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Category: joy

Subtracting and Adding

Subtracting and Adding

Know therefore that the LORD your GOD, He is GOD, the faithful God, Who keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

-Deuteronomy 7:9

Give to the wind your fear
Hope and be undismayed
God hears your sighs and counts your tears
God will lift up, God will lift up, lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head
Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command
Then shall we wandering on His way
Know how wise and how strong
How wise and how strong
How strong is His hand
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head
Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears the way
Wait because in His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
God will lift up your head
(Soon end in joy)
God will lift up your head
(Soon end in joy)
-“god will lift up your head”, by jars of clay

Sometimes it seems as if God is only ever taking away, never blessing. Those times are when you are overwhelmed by sorrow, and cannot see His hand. But He is there, He does see your tears, and He will come through. He always takes away before He gives. There must be a need before He can fill it.

Sunday He took a friend Home.
I went to that man’s funeral today. And grieved. Grieved for the man’s wife, his children, his grandchildren. Grieved for all the hundreds of people who had lost a dear friend. That included me.
God will lift up your head.
Yes.
I know.
I know.
But I still grieve.
It seems as if this year has been one of extreme emotion, swinging from joy to sorrow to joy and back to sorrow again.
God has been subtracting.
I am ready for Him to add.
Maybe He already is.

In the meantime, I will trust.
He has hitherto been faithful, and I know that He will continue to be so.
Even though my eyes are blinded by tears and I can hardly see my way, I will trust Him.

For such is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will guide us until death.

-Psalm 48:14
yet even death cannot part us from Him or His love (Romans 8:38-39).

So I trust.

A Bit Of Time Together (away from home)

A Bit Of Time Together (away from home)

Lake Tahoe Vacation

Daniel, Anna, Leitha (a friend), and I went up to Lake Tahoe on Friday. We met the rest of the family at a friend’s cabin, and spent two very wonderful days with them. It was a short break from the normal routine of work, school, ministry, work, school, ………………
I only wish it had been longer!

Twirling

Twirling


Anna, Twirling

I am convinced that there is something unique to girls that causes them to long to be beautiful. They dress up when they they are little (and when they are grown) and want to know “how they look”.

Little girls want others to appreciate the effort that they have gone through to “be pretty”. They need you to notice their daisy crown and the washable marker on their fingernails. Even if they are prancing around in shoes that are too big, an outfit that doesn’t match, and have grass in their hair from a quick tumble, little girls need you to look at them with wonder. They need to be the beautiful princess, need to know that there is a prince somewhere who sees their beauty and will fight to protect it.

Little girls are precious and precocious things. They need to be taken seriously and treated gently. Telling her she is beautiful makes her day. Asking her out on a “date” makes her week. And if you want her to open her heart to you? Open your heart to her.

And they twirl (remember Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail?). There is something very feminine and joyful about twirling. Maybe it has to do with wearing a full and swishy skirt, or the way it makes you feel as if you are a dancing princess, and a beautiful one at that. Maybe it is just pure joy. But whatever it is, every little girl has done it, and any truthful woman will admit to twirling occasionally herself.
How do I know? Because I was a little girl not too long ago, and yes, I still twirl.

Dancing Slippers

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A Boy & A Longsuffering (& Clowinsh) Cat

A Boy & A Longsuffering (& Clowinsh) Cat




Apparently, yesterday was portrait time for Ben. Mom allowed him to grab the nearest prop he could find, Anna’s Kittie. Some rather humorous pictures were the result!

*note: Kittie actually enjoyed the pictured activity. She was purring the whole time.

"If I Had to Live My Life Over Again"

"If I Had to Live My Life Over Again"


I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now get washed up for dinner.” There would have been more I love yous, more I’m sorrys, but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it, really see it, live it, and never give it back.

-erma bombeck

Today I am trying to enjoy the moments as they come and revel in them, from the sunrise to the ironing, from dividing bulbs to smelling the rain to saying – and hearing – “I love you”. Because each one of these moments is a gift straight from my Father, and none will ever be repeated. Ever.

favorites

favorites

I love the smell of early mornings when summer is changing to fall. I love the way the air smells before the sun comes up. It is crisp and wet, it invites you to come outside and revel in it.
Mmmmmm!

O Praise Him

O Praise Him

P2110012, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
-Thomas Ken

He has been good, so very good.

Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and shines forever without change or shadow.
James 1:17

announcing …………

announcing …………

“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please:

John Smillie has asked Elizabeth Jacobsen to be his wife. She consented (quite gladly, and without hesitation!).”

I think it may be an understatement, but both of us are VERY happy! We are prayerfully considering the future that God has in store for us, and would appreciate your prayers as well.


For more details, including the story of our courtship and John’s proposal, please follow this link.