1 Chronicles 4:10
Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.
It's raining outside this morning, so Anney won't go out in the rain, she might melt dontcha know...
As you guys know, Anney always checks the boundary lines, stopping at the gates, checking for Evil Cat but more for the neighbor's most evil dog who can wiggle her way through the gate...oooohhh...Anney dislikes that little dog most intensely!!! Hard to believe how fierce Anney can be at nearly 84 (that's 12 x 7 in dog years).
I'm here with my coffee pondering the boundary question.
Jabez inquired of the Lord to "enlarge his borders"...so he might have favor and be kept from evil. The Lord granted his request.
Boundaries get set, we don't realize it. Boundaries get breached, we don't realize it.
Boundaries can hold us back from being what the Lord has intended.
NOT setting boundaries can hold us back from being what the Lord has intended.
I'm checking my boundaries this day, what about you?
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
That transition time....
We all know that life is a journey, a path, a walk, times of change and growth (hopefully!!). There are new events all the time...times of happiness and goodness, times of struggle, hard times, times of sickness, hurt, and pain, death and new life.The bible has them laid out for us in Ecclesiates 3., ALL of them.
In Anney's world, her life pretty much stays the same. She has her little routine. We get up in the morning, have our coffee on the patio...she goes out and runs the perimeter of the yard, checking all the points where the evil cats enter. She then goes to the gate and looks out to the front yard to see if the old guy is walking his dog, yep!! There is he is with that dog...bark bark bark!!! She knows what time I come home, we have dinner, we sit on the couch together....it's all the same to her...no big events in her life compared to ours.
So does Anney she know she's getting older? She can't see the grey hair that now covers her used to be coal black face making it white. She doesn't appear to have any problems with arthritis or stiffness in her bones (she's such a wonderfully healthy dog!). She doesn't know that her kids are grown up, moving on with their lives, that one of her parents have gone home to be with Jesus and another is aging.
She just accepts each day as normal and usual. She is happy to be here with me, drinking coffee on the patio and chasing squirrels.
That's where the marvelous Word of God comes in for me. The Lord did give us His Word that life is about change. There is a time for everything, nothing should be a surprise to us...He has told us life would be at difficult and then joy beyond our greatest imagination.
The whole journey He said He would be there for us thru every event in our life. He said that He is same yesterday, today and forever....Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I have a wonderful transition in my life in April...I became the grandma to twin girls!!! Now that is an event for all events!!!
We welcomed Emalee Ann and Allissa Nicole on April 28th. Beautiful, healthy little girls to my son Matthew and Jessica!!
So now I am a grandma officially...but let me tell ya...the grey hair will not be showing on this grandma!! Thank you Natalie!
I have to learn something new now...I have to learn to be a grandma...I have to transition into a different role in life.....a new walk, a new journey.....time for new growth in me....time to pass on to my granddaughters the things of the Lord, the wonderful amazing things of the Lord!
Let us embrace the changes in life as they all come, that transition time, the good with the bad.....they all pass and new times comes....the only thing that lasts forever is Jesus...and He is the same!!!!
In Anney's world, her life pretty much stays the same. She has her little routine. We get up in the morning, have our coffee on the patio...she goes out and runs the perimeter of the yard, checking all the points where the evil cats enter. She then goes to the gate and looks out to the front yard to see if the old guy is walking his dog, yep!! There is he is with that dog...bark bark bark!!! She knows what time I come home, we have dinner, we sit on the couch together....it's all the same to her...no big events in her life compared to ours.
So does Anney she know she's getting older? She can't see the grey hair that now covers her used to be coal black face making it white. She doesn't appear to have any problems with arthritis or stiffness in her bones (she's such a wonderfully healthy dog!). She doesn't know that her kids are grown up, moving on with their lives, that one of her parents have gone home to be with Jesus and another is aging.
She just accepts each day as normal and usual. She is happy to be here with me, drinking coffee on the patio and chasing squirrels.
That's where the marvelous Word of God comes in for me. The Lord did give us His Word that life is about change. There is a time for everything, nothing should be a surprise to us...He has told us life would be at difficult and then joy beyond our greatest imagination.
The whole journey He said He would be there for us thru every event in our life. He said that He is same yesterday, today and forever....Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I have a wonderful transition in my life in April...I became the grandma to twin girls!!! Now that is an event for all events!!!
We welcomed Emalee Ann and Allissa Nicole on April 28th. Beautiful, healthy little girls to my son Matthew and Jessica!!
So now I am a grandma officially...but let me tell ya...the grey hair will not be showing on this grandma!! Thank you Natalie!
