A Lesson in Humility and Faith

Both of these pictures depict different stages of the mustard seed, from the seed to the full grown plants.

Daily Inspiration from the NIV
Jesus said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." Mark 4:30-32

The King James Version says it like this: And he said, Where unto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.

To me, this is one of the most meaningful and important verses in the Bible. If we don't have faith, then we have Nothing. All hope is lost. People make the mistake of interchanging the words hope and faith. To make this point stronger, Faith is the Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see. Hoping is more like a wish, where as Faith is Believing it will happen.

Jesus said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this Mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you."
Luke 17:6

I'm sorry, I just cannot get used to the NIV Version of scripture. Please allow mew to reiterated this verse in KJV.

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by teh root, and be tou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Luke 17:6 Now that's the way I learned it.

Bible Seeds

Why is it that this specific lesson is one of the hardest to get used to? Are we as a human race so addicted to control that we don't want to ask for help, even if we know that He always knows whats best for us, because He can see into our future? Are we really that vain of a species? We all need to practice giving up control a little at a time if need be. It's one thing not liking to be controlled by other humans, but our Creator is a different story.

Todays Seed: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

KJV
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5

"What will I do?" We often ask that question when confronted with a tough decision. We don't know which way to turn. We are confused and sometimes frightened. Who can we trust to give us direction in the tough issues of life?

James instructs us that the first place to turn is to God. Why do we tend to seek the answers elsewhere first? Do we think that God is not interested in all the little details of our lives? god does care. He cares about every detail. Our daily decisions are important to him. He is always ready and waiting to give guidance and direction when we ask him for wisdom.

Perhaps we don't ask God for directing because what we really don't ask because we are afraid he might ask something from us that we are not willing to give. Or maybe, when we ask, we don't really listen to hear his answer. God only wants what is best for us. he knows the future and can be trusted to direct us in the way that will ultimately bring us the greatest blessing.

Dig Deeper: For James, wisdom is a practical thing. It is not philosophic speculation and intellectual knowledge; it is concerned with the business of living. Christian wisdom is knowledge of the deep things of God as they apply to daily like. It is essentially practical.

Weed & Water: When you are wrestling with decisions, turn to God for direction. Go first to your Bible. Ask yourself, "what are the principles in God's Word that apply to my situation?" Ask God, in prayer, to direct you to those passages.. If you cannot find direct answers n Scripture, then turn to other Christians whose wisdom and counsel you respect. Often books written by respected Christians can give wise counsel. God works in many ways to answer our requests.

Sprout & Scatter: As we learn to wait and trust the Lord for wisdom in living, we will become an example to others. People may seek up out for help n discerning the answers to their problems. As we grow in faith, trusting the Lord for answers to the daily problems of life, we also grow in wisdom. We can help others discover wisdom by our example of trusting God for answers.

Think about it: Where do you need wisdom right now?

How can you discover what God wants yo to do?

Prayer Pot: Dear God, please give me wisdom for ......

Wisdom has two parts: listening and learning.

Good night and May God Bless!

PJ

Branson's Andy Williams-"Doing Him Justice"

Well, I have taken drastic measures. Last night or I should say in the wee hours of this morning I typed a post. I got a late start because I had been working on tearing apart a latchhook that I had started several months ago, but only got about 25 rows done out of 90 before getting too exasperated to work on it. I originally tried to do it on a narrow long table and got the rows numbered wrong thereby getting the colors off. Anyway, I tried improvising with the colors and made it worse, so I put it away and did a smaller one. Now that I finished that one, decided to go back and redo this other one. Anyway, I was doing that until 1am. I then came in and started my post, but was too tired to get the pictures the way I wanted them. This morning when I went to Curves, Lynette explained how she does it, so I decided to re-write my blog and try her way. So here goes.

I also wanted to include a picture that I accidentally left out of the "Christmas Lights Tour". I like it because it mentioned the Ozarks I can't remember exactly what the sign said, and it's kind of small at least for my eyes to read the picture.


The next few pictures are of the Andy Williams show. I mentioned him in past posts but I don't think I dedicated one to him. This show will always have a special meaning for me. You can't beat it for a nice CLEAN Variety show.


This first picture was of dancing penguins. Of course they were just costumed dancers, but it was refreshing to see an act that wasn't trying to be "sexy" or risque.



Here are a couple of dancers which are actually magician quick change artists. They could change their clothes so fast, It was really neat!

