Luke 8:25...

Jesus was in the boat with His disciples when the windstorm came.

Jesus was sound asleep as the waves and the wind tossed the boat around.

Asleep, as water began to fill the boat.

Maybe you think He was asleep on the job when a tornado devastated Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.

Maybe, like the disciples, your question is, "Don't you care?"

In the gospel accounts, the disciples woke Jesus up and He rebuked the wind and waves.

The wind ceased and there was a great calm.

He then rebuked the disciples and asked, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"

The greatest minds and theologians have wrestled with the issue of God's sovereignty.

I think every human being questions why a good God allows suffering in this world.

We especially question why He allows the innocent to suffer.

When children die, we wonder why.

While I don't have the answers, here's what I observe from the scriptures referenced above.

-Jesus was in the middle of the storm with them.

-Jesus remained at peace and rest while the storm raged.

In other words, God isn't freaked out, surprised or worried when circumstances are raging around us.

-Jesus had the power to calm the wind and the waves.

The reason why He didn't stop the tornado on Monday is only known in His great heart.

He could have.

-Jesus rebuked the disciples for their fear and lack of faith.

Here's where things can get touchy, get confusing.

In my opinion, I don't think Jesus was rebuking the disciples because 

they questioned His ability to control the forces of nature.

I believe He rebuked them because they doubted His love, His care, His concern.

And every time bad things happen to good people,

 the enemy shoots his arrow into that exact same bulls-eye.

He accuses God of not caring and not loving us.

And we swallow his lies hook, line and sinker.

I don't have the answers to the question why.

But I am planted firmly and unshakeably on these truths.

-God is always in control.

-Nothing that happens on this earth catches God by surprise.

-Jesus is in the midst of our mess, our storm, our circumstances with us.

He never, never, never, no never leaves us or forsakes us.

The Amplified Bible says He never relaxes His hold on us.

-No matter what our circumstances are, God's love for us and God's goodness are steadfast.

-God looks at things from an eternal perspective, while we look at things from a finite perspective.

In other words, this life is a blip on the screen compared to all He has prepared for us.

However, most of us live life totally consumed with our comfort in the here and now.

No matter where you are, no matter what you are facing, 

God cares.

His eye is upon you.

His ear is open to your cries.

His heart is fully invested in you.

You are in His hands.

still following,

A quiet week...

It wasn't pre-planned, but I felt it coming on Sunday.

Quiet.

I just needed to be quiet.

I needed to hush up and listen to what God wanted to say to me.

I also needed to spend some time with my hubby without my computer to distract me.

When the tornado devastated Moore, Oklahoma on Monday,

it confirmed to me that the last thing I needed to do was to keep up my usual blogging schedule 

this week and act like nothing happened.

 I'm still here, alive and well, but just a bit quieter this week.

I should be back to my usual schedule next week,

and if all goes as planned, there's a Ghanaian market basket in one follower's future!

still following,

Simple thanks...

I'm feeling a bit empty of words,

yet full of gratitude.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep it simple.

Thank You, God.

Thank You for your overwhelming blessings in my life.

Thank You, for giving me above and beyond what I could ever earn or deserve.

Above all, thank You for Your love that never fails, never gives up.

I am so, so thankful.

***********

In 2012 I followed the prompts in Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare in counting my thanks.

In 2013 I'm going back to the way I did it in the beginning,

just noticing and recording the many extraordinary blessings in my ordinary life.

And so I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal.

(and capturing some of them via my camera or iPhone)

#3133-#3155

5-13-13-

-our church's children's workers

-yellow roses

-curry made by a friend...yummy!

-God's provision

5-14-13-

-beginning Nehemiah with She Reads Truth

-sun, the sound of a lawnmower, birds chirping, a dog barking

-fluffy, light pink roses and bright pink peonies as big as cabbages

5-15-13-

-taking baby granddaughter with me on errands

-a drizzle-y day, cozy inside with candle glowing

-the Hubs saying how much he like dinner tonight, (fish tacos)

5-16-13-

-yellow roses and the little yellow ceramic dog painted by only grandson

-pink roses in white pitcher

-our appliance repair guy giving us a good deal on the dryer repair

-really, really good time of prayer and worship at church tonight

5-17-13-

-peach clafouti

-a great Friday date day

-the Hubs and youngest daughter going to the new Star Trek movie together

5-18-13-

-silly four year old granddaughter asking me if things look "blurby" when I don't have my glasses on

-Saturday's to-dos done!

-a friend making me a new apron and trying to teach me to knit

5-19-13

-middle daughter's birthday

-great worship and presence of God at church today

-great word preached by our Truelife Espanol pastor

gratefully yours,

Psalm 90:17...

I was a young wife and new mama when I went to my first "grown up" ladies' Bible study.

It was taught by a retired missionary.

She opened the study with this hymn.

I had never heard it before

and I've never forgotten it since.

I saw the beauty of Jesus in her.

I saw the beauty of God's Word through her teaching.

I was in my early twenties, she was in her seventies, but 

I wanted to be like her, because she was like Jesus.

