Good Evening to All!

Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and wise! Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that Collin, the little 6 month old baby with swine flu on the prayer list is well again. A prayer is answered. Also, Max a young boy who the doctor said had a 90% chance of having H1N1, is feeling much better. Another prayer answered. I am so thankful for a God that heals at the lifting up of a name, and a prayer. He is an awesome God! As the praise reports come in, I will let you know what they are. Praise the Lord He is the Great Physician!

My day started off at "Curves" as usual, then I spent some time with my "best friend" and came home. After doing some mundane chores, I spent the majority of the day on the computer, reading blogs and e-mails. I did get a pleasant surprise, however. I got on Facebook for a little bit and who should I see on their but my sister's sister-in-law and nieces. I haven't seen them since I was a kid in my teens. I'm really beginning to enjoy Facebook. It sure beats writing lette rs, too. I am definitely not a letter writer. I can type all day, but I hate to write. Anyway, after that, I found out my nephew is also on there, so we're just making it a "family affair." This is so great!

Daily Inspirations from the NIV

Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Cor. 5:2-5

I opened my book, and this verse popped out at me. I felt the need to use it because it is exactly the way I feel. I am so ready for Christ to come back. I know that may sound strange to some and silly to others, but I am. I am really tired of this world the way it is, and it's sure not going to get any better. I can't count the times I looked up to the heavens and said, "ok, Lord, I'm ready when you are." "Anytime....." And before you get it into your head, no, I'm not suicidal. If I go, it will be because it's my time to go with God's blessing and not by my own hand. I have this attitude because I am ready, I really don't feel like I belong here anymore, and I don't have any kids to worry about. I hope that doesn't make me sound odd, or morbid, it just the way I feel. I'm ready for that heavenly dwelling that Paul speaks about where no more arthritis, or back pains or sickness, or anything but happiness, praise and worship exists.

Planting the Seedlings

Bible Seeds

"But Jesus asked him, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" Luke 22:48

Probably nothing shocks us more than betrayal. Why? Because in order for the incident to be labeled betrayal, it mus involve someone close to us.

We expect strangers not to care and possibly to treat us badly. But not close friends! That's why we call them "friends." We depend on and confide in our friends, putting them in the very position to be able to betray us if things go awry. When betrayal does happen--an indiscreetly shared secret, a stolen idea, a confidential comment disclosed--our reaction often "betrays" how much unlike Christ we actually are.

Jesus was betrayed boy one of his closest associates, arrested, and taken by an angry crowd to an illegal trial. The strangest part about the whole thing was how calm Jesus was. Even though the situation looked bad, Jesus knew who he was and why he had come. Jesus stayed focused on his mission--to love sinners.

To me, this says a lot. It tells me that no matter what, we need to keep our minds and eyes on our mission which is to strive to be more Christ-like and concentrate on living for God, doing what He tells us to do in His Word. To love our neighbors, to treat people as He treated people when He walked this earth. To show our love for Him by showing love and compassion for others. I can't remember the exact scripture, but I'm thinking of the scripture that says something about "when He hungered we fed Him, when He thirsted, we gave Him drink, when He was naked we clothed Him... and it went on, naming things which was done for Him, then the people He was talking to said they didn't remember doing those things and He said "when you did it (or do it) for the least of these, you did it for me. Now, I know that's not word for word of course, and in the interest of time, I won't stop to look it up, but I'm sure someone can probably quote that verse word for word. I wish I could. Anyway, back to the main thought, that's what God expects us to do. This one little verse or couple, says an awful lot.

Dig Deeper:

The Greek word for "betray" comes from two words--para meaning near, nearby, the relation of immediate vicinity or proximity and didomi, to give. Only someone nearby can give the hurt of betrayal.

In the same way, when we know who we are in Christ, there's no reason to collapse or seek revenge when things go wrong in our relationships. sure, we feel angry. But we can control our behavior and stay clam. We can focus our mind on being like Christ.

