God's Word for Today

Thursday, August 27, 2009

A Second Chance

 

IMG_0001

Being the undisciplined person that I am I have faced the reality that unless I am in some from of in-depth bible study my time spent delving into Gods word is sorely neglected. I may be randomly diligent (being honest here, this middle school getting on the bus at 8:40 am is killing me) in my morning quiet/prayer time. I may read the daily scriptures from my ever faithful and much loved “Streams in the Desert”, but this does not fulfill the instructions that God gives me when he tells me to:

DT 11:18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

I have just started a 32 week Disciple Bible Study. In one of my previous post I shared about finding some much love photo’s of my children, however I would not have come upon them if I had not been on a search of one of my favorite highlighters. Proper bible study requires the proper tools! I sadly did not find my favorite highlighter so I borrowed stole my DD’s from her bible.

This study will focus on The Prophets and the Letters of Paul. I have actualy taken this study once before. Being the memory challenged individual that I am I had to go and pull out my previous manual in search of the date of the study, my how time files.

I last took it in 1998, eleven years ago…WOW! is all I can say.

My son was nine and my daughter was three!

Sadly I allowed my human tendencies, my groaning and grumbling to surround me with a cloud of discontent. To say that this study at that time was a negative experience for me was putting in mildly.

I have grown so much since then. I now can approach this new opportunity with fresh perspective and with the renewed energy to really seek what it is that God wants me to finally learn this time.

This week’s readings were Lamentations and Deuteronomy.

I am a bit of an odd duck as I love the Old Testament. It gives me great hope to know that God, the perfect parent, struggled for centuries with his rebellious children and yet he never lost hope or gave up on his beloved people.

It puts things in perspective for me when I do not understand why things happen in the life of my rebellious one.

But I digress… what really spoke to me in this weeks readings was the very clear picture of God’s character.

God is who He says He is and ...God does what He says He is going to do. (I think this is Beth Moore???)

God was very clear in his instruction to the Israelites as they were about to enter into the promise land. He lays it out for them in a very detailed and vivid picture of exactly what would happen.

He gives them the pros and the con of the situation.

If you obey me I will…

If you do not obey me I will…

This mental image of God’s character came into sharp focus the more I read.

As believer in Christ we are no longer hindered by the burden of the Old Testament Laws.

But here’s the thing, what really spoke to me was the underlying concept.

When I choose to live outside of God’s good and pleasing will I am cutting myself off from the blessing of God. On the flip side when I either deliberately or at times even without thinking step out of God’s will and enter into a situation that is contrary to God and the guidelines he has established, well it brings with it a myriad of negative and unpleasant consequences.

Here’s a thought.

What would the economy or our nation look like if all the political officials, banking officials, all the powers that be had been living their lives in right relationship with God?

When I choose to step outside the boundaries that God has put in place then I am walking in the world and the world only has one goal, which is to detour me from walking with God.

God’s words are so very clear…

DT 11:26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

DT 4:39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

And this was just week one,

I have to give God a huge praise for orchestrating my time and my directing my path to this study at this moment.

Blessings

Robin

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

To enter the giveaway leave me a comment this post today or on this post.

If you would like more information about the giveaway click on the button below to find all about it!

I won you win giveaway grab button

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Outdoor Wednesday #33

 

Join me for Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Southern Daydreamer

Not much in the back yard is still blooming with the summer heat but my Gerber Daisy's are still faithfully holding there head up, that is when I don’t forget to water them!

IMG_0014 IMG_0010

Before…a little parched don’t ya think!!!

IMG_0017

It’s amazing how quickly they recover!

Very happy after a nice long drink!

 IMG_0018

IMG_0020

 

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

To enter the giveaway leave me a comment this post today or on this post.

If you would like more information about the giveaway click on the button below to find all about it!

I won you win giveaway grab button

Blessings

Robin

Monday, August 24, 2009

Downgrading to a B…

I got an email from on of my wonderful blogging pals telling me that one of my posts was gone.

I thought surely that can’t be.

Did it fall into a black hole?? Did a mysterious serial blogger hack into my system and hit the delete button…

Well I figured out what happen!!!

In the past weeks I have been working with Windows Live Writer.

I am still pleased with the over all ease of this program but there are a few small issues that I will put out there.

It does not have a “save as” function, at least not that I have found.

With that said I will lament about loosing an entire post, Finally Finished, about a recently finished Prayer Shawl. When I pulled out this previously published post and tried to use part of that post for a new post.

