~Oh! to be an Encourager~

Written by Sue, Sunday, February, 2, 2020   cold, sunny, 50's perfect day a walk.

~image from internet~

~The Fruits of Encouragement~

In the New Testament Barnabas was known as an encourager,  an example of this was when Paul, and Barnabas took John Mark on a missionary trip, John Mark left them for some unknown reason, later on  Paul decided  that he and Barnabas would check on the new converts, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark but Paul said not to take John Mark, this cause contentions between the two so they parted ways. However  Barnabas saw potential in Mark and took and mentored him, encouraging him in his walk with the Lord. You can read about this in Acts 15:34-41

What if both Paul and Barnabas  had written John Mark off , we might not have the gospel of Mark today! As I was reading this devotion , I asked myself if I was an encourager, if so what fruits have come to fruition.
 We all need encouragement, life kicks pretty hard from time to time, it could be by simply giving a hug, a written note/letter, a monetary gift, just taking the time to tell someone of what a great job they are doing!

Dear Friends,
          May I encourage you to continue in all of your endeavors, especially here in blogland, many times when I was discouraged, and opened my computer to blogland, read a post that just lifted my spirits, and brought me so much encouragement. There is something about sharing with one another that lets us all know that we are not alone in this journey called "life"!

I enjoy seeing how you love and care for your family and friends, sharing your faith, how you decorate your homes, the recipes you share, and of the many talents and gifts you have been given by our heavenly Father. But most of all the encouragement you give to one another here in blogland, especially to me.

Blessings,

Sue

~Sunday thoughts by the pond~

Written by Sue, Sunday, April 7. 2019,,, partly sunny very warm, a beautiful day, indeed.

My scripture verse for 2019 is Isaiah 41:13~ For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you.

Many times I have found myself in circumstances that seemed to overwhelm me to the point that I became fearful of the outcome, sometimes it has been sickness, financial circumstances, family situations, and many more.

Being a Christian does not make us infallible, we are human beings, sometimes emotions such as fear can and do take over us. Here, God is reassuring me who He is to me, He is the Lord of my life, he says he will hold my right hand, while telling me that  I am not to be afraid, I envision the Lord reaching for my right hand, sometimes having to pull me up, all the while saying, do not fear my child, I have got this no need to worry! Thus I'm given the courage to deal with and overcome the situation! The key I believe is trusting who God is and what His word says He will do.We are never alone to face life's situation.

Blessings,

Sue

Growing!

Written by Sue, Sunday, February 10, 2019                  Cold, partly cloudy, rain later tonight 40's

A little over a year ago, I challenged myself to start memorizing more Bible verses. Now, who would take on a challenge like this at my age, when it is so difficult  for me to remember what I had for dinner last evening.~smile~ But I did, it has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

Did this make me super spiritual? No, but it has caused me to look more deeply into my walk with the Lord, it has challenged me to be more obedient to the what God's Word says.

I decided that I would not only commit scripture to memory, but study the verse or verses I was memorizing and try and apply them to my daily life.

 I have found that  that there is a big difference between just reading scripture, and taking the time to study and memorize them, I only wished I had started this years ago. So I will tell you about the first verse I memorized on this new journey.

It was on a cold, but sunny day in January, 2018, as one of our usual firsts in the morning, besides coffee, DH and I have devotions together, plan our day and week. At this time Jack was living, (as you know he passed in August) he always joined us, I usually read and DH prays, I was about to begin reading when I noticed the sun was shinning on Jack in such a glorious way, of course I had to take a photograph, as it was one of most beautiful sights ever, I remember looking at him and thinking of how God's light shines on us as well, so I ran reference in my Bible and came upon this scripture verse.

Isaiah 60:1~ Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

WOW! No matter what is going on in our lives, we are to ARISE and SHINE for God's glory is resting upon us. His light illuminates over all our situations, from this warmth we are reminded that He is still in control.

It had been awhile since a verse had spoken to me with so much volume, at that moment I committed to memorizing it and took it as my verse for the year, I then challenged my self to memorize even more verses, DH joined me, so at the end of our daily devotions we would quote the verses we had memorized. Needless to say our daily devotions were and are getting longer, ~wink~

As 2018 drew to a close, and I began thinking of a new verse for the new year, I almost kept this one for 2019, but another verse we were memorizing just jumped at us, (I will share later.)

Why write about us memorizing scripture? I believe as believers we are always to be growing, in our faith, and  we should share with others.

May the Lord bless and keep you as you  grow in HIM!
Blessings,

Sue

P.S. Thank you  so much to my many friends who checked in on me during my blogging absence, you are so precious to me. Much love .to all

~Sunday thoughts~

Written by Sue, Sunday, October 21, 2018.        Sunny, cool,windy, 50's beautiful fall day.


This is a visitor we had this summer to the farm, he/she stayed for about six weeks, just hung out around the house, and garden, roosting at the edge of the roof at night, leaving a calling card on the steps, which was my job to clean each morning. I didn't mind though, to me it was symbolic of peace  I was amazed at how friendly he/she was, I thought a few times that it would perch on my wrist, instead chose not to. As quickly as he came, he left. 

I call these "Gold Nuggets" from God, which He leaves me so many.

John 14:27~ "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I am reminded once again this morning of who is in control. The peace that abides in every believer can not be explained, just the assurance that God is aware of all circumstances surrounding us, both personally and worldly. Just now, I am thinking of a children's song I used to sing,  "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands." As a child when I sang this song I would envision God's Great big hands cupped with the world situated in them, with me in the center. This still holds true today.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds stayed upon HIM!