God has called us to become new. He wants our reactions to become like his own. Ephesians 4:23-24 says, "be made new in the attitude of your minds; and...put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Even if friends betray us, we can respond righteously because we know who we are in Christ.


Weed & Water:

Recognizing we live in a sinful world should help us have thicker skin if wefeel betrayed. Like Jesus, we can say, "Father, forgive them." Ok, it's hard, but letting it go, placing our hurt in the hands of Jesus, will bring freedom and peace into our lives. Recognizing how we feel when we are betrayed should also help ;us steer clear of serving up this hurt to others. Finally, if we say we are Christians but our actions are the same as nonbelievers, we too are guilty of betraying Christ with a kiss.

Think About It:

Prayer Pot:

What was Jesus' reaction when He was betrayed?

What was your reaction when you were betrayed?

How can you make things right with the person whom you have betrayed?

Lord, help me to forgive the betrayal of .....

*God's love is never accompanied by betrayal.

Planted seeds take root and bloom.

I know that this is a lot to read, and a lot to take in, but if just a seed or two takes root, then it is all worth it. When I see something with this much print and very few pictures, it makes me nervous, and I skim rather than read, unless it's the Bible. At the same time, even skimming can cause a seed to be planted and take root.

Good Night and May God Bless!

PJ

My Day and Inspirations from God

static.flickr.com

Good Evening to All,

I was looking for a picture to depict this scripture, such as a snow capped mountain with flowers at the base, or something of that nature, but my eyes fell upon this picture which is captioned is "Big Springs of Zion. I couldn't resist. The funny part of this is what I put in to find these pictures was "Spingtime in Alaska".

Daily Inspiration from the NIV

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty," declares the Lord, "but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in Peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55:10-12

That to me is so beautiful. To think that whenever I speak God's Word that it won't come back void. That the seed will be planted, and good will come from it. That some of what I say will be heeded. It might not be at that moment, but God's Word will not be wasted. That is what gives me the confidence speak God's Word even though I don't speak well, other than conversations. I keep remembering the story of Moses when God told him He wanted him to lead His people. Moses also said he could not speak well, but look what he accomplished with God's help.

Today was a run of the mill day for me. Nothing but laundry and playing catch up with my house as I clean other houses during the week. Other than that, I've been on this computer the rest of the time, trying to figure out different things for my blog. I did get a widget put on Facebook for it, but I'm not sure that's the way I'm supposed to connect between the two. I need to check with someone who definitely knows what they're doing in that respect. I am constantly bugging Lynette http://www.theysayimnuts.blogspot.com/ or Nessa http://www.ramblingsofatexashousewife.com/ with one question or another. I have noticed that Cathy http://www.lattejust4me.blogspot.com/ has quite a few Facebook followers, hey Cathy, do you have a widget on Facebook, or is there some other way? My "Dummies" book just talks about networking, but doesn't tell me how. Not good for someone like me that has to go step by step. I'm bound and determined that I'm gonna get this all set up with the "main" stuff I need fairly soon. I keep getting side tracked and it takes me forever to type my blog. I would really like to just get on here spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour typing my post, then spend more time reading other blogs. I have seen some beautiful blog designs, some cute ones, and some clever cute ones. It's just amazing the ideas people have. I can't help but wonder how they come up with them. For example http://www.freespirithaven.com/ is beautiful. There are so many who I would just love to say "how'd you do this and how'd you do that? I know it must have take ages and lots of brain racking and effort to do these blogs which I have seen. They are amazing. Nessa's is another one. I can't name all of the blogs which I admire. I started to say in awe, but I reserve that word for God. I do know that it is He that has to have given the "inspiration for these blogs".

I pray that each and everyone that reads this blog tonight will have a Blessed day tomorrow.

Good Night All, and May God Bless!

PJ

"Out There" Biblically, Life on Other Planets?

Image via Wikipedia

Hi Everyone!

I have been racking my brain on what to write about tonight, and still haven't come up with a specific subject.

