rumor ....

I took Friday off and when Mom said that Dad had heard that my work had shut the doors, I couldn't help but feel a bit of a pang. Then I started talking back the Word and the blessings of God took me through it before and He will take me through it again.

I did go the Word for reaffirming of my faith. God is so good because He gives comfort and all I have to do is receive it.

Psalms 61:8
So I will sing praise to Your Name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.

I have told God that when I went through the job loss before I was a child just learning how to possesses JOY. I acted like a child and felt like a child shaking in fear and yet reaching out to God. I want to go through this job loss as a learned adult. I admit I probably will be shaking in my boots but all the while knowing I am in God's Almighty Hand. I will be shouting out God's Word and firmly holding onto His Promises and Blessings. I will not fear. In order to do this? I must praise Him.

Hebrews 10:35
Therefore do NOT cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

Hebrews 11:13-16
'... they were strangers & pilgrims on the earth ... declaring plainly that they seek a homeland ... they desire a better, that is a heavenly country.'

I just couldn't help but my heart did a jump for joy. I am just a passing through! This is not my home. I will not waste my time in fear nor stress. I want that crown of Joy!!! I will not wallow!!!

I did quickly get online to access my work email. Everything looked normal. No big announcement. It is the usual off a week - work a week - wondering when ....

one marble ...

You know how a parent or teacher takes a jar full of marbles to help a small child understand the concept of time by having the child take out a marble for each day - maybe there is a big celebration when all the marbles are taken from the jar or someone is coming home after a long absence. Now that child has something visual to understand how much time he has.

This week a radio pastor was talking about how much time an average person has here on earth. He has a jar of marbles and with how much time he has in months sitting on his desk. Every month he takes out a marble. This helps him taking an accounting of his days. Another man has just one marble in the jar.

I have decided to have the one marble in the jar to sit on my desk at work and also have the same reminder at home. But I am adding the verse found in ....

(bummer ... can't find it by googling it ... going through my marked up new testament....)

It is amazing how it changes your decision making and fearing not takes hold. It just might help me be less tentative and more bold. No, I will continue to think because I am a thinker but once I have had a good think it is time to grab that jar with the one marble and talk back the verse in my very intense voice like I mean it. {smiles}

(off to find the verse - brb)

Proverbs 27:1 seems to be the one that I had found a comfort in but I don't remember it the way it is written... but I tend to pray verses out using what I glean ... so maybe I saw it as I just have today - one marble....

''Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.''

How Rich I am!!!

How rich I am 
Since Jesus came my way
Redeemed my soul and turned my night to day

How very rich, how very rich, I am!!!

Such peace and joy
I never knew before
And countless blessings
from His boundless store

How very rich, how very rich, I am!!!

There is greater glory in a sunset!
A briter twinkle in each star!
There is much more promise in a rainbow!
More music in a singing bird by far!

All things have changed
My eyes once blind now see
The whole wide world
Is now a symphany
And with all this
Heaven is my destiny! How rich I am!!!

There is greater glory in a sunset!
A briter twinkle in each star!
There is much more promise in a rainbow!
More music in a singing bird by far!

All things have changed
My eyes once blind now see
The whole wide world
Is now a symphany
And with all this
Heaven is my destiny!

I haven't figured out the author or history of this song. I heard on the way to work this week and I couldn't help but agree. I love the sunrises and the sunsets. They seem so rich because I know God has made them for me each day. All I have to do is enjoy!!!!

As the days have gotten tougher, the sparrows do twitter much more and I find them so precious because they remind me of the richness of God's love for me. The dance is in each step I take because I am IN LOVE with God. Now that is rich.

my picks ...

So the Oscars are all the buzz but like always they pick weird and in my humble opinion downright wacky flicks! I am a movie buff of sorts but I am picky. So here is my bit of what I thought was Oscar worthy:

~ Australia ~
for the epic like story and for the wonderful overall epic picture. I am an Australian buff. I loved the accents, the Australian words, and the harsh but beautiful Australian land.

