My blogging friend, Donna, The Fathers Feet, posted this song today. I am going to sing it all day long. Listen, be inspired, and sing with me!
Give me a humble heart! Make me pure and true… Make me more like You!
🙏🏽❤️👍🏽
Melt my pride away…
Have a Marvelous Monday!
Hugs,
JanBeek
When have you waited?
Waiting well = watchful waiting.
We’re asked to do that!
Hurry up and wait:
The MOD of travel.
Relax! It is what it is.
We cannot change it.
Impatience doesn’t help it.
Waiting’s part of life.
Bob was asked to wait –
Prostate cancer diagnosed
A decade ago.
So watchful waiting
To see if the spot would grow:
Doctor’s instructions.
Don’t let it stop you!
Remember to keep living.
Remain positive.
Cryotherapy:
Therapeutic use of cold –
Froze all the prostate.
Don’t just cut it out!
Edges left can reproduce.
Freezing is the best.
Live to see your grands
Happily loving and wed.
Live while you’re living!
“Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14
Know living in joy
Is a choice we all can make
No matter the pain.
Find yourself suffering?
Wondering how long you’ll live?
Praise every morning!
Praise every sunrise.
Pray for memorable days.
Look back “greatfully”
Avoid naysayers.
Set aside the “If Onlys” –
Live while you’re livin’ !
Mike on honeymoon
With his sweet new bride, Tania,
Enjoy Italy!
All seven of us
Enjoyed fun times together.
Livin’ the good life!
We waited so well
For our trip to Switzerland.
God sure blesses us.
God blesses you, too.
He wants you to live the good life.
So pray and wait well.
Good things come to those
Who pray and believe in Life.
Believe and “Wait Well” !
What are you waiting for?
Love,
JanBeek
Are you flexible?
Enjoy the unexpected –
Invite surprises!
The unexpected
May feel like it’s hot water.
How do you react?
Find the surprises
That are positive in there.
Look for the blessings.
What unexpected
Things have you experienced
During this past year?
This 100 year old silo in Malta, Montana
is the source of our new wood floors.
Paul (standing on the top of the silo)
is repurposing the wood – one floor at a time.
He was scheduled to use some of the wood
to replace our wood floors last year.
Instead he fell, broke some ribs, and was
having massive headaches. Couldn’t work!
The unexpected fall caused the doctors
to take a good look at his head
to try and determine why the headaches.
The images showed a brain tumor!
If not for the fall, the tumor might not
have been discovered – at least not so soon.
After surgery successfully removed the tumor
and the ribs healed, Paul was able to work again.
We had seen the wood being installed
in the cabin of some friends nearby.
Bob fell in love with the character
of that 100 year old floor with the nail holes.
It was totally unexpected that we would
one day be enjoying that beauty in our home,
but it is done now – and Paul has totally recovered.
Count your blessings – they come in many forms!
“May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
Psalm 20:4 ESV
See how beautiful our floors look with
the warmth of the milk chocolate walls?
And it goes so well with the rug
we brought up from downstairs!
Tell me about an unexpected blessing
you have experienced recently.
It doubles our blessings
when we share them.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek
See ya tomorrow (God willing)
This is day #3 inside. There is a snow drift behind my car, too high and hard for Bob to shovel it (although he tried… and I yelled at him to STOP the whole time)! I am blessed that we have a car. We have a garage in which to keep it. I have a husband with good intentions (even if they are ill advised for this guy with congestive heart failure). So, yes, I am counting my blessings!
So, Bob finally stopped before he keeled over! I am glad he did so before he fell in the snow and I was unable to lift him up! The pickup is beside that snow drift. It is frozen. It was -20 degrees this morning!! We had in plugged in overnight into something that was supposed to allow it to start today. But that didn’t do it! Even our pickup is not perfect, right? But, I have called the local auto shop and they are sending a mechanic out who will start the pickup (at least I am praying he is able to do so).
It is time for us to get to the post office and see if the forms from the IRS are there. They are forms we need in order to fill out the application for help getting the medicine Bob needs for his heart problem. The form asks for something related to investment income for 2021. It’s time for the company to send us those tax-related forms!
Not true…
If you are fortunate enough
to have enough money
to invest some of it,
you may not always know
what those investments
are worth. It changes
with the winds of time!
