well placed trust

I question not God’s means or ways,
Or how He uses time or days,
To answer every call or prayer—
I know He will, somehow, somewhere.
—Whitney

God may deny our request but will never disappoint our trust.

RBC selection

what we're reading ...

i have books on my shelves that haven't been read yet ... their pages are still crisp and clean, no sign of loving perusal ... somehow they got set aside ...

such was the case with Joseph Stowell's "Following Christ" ... i've had it on my shelf for 10 years ... and it wasn't until just last month that i rediscovered it - and now it's our morning devotional reading (plus the bible of course) ...

i believe in God's timing for everything ... and i think this is the book for us to chew on ...

"When Christ entered the corridors of history, He made an incredible and compelling claim - a claim that no one else has been able to make with such confidence or affirmation in the lives of those who have embraced it. He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life"(John 14:6). Without shame or reservation, He claimed to be the defining and directing force of life. No other person in history has had so many convinced followers who were willing, not only to live for Him, but - after experiencing the reality of His claims and the pleasure of a relationship with Him - to die for Him as well."

page 31 - Following Christ ...

we are about a third through ... it has challenged my heart, and i hope leo's as well ... i would unconditionally recommend this book to you ...

my brother is 50!

i can hardly believe that my "baby" brother turns 50 today! so this is a shout out to him - Happy Birthday Veli Poika!!

we have many shared childhood memories ... one that stands out is the tree incident ...

we were riding our bikes one warm prairie morning ... since i am the elder by 3 years, i wanted to show my brother the proper navigational technique while speeding down a bumpy hill ... i chose a rather steep section and aimed my handle bars toward a stand of trees near the bottom ... i had successful guided my bike through these same trees before ... but instead of gliding through the trees, i smashed right into them! ... the handlebars jammed into my stomach (the scar created, took over a decade to fade!) and i lay in a crumpled heap on the ground ... my poor brother didn't know whether to laugh or cry ... i was in such pain as we walked our bikes home ... the laughter came later - when he saw that i hadn't killed myself ... since then, he has taken great delight in reliving the incident to anyone who would listen ...

so i like to think that i had something to do with him reaching 50 ... after my example, he never did try to speed down a steep hill, just to see if he could glide through a stand of trees ....

*grin*

bits 'n pieces

just by chance my eyes lit upon a scripture treasure card on my bookshelf... it was exactly what i needed and a continuation of yesterday's verse in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17 ... it says: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." ... it was a good reminder for me to be patient ... AGAIN ...

earlier, i had taken my cares to the Lord - and aired my complaints before Him ... He in turn gave me a peaceful heart and reminded me of how short this life truly IS ... my next prayer will be for wisdom - how to be a better caregiver!

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a blog you may want to visit: Dying mans daily journal ... in it Bill shares his experience of knowing his days are numbered ... he writes with such sincerity of heart ... he lives in winnipeg, manitoba ...

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Debra's blog also has some very good posts to help us get REAL with ourselves ... blessed my heart ...

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it is a perfect winter day in our little town ... snow lightly falling and temperatures hovering around zero ... a day made for walks and reflection ... and counting blessings ...

do not lose heart ...

i love verses like 2 Corinthians 4:16 ... reminders that even though we may feel tired, because our bodies are aging and strength failing, our inward man can still be growing and becoming stronger and stronger ...

today i feel physically wiped ... i think the activities of the past year ... good and bad ... have finally caught up with me! ... or maybe it's that birthday i just celebrated ... either way, i'm hoping for a quiet weekend ... time for recharging batteries ...

blessings on your weekend ...

snow day

my internet came back this morning ... it was a short little outage that my server promised to compensate me for, with one free month ... *grin* ... bonus!

it was a snowy day yesterday (my view pictured above) ... i spent it puttering around the house and also reading ... it was nice to just sit and enjoy the quiet of my world ...

the book i am reading is called Night Light, by Terri Blackstock ... it's the second in the series ... about a world where all modern conveniences cease working because of pulses that disrupt them ... interesting concept ... what would a person do? no blogging, that's for sure!

i just got back from a long walk around town ... now ready to sit and read for a bit ... i'm sooooo bad when i get a good book - i need to know what happens!

computer down

my internet is off until thursday at the earliest ... my provider made a boo boo ... but they should have me up and running shortly ...

just a quick note from the library ...

FYI ... blessings on ya!

The Love of God

The Love of God
Words by Fred­er­ick M. Leh­man and Music by Clau­dia L. Mays


The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

i woke up humming this old hymn ... the words ring true to my ears and heart ... His blessings are new every morning ...

happy birthday to me ...

yes another year is added to the countdown of my own mortality!

so happy birthday to me ... *grin* ...

the song that comes to mind as i think of the years i've lived - is the johnny appleseed song of grace ... please indulge the birthday girl and sing along ...

