Happy Circumstances

So I have certain circumstances in my life right now
that I am very happy about
and that tend to take up
a lot of space in my mind.

When I wake up in the middle of the night...
it's the first thing I think of
and it brings peace and happiness to my soul.

Doesn't matter what else is going on...
Cause this thing is so big
Nothing overshadows it.
For now...

But at some point
negative things will overwhelm it
because its only a circumstance
and circumstances change.

But what should be taking up
a lot of space in my mind...
And what I should be thinking about
in the middle of the night...
And what should bring peace and happiness
to my soul...
is the love that Christ has for me.

The love that will never forsake me...
never leave me alone
in the night watches.

When I wake up in the middle of the night...
it should be Christ's love
that gives me peace in my soul.
That makes everything else pale in comparison.

I'm working on it, Lord!

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Church...

My daughter-in-law is always giving me
sample products from Super Supplememt
since my son works there...
for which I am duly thankful for!

Lotions, creams, eye creams,
shampoos, conditioners, etc.
And all organic!

So the other morning as I was getting
ready for church
I realized my legs were desperately
needing some hydration.

I went to my cute little can
that has all my samples in...
and pull out an orange package
of Weleda Lotion.
Hmmm...orange package...
not sure I've had an orange one before.
It's gotta be lotion...
but not terribly sure
since I don't have my glasses.

So I run all over the house
looking for my glasses...
kind of a normal thing around here.

Can't find them anywhere...
Also a normal thing around here
So I figure
what's the worse it could be...
eye cream instead of lotion?
And it's organic so it's not
like it's gonna hurt me, right?

So I rip open the little packet...
squeeze it all over my legs...

As I'm trying to rub it in
I notice it's very sticky...
and won't rub in.
OK...so now finding glasses
is of ultimate importance!

I find them and frantically
and with greasy hands, I might add
look at the package...
...wait for it...
Diaper Cream...
yep...
I just spread diaper cream
all over my legs
and by now I'm already late for SS.

Good news?
After I finished rubbing it in
I didn't need to put lotion on my legs
for a week!
Exaggerating...
only slightly though...

But the bigger question is:
Why would she give me that???
I'm not that young...
or that old for that matter.
Hmmm...
Questions that need an answer!

You have some explaining to do, Lizzie!

My Prayer

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." Ps. 27:4

All David wanted
was to be in the Lord's presence,
to see Him,
and to commune with Him.

That's all he wanted.

What do I want?

Life sometimes gets in the way
and you forget what you really want.

And it's not sinful things necessarily...
Maybe it's even important things.
But do I want it more than I want
to be in His presence...

Everytime we go see our kids:
Alex and Liz and Nic or
Adam and Heather, Elyse and Blake,
when I walk in the door...
I want to see the babies.
Love the kids...
and love to see them...
But, pretty much gotta see those babies
within the first 5 mins.

Last week when we went to Adam and Heather's
Blake was playing with his toys.
So I ran over, picked him up
and covered him with smooches...
which I'm sure he didn't entirely enjoy!

"Where's Elly" I ask.
"She's upstairs taking a nap."
I knew we were getting ready to go to dinner
and that I wouldn't be able to see her.
Knowing I felt bad
Heather said it would be OK
to go up and say hi to her
since she wasn't actually asleep yet.

So I ran upstairs,
peeked in her room,
and she looked up..."Hiiiii Grama".

I sat down on the floor
and we talked for about 10 minutes.
Sweet communion...even with a 2 year old.
She told me what she had been doing...
I told her what I was doing...
She put her hand on my face
and said, "I love you, Grama".
Brought tears to my eyes.
All I wanted to do was sit
and talk with her and enjoy her.
Didn't matter what other
distractions or sorrows or trials
I had going on in my life...
At that moment nothing mattered
but sitting and talking with her.

Then I went to church on Sunday
and Russell talked about that verse in Psalms.
He asked if we love to sit and just be
with our Lord the way that we ought.
I thought immediately of sitting
and talking with Elly
and what joy and happiness it brought
to my heart.

Do I feel the same way about
the one who gave everything
to pardon my soul...
because He loved me so much?
Do the trials and sorrows I bear
disappear in His presence.
Do I sit and cry when I hear Him say
I love you, my child.
Does nothing matter in the light
of His presence?