~ The Dark Night ~
for the moral between the dark and the light. I love the depth that this movies has and only the lucky few tap into that depth and glean the wealth. Most just get off on the darkness and destruction. Others are offended by the violence.

~ Nim's Island ~
for the child and the romantic in us all. It is cute and it also has a smidge of Australia in it.

~ Fireproof ~
for the stand on marriage. It is about keeping the marriage sacred. You won't find it in hollywood and we didn't. The church brought to hollywood.

links to my movie reviews..

junkie stage ...

I have been in a very excited state of late. I can't seem to get enough. All I want to do is get home and try my hand at amigurumi. I have a collected a stash of patterns from the web as well as a book. I want to create all the little 'amies' at once but can only do one thing at a time!

I just finished a bear with a honey pot. It is a prezzie for my little niece. I didn't like the head and I am thinking that when I find a better head, I will use it and attach the small body too. I have plans for the monkey once I get that warm chocolate brown color if they would only stock it! The nephew has a birthday coming up fast. I need to make these things quick for the boy before he out grows them.

I have plans for Easter with the egg patterns I have. Super excited to put that into action. I just might make them for the whole family if I can get started soon enough. Then I found a rather cute bird pattern that I just can't wait to make. Then there is this heart pattern that just didn't make much sense until I worked out the math and I finally got it. The pattern wasn't as clear as it should be but I was surprised that I finally got it. Now the trick is to make it and hopefully it turns out well. If so I will have to make pix and then add the photo to the pattern.

I have other talents that have been sitting dormant and I hate that but I just can't get enough of this. I do want to incorporate all my crafts together. They may seem very different from each other but who knows... I say that I am a creative sort so I just will have to do some daydreaming and get down and creative!

Hmmm, words, paper, paint, glass, amigurumi, loom, yo-yos, crochet flowers.....

Victoria fires ...

Dear Heavenly Father,
My heart is heavy as I read the stories coming from the fires down in Victoria, Australia. I cannot imagine the lost or the horrific moments when the fire was chasing them down. There are many 'Jobs' down there and I wonder how one can go on when a spouse or children are taken and the little space you called home is gone. Cars crashing into each other because they could not see in front of them. Fears of people stuck inside... They are having a hard time identifying the bodies because the heat was 1200*c. If the person was out in the open there would be charred remains but stuck inside a car, there would be nothing but ash. Ash is ash.

There are happy surprises like people running to the dams or coolers that came out unharmed. Then the animals like the koala wanting water to cool down or to drink. There is Old Man Roo who was a kangaroo would was a friendly sort that the land owner thought would have perished but when she came back she was surprised to see him there.

I pray that these 'Jobs' will follow the Job of old. May they not curse You. May they find comfort in You alone. I pray for showers of blessing to fall. I pray for the believers there that they will not let the horror engulf their minds but they will renew their minds.. Ps 143:5-6 ''I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your Works; I muse on the Works of Your Hands. I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land.'' You alone can hold our anxieties. You alone know how precious our tears are for You have weighed them and have written them down in Your tear book. You do not waste our sorrow nor our pain.

I often wonder if I have what it takes and when these harrowing times press in, all I can do is go to the Word. I want that crown of Joy and I think to get that crown it must start here on earth. Can I find Joy like in Isaiah 35? ''The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus , it will burst into bloom...''

I lift up Australia and like in the movie Australia, you cannot possess land nor people, all you have is your story. May their story have You in it because without You, they truly have nothing. May they store up treasure in Heaven where no fire can get to... That is a great hope to have your young believe in the One True God. Because when they are taken, they are treasure stored up in Heaven. The lineage or legacy that you leave behind you here on earth isn't going to matter when earth passes away....

Thank You for holding us close when we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death... You put a tear in our eye to put a rainbow in our heart...
always your child

love equations...

God validates her beauty + God validates his strength.
+
She offers & gives her beauty to him + He offers & gives his strength to her
=
a good union.


She seeks validation of her beauty from him
= abuse, desertion, loneliness -
She becomes ugly.

He seeks validation of his strength from her
= moody, restless, sex addict -
He becomes weak.

