March 13, Today’s thought — God Asks

The Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is also to be feared above all gods.
I Chronicles 16:25

“Can anything make me stop loving you?” God asks.
Watch me speak your language,
sleep on your earth,
and feel your hurts.

Behold the maker of sight and sound
as he sneezes, coughs, and blows his nose.

You wonder if I understand how you feel?

Look into the dancing eyes of the kid in Nazareth;
that’s God walking to school.

Ponder the toddler at Mary’s table;
that’s God spilling his milk.

“You wonder how long my love will last?
Find your answer on a splintered cross, on a craggy hill.
That’s me you see up there,
your maker, your God, nail-stabbed and bleeding.
Covered in spit and sin-soaked.

That’s your sin I’m feeling.
That’s your death I’m dying.
That’s your resurrection I’m living.
That’s how much I love you.”

Max Lucado~~In the Grip of Grace

Accept God’s Love . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

March 2, Today’s thought — I Carry You

Good Morning

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand. Psalm 73:23

In the Old Testament,
when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place
once a  year to sprinkle the blood of the lamb
on the mercy sear to make atonement for sin,
he wore a breastplate that covered his heart and chest. . .
The breastplate was encrusted with twelve stones,
each one carved with one of the names of the tribes of Israel.
Wearing this breastplate signified
that when the high priest went into God’s presence,
he carried the names of God’s children on his heart.
The first of those stones was a carnelian.
And the last was a jasper
When John described the One Who sat on the throne,
he said He “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (Rev.4:3a).
A jasper was a clear stone, much like a diamond.
A carnelian, or sardus stone, had more the color oa a ruby . .
It is as though John was describing God saying,
even by the colors He wore,

“I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

I carry you by name on My Heart forever.”

When seated on the throne at the center of the universe,
preparing to judge the world.
Jesus gies you and me evidence we are on His heart!

Annie Grahm Lotz ~~The Vision of His Glory

Trust the one who loves you. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Yarn Along – Knit and Hearts

On Wednesday’s knitters go to Ginny’s to share all the wonderful projects being worked on, finished, frogged, cried over, and learned from. They also tell what they are reading and a little of the storyline or provoking thoughts. I think it is great. So many books, knitting ideas and hints on how to make knitting more enjoyable.

This week knitting along on Heather’s baby blanket
and Kathi’s shawl;
I’m seeing progress on both.
Then Valentine’s Day slipped in
and I got sidetracked knitting heart bookmarks for ‘heart’ ones.

My audible listening has been The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield. I enjoyed the book so much.
from Goodreads:

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise—she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story.

Both women will have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets… and the ghosts that haunt them still.

If you like stories with a twist in the ending, this one is for you.

Yarn Along – Focusing

On Wednesday’s knitters go to Ginny’s to share all the wonderful projects being worked on, finished, frogged, cried over, and learned from. They also tell what they are reading and a little of the storyline or provoking thoughts. I think it is great. So many books, knitting ideas and hints on how to make knitting more enjoyable.

Focused on these two projects this week:

This baby shawl, off the needles to see how it is growing.

Pretty, isn’t it?
Baby is arriving soon.

Buster is guarding this quilt,
blocks together, half of border on,
Lord willing, to the quilter this evening.

Listening to, again, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, I am fascinated by the twists and turns of this book.

Five Minute Friday – Afraid

“This is where a brave and beautiful bunch gather every week to find out what comes out when we all spend five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing ‘em over here.” With Lisa

‘Writing for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking’ but I always check the spelling ( I have blame my mother for that quirk.

Prompt – AFRAID

I have been afraid of trying most of my life. As a teenager I didn’t try things for fear of how I would look, whether I could do it right or do it good enough.
I backed myself in a box.
As I grew older I would learn a skill, then degrade my abilities because I didn’t do it as well as someone else.
Then I took a basic accounting class at a junior college.We had recently started a business and I needed to brush up on my high school bookkeeping. I was 38 years old.
I got A’s on almost all of my work.
I looked at those grades.
I knew how much effort I put forth.
It was not 100% by any means.
I realized,
I was putting the bar of accomplishment ‘way higher than it needed to be.
I could do my skills well.
I was able to do ‘A’ work, I had proof.
I didn’t have to knock myself out to do it, either.
I didn’t have to be afraid to try.
I just had to be brave enough to try.

stop

October 15, Today’s thought — Silent; Watching and Waiting

Grocery store violet – I like.

