With Gratitude

Blessings to you on Memorial Day.
And to all whose loved ones
died defending our freedoms,
THANK YOU!

View blog reactions

Thankful Thursday

Five Things I'm Thankful For:
1. Vacation
2. Relaxation
3. Vacation
4. Anticipation
5. Vacation

View blog reactions

Thankful Thursday

Five things I'm thankful for this week:

1. My boy's wisdom tooth extraction went well and his recovery has been smooth with minimal pain and swelling.

2. Dental insurance and the means to cover the copay.

3. My kids - our area has seen two children die in the last two days, a 17-year-old in a car accident and a 5-year-old in a backyard pool. Life is fleeting.

4. The anticipation of our upcoming family vacation.

5. The reminder that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

What are you thankful for?

View blog reactions

Giving Thanks

It was great to be a part of the Giving Thanks Challenge this year. To wrap it up, I wanted to put all of my answers in one post so I'd have them to remember in days to come. Of course, this doesn't even scratch the surface of the many blessings for which I am grateful!

1. Blogging
2. My church family
3. My faithful husband
4. Migraine medicines
5. God's Sovereignty
6. Grace
7. Sunshine
8. Music
9. Bar-B-Q
10. Automatic transmission
11. Friends
12. Disability Parking
13. Good books
14. Fridays!
15. A snug house on a windy night
16. Fellowship & Laughter
17. Our bodies' intricacies
18. Motorized grocery scooter-carts
19. Sweet tea
20. "Chance" encounters
21. New Tires
22. Memories
23. Harmony
24. Hope
25. Answered prayer
26. Safe travel
27. My in-laws
28. Internet connection
29. Times of rest
30. Dr. Pepper

View blog reactions

Then Sings My Soul Saturdays - Praise!

What a joy it is to sing praises to the King of heaven! While our country only celebrates Thanksgiving once a year, as believers we should continually praise God and express our gratitude for His many blessings.

Singing is such a beautiful and natural way to praise God. David composed many of the Psalms as songs of adoration. And my choice for today's song is based on one of the most-loved Psalms.

"In 1834 the British clergyman Henry Francis Lyte published a collection 280 hymns basked on the book of Psalms. He called it The Spirit of the Psalms because these hymns were not strictly translations (like the old psalters still in use at the time) or even paraphrases (like much of Isaac Watts's work), but texts loosely inspired by the Psalms. This hymn was included as a development of Psalm 103. There are many points of comparison.

"The psalmist urges us not to forget the Lord's benefits; Lyte lists those benefits--'ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven.' And as the psalmist indicates that God is 'slow to chide,' Lyte adds that He is also 'swift to bless.' "

This song was chosen as the processional for Queen Elizabeth II's wedding on November 20, 1947 -- ironically, exactly 100 years after the Henry Lyte's death.

Source:
1. The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs, by William J. Petersen & Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale, 2006
2. Amazing Grace: 365 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel, 2002

You can read Psalm 103 here.

PRAISE MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise Him for His grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise Him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide and swift to bless:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glorious in His faithfulness.

Father-like, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows;
In His hand He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet His mercy flows.

Angels, help us to adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before Him,
Dwellers all in time and space.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace.

WORDS: Henry Francis Lyte, 1834
MUSIC: John Goss

Find more songs to bless your weekend at Amy's!

View blog reactions

A Thankful Heart

I just found out from my friend Xandra about this great challenge going on for the month of November that Leah started. I wasn't around last year for the first one, but what a great way to become more aware of all the blessings I take for granted on a daily basis.

I'm putting this on my sidebar and will make it my aim to add something each day for which I am thankful. Since yesterday was the 1st, I'll go ahead and start off with two for today.

To participate, hop on over to Leah's blog and join in!

View blog reactions

Thoroughly Modern Millie Mocha!

As much as I love reading historical fiction, I am so glad I am a modern gal. How easily I take for granted the everyday conveniences I have!

It only takes a few hours of misery inconvenience to renew my appreciation.

Yesterday evening the water main around the corner ruptured. We were without water for about 5 hours.

As bedtime approached it became more and more inconvenient. My girl is a bathaholic. She l-o-v-e-s her soak in the tub and was horrified at the idea of going to bed without it. As for me, I had gotten a haircut yesterday, and needed to wash my hair before bed to get all the loose hairs out before they covered my pillow. And the sheets on our bed were freshly washed yesterday, making me even less enthused about the situation.

I won't post a picture of an outhouse or a chamber pot, but that's another remnant of the past I'm glad we no longer deal with. . .

The guys, of course, weren't fazed. While my boy is better than your average teen guy about hygiene, this was a blip compared to a 2-week camping trip!

About 11:30, just as I was about to close my book and turn out the light, it came back on. I headed to the shower and just as I did my girl popped out of bed to take a bath.

And this morning when I got up and turned on the faucet I smiled and thanked God for running water.

