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 "The Trees of the Field". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "The Trees of the Field". Show all posts
Rather than wait until Thursday to write about our "thankfulness", I thought I should let you all know tonight just how very thankful we are for how God protected us throughout Hurricane Idalia.
I kept waking up during the night, expecting to hear the sounds of high winds and pounding rain on the roof, and it was just very very quiet. But because I was so keyed up about my expectations, I really couldn't sleep very well, and so finally just went ahead and got up around 5 a.m. to watch the news and see the latest updates. According to the 5:00 a.m. updates, the storm had been upgraded to a category 4, which is very powerful, and had not made landfall yet. However, the expected landfall was, thankfully for us, a little further to the north west on the gulf coast, and our location would be out of the worst of the impact. Still, we were expecting to get a lot of rain and some high winds and possible tornado warnings.
At daybreak I looked outside at Still Waters Pond (below)...
And out the front side of the house looking east (below), and although it was very cloudy and somewhat windy, there was no real rain to speak of...just intermittent showers now and then...
And praise God, we never even lost power except for a couple of momentary flickers that quickly corrected themselves! Wow! And that was how it was all day long! We have been thanking the Lord all day for His kindness and mercy toward us and our community and as far as I know all our family and friends throughout the different parts of the state. However, the area of landfall in the "Great Bend area" and also places further south along the Gulf coast, did have some pretty serious damage and storm surge and coastal flooding. Our hearts go out to them and we pray that they have not suffered any loss of life or serious damages that cannot be repaired. This was a very huge and powerful storm, and we are just so thankful that it didn't come inland anywhere too close to us.
Thank you all who prayed for us and sent best wishes. You are the best kind of friends ever!!
We mostly spent the day resting in our recliners and watching the storm news and doing some reading. I actually took a couple of naps to make up for my restlessness last night, and then we took a nice walk about an hour ago to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. I left my computer turned off until now, as I didn't want the power surges to damage it, as it is it is getting kind of old and the power switch is getting kind of cranky...so I'm thinking I need to do some more backing up of my files and be prepared for the inevitable day when it will finally shut down for good. I truly hope that's a long ways off, but like a good Girl Scout, I should always 'be prepared'. LOL.
We've been singing this song at the close of our Sunday morning worship service this past month...and I feel like it is an appropriate song to sing now and close this post...as you sing along with the singers below, look at the pictures of the trees outside here along the shore of Still Waters Pond. You can't see them moving in the wind, but it's like they are swaying with the music and clapping their hands with joy because they were spared in this storm!! So let us all rejoice together!
The Trees of the Field (Gaither Homecoming Family)
I kind of took a few days off from blogging...just needed to rest and refocus for a while. But today I am up bright and early and feel like chatting with my friends. I know we are all getting weary of this enforced isolation, even though we understand the need for it and pray for those who are suffering and working on the front lines for our behalf. Today I am very thankful for many things, and thought I wouldn't wait until "Thankful Thursday" to express my thanks. So this will be a "Thankful Tuesday".
I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds us every day. The birds that sit and sing sweetly in the trees...
The joy of watching our Canadian Geese come and go, and in this picture, flying back out to his perch on the pond where he keeps guard over his mate as she sits on her nest (out there somewhere but we can't see exactly where)
The signs of new life on our trees...Pine Cones!
And their new spires reaching up to the heavens to praise the God above Who made them. You may notice a few of the pine cones on the new growth make little crosses on the trees...this is a phenomenon you will see every spring just prior to Easter...
Isaiah 55:12
"For you shall go out with joy,
and be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing before you.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
I am thankful also to be able to take short walks with my hubby again. I am not quite up to speed yet, and mostly just walk around a little bit and look at things while he takes his longer walk, but I like to see what is growing new each day.
These are "Paw Paw" flowers blooming on the wild Paw Paw bushes in the woods.
Not sure what kind of insects those are enjoying the nectar of the Paw-Paw flower, but they both seem quite content to "stick together" and enjoy. No, they are not practicing "social distancing", are they? LOL.
I was so happy to see the wild plum trees are loaded with little wild plums, and they are growing every week...
I was also thankful to NOT bump into this lovely little white flowered plant...We call it a "Stinging Nettle", or a "bull nettle". They grow about ankle high and if you bump into it, you will be very sorry. It will sting like crazy. Good reason NOT to go barefoot in Florida... (among many other reasons that I won't go into)
But back to the list of thankfuls...
I am thankful that I am starting to feel much better and day by day I can see good progress. Thank You, Jesus!
I am thankful for the wonderful bag of books that I was given to read...and am continuing to read every day!! I am up to #10 already!!! (they are quick reads)! I still can't get over how God nudged my friend to bless me that way!
I am thankful that we are retired and on a fixed income (albeit small, but adequate) and not dependent on the stock market or hourly wage jobs to survive during these difficult days. I pray for those who are not so fortunate that God will provide their every need.
I am thankful that our children are also able to continue working and except for our son's carpentry business, which has slacked off in sales a little, they are still doing well and God is providing their every need. I am also thankful for the dishwasher they gave us...it is working very well! What a blessing.