That's how I want it to be...

But I have to work at it...
not just giving him the few minutes
I have in the morning.
I have to spend quality time with Him.
Time talking to Him...praising Him...
singing to Him.
He needs to be on my heart all day.
David said he praised the Lord all the day.

David's prayer is my prayer...

Others will fail me...
Circumstances will change...
Relationships may cease...

But Christ will always be there for me.
To talk to me,
to encourage me,
to put His hands on my face
and tell me he loves me!

As long as I have that...

I need nothing more.

Where is My Husband?

My husband is missing...

The man living with me now
has done something with my husband.

When my kids were little
I had to explain why I was
buying them underwear.
"Do they really need those?"
"Seriously, Russell...underwear...
yes, they need them!"

Now, when I am shopping...
I find him in the baby department.
And in his hands he has an outfit
for each baby...and sometimes more than one.

"Look at that little hat...Nic would like that!"
"Elly would look cute in that little dress"
"Blake needs those shorts!"

This is clearly not the same person
who used to grill me on the buying of underwear
for his barebottomed boys!

I like this guy better!
I can buy pretty much any sweet thing
I find for the babies...
and he's all for it!

O That Will be Glory for Me

I remember as a child
when anything bad happened,
a skinned knee, someone mean to me,
I could always run home to Mom
and she would hold me
and brush all my little girl cares away.

I wish it was that easy now...

I read a novel about a lady that died
and went to Heaven.
When she opened her eyes in Heaven
she saw Jesus with His arms open wide.
She ran into them
and cried and cried for the sorrows of the world
until there were no tears left.
Then Jesus wiped her tears away...
and for all of eternity
she never cried for those things again.

How I long for that time...
when my Saviour will wipe
all the cares and hurts and sorrows of this life
away from my eyes and heart
and I will never have to cry for them again.

Heaven's Child - For Sakura

You will never know the heartache
of a sin filled world...

You will never know sickness,
or sorrow or pain...

You will never know disobedience
or the strife that it brings...

But you will know love,
in perfection and fullness...

You will know joy
that never will cease...

You will know Heaven
and it's beauty untold...

And you will know the Saviour
in intimate closeness...

How blessed you are
for the things you'll miss
and for the things you see
that our eyes cannot.

See you in Heaven
little China Doll

My Eyes

My eyes have never seen my Saviour...
yet my heart gazes on His beauty...

My lips have never kissed his cheek...
but my soul has been kissed by His care...

My hands have never touched his face...
But His Spirit holds my hand and gently leads me...

My ears have never heard His voice...
Yet He spoke to me today...

My arms have never embraced Him...
Yet He lifts me up from the angry waves...

My feet have never walked streets of gold...
But my hope sees that day afar off...

when I will see my Saviour with my eyes,
when I will kiss His cheek with my lips,
when I will touch His face with my hands,
when I will hear His voice with my ears,
when I will embrace him with my arms,
and walk beside Him in the way!

The Great Divide

I've discovered some things along the way
in my relationship with God.
And it's not all that different
than the way he deals with others.

There comes a point in every believers life
where God asks you to put away childish things
and come closer to His side...
to have a truly victorious life.

Yes, He always wants that for us...
but sometimes we become complacent
and satisfied with our spirituality.
Not smug necessarily, just content
with where you are.

But Christianity is never about being in one place
never to move again.
Christ is ever drawing us closer
and closer to Him.

I have seen it in my own life
and in the lives of others.
Oswald Chambers remarks on this
in his book,  My Utmost for his Highest.

He says, "God's order has to work up a crisis
in our lives because we will not heed the
gentler way. He brings us to the place where
He asks us to be our utmost for Him,
and we begin to debate; then He produces
a providential crisis where we have to decide-
for or against, and from that point
the Great Divide begins."

The 'Great Divide'...
That point where you have to decide
whether you are gonna give it all up
for a closer walk with Him...
or not.

My husband taught us one time
that God will show you a truth in His Word...
then He'll bring along something to test you in
what He has shown you.
If you trust what He has shown you...
and make the right decisions
you'll grow and He will go on
and show you some more things.
But if you don't use what he has shown you
He'll continue to show you that truth
over and over again and test you
to see if you will learn it and put it into practice.
But you won't go much farther in maturity
if you don't learn from the things He is showing you.

