Thoughts Running Through My Mind-Please Forgive the Ramble

First of all I want to thank you all for your prayers for Sadie and Nicole's families. Please continue to pray for them especially their parents. I can't even imagine what they are going through. No parent ever wants to get that call or a police officer showing up at the door with news your child has been killed.
I look at my Kaitlyn and think, it could have been her and how grateful I am she is safe here at home.

I'm sure Sadie and Nicole's family and friends are asking why. I too am asking "Why Lord? Why these young girls?" " Was someone texting" " Was someone drinking?"

I saw a picture of the accident scene in our local paper and the damage to the cars is just unbelievable. One car looked liked one of  those toy cars that break apart when they hit a wall or something.

There is no word yet on what caused the accident. I read somewhere that toxicology reports can take weeks to be completed.
There's no update on the other driver, Scott so please continue to pray for his recovery.

I think I've rambled enough. I just needed to "talk" so to speak. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Have a blessed day my friends.

Book Review-Moments til Midnight: The Final Thoughts of a Wandering Pilgrim-by Brent Crowe

An excerpt from the back cover:
Brent Crowe imaginatively retells the last twelve hours of Paul's life and along the way, readers will be encouraged to live with purpose, to redeem the time, and to embrace the awesome reality that they too are on a sacred journey.

Brent begins the first chapter , (Noon) with a short history of emperor Nero. Nero was extremely evil and he absolutely hated Christians. He blamed everything on Christians. To be honest ladies, I think he hated everyone, including himself. That just my personal opinion though.
 Back to the book, Nero ordered the execution of countless numbers of Christians including Paul.

Brent describes what might have happened when Paul learned when he would be receiving his death sentence. He says that perhaps a note on parchment was smuggled illegally by a guard. The parchment would in a bucket on top of bucket of slop given to prisoners. Paul would read the note: "EXECUTION TO BE CARRIED OUT AT MIDNIGHT. Signed: Your brother on the journey." I can't imagine what that must have been like for Paul.

 Instead of chapter numbers, each is a  "countdown" of each hour leading to Paul's death, beginning at Noon ending at Midnight.
One chapter that stood out to me was the chapter called "Ten o'clock- Sanctifying Failure and Redeemed Regret"
Brent wondered if Paul, while in that dark dungeon struggled with guilt for persecuting Christians before his conversion. He also  wondered if Paul struggled with depression after beatings or imprisonment.
And what was that thorn in the flesh Paul talks about?

After reading Moments til Midnight, I have a deeper appreciation for Paul. I also have a deeper respect for those Christians living in countries where Christianity is outlawed. I think every Christian should read this book.

I received a copy of this book from B&H Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Prayer Request

Hello dear friends. I'm coming to you with a sad prayer request.  Two high school girls ( ages 17 and 18) were killed in a  head-on car crash on Monday. They were seniors at our local high school here in town. My senior daughter didn't know these girls since she is a homeschool student but had she gone to the high school, she would have known them since the school is small.
Our pastors and pastors from other churches have made themselves available to the families of the victims if they would like. The accident is still under investigation and police are waiting toxicology reports to determine if impaired driving was the cause.
Though the victims names have been released I'm just going to give the first names only so please pray for Sadie's ( age 17) family and for Nicole's ( age 18) family.
The third victim, 44 -year -old Scott who was driving the other car, is in stable but critical condition so if you can pray for him too. Thank you!
If you have teens, hug them a little tighter.

The Great Snowpocalypse of 2019

Last week winter storm Quiana came through Arizona with a vengeance dumping tons of snow.  We understand from residents who lived here the longest that this is the most snowfall they had seen in about thirty years.
 We probably won't get snow like this again unless this becomes the new normal.

We decided we " ain't afraid of no snow"   so went out and to play in between breaks of heavy snowfall.

Kaitlyn expressed her love for the snow in our backyard!

This is out front and somewhere out there is road. We don't have sidewalk so you can't even tell where the where anyone's property starts.

"Mom it's cold out here but I just love snow and here comes the neighbors!" Our neighbors drove by laughing and waving at us.
                               

Icicles! There were even more the next day.

These  icicles that are in the bush from the above photo are waiting to jump out and attack  unsuspecting solicitors!

Don't mess with Mom! She's armed with a snowball and she's not afraid to use it!

The snow is about all melted now and I admit I'm going to miss it. I remember saying back in January I hoped for one more good snow. Well we got it and then some!

