Choices

I've been reflecting a lot recently about the choices we have. I am very grateful to God that He gave us free will. But so many times it gets me in trouble! Many of you know, I'm going through some challenges with me son. However, it has become clear to me that there is very little I can do, except to pray and to praise. Some things we have choices about, and some things we have to trust to the Lord. How thankful I am that we can depend on Him. I wrote a poem, and decided I would post it here. (Some time ago, someone suggested that I should post some of my poems, so here is my most recent one).

CHOICES

In God’s perfect plan, He made a way,
For us to make our own choices each day.
Sometimes we chose well, sometimes bad,
We surely often make His heart sad.

So many choices we are allowed to make,
What career we’d like, and what way we’ll take.
Where we will live, city or country,
Who to marry, and who our friends will be.

In some things we have absolutely no control,
We don’t understand, and it grieves our soul.
We would never chose to suffer great loss,
Yet He chose to suffer for us on the cross.

No matter what the circumstance may be,
I know the Lord’s working it for good, you see.
As my love for Him grows greater still,
I chose to seek and follow His will.

So many promises we find in His Word,
When we pray, we will always be heard.
He gives peace and joy, we can’t comprehend,
And for every need, on Him we can depend.

So, I’m making a choice to give Him praise,
I want others to see Christ in me all my days.
Many times I will fail, but He gives strength to the weak,
He will guide and direct me when I listen to Him speak.

Thank you, Lord, for blessings you bestow,
With praise to You, may my heart overflow.
May I be an encouragement to others, I pray,
Help me to serve you joyfully each day.

The 4th 'P'---Praise!

I just read the Anchor Friday post from Joan. She gave us the 3 "P's' for successful weight loss. I have to admit, I'm totally not there yet. I just recently started back to committing to losing some weight. I don't have a good place to exercise in the winter--as I'd much rather walk than do floor exercise ( Ugh!). But I did lose 1.5 pounds in the last week. I decided to add another 'P' to the one's Joan gave--Praise.

I was reading Psalm 100; in my Bible it says "A psalm. For giving thanks"

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Knw that the Lord is God. It is He who has made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good, and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

I know there are others like me that have some challenges with their children. I believe we have the Lord's promise, that if we are faithful and if we will honor Him with our praise, He will be faithful in working in the lives of our children.

Praise is a choice we make, so I am chosing to praise Him, even in the things that are tough, such as weight loss and trusting Him with my son.

Peace Like a River

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Isaiah 26:3 You (God) will keep in perfect peace him(her) whose mind is steadfast, because he(she) trusts in You.

Isaiah 48:18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

A river in Cayes, Haiti

The title of one of my blog friends is Peace for the Journey and she has written about peace at times, and her background has John 14:27 on it. Then today another blog friend shared a scripture picture of that verse on her blog about encouragement.

As I was working on my Bible Study this morning, there was a whole section about "peace like a river". I had never heard it described quite like that before, and I wanted to share it with you, as it really spoke to my soul. (I don't think the author of our book will mind, as I'm sure she would want others to be blessed as well. The book is "What Happens when Women say 'Yes' to God by Lysa Terkeurst.)

She said that"God chose a very unique word to describe His peace--a river! A river is not calm and void of activity. It is active and cleansing and confident of the direction it is headed in. A river doesn't get caught up with rocks in its path. it flows over and around them, all the while smoothing their jagged edges and allowing them to add to its beauty rather than take away from it. A river is a wonderful thing to behold."

Beth Moore said, "To have peace like a river is to have security and tranquility while meeting the many bumps and unexpected turns on life's journey. Peace is submission to a Trustworthy Authority, not resignation from activity."

I thought about this today as I was going about my activities (including going to the dentist!) and I realized that having God's peace is a choice I make; and it's not being able to have everything go my way, but rather to allow his peace to permeate my soul even when things are difficult.

Praise the Lord--we can have His 'peace like a river' flowing in us whatever the circumstance.

