Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends!

 Happy Thursday! I hope this day finds you all doing well and recovering from the 4th of July festivities! I know we already talked about what people would be doing, but now I'm wondering what all everyone really did do!  Hubby and I started out with a big breakfast, thinking we weren't going to be doing much of anything else for the day...but first I had dressed up Lily Grace for the occasion just because she hadn't been getting much attention lately and I felt bad for not being a better "Mommie".

So she became the centerpiece for the table and her dog Bailey tried to eat hubby's breakfast sausage...

I baked biscuits and sausage and scrambled eggs. It was a good hefty start to the day...

But then we were surprised to end up having another family gathering on Tuesday...totally unexpected and spontaneously! Sometimes that's the best kind, because I didn't have to fuss and worry about cleaning the house and cooking a lot of food, etc.  It just all came together and was very sweet and simple.  It started out because our son Scott decided to come home for the day since he had the day off, and I already had a few chicken thighs and breasts thawed out to cook, so I asked him if he'd like to grill them. He said of course he would be glad to. So then I called our other kids Benton and Rose and asked them what they were doing, and they didn't have any plans...and so, long story short, they picked up a few more pieces of chicken to cook at the grocery store on the way, and brought a tomato to add to my salad, and another box of yellow rice to put with what I had, and we ended up with a great little meal!

This picture was taken after we'd already helped our plates:

There's the happy kids enjoying our impromptu dinner!

My plate:

Oops! We forgot to close the door to Scott's room and the doggies went exploring:

Caught ya!!  They knew they were being naughty! LOL.

So they came back to the living room and found comfy places to take a nap.  Poor Sugar, she found a too small of a pillow to lay down on. She doesn't seem to like to lay on the hard floor. I may have to get them both some doggy beds to keep over here...

Especially because Spice seems to always end up on the couch:

LOL.

Oh, for dessert Benton went over to our new Dollar General that is about a block away from our house and picked up one of those Edward's Chocolate Cream Pies...This is my piece...very small and dainty because I know what chocolate does to me, but I just couldn't resist a small piece:

It was so good that Hubby and I decided to buy another one yesterday to have here just for us. That was a bad decision. I decided to have another little bit bigger piece yesterday, and I've been sorry ever since. But it tasted SO GOOD!  The rest will stay in the freezer for the next time company comes over unexpectedly! LOL.

Anyone want pie?  Come on over!  

I didn't do much in the way of decorating for this holiday, but decided to look around and see what looked a bit in keeping with the season already:

Oh, btw, we did go and try to watch some fireworks Tuesday night. We drove into town and parked where we thought we would have a good view. But when they started it appears that either they moved the location of where they shoot them up into the sky over a little bit from last year, or else the trees grew that were between us and the scene, and we really couldn't get a good viewpoint. Plus, it was just SO HOT in the car and we couldn't stay outside because of the mosquitoes, so we just went back home and listened to the booming going on all around  us.  LOL.

We had a powerful thunderstorm pass through last evening. We need the rain, but my goodness it poured! We got almost 2" of rain in a couple of hours. And wouldn't you know it, we had to leave the house in the middle of the storm to go to a board meeting at our church! Since hubby is the chairman of the board and I am the recording secretary, we couldn't very well skip the meeting!  So we donned our rain gear and ran to the car as fast as we could.  A huge clap of thunder and lightning snapped just as we went out the door! "Yes, Lord! We're going! We are on our way!" LOL.  Wouldn't you know it, when we arrived at the church it was totally dry over there! It's only about 3 miles away, but they had not had one drop of rain yet.  However, the rain caught up with us when we were inside having our meeting, and it was pouring down quite heavily when it was time to go home!  So we donned our rain gear again and ran to our cars.  This is what we saw on the way home:

The sun was shining through the clouds enough to give us this beautiful rainbow!

The sign of God's promise to us

Genesis 9:12-17

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

May we always remember that this is the true purpose of the rainbow...and may we never allow God's promises and covenants be perverted into promoting something that is an abomination to God. 

So, that's about it for our 4th of July festivities and post holiday activities. It's still very hot, in the mid 90's, but we are supposed to start getting some more thunderstorms here later this afternoon.  That really doesn't cool it off much, but we need the rain and Still Waters Pond is happy for the fresh water! So is our yard.  So we give thanks to the Lord for the rain even if we do have to start mowing more often. LOL.  