I thought I could just alter the title and then change the text and save it as a new post.

But no…so I lost an entire post.

I love the editing features available for adding pictures, but you can only edit one picture at a time. You have to individually add the watermark to each picture as well as select borders and other attributes individually for each picture. It would be so much easier if you could select all the pictures and then make the selections for borders, add watermarks all at once rather that one at a time.

I do like the feature it has built in regarding hyperlinks to other blogs. When I type in My Hands His Glory it will automatically remembers the associated link for that text. Way cool I really like this function.

So remember if you are using Windows Live Writer use the cut and past function if you want to borrow from a previous post, because it will not save as!

Lesson learned and one post lost.

Bummer

Blessings

Robin

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

Leave me a comment this post today or on this post or click on the button below to find out more about the giveaway!!

I won you win giveaway grab button

Four and Five

It happens very unexpectedly.

I was cleaning out an old bible case and I come across this…

Devin 1993 

Every mom has them, those precious photos that have been tucked away in the pages of your bible, memories that you want to keep close to you as you pray or just a sweet face that you want to hold close to your heart.

These pictures had been long hidden, tucked away in that old bible case for a very very,very,very long time.

Skoots1mom and I were enjoying an ice coffee after our workout this morning. I pulled these photograph out to show her. We sat and looked at the sweet faces of my babies who are now 20 and 14.

Y’all my children are no longer babies.

This precious face, he was four years old. I remember this day. He was enjoying himself at a birthday party of one of his friends from church.

Y’all just look at those curls and that sweet smile!

My son commented to me some time ago that he had read my blog from time to time. Well if you are reading this one my sweetness, when I think about being a mom this is the face I see in my head.

Your sweet face, your bright blue eyes and those curls. That’s what I see!

I loved you then and I love you now!

Not far behind the picture above I found this one.

She would have been five years old. I have this image in my head of her playing in the fountain just outside of Ariel's Grotto.

We patiently waited, in five year old time it was forever, to have this picture made. Logan & Little Mermaide

For me it was just yesterday!

Motherhood, it brings you great joy and breaks your heart all at the same time!

Blessing

Robin A.K.A Kicking and Screaming all the way down Memory Lane!

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

Leave me a comment this post today or on this post or click on the button below to find out more about the giveaway!!

I won you win giveaway grab button-1

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Finally Finished

Due to a slightly annoying snafu with Windows Live Writer I inadvertently deleted this post. So I have just added the pictures back.

 

IMG_0008

IMG_0011

IMG_0012

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wordless Wednesday…Buster 101: The New Version of "Where's Waldo?"...I mean "Where's Buster?" and a question.

IMG_0001

Is this wrong? My Bad!

IMG_0004

Blessings

Robin A.K.A Still amazed that there is a dog in my house!!

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

Leave me a comment on this post or click on the button below to find out more about the giveaway!!

I won you win giveaway grab button-1

Good Luck!!

For more Wordless Wednesday’s go here.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Vocabulary Lesson…

vociferous

Huguenots

hostel

cuisses

doublet

Gascon

Bearn

vade mecum

hostler

aiguillettes

portmanteau

 

I had to look most of them up, my brain hurts, and this is in just the first five pages!

 

Can y’all guess what I'm reading now?

Blessings

Robin

 

And don’t forget my giveaway!!!

Leave me a comment on this post or click on the button

below to find out more about the giveaway!!

I won you win giveaway grab button-1

 

Good Luck!!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Announcing the “I won…You Win Giveaway!!!”

I won you win giveaway

Several weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a book giveaway from Mocha with Linda.

Click here to read her post about this book!

As I finished the book up the other day I began to think about the two women the story centers around.

The story begins with two pen pals in elementary school and they continue with there friendship for many, many years through letters and emails, but they have never actually met, not until things change for the main character. Her life takes an unexpected turn and she finds herself face to face with her long time pen pal.

I began to think of the similarities between the two women in the book and all of you, my fellow bloggers.

As members of this unique internet community we enter into each other lives as we read each others posts, as we comment, share encouraging words or just a well needed giggle now and then.

But what I enjoyed as I read this book was the depiction of the friendship these two women shared. They had been intimately involved in each other lives but had never been in the same room with each other, never shared a cup of coffee over the kitchen table, never wept in each other arms. Yet they still shared in the deep bonds of friendship.

The relationship the two women in this book have is a real friendship, as real as friendships get.

I found the simulates between the book and the blogosphere to almost mirror each other.