Comfy and Cozy, Caring and Sharing

In my previous blog I said we were going to be making blankets for the Hope Center, which is for unwed mothers. However, this ladies night out event was to make blankets for troubled teens who are part of a program called the Whitington Homes--Transitional Life Skills Program. These are girls 14-21 years old who come from abusive or neglected home environments, or from the Department of Child Services. Some of them are pregnant or already have a baby. They actually live in apartments together (4 to an apartment) and have 24/7 supervision to teach independent life skills, and provide emotional and educational support. The director of the program was there, and told us about the program. I was very impressed with what they do. They have 5 apartments, so they can take up to 20 girls at a time and they are there from 6 months to 2 years, depending on how they progress. SO-O-O, the blankets we made are actually for these girls.

Since I was thinking more about babies, I bought pink fleece for one side and pink blue and white striped for the other. Erin and I worked along with 2 other ladies. We would work on one blanket at a time. I had no previous idea of how these were done. You basically put the 2 pieces of fleece together, wrong sides together. Then you make slits all around the edge, 5 inches long, and 1 inch apart. Then you just tie each of these slits in a knot so it is knotted all around the edge.

Erin and I with our pink/pink striped blanket

It's hard to see here, but you can kind of see the knots around the edge. They really look cute when they are all finished. Many of the ladies had brought really colorful fleece; the other one we worked on had cute cats on one side with plain cream color on the back. We really had fun doing this. Plus I learned a ton of information about taking care of Alpaca's from Erin while we worked. She was very knowledgeable about all of that; probably more than I ever thought I would want to know!

Kr Krystal and Linda

These are the 2 ladies we worked with. You can see the cat pattern on this one. I was very impressed with all the different patterns and how cute they all looked.

The Finished Product

As we finished our blankets, we "packaged" them by folding in thirds and then rolling them into a blanket roll. When we got them about half rolled, we tucked a little piece of paper inside that said something like, "Made especially for you with Love, Woodburn Missionary Church." Then we tied the roll with ribbon. The one Erin and I did is in front--the pink and blue striped.

I'm not sure how many we made but LOTS of ladies participated. Of course, no evening is complete without some snacks--ice cream, pretzels, cookies, coffee or hot chocolate. It was a really fun evening.

Before we left, Erin asked me if I like candles. I said I love them! She said, good, because I make them. Her grandma and grandpa gave her a candle making kit for Christmas when she was about 11-12, and she has made candles ever since. She wanted to know what scents I like, as she also adds scent to them. What a gal. I'm really enjoying getting to know her.

Adventure in Mentoring

Good Picture of Erin--not so good of me!

Our church has recently started a program called the "Titus Project". It is based on Titus 2: 4-8 where older men and women are encouraged to teach the younger.

I decided I would like to get involved in this, though I haven't been around teen-agers for a long time. Since this is a one-on-one project, the youth leaders paired up adults with the teens that wanted to participate. This is Erin Gruber and I, taken at a sort of "kick-off" luncheon and game time.

I have really enjoyed getting to know Erin. She is definitely not a "crowd-follower". She's sort of quiet but seems to know her own mind. She is in FFA and is raising Alpaca's. I think it is kind of a family project or business. They live on a farm. She is on the Bible Quiz team at church. This was one thing that helped us bond a little, as I did Bible Quizzing as a teen. She is doing really well in it, and I plan to be at their next quiz meet. Erin is a junior in high school. She's taking a photography class, learning to develop pictures and is real excited about that.

A week ago Saturday I took Erin out for lunch. We went to Applebee's and both had delicious salads--she had the chicken Caesar and I had the oriental chicken. We talked the whole way there, and all during lunch and had a really good time. (Both of her parents told me on separate occassions that Erin really had a good time going out with me).

Tonight there is a ladies get-together at church. They are making fleece blankets for babies of un-wed mothers at the Hope Center. Erin and I are going to attend. They have assured me that you don't have to know how to sew or be a seamstress to do this. So it should be interesting. But it will give us an opportunity to work on a project together.

