Thankful Thursday - Compassion

Lamentations 3:21-23

Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I am reminded of this verse when I hear that everything is relative, and that we are all O.K. We don't have anything to be forgiven for so who needs a Savior! Even though I know you can't argue with someone who does not know the Lord my question is: why would we be consumed and in need of compassion if not for our great sin?!

• I am thankful for God's great compassion, in while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me!

Psalms 18:16-19
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

• I'm thankful for how God is working in my life, and the many examples of waiting on Him, he is showing me! The peace that is coming with that!
• I am thankful for the many things he is showing me in scripture! That his Word is alive an active!
• I am also thankful for yesterday's snow day! The kids and I had a very relaxing day together! I stoked up the fire really good (we was a sweatin it out). We read, baked cookies, make the crown prince of doggie/catdom a new pillow throne to sit on, and just enjoyed being in doors! I did prove my toughness in that I snow blowed in the morning. I have to learn how to position the blower so the snow doesn't come back and get me in the face! I have to admit if you want a show and live close, come watch me sometime!!!

Have an absolutely great Thursday! I'm going back to bed now!

The smell of coffee brewing!

That is one of my favorite smells in the world, next to Campfire smell of course! I woke up this morning at about 2:30 to a bunch of howling wind. I looked out the slider and their was a whiteout. Needless to say our children are home again today for a snow day! Now that is cool! It's Wednesday, I don't have to work (well one short meeting). We can bake and hang out! I will miss Bible Study this morning though! When I get together with this group of ladies it is always a blessing! We talk about scripture and search it together to find the answers to our questions. We challenge each other to go deeper into the Word. There have been times of much prayer, a word from the Lord given, and growth! To those of you who read my blog I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! When it is light out Ill try to post some pictures. Keeping it lite right now! Have a great day!

May God bless you REAL good! ***Edited*** Heather at Mommy Monk told me about this Chris Rice Song! I think it fits don't you!

Hadassah - An ordinary girl

Lately I have become infatuated with Hadassah, otherwise know as Queen Esther! I am a lover of biblical fiction books. I love the added dimension they bring to the biblical characters. I love the research that is needed to go into these books so that we readers get a good picture of the period that the people lived. Lately I have been reading the books "Hadassah - One night with the King, and the 2nd book The Hadassah Covenant. Now I know theses books are fiction, but I love the way they draw me back to the word of God. Since reading these books I have read the book of Esther twice. If you will allow me to, I am going to empty the many things God is showing me and collecting in my cluttered mind unto these pages. This book has blessed me, and again because the Bible is "living", there is so much to be applied to our lives!

The verse that I believe summarizes the whole book is : Esther 4:14 "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this"

Chapter one begins with the great feast Xerxes throws for all his noblemen. Then the last 7 days he invites everyone from Susa, every one! Can you imagine the pageantry that went on! In the book Hadassah, it describes what the palace may have looked like. It's amazing the wealth that the Persian empire had! Also if you read this chapter you will note that wine flowed quite generously. The bible speaks of "in keeping with the king's liberality" - Xerxes appears to be a generous guy! Of course he partook generously as well. So after many days of drinking, in the bible it says Xerxes was in "high spirits" - can you say drunk, he comes up with the bright idea of parading his beautiful wife around! How many rash decisions are made when not in the right frame of mind? Now it doesn't say why Vashti didn't come, there could have been several reason, including not wanting to be gawked at by a bunch of drunken people. She doesn't come, Xerxes encouraged by his advisers banishes her from his sight forever! Can you imagine waking up the next day and realizing what you did (Xerxes does this in Chapter two). Now I know that God has ordained and set this up as a tool of rescuing His people, I just find it fascinating!
So my questions to you are?

1. Should Vashti have come in to Xerxes? Do you feel the Wisemen were correct in their advise?
2. How are we today in our everyday life to act toward our husbands? Now hopefully no husband would ask us to do something like this, but where do you draw the line? Was it right of Vashti to deny the King? Was it right of him to demand?

I have something to say about the Kings advisers, but I will wait for another post!

May God bless you REAL good!

Six non-important thing/habits/quirks about myself

Heather at Mumblings of a Mommy Monk tagged me for this Me-me. I am to list 6 Non-important things/habits/quirks about me! These are the rules:

The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

But first I have to show you a picture of what I woke up to this morning! Last night in the middle of the night I couldn't sleep (this happens quite often), so I got up this time to pray about things the Lord were laying on my heart, and I read the books of Esther. At 4:45 I got back in bed. When I came our around 6:30 this is what I found:

Curling up with THE GOOD BOOK! Isn't he a godly pooch!!!!! If only he were reading, not sleeping!!!!

