Devo Thursday

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him." 2 Peter 3:14

Spots, I've got 'em. Aging isn't for sissies, that's for sure. Makeup, I own it, use it, sell it. My favorite product is concealer. My morning routine includes dotting the wonderful stuff on my age spots that congregate and hold serious meetings on my face. They are effective recruiters, these spots, because the congregation grows each year. 

Peter was referring to the new heaven and the new earth, a time when Christ will reign. He is coming for a spotless bride. I'm so grateful that my sin spots have vanished because of the Lord's sacrifice for me. His death and resurrection makes me spotless and at peace with Him.

 There is nothing I can do to cover the spot of sin in my life. My sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad that we are "saved by grace, and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God." (Eph. 2:8)

I think of this each time I put my face on in the morning. Each imperfection reminds me that through our precious Savior, we are washed clean. 

Guest Post Gayle Ferguson

Our guest blogger this week is my sweet friend, Gayle Ferguson. Her comment to Monday's post was so beautiful, I thought it worth repeating.

These lyrics from Les Miserable hold the key to what most of us feel as we get older:

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame.

So many of us as we age,have had our dreams crushed or we abandoned them by the wayside due to other obligations taking their place. But as Christians, we need to hold tight to the promises God has made to us.Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

If we believe we are loved,then we must know that God wants to encourage our dreams.The dreams you hold onto were put there inside you by the one who created you.He knows your talents,your personality. It is not an accident that wine gets better with age.We can also see that with age, our hearts grow softer,our compassion greater,our depth of understanding situations priceless.

Take those small steps, with each step your courage builds,and you step into your own true self.But don't stop there,be an encouragement to others who have been battered by life as well,reach out to them and show them that it all starts with Faith,and that love will carry them the rest of the way.

What would you say to someone whose given up on their dreams?

Contest Tuesday

Haiku - that beloved poetic form that is deceptively difficult. Three lines: The first line is 5 syllables, second line 7 syllables, third line 5 syllables.

So thrill us with your

Best Spring-time inspiration

You could win a prize.

Enter in the comments section below:

Last week's winner:

Gangstas drinkin' the hard stuff!

Paula Mowery

Taking Back Monday

 

 

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C. S. Lewis

Your thoughts?

 

 

And just for fun...

 

 

Lemonade Side Effects

Fiction Friday

 Five hundred dollars for church camp is quite a sum for a single mom to produce. Karen worked overtime, scrimped and saved, but she could only manage four hundred fifty. The deadline for sign up loomed the next day. The twins’ lemonade stand cost them every penny of their allowance. They wanted nothing more than to go to camp with the other eight-year-old girls in their class.

Officer Ed Clark pulled up and stopped. He fished around in his pocket for change. He downed his drink, never taking his eyes from Karen. She’d gone out with him a few times, and now he looked to be garnering brownie points. He bought another glass.

“You ought to do well today. The 5K run is on the next street. People park on this street and walk over. You’ll make a fortune.” He tipped his hat at Karen and the girls.

Clark was right. Streams of cars found parking places on Karen’s street, and many of the drivers bought lemonade from the girls. They began to think that they might earn their fifty dollars after all.

The sweltering afternoon blazed on as two quart jars filled to the brim with quarters. The traffic slowed and the girls stopped to count their money.

“We did it!” Mandy and Macy squealed and jumped for joy.

“Thank you, Lord.” Karen hugged her two excited daughters and joined in the jumping.

Officer Clark drove up again. He frowned, and sat in his car for a moment before approaching the girls.

“Do you girls have a permit to sell in this neighborhood, or specifically for the 5K event?” He spoke softly and looked miserable.

“What? No, it’s just a lemonade stand.” Karen squinted her eyes in the sun. Surely he must be joking.

“Then I’m afraid I’m going to have to shut you down. The official vendors for the 5K run complained that you cut into their profits and that you probably didn’t have a permit. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t believe it. If you’re not kidding then this is ridiculous. A lemonade stand? Since when?” She pressed her lips together to control any further words. This hurt.

“I’m sorry, Karen, it’s the law. I didn’t know it either. Chief Smith is new and eager to make his mark. He did say that if you give the money back, there won’t be a fine.”

“Girls, go in the house.” Karen waited until the door shut behind them. “How can they give it back? We don’t know most of the people who passed through here today. You know this is their camp money, right?”

“I’m so sorry, Karen. I risked my job arguing with him about it.”

“Here, take it.” Tears streamed down her face as she shoved the two jars at the Officer.

“This is really difficult.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I can’t take the money. It has to go back to the people who paid you. I realize that is impossible now. I’m afraid the fine is five hundred dollars.” He wrote her a ticket and knew that a chance for any further dates with Karen probably just evaporated.

Stricken, Karen turned away from him. She wiped her tears. How could she tell the girls that there would be no camp? She’d used this whole experience to encourage them in the value of work, and the importance of faith.

