Hello to you. How are you? It’s Sunday evening as I write to you. Today was good and despite my physical issues I got through it. The day started with church. We were in Matthew 8:23-27:
Matthew 8:23-27New International Version
Jesus Calms the Storm
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
I went and got groceries afterwards and got a little sticker shock – I’m paying about twice what I normally do! Then I went over to my Aunt and Uncles house for dinner. We had yummy spaghetti, salad and garlic toast. I played a game with my Aunt and won. It was tricky! We had lemon cake I picked up for dessert. It was good. Then we watched a good movie on Angel Flix called The Lamp Just Believe:
Just Believe” refers to the faith-based movie The Lamp (2011), where a grieving couple receives an old oil lamp from a mysterious messenger (Louis Gossett Jr.) and learns to find hope and rebuild their lives by focusing on love and belief, realizing the “magic” comes from within and through connection, not just wishing, despite the lamp’s mystical appearance.
Hello to you. It’s late as I write to you. I can’t sleep so figured I would write to you. How was your day? My day was long but uneventful. I got Link out on a walk today. He’s been willing to go lately and I like that!
Yesterday was prayer group day but because of fog and icy roads we did a conference call and were still able to pray together. We have a lot to pray about. My prayer request was for my sweet cousin Heidi who is recovering from a burst brain aneurysm. We also prayed for our dear friend Cheryl Hargan who had surgery today – a double breast mastectomy. We also prayed for Pastor Jason’s daughter Harper. We are a growing church so lots of leadership spaces need filling. Our time praying isn’t just about needs but also giving praise. Local police and fire departments are picking up their bibles and more are coming to Christ. In a time of great turmoil in our country and world there is much comfort to be had in following Jesus.
Dear Jesus please be with our leaders at all levels. Please help them navigate this increasingly violent and confusing world. Let your will be done in all these affairs. Please be with all our friends and family going through health and wellness challenges. Please be with the people of Iran and all parts of this world who are in turmoil and chaos right now. I pray you would help those who give sanctuary to animals. . I pray all this in your name. Amen.
Good evening. It’s from bed that I’m writing to you. I want to acknowledge the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents – this has to stop! I feel really sad about what is happening in our country. I’ll leave it at that!
This murder should not have happened!
I was sick recently so I didn’t feel up to writing. Thankfully it didn’t last long! I had loving family and friend support. I have an appointment next month to try and do something about the pooling sensation in my ears. I hope something can be done.
Today was a day of praise and worship. Even though I was having the pooling sensation in my ears I went to church this morning and a prayer and praise gathering at Grace House this evening. It did my heart good to see my church fam! The service today was about the prodigal son parable Jesus told out of Luke 15: 11-31 niv:
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Dear Jesus I bring before you this broken world and thank you for the good that is within it. People like Renee should not be murdered! I pray for her wife, kids and dog that are left behind without her.
In the midst of tragedies going on all over the world people are gathering together in your name- singing your praise. Let the light, the good outshine the darkness. Let there be healing for those who need it. I have loved ones who are going through trials – please be with them. Wrap your loving arms around them and assure them that everything is going to be ok.
Hello to you. I’m back from appointment with the VA. Apparently every 6 months or so they are supposed to make sure I’m not having adverse physical effects from one of the medications I’m taking – Olanzapine. Everything checked out good. Apparently if you have adverse effects you can have involuntary body movements that make you look like you have Parkinson’s Disease! It’s called Tardive Dyskinesia: Uncontrolled or unusual muscle movements, especially of the face, tongue, arms, or legs. This can be permanent in some cases.
Sorting gifts
This morning I went to the ladies coffee at Grace House. We helped sort and label Christmas gifts for a few families. When I went I didn’t know that’s what we were doing. My back wasn’t happy but I was still able to help. I can’t imagine doing all that alone but the past couple of years that’s kind of what happened! It felt good to help even if it was just a little. We have such wonderful ladies at Grace!
Dear Jesus I pray for this world and all its life. There is so much going on! We need you now more than ever. Please wrap us in your loving arms and bring us all peace and healing.
Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. Recently I received another edition of a free Christian magazine the Middleton SDA Church had ordered for me. The subject is about the Sabbath. It’s interesting to read about the history of the Sabbath. It is the fourth commandment that we keep the Sabbath day holy. With the way our world is it’s not always easy to keep Sunday free from labor! When I was active duty the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, was the only time I had for getting chores done. Since I’ve retired and have been going to church on Sunday, I now try to keep it a day of rest. Do you rest on Sundays?