Lyrics: Tom M. Jones

Music: Traditional

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,

All His wonderful passion and purity;

O Thou Spirit divine, May I truly be Thine

Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

Let my wonderful Saviour be seen in me,

His amazing compassion and constancy;

His great love is my goal, By His Spirit’s control

Till my wonderful Saviour be seen in me.

Let the fruit of the Spirit be seen in me,

Grant me grace all sufficient that I may be

True and faithful each day, Ev’ry step of the way.

Pointing souls to the Saviour on Calvary.

still following,

Friday's Favs....Home Sweet Home

There's always something needing repaired or updated.

There's always something I'd like to change,

a project I'd like to do,

something new I'd like to buy.

But, sometimes, what I really need is just new eyes to see what I already have.

A simple heart of gratitude...

a spirit of contentment...

that's what really satisfies.

Godliness with contentment is great gain, the Bible says.

Discontent robs me of the beauty of now.

Contentment helps me to see the beauty of what I already have.

Contentment turns a house into a home.

I'm thankful for my home sweet home.

It's almost Friday, friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a BLESSED weekend!

              

                           

                
Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday

Appliance demons and temper fits...

I think I may be a bit of a spoiled, rotten brat.

There, I said it.

I just read that writers need to risk being vulnerable, risk telling the truth about themselves.

The whole ugly truth is, right about now, I'd like to lay on the floor

 and have a fist-pounding, leg-kicking temper fit.

My day was going great,

until the clothes dryer decided to quit.

Again.

There's some kind of car and appliance demon loose in our house the past few weeks attacking anything and everything.

It's a dog-gone money-sucking demon is what it is.

The dryer breaking down for the second time in two weeks is the straw the broke this camel's back.

I admit it,

I am a spoiled, rotten American, and while my beautiful Ghanaian friends are washing their clothes in a bucket and draping them over a scraggly bush to dry, I'm having a hissy fit about my clothes dryer.

And the truth is, I want you to feel sorry for me, too.

I want you to quit thinking about the poor who wash their clothes in a bucket,

and feel sorry that we've had one thing after another go wrong these past few weeks.

Misery loves company, you know.

Taxes.

That's what started it.

We owed so much more than we expected to.

Then our newish car needed a thousand dollars in repairs.

It's under warranty, except for the one thing that was wrong.

Of course.

Oh, and it needed new tires as well.

Can you say ca-ching?

Then both cars needed their tags renewed - bye bye to another three hundred dollars.

Then the dryer broke down.

One hundred and thirty dollars later we were back in business.

(until today)

And that was our April.

I was hoping May would be peaceful and break down free.

Not.

While the repairman was here, a mere nineteen days ago, we had him listen to our dishwasher that suddenly sounds like a jet engine.

Motor. going. out.

Not. worth. fixing.

Needless to say, I'm running the thing, even if we have to wear earplugs, until it dies.

To top it off, the other day my husband set a drippy bottle of after shave on top of my favorite dresser in my home office.

I'm not lying, I couldn't make something like this up, friends...

the after shave ate clear through the polyurethane down to the bare wood.

When I saw that, well, I was irritated to say the least.

I know things aren't as important as people.

But, in the heat of the moment, I temporarily forgot.

I apologized,  then kindly warned him that he might want to consider 

the dangers of putting something on his face that can strip furniture.

(Let's be real, I still want to cry when I see that after shave bottle shaped ring on my beautiful dresser.)

When I was a little girl, Mama would sew me beautiful frilly dresses for church.

I would whine because they were itchy.

Daddy would make her change me.

Just thinking about it makes me want to spank my younger self.

I was a tattle tale, too.

Maybe even given to exaggeration.

I know this because my little brother accidentally poked me in the eye with one of those umbrellas that has the six inch spike on the end.

(Just what is the purpose of those spikes?

Self defense?)

Anyway, the point is that my eye was bleeding.

Bleeding!

No one would believe me at first, 

because I was prone to tattling and exaggerating to get my little brother in trouble.

I guess I was a spoiled brat back then, too.

The truth is, I like life to go my way.

I don't want anything itchy or irritating to upset my apple cart.

And sometimes when it does,  I feel like acting up.

It's a darn good thing that I've learned that what I feel, 

doesn't have to make me act like a spoiled brat.

I might vent to God,

"and Your purpose in this is ???"

But, usually, I come back to what I know.

God is faithful.

He always provides.

We will make it through this rough patch.

While I am simply frustrated and irritated, others are going through real, life altering tragedy.

Acting spoiled rotten and selfish may relieve my emotions for a brief moment,

but it doesn't actually change my situation at all.

So, the appliance repairman is making another call to our house tomorrow.

Maybe, there's a reason Jesus wants him to come to our house for the second time in three weeks.

Maybe, I need to stop thinking about me for a bit and ponder and pray about that.

And then there's that scripture about in everything give thanks,

and the one about rejoice in the Lord always...

well, maybe I need to ponder and pray about that too.

still following,