SPRING JOY!

One of my NC neighbors is an amazing gardener----from tropical greenhouse gardens and herbs to scatterings of jonquils/daffodils of many varieties; a husband willing to plant them...and both wiling to share them!

Spring Joy

 Maybe it was Spring Hope! She was't sure. I wouldn't know.

If I chose a name, it would be Spring Peace. Their garden is so serene---it calls for one to come and "sit a spell."

Since we moved here 6 months ago, I have had a constant need for peace.

Today's Jesus Calling DAYBRIGHTENER, reminded me "peace is one of our deepest needs."

God  planted that peace in the garden of our heart. Sarah Young also pointed out weeds can also grow there as well---pride, worry, selfishness. God, who is the Gardener of our heart works to rid our hearts of weeds. He uses times when we sit still in the light os His Presence. In His heavenly light flowers flourish and  weeds of troubling can shrivel up and die away or at least become bearable as we face them with Him!

His joyful Presence brings Spring Joy, Spring Hope or Spring Peace.

Take your pick!

GOD'S WORD STANDS FOREVER!

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

Our first months in North Carolina, from hurricane floods to gusting winds and wildfires from drought conditions were unlike any weather induced conditions we had ever experienced. But God in His love and mercy showed truth to be shared off a beaten path.....

......Hope remained even on a toppled sign in the boonies!

Thank you, Lord.

A STAR IS BORN!

All performers have to begin somewhere!

For our youngest grandson it started on the yellow brick road.

Think......WIZARD OF OZ. A county high school production that needed a few kindergarteners as munchkins!

Ready to go..........

We welcome you to Munchkin Land!

Even if the loud nose hurt this ears, he remembered the hand motions with one hand while his other hand covered his sensitive ear----and kept dancing as well. 

For the "show must go on" as this budding "star" learned!

He even learned it kept going on two more times......in the same clothes no less.

BLESSINGS WITH BOUNDARIES!!

The sun comes up----

It's a new day dawning"

Sun Star Ornithogalum

As "10,000 Reasons" reminds me......

"It's time to sing your song again."

What song? The song one can sing regardless of circumstances. 

Fix eyes on Jesus. Think about where your steps will lead you. (Proverbs 4:25-26) Remember God's  design is for His glory and our good, not necessarily our ease. 

Worship His Holy Name.....then sing like never before!

RED SKIES!

RED SKIES! 

For years whitish or rosy  skies in the morning were seen by many ancient mariners to indicate stormy weather ahead. The skies were used in weather prediction, especially for sailors and shepherds/farmers. Shakespeare even used the image of red morn in his poem "Venus and Adonis" to foreshadow, "wrack to the seaman, tempest to the field, sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds". It might be folklore but I bet my DangDang used it to schedule his tobacco planting. A bit ambiguous, I know.

I assume weather with red skies was their version of the FOX Weather app.

What about red skies at night??

My son-in-law told me the redness is intensified as the setting sun is sending its light through a high density of dust. That could certainly be true looking out my windows.

We saw them Friday night as the sun began to set. 

During Saturday morning prayer time, I only saw blue skies!

However, I did a red skies Bible search and found a "new to me" truth, or possibly one I had forgotten.

The Bible verse related to red skies in the morning is found in Matthew 16:2-3. Jesus answers the Pharisees and Sadducees saying, When it is evening you say it will be fair weather because the sky is red. And in the morning, you say, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the sky but you do cannot interpret the signs of the times. (ESV) 

A TOUCH OF TRUE ART!

TRUE ART......touches all one's senses!

Disclaimer---Sometimes the sense of taste comes as I eat chocolate while enjoying it.

My eyes see it as I enter the room! 

My fingers touch and outline the words! My hands enjoy the quilting of the fabric. 

I can even smell the freshness of the fabric.

How does one "hear" such art? The words of my favorite hymn flow from the art right to my heart and my own humming and singing reach my ears.

It's a "SCENT"sational gift of true art from the artist who uses her ability as a ministry to touch the hearts of others! 

It certainly touched  mine

ACCESS BY GRACE

Grace, Grace --God's Grace!

God's grace costs us nothing! It cost our Savior everything!

A glorious gift of His life on our behalf. 

Unearned and undeserved. Wrapped in His blood.

A gift with access, not only to the righteousness of Jesus, but "access to the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit" as well. (Stacy Tyson, The Best Times, March 2025, p.8)

Other descriptors for God's grace gift are free, through faith, favor, lavished, poured out, precious, redemptive, riches, 

Grace, Grace--Glorious Grace with access in abundance!

KITH AND KIN!

Kith and Kin jumped off the page of MUHH devotional today. 

Kith was used in Angela's Ashes: A Memoir as a way of describing the feeling of relational loneliness. Even the dog was gone. 

In Scripture, Abraham's life was an example of one who left kith and kin to follow God. 

It's faith at its best. Faith might not know where God's leading will take them but knowing the One who is leading provides the faith and assurance needed to go. 

Kith, without  Kin, is an old English word for friends and neighbors. 

For me, the Kin part reminds me of kin as related by blood in family or by adoption. Kin can also include believers in fellowship---one's church family!  Think "heart" family! 

 

But God, in His love and mercy, has shown me the necessity of connection through the blood of Christ regardless if the mileage separation! I have greatly experienced that KIN in our recent move. 

I would have been dismayed if I had not seen the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Kith and Kin are my land of the living!

BLESSINGS!

Blessings from friends quoting others. a great way to start the day.

I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God who reigns everywhere!

(St. Patrick of Ireland)

Blessings of celebration from the mountain folks who not only find joy ...

but celebrate with dance---clogging with some Irish type steps.

Blessings.....May the Lord bless you and keep you!

CUSHION OF CALM!

A "Cushion of Calm" prevails before the predicted storm filled with gusts, ball-sized hail and tornadoes hits! 

How special to await it on our front porch with

a devotional book, a new book and a cuppa in my Lake Junaluska mug. The cushion in the chair, for the physical comfort I needed, even included the reminder. 

LIFE ISN'T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS. IT'S ABOUT LEARNING TO DANCE IN THE RAIN.

In times of storm His sovereignty gives us His strength and peace, aka a "cushion of calm".!

A time of God's peace to rule in our thankful hearts. So we dance.