Another day....

Today is a day that I have felt like crying all day. I am sure part of it is my age...ya know, peri-menopause. Oh, I hate to use that term. I have felt emotional all day! I have forced myself to "think happy thoughts", I have forced myself to "get up and get going", I have even forced my self to do some housework! Don even offered to go to the store to buy "crab" for dinner! that made me feel worse....crab for a crab for dinner didn't sound too appitizing!
Nothing has seemed to change my mood!
It has to be hormones!
I have nothing to complain about and everything to be thankful for!

Life and death on the same day

June 17,2009- Job 1:21b "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

Yesterday, in the morning, we received wonderful news that a friend had just delivered a baby girl.

What joyous occasion to celebrate life!

Yesterday, in the evening, we received sad news that our dear friend passed away.

What a sad thing, but yet joyous... because Victor is now celebrating eternal life!

Here is how we know Victor and Stacy.

Victor was in the hospital about a year and a half ago, Jan 2008, at Mayo. His fiancee(now wife), and her family stayed with us during that time. Our fellowship spent time at mayo getting to know Victor by praying and fellowshipping with them at the hospital Victor and Stacy got married last May. Then 6 weeks ago, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. On the 5th of June, Victor and Stacy came down and we spent a few hours visiting and praying. It was a beautiful time. The Holy Spirit moved as we prayed. I felt like it was a true old fashion prayer meeting. He went into the hospital on Sunday. Don and I went to go visit on Sunday. When we saw him on Sunday he was already on the BiPap, but he was still awake, alert, and talkative. We laughed and prayed with him. After we left, he continued to deteriorate and ended up on a ventilator. His last words to us were," pray that I can sleep.". I prayed, "May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace" . Victor smiled real big while shaking his head, and said, "Amen, Amen". God is shining upon him now and he is living peace in heaven!

This poem speaks of what Victor had said to us when he shared that,"all he wants is that people see Jesus in him".

September 4, 1998

As I near the "finish line"

in this body

I feel more and more

that I am to glorify him.

Whoever comes to visit me

will know

that I belong to Jesus

for he has redeemed me by

and through the cross.

When Jesus was in the

Garden of Gethsemane

Luke says,

"An angel from heaven

appeared to him

and strengthened him."

God continues to send

his angels

to strengthen me.

Marney Wilson Mathers , from "Walk On" copyright xulon press 2004.

With joy and sorrow I write this post.

Reason for celebrating my 31 st Second Birth!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 8:58am
Tomorrow, March 5,2008, I will be celebrating my 31st second birth. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior on March 5th, 1977. I am eternally grateful for God's rich mercy and grace that he has faithfully shown to me all these years.

I pray that all who read this poem will thank God for His most precious gift that He has freely and lovingly given to all who are willing to receive it.

JOHN 3:16the gospel

FOR GOD,

the Lord of earth and heaven,

SO LOVED,

an longed to see forgiven,

THE WORLD

in sin and pleasure mad,

THAT HE GAVE

the greatest gift He had-

HIS ONLY SON-

to take our place,

THAT WHOSOEVER-

O, what grace!-

BELIEVETH,

placing simple trust

IN HIM,

the righteous and the just,

SHOULD NOT PERISH,

lost in sin,

BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE

in Him.

Poem by Barbara C. Ryberg, "A Place of Springs", 1946

Contentment for Today

Friday, February 27, 2009

I was sitting here doing my Bible study, and today's topic was on contentment.
This passage of scripture jumped out at me,
"Blessed be the Lord,
who daily loads us with benefits,
the God of our salvation.
Selah" Psalm 68:19

As I was pondering this, the phrase "who daily loads us with benefits",made me think of what does it mean.
I compared it to:
loading a washing machine-putting in dirty laundry then it comes out clean.
loading my mouth with food-you gotta chew it to get the nutrients in to your system-yum, yum
loading my jeep with car seats-means I have "benefits' that sit in those seats!
loading my arms with groceries-means God is daily meeting my need.
loading my hubby with kisses-means he has to wash his face! ;)
loading other's comments on facebook-means I care enough to bug them.
loading my arm's with a bouquet of flowers- God's creation is to enjoy. Oh, the sweet smells!

