“Find Joy in the Ordinary!” – Max Lucado

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And today, I did just that. Yes, I have deadlines. Yes, I have responsibilities. But, yes, I also have me think about.

Sometimes we get so caught up in all the things we “have” to do in life that we forget to take time to enjoy the life God has given us.

So, today, I purposely and temporarily walked away from assignments with my face buried in books; I walked away from looming projects that have yet to be started and declared, “I need to do this for me.” After lunch, I took off around my neighborhood on a slow, leisurely walk and tried not to think about all that had to be done.

The days are getting shorter. Soon the colder weather will be upon us and we will crave for a day when we can once again take a leisurely walk outside.

This was my treat for myself today. I wanted something that would bring me joy in the midst of the mundane, everyday ordinary business of life.

It might not seem like much to you, but for me it was and is a big deal.  This is what put a smile on my face today, knowing I did this for me. Sometimes we just have to get juvenile with it and stick your tongue out at all the “have to’s” and do something pleasurable for ourselves.

This was mine. I hope you are enjoying your ordinary day. Even more, I hope you find something in it that puts a smile on your face, too.

Blessings!

You don’t have to do life alone!

You are not in this alone. You don’t have to do life alone. Let these small words of encouragement refresh your soul. Blessings ~

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“LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are God; do not let man prevail against You!” 2 Chronicles 14:11, NKJV.

The great thing about being in a relationship with God is you don’t have to do life alone. Things that may confuse and overwhelm you will never be too much for God. He can LITERALLY carry the weight of the world on His shoulders. Whatever is stressing you or messing with you, ask God for help. He’s there. He’s here, and you don’t have to do this life alone. Blessings ~

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Words To Live By: “Stay Anchored in Jesus!”

Jesus is the anchor to our soul. He is our solid true Source. He is our staying power. If you feel yourself drifting, call out to Him for He that walks on water will lift you up out of the raging seas of this life and set you on His solid rock.

This encouraging poster will remind you that we are not left adrift without a sail. Our hope is in Him, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul . . .” Hebrews 6:19.

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Jesus is the anchor to our soul.  He is our solid true Source.  He is our staying power.  If you feel yourself drifting, call out to Him for He that walks on water will lift you up out of the raging seas of this life and set you on His solid rock. 

This encouraging poster will remind you that we are not left adrift without a sail.  Our hope is in Him, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul . . .” Hebrews 6:19.

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“No Weapon!”

No weapon! It’s not hard to see,
Every one that’s formed, propelled against me.
It’s vanished, thrown into the dust.
It won’t prosper, in the Lord I trust.

I am fortified in the Holy Ghost.
Your condemning tongues falsify your boast.
Darts aimed, ready to take flight.
Target unreached, by His might.

Shielded in the heritage, I belong to the Lord.
Bought with a price I could not afford.
Redeemed and covered, renewed to excel.
All arrows and swords, He did dispel.

“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD,” Isaiah 54:17

 

 

“What would it have been like in the Garden with God?”

One of my favorite times of the day is waking up.  Not the actual waking up part (sometimes that’s a little hard 😉 ), but when I finally get up, I get to draw back the curtains and see the new day.  It’s untouched.  It’s filled with hope and promise.  Whatever happened yesterday is not here for this is today.  It’s that freshness that draws me in and gets my soul stirred for the possibilities ahead.

When we go on vacation one of the places we stay at is a condo in the mountains.  It’s so peaceful.  With coffee in hand in the morning, I head out onto the balcony and sit to admire the new day.  The only thing I hear is the birds singing their song.  The deer break twigs and rustle leaves when they walk.  Sometimes you see the groundhogs and other animals eating their meals for the day.  You get this sense about you that this is the way it was meant to be.

And it makes me wonder about a time when all days were meant to be like this.  When there was a time when all days started in innocence and nothing was yet corrupted.  When there was a time that man walked freely in the Garden with God.

I love gardens and I declare one day I will have a nice one.  I’m working on it.  We were meant to live the garden lifestyle.  We were designed to reign in innocence and peace.  The world we live in today contradicts the fellowship we were created to have with God.  We were to have an up-close relationship with Him.  After the fall the Bible tells us,  “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Gen. 3:8).

Let your mind go back, not to the sin, but to the experience of being with God in the garden.  Adam and Eve experienced God on a level that no other being will have the privilege to.  Surely this was not the first time God had paid them a visit in this fashion for they knew what it sounded like when they heard Him in the garden.  They had a realistic divine view of the Almighty here on earth.

