We are almost to the end!     ...How will we finish? Praise the Lord .   Praise the Lord , my soul. ( 2) I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.  ~Psalm 146:1-2 ~~~ I have a nice wooden Bible-stand/holder that my husband gave me.   Before the holder, I would prop-up my Bible on the table each morning, resting it on something (anything), so that it might be (a little elevated and tilted-toward me while I read it each day.   And then one birthday a few years back, I opened up a wooden book-stand from my husband and I (initially) thought: "What's this for?"   Possibly cookbooks(?), I wondered, as I smiled and thanked him. But he had seen me propping-up my Bible day after day, and he had given me a thoughtful tool to help.  And  every single day I remember afresh what it's for (not cookbooks), as my Bible pages stay-turned and as my Bible stays propped and erect, and easy f...

So often I worry about other people, and often--other people's children.  Do you?  How can we help?  Can I make a connection for them?  And most importantly:  how can I help them to grow in Christ?   I have a true desire to assist adults in becoming more Godly.  But children?  I  have a deep desire.  They have their whole lives in front of them.  What if...  WHAT IF!  They could live those lives in the fullness and purpose of the Lord? The next generation (and every generation!) are of great value to the Lord, and (God says) that we should have a burden for them.   When they had finished eating,  Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”  ~John 21:15 We have a call on our lives to feed the lambs (young) of the world, and we may  often consider how.   How ca...

If we think that we just can't  for one more day...for one more trial...for one more minute... HANG ON!  Because we can.   Today is not our giving-up day. I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.  ~Philippians 4:13   ~~~ I know it feels as if there is no point.   That there is no one that cares.   Not a soul who  sees and understands  what we have on our shoulders...or what is breaking our hearts. But... Beloved , there is  Someone Who sees all...and Who sees us.   Who loves  us, and Who is not-giving-up  on us.  Ever.   So do not fear, for I am with you;  do not be dismayed, for I am your God.   I will strengthen you and help you;  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.   ~Isaiah 41:10 Today is not our giving-up day. ~~~ I know that we don't deserve the scourging that this scoffing world steadily applies to our spirits.  I rea...

Besides, sleeping...what fills the hours of our days and nights?  Of course, our answers may vary from day to day, as schedules vary, but then again, for many of us, the activities might change, but for the most part, we spend our time in similar ways every day. Well--guess what I did for almost two hours yesterday.? Cleaned elderberries .  I didn't shuck  elderberries (remove them from the stem of the bush that they grew on, and into a bowl or pan), because my husband had dutifully (and happily) already shucked the berries ( many berries! ) the day before.  That is partly why I was cleaning them (removing any tiny leftover stems/hardened berries/over-ripe berries) yesterday: I needed to clean the elderberries for cooking preparation, so that we wouldn't lose  the berries to spoiling. Shucking and cleaning elderberries are both huge and time consuming jobs, and as I stood at my kitchen counter searching for imperfections in a sea of tiny deep purple bulbs, I beg...

At church this week, God spoke to us .  Not outloud, but through His Word.  As the pastor read the Bible, we heard the Lord speaking to our hearts ... and it was wild, uncanny even.   It got to the point where people in our row were elbowing each other in awe, and some even started to laugh a little, because the Scriptures were so timely that it was almost shocking...until we remembered Who wrote them: the One who knows  you and me intimately.   The author of our lives. ... fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.   ~Hebrews 12:2 When God "reads your diary" from His Word, it's a little scary,   It's a little exciting.  But mostly it is comforting.  And i t wasn't just me feeling it, hearing it ...and absorbing these Bible verses as my  Bible verses.  It was a number of us, and it very well might be you too.   Whatever  we are walking through today--God knows a-l-l  abou...

It's sort of a long story, and (to be honest), I don't know the full-origin of it, but a (fun!) cousin of my dad's who lived in California, used to bring a box of chocolates when she visited our family in Ohio.  I remember the square and round chocolate-covered delicacies, and the box said: See's Candies.   My heart remembers that box...and now and then when life's travels blow us westward, we will sometimes visit a city that boasts a "See's Candies" chocolate boutique.  I like to stop in and look around, and if nothing else...I love to sniff the chocolate air. But when we visited a Sees's Candies shop recently in Arizona, we had the blessing of doing more than just breathe the candies.  The (kind and generous) lady at the counter seemed to be waiting  to give us samples to enjoy.    Yes, I said samples , plural, and even as we entered the store, I saw her scoop up a piece of dark-chocolate goodness for each of us as we walked toward the glass-wi...