I am thankful that so far, as far as I know, all members of our extended family are staying healthy and have not been adversely affected by this virus. We do know people who have contracted it, but thankfully even they are recovering and God has taken such good care of them. Praise God!!
I am thankful for our church and for dear ones who have taken the time to call or send messages of encouragement around to everyone to stay in touch and keep our faith strong. Our pastor has sent us good messages of hope, and we are blessed to be part of the Family of God.
Of course we are disappointed that we won't be able to have our usual Easter services, but one of our church family members made an interesting comment the other day that blessed me:
"We are Easter Christians, notEasterSunday Christians. We should be celebrating His resurrection everyday. Celebrating the resurrection is celebrating God's love for us. "For God so loved the world". It is also a time to celebrate our love for God. We can show our love through salty service, which is reaching out and helping others. What a great opportunity we have during this "stay at home time"to phone or email a neighbor to see how they are or to just chat. Be creative. How can you use this time to honor God? I look forward to the day we can all gather again at the church and CELEBRATE His love. Remember that we, God's people are the real church, not the building." Barbara Thorick
I also love that this same friend did exactly what she was encouraging others to so, and called me on the phone just to visit and check up on me to see how I was doing. I love it when people don't just give "lip service" to doing good deeds, but actually follow through and live what they say. That is a good lesson and example for us to follow as well.
And so, with those thoughts in mind I will close this little post for today. It gives us some good food for thought...and also a challenge to live out our faith by encouraging others who may be lonely, discouraged or perhaps not doing so well during these days. We may not be able to visit in person, but we can encourage one another with calls, cards, or other creative ways.
May God fill your life today with His peace, joy, and blessings overflowing.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord;
For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with His truth."
Psalm 96:12-13
"For you shall go out with joy,
and be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12
Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
For the Lord is great
and greatly to be praised;
He is also to be feared above all gods."
I Chronicles 16:23-25
"Let the heavens rejoice,
and let the earth be glad;
And let them say among the nations,
"The Lord reigns."
II Chronicles 16:31
Amen!
I hope these verses have brought peace and joy to your heart today. No matter how difficult our lives may be, or how terrible things may seem in the world...it is encouraging to take time to remember and proclaim, "The Lord Reigns!" We need to "proclaim the Good News of His salvation" every day...and tell everyone we meet of God's excellent greatness and His love for us. Jesus is coming soon...let us not grow weary, but rejoice in this Good News!
If you've been reading along lately, you know that our family has some exciting days ahead as we prepare for the upcoming wedding of our oldest son. So we have lots of additional reasons to rejoice. No firm date has been set yet, but it will probably be sometime this fall, so things could get very interesting around here!
I know I've shared this song before, but it seems appropriate to add it today. Sing along with the Gaither Homecoming group and enjoy!! "The Trees of the Field"
For a similar previous post CLICK HERE! Have a blessed and glorious day my friends!!!
I am writing this on Friday evening...and it's been a busy and happy day. First, let me thank all of my friends who commented on my Friday Foto Friends post earlier today about "My Cabin Rules". I loved all your comments, and would welcome all of you to come visit here anytime, and we can enjoy the "cabin rules" together! Just give me a little notice! I still don't have that special cabin, but we can still have a great time together with all that God has provided for us to enjoy!
These were my earliest visitors this morning, running down the road in front of us, doing the "turkey trot":
And off they trotted into the woods away from all the prying eyes and busy traffic.
I apologize that I haven't yet had a chance to get around and visit all of your posts today...because we DID have REAL company here, enjoying the cool breezes and the wildlife and The Secret Garden! These were very special friends from over 35 years ago! They were members of one of our early churches in another state, and have been faithful friends ever since...visiting us in so many places throughout the years. It was such a privilege and joy to be able to share The Secret Garden with them today...and they pronounced it "very peaceful and beautiful". Actually...they agreed that the Presence of the Lord was in that place, and they found themselves wanting to sing and praise the Lord just while sitting there...The first song that came to mind was "Our God Reigns".
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him
Who brings good news, good news;
Announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness:
Our God reigns, our God reigns!
Refrain
Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!
(This song was based on Isaiah 52:7)
"How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
And as we sat there watching the trees swaying in the breeze we started singing "The Trees of the Field
"For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills shall break forth
into singing before you.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands."
Here is a picture of my sweet friends today in the garden:
And here is a picture of these same friends when they came to visit me way back in 1982:
We had moved to the country from the city (where they lived), and they thought it would be great fun to dress up like a couple of country gals when they came to visit!!!
Here's the three of us. I didn't have the appropriate country garb at the time...but I do now! (No, I didn't wear it today.)
They are still a lot of fun...they couldn't believe I had these pictures!! Won't they be happy to see them on here? I love you girls!!!
Here we are with our hubbies today also...enjoying some Strawberry Shortcake:
After spending some beautiful moments together in the Secret Garden, we came inside and joined the men
for some strawberry shortcake...and then we went to the living room and sang hymns while my friend Evelyn
accompanied us on the organ.
What a marvelous blessing to have these precious friends after so many years.
So tonight I am just resting in the joy of this beautiful day, and thanking the Lord for my friends, both here, and you out there in "blogland", many of whom I have never met in person, but I count you as very special friends and thank God for you.