May I introduce the Warnock Sisters. They kind of reminded me of the Lennon or Andrew Sisters. I know I'm dating myself and going back to the days of actually good music. (The 40's and 50's).

Christmas Cookies anyone? They were so cute! These acts really took me back to sitting in front of the television with my mom every week without fail to watch this show.




This guy to the right (I know this is a lousy picture but he was one of my favorite acts.) is a singing impressionist. He did Lou Rawls, Ray Charles, Tony Bennet, Sammy Davis, Jr., of course Andy Williams, and several more. He sounded just like them.

I am counting on this post turning out like I want it to, by having the pictures in place like they're supposed to be. Well, needless to say, it's better than it was to begin with, but still not professional looking like most of the ones I have seen y'all do. I know, it will take time, but eventually I'll get the hang of it. Please bear with me.

I'm sure y'all have known this for a long time, but I just realized it today. If you will click on the picture, it enlarges it so you can actually see what this lousy phtographer took pictures of. That makes me feel a little better.

I also hope that you have enjoyed the "Tour" of Andy Williams Christmas Show.
It seems strange not to type "Good Night".

Have a nice day, and May God Bless!

PJ

Psalm of Thanksgiving and Christmas Lights

I know that the above verse only quotes Verse 1 and Verse 26, but I guess I'm strange, because I feel if your going to quote a passage, quote the whole thing, Unless of course it's tremendously long like Psalm 119. (I would have to devote my whole post to that chapter if I tried to quote the complete chapter. Anyway, this close after Thanksgiving, I felt like giving God some extra thanks. He has been so good to me. Especially this past year. (He's always good to me, but this year we've been extremely blessed.

Psalm 136 (in it's entirety)

Thanksgiving to God for His Enduring Mercy
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks to the LORD of lords! For His mercy endureth forever:
To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endureth forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endureth forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endureth forever--
To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endureth forever--
The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endureth forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endureth forever;
To Him who struck Egypt in their first-born, His mercy endureth forever;
And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endureth forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endureth forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endureth forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endureth forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endureth forever
To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His mercy endureth forever;
To Him who struck down great kings, For His mercy endureth forever;
And slew famous kings, For His mercy endureth forever;
Sihon, King of the Amorites, For His mercy endureth forever;
And Og, king of Bashan, For His mercy endureth forever;
And gave their land as a heritage, For His mercy endureth forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant, For His mercy endureth forever.
Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endureth forever;
And His rescued us from our enemies, For His mercy endureth forever;
Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endureth forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endureth forever.

Good Evening to All!

Tonight, the tour of my Branson trip is going to take us through the "Trail of Lights". They were beautiful even though it didn't seem to last long. It was supposed to be 21/2 miles, but it really didn't seem that long. Anyway, here we go.



These lights were almost all animated. They were really pretty. I'm not going to show all of them, because I want to leave some for my Christmas Post.

It was a 2 1/2 mile long stretch of road with all of these lights set up. There were no houses around.







There were several of these "Trail of Lights in different locations of the city, I believe. I would have liked to seen more, but the traffic was horrendous, so I didn't dare mention it to hubby, because I knew his response would be for me to drive, and I would not attempt to do so in that kind of traffic.














In the picture below, the horses' legs actually looked like they
were galloping. That silver thing in the lower left is the car mirror.
My camera wouldn't work right, so hubby ended up driving
and taking pictures on his side of the road, then I would use
his camera and take them on my side. Great fun! HAHA....












In the picture below, the drummer was actually
playing the drum.













Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ

Branson's Veteran's Memorial Museum & God's Word

Good Evening to All!

First and foremost, let me give a HUGE THANK YOU to Yaya. She fixed my Blog button! I'm so excited! I was at my wits end trying to figure it out. I'm not very good at that sort of thing. As a matter of fact, I'm not good at computer language at all. She has allowed me to keep my sanity! (What sanity I have!) Thanks again! Yaya, do me a favor and leave me your regular mailing address on my e-mail, would you? I would appreciate it.

This poem was hanging on the wall in the room dedicated to Viet Nam Vets. It reads: "WAR" In Loving Memory of Ray S. Watson

War causes sorrow and pain. It can overwhelm with its stress and strains.
From World War I to Viet Nam so many buried and too many gone.

The Pain lingers on from daylight til dark, it never fails to leave its ever present mark. Wounds to the body, and scars to the mind - war has left many memories behind. I've seen what it has done to you, and now war has touched me, too.

