GRACE-FORGED FRIENDSHIP DAY!

In our culture there are days for everything, even food! 

January 12-Hot Tea Day. January 26-Peanut Brittle Day.

April 5-Caramel Day. 

June 10-Iced Tea Day. July 1-Pecan Pie Day.

October 28-Chocolate Day. 

Yesterday was National Lemon Meringue Pie Day.

You get the idea---or at least an idea of those I celebrate "in the flesh."

What about more significant days for believers???

Scotty asked, "When is "Grace-Forged Friendships Day?" 

EVERYDAY! 

It makes everyday "gospel-icious." (Cole Huffman) especially as we desire to age gracefully. 

"A gospel-posse." (Scotty)  Dynamic Duo. Terrific Trio. A Quad Squad.

Christians on the same side of the struggle. (Ellen)

Believers who have been there, i.e. experienced that, can offer deep understanding, like-minded prayers and comfort so one does not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:16) 

A Fellowship of Believers' Day......

.....grace-forged with hope-filled prayers.(Romans 15:13)

BOOKMARKED!

Friend and prayer warrior Carolyn W. has an entire book of quotes. Quotes also reside in her head....probably because she shares them with family/others daily.

I, not so much, I have them scribbled in marginalia in various Bibles or journals.... some barely decipherable as my hands age, others literally bookmarked as they are more current.

• DON'T LET WHAT YOU HAVE (stuff).....HAVE YOU! (Buddy L.)
• ALL THAT YOU ARE AND ALL THAT YOU HAVE IS A GIFT FROM HIM! (Buddy)
• OWN HIS OWNERSHIP OF YOU. (Cole H.)
• GOD ALLOWS WHAT HE HATES TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT HE LOVES. (Joni Eareckson Tada)

Bookmarked---whether in your head, on a page, or in a book, do your best to keep up with "life impacting, quote worthy info."

"SONSHINE"

A good beginning to my day starts with a "cuppa."

Today's tea was a much needed black tea with caffeine!

It came came with a message. Its own moniker. "A SIP OF SUNSHINE."

Just what I needed----or thought I needed.

As I picked up my Bible, I knew I needed more. More of Jesus. 

"More of Thee less of me" as a "notation" reminded me.

"I am not enough, but Jesus is." (Cole, 5/8/22)

I'll have a second cuppa and sweeten it with gra-TEA-tude!

SONSHINE! The true sunshine I need in my life comes from Him. 

May God's Son shine through  me today.( Micah 6:8)

GRACELACED!

Gracelaced!

Gracelaced??? Is that a real word? Auto correct doesn't think so! Does it need a hyphen?

Gracelaced---can we "order it up?"

One doesn't have to "order" grace, it just comes like grits with any Southern breakfast order! (Cole Huffman, 1/4/21)

Hopefully, Gracelaced will be an all encompassing word for dotsydetails as I blog sporadically this year.

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)

Pithy but pure.

As I said oxymoronically 16 years ago, when I did 366 entries,  "Less is more in 2004!"

Pare down. In 2021, use only...........

• Good words. 
• Healing words. 
• Healthy words. 
• Kind words. 
• Pleasant words. 
• Strengthening words. 
• Sweet words. 

Hmm---
I think all  of the above are Gracious words. Words with purpose!

 Gracelaced! To God be the glory.

WOW WEDNESDAY

WOW---Words of Wisdom---Written on Wednesday.
Words that speak to me from the marginalia of my Bible.

• Desire a life measured more by kindness than competency. (source unknown)
• A sick bed can often teach more that a sermon. (T. Watson) 
• Jesus needs to photo bomb "selfies." (C. Huffman)
• What one pays for and prays for reveals much about their character. (4/7/18) 
• (_____'s) life demonstrates that forgiveness frees us from the burden of living in a prison of our own making. (Carol Kent)
• Sin is a righteousness problem---unrighteousness or self-righteousness. ( C. Huffman)
• God did not come to get man into heaven but to get God back into man! (? via Rad Andrews)

Words that continue to WOW me this Wednesday. Why not start a list of your own!

