Elaine is a friend of mine, so I went to her website: “Splashes of Serenity” and found this YouTube presentation. I really enjoyed the wisdom from her and her husband! Laughter and insights and shared emotions, I’m grateful I took the time to watch and listen to it. I felt uplifted. God bless your day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v7eRX55UIs
We All Married Idiots – “For Better or For Worse” Episode 3 – May 8th, 2022
Dan and Elaine Miller join Pastor Dave for a conversation about marriag
Our library is open and I’ve been enjoying suspenseful romance novels by Mindy Starns Clark. One is A Penny for Your Thoughts, copyrighted in 2002 by author Mindy Starns Clark, published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR.
I don’t know why I didn’t start with this first book but I finally got to it last week. I am enjoying this series. I was going to write that she is a new author to me, but as I looked for an image of this book, I saw that she wrote a book I bought a few years back, entitled The House That Cleans Itself, copyrighted in 2007 by Mindy Starns Clark, published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR.
https://www.abebooks.com/House-Cleans-Creative-Solutions-Clean-Orderly/30819463303/bd?cm_mmc=ggl
Another author in the same genre is Colleen Coble and I started the Sunset Cove Series last week. The first book is The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, copyright 2015 by Colleen Coble, published by Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN.
Both authors penned books with family betraying their members, which made me feel sad. I don’t have a perfect family. I don’t know anyone who does. But maybe it’s the way I was brought up-as best we could our siblings watched out for one another. I recommend both these authors if you enjoy solving a puzzle while wondering if the heroine will find the love of her life.
I usually read Christian novels. Non-fiction is the kind of book I select most often, but I can relax and learn a little something from fiction at the same time as well.
Sometimes I’ll read and feel dissatisfied, so I’ll stick a bookmark in the tome and pick up my Bible. After a few pages, I’ll think about the life I find in Scripture. It doesn’t compare to a normal book. I ponder why I’m reading things other than the Word.
I don’t think God minds me reading other books since I do read the Bible, but I do know He wouldn’t have me make an idol of fiction or non-fiction works. God is jealous for us. He made mankind for relationship with Him. Rather amazing when I consider that He’s so much more than a tiny human being.
I hope you are well. May God bless you.
Do you ever buy a book and then take some time to get to it? Like I did with Lisa Bevere’s book, Lionness Arising? But when the timing was right, suddenly I read it and passed it quickly to my youngest daughter.
The second book, a novel by Barbara Sutryn entitled Amanda and That Boy, copyrighted in 2019 and published by Outskirts Press, Parker, CO, graced a shelf for months. Then, I felt an urgency to read it a couple of weeks ago, just before the race riots. I consumed that tome and ignored chores, social media, and most everything in my life to find out what happened next.
(photo from web address: https://outskirtspress.com/bookstore/?search=Amanda+and+That+Boy#)
When I closed the back cover, a quiet thought came to me. Give it to your youngest daughter.
She looked into foster care, but the way did not open. She works with teens so parents can have a respite from their care.
This book, Amanda and That Boy is about a youngster from the projects. An inexperienced woman steps in to care for a grown child. My daughter became an instant mother when she married a man with children.
I asked her how she liked the book. She really liked it, but she got frustrated with the main character. I may not react like Amanda in this book and my daughter certainly wouldn’t respond as this believable character did, but the story got us thinking.
I asked God what He wanted me to do with the stories I’ve been seeing and hearing about that touch my heart. It’s too much, I can’t do everything. He might have said, “Write.”
And so, I do.
May God bless you.
Every afternoon or later, I take some time to read A More Excellent Way: Be in Health by Dr. Henry W. Wright. I read the Bible earlier because I’m aware that I need God’s input sooner, before I’m scrambling.
I own Dr. Wright’s book copyrighted in 1999, 2005, and 2009 by Be in Health®, Inc.
https://resources.beinhealth.com/
Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA published it. On page 13, Dr. Henry Wright emphasized this statement: “The beginning of all healing of spiritually rooted diseases begins when you make your peace with God, and accept His love once and for all, accepting yourself and others.”
After giving two Scriptures from the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, he tells us how Jesus put the two together in the book of Matthew: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)
God helps us to love Him wholeheartedly. God restores our emotions, our mind, our physical being so we can love ourselves after we’ve been condemned by people and the enemy of our soul. Then we’re able to love others.
In Romans 12 it says: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NRSV)
I wrote, “So much to think about as I rest.”
Then, on yesterday I thought I heard the still, small voice of God say, “You are healed.”
I felt a tiny increase of health, so I said, “Thank You!”
Then, I found I was needed for Celebrate Recovery at night and I had the strength to go and cover a couple of the leadership spots because we had just enough leaders. Praise God!
I hope this finds you well. May God bless you!
Proverbs 18:22 grabbed my attention tonight because I wanted to write about marriage. In the NKJV it says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.”
https://pixabay.com/en/photos/happy%20couple/
As I read in Proverbs today, I kept seeing how difficult it is for people to live with a contentious woman, as found in Proverbs 21:9 and in Proverbs 21:19.
And in Proverbs 24:3 it tells us, “Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.”
To me, a home filled with precious and pleasant riches is more than possessions. It’s love and camaraderie and years upon years of getting to know each other as well as having a place to rest and recover from stressful days.
It takes time and perseverance through sickness and boredom and not “feeling” love. It takes trying new things that don’t appeal to you because your spouse really enjoys them. Respect for each other helps a lot. These are a few ideas I pondered today.
May God bless you.
I’m at the second library of the day, waiting for time to elapse between doctor’s appointments. I’ve been on the go so much, I haven’t been resting well. So, I’ve been trying to heal up using home remedies, praying and sitting down in the middle of the day to relax. I finally called the doctor this morning and maybe the healing is beginning after seeing him and before applying any medicine. Sometimes it’s just that way.