“Don’t worry, Mommy, Jesus will come through,” Mandy said, with Macy nodding her head.

Karen’s heavy heart pounded in her chest on the drive to church Sunday morning. Should she go ahead and pay for camp and risk not having money to pay that outrageous fine?

Ed Clark met her at the door. “Listen, I convinced the Chief to wave the fine if you’d give the jars of quarters from the lemonade stand to charity.”

Karen breathed a sigh of relief. She carried her hard earned four hundred fifty dollars in her purse. Maybe the church would take that much and give her a little more time.

The Pastor took the podium.

“First, we’d like to encourage you single moms today, and let you know that your children’s camp fee is already paid.”

The girls gasped and hugged each other. As the offering music began, Karen placed four hundred fifty tear stained dollars in the plate, straight from the heart.

Devo Thursday

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Luke 6:31 NIV

It's called the Golden Rule. So simple and beautiful, but not easy. Remember that old adage "leave a place in better condition than you found it"? Is it taught today?. I witnessed an ADULT help their child make a big mess in a public place this week, and then left without cleaning it up. I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and not say anything unless they started to leave, then I planned to ask the GROWNUP to replace the borrowed things that were scattered all over the floor.  I didn't get the chance.

 A servant hearted person IN CHARGE of the public place of business, who could have easily instructed some other employee to right the mess, got down on her hands and knees and cleaned it up without saying a word. Talk about looking through love colored glasses! Her selfless act humbled me.

Now, we need to clean up after ourselves and not leave work for other people to do. That is 'doing unto others' as well. But to look past the offense and serve in the way my Boss did today is such a great example of the spirit of the verse. Compassion in action!

Any thoughts?

Guest Lisa Guidry

My guest blogger today is Lisa Douglas Guidry, a friend from ETBU days.

Lisa, tell us about yourself. I know you are a Mom, but you are going to school as well. What's that like?

Going to school full time while being a full time mom…hmmmm, it’s hard, but since God opened this door, He had faith in me to be able to walk this journey. Although there are times that I wonder about that wisdom…but I really have loved being in school. I have learned so much – not just about the coursework, but about myself. Best counseling program ever – expensive, but serves a dual purpose…LOL! The course of study I chose is Criminal Justice. Growing up I loved mysteries and crime shows. I loved pretending to be a PI (private investigator), but back then it was not a reality, so I chose another major in college. Years later I found myself a single mom again, and was thinking about going back to school – but what would I do? God opened the door through some friends from my former college days. So I thought, online college would work, and the school I loved was now offering online classes. And guess what the ONLY degree plan they offered that was online? Criminal Justice! WOW!!! A first love. I would get my degree, help be a voice for women who were in or just coming out abusive situations. I was so excited.

It has been difficult, but no more so than any other time in my life. I homeschool and do classes online, so I am busy. When I was married I homeschooled all my children (they are ages 10-31 this year), ran a household of 10 people, and helped to run my husband’s business, plus I volunteered at my church and helped with the state homeschool organization for the yearly conference. Just regular mom stuff. 

How has God surprised you lately?

Hmmmm, part of me thinks that I should not be surprised at all the wonderful things that my heavenly Father has done for me over a lifetime, most especially during the last 2 plus years. He saved my life by exposing evil against me in my own home and got me out under the protection of angels in Blue. He has provided an amazing attorney who loves my family (his wife used to babysit me when I was a baby) and is a Godly man. He has surrounded me with friends and family who love me and pray for me daily. They send me encouragement. They have blessed us with food, clothes, and shelter when needed. God has opened doors and granted great favor in many areas of our lives. I have scholarships and grants to attend school. I have Godly professors who encourage me and pray for me weekly. My class mates pray for me.

God surprises me in all the little ways that He touches my heart with love for me – the singing of birds outside my window each morning, the sunrises that wake me each morning, the sounds of my children laughing, the hugs and encouraging words of friends. His promises to me that He continually keeps beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I used to pray that my husband would love me the way God wanted a husband to love a wife… well God is showing me daily what that love looks like and I am very spoiled by that Love.

What's your best advice for moms?

 My best advice for moms? Remember that your children are a gift from God. Their hearts are like moldable clay – and a mother’s words and actions are what do the molding. Parents get really wrapped up in achievements and test scores, but those should be secondary. As mom’s we should be reflecting the heart of the Father towards our children. How does show His love to us? We should be parenting our children the way God parents us. With love, grace and mercy as we learn who we are and who we were created to be. Celebrate your child and the place he or she has in the family as a whole. As we (moms …and dads) work on our relationship with God (vertical), we should be working on the relationship with our children in the same ways (horizontal). Spend time with them talking, walking, sharing, encouraging, correcting in love, building up, and so on. Our children are only under our care for a short time of their whole life…if there is no relationship built during that time, it will be very difficult to build that relationship when they are no longer living under the same roof. God will fill in the gaps of our parenting when our children become adults, so academics should not be our primary focus. He is the greatest teacher of all. But the relationship that you build and cultivate with that child – it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to set that foundation.

