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Archive for the ‘Gratitude’ Category

Happy Monday

Ah yes, April showers bring May flowers.

How about March showers
and hail and snow and rain
bring April’s flowers?

April is one of my favorite months.
Our family has so many April birthdays!
What was going on 9 months ago?

This month of March was filled with challenges.
March madness included our granddaughter, Faith,
who fell ill while vacationing in Switzerland.
“I’m a million times better” she says…
“today compared to yesterday.”
Yay! Answered prayers 👌🏽❤️🙏🏽

That’s my dear granddaughter in a hospital in Switzerland.
Please pray for Faithy…
She’s moving out of ICU and into a regular hospital room today.
Looking forward to continuing her vacation
with hubby, Kyle, 3-yr-old Mable, and Kyle’s mother.
They hope to visit our daughter, Faith’s Aunt DeDe, this week.
They currently are about 4 1/2 hours away.
God is so good!
This is an answer to more than I dared hope for!
I just was asking God to heal her enough
so she could safely fly home to California.
Auntie De will be so happy to see them
and meet Mable for the first time.

God is amazing, isn’t He?
He hears our prayers
and answers with even more than we dare ask!

Here’s my daughter, DeDe, in Switzerland.

I’ve always believed Mark 11:24

In it, we are reassured that God answers our prayers:
24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

But I didn’t ask God for Faith and family
to be able to resume their vacation.
I thought that would be asking too much.
I just wanted her to get well and be able to travel home safely.
Instead, Faith told us today that she expects
to be able to resume her Swiss travels.
Amazing!!

2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,
you may abound in every good work.”

What have you asked God for recently?
Has He answered your prayer?

Have you ever asked for something
and been given more than you requested?
Tell me about it!

And have a Happy Monday
and a Blessed April!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, Faith, Family, flowers, Giving, God, Gratitude, Living in Christ's Family, Love, prayer, relationships

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See the Good

… and we can “Be the Good!” Live a life of gratitude – and never stop praying prayers of acknowledgement and thankfulness.

You are the epitome of good! God bless you!

Love, JanBeek ❤️

Category:

Belief, Faith, Gratitude, Living in Harmony, Love, optimism, prayer

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Happy Dec. Birthday

December birthdays shared with Christmas and New Years celebrations often are slighted, but not Bob’s!

Bob was treated royally by Brother Bruce, his wife, Ann, and their son, Nephew Matt & his wife, Sarah.
He may not look delighted here, but he was!

We started our day with the former pastor of this church in Ceres, Brent Mitchell. Sooo good to see him. Then we attended service and saw old friends at Harvest Presbyterian in Ceres, CA. Pastor Jim Stochl gave a delightful sermon.

Then we met friends at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. So good to see Isy & Dick again. And the wait staff sang to Bob & gave him an ice cream treat. Happy 86th, Bobby Bee!!
And a Happy New Year to you all. God bless you!

Love, JanBeek

Category:

Aging Gracefully, blessings, Family, friendship, Gratitude, holidays, Love, relationships

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Sending C’mas Love

How are you creative?

God

created me

Unique and creative

You are creative too

Blessings

Our extended Beekman family
Cosette with her YaYa
Us with Ty; Laina w GoGo
Our granddaughter, Faith & her hubby, Kyle
Our daughter, De’s Swiss scene

And a creative, blessed, Christmas to you & your loved ones, too!

Category:

blessings, Christmas, Faith, Family, Gratitude, holidays, Love, relationships

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Dec. 13 Word of the Day

Happy Friday the 13th to you!
Using the prompts from @sanctifiedart,
I am enjoying the opportunity to share
the “Words for the Beginning”
each day with you during this Advent season.

Today’s Word is:

When I put the prompt in AI, it generated the word above.
What image would you display if you were depicting enough?
Here is my choice:

Bob Perks wrote that poem
Unfortunately, he often doesn’t get credit for it.
He has a book by the same title,
but it is no longer in print.
I love this poem… and Bob Perks!

