My Rock

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He is my Rock when the waves of life crash in. He is my Fortress when the enemy of my soul threatens to consume. He is my Deliverer of the temptation for my own demise. He is my God, in whom I trust and take refuge from every storm. He is my Shield who protects me when I refuse to protect myself, and He is the Horn of my Salvation when I have found trouble and cannot escape. He is my Stronghold of strength that never lets go, no matter how far I try to run and no matter how deep the muck and mire becomes…Thank you for who You are and who I am not. ❤

Love Me Challenge #28

What have I learned in these 28 days of this Love Me Challenge?

1. Challenges can be fun

2. Challenges can be challenging

3. Sharing your heart in factual questions/answers about yourself can be both fun and challenging. 

4. Sharing your heart by answering questions from someone else’s creation can draw out things you haven’t thought of in years, or even, never really put a lot of thought into until that moment. 

5. Lots of people read these kinds of posts but not so many join in with you…But that’s ok! 😉💕 … and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the “join ins,” as well as, the encouraging words. You guys are simply the BEST! 💗

Breathe Again

Life can feel like a heavy blanket resting on your chest, soaking up the rain, getting heavier and heavier. You can choose to get lost under the weight, dwindling down to nothing, expelling all the air from your lungs. You can close your eyes and simply allow the pain to wash you away in the storm. 

Heartache and grief is bound to come to each one. If it hasn’t visited you, just hold on, your hour will come when reality slams through the door like a hurricane, and you wonder if the sun will ever shine again. Those days, the air can become so suffocating, as if your house is on fire, and you’re caught within the fumes and the smoke, grasping for one more chance to breathe again. 

In that moment, in that lapse of time, you have to choose to breathe again, even when it is a struggle. Those are the minutes you will have to fight to survive. If it takes clawing your way out of that pit, then claw you must, but never give up. 

Never lie down and give up the fight so easily. Never roll out the red carpet for death to seize your mind and your soul. Never let the reaper consume you with hopelessness and despair. He will try, and he will scream horrors upon horrors to make you see him. Don’t let him win. 

There is Hope. There is a better way. Hope will bring light into the darkest night. Hope will return the song to the wind. Hope will chase away the clouds in due time, and Hope will help you to breathe again. 

Just take one tiny breath. Take one tiny step forward, and whisper His name, “Jesus.” He will answer. He will give you breath to breathe…


Love Me Challenge #19

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Something I feel strongly about…

There are few things for which I will live and die, but these are a few…

My God

All He is to me, all He’s done for me, and all He has promised

He has created my world. He sustains my world. He is my world.

 

My Loves

Who they are and what they mean to me

They are my world.

 

PS. Just as a side note… too often, in today’s culture, there are too many “fighting and dying” for so many things of not much value and not much “reward.” When you choose to ‘feel strongly’ about something, and you choose to fight for it, just make sure it is truly something worth fighting for, not just the latest trend or the latest, greatest and loudest scheme of the politicians or other agenda driven group to get your attention! 😉 …There are things for which to fight, and there are things for which to sacrifice a life, just make sure you are certain those things are right! … okay, that is all. 🙂

 

 

 

Love Me Challenge #18

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This.

This feeds my brain…

Books, Books and more Books.

…and this, this is the best food for my brain and my soul…

Love Me Challenge #17

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Silence In nature…

This.

This feeds my soul. I love to sit on our back deck just staring out into the woods. I love sitting by the lake, looking over the tranquil waters. I love lying by the seashore listening to the tide returning day and night.

This feeds my soul… the beauty in the sunrise… the glory in the sunset… the brightness of the harvest moon and the first stars that shine. These are nourishments of my soul.

The birds that chirp in the morning light… the deer that leaps over log and rock… the rabbit that scurries across the forest floor… even the black bear that meanders about looking for summer’s first berries.

These.

These bring peace, comfort and calm to my soul.

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Love Me Challenge #16

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Something I like about myself is, also, something I dislike at times. I am a very soft spoken person, and someone who works overtime to not impose upon other people. Generally, I keep my thoughts to myself, and I’d prefer to speak when spoken to rather than speak out of turn. 

For those of you who struggle with your extroverted personalities might think you would love to have this personality trait; however, for those of us “blessed with such a skill” might have quite a difference of opinion. However, this post today is about what I like about me; so, what I like about it…

Walking into a crowded room, I can slip in almost unnoticed, find a friend and smile before everyone realizes how lonely I might be feeling that day. When someone hurts my feelings or makes me mad, I can hold my tongue until I’m over it, and I don’t have to worry about saying something stupid I might regret. When there is someone else hurting or alone, I can come beside them and help them carry the load, ever aware of the possibility of pushing too hard or staying too long. When a friend is in need of someone, but doesn’t need noise and fanfare, I can sit for hours just enjoying the company and offering a helping hand. When my children are acting like hooligans, I can calmly walk up to them, whisper their tiny thread of existence between joy and utter sorrow and walk away… well, no, that’s not quite the truth. I’m sorry, I don’t have that much patience or soft spoken qualities.😂 

As with any strength, there are equal traits that will make it a weakness when I let it. There were years when I hated this quality about myself, and honestly, there are plenty of days when I still struggle with this love/hate relationship I have built. However, as I am growing older, I am accepting the fact that God made me this way for a specific reason, and I am learning to grow with it, relish in it and explore beyond it. 

