Such a Beautiful Afternoon

Today was the day to honor graduates at church. A wonderful sermon was preached which was very applicable to everyone attending. After church I went out to eat at Logan's with my sister, brother-in-law and a family we're freinds with. The company and the food was really great. On the way home I stopped at Walgreens and just browsed. When I got home it was around 3pm.

I went next door to my mom's porch, with a book and an index card with the titles to my Scripture acrostics on it. This jogs my memory so I can recall all my current memory verses. As I expected my mom was taking a nap. I put my cell phone to my ear, so people wouldn't think I was talking to myself, and recited all my memory verses. I love to recite my memorized Scriptures to people but I look forward to times when I say them when I'm alone too. My sister says I seem to be a lot more positive now that I've memorized all these Scriptures. After I recited my memory Scriptures I read some of the last few chapters of Beth Moore's "So Long Insecurity". This is such a great book! My mom got up from her nap and walked to the porch. Then she said she wanted to read her George Foreman grill cookbook. We unpackaged the grill and went back to the porch. Mom read the book that came with the grill and I read my book. Then I recited some Scripture acrostics for Mom. I got some coffee. After mom went inside I finished reading my book which is due at the library tomorrow.

It was cloudy and overcast this morning. I'm happy it turned out to be such a beautiful spring day. The sun provided just enough warmth to make it enjoyable.

Nice Day but Would Like to Feel Better

When I was leaving my 9:30am appointment this morning my stomach started bothering me. I went and got something my doctor had recommended and it helped. After lunch it was bothering me again a little bit and I though some frozen yogurt would help things. The sugar free frozen yogurt was yummy.

Then I went to Marshall's and found such a cute skirt and scarf, all for about thirty dollars. At Albertson's I got lucky because my doctor had already called in a prescription I needed. I also found some baby cucumbers, which I like to make California Rolls with; they're really pickling cucumbers, but we'll see how they do in the sushi. I went to Books A Million. I love their "Dream by the Fire" hot tea, which I drank while looking at some books and a magazine. I also bought another one dollar book today-- "The Fall of Frost"; it looks like a good book. Next I went to Walmart for some grocery essentials.

I got home and the yellow and white cat greeted me. He has been hanging out at the apartments apparently nonstop. Yesterday the guy who was taking care of the grey cat paid for the cat's adoption ticket-- that is he paid for the cat to be spayed and for her shots, so if anyone wants to adopt her they can free of charge. This hopefully will lead to her finding a good home soon.

I'm glad to be back home with the groceries etc. put away. I wish my stomach get back to normal.

A Nice Saturday

I've been in a great mood today and I had a really nice day. Here's how my day started. I woke up at about 9:30 this morning and called my mom. She told me my sister, who lives out of town, had just pulled in the drive way.

I ate breakfast and got dressed. I had decided to dress up and put on nice make up. When I got to my mom's house, my sister and my mom were working on restoring a table, which was my sister's purpose for visiting today. I visited with them for a while and then told them that I wanted to go somewhere since I'd gotten dressed up.

I went to Books A Million and found a wonderful sale. I got six nice books for a dollar apiece, including a Silver Palate cookbook! The other books I got included a books about presidents, about presidents' mothers, cooking outdoors, caring for roses and a book that tells how introverts can thrive in an extrovert world. I bought my books and got some delicious vanilla almond tea to sip on while I read a magazine.

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and looked around. They have such pretty things there. I found some cream colored silk roses to go with some I already had. I made an arrangement with all the cream colored silk flowers and think it's really pretty. I put it on top of my chest of drawers in my bedroom.

I took a nice one mile walk late this evening and did my stretches. I'm looking forward to hearing a great preacher tomorrow at my sister's church.

Glowing Twilight

We got some much needed rain last night. The weather today has been nice and cool in comparison with the triple digit temperatures last week. There are things delightful about each season. The cool weather today whetted my appetite for brisk autumn weather.

I decided to go to the book store this evening. As I was driving home I noticed that it appeared half way between daylight and night and that there was such a pretty golden glow to everything. I didn't get any books today. I love books and buying new books always makes me happy. I can usually get access to any book that I want through the library though. I do have lots of books of my own. When I go to the library I wish I had a list to go by. I'd like to find some more mystery authors that I really like and I'm kind of picky. Most often in my free time at home I surf the internet and I don't even have television. Most of the time I really don't miss it. For some odd reason it's when I'm away from home that I tend to love perusing a book or magazine the most, unless it's a book so good that I can't put it down.

Am I Seeing What My Eyes Are Telling Me I'm Seeing

Rain is in the forecast. It rained for a little while this morning. The sun is shining now although it keeps getting overcast. Watching the nuances of the weather is so interesting. I was looking out the glass doors to my patio and I saw something, which I thought was probably a squirrel, climb to the top of the lattice. Then I thought, how can a small stuffed tiger toy be on top of the lattice? Then I saw that it was a squirrel from the side view.