Several others have used his theme
and written their own “Enough” poems.
Here is another.

This poem was posted on New Years Eve 2013
Posted by blogger, Doina , at 11:11 PM 

I want to join the bloggers who are wishing you enough.
May you live with a sense of “Enough” by:
1. Counting your blessings
2. Knowing you have more than 99.9% of all the folks on earth
3. Focusing on your can’s, not your can’ts
4. Appreciating your HAVEs and not worrying about the HAVE NOTs
5. Reaching out in love to those who have less
6. Prioritizing your needs – and allowing your faith to guide you

My office used to look a little like this:

Obviously I had more than enough “stuff.”
Getting rid of the excess,
Clearing out the clutter
Helped me receive that sense of ENOUGH.

My desk will never look as clean as these:

If I had to maintain that level of cleanliness,
I would be fired in a nano-second!
So, there is a middle ground on this sense of “enough.”
God does bless us with “stuff.” It’s not all bad.
But the key is moderation, don’t you think?

Share what you have. Reach out to those without.
God will bless your generosity.
Ask for what you need. That’s okay!!
And remember, YOU are enough, too!!

If you have “enough,”
make your requests
on behalf of others’ needs!

God bless you, dear blogging friends.
May this be a day of “Enoughness” for you.
Friday the 13th can be your lucky day!

See ya tomorrow
with another
“Word of the Day.”

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, God, Gratitude, Love, optimism, Poetry, prayer

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Dec. 12 Word of the Day

Happy Thursday to you!
Using the prompts from @sanctifiedart,
I am enjoying the opportunity to share
the “Words for the Beginning”
each day with you during this Advent season.

Today’s Word is:

When you think of that word,
what picture comes to mind?
I asked AI to generate a picture
and this is what they sent:

I was happy to see AI’s first response
was people connecting, not some mechanisms!

I imagine the image below
is not the kind of connection that
@sanctifiedart envisioned when they
selected CONNECTION for
today’s Word.

When I think of connection,
I think about social media
and about telephone connections
and about the way we feel
when we maintain
long-distance relationships.

Media type connections
can be a blessings
or
they can be a curse.

When we see people
ignoring their companions-at-hand
while they keep their focus on their cell phones,
it feels like such a waste!


For me to make connections
that really matter,
connections that last over time
and that satisfy my heartfelt needs,
I need physical contact.
I need hugs.
I need face-to-face.
I need kisses.

How about you??

What images does that word
CONNECTION
conjure up for you?

What connection in your life
fills your heart with
love
hope
and
joy?

Besides my dear husband
with whom I will celebrate
63 years next February,
the other vital connection
is described in
this scripture:

I imagine myself as a
Child of God,
reaching out constantly
to connect with God.

My fingers grasp His Hand
just like a little child
reaching for his or her father.
My connection to God,
my Heavenly Father,
is my most important
CONNECTION.

WHAT’S YOURS?

See you tomorrow
with the next Word of the Day.
Thanks for visiting
JanBeek
and following along.
I appreciate my connection with YOU!

God bless you!!

Category:

Bible Lessons, blogging, Faith, friendship, God, Gratitude, Living in Harmony, Love, relationships

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Giving Thanks

“Giving thanks always and for everything
to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Eph. 5:20

In today’s devotional, “Mornings with Jesus,”
Isabella Campolattaro wrote about her son, Isaac.
She said he “embodies an attitude of gratitude.”

I want to do that!

Isabella wrote, “My gratitude is practiced and deliberate.”

In contrast her son, Isaac’s, is not!
He just “accepts and enjoys what is
without questioning, comparing, assessing, or projecting.”

I want to be more like Isaac. How about you?

Let’s live with that attitude of receiving all our many blessings
as “good” and “plenty”
and give back out of our abundance.

You with me?

Have a blessed week, my friends.

