3X

9/6/12 Three times something is mentioned in the spiritual realm is a real heads-up for me.

After Monday’s blog entry on the idea of fullness of Christ in me overflowing to others, friend Jennifer B. sent me (9/5) this great poster, John 7:38, from a Broken People facebook page. Today’s on-line devotional was on “Rivers of flowing living water.” Thus, the head’s up.

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Broken People FB entry

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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150876815937255&set=a.379006197254.150030.272936877254&type=1&theater

My notes:

• Such a river is all about the Source….
• If we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
• We have nothing to do with the outflow
• God rarely allows a soul to see the blessing that he is to others
• A persistent river often has to overcome obstacles.
• Keep paying attention to the Source… God can either take you around the obstacle or maybe remove it all together. Wonder if sometimes He leaves it there until we learn the life lesson He has for us?

In conclusion, Oswald Chambers says it perfectly.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.

http://utmost.org/ 9/6

 His words are often a real heads-up for me!

Smells like home!

9/5/12 The smell that wafted (in BIG wafts) from the toaster oven was all too familiar. At least there was no smoke this time! I’m famous for burning toast. This morning it was my muffin.

Chatting with JoLynn recently, we discussed looking for life lessons from the Lord in the middle of all our circumstances. I wondered. Are there life lessons in burnt toast? If there are, I’m a slow learner---one with an acquired taste for burnt toast. 

20+ years ago, son Buddy’s (a freshman in college) suitcase held a sign for our kitchen. “Dinner will be ready when the smoke alarm goes off!” Molly and Josh became schooled in waving a dishtowel in front of that blaring smoke alarm. 

Various remedies have been tried through the years, including a brief stint with no smoke alarm in the kitchen. New toasters. Low settings, only. No toasters. But toast, even if well scraped toast, is a staple at our house. Now, most recent acquisition, an above the counter toaster oven, has begun to turn on me. 

Life lessons: palate adaptation, shared jokes---those only family members truly “get” are important, (I bet my kids are smiling if they are reading this.)

I think Ecclesiastes 3:4 has my spiritual life lesson. No more weeping over spilt milk or burnt toast, acceptance and laughter can go hand in hand. No mourning over insignificant happenings---let them go and just DANCE!

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Grandson, Owen, told his mommy that she smelled delicious. Daddy said, “She does always smell good, doesn’t she?” Owen said, “Yep, she smells like, “turkey and pancakes.” Mmm- mmm, I could eat her up.

As for me, I smell like burnt toast.

Ah-h-h the smells of home.

Let it flow, let it flow….

9/3/12…..let it flow. My Utmost entry (9/2) reminded me that it’s not what I gain in my relationship with Christ that’s most important. Rather it’s what He pours out (in me) to flow through me that counts. Out of me should flow to others all the fullness of Christ.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture* hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-38)

In midst of meditation on these verses, imagine the thousands of lives that could be touched and refreshed by the lives of believers living out this truth and letting it flow.

For additional info on what scripture says about thirst, check out Isaiah 55:1 and Isaiah 58:11.

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: HOPE

9/2/12 Some weeks are just easier than others in the “hope” range---especially as we watch friends and loved ones struggle. But God….our eternal hope is always present. He often uses those in the “ land of the living” or as some say, “hands and feet of Jesus” to leave “hope” reminders along the way. The sign in the chemo room read, “Creating a world with less cancer and more birthdays.” A-men!

Horse of Hope at Jones Clinic

A beacon of hope, symbolic of the church,  in the chemo room at Jones Clinic

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

Where do babies come from?

 9/1/12 Keeping with the Saturday “questions to consider” theme, this question is one that often gives young parents pause for thought. Not having had to answer this in many years, I wanted to share an expert’s answer with you. So listen up, even you grandparents.This gal has the answer.

Mary Flo Ridley has the best info in 28 minutes that you will ever find. I’ve heard her in person and her “Focus on the Family” program last Monday was a synopsis of some of this. She helps you share basic facts along with family values. If you don’t set the values for your family, someone else will. (TV, maybe) Don’t let the world teach your child life values. Mary Flo’s emphasis is on the beauty and boundaries of sex and she recommends doing it a little at a time. It’s a great "inoculation/prevention" technique..

IT’S WORTH YOUR TIME SO CLICK HERE. SHE WILL ANSWER THE QUESTION.

This is a link to Mr. Rogers’ “Fancy Song” which she mentioned, if interested. some of you youngsters may not even know who Mr. Rogers is. 

If you listened to Mary Flo you now know how to answer that question. She also has a Simple Truths program that she uses in public schools. Her latest book, God’s Very Good Design”, helps parents create a godly message of sex for their children. It gives the biblical references to use in “the talk” type situations. “A simple book with a simple plan that gives you simple steps to follow.”

Info on all of this can be found on Mary Flo's homepage. 

My continuing blog readers know that Mary Flo is one of the BIGGEST blessings the Lord provided for me during my cancer surgeries and struggles. She did more than house me, a virtual unknown to her---she ministered to me daily! She's the real deal. You can trust Mary Flo's answers.

RAQUEL

8/31/12…..a woman after God’s own heart. Raquel. Not exactly the name I call her but a name that resonates throughout the Guerrero Mountains in the heart of the people of that land.

A young woman sensing the call of God to Mexico has become the beautiful feet of a messenger who brings good news to the hearts of the people. (Isaiah 52:7)  

One who takes risks to participate in medical caravans in order to heal physical ills alongside spiritual ones. One trained in mid-wifery, available in a place where there is need. A single woman who travels alone, when necessary, in a land where even our large group had been stopped by bandidos.

Having traveled with her once, I saw first hand her love for the people of Tlapa and El Llano and that reciprocal love. She travels with a full heart and it overflows to others.

