23. 3 C’s from alanon:  i didn’t cause it (whatever problem or person you are trying to fix).  i can’t control it. i can’t cure it.

24. alanon saying:  the argument begins with my reply.

25. another: (on the need for support) The mind is a dangerous place – don’t go into it by yourself!

26. yet another.  “no.” is a complete sentence.

27. love is one product you don’t sell by giving away free samples.

28. the Bible says it is the truth that sets you free so find the lie and disown it since you are a child of God.  college friend said this to my daughter.

29. be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

30. if you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you've always gotten!  (this is a variation on doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results = insanity.)

favorite sayings and some psychobable: part one

here's another one of my handouts i thot i'd share for fun.  hope you enjoy it and find something that makes sense to you and encourages you where you are!

HAZEL’S FAVORITE SAYINGS AND SOME  PSYCHOBABLE

1. What you live with, you learn.

  What you learn, you practice.

  What you practice, you become.

2. Don’t “should” all over yourself.

3. Trust God and get going! (In contrast to “let go and let God.”) J. I. Packer

4. STRESS is what happens when your gut says “no” and your mouth says “of course, I’d be glad to.”

5. Secrets are to sickness, as openness is to wholeness.

6. You’re only as sick as your secrets.

7. There is healing in the telling of it.

8. You have to feel it to heal it.

9. The Gospel (or anything for that matter) is more caught than taught.

10. A river without boundaries is a swamp – and swamps stink.

11. Oneness is not sameness (in a marriage).

12. Self care is not selfish!

13. We come from a FOO (family of origin); we marry into a FOO (our spouse’s family of origin); we create a FOO when we have children.  And they’ll grow up and create their own FOO.  There’s no escaping FOOs!! (((Until Heaven where there’ll be no FOO!)))  FOO acrostic by friend Deborah tho since she coined it i've heard it said by others!

for the beauty of the earth

i thot i'd post another beautiful hymn to praise the LORD. He is to be most praised always, but we especially think of our blessings at this time of year during the holiday season. praise Him for our new nest, the safe move of our things into it, the money to move us here, the money to keep us here, God-willing, His choice for us in a new neighborhood after 17 years in the previous one, your prayers for us in this transition, your practical help as needed and more.  as best i could tell, the words were written by folliot s. pierpoint, 1864; music by conrad kocher, 1838.  some of you may recognize the hymn from the wonderful 1994 movie version of "little women."

For the beauty of the earth For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies.

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Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light.

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For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony Linking sense to sound and sight.

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For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild.

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For Thy Church, that evermore Lifteth holy hands above, Offering up on every shore Her pure sacrifice of love.

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For the martyrs’ crown of light, For Thy prophets’ eagle eye, For Thy bold confessors’ might, For the lips of infancy.

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For Thy virgins’ robes of snow, For Thy maiden mother mild, For Thyself, with hearts aglow, Jesu, Victim undefiled.

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For each perfect gift of Thine, To our race so freely given, Graces human and divine, Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

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