Happy Mother’s Day

Thank you, Mom and Oma, and all the other Moms I’ve had over the years. A girl can’t have too many, you know. Thank you Mandy, Jesse, Shea, and Sunny, for making me a mom. Thank you Casey, Evan, Nick, and Shilo for allowing me to be your step-in mom. Thank you, all of my adoptive children, for allowing me to be your mom away from mom. I love you all! Tons of hugs and kisses to you all!

Happy Mother’s Day to all my daughters who are mothers! May your day be beautiful and filled with love, laughter, and wonderful memories.

This comes from trendhunter.com -Artisan Created Bouquets

Artisan-Created Bouquets : flowers for mothers day

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Saturday Silly – May 8 2021

“Have you talked to your mother lately,” my brother asked his wife? “Yes,” replied my sister-in-law. “As a matter of fact, she’s coming to dinner tonight. What made you think of her,” my sister in law asked. “Today is National Windmill Day,” replied my brother. LOL ! I hear he’s coming to spend a couple of weeks in town with us.

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Here’s To The Royal Couple

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 72. The heading reads, “Of Solomon,” but by the time we get to the end of it, we can see this was a prayer of King David, possibly for his son, Solomon. The whole thing is absolutely awesome! It’s a long one, so I’m not going to post the whole thing, but I hope you read it for yourselves. When I read this, I think of the duties of Kings and Queens; the expectations God has of them, and the tremendous weight on their shoulders. I also think of Jesus; King Jesus, laughing with joy at the children, and actually touching a leper…and weeping for a bereaved mother. We are kings and queens in the earth, ruling and serving-in our households, and our communities. There are some great points to ponder in this prayer.

Verse 1: “Give the king your justice, O, God” that we might judge rightly and righteously. Verse 4: “May he defend the cause of the poor of the people” that we might crush the oppressor. Verses 5 is for parents and grandparents, great grandparents…and so forth. “May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!” We all leave a legacy to the generations coming up behind us. May it be a legacy of love and faithfulness, strength, and faith in God. Verses 6&7 tell us a king and queen see to the needs of their people and cause peace to abound. Peace is twofold; peace within helps promote peace round about us. Verses 12-14 tell us the lives of the people are precious in a king/queen’s sight, and speaks of compassion and faithfulness to save the poor and needy from oppression. Verses 18&19 remind us who the King really is, and how awesomely privileged we are to be His hands and feet int he earth; to be charged with caring for His creation. I think I’m going to print this one out, frame it, and hang it up in my next kitchen. I want to see this reminder every morning.

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From Your Mother’s Womb

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 71. The theme of it is about not being forsaken, even in old age. But, there are some awesome revelations about God’s love in this psalm!

Verse 1 asks, “…never let me be put to shame.” That tells me that, just as God teaches us and equips us to deal with things, we need to do the same for our children. Verse 6 really hit home for me. “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. That’s one of those times where God said, “Oh, no you don’t Maam; not with this one!” I’m the survivor of three abortion attempts by my mother.

The rest of the psalm talks about how God is there to refute the tongue of our enemy/enemies, including death itself. Of course, you can’t help but praise Him continually and seek Him continually, which David also speaks of in the psalm.

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We Magnify What We Receive

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 70. The psalm is a short one; a prayer, actually, of King David’s.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me! May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated. May those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame. May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; hurry to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay. (BSB) How many times have we prayed this; or something like it, eh? “Get ’em, Jesus!” Then, “Ooh, LORD/Lord, let me jump for joy when you do! LOL You know God doesn’t want us to rejoice, though, over their wrongdoing and downfall. And, when you think about them falling into God’s hands, you want to hit your knees and pray for mercy for them, don’t you? Yeah.