I have to learn something new now...I have to learn to be a grandma...I have to transition into a different role in life.....a new walk, a new journey.....time for new growth in me....time to pass on to my granddaughters the things of the Lord, the wonderful amazing things of the Lord!
Let us embrace the changes in life as they all come, that transition time, the good with the bad.....they all pass and new times comes....the only thing that lasts forever is Jesus...and He is the same!!!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A belly rub......
Wow, been too long since I've posted anything here. Let's see...what has gone on...oh yea, that's right,,,hubby has had two surgeries within 6 weeks of each other. He was recovering from emergency appendectomy when he started having pain in right upper side and his back. On the check up for the appendectomy we mentioned this to the doctor. He pulled his initial CT scan they took for the appendix finding a gall stone located at the opening of his gall bladder....week and half later, gall bladder surgery!!!
I had asked the doctors how long should his surgery be. They said about an hour. As you sit in the waiting room, you watch the clock. One hour and no doctor. The hostess of the waiting room came over to let me know the doctors were still working on him and he was doing fine. My heart kinda skipped a beat. I thought...uh oh....don't like the sound of this.
Another hour....what is going on????? Finally I look up and there is the doctor. He is motioning for me to come to the "private room"....my heart skips about 4 beats then. They ran into a complication but everything turned out just fine. My hubby has recovered very well. We actually went to the doctor this afternoon which gave him the "all clear"!!! God is good!!
Oh to have the life of a dog...to be Anney......no worries right? Free food and water, treats, someone to rub your belly, a soft blanket on the couch to sleep on...sleep and play...what a life!!!
If I had no worries I wouldn't have grey hair!!! LOL!!
I would not have grown and matured in my walk with the Lord like I have this past two years. I would not be more in love with Jesus like I have. I would not have seen the miracles in my life like I have seen. My faith has been stretched and stretched and stretched. And I'm sure there are more bumps in the road ahead.
But the best part is will be to see what God will do in my life and in me to get me thru and over those bumps!!
It is a quiet knowing that the Lord does have everything in His control and it will all be alright no matter what the outcome is.
It says in the Word to count it all joy when we have various trials...because those various trials bring a maturing of our faith.
It still would be nice to have a dog's life for a week or two....a nice belly rub....ah.......that would be good.
I had asked the doctors how long should his surgery be. They said about an hour. As you sit in the waiting room, you watch the clock. One hour and no doctor. The hostess of the waiting room came over to let me know the doctors were still working on him and he was doing fine. My heart kinda skipped a beat. I thought...uh oh....don't like the sound of this.
Another hour....what is going on????? Finally I look up and there is the doctor. He is motioning for me to come to the "private room"....my heart skips about 4 beats then. They ran into a complication but everything turned out just fine. My hubby has recovered very well. We actually went to the doctor this afternoon which gave him the "all clear"!!! God is good!!
Oh to have the life of a dog...to be Anney......no worries right? Free food and water, treats, someone to rub your belly, a soft blanket on the couch to sleep on...sleep and play...what a life!!!
If I had no worries I wouldn't have grey hair!!! LOL!!
I would not have grown and matured in my walk with the Lord like I have this past two years. I would not be more in love with Jesus like I have. I would not have seen the miracles in my life like I have seen. My faith has been stretched and stretched and stretched. And I'm sure there are more bumps in the road ahead.
But the best part is will be to see what God will do in my life and in me to get me thru and over those bumps!!
It is a quiet knowing that the Lord does have everything in His control and it will all be alright no matter what the outcome is.
It says in the Word to count it all joy when we have various trials...because those various trials bring a maturing of our faith.
It still would be nice to have a dog's life for a week or two....a nice belly rub....ah.......that would be good.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Winter Weather Memories
Anney is a native born and raised Arkansas Dog..and what good dogs Arkansas dogs are!! Most special! I on the other hand am a transplanted Yankee. I was raised mostly on the east coast and midwest.
I have all the stories of trudging to school in the 8 inch deep snows, schools only cancelling if we received an 8 inch snow in one dumping, snowmen making galore, being pounded by snowballs by the mean boys down the street (my brother included in the gang...stinkers!!), wearing turtlenecks and sweaters in the house, ice on the inside of the windows so thick you could not scrap it off with your fingernails, wind chill temperatures of minus 20 and we STILL had to go to school...the list goes on!!
So when the promise of snow comes here, I am thrilled to pieces, hoping with all my heart that we do get more than a dust or sleet/ice mix we've had this weekend.
Winter weather covered my back yard and it was beautiful to me. I was awake early yesterday morning (do I ever sleep past the sunrise anymore...sheesh...old lady now!!)...had my "cup" in my hand looking out the window to see how much snow we did receive. As daylight began to break I began thinking of living in Iowa and the snows.....
