Welcome to my "Open Window"...a place of hope, encouragement, and adventure as we journey down the road from "Closed Doors" to the new opportunities God places in our pathway. I hope you will take the time to go back and follow the trail of mixed blessings and fears, failures and triumphs from the past and side-trips in the present. Perhaps it will conjure up some of your own special memories, and be an invitation for you to share with others. I look forward to spending this time with you!
What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
Showing posts with label "It Is Finished". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "It Is Finished". Show all posts
Easter Sunday Night: I may not finish this tonight as it is already getting close to my bedtime, and I am more than ready for it! It's been a busy day and weekend, and my body just "ain't what she used to be" ! But it's all good. I'll start with today and work backwards.
First off, that wooden "open tomb" with the cross behind it in the picture above was built by our son Benton, and presented to the Pastor this morning in church. The little "stone" is separate, and can be moved to cover the open tomb, and then "rolled away" to show the empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning. He also gave us one, and here it is with the stone covering the tomb:
And then without it... I love it! He also made several and sold them at the Farm Market this past weekend. I told him he needs to make some more for next Easter and put them on his Etsy website! He said he would. It was just a kind of last minute idea this year and he didn't have time to make more ahead of time. I hope he doesn't forget!
Here is the Cantata, "It is Finished", that our choir worked on for so long and finally presented Easter morning . This was pre-recorded at our rehearsal earlier in the week, but I think our performance today was even better than this as best I could tell. It is a powerful message in song and narration. If you feel like listening, I hope you will be blessed by the message even if the messengers are not always perfect.
Our service was very special. It was so wonderful to see so many people there to worship the Lord. We rejoiced that our former pianist was finally able to come back to church after suffering a stroke several months ago. She is no longer able to play the piano and we truly miss her, but today she came and sang a solo (with some help on the chorus from a couple of ladies) "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels", and her voice was even stronger than I ever remember it being before, so that was truly a blessing and a miracle! Singing this song has been a tradition for the past several years, so it was so wonderful that she was able to sing it once again. (I'm sorry I don't have a picture to share of that).
And speaking of miracles, this precious couple was celebrating their 20th anniversary, and that is a miracle because a couple of years ago this dear woman was given only 4 months to live. But GOD. God had other plans. She has gone through a lot of ups and downs over the past couple of years with chemo treatments and some other setbacks, but we are trusting that she is actually on a very positive upswing now and is much closer to being victorious over this disease than ever before. She and her husband are truly celebrating that God has given them these 20 years together, and they look forward to many more years together, the good Lord willing.
And one other very special moment. This couple came forward to be baptized. Our church follows the tradition of sprinkling for baptism, however if a person wishes to be immersed that could certainly be arranged as well. We just don't have a facility for it here. We have served in churches of either tradition, and to me, the most important thing is to come forward in faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and testifying to your faith in Christ for salvation as a witness to others of your faith. That is what Christ has asked us to do, and we are very thankful for this dear couple who wanted to do just that on Easter Sunday. Praise the Lord!
So our Easter service was filled with much joy and blessings and thankfulness for what God has done for us.
Christ is Risen!! He is risen indeed!
After church our kids came over to our house for dinner. Thankfully Rose baked the ham, and I had prepared the potato salad, deviled eggs ahead of time, and we just had to mix up the tossed salad, put the Hawaiian Rolls in the oven, and oh, yes, we also "threw together" a blueberry cobbler and put that in the oven to bake while we were eating our dinner. It was a simple recipe using a white cake mix and one stick of butter and 4 cups of fresh blueberries, sprinkled with some cinnamon and sugar on top. It turned out great, but I wasn't able to eat any until much later...and even Benton and Rose and Scott each took theirs home with them because we were too full from dinnner to eat it then.
Here are some photos from our day:
Our family! I am holding a little stuffed lamb that Benton and Rose put in my Easter basket. No, it's not a kitten...we're still waiting for that event to happen!