Verse 4- Go my attention. “May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” It had me thinking about that phrase, “what goes in comes out.” Jesus said it this way in (Matt. 12:35) (NIV) “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. There are some powerful revelations in this. First, it tells us that we need to strive to put good things into others; especially our children. We’re told to build one another up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) This building up includes ourselves, by the way. Stop beating yourself up, if you do, and start recalling to yourself, all the things you can do, and all the things that are right about you. Secondly, and this reinforces that last sentence, we need to recount the love others put into us. We need to recount, especially, the love that God puts into us. I got the pleasure of a surprise visit last evening, from a little sparrow mama looking for something to eat. Of course, I couldn’t resist. I thanked the Lord, for her visit; because I believe He sends them. He has a way of knowing when you need a little touch of His love. This morning the little mama came for some breakfast morsels for her nestlings. What a joy to be loved by Almighty God and His creation!

When we find ourselves doubting, recalling those acts of love toward us is crucial. It builds our faith, and our self-esteem. I know it’s so easy to start feeling like nobody in the world cares whether you live or die. This is where you sit down and remember how Gramma spoiled you with cheesecake make just for you; or the rides you got to take on uncle’s motor-scooter, the soccer games you got to tag along to. This is where you sit down and remember how God came in at the eleventh hour and said, “Oh, no, sir; not with this one, you’re not going to!” -and pulled you through that health crisis. I still keep a journal; and let me tell you, when you start writing that stuff down-and referring to it when you need to, you can feel your faith muscles growing. We magnify what we receive. Here’s the third revelation; based on that statement. Be careful what you receive into your heart. Be careful who you surround yourself with; especially in your inner circle.

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Let His Salvation Set You On High

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 69. It gives us some insight into our part in our salvation. Verse 2 of the psalm lets us know that there is no foothold in the mud. If it isn’t clear, or understandable to you, or the truth is obscured, and hidden to you, you have the responsibility to seek the truth, to get it clarified, and to gain understanding of it. One of the reasons I drank to excess was because I couldn’t hear my conscience when I did.

Verse 5 reminds us that we cannot hide anything from God. He sees, hears, and knows, even your most secret thoughts and feelings. The good news is that God loves you, and He’s on your side. He wants you to win. So you needn’t fear Him.

Verses 6-12 are powerful. I think about wanting to break those curses off for my children and grandchildren. I think about some of the things, precious things, I lost before I got serious with God about breaking free from it all. And, yes, there will be mockers, scoffers, deserters, and even haters. It’s designed that way by Satan, so he can keep you bound.

Verses 14 through 20 give us an idea of how we ought to help our children; especially when they’re struggling with sin, and the world’s view of it. Peer pressure can be a killer; literally. We make truth clear to them, and give them stable footing by clear and strong standards and boundaries. We deal with them according to mercy, not mood, not circumstance, not cost, etc. Verses 17 & 18 are very powerful. We sometimes have a tendency toward denial, ignoring the truth. We don’t do our children any favors when we ignore the truth about their behavior, or their goings -on. We leave them vulnerable to the enemy when we do that. We need to ask questions, and insist on getting answers. We rush to their aid.

Verse 29 says: “But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! We need to humble ourselves and ask God for help. Then, we need to remain humble to obey Him; to do it His way. In this way, we will be set on high (over the enemy). We need to set our children on high through our teaching, correction, and salvation. That means we make empowerment with knowledge, instruction, and with dignity-even in the thing, the goal. This verse makes me think of Jesus’ words: “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” When we strive to break off those generational curses, we can ransom many. Think about the generations coming up behind you.

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Your Enemies Are His

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 68. The psalm is one of encouragement and assurance to God’s children.

Verses 1-3 tell us that when “God arises, His enemies will be scattered.” The “haters will flee His presence“; and yours. Have you ever watched the “in crowd” thin as you’re talking God and your new life with Him? Yeah, you can plan on losing some friends when you come to Jesus. There’s a twofold revelation in that scripture. First, God will scatter and drive away the enemies within you, or the strongholds of your old way of thinking. That would be things like anger,bitterness, confusion, doubt, fear, hatred, etc. Secondly, those who oppose you in your efforts to overcome your past will usually leave you. The good news is that if you just put your nose to the grindstone and keep going forward toward your new life, when you look around at the end of the battle, you’ll realize they all practically melted away while you weren’t looking.