Today I'm baking some bread with100% organic graham wheat. It smells so good and it's not even in the oven yet. There is a lot to baking bread but it's something I enjoy doing. This weekend my sister said she remembered watching me roll out bread dough and shape it into loaves and that I looked so cute.

My sister invited me to dinner Friday night and we ate ate a sushi restaurant, which was only my second time eating there. I decided to try the California rolls. The California rolls are great. Are they considered sushi? From there we went to the closing session of my sister's church's statewide women's conference. It was wonderful.

I was late for church yesterday and it really couldn't be helped. I didn't get to hear the youth choir sing. Our pastor's message was wonderful and really inspiring. It was about being Easter people in our everyday lives.

I've gotten a lot more in shape over the past two weeks, having worked out 8 of the last 14 days. Fitness is such a blessing. My back is kind of stiff though. I'll probably do some yoga. I've been wanting to be fit enough to do yoga. I like the "Yoga for Dummies" book. I like to do the first set of yoga for beginners, which takes only five or ten minutes and it makes my back feel so good.

Gratitude, Thanksgiving & Praise

Today as I walked into my parents home for our weekly Sunday morning Bible study, also with my sister and her family, I told Mom "I'm as happy as a little kid out of school for the summer". Why was I so happy? Because I was up and about this morning, instead of sleeping through noon, like I have for the past several days, and I knew that it wasn't soon going to be dark before my day really had a chance to get started good. I hadn't been in this kind of a rut any recently until this. Some medication I take makes me more prone to sleeping long hours, if I don't get regular exercise. I was sick for a few days and managed to hurt my foot twice. I'm very thankful I got well quickly. I love our family Bible study and it was wonderful to be back in church today.

I've been reading from E.M. Bounds Essentials of Prayer, which is so inspiring. Here are some excerpts from chapter four, "Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving" including a link to this chapter online, where you can also read the whole book at Christians' Classics Ethereal Library.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bounds/essentials.v.html

Excerpts:

Many are the causes for thanksgiving and praise. The Psalms are filled with many songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving, all pointing back to the results of prayer. Thanksgiving includes gratitude.

Thanksgiving is just what the word itself signifies—the giving of thanks to God. It is giving something to God in words which we feel at heart for blessings received. Gratitude arises from a contemplation of the goodness of God.

Answered prayers cause gratitude, and gratitude brings forth a love that declares it will not cease praying: “Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.” Gratitude and love move to larger and increased praying.

As prayer brings things to us which beget gratitude and thanksgiving, so praise and gratitude promote prayer, and induce more praying and better praying.
Gratitude and thanksgiving forever stand opposed to all murmurings at God’s dealings with us, and all complainings at our lot. Gratitude and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time. An unappreciative spirit has no standing beside gratitude and praise. And true prayer corrects complaining and promotes gratitude and thanksgiving.

The bane of the wilderness-journey of the Israelites on their way to Canaan was their proneness to murmur and complain against God and Moses. For this, God was several times greatly grieved, and it took the strong praying of Moses to avert God’s wrath because of these murmurings. The absence of gratitude left no room nor disposition for praise and thanksgiving, just as it is so always.

The spirit of praise was once the boast of the primitive Church. ...That this spirit of praise is sadly deficient in our present-day congregations must be evident to every careful observer. That it is a mighty force in projecting the Gospel, and its body of vital forces, must be equally evident.

Praise is so distinctly and definitely wedded to prayer, so inseparably joined, that they cannot be divorced. Praise is dependent on prayer for its full volume and its sweetest melody.

Giving thanks is the very life of prayer. It is its fragrance and music, its poetry and its crown. Prayer bringing the desired answer breaks out into praise and thanksgiving. So that whatever interferes with and injures the spirit of prayer necessarily hurts and dissipates the spirit of praise.

Where grace abounds, song abounds. When God is in the heart, heaven is present and melody is there, and the lips overflow out of the abundance of the heart.

The music of praise, for there is real music of soul in praise, is too hopeful and happy to be denied.

According to our special needs, so must our praying be. We are to be special and particular and bring to the knowledge of God by prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, our particular requests, the things we need, the things we greatly desire. And with it all, accompanying all these requests, there must be thanksgiving.
It is indeed a pleasing thought that what we are called upon to do on earth, to praise and give thanks...

Memory Scripture 3

The scriptures "siestas" individually selected in their favorite Bible version of the scripture, posted at the LPM blog, have been such a blessing to me!

Here is my scripture:

Hebrews 12:28-13:2 & 13:14-16, 20-21
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. …Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. …Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)

I'll be taking the the whole month of February to memorize all this scripture.

I participated in a January Bible study at my church on hospitality. It was a great Bible study! I've been reading one of the recommended books, "Making Room" by Christine D. Pohl., which is one of the most awesome books I've ever read. : )