Monday Monday!

 What a wild week last week was!  There's still so much to process for so many people who are still without power, possibly without their homes, jobs, and hope.

This morning's Sunrise gives me faith that in the midst of all the turmoil and chaos, God is still working, actively creating "beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning"...

Isaiah 61:1-3 NKJV

The Good News of Salvation

61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

3 To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

I find these words comforting as I think about so many who are hurting and in need of some beauty for their ashes, and an anointing of oil of joy on their hearts and spirits to ease the mourning, and a "garment of praise" to cover them instead of that "spirit of heaviness" that may be trying to overwhelm them. This is my prayer this morning for those who are suffering because of the tragic losses they have had to endure.  May God comfort and keep them and carry them through to higher ground and peace of mind and soul. Amen.

Our choir was supposed to sing this song yesterday morning in church, and here is the pre-recording from our rehearsal earlier in the week. I apologize for the poor quality of the video, not sure what happened. But you can still listen to it and I hope you will especially listen to the words.  I have included them below for you.

Lyrics "Bow the Knee"

"There are moments on our journey following the Lord

Where God illumines every step we take

There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us

As we try to understand each move, He makes

When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him

Bow the knee

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see

Bow the knee

Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity

And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan

In the presence of the King, bow the knee

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall

The cold and lonely winds won't cease to blow

And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel

We are tempted to believe God does not know

When the storms arise, don't forget, we live by faith and not by sight

Bow the knee

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see

Bow the knee

Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity

And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan

In the presence of the King

Bow the knee

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see

Bow the knee

Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity

And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan

In the presence of the King

Bow the knee

Bow the knee

Bow the knee

Bow the knee"

Songwriters: Mike Harland / Christopher Machen

What a perfect song for this past week's events.  I said above that we were "supposed" to sing this in church yesterday, but things got changed.  Thankfully our church had not been hit with any power outage from the storm, but unfortunately some folks in the same community had been without power since Thursday night.  While we were in our Adult Sunday School class before church, the power company stopped by and informed us that they would have to shut down the electricity for about a half hour or more while they reconnected the power to the rest of the street. That would coincide pretty much with our worship service times, and so we would be without power in church, which meant no lights, no microphones, no sound system, no AC.  Since this particular song had to be sung to an accompaniment CD, we would not be able to sing it during this service.  We ended up singing a hymn from the hymnbook acapella, which is what we had to do for all of the congregational hymns as well, because our "piano/organ" is all electronic.  So we had a different kind of service yesterday in the semi-darkness (thankfully it was a sunny day and there was plenty of "God's Natural Light" shining in the windows), and we also had to do without AC for a while, which wasn't too bad since the AC had been on prior to shutting down for that little bit of time, so we didn't have to pull out our fans for long.  Thankfully the power came back on about midway through the Pastor's sermon.  I sat there thinking how terribly spoiled we are...there were many people in our state and up above us in the other states are doing without power, water, and may even have been flooded out of their churches and homes.  So we didn't dare to complain about our temporary inconvenience.  

Thankfully also the power was back on in time for our 5th Sunday Potluck dinner after church.  It was also a day to celebrate not only the fact that our church, community, and people had come through the storm virtually unscathed, but also we had planned to honor our Pastor and wife for their service. October is "Pastor Appreciation Month", and although it isn't quite October yet, we figured it was close enough.

Here's the Pastor giving the blessing before the meal...and before he was told the party was for him!

Here he is sans ecclesiastical robes, and totally surprised and blessed. 

I probably caught him with his mouth full here. That's his sweet wife Carol next to him. She is also our choir/worship leader. They are a wonderful couple and we are blessed to have them serving our church.

This is "Buck", who I may have shown you in a post a few weeks ago.  Yesterday was his 94th birthday! Quite a remarkable "young man".  

This couple below is very special. She has been battling cancer for the past year +, and is now doing very very well, praise God! It was stage 4 cancer when diagnosed, but God had other plans. It's a wonderful story of God's grace and healing.

You probably recognize these people. I may have caught them with their mouths full too...LOL.

Just a look at all the happy people. We are very thankful for our church family.

This lady is  "Blessed" to be raising her 5 grandchildren...and she does it with such love and joy. What a blessing they all are to us...

And yes, there was PLENTY of food!

"Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Amen.

So that was the story of yesterday. Today I am having my usual day after a potluck supper blues...won't go into details, but you can figure it out.  Anyway, I probably won't make it to Bible Study this afternoon because of it, but still, I am so thankful for all that God has provided and done for us.  And we look forward to tomorrow, the first day of Ocotober, one of those beloved "ber" months.