Blessed be the Lord God Almighty!
His benfits come daily.
He is the God of our Salvation!
Praise His Name forever and ever.
Selah!

Twitter and such...

I was just musing about how our English language has evolved, or should I say how our language has changed based on media influences.

Love- used to be about people. Now it is about anything. How I love my house, my car, my clothes, my books.

Gay-used to be about happiness or laughter or joy. Now days you have to be very careful on how and when you use that word.

Twitter- even twitter,in which I am sure that it will be inducted into the latest addition of the World Dictionary, no longer means to be "Twitterpated" as Bambi had to learn.

But then again..

Bambi is fictious

World Dictionary is online and needs no "latest addition"

Twitter...well, I won't be Twitter-ing . But then again, not too long ago I wasn't a "MySpacer" or a "facebook-er" either.

As for "LOVE"- that will never change.

God is LOVE

God does love you

God will love forever

God's will will never fail

God's love cover's a multitude of sins

I John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but the He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is , so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this is the commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

Quote from Corrie Ten Boom

I am reading "Not Good if Detached" by Corrie Ten Boom.
In her chapter on Lonliness, she writes after she finds out that a women kills herself and her daughter shortly after Corrie had gone to visit the depressed woman. corries heart is grieved over the situationa nd wonders if there was anything else she could have done.

Here is what she writes.

"Is the devil victor? Poor woman, poor family.
A great darkness enters my heart. What sufering there is in the world. This is only a drop in the ocean of misery on this earth. Have I failed? Have I done wrong? I do not often weep, but now I cannot restrain the tears. Then I take the Book that gives comfort. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord. "Yes, I need not carry it myself. He has carried our sorrows. I unpack my mental suitcase in prayer, and pray for grace to travel further with it empty, and to leave my sorrows with Him. Then I read further, "Behold, I make all things new," says Jesus (Rev. 2:15). "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isa. 11:9). "God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes" (Rev. 21:4)"

I believe that Corrie's response is godly and encouraging. When sorrows have filled your mental suitcase, unpack it and allow God's Word to fill it with His grace to travel on.

Blogging, blogger, blogs, blog....

This morning is a great morning for catching up on my reading and reading blogs. I just found some friends blogs and more importantly some blogs from family members. I didn't know they had one and they didn't know that I do as well, especially since mine is very new.

I coold probablly read all day. It is such a new way of life. I recieve a newspaper, yes and actual physical newspaper each Wednesday. I find that it is far more inconvient to read. It takes up alot of space to even open it up, my fingers are covered in ink when I am done reading, it fills up my recycle bin, and half the stuff I don't really care to fill my mind with!

So....on with blogging, blogger, blogs, blog...
facebooking, facebooker, facebook, fb...

"In The Middle"

I Wrote this post on my MySpace account after spending time with Sylvie before she passed away on April 21,2008. Sylvie attended our church.

"In the Middle"
Life in the middle can be a difficult place.
The elderly are leaving.
The young are moving on.
Those in the middle, sometimes life seems to stand still.
I have spent the last 13 days in the hospital caring for a dear old lady who will soon be home with the Lord. Her life is precious to the Lord and yet she is most assuredly will be leaving earth for eternity with the Lord. During this time I have been blessed to be by her side.
On the other side of life, our children are growing in their marriages and families. What a blessed time for them.Life is rapidly changing for all of them.
For myself and my hubby, most often than not, it is just the two of us.....in the middle.
I am most thankful to my wonderful Savior who has, in his infinate wisdom. ...kept me in the middle.
Saturday April 12, 2008-by Theresa Rypstra

God's Creation
Today I have spent most of the day pondering God's Creation.

Do you know that He, the God of the Universe, created ALL things....

He created me.

He created my hubby.

He created the trees.

He created the seas.

He created birds.

He created words.

He created my pain.

He created my brain.

He created my joys.

He created my boys.

He created my girl.

He created the world to swirl.

He created me as art.He created my heart.

He created pleasure.

He created life's measure.

Oh, Praise Him!

Oh, Praise Him!

by trypstra 09/29/2008