Saturday Revue

 Here it is Saturday afternoon, and there really isn't much to report! It's been TOO HOT to do much of anything!

This is our current reading on the themometer on the back porch. (Around 3:00 pm) However, I understand that the "heat index values" are up to 111 degrees, according the the severe weather alert we have on our phone app.  That's pretty doggone hot for us here in this part of Florida, and there's no rain in sight!  We are extremely thankful for our central AC, which is running all the time, but it is doing the job! Thank You, Lord, for whoever evented air conditioning!

Even though I grew up in Florida in the days before air conditioning...we didn't have it at home, or at school, or at church, or in our cars, or anywhere!  Somehow we survived, but looking back I do remember that as a child I either stayed outside and played...

yes, that's me...keeping the intruders out of my wood pile fort. LOL

 or I sat in front of a fan a lot.  I wore as minimal amount of clothes as I could and it seems like we made koolaid or juice popsicles in those tupperware things and enjoyed eating them to cool off. Life was much simpler then, even if it was hot! The windows were open at night and we could hear the tree frogs "singing" back and forth to each other. Sometimes they got so loud, especially after the rain, that we could hardly sleep for the noise. But thankfully my Daddy had put a big attic fan up in the attic, and he would turn that on at night and it would pull in a nice, albeit humid, breeze and also the whirring of the fan helped drown out the sound of the frogs.

My Sister Doris (washing the dishes) and I , drying the dishes, barefooted and trying to keep cool in our short shorts in the summertime.  

I know some of you may live where you don't really need central air conditioning that much, but trust me, if you lived in Florida in the summertime, you'd be very very thankful to have it.

So what else is new?  Let's see,

There's a new store in town!  "The Trading Post" at Deep Creek...

Deep Creek is the Farmer's market place where our son sets up a booth a couple of times a month in their outdoor Saturday morning market.  But now they have added a very nice indoor "Trading Post" store, where vendors can sell their products  every day (Wed-Sun) without having to be there because the store owners will handle the sales.  It's a lot like what we did at Dixie Cottage, and since that store is no longer in our town, the timing was just right for this new store to open.

No, this isn't our son's booth, but he does do similar work as this, and I thought it was interesting that this fellow's store name is "Benjamin's Sawmill".

Our son Benton doesn't have a booth yet in this store, but he does plan to set up one soon. He's just been too busy with their other projects to do this one too.

Some of you who remember our Dixie Cottage days may remember these items...yes, this is the same woman who was in our store, with her beautifully made bird baths and bird feeders, crafted from vintage glassware...

You may also recognize the items in these photos below!  I was surprised to see these pictures of MY birdfeeders that I purchased from her a few years ago. I had sent these pictures to her, showing how much our birds loved them, and she had asked permission to use these photos in her booth display some time ago. I'd forgotten about that, and when I saw these pictures today I was so surprised!!

You may recognize our Sand Hill Crane family when they had two little colts! This was several years ago!

Here's another interesting woodworker booth.  I love these items...and so many more that are there for sale in this new store.

Many many interesting things to look at...

And I found something special for Sunshine and Blackie!

These two little mice are stuffed with catnip!  I was so excited to get them and couldn't wait to give them to our kitties!

LOL! Here's Sunshine...he got up and moved away and wouldn't go near it!

Blackie wasn't there at this time, so I am still waiting as I write to show it to him. I will keep you posted.

Okay, I tried again when I fed them.  Blackie sniffed the mouse, but was more interested in eating.  Sunshine gave it a wide berth once again.  Wouldn't even sniff it. So...maybe mice stuffed with catnip isn't exactly their "thing". LOL. I think they'd prefer the real deal...you know...real mice? LOL. Thankfully I don't have any of those to offer them. 

I suppose since these kitties have been raised in the wild they aren't interested in fake toys. Oh well, I tried. LOL.

This is how they wait for me to bring them their breakfast in the morning...

The longer I stall, the closer they get to my window! LOL.

But this is how they spend the rest of the day...

On these "dog days of summer" I can't say as I blame them.

Thankfully while I was writing this earlier this afternoon, the sky turned dark and I could hear thunder in the distance, and sure enough, we got a surprise afternoon thunderstorm!  It cooled things off all the way to 92 degrees! LOL.  But we are truly thankful for the rain, and also that it didn't bring any strong winds or other severe weather.  It was a good reminder to be patient and wait on the Lord, and He will bring good things to pass!!

Psalm 37:3-8 has some good reminders for us today...

"3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm.

I underlined the words that show us a better way to live, especially in these difficult times when the world is trying to go in the opposite direction of what this psalm is teaching us to do.  If we can just remember these words and apply them to our own hearts, we would be amazed at how much better we will feel and get along no matter what is happening around us.  

Trust, Dwell, Feed, Delight in the Lord, Commit, Rest, and Wait on the Lord, Do Not Fret, Cease from anger, forsake wrath, and again, Do not fret!  

God's Word is right and true...we just need to believe and do what it says.  Amen!!

Have a blessed and beautiful rest of your weekend, my friends!!  

