FFG -- Take Refuge

My amazing friend Lori hosts Friday Farm Girls @ Heart every week;

please click on her button to visit her blog

and to find out how you can participate!

My farm girl's heart just aches--along with my back!--this week because I am not able to do all the things I need and want to do.  When I think of this meme each week, I desire to share something I've done, or made, or baked, or accomplished during the week.  But this week, besides some laundry and a few meals, I have not been a woman of accomplishment.

I confess, when I'm healthy I can sit at the computer for hours, and I'm really good at procrastinating; however, I am essentially a doer.  My husband tells me, "Sit and relax with me."  And if we're not engaged in conversation, my mind is making lists--what's for dinner tomorrow night, I need to put garlic powder on the grocery list, do I have the money for the food co-op on Sunday...  My organizer/planner has space along the right-hand side for sticky-note grocery lists and to-do lists.  Sometimes I even add extra sticky notes on dates gone by so that I have room to write my notes!

Many of you have been praying for healing for me, and I humbly and gratefully thank you!  But for right now, the Lord has a better plan for me.  My Bible studies throughout this week have focused on healing, resting in His love, and acknowledging Him in my circumstances.  I continue to keep my focus in those places.  He is my refuge.

But let all who take refuge in You be glad,

Let them ever sing for joy;

And may You shelter them,

That those who love Your name may exult in You.

Psalm 5:11 nasb

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Psalm 36:7 nasb

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Tea Talk--It Will be Healing

Welcome to my home!

Sit and have a cup of tea with me and share a little time of relaxation and encouragement.

To join, click on Ruth's button above.

I'm having...Earl Gray in my Pfaltzgraff teacup (Ocean Breeze pattern).  This is loose tea that I've had for a long time.  I don't know why I haven't enjoyed this tea more recently--it is delicious and hits the spot on this chilly end-of-December day!

I'm feeling...the same as the past several days.  I continue to slowly recover from my fall up the stairs two weeks ago.  Afternoons and evenings are more relaxed, since I have worked out the stiffness by lunch time.  But when I first wake up, I'm so stiff and sore!  I'm trusting the Lord to work His healing in me, unless He has a better plan.  When I see the splendor with which He displays His creation--such as in the frosted trees in the photos below on our drive to the chiropractor this morning--I know without a doubt that He is working in me!

I'm thinking about...the few priority items to do this week--pulling together the rest of the special needs portion of our state homeschool convention (ICHE--Illinois Christian Home Educators) for June 2011; and getting our own homeschool lesson plans in order for the rest of the school year (mostly for Danny who will be graduating next June).  I also have to update my business accounts, and get some house cleaning projects completed.  The first two major items will be done by tomorrow--and I always say "Lord willing!"  :)

I leave you with...verses in Proverbs.  As I ask the Lord to heal me, I realize that He brings healing in various ways.  These verses in Proverbs have to do with healing:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your body

And refreshment to your bones.

Proverbs 3:5-8 nasb [emphasis mine]

Healing and refreshment come from doing these things:

• Wholly trust in Him with my situation
• Don't trust my own understanding of the situation
• Acknowledge Him in everything I do (or try to do, or even can't do!)
• Don't think that my wisdom is best
• Give the Lord my reverent respect
• Turn away from sinful desires

I'm asking the Lord for strength to do these things.  May you be blessed as you follow Him!!

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 17

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.

Please click on her tag below to find out more!

Today I thank the Lord for the moon to light our night.  It is the perfect distance from our planet--closer would mean too strong of a tide pull, further away would mean not enough.  God is all-wise.

The moon is peeking out from above my watermark!

God made the two great lights,

the greater light to govern the day,

and the lesser light to govern the night;

He made the stars also.

Genesis 1:16 nasb

Thank You, Lord, for the moon.

Please visit Tamara's blog to find out more about Month of Thanksgiving,

to be encouraged by others' blessings,

and to participate!

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 5

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.

Please click on her tag below to find out more!

Thank You, Lord, for the sunrise and the sunset.  You have set the sun in place, and it warms us and gives us light.  You paint the sky with color each night, more beautiful than any man can create.  Thank You!!

He made the moon for the seasons;

The sun knows the place of its setting.

Psalm 104:18 nasb

I took this picture deliberately with power lines and strip malls, because nothing man can invent can compare to the depth of beauty that God creates each evening.  His creation stands in stark contrast to man's best efforts.  Thank You again, dear Lord!

They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.

Psalm 65:8 nasb

Please visit Tamara's blog to find out more about her Month of Thanksgiving,

to be encouraged by others' blessings,

and to participate!

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Friday Farm Girls at Heart--My Life, The Lord's Garden

At the end of summer, my thoughts run toward the vegetable gardens in my backyard.  Harvesting, canning, munching freshly pulled carrots.  But curiously, my thoughts are also turning to my flower gardens, much of which have been neglected this summer.

My front porch garden

Several years ago, after I had had surgery and was having a hard time recuperating, a dear friend almost single-handedly dug out my front porch garden (above).  She mapped out a color plan, then accompanied me to the nursery to pick out flowers.  Then she helped me plant.

Since then, my garden has grown, becoming a jungle at one point.  I have divided plants and transplanted others to different parts of my yard, and still it keeps growing.  This spring, I purchased a macro lens for my camera, and trotted out to my front porch garden to see its close-up version.

My eyes were amazed!  Leaf edges, raindrops, bugs, individual unopened buds.  Little things I never paid attention to, or even could pay attention to because they were so small.

My garden is a picture of what the Lord is doing in my life.  Sometimes, I fight against the little things, not realizing that God has a bigger plan that I don't yet see.  And sometimes, I'm concentrating so single-mindedly on the big-picture vision He has for me, that I don't see the beautiful details He is weaving into my life.

Each individual bud, each individual flower, woven into one beautiful garden.  God the Designer, the Planter, the Transplanter, the Grower, the Harvester.

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Boughton Pond

On May 19, Danny and I biked to the west end of Boughton Road, maybe four miles from home.  I know they say to bike with traffic and walk against, but I would have almost preferred seeing those cars speeding at me than hearing the engine as they swerve around me from behind.  Whew.  Sidewalks would be good at that point.

Red-wing blackbirds were hard to capture that day.

We first walked down into a ditch and up the other side, but faced the possibility of shooting into the sun.  A boy tromped by doing who knows what, and the egrets migrated to the wend end of the "wetlands."  So we hiked back through the prickle plants and made our way toward a clearing on the south side.  Better, but I felt the lack of a good 400mm telephoto.  :)

About 20 feet or so from our targeted vantage point, we almost stepped on a turtle!  We think it was nesting.

Okay, to the best spot we could find, given the circumstances.  There were actually five egrets in the pond this afternoon!  We're pretty sure we captured a male and female in the shots below.  We observed them diving and almost fighting, chasing each other off.  It was a pretty good first attempt, and hopefully soon we'll figure out how to get closer, which is cheaper than buying that 400mm telephoto.  :)

This is my favorite shot.  My shooting ability does not do justice to God's creation!

Then God said, "...and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."

Genesis 1:20 (partial)

NASB