View blog reactions

A New Perspective

In spite of the pressure and stress (which I admit can be somewhat self-inflicted because I am such an overachiever and perfectionist), I had a great time being the Retreat Geek this past weekend. It was fun setting up the mics and amps and preparing and running all the Powerpoints and videos for our worship times and the speakers.

But it did give me a new perspective and a new appreciation for the folks who do this week after week after week after week.

Many churches today project the words of songs, Bible verses, sermon outlines, etc. onto a screen throughout the service. This requires someone to sit in a booth somewhere pushing buttons to make it all advance at the proper time.

Which means that while your eyes are closed and you are having an intimate encounter with God, theirs are wide open as they busily click and scroll and adjust. Which precludes them from having their own worship experience. And while their service is a form of worship, it is a different experience. Same thing with the musicians, the Worship Pastor, and the Preacher.

That doesn't even take into account the extra time they already were up there in preparation/practice/set-up. Similar to how I was setting up and participating in rehearsals while the other retreat ladies were having their free time. I'm not bemoaning my choice, but it was a definite eye-opener.

Of course, I'm quite sure none of you has ever gotten irritated because a slide had a misspelled word or was out of order or came up too slow, nor would you ever fail to express appreciation to these techies, right? Didn't think so!

But just in case, next time you are at church, let them know you notice what they do and thank them for their service to God and His people.

View blog reactions

Passing It On. . . .

Well, how fun is this!! Denise from Tucked Inside My Heart has honored me with this cool award that Xandra started! I love the description of the award:

So here's to all the blogs that you've discovered that you can't possibly live without. They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog.

What an exciting surprise and honor! Thanks, Denise!

Now to pass it on. I'm still pretty new in the blog business, so I haven't gotten much of a chance to explore a whole lot. And I know some of these have already gotten this award. But that just reinforces the fact that they are awesome gals, and I love to go hang out at their blog!

1. The Preacher's Wife - This is a given, and I know everyone on the planet has given her this award. But she absolutely sets the bar for blogging. She has a heart for God that shines through all she writes. And a "funner" blog you'll never read. She will make you laugh and then zero in on the spiritual application without missing a beat. And besides, she's the one who encouraged me to start blogging! Thanks, Lisa!

2. Xandra at Heart of Service - She's the one who started this award business, and she ranks right up there with the best. Plus she lives in this great state of Texas. And she. too, is an insatiable reader. And she likes to cook. I do believe we must be twins. The only hesitation I had about giving her this award is because SHE won the Virtue Alert Drawing for voting on the book cover of Vicki's new book. Hmmpff.

3. Kelli at Ponderings of a Pastor's Wife - She's another one who's authentic, has a heart for God, loves to read, etc. etc. etc. I love to bump into her out in blog-space and read her comments on everyone else's blogs as well. And her blog just got a beautiful makeover. Sigh. But coveting is a sin, so I'm going to act my mature age (as I've been told!) and give her this award with my blessing.

4. Mel's World with Melissa Mashburn - Melissa appears to have more energy in her little finger than I do in my entire being. Her blog is as effective as a double-shot of espresso. I knew I would connect with her when I saw that she, too, put Mary Poppins as one of her favorite movies. She's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

5. Lisa at Lisa Writes - I know she's gotten this award already because I "met" her through the Preacher's Wife. She's got lots of wisdom and she's lots of fun. I especially like the description on her profile that she's "an ordinary woman living an ordinary life desiring to make much of an extraordinary God."

6. Kelli at Love Well - Actually, I'm not sure that anyone who can look this good immediately after having a baby, and fit her entire labor and delivery between breakfast and dinner even deserves an award! I mean, what more could she want? And take her laptop to the wireless hospital and surf the blog world in the process?! But since she lives in the cold, cold, cold, northern part of the USA (a place where I would absolutely freeeeeeze to death) and her kids even eat snow for breakfast, I will take pity on her and give her this much-deserved award (even though it's her second go-round as well).

7. CWO Internet Cafe - These devotions are great. I look forward to reading them each morning, and I loving visiting each of the team members' individual blogs after I read their contribution. They have great hearts and a wonderful way of communicating God's truths.

8. Vicki Courtney's Virtue Alert - Lastly but absolutely not least, Vicki and her ministry have had an impact on me and my daughter that I cannot even begin to describe. My girl adored the events they sponsored, and as a large result of their influence, she is completely disinterested in the sleaze the world offers. She's only 12, so I'm not naive enough to think the battle is permanently won, and Vicki's blog keeps me updated and aware of what's out there. My tendency would be to bury my head in the sand without it. Vicki is a wonderful blessing.

So there you have it. I know it's more than 5, but I'll just consider it my Daily 8 for '08. As a nurse, I know how important it is to get that daily dose in, so I sure don't miss it!

Thanks to all you girls for blessing my heart, challenging my walk, and giving me a smile each day!

View blog reactions