Okay, Folks! I Did It!

You are probably scratching your head and wondering, "what now?"

"Did she climb a tall mountain?

Run a race?







Win the Lottery?" (no picture to describe how amazing THAT would be!)



Well, no, nothing quite that exciting or exhausting or amazing...but I did something that I've been wanting to do for a LONG time...probably for about 65 years or something like that!  I finally took the plunge and gave my notice that I am actually going to.....drum roll, drum roll...

RETIRE!!!!  YAY! YAY! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!! THREE CHEERS FOR ME!!!!

I expect to be doing a LOT more of THIS in the near future...
Taking lots of pictures...and smiling a lot more!!!

Now, just please say a prayer for me to survive the next few weeks as I train someone to take my place and clean out my five and a half years worth of stuff from my office. (Click HERE for more about these pictures)

 (Actually, I can't wait to bring this tea set home...I just have to find the right spot for it...and have a tea party as soon as I can!)

Another of my office "treasures" that I will have to find a home for here at home.

I'll probably be leaving this lovely picture behind...maybe...unless I see that my successor
doesn't fully appreciate it the way I do...
Psalm 33:1-3
"Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy."

 Pray that I will leave on a positive note, and that God will be with me as I embark on this new adventure in my life. I know that the Lord has been with me throughout these past years (and I am most thankful for His Presence in my life both then and now)...and all the years prior...so why should I doubt that He will be with me when I take this big step and leap into the great "unknown" of retirement?

I do have concerns...mostly financial issues...I don't have a big cushy pension to fall back on...I don't even have a small one...so the government better not mess with my Social Security and Medicare...or I'll be in a real pickle.

But my God is bigger than any government or any retirement plan.  He has sustained me thus far in life, and I have no reason to fear that He will ever change His mind about that.

"Even to your old age, I am He, 

and even to gray hairs I will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you."

Isaiah 46:4

Actually, I am excited about the new adventures that are waiting to be discovered.  I may not have a lot of money or big plans, but God has promised to give me good things...

"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..."

(Jeremiah 29:11)

He also reminds me of this... 

"Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert."

Isaiah 43:18-19

So.....Ready, Set,  Here I Go!

Wanna come along?

Get ready for the great adventure!

I can't wait to see where God will lead me in the very near future!!!

Stay tuned, folks! This is not THE END...This is just the beginning!

My "Way"...or "His Way"?...Which Will It Be? Repost 10-14-15

This was originally posted back in July of 2010.  As I re-read it yesterday, I realized that it is still a message that I needed to read again...and I thought perhaps you might appreciate it as well.

Sing along with this old familiar hymn "Have Thine Own Way", as sung by Jim Reeves 

I still love the old hymns...there is so much meaning in these words.

Jeremiah 18:6...."Can I not do with you as this potter?" says the Lord, "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand..."

Those of us who are familiar with the old hymns will remember one of my favorites..."Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.  Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still."  If I could have a nickel for every time I've sung that song over the past __ years, I might be able to retire...  I can remember singing it as a child, and not fully comprehending what I was singing, but I liked to play with clay, so it made me think about shaping things and playing with them.  Then again as a teen-ager we used to sing this in our youth group as a song of commitment...and I began to have an inkling of what it meant to be "yielded and still", waiting for God to show me what I was supposed to do with my life. 

As I became an adult, I found myself still singing this song, as I asked the Master to "search me and try me..and to wash me whiter than snow...as I humbly knelt in His presence...and I kept asking Him to "mold me and make me" after His will. I knew that I was not yet complete...I was still in need of more reshaping...of my mind, my heart, and my spirit.  It's still an ongoing activity...still incomplete...

Now in my later years I sing, "Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way...Wounded and weary, help me I pray! Power - all -power-surely is Thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior Divine!...and as I yield myself to Him and wait on His leading, He heals and restores my weary and wounded mind, heart, and spirit. 

My prayer now as I approach these "golden years" is that God will still have His own way in my life...that He will "hold o'er my being absolute sway!" I pray that He will fill me with His Spirit..."till ALL shall see -- Christ only, always, living in me!"

You know, if we could make this little song our prayer every day...and truly mean what we say... what a difference it could make in how we approach life...and how we respond to the approach of others who may come into our lives... WOW!  "Have Thine Own Way, Lord!"  (Adelaide A. Pollard, 1862-1934)