One thousand, six hundred and sixty-eight pages of God’s Word….completed………one day at a time. This is my 7th time to read all the way through the Bible. I will begin again on January 1. Thank you, Lord, for making it possible. I do not claim that reading through the Bible is all I need to grow in the Lord; far from it. But for me it is a basic, fundamental foundation.

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:12

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16

When I’m tempted to quit I remember the verse in 2 Timothy above and ask myself; “Do I need teaching, do I need rebuking, do I need correcting, do I need training in righteousness?”  Yes. Back to the Bible.

‘Til He Shouts!

1 Thessalonians 4:16

……..Just stay home!
Yeah, actually those three words are my best advice about Christmas shopping. Trust me, I know these things! After sixty-three years of  marriage and the age that implies, I have tested all methods of Christmas shopping. Of course, that was before online shopping, which I love. Back to the subject.
I first published this blog December 2, 2013. This morning I realized I was beginning to have the same thoughts about Christmas shopping and suddenly remembered my own Excellent Advice. So here it is again.

I love numbers. After my husband served 6 years in military service; after 5 years of his undergraduate studies; after many years of his graduate studies; after 3 children, (all this time with 0 discretionary funds), I finally began to notice a singular truth about my shopping: If I went out of the house I would spend money! That’s it! It was as simple as that! To resist the urge to shop, I would make a cup of coffee, grab a cookie, and wait for the urge to pass….and it would pass. Yay! Just think how much money I saved today, I would think. Perhaps the thought of taking three little children along with my shopping trip had something to do with deciding to “…just stay home.” Maybe.

Fast forward to today with the convenience of online shopping at my fingertips. Remember I said that I love it. Well, I’ve learned something about that, too; If I fill out all the necessary information in the Shopping Cart…i.e. the mailing address, credit card number, on and on, I’ll probably make a mistake and have to delete the whole thing. I’m usually so aggravated and bored by that time, I go find something else more fun to do. Yay! Just think how much money I saved today.

Recently while shopping online at a fancy store website, I came to the final bottom line stating the cost, it was really low….yes LOW! I thought how can that be? I just ordered some expensive items, jackets, sweaters, etc. I pondered this for a while and decided to start over by going back to the home page of the store. Oh! I see it now….in big bold letters it read “EVERYTHING 70% OFF TODAY.” That answered my question and confirmed my growing suspicion that I am the world’s worst shopper. Yes, I started over and bought all the same things I wanted as before. Oops! I didn’t save any money that day.

You might also find it helpful to know that if you are traveling with all your children and you are on a tight budget……don’t stop the car……ever! It will cost you money if you do. I’ve tested that theory before, in fact, we’ve lived it. However, I’ll admit it is a little difficult if you are trying to get to Lubbock, Texas from Houston, Texas in one day. At last count it is almost 600 miles.

Friends, that is the extent of my shopping advice gleaned through hard-earned experience and a lot of fun. Get a cup of coffee and a cookie….and wait.

Merry Christmas, one and all. Praise Him as we celebrate His birthday. 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory,
the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

‘Till He Shouts!

A True Story!

While other women are totally occupied with Christmas shopping, cooking, gift wrapping, card writing……I’m sitting at the breakfast table (at 9:45 AM), sipping my hot tea and thinking about the time I killed a scorpion. Yes, I, not David, killed a household bug. I’m still proud.

It was a lot of years ago in Dallas and in the evening. David was at a meeting and all three kids were asleep in bed. Ahhhh! My time to enjoy a TV show of my choice.

However, my special time was interrupted when I noticed a big scorpion slowly walking across the living room floor directly in front of me. Horrors! For a few minutes I watched it make its slow progress. I knew that having my feet up on the sofa and ignoring it was not a solution. I had to kill it…..before it got away. Me? Double horrors! But I reasoned I had three little children, 4,2 and 1 to think about. What if the scorpion got away only to appear again among the Lincoln Logs as they played the next day?

After forever, I made my move. I rolled up a newspaper, slowly crept off the sofa, on the scorpion’s blind side, whacked it really hard, left the newspaper on top of it and jumped back on the sofa. Time passed as I fully expected it to come calmly walking out from under the newspaper, totally unhurt.

After another forever, I mustered the courage to move the newspaper. I had to know. Yay!  It was dead.  I had saved my children! I’m brave after all!

Finally I went back to enjoying my TV show when I noticed another movement on the floor in front of me near our fireplace. A big beetle was slowly walking across the floor right in front of me, heading toward the scorpion road-kill. He assessed the situation, then calmly broke off a piece of the scorpion, turned around and took it back to the fireplace where it had been hiding watching me being brave.

Over and over the beetle patiently walked to the scorpion, got a piece,and took it back to its lair. Back and forth, back and forth. I’ve often wondered if the beetle had planned the whole thing. I’ll never know. Now there was nothing left for David to clean up when he got home.

Good beetle!

P.S. I’ve been doing art things for a lot of years, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever sketched a scorpion or a beetle.

Merry Christmas!

Considering the serious and dangerous  nature of world conditions and those in our own country, I’ve been thinking about Bible prophecy lately.

Therefore I began to once again read the book of Daniel in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. I first began studying this glorious book over fifty (yes, 50) years ago. I was expecting our second child and determined to name him Daniel, if a boy baby was on the way. When he arrived we gave him the name Daniel as his middle name. Our son has brought honor to that name, I might add.

Many years later I was given the opportunity to teach the book of Daniel to a women’s Bible class at our church and was very excited and challenged by the opportunity. The summer before the class was to begin I spent fully three months of almost constant study preparing an eleven week series, with daily homework, which at the time was a popular format. I don’t recall ever working as hard as that before in my entire life, and I include the challenge of raising three children very close in age to one another.

A large class quickly formed and the day finally arrived to begin. The ladies were faithful in attendance week after week, eager to learn, and an all-around joy to teach. It continued for eight weeks when by orders from the church staff it was abruptly stopped by a situation caused by one man at the church.

It was a shocking and very disappointing event. Further,  I was not allowed to ask questions nor given an explanation.

The phrase and title of this blog, “The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways” is not found in the Bible, but holds truth, nevertheless.  I firmly believe in the sovereignty of God and that He works all things according to His own will, not mine. For a reason we may never know, the Lord wanted my husband and I to move on.

Ephesians 1:11 has sustained me in many difficult times throughout my life, and this was another opportunity to believe God’s Word.

“In Him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.”

My intention and motivation in writing this blog is to encourage you in difficult times. Trust Him. He has a plan; a far better one than you or I can imagine. And regardless of our plans, His plans will prevail.

‘Til He Shouts!