Where am I?

Hello!
  It has once again been quite a while since I posted here. I feel out of it . Although, I have thought about writing I just never got to it. I have been busy with health issues and company. I even have been getting out to enjoy the snow we have gotten a couple of times. Life can be so full of things to be done that I forget to think beyond them and enjoy what God has sent me to be thankful for. So to get out and ride the snow machine with my husband into the great woods is a gift I long for even when I want Spring!
 We had a new granddaughter born at the end of February and we are so happy at her arrival. We have yet to meet her in person but we wait expectantly for the day we can. We have many things yet ahead for us, God willing. Our daughter will graduate college in May so a party to plan and prep for. I am not a party planner and not so good at having a lot of people to tend to at one time but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I will need His strength and His wisdom for this.
  I have been having some health issues which are taxing me right now. My blood sugars have been an issue lately and I am not up to the abilities I have normally so I will be relying on the Lord for all of this as well.
I hope you are well and enjoying what life has and that it is good with you.
  I must run already as I have a doctors appointment but I wanted to check in and say hello . I leave you with the first verse I laid eye on this morning.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

– Romans 15:13 NIV

The Storm Arrived!

                                   So here is what I am looking at today after the storm has hit.
   I guess it is not finished and is expected to keep on throughout this day and end some where around eight pm. I know right now we have winds that are really blowing things around. Whew ! I guess winter wants to have a say before it must eventually end. What can one say in answer to that? Nothing. We must take what comes, or we could move to a more agreeable area of the country or the world even. ( Scratching my head here doing some thinking) ...
   So it is interesting weather for sure but I am inside my home here warm and comfy playing at my computer. Earlier though I was watching a video someone shared and I saw people that were clearly homeless and living on the street. I was taken up short at the sight. I felt pangs of heartache for these lonely  people sitting on a street all the while  knowing I don't appreciate, as I should, all I have. I prayed for these nameless, faceless people that are throughout our world sitting in various places of helplessness, with varying reasons for their helpless states. What is it that separates us who have a place and those who do not? Why are they in this situation and I am not? One might say our choices. But I am not so sure that is true of every single person stuck in this place of being without . I used to hear my dad and mom say, " But for the grace of God that could be me/us."
  I must say I agree with that statement they made all those years ago. At any given time I could have chosen a path that could have ended up with me in a place of desperation like this. Or someone else could have made a choice that changed my life and brought me to this. While it is good to give thought and prayer to these lost and homeless people, certainly there must be more than thought and prayers to be done! After all we are the hands and feet of God while here. So I am going to seek out some information and pray for some ways I can somehow make a difference. I did one time some years ago help a homeless lady a number of times but it has been far too long since I did that .

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'     Matthew 25:40              http://biblehub.com/matthew/25-40.htm
  
 Lord Jesus, 
Thank you for making me aware again of others who have greater needs and that  you care deeply about. I ask for your wisdom and follow through  to be a person who does for one of the least of these that you will show me. Thank you for my home and warmth and for the blessings I have. I pray even now for those without who need basic needs met.  Bless them even now. In Jesus I pray amen.

Spring may be on its way !

                                       We are so close to the calendars date for spring
   It is hard to wait for spring after a long cold winter. Now that we are so close the weather has warmed and I have gotten to go on snow machine rides with my husband a few times now. It is lovely! What just got back from another ride to the woods and it is so refreshing and sets the craving for spring even deeper within me.
  We ride the very trails we hike all spring and summer and this passing over those trails is just a prep for the more pleasant hikes we take. I always miss my dogs when we go to the woods on snow machine. My dogs are  definitely feeling the cabin fever. I have seen it in them for a while now. I so want to say, "come along dogs we are headed for out walk ." I don't really need to say that as they are always watching me and ever ready for a walk at the drop of a hat. Of course for now I am still not ready to hike them through the deep snow with their tender feet that we never acclimated for the winter hikes.
   The weather report is saying we have a big storm headed our way. It is due to start tomorrow morning and lasting into late Thursday night.  Does that sound like spring to you ? Well having lived here in New England I know that is exactly how it is most springs. We can get a larger storm dumping a foot or more in back to back storms in spring. Having said all that it is still exciting that we have changed the time again and we have longer daylight time. It is exciting knowing that not so long in the distance we will be outside more than in . I believe it will make me appreciate the warm weather and days of no fire to tend more than I did last summer.
  So today I am thanking God for the spring and what is ahead here in a change of seasons again. I will have to deal with some more snow and even mud season on this back road we live on . In the end it is all part of the way it is here and with God's courage set in my heart I can continue to appreciate the change of seasons.