I realize this looks a bit inelegant, but that's my plate. We used our good wedding china, which only gets used for special events. I told Scott while we were washing the dishes together that these plates are almost 56 years old, and they still look like new! It's amazing they've survived all our moves over the years...but that's because I always did the packing! The one time we had movers come and pack our dishes I had several pieces get broken...so never again!
So after dinner we had the great Easter basket hunt...and true to form, Rose was the first to find her basket! She seems to have "radar" when it comes to finding her basket, from the very first Easter she spent with us when she and Benton were just dating and it was her first time even visiting our house...she was able to home in on where her basket was before anyone else! She's an amazing gal in so many ways, and I thank God for sending her to our family every day!!
Next Scott found his basket...
Being the big kid that he is, he wanted to show off what is in there...LOL.
And last but not least, Benton found his basket:
But the fun was not over. Unbeknownst to us, Benton and Rose brought baskets for John and I too, and we had to find ours...
It was all great fun and a family tradition that goes back to my childhood. I'm happy that our big "kids" have never outgrown their excitement over hunting for their Easter baskets. When you get too old to do fun things with your family, you're just too old. So there!
Outside, I was happy to see the amaryllis plant blooming with great joy for Easter! Never mind the weeds...
And "Trumpet" came by with his parents to wish us a Happy Easter and see if we had any treats for them. Because it was Easter I did relent and threw them some bird seeds, and they were all quite appreciative.
Sunshine still loves to perch himself up on the porch railing beside the American Flag. He's very patriotic I guess! LOL.
While Blackie Sue tends to like to hide herself on the shelf of the little table on the porch. I've noticed they do this when that other black and white tuxedo male cat comes around. He tries to come and eat their food and they run and hide. He's a bully, and I think most probably the father of Blackie Sue's kittens, but time will tell...
Well, here it is Monday morning, and I need to get this posted and move on. I truly hope you and yours had a blessed and wonderful Easter Sunday with your loved ones or church family. It is truly a time to celebrate our Risen Lord and the hope of eternal life He has given us.
After last night's post, I wasn't sure if I'd have anything new to share with you today...but it was such a beautiful day we decided to take a little ride this morning and get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.
We rode up to one of our favorite places to visit, Lake Swan Camp. I've shared stories from there before, as we have a history with this place that goes way back to our children's first summer camp experience, and you can read about that and other visits again if you wish at the links down below the pictures at the end of this post.
As you can see, it was a glorious day...look at that lake...and that sky! Wow! Absolutely stunning and perfect! The temperature was about 65 degrees, with the sun shining and low humidity...the days we wish would last all spring and summer long!
And then I noticed this...the Cross...oh yes! The Cross...this is what makes Lake Swan Camp such a special place...so many lives changed here at this camp...children, youth, and adults too...even our own kids when they were there so many years ago...
These birds will dive down under the water and come up some where else. They also love to sit in the sun and spread out their wings to dry in the sunshine.
But today he just wanted to swim!
It was a perfect day for it! Glad we got to see him!
It was a little low to the ground and tended to go cockeyed, but other than that, it was perfect!
Doesn't take much to make me happy! LOL.
This also makes me happy:
Now that's what I call a beautiful sight!
Next we walked over to the fire pit/devotional area...a place where I'm sure testimonies are shared around the campfire...Oh, how I'd love to be there when that's happening...I can just sense the Presence of the Lord in this place...
Such a beautiful, prayerful setting...
I kind of wandered off into the woods by myself while hubby went to check out the "facilities"...
Found this lovely clearing with some more benches...and I can just imagine sitting there to pray and meditate on God's Word...just me and God in His woods...I really could have stayed here all day and have been perfectly happy...
Oh, look at those beautiful azaleas blooming off in the distance, so of course I had to go check them out:
Oh my, aren't they gorgeous? Right out here blooming in the woods for the glory of God!
Really perfect!