Good Morning

“Friends, when life gets really difficult,
don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.
Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what
Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process,
with glory just around the corner.”
(1 Peter 4:12-13. The Message).

Sometimes things can get so difficult that even the most ardent believers look heavenward with serious questions about whether or not God is involved in our affairs anymore. Even Jesus Himself cried out on the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Sometimes God pulls just far enough away to awaken and alarm us by His absence. Perhaps we may have grown so accustomed to His blessings and benefits, that we inadvertently began taking them for granted; failing to humbly acknowledge His presence and His provisions in our daily lives. Living presumptuously, without showing our gratitude to God for who He is and what He does.
Nothing snaps us out of that indifferent daze more quickly that a good dose of real difficulty, with a side order of God’s perceived absence. When all hell breaks loose, and heaven is no where to be found — that will get your attention!
But, God is not absent, nor is He distant. He’s just silent; watching and waiting for how we handle the situation. Will be bellow in unbelief like those who know not God at all? Or will we, like Job of old, trust Him though He slay us.
The truth is that the difficulty you are facing is a spiritual refining process; God is separating the gold from the dross in your life. And if you will quietly trust Him through the ordeal you will soon discover it was worth it all — for glory is just around the corner.  ~~Rylie

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Peter 4:12-13 KJV

October 11, Today’s thought – Without Any Limit

Wild sunflowers,my sign that fall is near

Good Morning

“If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God…

And that He came into this world
and went to the cross of Calvary
and died for our sins
and rose again in order to justify us
and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven —

If you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction:

Namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives

– without any limit whatsoever.”

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Romans 12:1-2
I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren,
and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God,
to make a decisive dedication of your bodies
[presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God,
which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service
and spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age),
[fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude],
so that you may prove [for yourselves]
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God,
even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect
[in His sight for you]. Amplified Bible

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

August 9, Today’s thought — Jesus’ Hands

Sunflowers about 20 feet high, reaching for the sky!

Good Morning

And when he had thus spoken,
he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Luke 24:40

In the hands of Jesus there is certainty!
There is providence!
There is majesty!
The hands of Jesus are human hands.
They were once baby hands! Did not the angels from the realms of glory bid the shepherds to hasten to Bethlehem to behold those infant hands For the fulness of time had come. The pagan empires had unknowingly set the stage. This great moment of which the prophets had spoken and the psalmists had sung had arrived! A body had been prepared for Him to permit the Godhead to be veiled in flesh.
In the course of time those tiny hands became toiling hands. He who fashioned the stars toiled in a carpenter’s shed! His workmanship would be thorough.
“We are his workmanship.” cries Paul.
He knew!
Those hands that hewed rough timber into useful objects of beauty and usefulness had transformed him from a despot to a disciple motivated not by law but by love.
The hands of Jesus are generous hands–generous in tender care.
His hands were laid upon the little children in blessing when the stern disciples dared to drive them away.
His hands were generous in cleansing. He laid aside His robes and with His own hands He began to wash His disciples’ feet.
When Peter protested,
He replied, “Except I wash thee, thous hast no part with me.”
Those hands are even today at our disposal when we need cleansing.
The hands of Jesus are saving hands. The Bible describes every type of sin but declares that the Lord delivers from them all. His hands can save only because they are pierced hands.
The only things in heaven that man made are the five wounds which are born in His body. His wounded hands plead at the throne of grace for all who call upon the name of the Lord.
His saving hands are secure hands. Of all who come to Him, He said
“I will give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
They are able to hold secure for time and eternity all that we commit to Him. –from Streams in the Desert 2, Cowman

Trust God for your Day . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

July 5, Today’s thought — Leave the Edge

Have you seen the Farmer’s hat, yet?
He calls it his umbrella. Thanks, Dan.

Good Morning

So let us go on to grown-up teaching.
Let us not go back over the beginning lessons
we learned about Christ. Hebrews 6:1

I like the story of the little boy who fell out of bed.
When his Mom asked him what happened,
he answered,
“I don’t know. I guess I stayed too close to where I got in.”