So until then I will say good day...have a blessed day wherever you are,  And remember, no matter what you may be dealing with in the days ahead:

"Bow the knee

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see

Bow the knee

Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity

And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan

In the presence of the King

Bow the knee"

Friday Foto Friends and Praises after the Storm!

Good Morning from "Sunny Florida", the morning after Hurricane Helene swept through during the night.  This was our sunrise this morning. We awoke to check things out all around us, and to give thanks to the Lord for His protection over our home and family during the night.

Thankfully, we never lost power except for a flicker around midnight that messed up our clocks, but that was it!  We could hear the rain and wind on the roof throughout the night, but never anything really serious.  I know that people to the west of us and to the north had it much much worse, and many are without power and some have experienced flooding.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to them, but thankfully, as far as I know, everyone is safe.  My song this morning at sunrise was the Doxology:

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen."

I really don't have any pictures from the storm, because the majority of it was after dark last night. Yesterday was mostly just a cloudy day with a few quick showers and wind gusts, but nothing major.  This was the sunrise yesterday morning before the storm began:

So I want to thank all who have been praying, and please continue to pray for those who may still be in harm's way further north as Helene continues to push through GA., the Carolinas, Tennessee, and even into Kentucky later on. Some of our friends in GA. had already been getting flooding rains from another rainstorm that had passed through in the preceding days, and then this came on top of it.  They were also under severe tornado warnings, and one of our blogging friends, "Sparky" over at My Thoughts Exactly, lives in southeast GA., and she reported on her Facebook page that they may have had a tornado come through their yard last night as many trees were down and they got a lot of rain. I haven't checked on too many others yet, but I hope people will check in as they are able.

Yesterday morning I enjoyed some pieces of that wonderful home made bread that dil Rose baked for my birthday.  Son Benton said he wanted to see a picture of me eating it in front of the fire...so I put a "fire" in the fireplace (without the heat, of course, as it was quite warm here already), and sent him this picture of my breakfast.  I purposely did NOT include a picture of me, because, after all, it was at breakfast time and I don't know of too many people who want their picture taken at breakfast, unless you are all dressed up and go out for "brunch" somewhere. LOL.    The bread is delicious. She added extra honey to the mixture, and it made it really moist and flavorful. I am enjoying it perhaps too much, but, it's only one loaf, and it will soon be gone. Then I'll be back to plain old ordinary bread and not as much of it for a while!

I haven't shown you any updates on the house next door for a while, mainly because things have been moving rather slowly.  It takes forever to get inspections done and also for the workers to come back and finish their jobs...I think there is just too much development going on in our county and it is getting hard to keep up.  Anyway, I was SO happy to see the workers come and finally put the siding on the ends of the house before the hurricane came:

This is the view I can see from our house. Oh, also, they finally hooked up the AC/Heatpump unit and put a power "pole" connection on the end of the house, ready for power, but not connected yet.

This is the other end of the house.  Next will come the skirting around the bottom, and it will look much better.  Someone mentioned before when I shared pictures of the house that they would want a porch and/or a deck on it. Yes, that would be really nice, but that would be up to the new owner to add once the house is purchased.  It definitely needs a back porch overlooking Still Waters Pond!

I  went over this morning and checked on the house/lot to make sure no trees were down on the house. I do keep in touch with the current "owner/developer", as she lives in Jacksonville and can't get down here to check on things very often. We met when she bought the lot and started the process for clearing/developing.  Yes, it is a woman who is in charge of this project, and this is not her only project here in our town.  She will list this for sale when it is completed and ready for occupancy.  Actually, there is a listing for it already on Zillow...Here is a link to it on Zillow in case you are interested. The pictures are of a model with the same floor plan. The color scheme may be a bit different, but you will get the idea.

This morning the only issue I could find after the storm was this big mud puddle in front of the house, but they are not finished with the landscaping, etc., yet, so I am sure this area will be corrected when they do all of the finishing touches.  You can see our house over there on the far left. That's how close of a neighbor I would be if you lived here!    

After I did my walkabout this house and our house, hubby and I went outside to our front yard and raked up a LOT of branches on the ground and on our driveway from the big Oak trees in front of the house.  That was really the only issue we had to take care of, and we are VERY thankful indeed.

I didn't take any pictures of us working out there, but here's how it looks now:

You can see how big those oak trees are, and they are very messy trees.  If it's not branches falling every time the wind blows, its acorns and leaves!  Plus it is very hard to get any grass to grow under them, but I do appreciate the shade, so I'm not complaining (much). LOL.