Then I made my way back to the cross...really, life begins at the cross...and it ends at the cross...in a sense. While I was writing this post I was listening to our Easter Cantata so I can get more familiar with it. And one of the songs in the cantata is "It Is Finished"...an arrangement of the original song by Bill and Gloria Gaither. (Actually, that's the title of the whole cantata, come to think of it!) When I came back to this picture at the end of the post, that song was playing..."It is Finished..." and even though that may seem "coincidental", it really isn't.
As I said in the beginning, the cross is the place where lives have been changed, people have been saved...where God tells His children, "It is finished! The Battle is over! It is finished! There'll be no more war...It is finished, the end of the conflict;
Final thought...Is it finished for you? Is the battle really over? Is Jesus your Lord? There's no time like the present to accept the free gift that Jesus is offering you...let Him fight your battles for you, and let Him be Lord, both now and forever. Amen.
Matthew 11:28-30
"28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
It's Good Friday...A solemn day for believers in Christ...the day that our Lord was crucified on the cross for our sins...Let us never forget...
(Internet Photo)
I am sure that we are all in the midst of our Easter preparations and traditional activities. But in the midst of the "celebration" of Easter, today we pause and remember that when Jesus died on the cross, He was sacrificing His own life for you and for me, so that we might have eternal life and victory over sin and death.
This morning when I woke up I remembered that I had forgotten to prepare a post for today's Friday Foto Friends, so I took an early walkabout the neighborhood to see what I could share with you:
It's a cloudy, windy morning, with the prediction of thunderstorms later in the day.
But I thought the clouds and sunlight trying to peek through was appropriate for today.
Now for some interesting signs of spring and life in our neck of the woods:
If you are a Facebook friend, you may have already seen this picture this past week. I discovered the first APPLE on our little apple tree that we planted about 3 years ago (as a memorial tree for our son)! Here in Florida it is unusual to be able to grow apples...but this is a Golden Dorset Apple tree, and it is zoned for this area. However, I learned after we planted two of these trees that we really needed an "ANNA" apple tree to cross-pollinate, but there were none to be found. Then the other little tree we planted died and so that left this one tree to fend for itself. It always produces lovely blossoms, but never a sign of an apple, until NOW!! Even without the cross pollination!! So you can imagine my excitement in discovering this lovely baby apple...
And then even more my delight in finding this whole cluster of apples!!!! There may actually be enough to make an apple pie if they all survive until ripe!! (However, I will probably choose to just eat them if they are sweet and good!!!)
And just for the record, because we have deer in our yard frequently who like to nibble at anything new, I hung a little mesh bag with a bar of soap in it to deter the deer. Hopefully it will keep them away from my little green apples!!
Speaking of memorials...I took this picture of our Memorial Garden for our son this morning. The Confederate Jasmine vines are blooming all over the fence and it smells so pretty...
More Confederate Jasmine...
More Confederate Jasmine at the gate going into the Secret Garden:
And also at the gate coming into our courtyard from the back yard:
The one lone wisteria blossom was peeking over the fence:
Okay, this is the view we had of one of the Swallow Tailed Kites one morning this week!! I guess I should put this picture at THE END!!
And so it is. The End... of my Friday Foto Friends photos for today...and you can visit our other friends at Deb's Place at Breathing in Grace and see what beautiful sights they are sharing.
But this is not the end of my post...just a few more thoughts before I go...
Jesus said from the cross, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) We know that today is Good Friday, and things may look bleak and dark and sad...but friends, keep looking up and forward...because this is NOT the End of the story.....really it is just the beginning...because Jesus did not stay in that tomb...
and because "It is Finished"...the battle is over...and Jesus is Lord!!!!"
One of my favorite songs for today: "It Is Finished" by the Gaither Vocal Band:
Have a blessed Easter weekend my friends. Remember: "Because He Lives...I can face tomorrow...Because He lives...all fear is gone..." (another favorite Gaither song)
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