Hello to you! For the men folk I wish you a Happy Father’s Day! I hope you are able to spend quality time with those you love and care about! What brings you the kind of feelings that fill you up inside? Is there a song that brings forth happy memories and a smile to your face…..gets you to hum a few bars? Today is a day of gratitude for fathers of earth and heaven. Today, as part of the series at our church Can I Ask You A Question, the question was “Who is Jesus to you?”
Study guide from todays service at Grace Middleton Bible Church. In honor of the dads there was a wall of donuts! Hearing messages like we did today is better than any donut…food you can chew and swallow. It is a energy, food for the entire body, mind and soul. Spirit food! Living water.
John 9:39 – 39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment(AL) I have come into this world,(AM) so that the blind will see(AN)and those who see will become blind.”(AO)
If you have ever watched what happens with a stream you can see tangible living water. So many little pieces of life headed somewhere.
John 4:14 New International Version 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. (A) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water(B) welling up to eternal life.” (C)
Hello to you. How are you today? I hope you are well. This morning I’m thinking about steps…..steps of faith. This is from church yesterday when Pastor Jason illustrated it so well. Standing in a space and seeing the next step God has called us to take and actually taking it not knowing really what it will all mean to take it….. that’s faith. I’m also thinking about the smiling faces that greeted me when I got to church….hugs and smiles. There were a couple faces missing I had hoped to see and I pray they are alright. The longer you go to church the more connected you become! Like a family….dear friends.
Just one step and gradually many more!
I was looking at more videos from Master Shi and came across one of him doing a 20 minute Quigong practice. The song in the background was so beautiful that I had to find it to share with you. I hope you’ll give it a listen:
I’m trying to commit myself to breath in movement each day even if it’s just for the length of one song.
Make sure you are kind to who is looking back at you today!
Didn’t take many pictures yesterday but that’s ok. Sometimes sitting by the water under clouded skies means you will meet someone walking home after a hard day as an in- home healthcare worker. So tired but still having a kind word and a smile on her face.
My growing eclectic mixture of inside flowers Glimpse of the sun – we got more wonderful rain Tree by our post office Another tree by our post office – it’s like they are dancing Falling rain – there was lightening and a bit of thunder in these clouds – loved it! When I was looking for lightening in the Bible I found this passage I found this painting and it was so perfect in light of so much “weather” stuff going on in the world Some cute for you – I love how his ear is sticking straight up!!
Hello to you. How are you? My thoughts this morning are all over the place to be honest! There is just so much going on in this world. The news isn’t good but I am trying to remain conscious that good things are happening. There are so many good people. For all of the awful we are being bombarded with at every turn, there is good. I remind myself that even though I am powerless to stop and change so much of what is going on, God is not. There will be justice….there is justice we can’t see with our eyes but know with our spirits. My request is God’s justice for atrocities such as this:
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Todays message from A Woman’s Spirit is a great reminder about the power of time….it passes. Whatever the trial or tribulation we are experiencing we can trust it won’t last. We wish we could hold on to the good stuff that happens as much as we want to let go and forget the bad stuff….the length either stays is where we are empowered outside the rules of time:
Everything passes, as I flow with this river of highs and lows, I become calm. I trust my experience and the life force guiding me. – Ruthie Albert
Everything passes. There is perhaps no greater comfort when we’re caught in the throes of trauma than the knowledge that this too shall pass. We lived many years without this knowledge as we struggled to change the i changeable. Unfortunately, the only thing that changed was our level of frustration: it got higher. Now we know that we can patiently wait for a situation to pass. Nothing lasts forever.
The good times pass too, of course. We hope to hold on to them, but the same principle applies. The minutes tick by, carrying is to new experiences. What we need to learn will become known to us through both the good times and the struggles. They all will pass, having prepared us for the high and lows that wait to serve us.
I am at peace with the knowledge that everything passes. My needs will be met today.