So here is my idea for the “I Won…You Win Giveaway!”

To enter the giveaway is very simple, just leave me a comment.

The giveaway will be open until the end of August. All comments posted on this post and any of my posts from now until the end of the month will be entered into the drawing.

Simple enough.

But wait there is more.

The idea for “I Won…You Win” is two fold.

Once a winner is chosen I will send the book out into the blogosphere.

My hope is that whoever wins it will keep the “I Won…You Win” giveaway going.

The second requirement is once you have finished the book place your blog address on the inside cover, as well as the date you finished the book and then continue the “I Won…You Win” Giveaway on your blog.

Link back to me in you giveaway let’s see where this takes us.

I also want to encourage everyone who reads the book to  mark your favorite chapter in the book with a note in the margin telling future readers why you enjoyed the chapter. Use your imagination, tuck a special note in the pages or a pretty bookmark, but put “yourself” somewhere in the pages of the book.

I am so excited to send this out into the blogosphere.

Let the giveaway begin!

In closing let me just say that I have achieved new levels of frustration and head banging as I struggle for nearly two days trying to figure out how to grab the code for a “Link to this Blog” button.

I think I have it correct.

I can’t tell if I am proud of myself for figuring it out or just obsessed enough to keep trying until out of shear dumb luck I held my mouth right and all the planets aligned and it just happened.

But in any event here is the code (I hope it works) to paste on your blog.

Grab the code below and put this button on your blog let see where this give away takes us!

Be Still and Know

Blessings

Robin

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

at the pool…

If you read my post yesterday you were given a riveting report on my humiliation during my morning workout. I am happy to report that Twiggy and Skull Girl were no where to be seen this morning which brought great joy to my heart as I stepped upon the treadmill.

In an effort to keep things from becoming boring, I don’t know about y’all but I know my favorite thing to do is watch myself sweat in a mirror for thirty minutes each day, skoots1mom and I decided that we would take a dip in the pool this morning after our workout!

at the pool 8-12-2009 5

I took these pictures with my phone, so the quality is not the best.

But what I wanted to share with all y’all was how wonderful it was to step into the cool water after a long and strenuous workout.

I was hot, tired, still a bit sweaty and my muscles were a bit whinny. I put one foot in and then the other!

The water was perfect.

It was the exact right temperature, not to cold but just cool enough that you could just ease yourself down into the water in one fluid movement.

Perfection comes to mind.

I let the refreshing feel of the coolness of the water just fill up around me. I floated for a while and then did a few easy laps back and forth. I bounced around a while and let the water swoosh around me…

It was the best thing I have done in a long time.

To make things even better skoot1mom and I had the entire pool all to ourselves.

Now don’t get me wrong I love watching the little ones frolic and splash about, but there is just something about the serenity of enjoying a cool peaceful “float about” in a calm blue pool.

As I stepped out of the water and made my way back to our table and wrapped myself up in my towel I looked at the small puddles that my feet made on the concrete, it made me think of the wonderful poem about Jesus and the footprints in the sand. at the pool 8-12-2009 1

I just sat and let the quiet of the moment wash over me. All I cold hear was the chirping of the birds, the breeze through the trees, a small dog in the distance and skoots1mom  splashing about as she swam.at the pool 8-12-2009 2Here s a picture of Ester Williams skoot1mom as she enjoys a bit of a “float about” in the pool!at the pool 8-12-2009 6

I hope that as the summer winds to a close and the scurry and bustle of school and fall activities invade you will all get to have a moment of peace and serenity!

It was good y’all! and I needed something good after yesterday!

God is GOOD!

Blessings

Robin

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

What did y’all do this morning???

If you have been keeping up with skoots1mom over at My Hands…His Glory you know that she and I have been working out.

She has a small workout room set up in her basement and I have a workout room down at the clubhouse in our subdivision. We have been alternating. This week we are at my clubhouse.

This morning as I made my way down to the workout room, skoots1mom was running a bit behind so I headed in and started my workout without her.

It was a busy morning at the old workout room. Just after I arrived three other people showed up. One gentleman quietly listened to his iPod as he did the weight machine, no big deal. However as I finished up my weight work in came two teenage girls. Girl A, who I will affectionately call Twiggy because she quite possible weighed in at maybe 90 pounds. Then there was Girl B, also a tiny slip of a thing, had on black sweats with three white glitter skeleton heads across the seat of her pants and a black tee shirt, so I will fondly refer to her as Skull Girl.