CHOOSE: 4 FOR 4th FRIDAY

More marginalia quotes---four for this 4th Friday entry:

• Lament is faith seeking understanding. (C. Huffman)
• Lament happens when grief finds its voice--as one begins to move through the pain and not wallow in it. (C. Huffman)
• Lamenting can be difficult for "stoic southerners" who often seek to deny emotions and endure grief and suffering. (C. Huffman)
• If we need to lament our sin, how much more to rejoice at our pardon! (C. H. Spurgeon)

Trying not to lament or embrace fatalism while revisiting these laments, I chose to begin my day with a Magnum Almond bar for breakfast.

 At least it was a "mini!" That's to make sure I don't "lament" this choice later in the day. 

CHOOSE: FOUR FOR THE FOURTH FRIDAY

This entry could have been "Choose: Humor" but I love alliteration.
So-o-o....thanks for humoring me.

I hope to add to your "humor" by adding 4 "funny" marginalia quotes. 

Maybe just funny for me as one with a sharpening pencils fetish, modus operandi of panic, who is an all around human mess, and needs to allow God to "turn (my) mess into a message."

1. Jesus needs to photo bomb all those "selfies." (Cole Huffman)
2. Family Motto at our house is "Wake up and Panic!"  (Carolyn W.)
3. REMEMBER: If there's not blood, smoke or fire, it's NOT a crisis. (Carolyn W.)
4. Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil, it has no point! (unknown)

Choosing to laugh today as I focus not on my faults but focus more on how God can use them.

PANIC PRAYERS

Anxiety can be a real "panic prayer" inducer,

Earlier blog entries show that I have been sipping from this cuppa of anxiety far too often through the years.

11/22/10 and 6/16/13. Yet, I omitted a cuppa anxie-TEA in 2014 when I wrote 366 "tea" entries. Maybe it's because that year was a "call" to blog daily and I had to trust the One who called me! He was my "focus" and the blog entries were an overflow of that relationship. Even if anxiety was mentioned in an entry, the cuppa chosen for "focus" was NOT anxie-TEA!

So why am I seemingly back to square one---my humanity, filled too often with worry and fear.

Sadly, once again, I am one of those "fretful folks" Pastor Cole alluded to a few weeks ago, as he described living in a catastrophe culture. Daily we "panicky people" tend to live in a state of emergency. Even our news describes emergency alerts as though each viewer can do something about each event. As if there was an element of control for which we are responsible.

Globally, I am disturbed but realize my limitations. On the other hand, personally, anxious thoughts can still consume me---holding me captive, over people and health and events which I cannot control.

So what's one to do with these consuming fears and apprehensions?

REFOCUS!
PRAY---Don't panic!!

Shrink that cuppa! Lay it all at His feet.

Claim victory. (Romans 8:37)

"S" Word

At our home, there are two "S" words we work hard to avoid.

The first S, is shut-up. Tho I addressed shut-up in a previous blog, it was not quite in the same context. 

We try to avoid this  S word by substituting a more acceptable "hush."

The second  S,  "stupid" seems totally out of place as a noun, especially when referencing a human being with such a moniker.

Other "bad" S words that come to mind are sucker (as in gullible) and sin---yet, sin is ever present and needs to be labeled for what it is. 

BUT....two recent quotes have me realize that even S words with bad inferences can be necessary for emphasizing truth, especially to ones with "dull" hearing (aka not having ears to hear) as a way of getting their attention.

For believers....."Sin does NOT make things more interesting; sin makes us lose heart."(2 Corinthians 4:1 & 16) (C. Huffman)

A sinner can repent, but STUPID is forever; . (Billy Sunday)

So.....listen up----I certainly did.

Hum-m-m-m......sin (the unrepentant variety) and stupid----maybe those two S words go hand-in-hand.