But, having time is a gift.
Having enough money to pay someone
to come start your vehicle is a gift.
Having sense enough to stop
and come in out of the cold –
yup, that’s a gift, too.
Having a warm house to come in to –
that’s quite a blessing.
It’s so cold outside that the pipes
in my bathroom froze and I have
no cold water flowing in there.
But, I have warm/hot water!
Now, that’s a real gift!!
What blessings are you counting today?
Tell me one or two of them
so I can thank God
for blessing you, too.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek
and for leaving a comment.
You are a blessing to me!
Stay warm… and have a
Wonderful Wednesday!
Hugs,
Jan ;o)
Dressing for success
Means a lot of things to me
It’s more than clothing
Dressing for success
Means emerging peacefully
Clothed in righteousness
This lovely woman
Is dressed for certain success
Only needs a smile
Put on compassion
Don the right mood for your heart
Wear love on your sleeve
Put on your hope-pack
Wiggle into shoes of strength
Cinch the belt of truth
Wear armor of grace
And the bonnet of bounty
Trash the coat of wrath
Burn the clodhoppers
Of worry and of anger
Just dress for success
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from the gospel of peace.
Eight things to add to that list:
1. I have my health.
2. I have love.
3. I have faith.
4. I have trust in God who hears and answers prayers.
5. I have friends who faithfully join me in prayer.
6. My daughter-in-law, Monika had her gall bladder successfully removed and she is at home recuperating… dressed for comfort.
7. Her feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of faith.
8. I am blessed.
I am dressed for success.
Are you?
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.
See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Hugs!
Bloganuary #13 asked,
“What’s Your ideal day look like?”
Psalm 34:10b
“Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
Isaiah 26: 3-4
“Those of steadfast mind
You keep in peace—
because they trust in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord God
you have an everlasting rock.”
Romans 15:13
“Now may the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you will abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
And then I have
a good,
long,
restful
sleep-
zzzzzzz
My ideal day ends
with this peaceful music
and these beautiful scenes
(click on video/music below)
as I fall asleep
praying for you,
my friend.
Bee well!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek
See ya tomorrow (God willing)…
P.S.
We’re packing today
and heading back
toward Montana
tomorrow after two weeks
of recuperation time
from RSV
with our gracious,
kind,
generous
son and his wife.
God is good!
WordPress started a new program called Bloganuary each day they’ll give us a writing prompt. I’ll see if I can find inspiration in this new program – and share comments with some fellow bloggers I haven’t met before.
My 2021 blogs all began with my word for the year, “Embrace.” We had spent 2020 with the absence of hugs … and that was really hard for me. It was not difficult to think of a subject to embrace each day.
Now, let’s see what my life experience can do with these new daily prompts!
What Advice Would I Give to My Teenage Self?
I wrote a poem for my daughter, DeAna, when she was 19, married her sweetheart, André, and left us in CA to go live with him in his home country of Switzerland. My advice to her was wrapped up in this poem. It’s the same advice I would have given to my own teenage self:
I hope you are able to read that, dear blogging friends. And I hope you have been given (and can give in return) “Gifts Your Kids Can’t Break”
God bless you this New Year’s Day. May 2022 be a memorable year of many hugs and many blessings from Our Lord to you and your loved ones.
Please pray for my husband, Bob, who is in ER right now with congestive heart failure.
Love, JanBeek
Do you save some of the cards people send you?
Are you inspired by the things your friends and family say to and about you?
I have a bulletin board on the back of the door that leads to my laundry room.
Each year I save the birthday cards I receive and post them there.
If ever I feel myself moving into a funk, and I need a spirit lift,
just reading a few of those cards definitely raises me up!
In my sanctuary, I have a bookshelf with my collection of Bibles and various devotionals. On it, I have a card that my friend, Terry, sent to me several years ago. I see it every morning and it is a marvelous source of encouragement and inspiration. Living up to the sentiment it expresses, being the person this friend sees in me, are daily challenges – daily goals. You can see why I have saved and I embrace this card:
Last year when my dear friend, Phyllis, died, I inherited a bagful of cards she had kept during her last year of life. Living in the nursing home during COVID-19 when visitors were not allowed in, the cards were a lifeline to the outside world. Never underestimate the value of the card you take the time to select and send to a friend. They are more precious than gold!
