Busy Bees

***Update!***

The winner of my blog anniversary giveaway is comment #11 ....DEBORAH.....from "Songs From My Journey"!
This number was chosen for me at Random.org. Timestamp: 2009-04-01 12:55:48 UTC

Deb, as soon as I get your postal address I will get this in the mail to you.

Thanks to each of you who left a comment. I wish I had gifts to send to every one of you because each of you have been so special to me!

Buzzzzzzzzz !! While out in the yard taking pictures of the flowers and even weeds blooming after the spring rains I was able to snap a picture of a honeybee on a dandelion. I don't like to get close to any kind of stinging insects and so stepped away quickly after taking the picture. Even though I don't like to be around bees, I know that they are important for our food chain. Plus they make that delicious honey that I love to mix with peanut butter and spread on hot buttered toast!

I found several interesting facts about bees. One third of the U.S. food supply is directly or indirectly benefited by honeybee pollination. Approximately 80% of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honeybees. Honeybees carry pollen from one plant to another. Without pollination the plants would not bear any kind of fruit.

Honeybees visit 50-100 flowers during one honey collecting trip.To make one pound of honey, bees must visit 2 million flowers.Each working honeybee will produce 1/12th teaspoon of honey during their lifetime.

Wow! I guess that's where people got the saying "busy as a bee"!

Wouldn't it be great if Christians were as "busy as bees" carrying the gospel from one place to another? Without the gospel people can not bear any fruit of the Spirit. And what if we have to make 50 to 100 visits before one person is saved? Are they not worth our effort and time?


"Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." Luke 10: 2

Those little "busy bees" labor for hours and hours every day. And for what? What is the end result? Well, as we already said, they pollinate plants so they can bear fruit. But they also make HONEY! They make it to feed their own bees but usually a human comes along and robs the honey from the hive. We use the honey to make our food sweet. When we tell people about Jesus and how they can be saved and they accept Him as their Saviour....usually they become sweeter people.

In Psalm 19 David talks about the law, testimony, statutes, commandments, fear, and judgments of the Lord. He then says, "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Psalm 19: 10

The next time you see a little busy honeybee out buzzing around working, let it be a reminder that we, too, should be busy about the work of Christ.

Marilyn

One Year Blogging Anniversary!

My, but doesn't time fly when you're having fun!!! It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but tomorrow, March 31, will mark my one year anniversary of blogging. I have had SO much fun! I love to write and I love to read. Blogging has combined the best of the two. Writing on my own blog....and then reading on your blogs!

To celebrate my anniversary I am giving away the items you see in the picture today.....a book bag, a journal with matching bookmark, and a Bible study by Jennifer Rothschild (with foreword by Beth Moore).

Just leave me a comment today or tomorrow and you will be entered into the drawing. The deadline for leaving a comment to be entered in the drawing will be midnight on March 31.

Thanks so much for all the encouragement you all have been to me this past year. I look forward to all the future holds for us.

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27: 17

Thanks for sharpening my countenance!

God bless you!

Marilyn

True Love

Some dear friends of ours need your prayers. We first met Bro. Don and Elaine Rogers way back in 1983 when my husband and I flew down to southern Mexico where they were missionaries. My husband overhauled their church's diesel bus. We fell in love with this missionary family. There were six children and, of course, Elaine homeschooled them. This is the family that inspired us to homeschool our three children!

Through the years to come, every time they would come home to the U.S. on furlough they would spend some time with us on our farm. I can remember waking up to pallets in every room with kids laying everywhere....theirs and ours. Their kids and our kids made trails through the woods and rode go-carts until we ran out of gas. Such great memories.

My greatest memories though are of the spiritual things Elaine has taught me over the years. She has had the greatest impact on my spiritual growth than any other woman I have ever known. She lives and breathes Jesus Christ.

Several weeks ago Bro. Don suffered a massive stroke. He was first in the hospital in Mexico, then moved to a Texas border town, then on to North Carolina where two of their children now live. He is in a nursing home now where Elaine spends every day by his side.

I received an email from Elaine last week, part of which I want to share with you.