If for no other reason, I am finding more and more that one of the greatest reasons He created me in this way is because He decided to place me in a home with three very strong, outspoken, outgoing men. I bring a great balance to all the activity and noise, and He knew that I, for one, would need it! 😉💗

Restless in the Waiting

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When we have to wait on the Lord to answer a prayer, it can often be a grueling process. I’m not talking about those prayers that we just think He should answer, because it seems like a good idea, or because we wish things could be a little more comfortable and the answer would make it so. I’m talking about those prayers when we are desperate for the answer we are praying, life and death situations, like when the circumstances are so dire, that if He doesn’t come through, life will seriously be altered. Those are the moments when “waiting on the Lord” can become incredibly difficult.

When we have to wait and wonder if His answer might be “no” or when we have to wait and wonder if He will answer at all, those are the days when waiting can feel as if you’re watching the earth in orbit around the sun in real time, and you’re beginning to question if it will even stay constant and true. These are the occasions when, if we are truly honest with ourselves and with God, we get a little impatient with Him. We get a little testy in our responses, and we might even start having doubts of His abilities or His willingness to follow through with the promises from His Word.

…Don’t look at me that way, if you haven’t been there, then keep on living, ‘cuz either you’re just a mountain of perfected faith, bless your perfect heart, or you haven’t faced the dire straights in this faith living quite yet. I promise you, if you are human, you will face a moment of life and death of a loved one, or you will face circumstances, at some point, that  beyond your control or even ability to understand, and there will be an instance when you will face that wall of doubt within your heart and mind. That is when you will have to decide whether you truly believe He is God, and He knows best. In that space of time, you will decide to wait on Him or worry and fret, trying to make the perfect happen within your own strength and carnal knowledge.

Can I tell you? I have found Him to be true time and time again. When you place your worries, fears and doubts right back into His hands and you begin to wait on Him, He will give you rest. He will give you peace. He will give you strength. He never ever fails! He is faithful, and He is true! He is trustworthy, and He is able to carry us through whatever difficulty we might face. So, I encourage you today. Wait upon Him. Find your rest in Him, for He will do as He said He would do. He will carry you through.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31, KJV

Love Me Challenge #7

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One thing that’s just for me…

This “challenge” has me a little baffled as to the meaning, but I guess, I will share the one picture I have in my photo library that I bring to the surface when I need a little comfort, a little strength or just to be reminded of a little love along the way… it is just for me…

This is my precious grandfather who has gone on to glory many years past. I miss him so, but I am so thankful I will see him again on the other side in glory. I remember this day like it was yesterday. He loved me so, and I loved him. His big arms around me always made me feel protected and so secure. His gentle words of cheer always made me smile. Each time I see this picture, I am reminded of this Scripture in Matthew 7:11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

 

 

Love Me Challenge #6

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Hello Future Self,

I pray this letter finds you well and full of life. I hope you have kept the faith and fought hard to keep it. I pray you have shared it with all those around you, leaving stepping stones of legacy all in your wake.

I do hope you have taken good care of your body, physically, mentally and emotionally. If you haven’t, there’s not better time than the present! Get busy living, or get busy dying! The moment you refuse to grow and change, you begin the slow decline of holding on and awaiting death. Don’t do that! LIVE and live life to the fullest!!

Always cherish those God places in your life, for you never know the moments which could be their last. Don’t live in the regrets of the past, just recognize what could’ve have been done differently, accept the mistakes for what they were and simply push forward to the promises of tomorrow. His Word is true, and it will never return void; so, hold onto it as a lifeline.

I know you will be a feisty older woman, full of beauty and grace, not because of some wealth you have obtained, nor because of some miracle of less wrinkles or aging than the next person. You will be a woman full of beauty and grace, because you will remember the Proverbs 31 woman and always seek to be more like her. Her beauty came from within and so does yours. Her grace came from above and so does yours.

For yesterday, today and tomorrow, “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matt. 6:33 Keep this as your life’s motto and all will be well. Added to this, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them…” These two Scriptures will take you on into eternity with so much grace and will leave behind a beautiful legacy for generations to come.

My prayer is for you and your man to still be madly in love and be living a joyful life here on this earth, but if those circumstances are different, I know you will be clinging to Jesus’ hand and trusting Him to take you onto glory when you will see him again.

“May The Lord bless you and keep you…May The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; May The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

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My rendition still stands:

Love fully      Laugh deeply     Love freely