This picture is of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. You will soon come to know why I picked such a strange picture for my post tonight.

My choice for my post is thanks to a discussion I had with a person on Facebook earlier, so this is "food for thought only".

I don't know how many of you belong to Facebook, but there is a really neat "page" you can go to and have discussions. It's called "The Bible". I try to go there at least for a little while each night. Tonight, the topic was what we are thankful for. I put in my 2 cents (which turned into a nickel), and started reading some of the other entries.

Close to the bottom, a person asked how come it didn't mention Mars in the Bible, after all it can sustain life. (Those are his words, I have no idea). Anyway, I got out my trusty "Where to Find It In The Bible Ultimate Resource from A to Z and my Bible and started doing some research. There are some scriptures which elude to outer space. Ezekiel 1:15-21 speaks of "wheels with eyes which lift off the earth and go different directions, and 2 Chronicles 6:12-19 speaks of the heaven and heaven's heaven not being able to contain God because He is so vast. In Hebrews 1:2, and Hebrews 11:3 it talks of worlds in plurality. Now, before y'all brand me as "out there" (no pun intended) I'm just bringing up the scriptures. My study Bible also brought up the fact that the verse in Ezekiel was liking this description to the omnipresence of God, because it also talked about living beings beside these "wheels", and the "spirit within the wheels which caused them to go in any direction and so on. Anyway, that's what this person and I were conversing about on "The Bible "page. Let me say that, that specific question has never come up before since I've been participating on there, so I don't think it's a common occurrence. I'm not shutting the idea completely out, but I am not knowledgeable enough on the subject to get into a lengthy discussion. I am more of an opinion-type person than anything else.

One of these days, I need to do a post on learning time-management, cause I sure don't know how to do that. It is 1:30 am and here I sit. I guess I'd better call it quits and leave you to your thoughts on my "out there" post. Any comments? What do you think? If you have any prayer requests please leave them on my "door step" (my comments) and I'll be glad to post them on my Prayer Line. There's always strength in numbers.

Good Night and May God Bless!

PJ

A Bible, Facebook, and A Computer Junkie

Image by Wonderlane via Flickr

Hello All!

I was looking for a picture to go with something that I was rambling on about, when I ran across this one. It is a Bible dated back to 1865 engraved in gold, made of leather and board, and held together with Dental Floss. "Go figure". I would have never thought about that. Anyway, I thought that was interesting. I hope it (the dental floss) wasn't used! LOL

I thought I was going to have a really neat video to show y'all tonight, but I haven't figured out how to import or link within yet. I'm taking baby steps you see. Just like in the Bible where it says to give "baby Christians milk at first, then gradually get them to eat meat, (that's definitely paraphrasing) but you get my drift. Anyway, I'm taking baby steps, but wanting expert's results. I can't find it in my "dummies" book either. That is unless it's hidden away in some sub-sub-topic under link. There's definitely nothing about importing in it. Oh well, I'll see if I can get hold of my "run to gal" tomorrow. I better be careful. Lynettehttp://www.theysayimnuts.blogspot.com/ is liable to start charging me. I don't know why it seems like it takes sooooo long for anything to sink in. My hubby kids me about having Alzheimer's. Don't tell him, but sometimes that thought scares me to death. I am so dense and dingy at times I scare myself.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I'm am truly hoping that I will be able to post this wonderful Very Short video that I received. I just know all of you will love it.

I have got to learn to pace myself. I am a computer junkie. I have been awake (totally) since 9am. I got on the computer and started looking at Blogs about 10 and have been on the computer with the exception of putting in some laundry washing the dishes and watching one episode of "Bones" the rest of the time! Now, is that a computer junkie or what?! My hubby does pretty much the same, he putters around from about 7-10am, then he comes in and watches old western movies on the computer, til about 1pm takes a nap til 3 or 4, then gets up and starts watching those "westerns (1930's and 40's) until bedtime 10-11, for him. It's a good thing we have separate rooms we're like night and day. He's a morning person, and I'm a night owl.