I am going to select some of the most meaningful of these cards and send them to Phyllis’ daughter(s) … knowing their messages will live on in the hearts of my friends’ family members, just as they live on in my heart.
With Thanksgiving coming, that USA holiday dedicated to an attitude of gratitude for our many blessings, I went to the Family Dollar Store yesterday. For $1.00 apiece, I picked up a dozen beautiful cards with lovely sentiments. With precious family and friends in mind, I selected carefully. Today I wrote a personal note of appreciation on each, addressed, and stamped them. Bob took them to the post office. They are on their way to special people who make my life better – just because they are a part of my world.
Letter writing and card sending does not need to be a lost art. Cards can be expensive (those same ones would be between $2.50 and $4.95 at a stationery store). But, check out your local dollar store! Don’t let the expense deter you! Get a few cards today. Find some time to write a personal note to the people who make your life better. Send them off to brighten someone’s day. Let your light shine through your words and thoughtfulness! You never know, your cards may be keepers, too!
Embrace Cards.
Embrace the Expressions of Appreciation you receive from others.
Send yours out tomorrow…
Be the friend everyone wishes they had!
Let your light shine
all the way to
where your loved ones are…
There’s still time for your cards to be received by Thanksgiving!
Thanks for visiting.
Tell me – are you a card saver, too?
See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Love ya,
JanBeek
I dare you to listen to this song without smiling!!
He has made me glad!
This is the day the Lord has made,
And I rejoice with each breath.
I treasure each beautiful memory.
Memories are God’s gift to us.
Activities are life’s treasures.
Highlights are those that make us smile.
My highlights and Bob’s are different.
Ask him about his favorite time
During our three weeks away,
And he will not hesitate.
It’s the Swiss fighting cows!
(Actually, he corrected me:
Cows are in second place…
Family comes first – whew!)
Visiting Pipo, the Swiss cowboy,
And seeing his award-winning cows
Was a unique, memorable experience.
But it was not MY favorite!
As I have shared in prior posts,
It’s the people who rise to the top.
It’s the people who make me glad.
I will enter their pictures with thanksgiving in my heart:
First of all it’s family:
Our daughter and her husband
And his mom, dear Denise…
How blessed we are to have them in our lives!
Do you have family far away?
So far that it’s hard to see them often?
So far that you missed them during the COVID crisis?
But always in your heart, making you glad?
Of course, in our case, the scenery
Is a huge source of gladness.
DeAna married a Swiss, so we HAVE TO
Go there to visit as often as possible.
Being able to see our children
And spend time with our growing,
And maturing grandchildren
Is my greatest source of gladness.
Throw in the bonus of meeting up
With my cousin, Tommy, in London
And visiting with Derrick & Jackie in Downton,
And you have gladness on steroids!!
You’ve met some of the folks below already.
If you had a chance, and you could post
A picture of the folks who make you glad,
Who would they be?
These boys make my heart sing!!
Mike is our oldest. Here he is with his fiance’ Tania.
Tania gave us a walking tour of Sierre –
And they took us to brunch & to their apartment –
Along with Mike’s middle brother, Nick.
Nicky, the middle grandson, is such a sweetheart
And so is his girlfriend, Celine.
He & Mike created a spreadsheet of our daily activities –
And made sure we were taken care of!
Wouldn’t that make your heart glad?
Our youngest grandson, Chris, is busy –
Busy with his work and his schooling,
His girlfriend in Colombia, and also
His school’s extra-curricular activities.
We treasured the few times he was
Able to make time to be with us.
Here he is with his mom, our DeDe.
These two definitely make my heart glad.
Embrace gladness, dear friends.
Cherish the time you have with your loved ones.
Remember the days of joy and shared love;
Tuck them in your heart – and thank the Lord!
Take time to share your gladness.
This is the day the Lord has made,
So treasure it in your heart…
And sing with me, “He has made me glad!”
What or who makes your heart spill over with gladness?
See ya tomorrow (God willing) –
Love,
JanBeek
Hugs to You !!
Inspire to Love
Let the SonShine!
You inspire me to respond
Learning to Live; Living to Learn; Learning to Love; Living in Love