Verses 5-10 give us the assurance of God’s love and caring for us. He’s a father to the fatherless, and the protector of widows. Widowhood can be physical and spiritual. That’s why we’re told not to be unequally yoked. There’s also that widowhood in the spirit when the body of Christ lacks good leadership, for whatever reason(s) God steps in and sees us through. (Isaiah 54:13) God settles the solitary/lonely in a home. He always leads you to where you need to be-for Him, and for yourself. He leads the prisoners out to prosperity. There’s a powerful revelation in that statement. When you live under generational curses, oppression, depression, etc. you are a prisoner of spiritual poverty and lack. We lack the truths we need to see clearly, the courage to face the truths we need to, and the power and authority to overcome them. God causes the real truth (s) to prosper in you so you become empowered to gain the victory over your past. He gives rain in abundance. That’s what I just said about the truth prospering in you.

I’m not going to tell you what came to mind when I read verses 11-13. Suffice it to say, you know what happened in the town where that woman talked with Jesus at the well. An avalanche starts with one flake of snow, you know. LOL

Verse 24 has me thinking about the powers and principalities, and the hosts of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, when they see you taking it to the LORD/Lord. I had to laugh, because I thought back to the last two cigarettes I smoked, The first one, I lit up right in the church parking lot after the service I’d just prayed for freedom in. I know today that that was Satan laughing at me and Jesus, in mockery. Then, I thought about the last cigarette I had; it was later that afternoon. Now, I can hear Jesus saying to that devil, “That’s the last one. Now what, devil? Now what?! Because it’s in my hands!” Praise God! April 26 of this year was 19 years smoke free. And you know what? I think of Isaiah 11:6 little child will lead them. Jesus said, “whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.” That kingdom includes the heavenly places where those powers, principalities, and hosts of spiritual wickedness reside. I had to humble myself and ask Him for help to be free of those cigarettes; to admit I wasn’t strong enough to do it myself. When we humble ourselves before the LORD/Lord, we are exalted over those powers, principalities and hosts of spiritual wickedness, because Jesus, Himself will remind them who you are in Him! That’s why He’s the King of kings!

Verse 30 reinforces exactly what happened with that smoking habit. God, Himself rebuked that devil!

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Saturday Silly – May 1, 2021

Most of you know I crochet. I love to take my little odds and ends of leftover yarn, and make doll clothes or other fun little things for children. I recently gifted a friend with a couple of little purses, and some Barbie clothes and accessories I’d made. I was told that the two year old loved the purse; and Grandpa put a dollar in it for her. She ran to Mommy and asked if they could go to the store, and stated that she was going to buy something for Mommy, because Mommy always buys her things. Mommy was so touched by this, that she gave the little lady another dollar, and told her to save it and the one Grandpa gave her. Mommy insisted that she was going to buy the little princess something as a reward for her thoughtfulness and generosity. I, having had four two year olds myself, when I heard this, couldn’t help wondering, “Do they know that they’ve just been robbed by a two year old?” LOL! Great job with those girls, Mommy! Hugs and kisses to you all.

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Say To God; Bring It To Life

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 66, and teaches us the importance of speaking things out.

Verse 3 tells us: “Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.” Do you see the “WOW, Dad!” in those statements?! We need more of this kind of communication with our Heavenly Father. Just like in any other relationship, communication is necessary. It builds knowledge of one another, builds confidence and trust, and solidifies relationship.