Hola Marilyn!I was remembering a story you wrote once about a woman who sold her hair and a husband who also sold something precious. Can you recall which one it was? It came to my mind as I was reflecting on my love for Don. Also that poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How do I love thee, let me count the ways." I want to read it to Don. I am at his bedside all day. Pray for me dear friend as the love of my life is slipping away from me. Elaine

I went to my files and found the story I had written back in 2001. That woman has got some kind of a great memory! I had titled it True Love and will share it with you now.

TRUE LOVE

From the time I was a young girl, one of my favorite stories about true love was a short story by O’Henry called “The Gift of the Magi”. It told the sweet tale of a young husband and wife, named Jim and Della, who loved each other very much. If you’ve never read it, I would recommend you do. Unknown to each other, Della sold her long, luxurious hair to buy a watch chain for a Christmas present for Jim and Jim sold his gold watch to buy some expensive tortoise shell hair combs for Della to put in her hair. They could neither one use the gift the other had gotten them but they knew they had the complete love of their mate because of their unselfish sacrifice of wanting the other to have the best they could give. To me, that’s true love. Loving someone else more than you love yourself. John 13:33 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."

A couple of weeks ago I was looking in my cedar chest for something and came across some old love letters I had written to my husband before we got married. In one of the letters I had included a little poem on a piece of red paper. The poem said, “The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t love till you give it away.” Sometimes that’s easy to say but hard to do. We want to keep our heart all in one piece and so won’t risk giving our love away lest we don’t receive love in return. Sure, we can keep our heart in one piece this way but it is a lonely way to live. Any time we reach out in love to someone, we are taking a risk of getting hurt….but it is definitely worth the risk! How else would we ever know “True Love” without giving a part of our heart to that other person. God reached out and gave us His love before we even knew anything about Him. 1John 4: 9-11 "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Jesus Christ needs to be our True Love and then He will enable us to reach out and love others in turn. (February 2001)

Please pray for this special couple. Bro. Don and Elaine have given their lives to missions in Mexico for over thirty years. They are a remarkable pair. They love each other so much. The love they have for each other has been made even stronger because of their love for their Lord!

Marilyn

The Lizard

It's Saturday night. I don't have anything really deep to say.

Just wanted to say Hello.

Earlier I was reading from a book of the collected poems of Amy Carmichael, missionary to India. Most of them are very deep. Very spiritual. But in the children's section I came across a poem called simply: "The Lizard".

Here is the poem:

"The Lizard"

The lizard runs along the ground,
And then runs up a tree;
He turns his funny little head,
And then he looks at me.
He wiggle-waggles up and down,
And then he looks at me.

It helped to remind me that serving the Lord does not always mean going around with a solemn, straight face! Sometimes we need to smile. To laugh. To relax.

And seeing the title of her poem "The Lizard" reminded me of the picture I posted here. It's also from a missionary lady. A friend of ours who has been serving in Africa for many years now. She sent this picture of the lizard in the coffee pot. Said she was glad she looked in the pot before she turned the coffee on that morning!

I want to encourage you ....and myself....to look for the fun and humorous things God sends our way each day. It may make the trials a little easier to face!

"All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." Proverbs 15: 15

I hope you all have a happy Lord's Day tomorrow!

Marilyn

Is It All About Him ? Or Me?

*** See AWESOME UPDATE Below ***

It seems like I have been in a semi-depressed mood lately. You, my faithful readers, have probably noticed that! Yesterday was the third Monday in a row that I spent in a doctor's office and that's getting a bit old! And I'm sure that ya'll are getting tired of hearing about that! So....yesterday I started praying for the Lord to give me something to write about. Something about HIM instead of ME. And He did.

But first I want to explain the picture today. Tuesday morning is our "Esther" Bible study day at Sav-A-Life. I can hardly wait for it to get here each week! It's been such a blessing to me! Today we had a short refresher course for the volunteers afterward by our Director, going over all the things we need to make sure to do when we see a client in our center. So I was a little later than usual getting home. Since I had not felt well yesterday I didn't cook dinner ahead of time like I normally do in preparation for Bible study day. Fortunately there's a great drive-through place in town that has all their extra-large hamburgers for 1/2 price on Tuesdays so I had told hubby I would stop there and pick up lunch.