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Here are pictures from yesterday’s adventures:
Morning light trying to happen- “dwell in me Lord, be strong when I am weak…” Setting up for Good Friday service at Millcreek Elementary SchoolI took this going in to help set up. In the evening one of our parishioners children handed me a flower just like this from the same tree. Children and trees…….Lots of extra chairs in anticipation of Easter. The Good Friday service really meant a lot to me. There was a good turn out.Something that reminds us of the pain Jesus enduredMemories new and old in a moment When I saw this moment I wanted to capture it for their Mom. I also thought of my Grandpa and what it must have been like for my Mom and her family to help Grandpa prepare for such occasions. These moments are so fleeting, thank goodness for cameras! Gorgeous flower on our walk that I hadn’t seen beforeSweet beautiful boy we encountered on the walk. He wanted to come to me so bad but Link wasn’t having it! I hope he is home safe and loved. My little bear Link getting my attention! Found out yesterday that my brother Jerry is a Grandpa again! This is one of the red tulips I shared the other day. More of them have appeared and I was able to get a closer look! I love the fringes on the edges! Vanity….you would laugh at how many tries it took me to get this! Sometimes it’s nice to see a face that goes with words. I hope the best for you – no matter what things seem like now it’s all going to keep moving on. Stay focused on the helpers….do what you can to be a helper. Remember that no act of kindness is too small for God.
Hello to you. How are you? I hope this finds you well. I went to church today and there were good messages for us. What stuck out for me is talking about the appropriate way to treat those difficult people in our lives. We all have or have had them. The natural tendency is to treat those types unkindly and this goes against what we have been taught. I think of Joyce Meyers and how despite everything her parents did or didn’t do to her as a child she still took care of them and treated them with love and kindness until the day they died. As a result her Dad actually accepted Jesus shortly before he died….do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I like that Pastor Jason Boyd suggested we start small. Start with your own home, your neighborhood and the place you work. I would add starting with yourself- are you at war inside your own skin?
The messages in A Woman’s Spirit talk about the importance of our stories. In our stories of trials and difficulties is hope. When we share our stories other people going through similar things can see possible solutions, find strength and see that those troubles pass! Here is the message for today:
I can’t expect you to share yourself if I can’t do the same. – Cathy Stone
We have been told we benefit from sharing our stories with others. However, most of us have shared intimate details of our lives in the past, only to have them repeated all over town. We may have decided that nothing was safe to share.
Now we are asked once again to share our secrets. What seems even stranger is that we’re asked to tell them to people whose last names we don’t even know. How crazy this seems when we first enter a Twelve Step program. Until we do it, however, we will not reap the benefits that are in store. We can only discover how like others we really are by telling them about us and then listening while they share similar stories. The intimacy that follows transforms our lives. Our time for self disclosure has come. Let’s rejoice and reap the rewards.
I will tell a trusted friend who I really am today. I can count on affirmation and acceptance if I choose my friend well.
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom* to know the difference.
*Remember we can learn from the past but we cannot change it. We are not powerless – we have right now. More of better nows means a lot less wreckage in our past and more hope for the future. I believe it is in sharing our stories we can heal and break the chains of multigenerational trauma.
Hi there. Hope your having a nice weekend. It’s been good here. I’ve been participating more with church goings on and that’s been nice. Last night we had a prayer and praise gathering and I enjoyed that. This morning was church and despite the time change there was a good turn out. One of the messages from Pastor Jason Boyd that resonated was about not allowing ourselves – our lives – to be dominated by anything. An example he gave for himself and his wife was television. It can be your work, interests and or hobbies….anything that takes so much attention that there isn’t anything left for God and or what or who truly should matter in your life. Some people get so absorbed into things that they become strangers to themselves and the people that love them. I’ve lived such seasons! It’s exhausting to pour yourself into the seemingly endless grind of work.
The message from A Woman’s Spirit ties in nicely to what resonated from Pastors message today:
I wonder what my life would be like if I were to focus my energy and thoughts only on things that really matter. – Robbie Rocheford
We spend much of our precious time spinning our wheels. Our minds wander from thought to thought and person to person with no real sense of direction. Fortunately, we can develop the discipline of taking charge of our thoughts. We have merely to pause , quiet our minds, and focus. It’s a technique that we can hone, and practicing it empowers us. It also frees us to spend our precious moments on beneficial ideas or activities.
Our attitude about a task will determine our approach to it. It may seem impossible to be in charge of our thoughts, but that’s because we have never understood that we could responsibly and actively take control. Any negative thought can be stopped, even in midstream. And a replacement thought, such as “God is in charge,” can be substituted. The exhilaration we will feel at realizing the power of this technique is astounding. Our recovery will be enhanced many times over as we grow in our reliance on this tool.
I will pause throughout the day to clear my mind. Taking charge of my thoughts will be enlightening.