And here is how Still Waters Pond looks this morning...nice and full of water!  So the Herons and Sand Hill Cranes and fish  and turtles should all be happy.

Well, that's about it for today. I mainly wanted to thank you for your prayers, and to let you know that prayers have definitely been answered. We continue to pray for those who have had a harder time than we did. May God speed help to them and restore their power and get them safely back into their homes soon.  

Isaiah 40:31  NKJV

31 But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

 

Wednesday Treasures ~ "Timeless Treasures"

Today (written on Tuesday) seemed like a good day to bake some cookies.  Nothing special...just my ordinary Oatmeal raisin walnut cookies.  (click on the link for the recipe). They seem to be the family favorite and I have convinced myself they are healthy, with all of their nuts and raisins and oatmeal. Never mind the brown sugar and shortening, flour, salt, baking powder and eggs. Oh, and don't forget the vanilla and cinnamon! That's all healthy, right?

And so, while the cookies were baking, in between batches going in and out of the oven, I sat down in my rocking chair in the kitchen and had a cup of tea and "taste-tested" the cookies to make sure they were good enough to eat! Of course, when they are fresh and hot out of the oven is when they are the best!  

While sitting there in my rocking chair, which, by the way, is one of my "treasures", as my parents bought it for me just before our first child was born, and I rocked my three babies many a sleepless night in that rocking chair; anyway, while cooking or baking in the kitchen I like to sit in my rocker and read from this little book while I sip my cup of tea and eat that fresh hot cookie...  I know I've probably referred to this before, but today it was a special time and I thought it would fit in with this Wednesday Treasures theme.

You see, I originally gave this book to my mother for Mother's Day many years ago. Then when she left this earth to go where her true treasures were waiting, i.e.; heaven, the book came back to me.

And so now I love to sift through its pages and think about how much I know she enjoyed this book at one time, and it gives me great pleasure to know that we shared these special "treasures".  

 "The very best gifts are the gifts of your time that come with a memory attached.  It's easy to give this treasure to the people you love!...Write a letter on a special occasion and save it to give to the recipient later...Nurture a family tradition, or start a new one...Teach a skill that was passed along to you by someone you loved...Research your family tree and make copies for others in your family...Tell the stories!...Pass along the family stories you've heard and tell your own stories..."  Emilie Barnes, Timeless Treasures.

"Take it--'tis a gift of love--that seeks thy good alone;

Keep it for the giver's sake, and read it for thine own."

Youth's Keepsake, 1836

Some of my own "Timeless Treasures"...Letters between my mother and me...special little "love notes" that are now priceless.

"You have the special privilege of providing a link to that heritage for oncoming generations.

Write about yesterday.

Write about today, which will be history tomorrow.

Continue to write about all of your todays until the very end of your life.

Put the words on paper which will prevent your life 

and the lives of other members of your family from slipping into oblivion."

Lois Daniel

My pink geranium plant that I rescued from overheating outside. It seems much happier inside where it is cool. I can't say that I blame it one bit.

This needlepoint footstool came from my parents' home. I don't know for sure if my grandmother did this needlepoint or not. She did a lot of them many years ago, and this may have come from her house before it went to my parents. I am pretending it is so, and enjoying it as if it was created by her. And even if it wasn't, it still came from my parents' home, and that makes it a special treasure in itself.

Well, the cookies are finally done and it is time for me to clean up the kitchen and start preparing supper. 

I hope you have enjoyed this little walk down memory lane with me as I've share a few more of my "Wednesday Treasures".

Oh, this teacup with the sweet bluebird on it (and also the three tea cups in the picture above with the letters) was a gift from a dear friend who was a member of the church where I worked before I retired. She gave me a whole box of special teacups and saucers because she and her husband were leaving their home and moving into a Senior Living apartment where they wouldn't have room for so many "treasures." You can read more about that story HERE.

It was during a very distressful time in my life, and her unselfish gift of her "treasures" really gave me a blessing when I needed it most.

"I have written my life in small sketches,

a little today, a little yesterday,

as I have thought of it, 

as I remember all the things from childhood on through the years,

good ones, and unpleasant ones,

that is how they come out and that is how we have to take them."

Anna Mary Moses

(Grandma Moses)

 

All quotes in this post came from the book, Timeless Treasures, written by Emilie Barnes and paintings by Sandy Lynam Clough.  Harvest House Publishers

P.S. While I was writing this last night, we were having a terrific thunderstorm, with lots of thunder and lightning.  Thankfully the power never flickered so I was able to finish writing. Afterwards was this magnificent sunset!  What a beautiful gift from God to treasure!  Another of His stunning masterpieces spread out on His canvas of the skies for us to behold! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

I hope your day is filled with the flow of blessings from the Lord!