Verse 5 says, “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.” You can see what God has done for us just by looking out the window in the morning, listening to the birds, watching wildlife, taking in the beauty of the sunset colors, etc. I was discussing the early morning temperature with someone recently. I’d read somewhere that anywhere you go in the world, the temperature is always coolest between 3-5 a.m. I got to thinking about the desert heat. By 7 a.m. in June and July, it’s already unbearable. When you think about it, The sun coming up, were the temperature not 20 degrees lower, with a slow warm-up, would fry us by 5 a.m. That’s God protecting us.

Verse 9 assures us that God keeps us; and keeps us where we belong, too. I’m living proof; God will meet you at the gates of Hell and tell you to get your behind home! He does this by allowing us to feel the weight of our sin(s). Verses 11 & 12 tell us that. There’s mention made of men riding over our heads here. That made me think of Jesus’ words about how the rulers of this world lord it over one another. Look at some of the stuff you’ve had to do or tolerate, in order to support your sin and sinful lifestyle. The good news is that God always brings us from that place of lack (strength, truth and conviction, etc.) to a place of abundance. Plenty of room to stand firm, plenty of truth, love, peace, power, joy, and support. You only have to seek it. “Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9)

Verse 13 had me laughing at myself. You know how you come running to God, ready to lay that thing at His feet-after it gets so heavy that it’s crushing you…and the thing isn’t really dead yet? Yeah, you know. It’s just playing possum with you; because you are not dead to that thing! You know that old saying, “It can’t hurt you if you don’t care about it?” That’s very true. (Romans 6:1-4)

Verse 18 tells us that God doesn’t listen as long as we’re cherishing that sin and sinfulness. He listens, but He won’t lift a finger to ease your misery. As I said above, it’s the weight of that thing that will bring you to your knees, . that will bring you to your knees before the truth; and before the Truth, the Life, and the Way. Yes, on your knees before Him. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) And that’s when He can help you! You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped, can you? Verse 19 tells us that God will meet you at your deepest, and greatest need (spiritual). He “attended to the voice (tone) of my prayer.” You know how Mom always knows if it’s really life or death, or just a hissy? Yes, DAD does too. Think in terms of the Great Physician. Just like a medic, God won’t ignore that deep gash in your head from which blood is pouring out profusely, and take care of your hang-nail first. Finally, God’s steadfast love is never removed from us! Rather, it is we who remove ourselves from it. So, if you feel like God’s not with you, it’s not because He left you. Start hollering, “DADDY, DADDY, DADDY,” just like that little lost kid in the department store.

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Praise Is Due To Him, Indeed

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 65, and I think this is one of my favorite psalms. I just love it every time I read it. Verse 1 tells us that Praise is due to Him; and our vows to Him shall be performed…in Zion. That tells me I can go up and praise Him on His Holy mountain! And that’s in verse 2: “O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.” Remember where John went in the Spirit?

Here’s what we have when we do come before Him; thanks to Jesus! This is verse 3: “When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.” Jesus did that for once and for all time on Calvary! Now, we can overcome the darkness in this world, and be in Heaven *both eternally and here on Earth, in our living. That’s where verse 4 comes in: “Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!” We can dwell in His courts, and his house can be our house.

There are a couple of things to take away from the holiness of His temple. First, It takes me to the Commandment: “Worship the LORD your God and serve him only.” (Luke 4:8) (Deut. 6:13) I also think about being the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. In light of that, we must respect ourselves, and others when we can. A wise person once told me that if you can’t respect someone, you can still be respectful toward them. It also tells me that we should do nothing to debase, defile, degrade, demean, and destroy another’s dignity and self respect. *Notice, those words all begin with the first letter of the word “devil.”

Verse 5 tell us that God answers us by awesome deeds and with righteousness. That makes me think of when I’ve heard kids talking about how awesome someone’s parents are. God’s love is awesomely empowering, calming; inspiring love, courage, . In and through it, we are empowered to realize, accept, and respect our own authority over our lives. That reminds me of what Jesus said. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

The rest of the psalm outlines God’s working in the world we live in; in His creation. It gives us a picture of the effects and results of His steadfast loving-kindness toward His creation.

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