Oh, one (or two) more things...as is my usual practice while sitting here at my computer in my "Room with a View", I always take one last look out the window before I finish a post just to be sure I'm not missing anything going on outside that I can share with you.  So I just now looked outside and this is what I saw:

Do you see him?  Look closely...there's an armadillo rooting along in the yard, looking for grubs in the wet ground down near the pond.

This was my last view of him before he went into the woods.  Of course I'm not crazy about the little holes they leave everywhere, but still, it was fun to see him rambling along. Usually they are only out at night, so we don't get to see them very often.

Here's something else I don't get to take many pictures of because they never stay still long enough:

Lovely very big blue dragonfly!

Okay, I guess that's all for today. (and tomorrow).

Oh wait, one more thing. LOL.

One of the reasons our son Scott wanted to come home on the holiday was to get his Camaro that has been sitting in our yard forever, waiting on him to finish some much needed work on it and put new tires on it so he can drive it again.  This car is one of those "project cars" that never seems to get to the end of all the "projects".  

So he was happy to finally get it back on the road and I felt like that was something picture-worthy!

Okay, I promise, that's it!

I hope you and yours are having a blessed and beautiful first week of July!

Try to stay cool and well hydrated!

I'll end with a rendition of America the Beautiful by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra.

America! America!

God shed His grace on Thee!

And crown thy good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea!

Friday Foto Friends~God's Promise

"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant 

between Me and the earth."

Genesis 9:13 NKJV

This was our view on the way home from our walk last evening, following a very heavy rainstorm.

I love that the picture above looks like a cross standing next to the rainbow.

Another sign of God's "covenant" with the people of the earth, through the death of Christ on the cross.

During these turbulent times, we certainly need all the hope and encouragement we can get.

I am so thankful for God showing His love to us in so many ways, even through the storms and His protection over our loved ones and friends when it could have turned out so differently.

We will see rainbows again in heaven someday.

Revelation Chapter 4 is considered by most theologians to describe the viewpoint in heaven by John the Apostle, when he is caught up "in the Spirit" (see verses 1-2), "and as the word  "Church" does not appear again in Revelation until chapter 22:16, the catching up of John from earth to heaven has been taken to be a symbolic representation of the translation of the Church as occurring before the events of the tribulation described in chapters 6-19." (Per footnotes in my Scofield Reference Study Bible) 

In other words, many Biblical scholars believe this to be when the "Rapture of the church" takes place.

Revelation 4:1-3

1.  "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. 

And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying,

"Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

2.  Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

3.  And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance;

and there was a rainbow around the throne, 

in appearance like an emerald."

With all of the things that are happening in our world today, many are watching and preparing for the very possibility of the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church.  We know that no man knows the hour or the time of when He will come, but only God the Father knows:

Matthew 24:36-39, 42

36.  "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, 

but My Father only.

37. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

38.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

39.  and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be..."

42.  "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming." 

And here is what we can expect on that day:

I Thessalonians 4:16-18

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,

with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together 

with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

I really did not intend to get into a theological discussion today on the Rapture of the Church, but somehow that is where these pictures of the rainbow led me.  I know that there are many interpretations of when and even if the "rapture" will take place, and I do not want to get into any kind of debate over what some believe or do not believe will happen.  I am mainly sharing scriptures that tell us of the hope that we as believers have when we look forward to that day.  The most important thing to remember is, no matter when it happens, we need to be ready to meet the Lord one day.  Many of us will meet him when we pass from this life into heaven...but only if we have first accepted His free gift of salvation.

John 3:16-17

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, 

that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

17.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but that the world through Him might be saved."

I, for one, am thankful for God's gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.

And I am greatly looking forward to meeting Him in heaven one day, face to face.

Whether or not He comes and calls us up into the clouds through the rapture of the church,  or whether He calls me home through death from this life into eternal life in heaven,

I will be with Him forever.

My greatest prayer is that all of my family and friends also have this same assurance and hope.

Have a blessed and beautiful day dear friends.

 

What Could Be Better?

