First Post from Here

I can't believe it has almost been a week since I last wrote to you HERE. And that was my "Last Post from" There...our now "old house".... a lot has happened since then...we have managed to make not just one big trip with the biggest UHaul truck from there to here, two trips in two days with the biggest UHaul truck, plus several other vehicles and trailers filled to the brim, and we still have one more trip to make tomorrow to with our car and our son's truck/trailer to hopefully finish up, clean up, and close up that chapter of our lives for good! Our closing on that house will be Friday for us as the sellers, and Monday for the buyers.  And then we can concentrate on getting ready for closing on our new house and preparing to move everything again in about a month!!! Wow...you think your head is swimming from all these details...you should be sitting where I am right now! So you may be asking, "Where ARE you sitting right now?"  Well, if you follow me on Facebook you will know that through the blessing of God and the kindness of some wonderful people, we are staying in our church's currently empty parsonage.  Empty only in the sense that no pastor is currently living here. Full in that we are able to store all of our belongings in this lovely house and 2 car garage, and I will tell you it is full to the brim!!

Fortunately, this is a large home, and we are able to set up some living space in the family room with room for our recliners, computer, and TV.  And we also have a bed in the master bedroom and our son, who is with us, also has a room, 

so we are comfy cozy

 And if it wasn't so hot, we could even have a fire in the fireplace...

But I prefer to relax in my recliner under the ceiling fan:

So we are so very thankful to be here, rejoicing in God's perfect timing in that this house became available for us when our former pastor retired and moved out, and the new pastor already has his own home nearby and doesn't need the parsonage.  God knew all along that our house would sell at this precise time, and He already also knew that we would need this place for a temporary shelter until our new house is ready for closing.  What a wonderful God we serve!!

 So here we are on our first morning walk here, enjoying the beauty of this lovely home and setting...

 "The Parsonage"

Beautiful crepe myrtles blooming against a magnificent blue sky

Lovely garden spider in the garden, of course...

Such a wonderful hydrangea blossom...

And...well,here's hubby doing whatever...fixing his hair? When I told him I wanted to take his picture on our new walking road.   Yes, this is a lovely, peaceful, quiet place...a perfect spot for us to rest up for our next moving adventure in a few weeks.

And speaking of our next move...last evening we took a ride over to our new house to just walk around and get the feel of it in the evening. I was hoping for a sunset, but it was too cloudy, but God blessed me with this amazing view anyway:

 Do you see the heart in the picture above?  I put this on facebook last night, and everyone saw it right away...it is a picture of love from our Heavenly Father, smiling His blessing upon our new home. That is what I believe, anyway...

 I am really looking forward to waking up to this view every morning and enjoying it throughout the day.

Today we went back to the new house to meet the "Inspector", who was giving it the whole house/4 point inspection. We will get the results in a day or two. We are trusting there are no major issues that cannot be readily addressed. We know there are a few things we are going to have to take care of before we move in, but hopefully there won't be any other surprises.  We enjoyed meeting this very knowledgeable elderly man, who has led an extremely unique and interesting life. He is a widower, and we could tell very lonely, as he just seemed to enjoy talking and sharing his life story with us. He apologized for talking so much, but he said, "I've got two chihuahuas and one Pit Bull at my house, and although they are wonderful companions, they aren't very good conversationalists."  Hubby and I have determined that once we get moved in and settled in our new house, this gentleman will be one of our first house guests for dinner, along with our very sweet realtor lady here, who is also an elderly widow and such a wonderful person. No, I'm not "matchmaking"...I don't think they would be that compatible, but they would make entertaining house guests...so that is something to look forward to in our new home.

Many have asked for pictures of our new house, and so far I have not shared any of the house itself, because it is going to need some cosmetic work on the exterior (nothing major...just some refreshing) before we move in, so I want to save that for later.  However, I will give you tiny glimpses of some things I was looking at today:

 Above is the view from the dining room (front) window.  Yes, we were about to have a big thunderstorm, so we had to cut off the conversation with the Inspector so he could get back to inspecting and we could get on home...but I liked that view of that magnolia tree across the street.  You can also see that we will now be living on a paved road...which is new to us after many years on dirt roads out in the country.  We are still not too sure about our walking route in this new neighborhood...we shall see how many dogs bark at us...that usually determines where we want to walk. We may just drive back over to "the Parsonage" and walk there where it is real quiet...we'll see. Some adjustments ahead for us you can see.  (We are more accustomed to watching for deer and bears when we walk...)