Just a few equations of love ....

a love story ...

This was a forward in my email box and I thought I would share as it is a love story - perfect for Valentine's Day:

The Tablecloth
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet..
"Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do.. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One
older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike. He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by
Pastor Rob Reid

What I would have done in the past after reading such a tale, I would have a small piece of hope for the lost love that I have. But no more. It is a lovely story; yet, my hope must stay firmly on the Rock.

In my past I would have taken this as a sign. Today I understand that signs are fleeting and not really signs. We tend to get caught up in signs as hope and even answers to the questions we might be harboring. I am not one to really a sign taker. It is just once in a while especially when I am really into something and a big fat question is sitting there, I fall for a sign. Not any more! Not even for a tiny sign.

I had a relationship that I took to God and really made sure that everything I did was with Eternity in mind. I prayed a lot and ask God for help in whatever I was giving in this relationship. I would be very aware of His speaking. Now that this relationship is gone, I use to have a ton of questions that were not answered and not just why he walked away but what am I to do now. Then it hit me that nothing not even a sign was stable. I have begun to dig myself into the Word of God and find myself rooted. All of my questions are put into the Word and where I find God's Will plainly written in black and white. All I have to do is trust and obey. I am so at peace now more so than ever before. My questions are quieted when I grab a law or blessing and pray through my questions, decisions, and plans. No more waffling for me.

True Love, Everlasting Love, Love that stands the test of time comes only from God. He will see me through and if this friendship should ever come back into my life, I will be here knowing the 'knitted together' comes by God's love coming through me via reading and standing on God's Word.

given bountifully ...

'For there is no one who acknowledges me ... ' Have you ever felt like that? I tend to feel most times and I just go on but sometimes I feel it acutely. I am a work horse and can work quietly on my own. Numbers is not my thing so this job takes all the patterns and obsession to detail that I have to manage this huge job. With God, I did it to the best of my ability. I had conversations with God without ceasing to get me through the tough times. Now the times have changed and I have a boss who is more hands on which I am finding I don't like so well only because life has shown me that I am much better off working alone. I say this as it wasn't a choice. I just haven't found much in the way of people who want to work with me as a team.

Anyways, today I began to feel 'unacknowledged' and it was beginning to bug me. I stole away a moment to read God's Word hoping for some peace and comfort. God does not disappoint! No wonder I love King David...

Psalms 142
A Contemplation of David. A Prayer when he was in the cave.

I cry out to the LORD with my voice;
With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.

I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare before Him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
Then You knew my path.
In the way in which I walk
they have secretly set a snare for me.

Look on my right hand and see,
For there is no one who acknowledges me;
Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.

I cried out to You, O LORD: I said,
"You are my Refuge, My portion in the land of the living.

Attend to my cry, For I am brought very low;
Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than I.

Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may praise Your name;
The righteous shall surround me,
For You shall deal bountifully with me."

...He often speaks aloud my feelings. I don't have to complain anymore! I just read King David's word and I feel my feelings are acknowledged and then I am comforted as King David leads me into praising Almighty God.

hiding place...

I heard this hymn on the way into work this morning. It was sung by a male which I love more than high female voices. I think I have heard it once before but certainly not enough. I don't know how old this hymn is. It is not in my old hymnal that I have harbored from my grandma. Not only did the melody of this song soothe me but also the words.

In a time of trouble, in a time forlorn,

There is a hiding place where hope is born.

In a time of danger, when our faith is proved

There is a hiding place where we are loved.

There is a hiding place, a strong protective space,

Where God provides the grace to persevere;

For nothing can remove us from the Father's love,

Tho' all may change, yet nothing changes here.

In a time of sorrow, in a time of grief,

There is a hiding place to give relief.

In a time of weakness, in a time of fear,

There is a hiding place where God is near.

~by Bryan Jeffery Leech

Thou art my Hiding Place;
Thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Selah.
~Psalms 32:7

Thou art my Hiding Place
and my Shield:
I hope in Thy word.
~ Psalms 119:114