6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

Acts 3:6 (NKJV)

On my way home from work today I was blessed with the most beautiful rainbow in the sky...and me without my camera!  Thankfully I had this picture in my archives from another trip on this same road several years ago...

(Click on HERE to get the story behind this particular rainbow)

I wasn't the only one enjoying today's spectacular vision of God's promise in the sky.  As I was driving along I noticed a truck stopped in the road ahead, with an old hippie-looking kind of man standing up in the door of his truck taking a picture of the rainbow.  I slowed down, rolled down my window and said "Hey! How about sending me a copy of your picture since I don't have my camera!"  He laughed and said "Sure" as I drove away! I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one crazy enough to want to stop and actually take a picture of a rainbow in the sky! I think I would have at least pulled OFF the road instead of blocking an entire lane on the wrong side...but, well, that's what you get out here in the boonies where I live.  

Anyway, I enjoyed looking at that rainbow in the sky all the way to the outskirts of my neighborhood, where it stopped and faded into the clouds...before I could get my camera of course.  But the memory of the joy it gave me lingers still.  I felt such hope and encouragement from the heavens above because God set His "rainbow in the cloud" as a sign of His promise and love for His children.  (See Genesis 9:13)

Click HERE for another story of a rainbow in the sky over our home several years ago.  At that time, we had just moved to our home out here "in the boonies"...a fulfillment of God's promise to take care of us always...and to give  hope for our future here.  We are now at another kind of new beginning.  If you read my last post in which I shared with you the good news of my upcoming retirement, you will know that I am looking forward to the start of a new life here...and yet I don't know exactly what the Lord may have in store for us.  However, this rainbow in the sky today gave me such hope...it reminded me that God is with me all the way...and that I have nothing to fear.

So what does all this rainbow and hope talk have to do with the verse quoted at the beginning of this story? Well, that's a good question. This verse just popped into my head this evening as I was chatting with a friend of mine on the phone about some concerns we share regarding people that we know. People who need hope...the kind of hope that only God can give.  People who don't know that God can give them that kind of hope because they've never truly known God.  And as we talked, the idea came to me that perhaps part of what my new adventure will be is to be an instrument through which God can offer these people hope.  

The old King James Version of this verse goes like this:

"Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."

That's the way I remember learning this verse..."silver and gold have I none"....in other words, I don't have money to give away (especially now that I am retiring), but what I DO have is God's offer of hope and healing in the Name of Jesus Christ. No, I don't expect to be able to make the crippled and lame walk again...at least not in the literal physical sense...although if that is what God desires, I know He can do that...but what I do expect is for God to bring the kind of healing that can actually help these individuals "rise up and walk" in hope and love...The kind of healing that brings salvation to wounded souls and gives them the courage to rise up from their beds of affliction, whether it be emotional scars, physical and spiritual brokenness, poverty...and yes, hopelessness, and to walk in wholeness and joy.

Only the love of Jesus Christ can accomplish this. I can not accomplish this in my own strength. But I can be a vessel for His love to flow through...how? By using the gifts that He has given me to share with others...my home, which has already been dedicated to the Lord... and the knowledge of His love and salvation that is free to all who will receive it. 

I don't know all the details of this yet...but a plan is forming in my heart and in the heart of my friend as we agreed together in prayer that we would be open to however the Lord may direct in this adventure.

I would ask that you, my praying friends in "blogland", would also pray that God would give us wisdom, courage, and the strength to carry out whatever His plan may be.

No, I may not have silver and gold, but what I do have, I will give to you...in Jesus' Name.

What could be better than that?

I may not have been able to capture a picture of the rainbow today, but when I got home the first thing I saw out of my window was this lovely rose blooming! Just another of God's ways of showing me that He is with me...and that the gifts He offers are far greater than any silver or gold! I know that I am meant to share them with others one way or the other! They are not for me alone.

What could be better than that?