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, Giving, Gratitude, Love, optimism

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Family Time

Thanksgiving is coming here in the USA.
It’s a time to especially thank God for:

Your children and their father,
Your dear husband
who puts up with you every day
(or for you dads out there:
Thank God for the mother of your children
who puts up with you every day)
Are you fortunate to have a spouse and kids?

Thank God for your in-laws:
For your son-in-law
and your daughter-in-law,
And for their parents.
Are you fortunate enough to have
a good relationship with you in-law’s parents?

We are blessed to have this
sweet, nutty, fun-loving daughter
in Switzerland. As we approach
Thanksgiving, we especially are
thankful that we had the strength
and the stamina to visit her this month!

If you have a child who
married someone from another country,
I hope you know the joy of being able
to travel to see him/her.

God is so good to bless us
with the ability to go to Switzerland.
We now are planning our Christmas trip
to spend time with our son, Ty, and
his family in California.
Thank you, dear Lord, for the
resources and the strength and the help
with choosing our flights
and being able to have that
Family Time.

C’mas 2020

That CA family has grown by two more
great-grandchildren since that photo.
It includes Bob & me with our son & his wife,
her parents, 3 of our grandchildren,
and one great-granddaughter, Cosette.
Family Time is so precious!

I pray that your holidays coming up
find you surrounded by loving family
and friends who are like “chosen family.”
God bless you!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, children, Christmas, Faith, Family, God, Gratitude, Love, relationships, Travel

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Reason to Celebrate

When you pray to God for a friend’s upcoming surgery and recovery and God responds by helping your friend to come through with flying colors, that’s definitely a reason to celebrate!

Daily writing prompt
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
View all responses

God is so good!

David is evidence of answered prayers.

Can you imagine how happy we all were when we could see David looking so chipper?

Having projects to complete definitely helps with the recovery process. Sign of success: yay!!


Our prayers for David’s successful life are on-going.


Who’s the first person who comes to YOUR mind
when you think of “Successful?”

What reason do YOU have to celebrate?
Love,
JanBeek

Cheers!!

Category:

blessings, children, Family, Gratitude, happiness, life, Life's Challenges, Love, relationships

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Prioritize

Today’s prompt asked me about my #1 priority for tomorrow. Why tomorrow? I need to live today first. Take each day as it comes! Carpe’ Diem!!

Daily writing prompt
What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?
View all responses

Ann Kaplow posted a blog today on the subject of aging.

Day 4288: Age

In her blog she wrote, “Age is a topic that adults of different ages often talk about in my therapy groups. We have so many preconceptions and judgments about age. For example, women aren’t supposed to share their age. Why not? I’m proud that I’ve reached the age of 71.”

She posted many quotes about aging. They got me thinking about that topic and how it relates to today’s prompt. Prioritize tomorrow? What about today? You’re one day older… How do you feel about it?

Do you look in the mirror and count your wrinkles?
Or do you wink at the mirror and thank God for another day?

I commented about aging on Ann’s blog. This is what I wrote:

“Aging is a gift not all humans are given. It’s a privilege to age along side my 85-year-old hubby. I’m only six months behind him. We will celebrate our 63rd anniversary this February (and there were nay-sayers who said it wouldn’t last!). I can honestly say we love one another more now than we did the day we were married. It’s a well worn, comfortable, endearing, respectful love. If you are given the gift of aging, unwrap it, flaunt it, appreciate each day, share your gained wisdom, and thank God for each sunrise-sunset. Life is a gift!”

The Lord promises His continued love and concern for the elderly. “I will be your God throughout your lifetime — until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you (Isaiah 46:4)

Thank God for this new day.
What is your number one priority for today?
Carpe’ Diem!

God bless you!
Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Aging Gracefully, Bible Lessons, blessings, blogging, Faith, Family, Gratitude, happiness, Life's Challenges, Love, mental health, optimism, relationships

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