He changes times and seasons;  

    he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to those who have understanding; 

Daniel 2: 21

Lord Jesus ,

 Thank you for this season and the promise of change . We all need some change and the awareness change can bring . Amen 

Still here and alive.

Hello !
   It has been a while , hasn't it?
The winter has sort of stumped me this year. I seem to be up and then a bit down the next. This has to be the longest winter I can remember in some time. We have cold and now even colder temps even as the Spring is just around the corner.
   My husband and I have marveled that we could think it may have warmed up only to realize it is below zero, still. We get a chuckle as it shows how we have adjusted to these cold temps that seem unrelenting. The thing is we are not staying out in the cold but the usual "brace yourself" for the walk to the car  hasn't seemed  bad. Then we speak of it being warmer, until, we read the temp gage for the outdoor temps, then we laugh. It was nine below zero this morning and I am shocked how it felt so much warmer to me than that. It proves how we can adjust and get used to things after a period of time.  We sort of have a distorted view/sense, a bit like the picture above I took the last warm up when I snow shoed to my sanctuary.
  I cant help but wonder how many other places in my life I am living with distorted views/senses? We know that certain distortions can be hazardous to us. If I had taken off this morning for a walk in the temps  dressed as I was it could have been a bit uncomfortable and worse if I were to have kept going in it. I am far too cautious when it comes to cold to take that sort of risk. But I think I am careless when it comes to my spiritual health many times. I am not always so concerned with  the effects of my careless, distorted views/senses. I want to be in the here and now and aware of what dangers lie ahead, or even  about me. At times though, in periods of winter to my soul I am very careless and distracted. Or is it just that I am complacent in what I am experiencing as we have been this winter with days on end of cold?
   I know one thing for sure that God is changing things and always up to something in my life, and yours as well. He is always busy with his love for us. He never changes and he is enough for us and  all this life has unfolding for us. I am amazed by his great love and patience with me. He doesn't get complacent or ever stop watching out for us. Praise the Lord for that or we might be frozen in place with some of the stuff we have to deal with.
 

Proverbs 4:26-27

New King James Version (NKJV)

26 Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;

Remove your foot from evil.
                                                                                        {  copied from BibleGateway.com }
 Lord Jesus,
 Thank you for your unfailing love and the surrounding of your children with Your loving hands. We need you for this day. We need you to help us ponder our paths and to keep us from turning to the right or left, and even keeping our feet from evil. We thank you for your gift of forgiveness and the cleansing it brings to us. We thank you and praise you. Amen
I leave you with the song I have been listening too for this week. A real blessing to my heart and I trust to your too .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJWQzjfU3o

New Life and New Beginnings

                                          We got good news a few days ago now.
   Our newest grandchild was born what a gift to us and our son and wife.  I have not yet been able to get there to meet this little girl and I can hardly wait to do so. This is grandchild number three and I am always amazed at the awe I feel at a new baby born to one of my own children. We have another one on his way too, in June, to one of our children , what wonders to see. Such a sweet, sweet time in life for us.
 New babies can bring old memories and longings from days gone by. It seems so hard to believe that I am at this stage in life. The years have flown by it would seem but of course this is not so.  The years have come and gone and I have loved some years more than others. I see now what I miss of those past years. I see the things I wish I could have done differently and the ways I wish I had embraced life in more peaceful ways. But I have now! I only have now! SO I will embrace this wonderful new time with new babies and children I love .
  Where are you in this time of your life? Are you seeing new life in your own? I am seeing a need for new life in myself . I am needing new vision for this time in my life. The time passes so quickly that I want to not miss what God has for me. So I am seeking a new plan from God . I get so caught up in my moments that I don't always feel like I will see or know what he has for me.
   I am seeking for His wisdom and which way to turn as I set a course for what is to be the days ahead for me, beyond a grandmother of three with one more on the way. I must not forget my being a wife to my wonderful husband either. I set my course as I have always done remembering that first and for most I am the daughter of the Father of all creation and I want to see His truth lived out in my life. After all He is the giver of the life I live.
  Lord Jesus,
    We all need a vision for our days. Some days we need them more than others or we feel like we will fail miserably . Lord, I pray for us to all receive your vision for what you have for us in the days and weeks ahead in this year. Thank you for your love and care and for all you will do in and through us. Oh, and thank you for my grand babies and for the gift of life. In Jesus name I pray amen.

Matthew 6:30-33 (MSG) 

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Matthew 6:30-33

New King James Version (NKJV)

30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.