May the world remember what it has cost us to be free.

Written by Amy Bogue-Gray

Published by International Library of Congress.

This part of my post, I want to include pictures of the Veteran's Memorial Museum in Branson. It really makes a person think about what freedom really costs. All the pictures I have of this would have made for a wonderful Veteran's Day post. Of course I won't be showing all of them at this point.

This picture to my lower right is filled from the ceiling to the floor with tiny pictures. They appear much bigger than they were. This means that there was over 124,000 people Americans killed in WWII.

This picture below is of a wall covered in names of Americans killed in Viet Nam. It didn't give much details like the other, I figure this is because there are still so many missing or unaccounted for. My hubby found
his cousin Thomas Creek's name in the

midst of the sea of names. I'm so thankful that I wasn't looking for my husband's name on that wall. I looked for any soldiers with my maiden name but that part of the alphabet was up near the ceiling, so I couldn't see if there were any or not.

Of course, in between the poem, and the Names of the Fallen, and the banner at the end there were guns, rifles, knives, and uniforms, but I wanted to do the Veteran's honor by making this more of a memorial than an "educational" post.

When I read this banner, for some reason, my mind automatically went to all of the bickering and protesting we over here in the states do about the war. Yes, it is a bad thing. War is always bad, but now that our loved ones are over there, we need to honor them by praying for their safety, and instead of whining and griping about the war, get someone in Congress and Senate and the Presidential office that will do something about it. This can only be done at the poles. Even then sometimes it doesn't work. I seem to recall someone saying they were going to bring troops "home" not send them somewhere else. Anyway, We owe it to our troops to honor their service and pray for their safety. Give them the honor that our Viet Nam Vets DID NOT receive. We cannot belittle their service by letting our protesting overshadow them. While I am on the subject, let me say a pet peeve of mine is when people say that war is about "oil, or money". While part of it may be, the main thing to remember is the reason is whatever the soldier believes it is for in his or her heart, because That is what they are fighting for. It doesn't matter what we think the reason is, we're not the ones that are risking our lives over there. Just because they are thousands of miles from home doesn't mean they don't know what we are saying over here and all this griping and complaining, and conjectures of "what They are fighting for, I can't imagine it doing much for the moral over there. OK, I better get off my soap box before people get upset with me and I lose what few followers I've got.Ha. All I'm saying is let's get educated about this and as soon as possible DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IN THE VOTING BOOTHS. I truly don't know what got me on this subject. My hubby is one that pushes my buttons about this subject, and he is a disabled Viet Nam Vet. That war definitely left a sour taste in his mouth in more ways than one.

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Daily Inspirations from the NIV

The [heavenly] city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. Revelation 21:23-25

The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.

Isaiah 60:19-20

Good Night All and May God Bless!

PJ

Light and Butterflies

Daily Inspirations from the NIV

Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you."

Ephesians 5:13-14

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

I must say, I like the way it is written in the King James Version better. Even though they are similar, I seem to get more from the KJV.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I know they are saying the same thing, but the King James is such a beautiful language that it seems to stick with me better.

Good Evening to All!

OK, it wins (for the time being!) I officially give up on trying to create my blog button. I have struggled for over two weeks on this, and it has finally gotten to me. It's got me "licked".

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I go on to more pleasant things such as more pictures from our trip.

These pictures below were taken at the Butterfly Palace. As we went in, the first floor was the gift shop. As we started up a ramp, all along the walls were these encased butterflies. There are over 1000 species of butterflies. They were beautiful. As we continued around, we went into a small "theater" and watched a 3-D movie about the evolution of the butterfly from a caterpillar. Did you know the lifespan of a butterfly is only two weeks, and that's if a praying mantis doesn't get hold of it first. That's something else I didn't know. I always thought mantis' ate leaves and such. They are carnivorous. Anyway, back to the pictures.

After the movie, we went into this "dome" where it was like a rain forest, full of vegetation and butterflies. It was really pretty. The butterflies were flying all around us. They sometimes would light on Don's shoulder or this other ladies cheek.

This picture below of the angel, is actually a live model. She was fantastic! She was so still, she looked like a statue, except every few minutes, you would see her move her hands around. I didn't realize she was alive until my husband said something to me about her.

I thought these rock carvings were gorgeous. Somewhere in my or my hubby's pictures, is a picture of a water fall, also.