I am not convinced that I am going to be a very good mentor. But sometimes I think teens just need an adult other than a parent to talk to. Hopefully we can develop a good relationship. For now it's been really fun just getting to know her.

Share the Love!

I have to admit, this was not my original idea. I got the idea from Nicole's Blog, my niece by marriage. However, I actually decided to act on it. Thursday I made some brownies, 2 batches, and cut one batch into heart shaped brownies. I got some cute little bags, some hershey's kisses, M&M's, and ribbon. And I made some little gift tags that had the verse from I John 4:19 inside, We love because He first loved us. The other batch of brownies I made for the nurses I used to work with. So now I was ready to go.

I had a wonderful day; the sun was shining, there was no wind, and it felt like spring--high 30's. I delivered my little bags to 3 widow ladies, another elderly single lady, our visitation pastor (his wife died in an accident years ago and he raised his boys; he still suffers pain from the accident), and also to our 2 secretaries at the church.

I visited with each of these ladies for a little while. One of them is 99 years old, living in a retirement center about 20 miles from my home. She is also actually related to me on my mother's side. She was so excited to see me!

I couldn't deliver the pastor's gift in person, as he was making hospital calls. The church secretary said he would be coming by the church and she would see that he got it.

I took a pan of brownies to the nurses where I used to work. They are always excited to get food!--and it was fun seeing them again. I'm enjoying retirement but I do miss some of the ladies I worked with.

I had one last bag to deliver: I took it to a teen-ager who I am mentoring through a program at church called the Titus Project. She was home from school, on their farm, and was out taking care of their elpaca's (sp?). She's sort of quiet, and seemed very pleased that I would come by to bring her a card and a little gift.

After my day of visiting, I met my hubby at the Harlan Cafe for supper. I think that I was probably blessed more than any of the people who received the gifts, though they all seemed pleased that someone would remember them. I had been fighting a winter cold for 3 days, and I think it even helped my feel better physically. Thank you, Nicole, for a great idea!

A Surprise Blog Citation

I am very honored that I have been given a blog award from Gina. Like so many others, I started my blog to just have an ongoing journal. It has been a way of just recording events and expressing my thoughts. I am grateful to my sister Brenda who actually encouraged me to start a blog.

However, I never could have imagined what a blessing the blog would be. I have met so many wonderful christian friends through this blog, and they have been such an encouragement . It's been really fun to get a peek into the lives of other people. I feel like I'm getting to know them and their families. I look forward to reading comments that others leave on my posts.

I have actually started a prayer list for prayer needs that have been expressed by my blogger friends. I feel like I know some of them, even though I've never met them.

Thank you to all of you who have brightened my days.

Here is the description of the award and the guidelines to pass it on..."The citation reads: These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! There's an instruction that comes with this award. Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who must choose 8 more and include this text into the body of their award."

And now I would like to pass this award on to Brenda, Lynn, Kristen, Joan, Nicole, and although I know they've already been given an award by others, Cindy and Dee.

Random Picture

Both Gina and Cindy were tagged to do a random picture story, and I enjoyed them so much, I decided to participate. You just go to your 6th picture file, pick the 6th photo and tell the story about it. If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged.

My husband and I have had a strong interest in Haiti since 1970. At that time He and his first wife were there as short-term missionaries and I was there also (I was single) working in the medical clinic. Lynn worked with the radio ministry. He has continued to work with them and has supplied parts and supplies from the States when needed. The last 3 years he's gone on short mission trips to work on the radio transmitters and antennas. Last year I went with him and worked in the hospital.

Anyway, back to this picture. The man on the left is Barry, who went with us last year. In the middle is Killick, the chief Haitian engineer in Haiti. He has an engineering degree from the U.S. My husband, Lynn is on the right. This was actually taken here in Marion, Indiana when Killick was in the states for a visit. That is his little boy, Nathaniel, who was about 4 at the time of this picture, and he speaks 3 languages--french, creole and english. Amazing little guy. Lynn has a real passion for this ministry and is leaving to go on another mission trip in March.