Inglesia Cristiana Tlapaneco Church is on right at the top of the hill.

If I asked her ¿Hablas [tú] inglés? Her answer would probably be,  “Yes, but I rarely do.”  Speaking fluent Spanish endears her (in just one more way) to the people to whom she ministers. But she continues to learn the Me’phaa language---the language of the Tlapaneco Indians. A difficult language. A tonal language mainly of ideas rather than verbs, infinitives, etc. Only consonants in the words, as I recall.

Nák hí rí ginii ne’ne Ana’ló mikhu jmaá juba’. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. (Me’phaa translation) D

Sharing her midwife information with the women of El Lano

Since January I have received over 30 emails from this young woman. Most are full of praise or prayer requests for others. She has a heart for these people, her people. She has a heart for God. That heart extends God’s love to others that they, too, might come to know Him as Savior and Lord. So she goes.

Raquel. I’m sure her name resonates through God’s heart as well.

Raquel's feet are on the left as she stands with her Mexican sister in Christ.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! (Isaiah52:7)

Waxing Nostalgic

8/29/12 Heating up the lady peas. That’s all I was doing. Yet, looking at that little pot had all those summer memories flooding back. And just maybe favorably increasing in size because that’s often what happens when one has those "rear view mirror recollections" from childhood.

This, however, was not one of favorable distortion---it’s just favorable. A vivid memory of Mama Davenport sitting on her front porch cradling a white enamel pot with the red trim in her apron-covered lap. Shelling peas. Nowadays we give them all kinds of names from purple hulls and pink eyes to cream peas and zippers. To Mama they were ordinary peas. Field peas with snaps. She would include those snaps because those small underdeveloped ones added flavor to the pot. If she couldn’t shell them, she just threw those small pods right into her pot.

Many baby-boomers have such memories. Mine go beyond the peas and to the small-framed woman, who was not only my grandmother but also my spiritual mentor---a word she probably never even heard. Scooping those peas from the bushel at her feet and shelling them was not easy for Mama D. because she had such crippling arthritis. It didn’t stop her. Perseverance. It permeated every facet of her life. Continuance in a marriage that was not always easy. Sitting alone in a pew, if children or grandchildren weren’t around to accompany her. If Dang-Dang wouldn’t drive us to church, she would take me by the hand and we’d walk. No complaint---just resolve. A woman who “kept the faith.” A role model for me.

In earlier years of marriage, I bought my ½ - 1 bushel of peas to shell, just like Mama did. Though many of hers came from a neighbor “down the road a piece.” Nowadays, mine come from the farmer’s market, already shelled, by those big commercial shelling machines, located right behind the vendors.

And no matter what I choose---white crowders or zippers, purple hulls or pink eyes, shirt and britches or lady peas, they all taste like home. A good reason to wax nostalgic.

CELEBRATE LIFE....a younger version

8/28/12 Last night’s celebration with a “younger” friend on her BIG 6-0 birthday was quite a contrast to Saturday’s "101 year" celebration. Both were fun---just different. Saturday’s decorations were elegant, floral and understated with no mention of years. Yesterday’s were full of color and “60” everywhere.

 The Saturday group most in their 9^thdecade, arrived dressed to the nines, with  no walkers, one hidden knee brace and only one cane, which was quickly put aside---with youthful hopefulness. Though aging was at the forefront of conversation for the Monday group the guests ranged in age from 30 something to 70+. That's  the generation span of friendships of the honoree, who said, “That way I make sure there is still someone around to attend my funeral!”

Walker’s adorned the entry at the more recent event and even offered valet parking for the elderly. Attire for the group, at the request of the honoree, was to be of an “elderly fashion.” Not to dress “old & frumpy” were the dictates of the hostesses. So, said honoree was the only one to arrive clad with her 96 yr old mom’s shoes with rolled down house, bed-head hair and tissues everywhere----you get the idea. At least, she left her mom’s hearing aids in her purse. (BTW, two of her “kind” friends tried to dress according to the birthday girl’s rules---that would be Shirley and Lou)

Song and dance captured the essence of Crickett.

Yet, the passing of 60 years of life was still celebrated with skits and pranks, both recent and past. Bugs and roaches in beds, short sheeting, crickets in curtains and inappropriate use of toilet paper. (LOL) That’s laugh out loud for you elderly readers. LOTS of laughter was definitely part of this life celebration. (Psalm 133:1)

It’s said that laughter is good for the soul---well, so is Crickett.

Birthday, dear friend “zee Crickeeet”---only 5 more years ‘til Medicare.  

Can't wait to see what your "innocent friends", Julie and Sandra cook up for that life celebration!

Musing Job 13:5

8/27/12 Sometimes I gain insight as I muse scripture interrogatively. 

A t-shirt worn by a friend had me asking myself several questions. What verse is that? What was happening in Job’s life to precipitate this question? Is this relevant today as seemingly“wise” counsel might only be someone’s opinion? Just their view and not God’s. How is this scripture, Job 13:5, speaking to me?

If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. (NIV)

If only you could be silent! That's the wisest thing you could do. (ESV)

O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom! (NASB)

O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom. (KJV)

Regardless of the version, I see this as a truth, which I, more often than I like, don’t exercise in my life.

After musing interrogatively, with lots of different questions, I wrote out my own version.

You (Dotsy) would be wise to keep your mouth shut. (DAL)

It’s the gift that I need to give hubby more often than I do.

That’s my musing. What’s yours?

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: that make me smile

"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers."
Proverbs 17:6

 8/26/12 Nothing brings a smile to a grandmother’s face much quicker than seeing her grands----and when they live faraway, a GOOD picture will have to suffice.