Tuesday 4~ Advice: 5 Cents

 

Advice: 5¢

You are very welcome here at Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. We look forward to your participation and seeing your answers to the questions we provide. It's enjoyable to get to know more about blogging friends.

We all take and give advice at least once in our lives.
Oxford dictionary says that advice is: guidance or recommendations offered with regard to prudent future action.

1. Is there one piece of advice you were given that you feel has been very important in your life?

This scripture verse below was shared with me prior to marriage, and it was the best advice ever given to any married couple:

Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,"
Obviously, every couple will have disagreements about many things, but it is important to not allow those disagreements to carry over into the night and not be settled as much as possible before you go to sleep. Sometimes you may have to "agree to disagree", but do not allow things to fester and grow bigger between you. Try, with as much as is within you, to settle the little issues before they become bigger issues. "Kiss and make up" and get a good night's sleep.  If you have to discuss things further in the morning, at least you will have had time to "sleep on it" and you may have a different perspective in the morning.

2. What advice do you think is important for building good personal relationships?

Practice forgiveness as much as possible.  Even if they don't ask for forgiveness, settle it in your own heart and mind and don't allow unforgiveness to cause you more pain. Sometimes you have to just move on and pray for God to deal with the other person in His own way.  Don't allow other people's problems to destroy you.

Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Matthew 6:14-15 

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

3. Do you give advice to friends when they have problems to solve or do you refrain unless asked?

I usually wait until asked, unless I see that someone is headed for something really bad and they need to be warned before it's too late. But that would be an unusual situation. And it also depends on the person. Some people wouldn't listen to good advice no matter what, while others might really appreciate someone's words of wisdom.  It really depends on the relationship and the level of trust between you.

4. What advice can you give us today?  The only good advice I have comes from God's Word. Here is a passage that I have found helpful and comforting throughout the years:

Psalm 37:1-8

"1 Do not fret because of evildoers,

Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;

Do not fret—it only causes harm."

The best advice I can give to anyone is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, before it is too late. Our world is rapidly spiraling into a major conflagration, even as I sit here writing and hearing what is going on in Israel as we speak, and for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, the results could be extremely catastrophic.  

2 Corinthians 6:2

2 For He says:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,

And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

John 14:6 NKJV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me."

I realize that this post is pretty heavy on the Scripture, but my heart is truly burdened right now for our country and our world and for so many who really do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. While I am sitting here writing right now, Iran is bombing Israel, Israel is fighting back on many levels...we've had major weather related catastrophes here in our part of the country this past weekend, and there have been fires and earthquakes in many parts of the country and world.  There are also some major financial issues going on throughout the world that could have a serious impact on our own American dollar. If you know anything about the prophecies concerning the end times and the Rapture and the Tribulation, you will realize that Christ's return could be imminent.  I am not a fear monger...just a person who sees the signs of the times and realizes that life as we know it could be changing very rapidly.  

Today, being the first day of October, I will share this one new calendar picture for today, especially because of the verse that is attached, "Pray without ceasing".  I Thessalonians 5:17.  

And with that I will close for today.  Please pray for Israel, and for all of our world.

Amen.

  

Do Not Fret...

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret--it only causes harm."  Psalm 37:7-8

"Do not fret"...who among us has never been guilty of fretting at one time or another ?(or many times...) 
If fretting is not something you can identify with, then you probably have been living in a bubble kind of world.  But if you are human, you most likely have fretted about something..perhaps even within the past few hours or minutes!

Verse 8 says, "Do not fret--it only causes harm."   How true that is...Fretting is a form of worry, stress and fear.  Stress in particular has been linked to many diseases...heart disease, strokes, gastrointestinal disease and distress, high blood pressure, and possibly even cancer.  In other words, it is a killer....the Bible is correct..."it only causes harm".  It not only causes harm to the individual who continually frets about things over which he (she) has no control, but it causes harm to those who may be the recipients of that worry and stress...the caregivers and family members and friends of the stressed out person.  Those who truly care about their stressed out friend or loved one end up fretting themselves when they are unable to help their friend.  It becomes a vicious cycle...and none of it is good.

So, what is the remedy?  Psalm 37 has the answers: 

• Verse 7: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for HIM; ...
• Verse 8, "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath..."....
• Verse 3: "Trust in the Lord, and do good"
• Verse 4: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."
• Verse 5: "Commit your way to the Lord"
• Verse 5: "Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."
• Verse 1: "Do not fret because of evildoers"
• Verse 1: "Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity"

God says in verse 9: "Evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."

So, when you are feeling fretful, overly worried, or giving in to stress...think about these verses in Psalm 37.    I like what verses 23-25 say in particular:

• "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He (God) delights in his way.
• "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;"
• "For the Lord upholds him with His hand"
• "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread."

What have I to fret about?  I know that my God is in control...no matter what...I can trust in Him...He will uphold me with HIS hand!  There can be no safer "bubble" in which to dwell...I do not need to fret.

I believe I can sleep a lot more soundly tonight knowing that my God has all my worries in His hands...
Good night!