When I got home and walked in the kitchen, the first thing I noticed was the little bouquet of flowers hubby had left sitting on the counter for me! I'm not sure where he found the very old bottle he had put them in, but isn't it cute! The pink flower is a peach blossom. Does anybody know what the purple flower is? I sure don't know. It's not something I have planted but it doesn't really look like a wildflower either. Anyway, I just wanted to share my sweet surprise with you today!

Now to what the Lord revealed to me. Yesterday while driving to the doctor's office and listening the the radio in the car, I heard a preacher make this statement...."It's NOT about you! It's about HIM!" What he meant was that we get so caught up in our lives and what is happening...or not happening...to us at the moment that we forget who we are and why we are here. A light seemed to turn on in my mind! Yes! That's it! Why do I not remember that? This life, this world....it's not about US.....it's about HIM!

I fear that sometimes I get so caught up in my life and what is happening to me that I only think about what I would like for God to do to make me feel better or to straighten things out or get me out of a mess I've made! I forget that I am here to do what God wants done and not the other way around.

I didn't try to write anything last night and then left early this morning for Bible study. Still, the thought was fresh in my mind. As I drove home today from Bible study with the radio on, AGAIN I heard yet a different speaker say the same thing! A different program, a different man, a different radio station, a different day! And the message was the same. Oh, not all of it. Just his phrase...."It's not about YOU...it's about HIM!" WOW! It gave me holy-goosebumps as Beth Moore says! :)

And so, as we look at things in that light it all seems to take on a different glow, a different shade. I feel more at ease. More comforted. Somehow more restful.

This verse came to my mind: Isaiah 43: 7 "Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him."

We were created for Him.....to bring Him glory.....not the other way around!

Hallelujah what a Saviour!

Marilyn

*** AWESOME UPDATE***

While cleaning and rearranging my books I use for Bible study or teaching, I came across a journal I had used while working in Beth Moore's Breaking Free study. For the third day in a row the same words came to me from a yet different source.

In case you can't read the writing in red ink in my journal it says: "God is God. Frankly, it's all about Him!" (~quoting Beth Moore~)

Bitter or Better?

From the moment we are born till the moment we die, things are constantly happening to us. A former pastor of mine used to say quite often; “Difficult circumstances will either make you bitter or make you better.” That's a scary thought but I have found this to be true in my own life and have seen it to be so in the lives of those around me. Bitterness is something we all have to struggle with. Such an easy pit to fall into when our world seems to fall apart!

The word bitterness can mean “ to fester”, “to be sarcastic”, “to be jealous”, “to rankle”, or “to be hard”. We’ve all had times in our lives when things happened that made us have some of these feelings. Sometimes bitterness can be a secret sin. Someone does some kind of wrong to us…we get bitter….but we want to appear as good in the eyes of our friends so we try to not let this bitterness show. So it doesn’t hurt the one we’re mad at….it only hurts us. Isn’t it ironic that in wanting to hurt someone else, we end up only hurting ourselves?

On the other hand, sometimes bitterness is extremely obvious. Let’s say that a mother has lost a son to death and she blames God for all her sorrow. She may curse God and never set foot in a church again. It is very obvious to all who know her that she is a bitter person. There may be another mother down the street who has lost a child, too, but she has continued to be faithful to God and has used the compassion she has found through the death of her own child to become a comfort to other grieving parents. This latter mother has become better through her trial instead of bitter.

The only “good” definition of bitterness I found was “to show sorrow.” In Zechariah 12:10 the Bible says, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” This verse paints a picture of how we should feel when the grace of God has been applied to our lives and we realize that it was our sins that “pierced” the Son of God. Then we should be in “bitterness”, or in other words, show sorrow for our sins.

Yes, I have found it so very easy in my own life to become bitter but it is so much more rewarding to take my problems, my disappointments, my losses, and my pressing cares to the One who can make all things right. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

While studying to write this article, I came across a quote by Harry Emerson Fosdick that I thought summed up the contrast between bitterness and its opposite, which is love. Here is the quote:

“Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it.

Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it.

Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it.

Bitterness sickens life; love heals it.

Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes.”

My prayer is that both you and I may have the power of the Love of Christ in our lives “lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15 b)

May God help me to be better.....not bitter!

Marilyn

Saturday Steps of Faith

Today I am joining my friend Lisa over at "My Passionate Pursuit" in Saturday Steps of Faith. She has some very good thoughts about believing God for things great and small so why not stop by and check it out HERE!