Easy to do the same with our faith.
It’s tempting just to stay where we got in and never move.
Pick a time in the not-too-distant past.
A year or two ago.
Now ask yourself a few questions.
How does your prayer life today compare with then?
How about your giving?
Have the amount and the joy increased?
What about your church loyalty?
Can you tell you’ve grown?
And Bible study?
Are you learning to learn?. . .
Don’t make the mistake of the little boy.
Don’t stay too close to where you got in.
It’s risky resting on the edge.
When God Whispers Your Name – Max Lucado

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith toward God,   Hebrews 6:1

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Yarn Along, June 27 – KALs and Take A Longs

Knitting, reading, and Listening – Life is good.

Clue A of Wendy Knits Mystery KAL received on June 20. I was ready. Casting on, ripping off and casting on again. The first 8 rows of Summery Solstice Shawl completed. I liked it.

I liked it so much I had to try the shawl in ivory silk and wool. I know I can be obsessive compulsive at times. I hoping for a understated elegance with this shawl.

Since all but one of the projects I’m knitting I have sit with directions in front of me, I cast on another shawl of mindless garter stitch, I’m calling Muted Jazz. This is my to go project that I can knit on at stop lights, in parking lots, and at the Chiro’s.

I’m still listening to Inkspell by Cordila Funke and reading Driving Force by Dick Francis.

I get knitting and reading ideas by clicking here.

Wordless Wednesday — I’ll Share!

Being wordless isn’t for everyone….but we can try!

Check us out here.

May 10, Today’s thought — More Peace

On the west side of the house in front of the fireplace, a white climber.

Good Morning,

Peace I leave with you,

The Jewish form of salutation and benediction. A wish of peace among them is thus to be understood: May you prosper in body and soul, and enjoy every earthly and heavenly good!

my peace I give unto you:

Such tranquillity of soul, such uninterrupted happiness of mind, such everlasting friendship with God as I enjoy, may ye all enjoy! And such blessedness I bequeath unto you: it is my last, my best, my dying legacy.

not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

Not as the Jews, in empty wishes: not as the people of the world, in empty compliments. Their salutations and benedictions are generally matters of custom and polite ceremony, given without desire or design; but I mean what I say; what I wish you, that I will give you. To his followers Jesus gives peace, procures it, preserves it, and establishes it. He is the author, prince, promoter, and keeper of peace.

Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid.

Let not your heart shrink back through fear of any approaching evil. This is the proper meaning of the word. In a few hours ye will be most powerfully assaulted; but stand firm: – the evil will only fall upon me; and this evil will result in your comfort and salvation, and in the redemption of a lost world.

John 14:27, Clarke’s Commentary

Trust God for your day . . . Today
with my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Improving Your Skillset — 3KCBWDAY6

How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be?

From no knowledge to being able to teach others to knit and loving every stitch, every needle, every skein of yarn along the way.

I learned to crochet from my mother as a child, while watching her make a traditional granny square afghan, bright colors with black. I never really made anything, I could just do the stitches.
I made a shell stitch scarf for my husband when we were first married. Later a couple of large single granny square afghans, I don’t like to stitch little squares together. I tried afghan stitch making an afghan and adding cross-stitched pattern. for my girls I crocheted open-work ponchos.
I always wanted to learn to knit. I found an ‘I can learn to knit’ book, so step by step and picture by picture I learned the basics, English style.
I had seen Continental style and that was the way I wanted to knit. I didn’t know what the styles were called. I talked with an older knitter friend, and she showed me how to start. So I just kind of put together a way to knit — leaving me knitting with twisted stitches. I didn’t know that either.
I made a hooded poncho and a sweater, a baby sack …sock hats with long skinny ends. We called them elephant hats, because when you bent over the hat tails fell down looking like elephant trunks.
THEN………I started reading (collecting) knitting books,and all kinds of needles, wood, bamboo, metal, plastic, glass, round, square, straights, double pointed and circulars and Y A R N!

I began reading, following the pictures, and step by step perfecting the little I knew.

I mainly used a yarn like Lion’s Homespun. I was afraid of my stitches, afraid I was doing them wrong, afraid of what they looked like. I kept on knitting. I don’t know how many round afghans I knitted from Homespun.