 There is a great poem that I love from the 1940s that sums up most of what I have said. 

 Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Take a look at Lisa's Blog:  From the Rocking Chair

Contest Tuesday

Caption Contest

Post your caption about the photo in the comments section below and I'll pick the one that tickles my funny bone or warms my heart. The winner really will get a prize! Even if you don't win, your caption may end up in one of my articles, poems, or books.

Peggy Corbett wins for last week. Peggy, email me your address and I'll send you your gift! jodybooks@faithwriters.net. 

Where's that Wild West Show they told me about?

 

 Peggy Corbett

ACK Already...

Taking Back Monday...

Mornin':) I love my job and I'm so grateful for it. But sometimes there are things that I just don't want to do. You know, that dreaded thing you hate that hangs over your head? So I'm writing this while I have a full cart of books to go put up. I stalled by googling "when you really don't want to do something." Got a lot of pscho mumbo jumbo.

So here's my take:

• Take a deep breath

• Think about how you'll feel when it's over.

• Go do it.

• Done.

Gonna go see if that works, be right back.....

Oh, hi! Ahh, feels great.

Yep, done. Here's another point.

• The time I spent thinking about it was worse than actually doing the thing.

How do you deal with those things you don't like to do?

Catch Phrase Check Up

Devo Thursday

My dad used to say, "She's a poet and didn't know it; look at those feet - they're Longfellows." He was such a nut. But I do tend to think poetically. I always seem to have a phrase to motivate me with whatever is going on in my life.  

Right now it is:

No complaining, only planning

No frustration, reputation

Sweet and silent (not defiant)

Keep your eyes upon the goal.

As I prayed about the situation that inspired this poem, the Father reminded me to make sure my little anthems line up with His Word. So I made a commitment to find scriptures to back up my little admonishments. I'm one to memorize scripture anyway, so I'm grateful that my little poems already seem to be birthed from the Word.

It's a good thing to take stock of our belief system. Why do I believe what I do? 

The Word of God is the only plumb line. In this world where Christianity is accosted on every front, we should remember:

 "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."1 Peter 3:15 NIV

What catch phrases/scriptures motivate you?

Guest Alisa Darnaby

 Today our guest blogger is Alisa Darnaby

I did something really head banging this weekend. I was taking staples, nails, etc off the outside walls, getting ready to have my house painted. I do not have any TV except the local station (yep, can only get 1 station) so I decided to remove the old TV cable that was on the house when I bought it.

Guess what???? Totally forgot the cable also went to my recently installed internet. The poor girl at the internet office was trying not to laugh while I explained why I needed new cable at my house.  She suggested I put the cable I had removed on my porch and the serviceman would be glad to hook it back up.  Her snickering increased when I told her I cut up the cable so it would fit in the trash can.  We both started laughing.

How many times have we disconnected the cable and yanked out the staples?  You see, God is like that cable.  He is the source of our power and the staples are the sisters in Christ He has put in our lives to support us through prayer, words of encouragement and often, a good dose of accountability.  

While I can laugh about temporarily disconnecting my internet service, it is no laughing matter to disconnect myself from God.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.   ~Zephaniah 3:17~ 

A little about Alisa:    "It is funny, but never think much about it.  I am single, been involved in facilitating women's home /study groups for about 8 years.  I have one son, Waylon, who is 33 and a divorced dad of one.  Devon (aka Roo) is  2 1/2 yrs old.   My mom moved in with me about 4 years ago and my son moved in with me last year.  I love to read and make rag quilts.  I would fish more if the lake rose and God blessed me with a boat. Every Wednesday, I coordinate a group that prays, via email, for our lost loved ones.

Take a look at  Alisa's Blog. 

Caption Contest

Caption Contest

Post your caption about the photo in the comments section below and I'll pick the one that tickles my funny bone or warms my heart. The winner really will get a prize! Even if you don't win, your caption may end up in one of my articles, poems, or books.








Last week's winner: Bellacocina ~  Email me your address if you don't live in my town so I can mail you your prize (jodybooks@faithwriters.net)

"I can too blow up your head with my mind."

Taking Back Monday

Be blessed by this quote from a friend. Diana Dawson Hall is an exhorter. Her thoughts are  the perfect way to take back Monday!

"I awakened this day: in a comfy bed, with cool air, got out of bed unassisted, lit the room with a flick of a switch, walked to a warm shower with all conveniences, drank fresh water, used clean towels, dressed in nicely ironed clothing, reached for a Bible close at hand, and freely read it all with a beautiful roof over my head and four walls of protection. I am blessed and have so much to be thankful for."

When Monday winds down, come post the best part of your day:0)