As for me, here are some things that I believe about God:

I believe God loves us.

"We love him because he first loved us." I John 4: 19

What an awesome thought that is! God loved us "while we were yet sinners". He loves us not because of who we are, what we have done...or not done, or for any gain He might get from us loving Him. He loves us because God IS love!

I Believe God Cares for Us

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." I Peter 5: 7

He cares for our everyday needs. He cares when we are hurt or sad. One of my favorite songs is "Does Jesus Care?" In the chorus the author answers his question with "Oh, yes, He cares! I know He cares!"

I Believe God Can Calm Storms

"He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them into their desired haven." Psalm 107: 29-30

I found this little poster the other day and it spoke to my heart.

It's so true! Sometimes God calms the actual storm (Mark 4: 37-39) Sometimes He just calms the person while the storm rages around them. I've seen Him do that in the lives of other people. He has done it in my life. I pray that I will always turn to Him in stormy times!

This week I am believing that God loves me, that He cares for me, and that He can calm any storms that come my way.

Things have been a little 'stormy' in certain areas of my life lately. I'm sure I'm not any different than you! We all have storms. Some of us weather them differently than others. At times I tend to keep all my 'storms' inside and try to act brave outwardly. It's been a long journey for me to get to the place that I can share some of my deepest concerns with others. I want to be able to totally trust the Lord day today. He deserves my trust. HE is faithful.

I hope that you will be believing God for the needs in your life today!

God bless you!

Marilyn

Happy Birthday David!

Twenty-nine years ago today was my due date for our third child. Our children were born before ultrasounds were done as a matter of fact thing so we never knew before-hand if we were having a boy or a girl. As I had done with our two older children (not much older....we had a barely 3-year-old daughter and a 19-month-old son at the time) I had a bag packed with both a girl's and a boy's outfit to bring the new baby home in.

March 18, 1980 started about like most of my other days did. I think I was busy with the other two little ones and didn't really pay a lot of attention to how I was feeling except for feeling cumbersome because of being so big! I cooked supper and did notice while putting it on the table that my tummy was "knotting up" a little but I was not having any pain. I was a little apprehensive that the time was getting near so didn't eat more than a few bites. I remarked to my husband that I thought I might be in labor, so as soon as we finished eating we took our two kids.....along with their pre-packed overnight bags.... to Grandmother and Granddaddy's and hubby and I set off to the hospital.

I remember being nervous because I was planning to have this baby naturally....without ANY kind of pain meds. This would be a first for me and I wondered if I would be able to handle it. A song Kyla Rowland wrote kept going over and over in my mind. It was called "He Will Roll Me Over the Tide". I knew that God would be there with me and I was already holding on to that promise that He would "Roll Me Over the Tide" and bring me safely to shore!

We got to the hospital about 8:30 p.m. It was a beautifully clear, moonlit night. I was not having any pains but the tightness and muscle contractions in my tummy were still with me. Convinced that we were making a trip for nothing I talked hubby into letting us just sit in the car for a while to see what happened. After some moon-watching and small talk for 45-minutes to an hour he said we needed to at least go in and let them check me. If it was a false alarm, then we could go on home. So we did.

No...it was NOT a false alarm! David was born at 10:45 p.m.....less than 2 hours after I checked in. And I did have him naturally. He weighed 9 lb. 8 oz. He was such a good natured baby. I have a note in his baby book that says he slept 6 hours the first night we brought him home!

The hospital had a new thing going when David was born. They gave each couple with a new baby a free steak, shrimp or chicken dinner! Hubby and I chose shrimp with all the trimmings plus strawberry shortcake for dessert! As you can see, they brought a table right into my hospital room and set up everything. It was really nice!

Today David came over and ate with us on his lunch hour. He works only 10 minutes or so from where we live. I cooked deer steak w/gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, creamed corn, crowder peas, squash pickles, cornbread and biscuits. I could have had bologna sandwiches and he would not have complained though! He's always been so very easy to please.

The main thing I love about David is that he has grown into such a wonderful Christian man. I thank God for giving us three wonderful children. I love being a Mama.