The picture on the left is a bench in the shape of a butterfly. My hubby got a picture of me sitting in it, but I didn't want to take away from the beauty of it, so I only uploaded this one.

When we went to Roy Roger's Museum, I picked this up as a souvenir:

The Significance of Dale Evans' Initials Within A Butterfly.

Dale Evans loved butterflies and to her they symbolized the Christian life. She likened an individual without the Lord to a caterpillar roaming aimlessly around. When the individual came to accept Christ as Lord and Savior of his or her life, the "caterpillar" formed a chrysalis around himself. As the chrysalis hardened, it would appear that the caterpillar had died, while in actuality, the Lord was changing that old caterpillar into a beautiful new creature in the form of a lovely butterfly. For this reason, Dale loved to have her initials placed within the wings of a butterfly and you could find this emblem on her purses, gunbelts, clothing items, etc.

I thought that was pretty interesting also.

I just wanted all to know that the format of this post keeps coming out differently and the "picture descriptions don't end up being close to the actual pictures on the finished post. I'm sorry, one of these days, I hope to get it all together and make it look as professional as y'all's.

Well, I have several more places to show you, and many more pictures, but I will save them for tomorrow or another day.

Good Night to All and May God Bless. I hope Everyone had a very Blessed Thanksgiving. Hope this will cheer you up some Yaya!

PJ

Thanksgiving Eve's Thoughts

Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord, He is God;
It is He that hath made us, not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.
For the Lord He is good;
and His mercy is everlasting.
His truth endureth to all generations.

This was my favorite Bible verse when I was a child, so I thought I would share it with you on this Thanksgiving Eve.

What I am Thankful for: I am thankful for a loving husband that will put up with my mood swings, lousy attitudes and moans and groans. I am thankful that God is changing my heart and working on me to be more patient and understanding. I am thankful that He has convicted me of thinking too much on the negative side of things. I'm thankful for the normal things such as my health, my wonderful church family, and loving friends. I have the best kind of friends anyone could ask for. Friends who will tell me when I am wrong about things, friends who will remind me about what God says about thinking negative and just general all around keeping me on the "straight and narrow". They do it with a loving tone and attitude, not judgemental. Therefore, I take it as "constructive criticism" rather than "destructive".

I am truly blessed in my life, and I hope that when I come into contact with others, I pass on the love that God has in my heart to others. I pray that I am a "shining example" of God's love to others as my "church elders" and friends are to me.


Bible Seeds

Everything We Need

Today's Seed: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness." 2 Peter 1:3

Hidden in the middle of this seed is a powerful little phrase that can be easily overlooked as we hurry through our daily Bible reading. Three little words, "everything we need."

It doesn't say that God gives us some of what we need or part of what we need. It is a firm commitment; we are given "everything we need." God has given us "everything we need" through Jesus Christ. it tells us that we have been given all that we need to live life, and to live it in a godly manner.

Stop and thing--what do you need right this moment? According to this promise, whatever that may be is available to you. Now there are some qualifiers to the promise; What we need comes to use from Gods "divine power." Therefore, we must have received Jesus Christ as our Savior. and with that the presence of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, giving us power. That is the first qualifier. The second is getting to know Jesus Christ, who he is, how he lived and the example and instructions he left for us. So our needs must also be in accordance with the teachings of Scripture.

Dig Deeper: The Greek word for "knowledge" is ginosko. it means to take in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, and understand,. In the New Testament, ginosko often indicates a relationship between the person knowing and the person being known.

Weed & Water: Because everything we need will com3e through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we need to know him. The only way we can really get to know a person is to spend time with him or her. We also need to converse with him or her. So spending time with Jesus will include our reading the Bible to learn about his attributes, commands, and promises. It will also include our talking with him about our needs. In listening to him, we may find him clarifying the difference between what we see as our "needs" and what he sees as our wishes, wants, and desires. Have you ever stopped to consider that God might view your "needs" differently than you view them?

Sprout & Scatter: Many people get discouraged when they feel that God does not keep his promises. At such times they have confused their needs and God's view of their needs. As you begin to get to know God in a relationship you will understand the difference between needs and wishes or wants. Then you may be able to bring encouragement and hope to others. Matthew 6:33 reminds us: "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Think about it:

• How can you get to know God better?
• What is one "need" you have that God might see as a wish or want?

Prayer Pot: Dear God, show me the difference between my needs and wants and help me to .....