And above is a view of the back of the head of The Inspector, and also the light fixture above the island in the kitchen, and some of the kitchen cabinets.  Interestingly all of the upper cabinets have these glass doors.  They are pretty, maybe a little dated, but I'm okay with them,  as I have had to give up my big white china cabinet and these glass cabinets will give me a place to display my dishes.  There is also this wallpaper in the kitchen, which also may be a little dated, but I do have a lot of blue accents in my things, so again, I'm actually happy with this.  If I get tired of it I can always paint...but for now I am very happy with the interior of the house and look forward to sharing more of it with you as time goes by...

 Here are the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen..and you will see below that there is a gas range...which will be a FIRST for me! I have never cooked on a gas range before, and people tell me I will love it...but I just pray I don't blow up the place.  Better pray for me...I am truly a little nervous about it...

Well, that's all I'm going to share tonight. Need to save something for another time.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement during these stressful days of selling one house, moving out, buying another house and moving again all in a month's time. So very thankful for this time of rest in the meantime  as we wait for the next move. Oh, but wait, tomorrow we still have to go finish cleaning the "old house"...and believe me, that is going to be a chore! I never realized how much dust could accumulate behind and under and around things that we couldn't move in over seven years...  I am also determined that when we move into our new house we will only be moving in what we really want and what fits. I expect to be sending a lot of extra stuff to the church thrift store before we are through with this move...or giving it away to whomever walks through the door and says I'll take it!!

Here's a thought for the day from our devotional reading this morning:

Our Bible is our "EOB", "Explanation of Benefits", much like the explanation of our health benefits we receive from our insurance health plan...only the Bible gives us our "Spiritual Health Plan"...

"Bless The Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!  

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; 

Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, 

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Psalm 103:1-5

Our souls have wonderful benefits from the Lord, who guides and strengthens us along life's way. There can be no better "spiritual health plan", which has been given freely for life, both for now and for eternity! Be sure to read this "explanation of benefits" every day for a healthy soul, mind, and body!!

Last Message From Here

Well folks, today will be our last day in our house in the woods...

This was the view on our front porch on the 4th of July, when rain was threatening in the skies and we decided our flag was safer on the porch than out on the pole...

There I am taking this last picture on our front porch...

This week has been a busy week of packing, taking care of paperwork for the sale of our current home and the purchase of our new home...

I was washing these pretty silk flowers before packing them, and I set them on the dishtowel to dry, and realized that they matched quite perfectly!  Just a little bit of whimsy while I work...

So this is the scene in our dining room and kitchen right now...(actually, this was yesterday, but it doesn't look any better today...more boxes...)

Much of the work that has been done in the dining room has been accomplished by my two dear friends Maura and Marian...They came and worked two days in a  row to help pack the many china dishes, teapots, cups and saucers and general knicknacks and paddywacks from the curio cabinet and two china cabinets...

I don't know what I would have done without their help. I praise God for these special friends who have been with us through thick and thin over the past seven and 1/2 years.  They have truly blessed our lives with their love and willingness to give of themselves to bless others. Thankfully we are not moving all that far away, and we will be able to stay in touch and hopefully see each other often.

 Since we decided to move the majority of everything this weekend instead of waiting until next week, I've been put into turbo mode to get everything done on time. We will rent the largest UHaul truck on Saturday to take the furniture, appliances, and whatever else will fit.  Then we will make little trips next week with our son's pick up and covered trailer to finish up with whatever is left over and clean up and close up and say good-bye to this house...

Once the pictures and personal items are removed from the walls and shelves of a house it kind of loses its "homey" feel and becomes a shell of what once was...a place where much laughter, joy, some tears and sorrow, many memories were made with loved ones and friends and our wildlife neighbors...

We haven't had much time for walking this week, but when we did Mr. Osprey was out there to greet us:

And one day there were three of these kinds of planes flying very low over our house. I think this may have been on the 4th of July.

This ladybug was enjoying its breakfast on the leaf of this wild kind of milkweed plant growing alongside the road:

This is what the buds looked like a few weeks ago on this plant:

And I guess I didn't get a good picture of the flowers, but now this seed pod is growing on the plant, which is strange... I never saw this stage of it before...Oh well, I will miss watching this plant grow back each year...it is all alone on the side of the road, and it disappears in winter, and then comes back each spring!