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need:

The sun, the rain and the appleseed;

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.

now off to slumberland ... tomorrow the plan is to share the cake that my aunt made with whoever might drop by for coffee ... *smile* ...

busier lifestyle ...

after 3 weeks of bitterly cold weather, it has finally lifted ... we're back to seasonal temps and might i dare say "walking weather" ... how wonderful that sounds!!!!

even though it has been so cold, my life has been busier than usual ... company and settling in here at condo central, have made time fly!

yesterday, one of my childhood buds dropped by ... with gifts and a cake! the cake was a rich chocolate affair, that we quickly ate half of! and the gifts were 3 wooden johan flowers ... they are made by a finnish designer, johan puu ...


as you can see, i wasted no time putting them up ... you can check them out closer on my finnish home ....

the other two were different in colour ... one was red and the other blue ... i really love them ... i'm looking at the flower pictured above, as i type this ... *grin* ...

well i am getting more company today ... and possibly company on sunday ... so i must scoot ...

just had to share the lovely gift ... God's goodness is fresh every day ...

Happy Valentine's day!

The Way of Love

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

antiques anyone?

my west coast sister is here in the prairies ... visiting and experiencing our dry cold! we teased her about the timing of this visit ... the dead of winter, during an extremely frigid spell ... she said atleast there's no mosquitoes! :o)

i picked her up from the city yesterday and brought her out to our little area ... we braved the weather to go out walking ... one of our stops was the local antique shop ... she loved it and educated me on the hidden treasures she found ... at a very reasonable price. .... as she handled an item, she would whisper its west coast worth to me ... her eyes would glow as she contemplated a purchase ... it was fun! ... i only wish we would have had more time ...

her visit was a breath of springtime during this prolonged period of cold ... just what my winter weary heart needed ...

sheep ...

i love this picture ... it almost looks like the sheep are being kept safe by invisible means ... even though there is a frosty storm overtaking the rest of the land, they are safe and secure ... totally at rest - not even aware of any danger ...

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
~John 10: 27-29

focus

at times it seems that everything works against a believer ... distracting us from the REAL task ahead ... i often stop and ask myself ... "will this matter in eternity?" ... that is my own personal checklist ... short, sweet and to the point ...

whatever may be bothering you today ... ask yourself, "will this matter in eternity?" ...

sunrise at 40 below ...

have you ever wondered what a sunrise at -40F/-40C looks like? take a gander at the picture above ... this was the view from our dining room window, first thing this morning ...

there was an eiry glow ... ice mist shrouded the frozen river ... cars drove slowly, with engines whining ... towns folk stoically went for their morning walks, bundled up - layer upon layer upon layer ... schools were cancelled ...

the beauty was there ... in such a breath-taking way ...

cold is peaceful too ... i mean, when was the last time you heard of eskimos wanting to do harm to mankind? or northern countries spoken of as dangerous melting pots?

cold like this is a forced rest to those of us that live on this tundra ... and for me, who needs to finish unpacking ... it was a very fine productive day!

and despite the frigid weather, i could still say " this is the day the Lord has made, i will rejoice and be glad in it! " ... maybe said with a wee bit of defiance!

ode to hibernation!

i have been hibernating!!! when it gets cold ... like -30C and even COLDER ... i hibernate ... a good book ... a warm blanket ... and a hot drink ...

this morning it was -38.5C when i got up ... brrrrrrrr ... i am SO thankful that we are in our condo ... it is cozy, toasty here ... the rental was quite drafty, and we just couldn't stay warm on really cold nights ... but here, we are quite content!

next week, my west coast sister is coming to visit ... um, i sure hope she doesn't freeze! they barely get snow in Victoria - and the grass is green all year round ... but the prairies dance to a different tune, played by jack frost ... and the frosty pipers ...

the cold makes me babble ... *grinning* ... did you notice?

anyway, nothing too terrible profound, just thought i would post - incase you wondered where i was!

just hibernating ...

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone,

and that's where I renew my springs that never dry up.

~Pearl Buck

in praise of small towns

our town has only a few thousand residents ... the surrounding cottage country adds thousands more in the summer ... but those of us who have been here for a while, have atleast face recognition of each other ...

yesterday, when my aunt and i were shopping, i was chatting with our local grocer (who had carried our bags to my car) ... i happened to mention that the shelving units i had ordered, were now waiting for me at the sears catalogue outlet ... immediately he asked how i was getting them home? i just told him the backseat went down in our car, and that was how we'd wrangle them in via the trunk ... oh no no no, he said, he would get them ... after a bit of back and forth (i heard The Voice whisper in my ear to allow someone to do the kindness they were offering to do) ... we agreed to meet after my aunt and i had finished shopping ...

about 45 minutes later, i went back to the grocery store ... when i found mr. grocer, he just said "all done" ... i was puzzled since i didn't think he knew my last name ... how could he get the order from Sears? ... well - somehow he had! ... and since all the business owners know each other, mr sears outlet knew it was ok to release my order to mr. grocer! ... then mr. grocer trucked the 2 heavy boxes to the condo ... he unloaded them by himself - not allowing leo to do anything but open the door! ... like he said, "all done" ... only in small towns, eh!

so yesterday we put the units together and i spent last night unpacking my books ... "my books" said with much love! ...

... contented sigh ...

it may turn nasty cold out there ... but condo central is starting to shape up and feels ever so much like home ... home, in our little town ...

It is summertime in my heart,
It is summertime in my heart;
Since Jesus saved me - New life He gave me -
Even in wintertime, it's summer in my heart!