My Gifts for Today: A Double Rainbow /and 3 Gifts in Conversation

"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth...." Genesis 9:13

"The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."  Genesis 9:16

This is the double rainbow we chased all the way to work today:

For those of you who have been following along on my quest to "Count 1000 Gifts" in 2012 (see www.AnnVoskamp.com for details)...you know that I only started this quest in September, and it is unlikely that I will reach 1000 gifts in 2012 at the rate of 3 gifts per day.  Plus the fact that I skipped a couple of days recently just because I got bogged down and couldn't think, let alone write!  But today God made up for my slack and lack of "counting".  He did something really special for me...and not for me alone.  Let me tell you.

Recently my son has been riding to work with me each day...literally riding with me to work...at the same place where I work.  This in itself is a small miracle (maybe even a big miracle), the fact that he has been working where I work, because I work at a church. Not that he is opposed to working in a church...he practically literally grew up in church since his father starting pastoring at his first church when our son was just 6 months old.  So church is not something new or unfamiliar.  But in recent years, it hasn't been a place high on his list to visit, let alone work in.  And the fact that he has been pretty much unemployed over the past year except for odd jobs here and there, makes it even more amazing that he was able to start working at this church. No, he isn't a pastor or in any ministry.  He is helping to renovate the Fellowship Hall...painting, cleaning, restoring equipment...anything they ask him to do that he is able to do. Wait...this IS a ministry...an important one...and I am seeing him blossom each day as he is gaining new confidence with every task completed....and completed well. 

What does this have to do with the rainbows that we chased to work today? And what about the "Three Gifts of Conversation" that I am supposed to write about today?  Well, maybe I can't put this into three distinct conversations...but I can tell you that God has been doing something special in these rides to work and giving us opportunities to have some great conversations.  Oh, a lot of it has been pretty silly and fun...especially as we chased this double rainbow down the road this morning, taking pictures as we traveled  towards it. (I drove, he took pictures). 



And a lot of our conversations have been about the work he is doing, and the pride that he is taking in what he is doing.  And the positive things I see coming out of this...little ways that he is changing and growing.  God is at work here. There is no doubt about it.

Have our conversations been particularly spiritual? No. Not really. And yet, yes, really. Today's rainbow was a symbol of the promise of God in his life being fulfilled...hope being restored. Hope being restored in me as well. Prayers being answered. One day at a time.  One rainbow at a time.  Every day has been a gift.

This particular job is not a permanent position. It will likely be ending in a couple of weeks when the renovation is complete.  But there will be something permanently changed. I can feel it. I can see it.  God is at work.  He sent His rainbow to confirm it.

 The future looks brighter in more ways than one.  It was definitely a double rainbow kind of day!

Thank you, Lord!!

Promises Fulfilled

Genesis 9:13-16  "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

These pictures were taken at our new house this morning around 7 a.m., just as I was getting ready for work. If you recall, I started out the New Year with a one word "resolution" for the year...and that word was "HOPE".    At that time I had allowed myself to "hope" that God would help us work out of a difficult situation and get to a place that would enable us to finally settle down and prepare for our eventual "retirement".  Due to circumstances beyond our control, my husband was prematurely "retired" last year when his position was cut unexpectedly.  When that door closed, we were not financially prepared for such an event, and we knew that we would have to make some strategic "moves" if we were to survive.  Thus we began to pray that God would show us a reasonable and realistic solution to our dilemma. (An open window?) The primary goal was to find more affordable housing in which we could actually afford to live when we are fully retired and both living on social security (hopefully if it is still available).

Miraculously, very soon after declaring my "one word resolution" of HOPE for the New Year, God did in fact lead us to that "open window", and He divinely led us to people who held the door wide open for us to enter into not only a new home (new to us) that met the criteria for our future, but also to a new life...a community of friendly, welcoming, loving people who did so much more for us than just provide us with a house to live in...they have also given us a promise of future fellowship and friendship beyond our greatest expectations. 

So the rainbow in the clouds this morning represented a promise fulfilled...hope restored...answered prayer.  My husband and I both stood in the open doorway of our new home and said a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the great things He has done...both now, and in the future.  Our hearts are full.  We have even greater HOPE now than we had before.   Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

By the way, I think it is appropriate that this is the first post I have written in our new home.  There will be many more to come...but I love that it has started out this way!  I pray that God will fulfill your hopes today. Keep watching for the answers to come...He is working...even when the sky looks cloudy and dark...watch for the rainbow of His promise to appear. He has not forgotten you!