Image by jspad via Flickr

To my "friends" out in "Blogland" I thank you and wish you all a Very Happy Thanksgiving. ( Don't eat til you get sick, just happy).

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ

Our Branson Trip

Good Evening to All!

As promised, I have some pictures of our Branson trip all ready to upload.

I must say, once we got there, we had a blast. Of course that's usually the way it works. The trip is pretty stressful because of the traffic, detours for some reason, everywhere we go there are always detours and we get lost. Hubby always finds his way around eventually, but the detours are enough to drive a person bonkers. Anyway, Don had planned on getting into Branson about 2 or 3. It was about 5:30 if I remember correctly. We didn't do much that night except find a little something to eat and go to sleep.

The next day, we went to the Roy Rogers Museum and Show, which I already showed some pictures of, but have plenty more. I've never been a very good photographer. My hubby's got some great pics, but I don't know how to get them off his lap top. I'll get him to upload them on my flash-drive tomorrow. As you can tell, that is Dusty Rogers, Roy's son. He has a band called the High Riders. I tell you, if you close your eyes when he's singing it sounds
almost identical to Roy Rogers. He even came off stage and started telling us about his family Christmas'. In the theater, they had a Very large star of David, with a cross in the middle. He said his mom (Dale Evans) had it made special because so many people kept sending her Christmas cards that said Merry Xmas, and she didn't like the way they had taken "Christ out of Christmas, so she had that made and put on their roof every year til she passed in 2001. Anyway, I guess that is what impressed me the most was how much he talked about Christ during his show. Another place we went was to see Andy Williams. You youngsters may never heard of him or his records, but he was my mom's favorite singer and I can remember sitting in front of the tv every week and watching his variety show and hearing him sing. I have always loved his voice. He also told some pretty cute jokes. Anyway, that was an excellent show and brought back a lot of fond memories of my mom. She has been passed away since I was 13 years old, and when things like this or her favorite Christmas song, or something like that comes along, I still get pretty emotional. Her birthday was the 11th of November also. Anyway, I really enjoyed the show and thinking of mom.
Another place we went was Butterfly Palace. It was a really neat place also, but I guess I'm gonna have to wait on showing anymore pictures because this farce of a "fast speed internet" is so slow, the pictures won't upload. I'll have to wait until tomorrow I guess. I'm sorry. I have lots more places and things to tell you about and show you pictures. I click on the picture icon, but nothing happens. It's after midnight, so I guess I'll close and tell you more about our fantastic trip tomorrow. I hope that I can upload more pictures than I did tonight. I have some really nice ones of the Butterfly Palace, and an Antique Car Museum, and also for the History buffs, I have some neat picture of the Veterans' Memorial Museum. The Trail of Lights, (Christmas) was really pretty also. Anyway, see ya tomorrow.

Good Night All and May God Bless!

PJ

A Plea For A Special Prayer

Image via Wikipedia

Good Evening to All!

Don and I arrived home from our vacation in Missouri earlier this afternoon. I was going to start this post out on a high note with telling you all about it, but something much more important came to my attention when I looked at my e-mail. My sister's sister-in-law(a preacher's wife) wrote me a message on Facebook with the following information and ask that I send up prayers for this precious little boy, so I told her that I would include him in my "Prayer Line" and ask my loving blog readers to include him in their prayers also. She went into great detail as to what her church is asking to "pray in agreement with" and included some of the "Healing Scriptures" for praying the scriptures just in case you like praying that way, or else just praying a prayer asking for God's healing power to rain down on this boy will do wonders, I'm sure. I know that God hears all prayers, and that He is the "Great Physician". Anything we ask in His Name in His will shall be given to us. (Paraphrased). God is not a God of Sickness, He is a healer, so I rebuke this sickness in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for your prayer support. Here is Isaac's story:

Isaac was diagnosed with leukemia 2 years ago. (Isaac is 12.) He's gone through treatment but doctors aren't hopeful. I'm not being negative I'm just giving you some facts, I know God's truth is greater. About a month ago he was in the hospital with pneumonia and the doctors at that time gave him a 0-1% of living. He went home with lungs clear Nov 8. Praise God! Now we need a miracle. This is what we are in agreement for: 1. Bone marrow to function the way God intended. 2. White blood cells to increase. 3. Red blood cells to increase. 4. Platelets to increase 5. Protection from any and all infections, germs, bacteria, viruses. 6. Strength and wholeness in his body. We know that there is nothing that is impossible with God. We also know that the prayer of agreement is strong. Please post the following scriptures to pray: Ps. 41:1-3, Psalms 107:20, Psalms 107:2, Ezekiel 16:6, Romans 8:11, Isa. 41:10,Ps. 118:17, Malachi 4:2-3Isa. 53:4-5, Joel 3:21, there are many others but any of the healing scriptures apply.

