Time

It seems to me time, like a comic super-hero, has magical powers. It has an ordinary appearance, marching along in carefully measured ticks - never deviating from one day to the next. And yet....and yet, it can take a little girl and change her into a young woman in the blink of an eye - turning a deaf ear to pleas to just stand still for a little while.

When I saw her, after long months of separation, she took my breath away. Once again time flexed its muscles, and I was catapulted back in time to a day when I was younger than she is now. A dreamy high school girl, discovering love and dreaming of the day when I would marry and have children. Two little boys danced in my imagination - boys that looked remarkably like my high school sweetheart.

As I stood in the present moment, looking at my Granddaughter, I marveled at the blessing. The Father took the dreams of my youth and added such bounty. Not just two little boys - but a little girl too. Watching them grow into adults as time spun the moments into years. And then, the gifts I hadn't even known enough to dream - Grandchildren. My children's children embracing the legacy of faith passed down through the generations - through time.

I hugged her close and wondered at the grace and love that gives such good gifts.

Joining Emily today for Tuesdays Unwrapped.

Blessings,
Linda

Sunday

"For you will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

Isaiah 55:12

Joining Deidra today:



Blessed Sunday,
Linda

Thanksgiving Wishes

Sending all of you wishes for a blessed Thanksgiving Day. Praying that no matter what circumstances you find yourself standing in, you will know that the Father is there with you, and that He loves you with an everlasting love. May His peace, joy and love fill your hearts with a gratitude that goes beyond the bounds of circumstances.

The Laced With Grace Team has put together a special Thanksgiving post. Please join us there as we number the blessings He has poured into our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

With love,
Linda

The Other side of Gratitude

There she sat, in the middle of torn wrapping paper, ribbons and a pile of new toys, crying in frustration because there were no more presents to open. I remember the swift play of emotions - humor, compassion, and a touch of disappointment. I had expected something different in return for all we had given.

I thought of that moment as I found myself standing on the flip side of gratitude. I felt a bit like that little one who thought the gifts would come all wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with shiny ribbon and that there would be an endless supply.

To be sure, the gifts have come - lovely, numerous and better than I imagined. However, there have been other gifts - ones I've chosen not to label as such. Ugly ones that I didn't expect - one piled on top of another. And rather than give thanks for everything, I chose to focus on the ones I didn't want and stepped from gratitude to complaining.

Unfortunately, a heart that starts to complain doesn't stop there. It begins a downward cycle into self-pity, envy, and anger. Finally it goes a step too far and a gap between the Father and the heart begins to open and grow wider with the passage of time. Until there is an emptiness - a silence - that becomes unbearable.

The miracle of love, God's love, is that it is never exhausted. All I need to do is turn around and step back into His embrace. Repentance is met with grace. And in return there can be only the deepest gratitude.

Thank You Father for:

- the gentle whisper of conviction that never condemns

- times of disappointment

- problems that seem to have no easy solution

- weariness and sickness

- disasters that loomed on the horizon and then disappeared

- the newly poured foundation of our home

- the well, that didn't cost twice what they estimated

- rain

- planes, carried on the wings of prayer, that bring a much loved daughter safely across the ocean and back

- friends that pray

- visits with family

- Old Testament stories that speak today's truths to my heart

- Christmas music

- holidays given true meaning and real joy because of Him

- the anticipation of a visit from a precious granddaughter

- the lightness when the burden is lifted

- forgiveness and grace

linking with Ann's Gratitude Community

Blessings,
Linda

Refreshment for the Soul

"He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him."
Daniel 2:22

"God is too wise not to know all about us, and what is really best for us to be, and to have. And He is too good, not to desire our highest good; and too powerful, desiring, not to effect it. If then, what He has appointed for us does not seem to us the best, or even to be good, our true course is to remember that he sees further than we do, and that we shall understand Him in time, when His plans have unfolded themselves; meanwhile casting all our care upon Him, since He careth for us."
Henry Parry Liddon (1829-1890)

Joining Deidra today to celebrate Sunday:



Blessings,
Linda

If You Love Me

I am writing at Laced With Grace today. It's about nail biting and loving the Lord. Would you come visit me there? Thank you so much

.

Blessings,
Linda

Accountable Forever

When it is time to decide on a new memory verse, I begin leafing through my Bible zeroing in on the verses I've highlighted over the years. Occasionally, though, a verse will pop out at me - one I had somehow overlooked - and it will resonate in my heart.


"The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that He has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of those instructions."
Deuteronomy 29:29


My heart beats a little faster when I read it. I have been given the priceless gift of a lifetime of Bible teaching. My parents, Sunday School teachers, Pastors, Bible studies all adding to the store of knowledge. We are privileged to have so much available to us, and we are accountable for all that has been revealed to us.

Having said that, one would think it would be enough to keep us busy. Yet there seems to be more than enough time to not only quibble about the things we do know, but we also seem determined to argue about those secrets known only to God.

We know that we cannot know the mind of God, but something compels us to try anyway. Then when we think we have it figured out, we are ready to take on anyone who disagrees. I am afraid that we sometimes are so consumed with getting it right we miss the mark altogether.

We are to love one another, to care for the poor, to share the gospel in word and deed. Whether or not we like a certain type of music in church doesn't even make the list. Pre-tribulation or Post-tribulation isn't there either.

I think there is a yearning to get back to those things He has revealed to us - to be the church He gave His life to establish. I see it in the young people I worship with. I read it in your posts. I hear it in my Pator's heart.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."
John 15:12

linking to Emily's imperfect prose






Blessings,
Linda