Oh, you know I told you I couldn't get on my favorite page in Facebook? Well, I don't know what happened, but I was able to get back on today. A Big Thank you to God. He knew I missed it. For the short time I have been on there, I really feel like I am able to witness to people and maybe even do some good when people ask questions.

It is so strange when I look BACK at my life. Back then, I would have never guessed that I would feel the way I do about God. I never disbelieved, I guess I was what you would call "luke-warm" and you know what the Bible says about that. Thank God He brought me to my senses. No telling where I would be today if He hadn't.

I tried and tried to figure out some key words and key phrases that would help my blog, but to know avail. I think I've used the words Bible and God too much as far as keywords go. I tried to look up my blog with those words and I think its out in oblivion. I was going to use Adwords, but I have to wait so I can pay them first. I was kinda hoping I could find a "free" one until I actually get to start advertising, but I've got to get this going in case my legs and back get to the point of me not being able to clean houses anymore. It seems like it's coming up on me pretty fast. I do ok in short bursts. Ask Lynette. The 30 minutes I'm at Curves I can go pretty good. After about 30 minutes of cleaning a house, I have to sit down and rest my back for a while, or do something where I can sit. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting this baby in a pretty good position to advertise pretty well by December. (I hope I can last that long). I'm not looking to get rich by any sense of the word, just make enough to pay a few of my own accrued bills like Fingerhut (I'm addicted to that company)incidentally, did you know that's actually the man's name who started the Fingerhut Company? I would have never thought of that as being a person's last name. Curves is my ownly other monthly bill unless I have to go to the doctor. they aren't much, but I don't want my husband to pay it cause I'd never live it down. We've both been married 2 times before this, and he got burned pretty bad by ex'es so is pretty gun shy about money. I don't mind paying my extra spending money bills because he pays all the others and buys most of the groceries, and while I try to keep up with my medical bills as they come in, every once in a while they add up to more than I can pay so he pays them, but like I said, he reminds me when he does.

I guess I'd better close and get some shut-eye. 7:30 am comes early when you haven't had much sleep.

Good Night and May God Bless!

PJ

Personal Book Review and Other Things

Before I do another thing, please let me do an "unofficial" Book Review of one of my own books. It is a book called Where to Find It in the Bible -The Ultimate A To Z Resource by Ken Anderson. It isn't a Newly written book by any means. It was copyrighted in 1996, and I bought my copy in 2001, so that shows how popular it is to have been on the market that long. It is an awesome book to compliment any Bible. You can find scriptures for anything from Abandonment, abortion, outer space and indigestion and everything in between, to Zoology. I am constantly looking scriptures up in this book, then turning to my Bible. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it for anyone who is wanting to increase their knowledge of scripture, or just aggravated because they know of scriptures about certain things, but not where to find them. All you have to do is look up the topic in the "Where to Find It in the Bible, and it will give you the Book, chapter and verse , then look it up in the Bible. It is very practical and useful. It is Not a book that you would set on a shelf and forget about. Especially if you are an avid Bible reader and studier. (I don't know if "studier" is a word, or correct terminology or not. It may be "study". If someone knows please contact me so I'll know. Nothing bugs me worse than for me to use bad grammar.

Today was another day of the same ol' thing. I went to Curves to work out first thing this morning, after which I went to a friend's house to clean. She's having company tomorrow, so we took special pains with it today, taking down miniblinds and bleaching them, replacing others, cleaning the carpet and the regular housekeeping duties. I left her house about 3:30. I then came home and rested for about an hour and started supper.