Now Twiggy immediately hopped on the elliptical and began bouncing away as Skull Girl did a few stretching exercises.

I think it was Twiggy who asked me if I would mind if they turned on their music. I looked at them in my most compassionate manner and pause ever so slightly from my free weights and said “Well..(brief pause again for effect) I guess so…” now this translated perfectly into what I really meant which was “Well No! I really don't want to listen to any head banging, punk rocking, teeny bopping music right now thank you very much!” and the music was quickly forgotten. My Bad???? That’s what iPod's are for people!

But I digress.

I had finished up my weight work and had moved over to one of the treadmills. Twiggy was bouncing along on the elliptical to my left and Skull Girl had finished up her stretching and had moved to the treadmill on my left.

It was a cardio sandwich y’all, and I was the big fat thick slice of 50 year old ham in-between the two skinny young pieces of tone, lean, smooth, fat free pita bread.

My joy was complete as the wall in front of the exercise equipment is lined with floor to ceiling mirrors so you can capture your every wiggle and jiggle in living color! Which by this time the “living color” of my face was beet red with rivers of dripping sweat pouring down.

I look to my left and Twiggy was yawning as she bounced along on the elliptical and Skull Girl was admiring her hair and turning her face from side to side to get a better view of her teenage radiance. Still not a drop of sweat for either Twiggy or Skull Girl. Twiggy may have actually taken a small nap as she bounced along on the elliptical. I did see her put her head down a few times. Skull Girl after she had sufficiently admired herself and finished adjusting her hair into a neat but still randomly messy pony tail began to run full tilt on the treadmill.

At this point as I watched Twiggy and Skull Girl effortlessly gliding, not sweating, fluffing their hair and admiring their full length radiance I decided that I had somehow been transported to an alternate universe of utter humiliation.

In a last ditch effort to avoid further humiliation, and because I was sweating so much that they were already sliding off my face, I simply removed my glasses and set them in the cup holder.

Instead of an crystal clear high definition representation of my humiliation I could ease my pain with the reality that I can not see beyond my elbow without my glasses.

Twiggy and Skull Girl could have been running the Boston Marathon, fixing their hair for prom and doing their nails and thankfully it was all a blur to me.

As I huffed and puffed my way down to my last 5 minutes on the treadmill Skoots1mom arrived and then shortly there after Skull Girl and Twiggy left.

So 10 minutes on the elliptical before Twiggy and Skull Girl showed up.

Free weights, gotta fight that bone loss and flabby under arms!

30 minutes on the treadmill along with a huge side dose of humiliation.

I am wondering…do you think mental stress burns extra calories???

Sooooo…what did y’all do this morning!

Blessings

Robin

Monday, August 10, 2009

Change is a good thing…right???

I have a love hate relationship with the concept of change. I think if you are honest with yourself you will agree that a general rule we like things to stay the same.

I like change in some things.

I love the change of seasons (except for maybe winter) and I love changing things around in my house from time to time. I enjoy a new recipe every now and again from the same old same old dinner fair.

These changes seem to bring with them a refreshing perspective from what had become tired and everyday.

I even like to think of myself as a forward thinker, someone who is not stuck in a specific patterns of behavior.

To change things up a bit I put turnips in my pot roast the other night.

I had never fixed them before and hey ya just never know. (for future reference we will not be adding turnips to the pot roast again, not a good thing in my opinion) anyway I took a leap of faith with my small bag of turnips and now I know that I am not a huge fan of this root vegetable.

I have a point really I do, and it’s not about turnips.

There are some changes happening at my house of worship. For the past few weeks we have all been in the anticipatory stage awaiting the opening of our new wing. It has been under construction for what seems like forever.

Well yesterday was the open house.

The whole building was buzzing with activity. There were lots of changes not just in the new wing but lots of changes throughout the entire building.

There was a new information center in the Gathering Area as well as renovation down one of the main hallways.

It just felt different to me. Not only is the physical landscape of the facility changing but we will be changing our worship schedule as well.

Change…change…change…change….

As I stood in the gathering area looking at this new information desk I found that I’m not as flexible as I think that I am.

I had this internal dialog with myself.

Self I said “Where is the familiar sofa and chairs and the matching lamps and end tables???”

Self I said “I used to know where everything was, now I am not too sure I even know how to get to the parking lot from here!”

Self I said “I am going to stand here and pout until they bring my sofa an chairs back because they took my sofa and chair away and I have no where to sit and pout!”