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This message also ties into something I’ve talked about before. When that train gets on the tracks, whatever it is, you can tell the conductor you want off the train or want to go to another destination. You just have to practice doing this and like the message today says – it will be empowering!
Hello to you. How has your weekend been? It’s been kind of busy for me the past couple of days. Yesterday the church I go to needed help setting up so I went and helped. It’s something I can do even if my legs and back haven’t been being so friendly lately! Helping yesterday made me realize how much is going on behind the scenes to keep things going!
Later on my Aunt and I got together. We kind of just drove around Middleton. She drove me past the house the church is leasing for the next 5 years. They are calling it The Grace House. The plan is to use the place as an office and for things like Bible Study and Life Group meetings. It’s really a beautiful little Victorian style house that reminds me of the Painted Ladies in Colorado Springs CO. During our visit she was able to convince me that it’s time to get a new mattress! She used her Costco membership and we found one. My tax refund money going to a good cause. We think some of the pain I’m going through in my lower body is related to having s bad mattress. To celebrate we went to Jalapeños in Nampa and that way we got to see Uncle John. We are keeping many of our family members near and far in prayer and of course our entire world with all that is going on!
The service this morning was really good. Pastor Jason talked about renovation of our hearts and touched a bit on free will. That God gives us the free will to make choices but ultimately has the final say. Kind of like how I think of God being like the parent ultimately having the say over what happens in the lives of their children. Free will only goes so far. There are consequences for our choices both good and bad. I liked this: “Definition of the heart: where decisions or choices are made for the whole person. “ In thinking about this message about the heart I got more insight on the area I struggle with understanding – free will. It’s the sometimes sketchy area of like all things that once they leave their creator they develop a life….a story independent of their creator. Many things in this world are created and abandoned. We are being reassured that such is not the case with God. Pastor shared something that really affected me. He said there was a point in his life that considered suicide! What a loss it would have been. He wouldn’t be there to help me with aspects of loving and knowing God that I’m struggling with! I like to hear his stories.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting at the Grace House to do some cleaning before furniture is moved in. I hope we get a good turn out to help. https://www.idahograce.com/
The messages from A woman’s Spirit for yesterday and today were about the value of time in our lives and the healing gift of sharing our stories. For me personally, I have found that time and distance have been great healers for coping with difficult things in my life. The farther I get from a situation, the less it hurts. The same can be said for sharing stories about trials I have faced. The more I talk about it the less it hurts each time. Like I mentioned in my Twitch Stream this morning there are generations before mine that don’t like to talk about things they have faced or are facing. They keep it to themselves. I think by doing this they harm themselves and deny others the experience of hearing about hope. It’s like “I have faced this situation. I’m facing a trial but there is hope in it. I got through it…I’m getting through it.” It’s kind of looked down on by many those people who dump their troubles on someone else but I try to remember boundaries and also that even though there are 7 billion plus people on earth, so many people fall through the cracks….. literally have no one they feel they can confide in. I have felt that way before. Only having a therapist to really talk about and talk out what I was going through.
A Woman’s Spirit Messages:
“Time is my friend today. Each minute brings to me an experience I am ready for.”
“All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.” – Isak Dinesen
“I will tell a part of my story to someone today. She may be helped by it, and I will be free from it!”
Hello to you today. How are you? I decided not to do a Twitch Stream today and that’s ok! A day of rest! This morning I got up late and almost missed church but I’m glad I made it. The message from Pastor Jason was good. He used the story of when he lost his wallet helping with farm work. It fell out of his back pocket and fell in the field covered with dirt. He and his friends went out looking for it and it wasn’t found until a couple months later! The lost wallet is like us…..like I’ve been so many times in my life….lost from my relationship with God. God seems to always be there waiting for the children to find their way home. Being lost like that wallet doesn’t mean we are worthless . We still have great value but we just aren’t doing what we were made to do. Our full potential isn’t being realized when we are lost. Least that is what I got out of his sermon!
Last night my Aunt and I went to a ladies game night at church and I met some really nice women. We played a game called Mad Gab first and that was just not my game lol! You get into teams and read these unrelated words to make a saying or phrase. I think I figured out one lol. Then we played a dice game called Tenzies and I wasn’t very good at that either but it was fun. We had pizza, salad and desserts. What was really neat is I met a woman that I ended up sitting next to in church today! As I write I realized I actually first met her at Next Steps classes. That’s the class you take when you are considering membership in the church. It was nice to see a friendly and familiar face today!
To be 