Marilyn

P.S. Check out David's beautiful log cabin in the woods that he has built from logs from our farm. Be sure to click on the small picture for each post and it will open and show you several more pictures posted that same day. Click Here: OLD PLACE CABIN

If ___________________, then _______???

For those of you doing the Esther Bible study by Beth Moore can I just say..."Don't ya just LOVE it?"
It has helped me in ways I can not express. It has made me think. It has made me dig deeper into the Scriptures. It has made me more aware of what God is doing around me.

A couple of weeks ago when we had our group Session Four several things "stuck out" to me during the lesson and have "stuck with" me ever since!

The first thing is Beth told us the most frequent command in the Bible is.....DON'T BE AFRAID! And you know, I was sort of glad to hear that because, being a fearful type person myself, I sometimes think I am all alone in my fears. But if that is the most frequent command in the Bible it must stand to reason that God KNEW that we as humans would tend to fear quite a lot! God is addressing many of my fears lately and helping with them. I do want to be more fear-less because I feel that is a measure of my love towards God. I John 4: 18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." I want to come to the place where my love for Christ is greater than my fear of "whatever". I have seen the truth of the statement "fear hath torment" in my own life. When I am overcome with fear I am certainly tormented. In my mind. And sometimes it spills over into my physical life and makes me sick. I don't want that!

Another thing in our Session Four teaching was a "fill-in-the-blank" illustration. Beth gave us this sentence:

And if ___________________________, then ________.

She told us to think of the very worst case scenario we could think about that we would be the most fearful of. All of us have those! There's something in our minds that we think would be the absolute worst thing that could ever possibly happen....whether it be to ourselves or to a loved one. I don't know about you but I could never even voice the words to say what mine would be. It would scare me so to hear it aloud! She told us to not actually fill in the blank but to fill it in mentally. And then she reminded us that whatever that horrible worry of ours is, that should it ever happen, God will be there. If _______________________, then GOD!

It reminded me of a story I heard Dave Roever tell about himself. He was horribly burned from a white phosphorus grenade that exploded near his head while he was serving in Vietnam. After he came home and had gotten out of the hospital (after many months) he went over to his Pastor father's church one afternoon. Dave said he got down on his knees at the altar and cried and prayed and told God that he hated all the scars and the pain that he had from his injuries. He told God that he wanted to be healed. He knew God had the power. Walking over to the back door he said something like this to God: "God, I'm fixin to walk out that back door and when I get outside I better be healed..or ELSE!" And he said it was like he heard God say, "Or else WHAT?" And immediately he bowed his head and responded..."Or else ...I'll just keep on serving you!" What a testimony! He is an evangelist on a global scale now. How God has used him! Possibly not in spite of his wounds, but because of them!

I admit that I have fears running through my head presently. I had a variety of tests done at the hospital last Monday-Wednesday. They are checking for several things. Waiting is my game right now. I may not hear any results until I go back to my doctor in about 3 weeks. My worst case scenario is that two of the tests come back with results that could be very life-changing for both me and my family. I want to be able to take that worst possible fear and fill in the blank "If _______________________, then GOD!" I don't want to be held captive by the fear Satan wants to feed to me daily. Beth Moore said something during the lesson that is so true..."We can be so afraid of death that we never really live!"

I know many of you who will read this are going through great trials of your own. I pray that you, too, will be able to trust God for the outcome.

Let's pray one for another!

Thanks!

Marilyn

Weight Losers & Weight Lifters

Was one of your New Year's Resolutions to lose some weight this year? Me,too! I joined Weight Watchers several weeks ago to try and make this resolution a reality. Fridays are my days to go and weigh in. So far, so good. I have lost a little bit each week. Only lost 6/10 of a pound today but, hey, I'm happy with that! I was afraid that I had gained some this week! I still have a ways to go but my leader there tells me that it will stay off better if I lose it slow anyway. In this area of my life, my goal is to be a weight loser!

Are you old enough to remember the song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"? It first came out when I was in high school. I can't remember the words but it talked about how even if we have to carry our "brother" he doesn't seem heavy because....well, because he's our brother! (Same would apply to our sister!)

Lately I have had heavy burdens for some of you "sisters and brothers" in the Lord. Some of you are carrying heavy loads and I have been privileged to feel I have shared just a little of your burden by lifting you up....not physically...but in prayer. I hope that it's helped to ease the weight of your load just a little. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" Ephesians 6: 2 And it's not been heavy....because you're my brother...or sister...in Christ! In this area of my life, my goal is to be a weight lifter!