Thanks for all your prayers!!!!!

I don't want to take away from this request, so I'll close for tonight and pick up on a lighter note on tomorrow's post. By the way, if anyone knows how I can register as a Bone Marrow Donor without having to pay for the test, please let me know, as I would like to be a donor, but can't afford the $75.00 they want for the dna typing or whatever that's called. Thanks.

Good Night to All and May God Bless.

PJ

Hi Everybody! THis is not a regular post. I am still trying to get my button fixed, so please bear with me. I can't tell if it works or not. Everytime I click on it it takes me to photobucket of course because I'm already on my blog, so I don't know if it actually would take you to my blog or not.

PJ

Howdy From Branson!

Hey Everybody from Branson Missouri!

This is a "lousy picture I took of the entrance of the Roy Rogers' Museum and Theater. I've about decided to leave the photography up to hubby and just mooch off his computer pictures.

We've has a FULL 3 days! We left Tuesday morning, spent the night in Oklahoma, and drove on in to Branson yesterday. We had a time getting here (navigationally) so it was after dark when we arrived. We were so worn out, we just found a place to eat and then crashed. Today has been quite full. We started out at 9 this morning. We went to breakfast, then went to see the Roy Rogers Museum and Dusty Rogers show (his son). It was great. After that, we went to a place called the Butterfly Palace. If you can't tell, I love butterflies. Anyway, it was really cool too. It was a "rain forest, with over 1000 different species of butterflies that were flying around freely. one even landed on my hubby's shoulder when he was taking pictures. It was beautiful. They even had a live model, painted white and dressed up like an angel moving just ever once in a while. I don't see how she did it. Tonight we went to see the Trail of Christmas lights. I'm bushed ! Tomorrow, our day starts as we go to Silver Dollar City, then tomorrow night, we go to see Andy Williams' Christmas Show. The next day is Silver Dollar city again, because we've been told you can't get through the whole thing in one day. Then it's to the RFD Theater to see some of the "older country & Western stars like Whispering Bill Anderson, Lynn Anderson, Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius, and a bunch more. Anyway, I hope to have lots of pictures by the time we're finished. Thank goodness it's easier to upload pics on here than it is on Facebook! I've been having trouble with that since last night. Well, Guess I'll close for now and write more tomorrow, (if I can see straight as tired as I am and will be). The statue of the horse is of Trigger, of course, and the picture on the lower left is Dusty Rogers on stage singing. It was an excellent show. Afterward, the band came out and had pictures made with all of us. I'll be putting that one up when we get home. I've got to get it from Don. Anyway, for a couple of "old folks" we're having a great time. I had to laugh when I said that cause I got a senior citizen's discount at IHOP today. I don't mind being considered "old" if it means saving money!

I wanted to put some other pictures in here but Zemanta didn't load for some reason.
Good Night and May God Bless!

PJ

Judging By Appearances

Good Evening to All!
In case you are wondering, I type in the Verse of the Day for "tomorrow" because they change at midnight, and usually, it's late evening before I get my post typed. I tried typing it in the morning, but I always felt rushed, because I leave for "Curves" at 9:am and start cleaning houses at 10:am, then by the time I get home, and rest a bit, it is time to straighten up my own house and cook supper, and clean up. Before I know it, it's 9 or 10pm.

Tomorrow's Bible Verse of the Day (Amplified Bible)

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.
Psalm 119:18

Bible Seeds Devotion:

Judging by Appearances

Today's Seed: "You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he." 2 Corinthians 10:7

The Amplified version states it this way: Look at [this obvious fact] which is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him reflect and remind himself that even as he is Christ's, so too are we.

Look at that guy over there. And that young woman with him--what color is her hair anyway? And those earrings and their shoes and....No matter what our age, there are people in the world who look strange---to us.

Judging by appearances can become an everyday habit if we allow it. With our mental critique we often condemn others. Who are we to set ourselves up as judges? We forget that, perhaps, they're judging us--and finding us lacking also.