I thought when I saw the snow...oh this looks "normal again" to see the white ground cover, the trees sparkle with ice on them, to see Anney run and slip on the frozen grasses...I thought to myself...I feel at home again. And I longed for the life in the north once again.
Ooops...then the Lord reminded me of we are not to look back at our old lives nor live in the past longing for the days of old.....as I was reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah a few weeks ago, the passage spoke of Lot trying to make his mind up to go or stay AFTER the angels of the Lord told them to leave......Now if a couple of angels of the Lord were to come to me and say we are going to nuke your town because sin abides...do you think I would be lingering and wondering if I should stay...uh, NO!!! I would be grabbing my bug out back and gone!!
But the scriptures talk of Lot "lingering".....Genesis 19: 16 (amplified version) and hesitating. Why would Lot want to stay where there is sin? Why would he want to stay in a place where he had to offer his own daughters to a mob of evil, perverse men to have their way with them? He lingered....before he made the move to get out......and Lot's wife looked back.
Never let me linger in a place of sin Lord, whether it's literally in my city, my home, my surroundings, or me.....let me flee to the mountains of refuge of Your arms.
Never look back.......lest I turn to a pillar of salt as Lot's wife did.
It's ok to remember days of our youth and good memories of family....but to look back wanting to stay in that place again is wrong....we must move forward in life, we must grow in the Lord, we must mature (uh we don't have a choice in the aging department anyway now do we..?).
Let us flee to the mountains looking forward to the next wonderful adventure our Lord has for us.
Anney runs and skips thru her yard always looking for something new to either fall out of the tree (squirrels) or cats hiding in the bushes..the next new adventure.....let us run looking for what God has us.....looking forward!!
I have all the stories of trudging to school in the 8 inch deep snows, schools only cancelling if we received an 8 inch snow in one dumping, snowmen making galore, being pounded by snowballs by the mean boys down the street (my brother included in the gang...stinkers!!), wearing turtlenecks and sweaters in the house, ice on the inside of the windows so thick you could not scrap it off with your fingernails, wind chill temperatures of minus 20 and we STILL had to go to school...the list goes on!!
So when the promise of snow comes here, I am thrilled to pieces, hoping with all my heart that we do get more than a dust or sleet/ice mix we've had this weekend.
Winter weather covered my back yard and it was beautiful to me. I was awake early yesterday morning (do I ever sleep past the sunrise anymore...sheesh...old lady now!!)...had my "cup" in my hand looking out the window to see how much snow we did receive. As daylight began to break I began thinking of living in Iowa and the snows.....
I thought when I saw the snow...oh this looks "normal again" to see the white ground cover, the trees sparkle with ice on them, to see Anney run and slip on the frozen grasses...I thought to myself...I feel at home again. And I longed for the life in the north once again.
Ooops...then the Lord reminded me of we are not to look back at our old lives nor live in the past longing for the days of old.....as I was reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah a few weeks ago, the passage spoke of Lot trying to make his mind up to go or stay AFTER the angels of the Lord told them to leave......Now if a couple of angels of the Lord were to come to me and say we are going to nuke your town because sin abides...do you think I would be lingering and wondering if I should stay...uh, NO!!! I would be grabbing my bug out back and gone!!
But the scriptures talk of Lot "lingering".....Genesis 19: 16 (amplified version) and hesitating. Why would Lot want to stay where there is sin? Why would he want to stay in a place where he had to offer his own daughters to a mob of evil, perverse men to have their way with them? He lingered....before he made the move to get out......and Lot's wife looked back.
Never let me linger in a place of sin Lord, whether it's literally in my city, my home, my surroundings, or me.....let me flee to the mountains of refuge of Your arms.
Never look back.......lest I turn to a pillar of salt as Lot's wife did.
It's ok to remember days of our youth and good memories of family....but to look back wanting to stay in that place again is wrong....we must move forward in life, we must grow in the Lord, we must mature (uh we don't have a choice in the aging department anyway now do we..?).
Let us flee to the mountains looking forward to the next wonderful adventure our Lord has for us.
Anney runs and skips thru her yard always looking for something new to either fall out of the tree (squirrels) or cats hiding in the bushes..the next new adventure.....let us run looking for what God has us.....looking forward!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ferociousness
Anney is a gentle, kind, loving dog. Never mean nor aggressive. In fact she's never growled at any of us, ever.
Well...there have been a few times she changes into the most aggressive dog I've ever seen. A few years ago we had a new neighbor move in. They have a pit bull as their pet. The pit bull was extremely aggressive towards many of the neighbors, mailmen and UPS drivers, actually biting the mailman one day. A report was made which caused the neighbor to have to build a dog pen for this dog...made us neighbors extremely happy!!