Blessings,

Sue

~Sunday thoughts~

Written by Sue, Sunday, August 5, 2018                     morning fog,partly sunny temps. high 90's

A reminder of a road well traveled

Do we trust God enough to hop on the back seat and let Him do the guiding.?Which road would you take, if you were driving? I know which one I would take... the easy one, but how boring and useless that would be!!

Proverbs 3: 5-6~ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,And lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your paths.

When God is in control, He takes the scenic route. He likes to climb high roads, so as to build muscles, and make us stronger. Sometimes He will coast down hill and we will lift our hands high in the air, with the wind blowing in our hair, and the sun shining on our face,.... we feel so free.

Sometimes God's route takes us through a deep dark valley, it is at this time  that we put our arms around him and hold on real tight, all the while crying and asking Him to not let go. He then will say "hold on tight my child, just "Trust Me"  a little further and you will be through this valley."  It is during  this time  we learn to trust Him most.

Isaiah 55:8-9~For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.~For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, 

And there are times when we really think we can handle the steering  by ourselves, God being so gracious will let  go and let us take hold, when all of a sudden we hit a bump,or we get on a wrong road , we get scared and then we say,'Lord I need you, please help'. He then smiles and takes the realm back.

At last we arrive at our destination safe and sound, it is then we say, "Wow what a journey, I  feel so much stronger, and I am now learning how  to deal with obstacles as they come, and for sure I have learned how to enjoy the ride too!! "I also  know now, that if I had not let go and let the Lord take the lead, I could not have made it." "Thank You Lord."

Blessings,

Sue

(edited and reposted, a reminder for me)

Sunday thoughts (prayer)

Written by Sue, Sunday, July 8, 2018         Absolutely beautiful, nice and warm, temps.80

Very seldom do we get days this time of year with low humidity, and  temperatures in the 80's.
Yesterday was the beginning of such blessings which will take us through Wednesday! I am so enjoying this break as we have had an extremely hot spring and now an even hotter summer. When you have to work outside in extreme conditions like we have had, it can take a toll on your body. Last week as I was walking (very early), I really began to pray in earnest about our weather and asking for some rain and relief from the heat, which brings me to my thoughts for today.

Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

(My walk this morning was later, because of the cool temps., enjoyed it so much.)

(Always fun to stop and talk with the donkeys.)

 I recently read in my devotional about prayer and how we should pray, the writer made the point that there was a big difference between general prayers, and specific prayers, and that most times people pray general prayers, he emphasized the importance of specific prayers. I thought long and hard about this, and asked myself, 'how many times did I pray general prayers,' such as 'God bless so and so', I decided that I would begin to pray more specific prayers when praying for family, friends, or someone, our country, our president.

(Stopped to take some photos of the flower garden.)

I also wondered as to why general prayers are prayed more often than specific prayers, the reason I believe, is, it takes more time. We live in such a hurry up world today, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to complete all that needs to be done.

(Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers.)

Since this devotion, I have found that my prayer life has become more meaningful, and that I am really thinking more intently about people's need and situations, I can pray anytime and anywhere, God never sleeps and His ears are always tuned to our voices. How awesome is this!!!!

I hope you are having a great Sunday,

Blessings,

Sue

Sunday thoughts~God's light

Written by Sue, Sunday, January 21, 2018,      Glory be, it's sunny and warm, temps. 60's

 Isaiah 60:1~Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord has come upon you. 
God's light is eternal, it never gets dim, never goes out, as I was watching the light shine on Jack this morning, I was reminded of this eternal light, and of how it shines on us. As believers, we should  reflect this light on a dark and dismal world. My prayer today is that I will shine more brilliantly than ever, that Gods love will shine through my thoughts, actions and deeds.

Blessings, 

Sue

P.S. As promised in my last post, my word for this year is Joy!

 Jesus first

Others second

You(me) last

Sunday thoughts... words do matter

Written by Sue, Sunday, December 10, 2017           sunny, cold, temps. 40's

This season finds me feeling a bit nostalgic, even in my seasonal decorating, to me that is a good thing.
This church holds such a feeling for me, especially one summer long ago

When I was a child, I spent my summers with my widowed, paternal grandmother and her bachelor  brother who lived with her and helped her farm the land. They were a funny twosome, I was the apple of both of their eyes, One would say they spoiled me, but I say "I was just loved a lot."~wink~

Getting back to this church, which was not the one we regularly attended,

Each summer I would attend a week long Bible school at this church, at the end of the week we would have a commencement service in which the children would have a program of songs and memory verse reciting. I remember one particular time in which my fellow students were a little bashful, not me, I had memorized all the bible verses by heart and I led them all.

The next day, one of the fathers of the children , who was a friend of my uncle,  stopped by the farm, to visit. In those days visitors were a rarity, and as children would do, we listened to the adults talk.

I remember Mr Mclamb looking at me and telling my uncle of how proud he was of my leading the group in the program. He went on to say he didn't know what would have happened if I had not. You can only imagine how wonderful I felt.

Proverbs 25:11~ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Words can either bless people or discourage them. The encouragement this man gave me as a young child, has gone with me all through my life. We never know the impact we have on others, through words and deeds. His words did indeed impact me, in a good way. I never forgot this man, and when I would see him from time to time I would remember the kindness he showed. He probably forgot, but I never did.

I have tried to teach my children , and grandchildren to think before they speak, words are so powerful!

May your day be filled and overflow with many blessings.

Love, 

Sue

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Written by Sue, Sunday November 19, 2017              sunny, cool, temps. 50's beautiful crisp day.

Enjoying this wonderful season of Thanksgiving, I am thankful today that I have the privilege to assemble and worship our heavenly Father with other believers.

I am also thankful that after church today Mr P. and I will gather with my Mother and siblings for our annual Thanksgiving dinner at her home. I haven't seen my sister in almost a year. 

May your day be filled with many blessings.

Love, 

Sue