This magazine is very well done. The company is Amazing Facts International
As promised here is the link to Toby Sloughs sermon this past Sunday:
Hello to you on this cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’m just back from church and breakfast at the Sunrise. I should have gotten groceries but decided to put it off. I really dread grocery shopping!
Today we had a guest speaker named Toby Slough. He is an author of the book Not Yet and a children’s book Toby the Goby. When they post his sermon I’ll share it.
Toby Slough
He spent time in Mark 6:30-42:
Mark 6:30-42New International Version
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied,
The message from his speaking that resonated with my current journey was about how pain is not the problem. It’s what pain does to us – it makes us a narcissist- everything becomes about us. The two things I have going on sometimes keeps me trapped inside myself. Just where the enemy wants me! The other message today that spoke to me was about focusing on what we have not what we lack. Pastor Jason has put a goal before the church of raising $30,000 for the charities we support. I have not been tithing for quite some time but am thinking I need to be more generous. I need to stop worrying about not having enough money. I will pray about this issue.
For a long time, for most of my adult life, Christmas has been a hard holiday for me. Christmas Eve is the anniversary of when I lost my birth mom to suicide. I was only about 10 months old so I didn’t really get to know her. My Dad and stepmom always tried to make the holidays special and it helped me not dwell on things. My Dad and I would decorate the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Dad loved Christmas or at least he made a good show of it! I have not decorated for Christmas for several years now and hate the materialism that Christmas often becomes. I live in a tiny home so I don’t like getting stuff to have to find a place for and I don’t like shopping. That is why I like Thanksgiving – the focus is on food and family! Now that I’m living near family with little children to celebrate with, I’m thinking may be my heart will be softened! Kind of like the Grinch story. Our families little ones the Cindy Lou Who’s in my life!
Luke 24 NIV – scripture from Sunday
On the Road to Emmaus
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulershanded him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Mosesand all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Hello to you. I am writing to you today one hour falling back. So far I’m not affected! I went to church today and it was really nice. So many warm greetings, hugs and smiles. I am so grateful for my church family. My friend Roy was there today with my friend Jeannie and he did really well getting up and sitting down through the service. I’ve been praying for him!
Today was dedication Sunday (baptism comes later by choice) and two couples dedicated their baby girls:
Dedication Sunday
Today we were in Philippians 2:5-11:
Philippians 2:5-11New International Version
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Pastor Jason emphasized how we get the mind of Christ through self sacrificing, loving other people and being obedient to Gods will. How we get the attitude of Christ is to spend time with him in his Word (the Bible) and through prayer.
Hello to you. I’m just home from spending some time with my Aunt and Uncle. We had leftover spaghetti and watched a couple episodes of The Good Ship Murder on Brit box. I like it when they invite me over! Sundays can be lonesome. Link is always so happy to see Ruth and John. They have grass and carpet which he loves rolling around on.
I went to church this morning (I almost didn’t go because I didn’t sleep well) and today we were in Philippians:
Philippians 1:18-26New International Version
18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.[a]20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
Pastor Jason talked about some myths there are in being a Christian. The first myth is you have to know everything. You don’t! Share what Jesus has done for you. The second myth is you have to be a good speaker and communicator. It’s not what we say it’s what we do that matters. The third myth is that we have to be outgoing to share our belief in Jesus. Just giving our personal testimony to even just one person is good!
I was so nervous doing this but God lead me through it!
Hello to you! I’m home from breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe with family celebrating a big milestone in my walk to Jesus – baptism! I was so nervous taking this step but God surrounded me with his people to help me through it. When I sat down in the trough the water was very cold. I was shaking as Diana read my testimony and a part of me did not want to do what I was about to do. I felt the enemy trying to tug at me and question my decision but Pastor Jason, Diana and Jim helped me stay seated and be in the moment.
My testimony:
I love Jesus and taking this step today is so special to me. I was raised Roman Catholic and have always believed in God but have never truly surrendered to Jesus. Since getting here to Idaho 5 years ago I have been surrounded with evidence of Jesus’s love for me. My family and both the Nampa and Middleton Grace church’s have shown me the way! God is good!
To be 