"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." Ephesians 6: 18

Marilyn

Things Hoped For

Very early this morning I opened the kitchen door to let in some of the warm, spring-like air. The first thing that I saw as I looked out were the old peach trees in full bloom. Immediately a word popped into my mind....FAITH!

Do you question why that particular word would jump out at me while looking at peach blossoms? I thought about it myself and here is what I came up with: The blooms on the peach tree indicate a shadow or a promise of things to come later.....peaches. That is, if all conditions remain favorable. If we don't have a huge frost or a late freeze. Either of those things would mean the fruit would be ruined and the tree would not bear anything this year.

And still, I thought about Faith. I remembered the definition given in Hebrews 11: 1...."Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." When I look at the pink peach blossoms, I can't see peaches hanging on the tree but I can hope to see them in a few months.

When I look at the things God sends my way in my life....my destiny.....I can't see what the end results are going to be. But through faith I can feel in my spirit the "substance of things hoped for" and I can wait for the time when the "evidence of things not seen" will be made manifest.

Faith. Hope. Evidence. Not seen. Not yet. In His time.

Marilyn

WIND ADVISORY

March...the month for flying kites and for not worrying about your hair staying in place when you go outside! March.... the windy month is here. I woke up this morning to the sound of wind chimes trilling out their loudest song possible. Any other loose things outside were also bumping and groaning as the strong winds constantly blew against them. I just went to the National Weather Service website and saw that our area is under a high wind advisory until 6:00 p.m. tonight.

The wind has many faces -- it can put a soft and gentle caress on your cheek or it can blow so strong it will make that same cheek turn red and chapped. The wind has its good side -- it can bring us cool relief from the heat in the summer time. But there's a bad side lurking to the wind too. Sometimes it will be a tornado wind that will wreak havoc on everything in its path.

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3: 8

In Matthew 7: 24-27, Jesus tells of two men who each built a house. One man built his house on the sand and the other built on a rock. Then the storms came. The "rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house.."Both houses were subjected to the same winds and rain. Yet the verses say that the house built on the rock "fell not" but the house built on the sand "fell: and great was the fall of it."

You know, that's the way life is. Two people can experience almost equally difficult circumstances and yet one of them come out so depressed he is ready to end his life while the other might be on shouting ground. What makes the difference? I believe we have the answer in God's Word. "And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer." Psalm 78: 35

If we have trusted in Christ as our Savior, then He is our rock and our hiding place. The only way to come out ahead in life is to have your foundation on the ROCK. "He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the ROCK of my salvation." Psalm 89: 26

I pray the winds of life will blow us toward the Lord and not away from Him!

Mariyn

Just Like You, GanMamma!

(Actress Phyllis Brooks 1914-1995)

Last Saturday our little 3-year-old granddaughter spent the day with us. We had a really good day together visiting for the bus route at church, eating lunch at our favorite fast food place, buying groceries together and then singing "Over the river and through the woods, To Grandmother's house we go" on the way home! Our old white dog Duke joyfully met her at the door of the car. They love "singing" with each other. Actually Duke's half of the duet sounds suspiciously like a howl but we call it singing anyway!

The rest of the afternoon was spent inside since it was so cold and wet outdoors. SHE stayed busy as always! Knowing right where to find my red apple-shaped kitchen timer SHE retrieved it and started the race game with GranDaddy. SHE takes the timer and while twisting it forward says, "On your mark....Set...GO!!!!!" At the start of the word go, SHE twists it all the way back so the buzzer goes off. She lays it down quick on the lamp table and takes off running and screaming to the kitchen to make a lap around the table and back into the living room before GranDaddy can do the same. Somehow he always manages to lag behind just enough so that GanMamma (that's ME!) can always announce HER as the winner! As soon as she wins she always grabs the timer and says, "One more time!" Always! No matter how out of breath everyone (GranDaddy!) is!