He'll bring you to a place
that you can't get through on your own.
Then He'll show you something
to help you get through it...
You can accept what it is He's
trying to show you...
Or you can refuse to learn
and go on suffering in your self pity.
Accepting produces the peaceable
fruit of righteousness that Hebrews talks about.
Rejecting produces bitterness
or at the very least apathy and discouragement...
"I give up!"

So which would you rather have?
The more abundant life the Lord
talks about in John 10:10...
Or the kind of life the majority
of Christians are living today...
a ho-hum existence of going to church,
coming home and living your own life
without the power of God!
I want more!
What about you?

Hateful Tasks

Today I decided since Aaron
had to do something he hates...
that I would join him
and do something I hate.

And since it was a sunny day...
which makes any hateful task
not quite as hateful...
I went out to clean the chicken coop.

I take Strider
since he also loves the sun...
(in actuality he loves everything,
a trait I seriously need to emulate)
and we head out with shovel in hand
to clean the chicken coop.

Running commentary:

"Strider...stop eating the chicken poop."

Shoveling...

"You guys (chickens) are disgusting...
don't you do anything but poop?"
"Ugh!"

"Strider...stop eating the CHICKEN POOP!"

A few minutes later...

"Sheesh, you guys...you stink!"

"STRIDER...STOP EATING THE CHICKEN POOP!"

More shoveling...

"I don't know why I even keep you guys...
you stink, you poop and half of you
aren't even laying any eggs."

"OK...Strider, go play somewhere...
you're disgusting!"

Later still...

"Strider...get out of the street...
Strider...leave the cat alone...
OK...get over here Strider...
Sit!"

"OK...all done"
"Now you girls have a nice, clean coop."
"Here's some fresh water...
and some food cause you're such good girls."

"C'mon Strider...how about a treat?
You were such a good boy!"

Sages Leave your Contemplations...

I love Christmas Hymns.
I look forward every year
to singing them.

This year our family did a special.
"Angels from the Realms of Glory"
The third verse really struck me this year.

"Sages leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar,
Seek the great Desire of Nations,
Ye have seen His natal star."

By the world's standard
there have been many wise men
throughout history.

Many wise peoples and races...
many wise thoughts,
many wise observings of human nature.

But notice here
(and I know this is not God's Word)
the author says to all the wise men
leave your contemplations,
leave your great wise thoughts
because there is something much greater
than all your wise wonderings...
there is something Brighter to seek...
The Great Desire of Nations!

David said,
"I understand more than the ancients,
because I keep thy precepts."
Ps. 119:100

He realized that because he knew God's Word
he was wiser than all the ancients.

We as Christians need to remember this.
Nothing you ever read will ever be wiser than God's Word.

You might say, "Well, some of these wise men
say things that are true!"
Yep, maybe so...but I guarantee all the wisdom
they have acquired came from God.

James says, "Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the
Father of Lights, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
James 1:17

If you come upon some great wisdom...
you got it from God whether or not
you own up to it.

Quoting Scripture or writing down
a Bible verse is far wiser
than all the wisdom
from all the wise men
from the beginning of time
until now...
and it always will be.

Close

When I look at myself
I see so much that I need to work on.
So much that I need to change.

I live by sight so often...
and not by faith.
I look at the circumstances around me...
and not at the glorified Christ.

I look at others who have it all together
and think..
I'll never measure up...
I'll never be good enough...
I'll never hear the words,
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant"

There's so many things...
I can't even remember them all
to pray for them.
I get caught up in trying to pray
for them all...
in trying to be good every day...

But when I look at Him
all I want is to be close to Him.
I don't want to worry about
all those things that I can't
ever seem to fix.
I just want to be surrounded
by His love...
to be lost in His Presence.

My prayer these days?
"Lord, help me to stay close to you.
That's all I want...
to be close!"

And I know that if I'm close to Him,
everything else will fall into place.

The most important thing
is not if I'm good enough...
I'm not and never will be.

The most important thing is...
being close to Him

Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest,
that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help 
in time of need." Heb. 4:14-16

You know what I've noticed about myself?

That when I'm being a good girl...
You know...praying like I'm supposed to...
staying in God's Word...
not being negative...
not doubting...

