Wednesday, November 17, 2010

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!


Branch Of Wisdom


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

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 16

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.
Please click on her tag below to find out more!



Branch Of Wisdom



Today I thank the Lord for Thomas.  What an incredibly fun bundle of energy he has always been!  Now, I can think fondly back to the times when he learned how to flip the deadbolt on our front door, and would go out there and ring the doorbell.  Incessantly.  Um, I didn't let that continue for very long...


After learning to not go out the front door, Thomas would slip out the back door.  "Jacob, go chase your brother again!" I would call as Thomas tore across the field as fast as his little legs could carry him.  And there went Jacob, flying after him on his slightly longer little legs.  Thomas always came back willingly.


Just a few weeks ago, Thomas ran out to get the mail.  I heard the doorbell ring; he had inadvertently locked himself out.  I opened the door a crack, and teased him, "What's the password?"

"Mom is brilliant," was his grinning reply.

"Works for me!"  I let him in.  :)


My son, keep my words
And treasure my commandments within you.
Keep my commandments and live,
And my teaching as the apple of your eye.
Proverbs 7:1-2 nasb

Thank You, Lord, for Thomas.

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

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 15

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.
Please click on her tag below to find out more!


Branch Of Wisdom


Today I thank the Lord for Joseph.  Just his very presence in my arms as a newborn was a testimony that God loved me.  According to the Word, Joseph was a reward!  God was good!

As he grew, we began to walk the confusing, blessed road of autism.  But Joseph was still a reward.  And God was still good.

God has kept our sweet, no-nonsense son to even today.  And Joseph is still a reward.  And God is still good.


Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
Proverbs 23:26 nasb

Thank You, Lord, for Joseph.

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

Friday, November 12, 2010

FFG--From the Hand of the Lord

Plans4You

My dear friend Lori hosts Friday Farm Girls at Heart every week;
please click on her button above to visit her blog
and find out how you can participate!


As I think back on the past few weeks, I have seen God's handiwork of provision in my family's life.


I have this picture in my mind of the farmer's wife, working hard every day ministering to her family.  In plentiful times, she brings a casserole to a neighbor who just had surgery, and she donates some of her chicken's eggs to the church's food pantry.  Her sons walk down the street (it's a small farm) to rake the elderly neighbor's yard.  Good works abound!


In lean times, she makes do with what is on hand--food she has canned, or delicious meals using the dry beans in the basement pantry.  And she offers thanks to the Lord.  In even harder times, she graciously and thankfully accepts blessings from others.  She acknowledges that it is the hand of the Lord providing for her family.  Hmm, she sounds a bit like the Proverbs 31 woman...


We've had a few very lean weeks, but each time we've been blessed with a meal which has come from somewhere other than Fernando's paycheck, we've whispered, "God's provision."  The Lord wanted us to know that everything--whether from money in our pockets or from others--comes from His hand.  I pray that we whisper "God's provision" every day.

Again, please visit Lori's blog for Friday Farm Girls at Heart!

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 14

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.
Please click on her tag below to find out more!



Branch Of Wisdom


Today I thank You, Lord, for color.  Some animals see in black and white, but you made us to see in color--the reds and oranges and yellows in a sunset, the sweet green grass, all the shades of a blue sky, the purples in the rainbow...

Now that autumn is fully upon us here in the Midwest, I appreciate color even more.  To my delight, as Thomas and I cleared out the dead brush from my front yard garden, I noted that even my blue oat grass glowed with autumn light as the sun hit that latening hour when dull, fading brown turns to molten shimmer.


As I cleared brush and leaves, I also discovered a few fading flowers on the beard tongue, hanging on until the hard frost arrives.


I love this little plant, which happily grows without much care.  It is especially colorful when it begins to bloom in early summer:  flowers appear, arrayed in bright pink, then with time turn to darker red, then purple, as they complete the blooming cycle.  At any given time, all of these colors are displayed and create a bright and colorful corner in my garden.


There will be color in heaven!

The material of the wall was jasper;
and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
The foundation stones of the city wall
were adorned with every kind of precious stone...
...jasper...sapphire...chalcedony...emerald...
...sardonyx...sardius...chrysolite...beryl...
...topaz...chrysoprase...jacinth...amethyst...
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls;
each one of the gates was a single pearl.
And the street of the city was pure gold,
like transparent glass.
Revelation 21:18-21 nasb

Thank You, Lord, for colors!

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

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tea Talk--The Riches of God


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...a cup of organic Jasmine silver needle, loose tea given to me by my heart-sister Lori.  A perfect perk-me-up tea to give me energy for the rest of the day!  My tea steeper, from ingenuiTea, makes two cups of tea.  Once the tea is brewed, I place it over my cup.  As it presses down on the rim, it filters a stream of tea into my cup.  It's the neatest thing!


I'm feeling...safe in His arms, for He is rich in mercy.

On my mind...I'm always making mental to-do lists.  I have to go to the post office and the library today.  Praise the Lord that they are across the street from each other!

I leave you with...portions of verses in Ephesians that I studied this morning with my heart-sister Dee.

But God, being rich in mercy...
Ephesians 2:4a nasb

...the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us...
Ephesians 2:7 (middle) nasb

...(but you are rich)...
Revelation 2:9 (middle) nasb

In these passages, the Greek word for rich is plousios; its derivative had the connotation of "flowing, abounding."  God is rich, and has untold riches, but they're not just sitting there.  They are constantly flowing, being transferred to and poured out upon His people.  And those riches are not drained--they are a never-ending source and a constant supply.  I'm not talking about money here!  These are His riches:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ...
Ephesians 1:3 nasb (emphasis mine)

Back to life,
Christine

visit my photography blog!
captured by Christine Anne

Month of Thanksgiving -- Blessing 13

This post is part of a giveaway at Tamara's blog.
Please click on her tag below to find out more!



Branch Of Wisdom


Today I thank the Lord for hands to work, that set to the task and see it through.  (Thomas' hands are featured in this post!)


The Lord has given me two hands, a dominant hand and a helper hand.  I need them both in order to perform the many tasks before me in my day.


The helper hand may hold a nail, and the dominant hand may swing the hammer--but neither hand is more important than the other.  I need them both!


I praise the Lord for the hands in my household, busy about the work of the Lord.


Poor is he who works with a negligent hand,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
Proverbs 10:4 nasb

A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words,
And the deeds of a man's hands will return to him.
Proverbs 12:14 nasb

Regarding the woman who fears the LORD:

Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.
Proverbs 31:31 nasb


Thank You, Lord, for hands.

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