But I will soon be on a new road of adventure...staring tomorrow we will be staying in our church parsonage, which is a very lovely home and we are blessed to be able to camp out there for a few weeks until we close on our "new house".

The Church Parsonage

I apologize that I did not post the sermon notes from our new pastor this past week. Yes, our new pastor and his lovely wife began their ministry at our church on Sunday, and his message was powerful and wonderful, and I did take copious notes, but I just couldn't get my head organized to sit down and share it with you. I hope to do better once we get settled.  In case you are wondering, the parsonage is available to us to use because our new pastor already has his own home within a close enough distance to commute, so he will not need this house.  The church plans to use it for special meetings and events throughout the year (after we move out in a few weeks, of course!)

This is just one of many blessings from the Lord in this move.

Once we get our internet back up and running next week, I will keep you updated as much as possible on our comings and goings.  We are so thankful that the Lord, and our church, have provided this lovely home for us to stay in during the interim. It will be a peaceful haven in midst of the chaos of moving.

Oh, those of you on my Facebook already know this, but all you may not know...we got to meet the new owners of our current home yesterday. Remember, they had purchased the home sight unseen, and yesterday was their first look up close and personal at what they had bought. I was a little nervous that perhaps they may want to change their minds once they saw it for real...but again, God proved to me that my fears were unwarranted.  They LOVED the house and were delighted with all of it interesting character and points of interest. They are moving here all the way from Idaho, and are quite happy to be escaping the cold winters and heavy snowfall there. They didn't even seem to mind the 100% humidity and hot muggy atmosphere here.  

So, thank You, Lord, again...for preparing all of this ahead of time, in YOUR time, exactly as it should be.  I know that You are with us in this move...and today I am relying on Your strength to help us get all of the work done so that we can be ready to roll when the truck arrives to take us away to our new adventure! 

Okay, duty calls... I must get "moving" or we'll never make it...

God bless you all, and I'll see you later...

Getting My Lamps Trimmed and Ready

I will try to keep touching base with you during the next couple of weeks as I am able.  We are busily packing, packing, packing, preparing for our big move.  Once we actually get moved into our new home I will need to select a new header picture for this blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows", since the original header will no longer be my view out my kitchen windows...

This will be one of my views at our new home.  I wish this was out my kitchen window, but unfortunately the kitchen is in the front of the house, looking toward the street. And this view is on the back side of the house.  However, I do plan to set up my computer in a special area beside a window looking out to this view...so that is probably what you will be seeing quite often...and we do plan to clear a little of the underbrush out of the way so we have a better view...but first things first...

There are two large oak trees out front that I will be able to see from the kitchen window...Hubby was talking to our realtor (below) while I was busy taking pictures of the scenery.  I did make one unpleasant discovery the other day when we were there...apparently there is a yellow jacket nest in the ground up close to the house.  I unknowingly stepped right into it, and many angry bees came swirling up to chase me away...and one actually zapped me on my ring finger. I had to take off my wedding rings quickly before my finger swelled up too much.  I was not a happy camper!  When we got back to the realtor's office we found a tea bag and wet it and put it on there to draw out the pain from the sting rather quickly.  Good secret to know! Wet chewing tobacco works as well...but no one that we knew was chewing any...LOL.  Anyway...that is one thing on the list to be sure gets taken care of before we move into the house. I don't want anyone else to go through that pain. Some people are very allergic and it could be a bad thing. 

Just so you know, the house we are buying is actually a manufactured home...a double wide. That is what is most affordable and available in this community, and the one we found is newer than most of the others we looked at...and is beside that pond...which made it very desirable property for me.  Yesterday morning hubby and I were having a little bit of a "buyer's/seller's remorse" moment...kind of a panic attack about all the details we are having to deal with, and we needed some reassurance that we are doing the right thing.  First we called one of our friends from our church there and bounced some things off of him, and he gave us some wise advice. Then we called a company that does repairs on manufactured homes and asked some questions that we have about some repairs that need to be made, and he gave us some comforting answers, which relieved our fears and helped us to realize that we are still on the right track and it's going to be okay. 