When I'm being good and doing
the things I should be doing
then, I come boldly to the throne of grace.

But when I'm struggling...
not reading like I should...
not working at being close to Him...
struggling with doubt...
full of shame...

I'm not as ready to come 
boldly to the throne of grace.
Why is that?

Because I'm looking at it all wrong.

I'm not to come "boldly" to the throne of grace
because of who I am...
because of how good a girl I've been...
because of all the good things I've done today...

I can come "boldly" to the throne of grace
because of who He is...
because of how good He is...
because of what He has done!

So during those times of self doubt and shame...
I can still come boldly to the throne of grace!
That's why Christ
died...
to make peace between me and God.
And nothing I ever do will ever add to that!

It's never been about me...
It's always and forever been about Him!

Haven of Rest

Just read the words, don't sing them.
Let them find their way into your heart!

My soul in sad exile was out on life's sea,
So burdened with sin and distrest,
Til I heard a sweet voice,
Saying "Make me your choice;"
And I entered the Haven of Rest.

I yielded myself to His tender embrace,
And faith taking hold of the Word,
My fetters fell off
And I anchored my soul;
The "Haven of Rest" is my Lord.

The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole,
Has been the old story so blest,
Of Jesus, who'll save whosoever will have
A home in the "Haven of Rest!"

How precious the thought that we all may recline,
Like John the beloved and blest,
On Jesus strong arm, where no tempest can harm,
Secure in the "Haven of Rest!"

Oh, come to the Savior, He patiently waits
To save by His power divine;
Come, anchor your soul in the "Haven of Rest,"
And say, "My Beloved is mine."

I've anchored my soul in the "Haven of Rest,"
I'll sail the wide seas no more;
The tempest may sweep oe'r the wild, stormy deep,
In Jesus I'm safe evermore.


Thank you, Jesus
that I am safe evermore.

Dirty Little Secret

Last night as we were checking
out at a local grocery
the cashier was talking
about how they were hoping
to get all the Halloween stuff sold
so they could start getting
the Christmas stuff out.
She was very exicted!

The guys in line behind us
looked at her with disdain and said,
"It's not even Thanksgiving yet!!"

She hung her head in shame
As well she might
for thinking she could be
excited about Christmas
when Thanksgiving hasn't arrived yet!

I don't get this...
I love Christmas
and start getting mildly excited
in September.

It's like a dirty little secret...
All of us who love Christmas
have to quell our enthusiasm
until the first of December

It's like if you are excited about Christmas
it means you don't like Thanksgiving
and what's more...you are unthankful!

And you're very materialistic...
cause the only reason you like Christmas
is because you want presents.

And...you should die a horrible death
if you even think about listening to Christmas music
until after Thanksgiving!

Guess what?
I've been listening to Christmas music
for two weeks already...
And I'm excited about Christmas!
So there!

Shoot me...

DEAD END

Recently we went on a trip
and spent tons of time driving....bored...
I began to notice that street signs
are very negative.

'Road narrows...slow down'
How about one that says
'Road Widens, Party On'



Or 'Yield ahead'
I'd rather see one that says,
'It's all about you, just keep going!'





'Be prepared to Go'
instead of
'Be prepared to Stop'




Here's one I hate to see
when I'm making good time,
'Speed reduced ahead'

Let's see just once,
'Speed increased ahead,
blow 'em out of the water!'





'Divided highway'
That sounds so forlorn...
'United highway'
sounds much happier.




'Rough road'
OK...I never see these,
but as I live in Montana
they probably couldn't afford
to put them on every street that's rough!
Just once I'd love to see
'Smooth road'


'No center stripe'
Idaho seriously needs to
get some of these!
On second thought
it might be cheaper
to just let us know
when there IS a center stripe.

 


'No Outlet'
Guess I can't plug in my toaster
on this road.
 


Here's what we see in Montana
before they fix the potholes...







And here's what we see
after they fix the potholes.









 Or how about the one
that threatens you if you speed
in a construction zone!
I'm thinking they should pay us
to drive the speed limit!
After all, we're the ones
that are inconvenienced!
Or give us flyer miles
for every construction worker we miss!



I have no idea what this one means...
I think it means my heater's on...