When the apostle Paul was trying to prove himself to the Corinthians, he accused them of looking only on the surface of things, of judging by appearances. Paul asked, and we should ask, too, is it right to judge people by what we see? Or think we see? Based on appearances its difficult to tell what a person is really like. Many people hide their true emotions--some under a facade of humor, others behind a prickly pear mask.

Only God knows our inner being. We can tell what a person looks like, but God can tell who a person is. first Samuel 16:7 reminds us, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." What does God see when he looks at you?

Dig Deeper: The Greek word for "judging" is aisthesis, meaning perception and discernment, to see or understand differences. We need to look beyond the surface and forget about judging others.

*** Unfortunately, I believe that it is human nature to compare others to ourselves as a human mechanism. I have even wondered if it isn't involuntary. That doesn't make it right, it just means that we have to work hard to keep those thoughts out of our minds. Even the most harmless comparisons can be judgmental and turn out to be harmful even if they aren't meant to be. The more we allow ourselves to have these thought patterns, the harder it is to control them.

Background Bulb: In the first six verses of chapter 10, Paul defends his ministry. ;He has been accused of not being "spiritual" enough and not having the credentials to be a true apostle. Paul doesn't mind being asked about his credentials, but he doesn't agree with the Corinthians' measuring tool. Surface things, such as a person's stage presence, speaking skills, confident claims, and authoritative manner impressed them. Paul wanted to be judged by how his ministry had affected those who had heard him, not by how he looked or spoke. He didn't want the Corinthians to be led away from truth by the next great speaker who taught unbiblical ideas.

Weed & Water: Make an effort to open your heart and mind to people who are different from you. Look beyond the clothes, hair, language, skin color, and way they do things to find common ground. You might be surprised to find that your difference can be fascinating. You might even discover that you like different.

Think about it:

On what basis did Paul want to be evaluated by the Corinthians?
How can you accept others who belong to Christ?

Prayer Pot: Lord, help me to look beyond the surface and see....

God Loves You. God loves all people. We are His creation, our actions are our own.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ

God's Miracles and Bible Seeds

Image via Wikipedia

Good Evening to All!

I would like to elaborate on the word commandments. So many of us think of the word "commandments" as automatically meaning the Ten Commandments and that's the extent of it. We could not be further from the truth. According to Psalm 119:127, Commandments pertain to anything the Lord God has ordered. The word alludes to God's authority to govern His people. The commandments of God are positive and negative, specific and general, restrictive and permissive. Yet most important, they help a person to identity his or her way in a would that is filled with confusion, sin, and error. In other words, they are there to guide us on our journey through life to help keep us on the path to righteousness and Salvation. They are not all written in the form of "you will do this, or you better do that, or else. Some are written in a parable for example the "sower" , you reap what you sow. If you so discord, you will get discord back. If you treat people with love and respect, you will gain love and respect from others.

I have heard so many people say, "I don't read the Bible because I can't understand it. First of all, there are too many versions out there written in today's language to use that reason. Besides that, If you pray for God to give you understanding before you read, He will do so, and last but not least, the Bible isn't rocket science. Think of it as an instruction book for living. It is one of the most interesting books ever written. It's a romance novel, a history novel, a murder mystery, a how-to book, poetry and more all rolled into one.

According to Psalm 119:130, the entrance of God's Word brings light, which is something we all need. We do not always know or see what we need to do, and many times we do not recognize our own problems. We need God's light to understand ourselves and too see how we need to change and how we can cooperate with God to make things better. Reading God's Word is like looking in a mirror. It enables us to see what needs to be cleaned up in our lives.

Before I start Bible Seeds, I want to acknowledge two different blogs which have had miracles happen recently. My Charming Kids blog had their miracle in the form of Stellan's successful procedure. I truly believe he will be if not already completely healed, praise God.

The other is Yaya and Josh becoming parents! Be sure and check out their blog for the details! God is sooooo Great! His miracles never cease, we just don't look hard enough.

I am so happy for all the precious people involved in receiving these miracles!

God Bless you and may God keep His hand upon your families!

Bible Seeds Devotion:

Seeking His Face

Today's Seed: "I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. Psalm 123:1

Have you ever searched for an important face in the crowd? Perhaps this happened when you walked into a darkened movie theater or when you were lost in a mob at the stadium. You may catch a glimpse of the person, only to have them disappear again.