Now while I was having this internal dialogue I also observed how excited all the youth were (my DD amongst them) as they headed down to their new space.

I also watched the saints of the church head in the direction of their long await “Gibson Hall” that will better accommodate the special needs for a group that is advancing in age as they are.

I was thankful that I was keeping my intern dialogue just that, internal!

Right now I am a bit overwhelmed by all the changes and all the “new things” (ISA 43:19) that are going on around “my house.”

It has been my sanctuary for 20 years and it will continue to be my sanctuary for many many more years to come.

Things have changed and I have to change with them.

I have to remember that to grow in Christ means to be in a constant state of transition. The process of sanctification, the process of growing in Christ means that I must set my “Well! We’ve never done it that way before” aside and realize that stuff changes!

I am breathing deeply and realizing that I am but a puff, a breath (PS 39:5) and that in the grand scheme of things the unfamiliar will become more familiar with each day.

And y’all the new space for the youth really is wonderful! They are going to love it!

Blessings

Robin A.K.A Big Old Fuddy Duddy In Disguise

 

ISA 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing!
  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
  and streams in the wasteland.

PS 39:5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
    Each man's life is but a breath.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

A Green Bean Story...

June 9, 2009
 
Once upon a time (58 days to be exact) a middle aged (hey a girl can dream can’t she) southern woman planted a packet of green bean seeds straight down the middle of her brand new raised garden bed!!!
IMG_0008
 
Each day she would venture,
each day she would walk,
to her small little patch,
longing for even the smallest of signs of life,
an inclining, a glimpse,
but not even a vine.
 
Day after day, she checked and she watched.
 
Day after day she hoped and she dreamed.
 

Saturday June 13, 2009
One bright sunny day,
as she checked her small plot,
per chance did she notice,
a small tiny green spot!
Her heart leapt for joy,
as she bent down,
down to the ground oh so low.

Her heart it was reeling with glee and delight
for what did she see,
but a tiny green  sprout,
that oh so quaintly poked its head out!
 
Saturday June 13, 2009
That evening,
she pondered and dreamed and rejoiced,
she cold not sit still,
so excited she was,
she journey outside,
to say just one more good night.
As she stepped a bit closer,
to say her good nights,
a tiny green sprout,
poked it leafy head out,
It popped up and proudly announced,
“If you don't mind I’m a bit parched, may I have a drink?… and could you move to the left a bit your standing in my light!”

The next day...
Sunday June 14, 2009
 
Each day they grew,
and they grew,
and they grew.
 
She wondered and pondered and dreamed,
and she hoped….


 

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Three days later….alas be still my faint heart!


Wednesday, June 16, 2009
They grew and they grew,
not just one but a few and a few.
  


Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Each day they grew taller,
their leaves they did swell.


Sunday, July 5, 2009
Alas they grew crowed,
they started to yell,
“What’s up with these cucumbers,
can you give them a pull!”
IMG_0005
 
Thursday, July  16, 2009
At last…at last!
The first blossoms appear!!
She jumped for joy!
She skipped and she danced,
and she wiggle her rear!
IMG_0002
July 28, 2009
“Hurray!! Hurray! Another day or two and they will be ready to pick!” she exclaimed!
IMG_0013 IMG_0009
 
IMG_0010  
To the grocery she went,
for some this,
and for some that,
her pantry she made ready for the final event!
 
August 1, 2009
 
The day had come,
she could wait not a minute more,
she fetched her handy basket and headed for the door.
She sat on the ground knee deep in her garden.
She could not believe her good fortune!
She picked and she plucked,
for over an hour (really more like ten minutes)
and then announced to all who would listen with glee,
“I picked me a mess a beans!
Come and see! Come and see!”
 IMG_0004
 IMG_0007
August 4, 2009
 
But wait, you may wonder,
why yes there is more.
A second harvest!
of green beans galore!
She gazed at her basket,
Tears of joy filled her eyes,
She sang like the town crier,
a pronouncement for all to hear,
“There will be a mess of beans on the table tonight for sure!!!!”
 
IMG_0022 

For all my faithful followers who have endured my endless rambling over my garden I gratefully submit the following video.

 

I have two regrets,

The first one is that you can not smell the aroma floating around in my kitchen as the beans cooked!

The second is that you can not pull up a chair and grab a fork and dig into this mess of beans along with me!!

IMG_0004

IMG_0007

 
Blessings


Robin

All Rights Reserved

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

Christian Women Online

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

Site Meter