By the time we finished our supper SHE was beginning to tire of all the running and playing and needed to slow the pace a little. We got out the play dough and a Shirley Temple movie. SHE was sitting in a chair with her play dough spread on a TV table in front of her while we watched the movie. I pulled my chair up close to hers in order to make the things she was asking for from the play dough....."Make a flower"...."Make a present"....."Make SpongeBob". I didn't really think she was actually paying much attention to the movie until one of the co-stars stepped up to a mike and started to sing. (See photo at top) SHE stopped what SHE was doing and said, "Look! Like you GanMamma! Just like you!" I stared. The woman was young and beautiful....and she could sing.....none of those things were even similar to me! I thought maybe I had misunderstood HER. But then she got out of her chair and walked over close to the TV. She put out her little hand toward the woman on the screen and then looked back at me. "See her hair GanMamma? It's so beeootiful....just like yours!" I felt tears come to my eyes! I tell you truly....those were some of the sweetest words I have ever heard!

Later I got to thinking about it. Maybe when SHE sees me she does see beauty. Now, I know that I'm not young and beautiful like the movie star in the Shirley Temple movie....I can see that when I look in the mirror. But maybe....just maybe....I am beautiful in HER eyes. And hopefully in the eyes of all those I love. I thought of a song that our daughter and I sang together many years ago. It said something like..."When He sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy, and not as I am. He views me in garments as white as the snow. For the Lamb of God is worthy and He washed me this I know." Because the Lord Jesus Christ has clothed me in His garments of righteousness, when God looks at me He says..."Look! Just like Jesus!" That's because although I'm not in my glorified body yet and I still have a sin nature, I have been justified by grace and in God's eyes I'm just like Jesus...Just As If I'd Never Sinned!

Titus 3: 7 "That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

I pray that you,too, can say that when He sees you, He sees the blood of the Lamb!

Marilyn

Whiter Than Snow

(Just outside the back door)

Sleet pelting our old tin roof late yesterday afternoon was my cue to look out the window and see if any of the forecasted snow was falling yet. Not yet, but soon. It was actually about dark or after when the snow started really coming down thick. This morning when we awoke and looked out the window it was beautiful. So clean and white. Just the perfect amount. Enough to look pretty but not enough to make the roads impassable and cause us to be homebound for days on end!

Our church is almost an hour away from where we live and the roads near there were worse than ours so today's services were cancelled. My husband called some friends to see if their church just down the road from us was going to be having church today. They were, so we got ready and went down there. Two other couples from our home church plus our youngest son whose church had canceled today were there also.

I took a few pictures of the snowy scenery this morning knowing that I wanted to later write something with a "snowy" theme. During the worship service the Pastor asked if anyone in the audience had anything they would like to say about the snow. A lady in the back of the church quickly got to her feet. She told how she had been thirty-three years old before she had trusted in the shed blood of Christ to cleanse her from her sins. How she had lived a sinful life for so long even though she had been raised in a Christian home and had had the opportunity many times to be saved but yet just held on to her sins and wicked lifestyle. Then one September day she came to repentance and asked the Lord to save her. She related how a few months after that the Lord sent one of our fairly rare Mississippi snows. When she saw the snow there was only one thing she could think of....the verse from Isaiah 1: 18..."Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Kneeling down, she scooped up a handful of the pure white snow and thanked God that though her sins had been red like crimson, her soul was now as white as snow!

When she sat down I immediately knew that THAT was what I wanted to write about the snow! I could not have thought of anything half as touching as the testimony she gave this morning! As Christians, we should all do as she did and remember where God brought us from. No matter if the world called us a "good person" or a "wicked person" before we were saved, we were ALL as filthy rags in God's sight. And as such, we should have the same tender thankfulness when we realize that although our sins were as scarlet, we are now washed white as snow because of the precious blood of Jesus!

I had not thought of the old song "Whiter Than Snow" (by James Nicholson & William Fischer) for many years and so this afternoon I pulled out a hymnal and read it. The first verse says this: "Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want You forever to live in my soul; Break down every idol, cast out every foe. Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."

I'm so thankful I have been washed "whiter than snow". And I think that I will remember this lady's testimony for a very long time.

Marilyn

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Liesa over at "Life By George" has honored me with The Marie Antoinette award.

It is for people who are perceived to be "real" in who they are. I do hope that I can live up to this award ! Thank you Liesa! And by the way...today is Liesa's birthday so why not hop on over and visit her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday! Tell her I sent you! :)