I started going through my e-mails, but I haven't quite got the "blog" e-mails down yet. I open them, but a lot of them (the majority it seems) don't have the "commenter's" blog name, so I don't know how to get back in touch with them. Some did however, and I was able to contact them by comment. I hope they will visit. I got my Blogging for Dummies book, but I'm still working my way around in it. I'm really trying to find out about "key words or phrases". They're easy as long as you blog about a specific thing, but when you blog about everything in general, it seems to be harder. I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I'm picking out the words that would less likely be used in this context, such as the book having scriptures about "outer space, abortion, abandonment.. and using those words in relationship to this post. I hope that this is correct to allow me to get more searches. I may be going at this all wrong, but I guess I'll learn eventually.

Well, I hope this finds you all well, and Juls, I hope you're feeling better.

I think I'm gonna pull the plug. That is unless I think of something else to say. I can't believe this. I'm actually short on words. There's definitely something wrong with this picture. It's about 2 hours later and the only thing different is that for some reason I can't seem to get on my favorite Facebook page. It keeps telling me that it must be a mistyped address, funny, cause I don't type in the address, and it was there last night. I wonder if that ol' boy or girl, I'm not sure which) that was using foul language had something to do with it. They got pretty mad because before I knew who they were I accepted them as "friend", but as soon as they started typing a reply, I knew, so I removed them. Anyway, someone else blocked them from "the Bible" page. I hope they didn't think it was me and retaliate. Oh well, I guess I'll find out later. I'm hoping it's just technical difficulties. I really enjoyed that page. Well, see there, I did find something to talk about. Now I'll pull the plug for real and get ready to hit the hay.

Good night and May God Bless!

PJ

AFFIRMATION!

Image by SarahWynne via Flickr

Good Evening All!

The title of this picture is "The Lord is My Strength". Actually the verse showing is Psalm 46 which states: (1)God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I love to read this verse when I am worried about things and don't know how things are going to turn out.

I would like to start off by saying, I love affirmations! I am just now starting my post because I have been on the Facebook Page called "The Bible". I tend to get carried away sometimes when I on there and don't look at the time. This page I think I told you about the other night. It's where people can go and discuss the Bible, or ask prayer requests or just Praise the Lord. Anyway, last night I was on there and there happened to be a lady who is an ordained preacher. Now, I know what your probably thinking and you'd be correct. The Bible does say for women to stay silent in church, but I thought to myself , who are we to judge, and personally, I enjoy listening to Joyce Meyers. Anyway, this other person comes on there blasting this poor woman for saying that she's ordained, when she doesn't even preach in a church. I chimed in trying to defend the preacher and another guy interjected, but he directed his comments to me, using foul language, accusing me of saying something about Satan writing the Bible, (where he got that from I have No idea) and all kinds of weird stuff. When the main thought I was talking about was Salvation, and how I had been told by a learned Bible studier that they understood that back in the old churches women sat on one side and men on the other. Sometimes women would holler across the room asking their husband's what the preacher meant when he said so and so, thus usurping the authority over a man, so the "command" came into being that women should be silent in the church. Now none of what I said just now came out of the Bible, it was what she had been told. Anyway, he got all bent out of shape about what I said. Tonight, the Verse affirms what happened last night. As it talks about being persecuted, and reviled and spoke falsely about, and spoke evil of for His Name, which is essentially what happened. Not all of that happend, but the filthy language,falsely accused, did occur. I was kind of proud of myself ( if I can say that). I didn't lose my cool, or get snooty back. I addressed my comment to the lady pastor, because she came to my defense, and just said that people who don't understand tend to "lash out in fear". LOL. The guy never did respond so I guess it made him stop and think.

Anyway, that page is really fun. I hope to see some of y'all join me there sometime. I think last night was a fluke. Tonight, everyone was either asking for prayer, advice, trying to help someone else, or just praising God and quoting scripture.

Have y'all noticed? I'm learning to add things to my Blog slowly, but surely. I need to sit down and start reading my "Blogging for Dummies" book that I got yesterday (I think). I need to start studying about keywords and that sort of stuff if I'm ever gonna get to start advertising in a couple of months. I want to be "on top of my game" when that time comes. Right now my posts are so "all over the place" it's hard to pick out key words, so I just choose them all. Can't go wrong that way I suppose. Not right now anyway.