Then to top it off, our friend that we spoke with earlier and his wife brought some other people from our church down to our current little town and we met them all for supper at a local restaurant in the middle of a major thunderstorm. We had such a marvelous time of fellowship...and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are doing the right thing in making this move. It's not about houses or land or ponds. It's about the people God is leading us to. That's what it is really all about.  God is so good. 

A funny little side note that I don't think our friends noticed (at least I hope not), when we were finished with our meal I got up to go to the restroom. When I came out, our group was already outside waiting for the rain to let up enough to run to their cars.  The restaurant has a front porch where people sit and wait for a table to become available, and it was quite packed.  We said good bye to our friends and then turned to walk across the porch to the parking lot on the other side where our car was parked.  I noticed that all the people sitting on the porch were smiling at me and seemed really friendly, although there wasn't anyone there that I knew.  As I hurried ahead of my hubby to get out of the rain, he called me and caught up with me and said, "You have TP hanging from the back of your clothes..."   Now please don't tell me that that has never happened to you before... and I won't tell you how many times that has happened to me before...but now I know why all those strangers on the porch were smiling so big at me as I paraded by.  All I can say is, my mama taught me to always put TP on the seat in a public restroom...and on a particularly humid evening it might have been wise to take a second look before leaving the room...but I don't plan to go back there again before we move and those people had a good laugh...so all's well that "ends" well! LOL.


Now, on to other more interesting things since you've had your laugh...

Today I decided to prepare our Hurricane Lamps for packing and moving. You may just call yours "oil lamps", but here in Florida we call them Hurricane lamps, because that is usually when we use them the most.  I have several oil lamps, and most of them still had some oil in them, which needed to be emptied. 

 The wicks needed to be trimmed and the burners cleaned and stored safely,

The  chimneys and fuel reservoirs also needed to be carefully washed

I love this dish soap wand for washing glasses and it certainly works well on the chimneys.  Don't ever try to wash the inside of a glass chimney with your bare hand.  It could easily break and cut your hand very badly...

I also have these candle sconces  that needed to be cleaned and packed. 

You may think these are out of style now and why do I still have these old fashioned things on my wall.  Well...turn the wooden sconce over and read what is written and you will understand why these are very special to me.  My Daddy actually made these sconces for me for my birthday many moons ago...

Some things just never go out of style in my book...

Washing and packing these oil lamps made me think about being prepared.  We are certainly getting prepared for our big move from our current home in a couple of weeks.  We are packing carefully because our things will actually have to be stored during the interim time between moves, and then moved again a few weeks later to our  new house.  I am not too excited about that fact and would much prefer to make one big move from here to there, but it just didn't quite work out that way. We are very thankful that our church is allowing us to stay in the empty parsonage during that time, which will be a huge help to us as we will be able to store our things with us there.

But back to the oil lamps and being prepared...I'm sure you've read the story about the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (see Matthew 25:1-13 for the complete story).  There were five wise virgins and five foolish virgins. The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and were prepared and ready when the bridegroom came to call them to the wedding feast.  The foolish took their lamps but didn't take any oil with them. 

In verse 6 it says:

"And at midnight a cry was heard: 

"Behold, the bridegroom is coming; Go out to meet him!"

And as we read the rest of the story, we see that the foolish virgins tried to talk the wise virgins into sharing their oil with them, but they said they could not as there would not be enough for all of them. The wise virgins went on to the wedding, but the foolish went out to try and buy some oil, and they missed their opportunity to go into the wedding. Verse 10 says, "and the door was shut."  When they came and knocked on the door, the bridegroom said "I do not know you." (verse 12).  The moral of the story is in verse 13:

"Watch therefore, for you do not know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

We must always be prepared for the return of the Lord...we do not know when He is coming...could be today, tomorrow or next week.  Or our lives could be cut short by disease, accident, or disaster. No one knows, so we must be ready to meet the Lord at any time.  Have your lamps trimmed and burning bright...

Luke 12:35 says "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning." (New International Version)

So we are getting ready...ready for whatever the Lord has ahead for us. Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Good Morning! Quick Update!

Good Morning Everyone in Blogland! 
This will be a quick update as I don't know how often I will be able to post and visit here in Blogland during the next month.  If you read my last post HERE, you will know that we have sold our home here in the woods, and we have also purchased a "new to us" home in our desired new community about 30 miles north of here!  We are scheduled to close on our current home in about 3 weeks, but we can't close on our new home until around August 12th, if all goes according to plan.  So we will be living in "limbo" for those few weeks in between...thankfully at a safe and wonderful place....our church parsonage!  What a blessing to have that option so graciously provided for us....we are just amazed at the perfect timing and blessing of God in this whole adventure. 