Is God's face equally hard for you to locate? Or is He standing out above the crowd, looking directly at you when your eyes meet His? And once your eyes lock on His, are you able to maintain a steady gaze to see into His heart and soul for your life?

The psalmist who wrote today's seed was looking for God. His hope was tied to his knowledge that if he looked hard enough, he would witness God's mercy in his lifetime. God never hides His face from us. He does not play peekaboo, discounting our present condition.

When we have difficulty seeing God, it is often because we have focused our eyes on someone or something else. Our point of focus shifts too easily. Material possessions, self-worth, and personal fulfillment--all considered "noble" causes in today's society--have clouded our eyes. Unfortunately, we fixate on God for shorter periods of time and are quickly distracted by these so-called causes.
God's Word repeatedly reminds us to seek His face. The greatest blessing of seeking God's face may be that he also has His eyes trained on each one of us.

Background Bulb: Psalm 34:15 says, "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy." How He does this we may never know, but we can trust in the Almighty's ability to watch over us. His majestic throne is in heaven, not here on earth.

Weed & Water: How can we seek the face of the Lord? God reveals Himself through His written Word, through prayer, and through fellowship with Himself and other believers. Eventually we won't have to look so hard to find His face. And we'll find that He was there all along. So keep seeking!

Think about it:

* Think abut the last time you couldn't see God's face. Why couldn't you?

* What benefits or blessings will come to you as a result of lifting up your eyes and seeing God's face?

Prayer Pot:

Dear Lord, I confess that my eyes... (insert in what way you need help focusing on God and His Word.

This isn't the exact picture I was looking for, but it really has some relevance as according to the Bible, we are to believe as little children in the Word of God. Therefore a child planting or harvesting seeds or flowers definitely shows relevance to this post.

Look up, not in.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ

I don't know how formal I['m supposed to be about sources I use, so just in case, I use "Bible Seeds A Simple Study-Devotional for Growing in God's Word" and "The Everyday LIfe Bible (Amplified Version) Featuring Notes and Commentary by Joyce Meyer.

God's Recipe for A Good Marriage

Image by loswl via Flickr

Good Evening Everyone!

I just love this picture. It amazes me when I think about how God just spoke it all into existance.

I hope this post finds everyone happy, healthy and wise!

The Amplified Version of the above quoted scripture is: (15) for it is God's will and intention that by doing right [your good and honest lives] should silence (muzzle, gag) the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish persons. (16) [Live] as free people, [yet] without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness; but [live at all times] as servants of God.
1 Peter 2:15-16

Tomorrow's Verse of the Day (12 midnight)

18For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 Peter 3:18

The Amplified Version of the above quoted scripture for tomorrow (Saturday's):
18For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once [a]for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,
1 Peter 3:18

Another thing which I would like to elaborate on is from last night's post. while I was looking up tonight's verses, I ran across this one in the Amplified Bible which goes right along with last night's Bible Seed: 1 Peter 3:1-2: IN LIKE manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion buy by the [godly] lives of their wives. (2) when they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to , revere him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to , deeply love, and enjoy your husband].

Now, that is definitely a lesson in itself. These are two posts last night's and tonight's, that I need to print out and read and read over again. I definitely have to work on this. I have taken my hubby for granted so much, and feel so ashamed when reading the above scripture, because I do none of those things. Don't get me wrong, I do love him, and respect him, but the other just slips right on by. I never realized how badly I treated him until just now. Thank you for allowing me to vent, and think out loud. This has definitely made me have second thoughts about where lies the "blame" with in the difficulties in this relationship. I don't mean to "air dirty laundry" or advertise problems, by any means. I'm just saying that with no children in our 23 year marriage, we have started taking each other for granted, each wanting our own way about things, never complimenting each other because we think the other one knows how we feel, and so on. I'm sure we aren't the only couple with these types of "hangups", but This past lesson last night and tonight (scripture) have really opened my eyes. I truly hope that some of these "Bible Seeds" and scriptures have helped you and opened your eyes as they have mine.

If I may put a plug in for a couple of Books. Now, mind you this is not a book review. These books are ones which I have had for quite a while and I use them for study and devotion on my own. They are "The Everyday Life Bible (Amplified Version Featuring Notes and commentary by Joyce Meyer, and the second is "Bible Seeds" A Simple Study-Devotional for Growing in God's Word, From the Creators of the God's Word for the Biblically-Inept" Series. I guess that's why I like this little book so much. It doesn't take a scholar to understand the lessons.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