I keep thinking I'm getting better, but then I look at my keywords and don't see much change. I'll get there I suppose. I see so many nice blogs that have a purpose, a mission, and then there's me. UH OH! Did that sound like a pity party starting? Nope! Not gonna happen! I'm gonna get this thing rolling one way or the other! I do have some passions I just don't know what I could do for them on here. As I said before, I used to teach Literacy and ESL to adults. I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't do that now because my husband likes to go on trips with very little notice. He's a "spur of the moment" kind of guy. Needless to say, I couldn't hold classes with any kind of dependability and I don't know what I could do for this cause on my blog. Any suggestions? Let me know . Hey if I were past the "ranking" stage, that would be a neat contest! Too Bad! Unfortunately, I still have until December 9, which will be 3 months.

It's close to midnight so I guess I'd better go before I turn into a pumpkin. Speaking of Pumpkins, a friend sent me the cutest e-mail about the beginning of Fall. It was comparing how to make a jack-o-lantern to how God takes care of His children. Talking about getting the pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch (the world) taking it in and washing it (baptism) cutting the top off and scooping out the Yucky stuff ( learning the Bible and how to live for God). It's really neat. If anyone would like a copy, let me know. I always keep my good e-mails for a long time.

Good night All and May God Bless!

PJ

Wonderful New Facebook Page

Hi Everyone!

A friend and I went to Curves today, but didn't stay as long as normal. We only stay for one or two rounds when I have to clean a house. Lynette http:\\theysayimnuts.blogspot.com unfortunately, the house I cleaned today was lonely, no one to talk to, so no interesting stories to tell. This man leaves about 3:am and is still gone when I leave at 2pm.

Boy! Something happened! I just lost about 2 or 3 paragraphs! I wonder if someone's trying to tell me something! Haha!

I had written about finding that new page on Facebook. I don't know if it a "page"or application, but if anyone is on Facebook and is interested, you can go to my Facebook page (Patti Creek) for two reasons. One, on the Home page I should have a place where it says I became a "fan" of "The Bible", and you can click on it and it will take you there, and the second reason is, on my Profile page if you scroll down, you will find an AC symbol with a link beside it. There are two of them, but they are separated. These are my Associated Content articles. Just click on the links and you may enjoy some reading. I'd like to say "good reading", but that sounds boastful, and that's one thing I'm not. Let me say, the "idea and subject " are good, but I'll leave the "grading of the writing up to you". Hope you'll take a gander at them and let me know what you think. I have 3 articles published, but the 3rd one is about Chattanooga.

What is strange is that the first two just flowed out of me, they both came out smoothly and rapidly like I was typing as someone was dictating. This last one, seemed a little harder. Even though we were there on vacation, I did research and put personal pictures in it , but it just didn't "feel" right. I guess I'm a "spiritual writer". I don't know, I guess I'll have to pray about it. Maybe He 'll give me the answer. I looked at some subject choices from Associated Content, but none jumped out at me.

I'm finally learning a few things about Blogging. Mostly through Lynette, but some through trial and error. Some things have given me a scare, but turned out ok. (Thank goodness!) I can't wait to get my book so I can dive in. It doesn't take much to get me excited! HaHa! Funny that's similar to what I was saying on the Bible page earlier, after realizing I was on my soapbox! I told this person that once I get started about talking about God, you'd think I had just found Him or Just gotten the Holy Ghost, when in reality it's been a while. You know how when someone gets something new, that that's all they want to talk about, or if you just find God or get the Holy Ghost how you want everyone to feel the way you do? Well, for some reason I get that way every time I start talking or writing about Him. I keep hoping it's "infectious". The love of God, I mean. OK, off my soapbox! Well, I guess I'd better put my soap box under the bed and my brain in park so I can go to bed. It's 1:24am and I have another house to clean, and Curves tomorrow (today).

Good Night and God Bless!