 

Isn't this just what you want to
see when driving thru the wilds
of Tennessee on a dark, rainy night!

Rainbow and PeeWee

I have two new young hens.
Mango and Kiwi.
Very sweet little hens.
Therefore, all the other hens
are mean to them.

Poor little things...
Yvonne (chicken lady)
says to leave them alone
and not to watch them
if it bothers me.
I tend to want to go out there
and dispense judgement
to the merciless wenches.

But Yvonne tells me
that the pecking order
is very important
and I shouldn't interfere.
When I walk in the coop,
Kiwi flies off the roost
into my arms.
I'm certain she's saying,
"HELP! They're all after me!"
Yvonne says it's more like,
"HEY, YOU HAVE FOOD!"

Russell called his Mom
to tell her about the new hens.
She likes to be kept abreast
of chicken matters at
the Hoover household.
Mom:  "What are their names?"
Russell: "MANGO AND KIWI"
Mom: "What?"
(She doesn't hear very well)
Russell: "MANGO AND KIWI!"
Mom: "Oh...Rainbow and Peewee...
isn't that sweet! Is Peewee the little one?"
Russell: "...sigh...yes, Mom, Peewee is
the little one.

Here's the new girls:

Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go free?
No, there's a cross for everyone,
And there's a cross for me.

The consecrated cross I'll bear
Till death shall set me free,
And then go home my crown to wear,
For there's a crown for me.

Upon the crystal pavement, down
At Jesus' pierced feet,
Joyful I'll cast my golden crown
And His dear name repeat.

O Precious cross: O glorious crown!
O resurrection day!
Ye angels, from the stars come down
And bear my soul away.



How I long for the day
I can cast my golden crown
And His dear name repeat.

Barnabas

We hear so much about Barnabas
being the son of consolation,
about being an encourager...

But I read this today:

"But Joses, who by the apostles
was surnamed Barnabas,
(which is, being interpreted,
The son of consolation,)
a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Having land, sold it, and brought the money,
and laid it at the apostles' feet."

Barnabas left his country...
sold everything he had...
came to the apostles...
and said: "I'm in!"

He gave up everything,
just to serve the King of Kings.

He knew all his stuff
was just a hindrance to serving Jesus Christ.
Just something that had to be taken care of,
worried about, and dealt with.

With nothing to his name
he could freely serve Christ,
unhindered.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race
that is set before us..."

I pray I could be like Barnabas 

Un-urgent Care

I went to Urgent Care today.

Not sure why they call it Urgent care.
Certainly nothing going on there can
in any way be considered Urgent!

There were 2 doctors
and 3 people before me.
I sat there for an hour and a half.
Seriously?
I could've diagnosed them
in less time than that.

I think a better name would be
"Take your time-talk to your wife, kids and friends
on your cell-while patients sit in a windowless room suffering-care".

Why Worry?

I'm a worrier...
like my father before me.
(Sorry, couldn't help myself...)

Sometimes I wake up at night
and start thinking
and worrying.
So I don't get the sleep I need...
and am grumpy and joyless
the next day
and it's hard for me to
concentrate on my Bible.
Even though that's the very thing
that will keep me looking
at things in the right way.

Why do I do this?

And I know
that if I go sit down
and read my Bible
and talk to the Lord...
I'll feel better.

Yet, I don't.
I wallow in my miserableness...
(Yes, it's a word!)
I tell myself
I have soooo much to do.
I'll never finish everything in time.

So I wind up finishing everything in time...
and can't enjoy it cause
I'm not right in my heart with God.
Cause worry is sin
and will rob me of peace and joy.

And I wonder why I'm miserable.

That's where so many people live their Christian life.
They hear every week from the Pastor
how to live victorious...
They listen to others advice...
about how to have peace and joy in Christ...
They feel the Holy Spirit prick their heart
about the things they should do to draw close to Christ.

Yet they don't and then wonder why they are miserable.

We need to just start doing what we know is the right thing.
The thing that will draw us close to God.
Where we know peace and joy abide.

Yeah, we may have to give up a few things...
but isn't it worth it to have happiness,
and not to have to worry,
to live a joyous life
where everything is right with the world?

It is worth it...
we know it is.
But do we want it enough
to do something about it?

I do!