So this morning I noticed the sunrise was looking pretty from where I could see it from here in the house, so I grabbed my "new to me" replacement camera that I ordered on eBay to replace my favorite old camera. The "new" one is used and refurbished, just like the old one, and so far it seems to be working as well as the other did.

Back to the sunrise...I grabbed my camera and ran to the neighborhood pond to have a look at the sunrise, with the thought in my mind that I may not have too many opportunities at this location to enjoy the sunrise.  Our new home will actually be ON a pond (beside a pond I should say...not actually ON top of the pond...but pretty close!)  but it will be on the west side, and so I am expecting to see some magnificent sunsets from there...something to look forward to!    Anyway, I keep digressing and taking you down little piggy trails... here is what I enjoyed this morning:

Even though I am moving to a beautiful location and expect many new and wonderful things to appear there, I will miss this lovely spot. It has been a balm for my soul on many a day, and I thank the Lord for the gift of this place over the years.

As I turned to head back to the house I was blessed with another wonderful gift:

 This family of deer was standing at attention and watching me intently, so I walked very slowly so as not to frighten them away. The morning light was still a bit dim and I was down the road a ways, so this isn't very clear...but you get the idea.

What I missed was a picture of the baby fawn who came running across the road to join her family before they ran into the woods. They were all standing there waiting for her...and she moved too quickly for me to get a picture, but I know there is at least one fawn  and maybe two...I hope I get another opportunity to see them up close and in better light before we leave here.   But...what a blessing today!  It's almost as if they were waiting for me so they could say good-bye!  They have given me much joy and delight over the past seven and 1/2 years that we have lived here.  However, I have heard that they may have a lot of relatives up in the area where we are moving...so we shall see if they will come to our pond for a drink!! You know I'll be watching with camera in hand!!

Until then, I have lots and lots of packing to do and many details to figure out. Yesterday it took us most of the day to just pack our books!!!

Here is a thought for today that I just read in my morning devotions:

"Jesus, help me to be on the lookout for You today.  

May I see you in the mirror as well as in the people and events of today."

This thought came after the disciples were with Jesus when He stilled the winds and the waves on the stormy sea in Matthew 8:23-27.  The disciples marveled (vs. 27) saying,

"Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

That is something to ponder as we go about our daily routines and business today...if you are in a stormy sea of life, or a place of uncertainly and are anxious about your future, just think about this Jesus, Who calms the seas and the winds for us.  We do not need to fear what is up ahead, because Jesus is already there.  And He is here with us today, in the midst of the sea, calming the storms of our lives right now. I am so thankful for this wonderful Savior, aren't you?

Have a blessed day my friends.  I'll be back...maybe not quite as often for a while...but I will be back, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise!"

Sermon Notes and Exciting News

This has certainly been a whirlwind week for us! I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this week has been...because we've truly seen God at work in all the fine details of our lives...and also in the perfect timing of some very important events...

As most of you know, we have been trying to sell our home for quite a while, and we were just about to the point of giving up on the whole idea.  But then we found a house for sale in the area where we have been searching that pretty well met all of our criteria for what we were looking for in a "new to us home".   The price was right, the location was good, and the size of the house was better than we expected to find...and it was next to a little pond...what I've been dreaming about.

 It isn't perfect in that it will need some TLC, but it had more things right about it than wrong...and so we prayed. And we felt led to go ahead and make an offer after consulting our bank, etc., and determining that we could do that in good faith.   And they accepted our offer!

FYI, I am not going to show any pictures of the house just yet, as the outside needs some TLC, and I'd prefer to wait until we can get some things done before I show it...then maybe I'll post some before and after pictures.  So for now, just enjoy "the View", which you've already seen some of on my last blog post, https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/06/friday-foto-friends-and-thankful.html
You just didn't know it yet!