If someone would ask me ‘do you knit?,’
I would always say, oh kind of, or just a little; always comparing myself with other knitters. Then one day I realized, I KNIT! Not as good as some, not as competent as others, but I knitted the best I could.

My mom bought me this book and I began to work my way through it. Some patterns I couldn’t figure out because of my twisted stitches. I have a bag full of 4×4 inch squares of samples. Now I use the pattern book to make washcloths, still trying new patterns.

I learned how to knit without twisting, how the stitches sit on the needles and what it means, and how to pick up drop stitches.
I have tried and love knitting lace and have made 6 shawls. I’ve made soxs.

Most times I have either a Wallaby or a Zimmermann’s baby surprise jacket on my needles.

Oh…..and I LOVE stitch definition.

Knitting,  being able to read the stitches, listening to the rhythm of the needles is like another language.  I’ve become bi-lingual!

Being Honest

My friend commented  on Adjusting to Change:

“Oh my…this is huge! Not impossible, but huge! . . .”

Today

Right now this seems hugely impossible!!!!
I ate my way through thanksgiving as normal, smaller portions though…..now to start again
UGH! It seems like such a mountain and I’m not even sure I want to climb it.
Gird up my mind, thinking again why I started in the first place,

Was it just an  impluse?

Was it to please someone?

Do I really believe there is value in this change?

Is this what I need to face? instead of hoping things will change without me doing anything different?  Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

And then I hear:

O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.     Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.    Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,     And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.   Daniel 10:11-12, 18-19

Why is this so very hard?

I went looking for a picture of climbing a mountain and stumbled across this essay I used as a e-mail post a long time ago.

I TRIED TO CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN TODAY.

I tried to climb the mountain today. As I inched my way up the path, I felt overwhelmed, so I had to turn back.

I tried to climb the mountain today. On my journey, darkness started to fall, and I was full of fear, so I had to return to a safe place.

I was ready to climb the mountain today. But it was so hot outside, I thought I better stay in my nice air-conditioned house and rest up for tomorrow’s attempt.

I was about to climb the mountain today. But I had so many other things to do, so instead of climbing the mountain I took care of much more important tasks. I washed my car, mowed the grass and watched the big game. Today the mountain will just have to wait.

I was going to climb the mountain today. But as I stared at the mountain in it’s majestic beauty, I knew I stood no chance of making it to the top, so I figured why even bother trying.

I have forgotten about climbing the mountain today; until a friend came by and asked me what I was up to lately. I told him I was thinking about climbing that mountain some day. I went on and on about how I was going to accomplish this task.

Finally, he said, “I just got back from climbing the mountain. For the longest time I told myself I was trying to climb the mountain but never made any progress. I almost let the dream of making it to the top die. I came up with every excuse of why I could not make it up the mountain, but never once did I give myself a reason why I could.

One day as I stared at the mountain and pondered, I realized that if I didn’t make an attempt at this dream all my dreams will eventually die.”

“The next morning, I started my climb.” He continued, “It was not easy, and at times I wanted to quit. But no matter what I faced, I placed one foot in front of the other, keeping a steady pace. When the wind tried to blow me over the edge, I kept walking. When the voices inside my head screamed “stop!” I focused on my goal never letting it out of sight, and I kept moving forward. At times, I was ready to quit, but I knew I had come too far. Time and time again, I reassured myself that I was going to finish this journey. I struggled to make it to the top, but I climbed the mountain!”

“I have to be going,” my friend said. “Tomorrow is a new day to accomplish more dreams. By the way, what are you going to do tomorrow?”

I looked at him, with intensity and confidence in my eyes, and said, “I have a mountain to climb.” – Gary Barnes

Then I found my picture with this ………..

The Mountain   Author: Jim Stovall

There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.

The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountain. They didn’t know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn’t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain.

Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.

The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet.

Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.

As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn’t figured out how to climb.

And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be?

One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?”
She shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t your baby.”

sighs……heartache……….tears……….

but I can’t say I’m starting the climb………………yet.

 

On my mind – Finishing

On Friday DOWN TO EARTH shares what’s on her mind and
asks what’s on your mind?

This quilt is ‘on my mind.’

I pieced  this flannel quilt for my great-niece, McKenna.

My  goal for today: bind McKenna’s quilt.

Auntie Em did the beautiful quilting.

Postscript – Friday, 8:40pm, PDST   —   DONE!