The neighbor decided to walk the dog on a regular basis for exercise which is understandable. He would walk the dog in the utility alley behind all the homes, ours included. As the daughter was walking the pit bull that day, Anney was at our fence. I don't know what came over Anney but evidently she felt threatened and attacked the pit bull, wrestling her way through the gate. I ran screaming out there and rescued Anney from that dog. Also rescuing the daughter from being in the middle of something ugly!!
Anney didn't get hurt (uh how could she beat that pit bull up anyway)..thankfully. I had visions of the pit grabbing her by the throat and killing her!!!! I was unnerved to say the least!
Ever since that incident, Anney goes bersek after that dog when it's walked in the alley.
So I was thinking about all this.....Anney is protecting what is hers..this yard, her family from a threat...the enemy. Just like we need to protect our family, our property, our livelihood from the enemy too...the devil. The devil walks "innocently" by appearing to non threatening in our lives. We can't open the gate to let him in through habits, desires, wants, ways of living that is not pleasing to the Lord. We must keep guard at all times.
And there are times when we need to be aggressive and fight against him so he won't want to come back for awhile.
Lord let me be as aggressive as Anney is with this pit bull dog....let me have the boldness and the wisdom to recognize when I need to fight...to fight the good fight. Open my eyes to plans of the devil and with Your help defeat him so he won't get a foothold in my life!!
Well...there have been a few times she changes into the most aggressive dog I've ever seen. A few years ago we had a new neighbor move in. They have a pit bull as their pet. The pit bull was extremely aggressive towards many of the neighbors, mailmen and UPS drivers, actually biting the mailman one day. A report was made which caused the neighbor to have to build a dog pen for this dog...made us neighbors extremely happy!!
The neighbor decided to walk the dog on a regular basis for exercise which is understandable. He would walk the dog in the utility alley behind all the homes, ours included. As the daughter was walking the pit bull that day, Anney was at our fence. I don't know what came over Anney but evidently she felt threatened and attacked the pit bull, wrestling her way through the gate. I ran screaming out there and rescued Anney from that dog. Also rescuing the daughter from being in the middle of something ugly!!
Anney didn't get hurt (uh how could she beat that pit bull up anyway)..thankfully. I had visions of the pit grabbing her by the throat and killing her!!!! I was unnerved to say the least!
Ever since that incident, Anney goes bersek after that dog when it's walked in the alley.
So I was thinking about all this.....Anney is protecting what is hers..this yard, her family from a threat...the enemy. Just like we need to protect our family, our property, our livelihood from the enemy too...the devil. The devil walks "innocently" by appearing to non threatening in our lives. We can't open the gate to let him in through habits, desires, wants, ways of living that is not pleasing to the Lord. We must keep guard at all times.
And there are times when we need to be aggressive and fight against him so he won't want to come back for awhile.
Lord let me be as aggressive as Anney is with this pit bull dog....let me have the boldness and the wisdom to recognize when I need to fight...to fight the good fight. Open my eyes to plans of the devil and with Your help defeat him so he won't get a foothold in my life!!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
So many thoughts
As Anney and I watch the reports on CNN and Fox about the Haiti earthquake, my mind reals in amazement and shock. To watch as the bodies are thrown into mass graves, I weep at the lives lost. How will the families know if their loved ones are gone, they didn't get to say goodbye and have a service for them...I cannot imagine how their hearts are grieving. I am praying for them.
I am praying for the first responders, the care givers, the doctors and nurses, the soldiers, the aid workers, the missionaries for strength of body and spirit.
I watch all this unfold and happen and wonder how far will we go before we make sure our hearts are right before the Lord before He comes. I wonder and think if CNN and Fox will be broadcasting when the days of unbelievable tragedy comes upon the earth as spoke of in Revelation..the times it says that 1/3 of the worlds population will be gone.....how close are we to those days?
I wonder as it says in the Word that the whole world will see when the two witnesses will be killed....now I see why CNN and Fox are here.
Let us pray.
I am praying for the first responders, the care givers, the doctors and nurses, the soldiers, the aid workers, the missionaries for strength of body and spirit.
I watch all this unfold and happen and wonder how far will we go before we make sure our hearts are right before the Lord before He comes. I wonder and think if CNN and Fox will be broadcasting when the days of unbelievable tragedy comes upon the earth as spoke of in Revelation..the times it says that 1/3 of the worlds population will be gone.....how close are we to those days?
I wonder as it says in the Word that the whole world will see when the two witnesses will be killed....now I see why CNN and Fox are here.
Let us pray.
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