While we were going back and forth with the seller about closing dates, etc., and making sure this was really something we could do even if our house did not sell right away...(but still praying it wouldn't be very long before it was sold...) our realtor called and said she had someone interested in looking at our house.  Of course we said yes, and hurried up and got the house cleaned up and ready for prospective buyers.  Much to our amazement, only a realtor showed up representing her clients, who were out of state. While we toured the house together, she was texting them on her cellphone, and they were asking her questions in her ear in her bluetooth! Oh the marvelous ways of modern technology! Hate it or love it...it really does make a big difference in how we do business these days. The clients had already seen pictures of our house online, but they had never been here in person...so they must really trust the judgement of this realtor!  Anyway,  to make a long story short, within an hour from when she left our house, our realtor called us to ask if we could be out of the house in 3 weeks, and if so, they would buy the house!!!  After a big gulp, we said "yes to the dress!" Or something like that...oh, that's a different kind of offer.  LOL.

So now, the next issue is passing inspections and the timing of closings...we will most likely close here on this house before we can close on our new house, so there will be a little gap in between where we must find a place to stay and figure out what to do with our furniture.  Well, again, God already had that worked out as well.  Our church parsonage will be empty in a week upon the departure of our present pastor, and our new pastor will not be using the parsonage since he already has a home nearby. So, we have been granted permission to stay in the parsonage until we can move into our home!  We are still working on what to do with our furniture, but have a plan in mind that we hope will work out.

All in all, we are just amazed at how God has brought all of these details together right on time...in His perfect timing, just like so many of you have reminded me throughout these long months of waiting. Thank you for always bringing me back to that truth when I seemed to be in despair. You have been such a blessing to me, and I thank the Lord for each one of you.

Now...on to the sermon notes for this week...First, a picture of our Pastor...today was his last Sunday with us, and he wanted to give the kids the usual "High Five" as they left the sanctuary for Children's Church... He was wearing his padded oven mitt to protect his hand as the kids love to take advantage of the opportunity to give him a real good swat on the hand as the congregation is singing "Jesus Loves Me" while they march out...

And here he is afterward examining his hand, which was still stinging even with the use of the oven mitt...but these are precious moments that these kids (and the pastor) will always remember.  We are all going to miss you, Pastor A.C.!!

Our speaker today was actually our director of music and worship, and she gave an excellent lesson from John 20:20...talking about "perfect vision"....

Starting at John 20:19 - 22

19.  "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 

"Peace be with you."

20.  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.  Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21.  So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22.  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Isn't it interesting that John 20:20 talks about sight?  "...The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord..."  Another translation says the disciples were "overjoyed" when they saw the Lord!  

We think of perfect vision, or visual acuity to be 20/20...

This story takes place after the crucifixion of Jesus, and the disciples were confused and unsure about their future.  But then they saw the Lord up close...and He offered Peace to them, and then breathed on them the Holy Spirit...

Then the disciples' vision increased...they could see everything more clearly...

Their vision was corrected to 20/20 by the Holy Spirit.

How do you see Jesus?

People in the world who do not know Christ cannot see anything clearly.

They have no clue what they are missing because of their lack of sight...

The Sadducees from last week's message couldn't see Christ or His resurrection...

People who do not know Christ have short-sighted vision. (near-sighted)

Sometimes we try to help people with food and shelter and things, but we tend to hold back and are unsure about sharing Christ with them

We need to keep a better focus on Jesus, and don't be discouraged...

There are others who may have accepted the Lord but have but have never truly walked with the Lord. They are farsighted.  They may dwell on the thinking of the tribulation and the end of the world, but they have vision difficulties when it comes to living in the present and serving God now. They go into hiding and don't share Christ but sit back and wait for the second coming.

We are supposed to preach the Gospel...

 In Mark 16:15 Jesus says to His disciples:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race 

that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down a the right hand of God..."

• Fix our eyes on Jesus...keep on keeping on...
• Try to have no visual limitations...have 20/20 vision.  Use the corrective lenses of prayer, Bible Study, fellowship, attending church, and communicating with God.
• Our goal as Christians is to have 20/20 vision...
• One day in heaven we will see perfectly...(and see the bigger picture that God has been seeing all along...)

As we closed the service today we sang the following song. I've never heard this one before and it really blessed me, especially as we sang it all the way through.  I hope you will enjoy this song as much as I did...  "Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?"

I know I've seen Jesus My Lord in plain view this past week... how about you?

Final question: "Are our eyes fixed on Jesus?"  Something to think about...

Sermon Notes: FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Guest Speaker: Mrs. Carol Miller, 6/30/2019

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given. I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously. Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said. Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear... That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts. So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.