The Doxology

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below!

Praise Him above ye heavenly host!

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Amen.

A little brief history of the Doxology: "These words were written in 1674 by Thomas Ken as the final verse of two hymns, "Awake, my soul, and with the sun" and "Glory to thee, my God, this night," intended for morning and evening worship at Winchester College."  Wikipedia.  

Since they were originally intended for "morning and evening worship", they are certainly appropriate here, as we welcome another beautiful morning while we contemplate the wonder and magnificence of God's marvelous creation from the evening before!

Oh, Clap Your Hands!

"Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

He will subdue the peoples under us,

and the nations under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us,

the excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth;

sing praises with understanding.

God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth 

belong to God;

He is greatly exalted."

Psalm 47

When I first read this Psalm yesterday morning my first reaction was to 

CLAP MY HANDS!

And then I wanted to 

SHOUT TO GOD WITH THE VOICE OF TRIUMPH!  

Why?  Because

"THE LORD MOST HIGH IS AWESOME; HE IS A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH!"

And that was a good enough reason for me!  Let me ask you, do you ever get so excited over the way God works, and the marvelous things that He does, and the beauty of His Holiness...the glory of His power...the awesomeness of His majesty...the power of His love...and the mystery of His grace...

There are not enough words to describe Him, not enough ways to express this...I just have to 

"CLAP (MY) YOUR HANDS!

SHOUT TO GOD WITH THE VOICE OF TRIUMPH!

SING PRAISES TO GOD, SING PRAISES!

SING PRAISES TO OUR KING, SING PRAISES!

FOR GOD IS THE KING OF ALL THE EARTH;

SING PRAISES WITH UNDERSTANDING!"

If you have never felt this way about our marvelous and awesome God, just start counting your blessings.  Look around you at the magnificence of all creation...look into the heavens and try to count the stars and try to understand that God not only "counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name..." (Psalm 147:4)... and this God of the universe, Who created and named every single star

(Image Credit: Photos.com)

in every single galaxy...also knows my name.  He knows me inside and out...He knew me before I ever took my first breath...

"For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb....

My frame was not hidden from You,

when I was made in secret,

and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance,

being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them!"

Psalm 139: 13, 15-16

"Oh, that  men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

and for His wonderful works 

to the children of men!

Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,

and praise Him in the company of elders."

Psalm 107:31-32

Wow!  All I can say is, "Glory!"  Sing along with me this Doxology of Praise:

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen."

NEED I SAY MORE?

Oh, and by the way, if you are ever told that you should not clap your hands in praise to God,  you may need to find another place to worship...Just saying...

There's Dancing in the House Tonight!

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever!"  Psalm 30:11-12

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 

Amen

The Doxology

Thomas Ken 1637-1711

The Doxology is a familiar song to most of us I am certain...many can sing it totally from memory because we have sung it every Sunday since we were first carried into church as little children..  But I wonder how many have ever stopped to listen to exactly what we are singing?  Do we really believe what we are saying?  Do we actually mean what we sing? As with so many familiar prayers, songs, and affirmations of our faith, we often just say the words without thinking.  Certainly we would say that we believe what we are saying...but do we really?

Tonight I can honestly say that this Doxology of praise to God was the first thought that came to my mind when my son Matthew called to tell me the results of his doctor appointment in Boston. You see, for the past several weeks we have been praying, pleading, and crying out to God to heal our son from the horrible diagnosis that had been pronounced upon him. In the past couple of days, God had filled me with an inner peace that could only have come from above.  In my heart I believed that today's news would be good news, but in my head I was still a bit afraid to fully announce it for fear of being wrong and possibly causing some to doubt God.  But I shouldn't have feared...

The good news is that the Dr. has said that he believes that this cancer has been caught early enough to be able to eradicate it with a year of chemo and monitoring.  He said that he has never seen this particular rare and aggressive cancer discovered this early before, so he feels that Matthew has a very good chance of a cure. 

We are praising God tonight for this answer to prayer! We know that only God could have directed Matthew to find that tumor at such an early stage.  The Dr. said most people don't discover it until it is too far advanced, so he is very optimistic.

Matthew says to please thank everyone for your prayers...but please don't stop now and get too comfortable.  He still has a long, difficult road ahead of him, and will need a lot of prayer support to get through it.  We know that God has His hand on Matthew and his family...and we can only stop and praise Him for His mercy and grace once again.

"I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, and have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place."  Psalm 31:7-8

Yes, Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow!!