Anyway here are the 6 things about me:

1. I can't stand to hear people eat! It literally drives me nuts! Which of course spurs my husband on to annoy me all the more!!!
   
2. I love to clean toilets, hate to dust!!!


3. Like Heather my right leg is shorter then my left. Not for the same reasons though. I just found that our when my back when out!


4. I love campfires! I love the smell and everything about them! Camping is not camping if I can't have a fire! I am very good at starting one too!


5. I have been to the furthest points from each other in the U.S. I've been to Lubec, ME and Seattle, WA.


6. I come from a family of 10 kids. 1 Boy and 9 Girls!

That's it! Hope you found it interesting. Here are the people I have tagged:

Iris @ Sting my heart

Sue @ Praise and Coffee

Diane@MyJourneysPath

Mari@MyLittleCorneroftheWorld

Nise'@ Thus Far the Lord has helped me

Jennifer@Zaankali's Adventure

An award from two great ladies!

I am a bit late getting the acknowledgement of this award out. I guess I had other things on my mind that I felt needed to get out! LOL! Anyway I received this award from two great ladies Mari and Diane . This two women are a great source of encouragement to me in so many ways. Mari is a wonderful prayer warrior! I so appreciate her and her husband in the humble way they call us to prayer! Diane and I have been friends for so long! She is my dear sister in Christ! I appreciate you both and love you! Thanks for the award.
Here is what the maker of this award says:"I have met so many lovely and very talented ladies here in Blogdom, what more can I do or say to express my humbled heart to each, than to give all my dearest readers and friends a special award filled with love. So, spread the love dear ones, spread the love to those you love."

I have met so many wonderful women out there in blogdom that have encouraged me with the word of God! I love how he is using this technology to bring people together from all over the world! God is so cool! I'm going to be a bit radical here and I'm going to "Spread the Love" to my faithful anonymous commenter's: D, D, J, & P! Thanks for making the effort to post a comment! You guys are great, and I love ya!

Thankful Thursday!

Colossians 4:2

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Today I am Thankful for the following:

• God's Word that He gave as a revelation of who He is and His wonderful plan!
• His Son Jesus Christ, who is our redeemer, savior, brother, friend!
• The Holy Spirit, who guides us, convicts us, helps us, comforts us, and dwells in us!
• For God's promise to never leave me or forsake me!
• God's Word and how it is alive and active, even today!
• For the Psalms, and how they help in times of sadness, depression, anger, etc....
• I am thankful that we are without excuse, just because of creation itself, Romans 1:20!
• I am thankful that he always makes a way of escape, 1 Corinthians 10:13!
• I am thankful for people who challenge me to be in the Word!

Today I pray that you all will feel the Father. That you will see His many blessing that he bestows on you today! One thing we all take so for granted is the blessing of breath, each one is a gift!

God Bless you REAL good today!

How Should we then live?

This question has been on my mind alot since our Staff Prayer Retreat yesterday. I was able to make it to 2 1/2 hours of it, and we had a wonderful time of discussion and prayer. One thing we discussed is knowing that things are not going to get better as we speed towards Christ return, but that things are progressively going to worsen, especially for Christians! How then should we live? I thought this statement was in scripture and myself and my Wednesday morning group of Sisters searched. Come to find out it is a paraphrase of something Francis Shaffer(?) said based on 2 Peter 3: 11-18(amp):


11Since all these things are thus [b]in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought [each of] you to be [in the meanwhile] in consecrated and holy behavior and devout and godly qualities,
12While you wait and earnestly long for (expect and hasten) the coming of the day of God by reason of which the flaming heavens will be dissolved, and the [[c]material] elements [of the universe] will flare and melt with fire?(C)
13But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, in which righteousness (uprightness, freedom from sin, and right standing with God) is to abide.(D)
14So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, [d]free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].
15And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [[e]His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation ([f]that which is conducive to the soul's safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,
16Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own [g]utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.
17Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].
18But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and [h]recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!
So based on this I have questions as far as what you feel we as Christians should be doing? Most importantly since I am the Director or Children's Ministries at our Church and so feel the urgency that our children know Christ and the power of His resurrection, what is most important to their spiritual life? How do we prepare them for the very real possibility of persecution in our time? Am I making sense? Am I prone to hysterics, and making a mountain out of a mole hill? Sometimes I think that within the church we are so busy with programs and such that we are missing out on what is BEST!
I would love to hear your thoughts. I hope that I made sense! Please feel free to either e-mail me or leave a comment. There are so many women out there in Blogdom that I have come to respect and appreciate as Sisters in Christ, whose wisdom has helped me so often. I appreciate any insight you may have.
Thanks and God Bless!