What would it have been like to have the Sovereign of the universe, day by day to come and see about me?  What would it have been like to verbally hear the mouth that spoke things into existence speaking to me?  What would it have been like to hear Him moving among the garden with my own ears and to know it was the Lord?  What would it have been like?

There, thinking back before the Fall, fellowship with God was uninterrupted by evil.  There the beauty of all God is could be seen by those He created.  There, peace was the predominant feeling because the shaker of peace had not entered the scene.  There, God spoke directly to man unhindered by fleshly desires.  There, it’s hard to imagine, but life was nothing but good because the man knew nothing but God.

Imagine the best backyard barbeque.  We sit around laughing and enjoying the company of others.  Not that we are bringing the Sacred down to our level but in our finite understanding can we imagine in the garden, Adam and God chit-chatting about the day, about the animals, or about life in general?  Can we imagine the way Adam’s heart must have felt assured every time He heard the voice of God speak to him?  Can we imagine that when Eve was presented to her husband there was no fear, only love, because that’s all they ever received was love on the earth?  Can we really imagine?

It may be hard for our minds to fathom such an age of innocence and honesty.  It’s hard for us to see what this must have been like because now our view has been corrupted by sin.  But I imagine it was glorious.  It was nothing like we’ll ever know here on earth.  In that garden, during that time, beauty is all that was seen with our eyes and with our hearts.  God was all that was known.  Oh, imagine.

It’s hard to put into words when everyone was right before God.  It’s hard to describe from one’s soul a place of longing but never viewing.  It’s hard to capture the essence of what being with God was like there, and yet my heart still yearns to know what would it have been like?

What do you think it would have been like to see the world at its best?  What do think it would have been like to fellowship with God at your best?  Where we live in the mid-Atlantic region we are expected to have rain most of the day.  Even in this dreariest of settings, I’m looking at the trees swaying outside my window and imagining the beauty of that time.  I guess that’s what it would have been like, beautiful because everything was in harmony with God.  Beautiful represents their relationship with God and it represents the surroundings that God created for them.

One day we will experience that garden lifestyle again, that age of beautiful unbroken relationship with Him when we meet Him in our heavenly home.  And I can’t wait.

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“We Remember. . .”

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Every time when I want to write about that day, words seem so inadequate. . .

I remember so much about that day, and yet so much can’t be expressed in it’s retelling for that day was heightened by emotions that can never compare.  We can view the footage and reexamine the facts, but the lives that lived in the moment of those feelings can never be replicated.  Even trivial things seem like monuments because they occurred on that day to tell the story of that person’s experience.

But, trivial or not . . . in the epicenter or not, we do remember.

My trivial thing (but now will forever be remembered) was I remember returning items to a local store and then I was to be on my way to pay a visit to my mom when my husband called.  “Bunny,” he said (that’s what he calls me), “Don’t go to your mom’s.  Something is going on with the planes.”

I remember those words as if they were just spoken.

I didn’t immediately understand.  Yes, my mom lived right under the direct flight path of the local airport but not until I got home and turned on the television to see for myself did I understand the true horror that took place on that day and the true cause for the concern expressed.  What I saw would forever stick with me.  At that time, I viewed the second plane hitting into one of the towers.  From then on that day took on a whole new meaning.

Communication with my husband was sparse due to jammed phone lines.  I couldn’t move away from the TV except to hurry and take my children out of school for fear of what’s coming next.  We kept the coverage on TV all day until exhaustion compelled us to sleep late that night.  When we did go to bed we weren’t sure what would happen over night and what we would wake up to the next day.

And now, 14 years later . . .

My three children (number 4 wasn’t born then, she’s only 12) who were in elementary school are now all grown.  One in the military (just recently completed a 6 year enlistment).  Two in college.  One married with two babies.  All in full time jobs, and yet for so many others 14 years ago was  . . . words can never really express the feeling of loss, shock and uncertainty.  Any words that I, or anybody can offer is just that – words.  As a nation we suffered shock and sorrow over the disparity of it all.  But, you have mourned from the depths of your very soul with shattered dreams of what could have been.

That date has a forever changed meaning behind it.

We remember . . .

True patriotism came alive for most that day.

We remember . . .

Through our inadequate retellings, our memorialization’s, and our desire to help in the healing process of a story that never seems to end. . .

We remember.

In our feeble attempts grasp the understanding of it all, we remember your stories, your sacrifice, and your heroes of that day.

You are in our hearts and forever a part of the memories of that day for us and for the nation as a whole; for, we do remember.

Most of our stories can’t even touch the real-life impact of that day.  But, in solidarity we stand together with you because we remember.

God bless you and all of us on this 14th year anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

At a time when I believe brevity is best, just know that . . .

We remember.