Thoughts on Psalm 23-Post Will Be Long!

                                    Psalm 23
1.The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.

2 He maketh  me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

4.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; the rod and they staff comfort me.

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord  for ever.


Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved and well known Psalms in the Bible but
 to be honest I used to avoid it. It's not that I disliked it or anything but because I had always associated it with death and funerals.
However, the Lord revealed to me some beautiful truths about this Psalm I would like to share with you.

1. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. He takes care of  all our needs.

2. We rest in know that Jesus gives us rest and that He gives us Living Water. With His water we shall never thirst.( Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? John 4:7-15)

3. God is always ready to welcome us back when we have wandered and puts us back on the right path.  He comforts our souls when we feel we can't make it another day.

4. This world is a dark place.  Just look around at what's happening in the world around us. Satan is out to steal, kill and destroy. But God is with us and we have no reason to fear. Now that does not mean we should test God by acting like " Don't Mess With Me a I'm Saved Woman!"  and putting ourselves in danger on purpose. That's just foolish!
Another thing we need to remember that as  Christians we will be persecuted for our faith.  It's not just in countries where it's illegal to practice or share Christ. It's also happening here in the U.S.
People persecuted on the job,  at school, by neighbors, people mocking our faith through mean blog comments etc, etc.
God is there for us through our during our dark times. Whether it be loss (death of a loved one, job, divorce, etc) a church split, child leaving the faith or whatever trial you are experiencing He is right by your side and He will walk you through it.
I forgot to mention  in regards to being persecuted Paul tells us in Romans:
Romans 8:36  "As it is written, For Thy sake; we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter".
We need to stay strong in our faith through prayer and reading  the Word.

5. The Lord's blessings are so numerous they are overflowing! The blessing of our salvation is something our enemy cannot take from us!

6. God pursues us with His unfailing love and His mercy and one day He will take us Home to glory to be with Him forever.  We need to share God's goodness and mercy by sharing our testimony with others so they too can one day be with Him.

So those are some  things I have learned from Psalm 23. There is more I could write but this post is long already but I hope it encourages someone. Have a blessed day!

Rest

So my post isn't about physical rest though it is very important  to get a good night's sleep. I just wanted to share a picture of our cat Kirstie and the verse that Bible Lens from YouVersion Bible App generated. Have you tried the YouVersion Bible app? There are read through the Bible reading plans, various version of the Bible to download  and most recently the Bible Lens where if you take a picture using the  Bible Lens app, it will generate a a verse based on your photo. I think it's the neatest thing since chocolate!


I hadn't really planned on having a personal "word" of the year. I've seen many ladies in blogland  have a word that they want to focus on for the year.  Words such as patience, respect, prayer,  and quietness are just a few of the words some ladies are focusing on.

Honestly, I've  never been one to do anything "because everyone else is doing it".  I'm just not that type of person. Then my Homemaker's Friend Planner arrived on my birthday in December that has different themes each year. One  the cover was  "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."_ Psalm 37:7.
Then it hit me! The word  "rest".

You see I worry .  I find myself getting impatient with God. I stress out over things. Like trying to figure what to say in this post.
Yesterday* I looked up what God in His Word has to say about rest. These are a few scriptures I found including the verse I mentioned above:

Matthew 11:28- Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Acts 2:26- Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope.  ( See also Psalm 16:8-9)

1 Peter 5:7- Casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth  for you.

2 Corinthians 12:9- And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength  is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Nahum 1:7- The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trusts in Him.

There are many more verses but I just put a few here because there are too many to put in one post.

As I read each verse I was seeing a common theme about trusting in God and His desire that we rely on Him and not  focus on our circumstances.  You see, when we get so focused on what's bothering us, we take our eyes off of the Lord ( or at least I do) and  we get restless and weary.
 God wants us to rest in Him and give our cares to Him no matter how big or small the problem is.

I want to encourage you all to have time for prayer and reading the Bible. It's so easy for us women to get so busy with our day, we forget to have that time alone with Him. Make sure to have a pen and notebook or a journal to write down thoughts that come to mind as you read.
I hope this little post has helped someone who might be going through a restless period.

* I started writing this post on Monday hoping to post it on Tuesday.

Twenty-six Year's and a P.S.

Twenty-six years ago I said  "I do" to this sweet, long hair BMW motorcycle riding guy. What cuties were back then!

Here we are today. I  think we are still cute!

So the P.S. I'm working on the post on rest and I should have it up by tomorrow.