This afternoon, I’m heading back to the dermatologist and plan on avoiding that place until Spring.
My husband and I listened to some CD’s borrowed from a friend on our way up and then home from seeing family up north. Twice in nine days, someone recommended we see or hear Dan Mohler and his associate, Todd White. Our friend got home from seeing speaker Dan Mohler in PA that morning and the evening before.
When she offered the CD’s, I thought perhaps the Lord wanted us to hear the man. We both enjoyed his ministry and learned a few things. Many of his comments echoed our understanding of the Word of God. And as I said, we learned from him and appreciated the passion he spoke with and the clarity he imparted, as God had blessed him with insight.
My friend said her family listens to Dan Mohler on YouTube before the children go to bed each night. I couldn’t understand why until I heard him talk about the joy he finds with life in Christ.
I hope this finds you well. May God bless you.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwirpYbPtIjcAhUKv1MKHQJbDjoQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSECONDHAND-LIONS-MOVIE%2Fdp%2FB00384X9YE&psig=AOvVaw30KHqyONPU4cOAWDE2qIFD&ust=1530895561057361 Have you ever seen the movie, “Second Hand Lions?” My grandson has a great imagination, so I thought he might want to see “Second Hand Lions.” I convinced him to watch it before we had to part ways. It’s such a heartwarming story, filled with adventure and life lessons. A little rough around the edges, but good. Robert Duvall and Michael Caine star with Haley Joel Osment as the youngster. It’s a 2003 movie, directed by Tim Mc Canlies, produced by David Kirschner, Scott Ross and Corey Sienega. New Line Cinema, an AOL Time Warner Company made the movie.
When movies feature old people discussing death as happens in this show, I always think of how they totally ignore what eternity might be like on the other side. Could it be that by the time people are in their nineties that they’ve come to terms with ideas on death?
Although, a lady from our church lived at a nursing home for a year, and her roommate swore like a sailor. Before our friend left the home to get into her own apartment, in her late eighties, the roomie accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior at age 92. We prayed every Wednesday at our Ladies Bible study for this gal. Now she attends a Friday Bible study with a few people many weeks of the year.
I hope you are well. May God bless you!!
Hi! If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope you were able to enjoy family and/or friends, food, and able to give at least one blessing you’re grateful for this November.
https://www.google.com/search?q=thanksgiving+pictures&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
As we sat around a large rectangular table borrowed from the church, I looked at each individual adult and child and love filled my heart and mind.
As our middle grandson said our Thanksgiving prayer, I savored his quick acceptance to the question, “Who wants to pray before the meal?”
The adults and other children quickly agreed to his response and bowed their heads. It was short and to the point and it moved this grandmother’s heart.
Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Psa 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Psa 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. (NKJV)
May God bless you!
I’ve noticed older couples with good marriages get along, for the most part, because they’ve hashed things out over the years. Either there’s been improvement or the other person decided it wasn’t important enough to argue about anymore.
As Christians, we’re told to love others as we love ourselves, so if we decide to do that, we’ll study our mate and try to do things we know that they really enjoy. I’ve done that here and there over the years, but lately I’m aware of some things that are not that difficult that I could have been doing and just didn’t, for whatever reason. I’m also more cognizant of nice things that my husband does for me and I’m trying to say thank you when I see it.
Plus, he changes over time, as I do, so the benefits of the new behaviors are a plus to our relationship. All of his life as an adult, he’s been in leadership and sometimes he just wants to do relaxing stuff. So, he started watching chefs and learned cooking techniques from programs available on television or online.
(photo from: https://www.scoopnest.com/s/Brooklyn%20Daddy%20Iron%20Chef/)
If I’m preparing a meal and feeling the crunch of time, I’ll ask him to dice the onions and he’ll show me a way that is safe with the sharp knife and he keeps the rooted end in place for ease of cutting. The next thing I know, he’s asking if I need anything else chopped or sliced. If he hated that kind of thing, I wouldn’t ask unless I felt absolutely desperate, and then he’d have the right to refuse.
I heard Focus on the Family yesterday on the radio. I caught the tail end of the program on marriage and they showcased the next day’s program with a quote. A lady said, “I started looking for the good things that he does.”
https://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage
I hope I’ll take the chance to hear the program online, they both sounded good. I hope this finds you well. Do you have any marriage tips that you can share with a family-friendly audience?
May God bless you!
Probably a month or more ago, I read the first book in the Life of Faith: Millie Keith Series, copyright 2001 entitled, Millie’s Unsettled Season. Kerston R. Hamilton updated them and added more Scripture to the originals which were written by Martha Finley in 1876, just 11 years after the Civil War ended in America.
Millie is thirteen years old in the second book, Millie’s Courageous Days which is also copyrighted in 2001, and is published by Mission City Press, Inc., Franklin, TN.
There’s a marriage in the book which prompts Millie to ask her father how one knows that they are in love. He tells her to let him think on it overnight and to pray for wisdom for such an important question.
The next day he talks about 1 Corinthians 13. On page 91 her dad says, “Being in love, the kind of love that will last a lifetime, starts right here, in 1 Corinthians 13:4. ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ If your feelings and your actions cannot stand up to these verses, then how could you be in love?”
In the book, one question led to another because as the heroine points out, these verses tell all Christians what love looks like. I’ve heard these Scriptures repeated at many marriages over the years. They are a target worth aiming for, and as we try to hit the mark we can’t help but reach a number of those worthwhile actions and attitudes. Some attributes I’ve struggled with and now, I can honestly say, I don’t have a problem with them by the grace of God. Others are still a work in progress.
I hope you are well this fine time of the year.
May God bless you!
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