Posts tagged ‘encouragement’
Shine Your Light!
In today’s sermon,
Elaine told a story of
A lighthouse keeper:
On a stormy night,
He climbed the rocks to the light;
Turned it on and fell.
He fell and he died
That night on the rocky hill
After doing his job.
A sailor that night
Saved his passengers and crew
Because of the light.
The lightkeeper died
So that others might be saved
From falls in darkness.
Elaine Hundley, who delivered the message in church today reminded us that, like this lighthouse keeper, Jesus died that we might live. He gave His life for us. Likewise, we are reminded to share our lives – give what we have – to brighten the lives of others.
Elaine read from Luke 12:13-21,
and she reminded us –
“All we have is on loan to us
From the Lord, the Almighty.
If we have extra, we are told
To give it away; don’t hold tightly.“
These are eleven of the WordPress bloggers
who provide sunshine in my life –
They share the writing talents they have been given;
They are my choices
for the Sunshine Blogger Award :
- Cristian Mihai, The Art of Blogging
- derrickjknight
- lilie215, Tea and Toast with Kindness
- Sandra, Into the Light Adventures
- MeRaw, The Journey of My Left Foot (whilst remembering my son)
- Claudia, Humoring the Goddess
- Dr. Perry, Dr. Eric Perry, PhD
- Betul Erbasi – To Write or not to Write and What to Write
- Marts, for much deliberation
- Ann Koplow, The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally
- ELLE, elleguyence
Congratulations for being such a great blogger!
You shine your light on my life each time you post!
Dear Readers, you will enjoy checking out the blogs listed above. They are always inspiring. If any of these people wish to accept the award (Big Sky Buckeye already did – he sent this to me) and put it on their blog site, check back to see the rules posted yesterday on JanBeek.
Among the rules, I was asked to answer 11 questions and then create 11 questions for my Sunshine Award recipients to answer. Here are my questions:
- When did you start blogging?
- Why did you start blogging?
- How often do you generally blog?
- What’s the main topic of your blog (your “niche”)?
- Is there a particular time of day when you generally blog? If so, when and why?
- Who is your most faithful follower?
- Do you have a tendency to post with that person in mind? Or do you have a different technique for personalizing your message?
- Of all your posts, which one would you save if all were lost except one?
- What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to beginning bloggers?
- Where do you get most of your ideas?
- If you could improve one thing about WordPress, what would it be?
See ya tomorrow.
Place of Peace
Place of Peace
From my place of Peace
I hear the whippoorwill’s song
A very good day
I have you in prayer.
You have a very good day, too, okay?
Soar with your own song!
God bless you.
Feed Your Mind
Feed Your Mind
Feed Hope, Truth and Love
To your ever hungry mind –
Your mind will believe.
Peace to you, my friends.
Love and Peace…
See ya tomorrow.
Looking Back for Inspiration
Inspiration from
Daily June “Take-Aways”
When daily I read
Daily Guideposts 2019, – A Spirit-Lifting Devotional –
I write 2 to 9 words on the page
to remember the message
that I want to “take-away” with me.
Here are the daily Take-Aways from June:
- Think creatively!
- Trust first; Faith follows.
- Work at Loving.
- See and feel God (at work in my life)
- Relax into what comes.
- Accept and Appreciate God’s Grace
- Some things are worse than death.
- Share Openly My Faith
- Find God is the Seeing, not the Being
- Create in Me a Legacy of Love
- Respond with Compassion
- Project Positivity to All!
- Let You Inner Self Sparkle!
- Let God Keep You Tuned
- Forgive as You’re Forgiven
- Pray Daily for Confidence in God’s Wisdom and Guidance
- Trust in God’s Hope
- Find and Follow God’s Paths
- Be a Reflection of Jesus’ Love
- Accept Barriers
- Be in the Moment
- See Beauty Everywhere
- Live in and Love the Trinity
- Praise Him – It Feels Good!!
- Speak Love; Exhibit Kindness
- Erase Past Regrets
- Bee Generous ;o)
- Go With the Flow
- Focus on Blessings
- Live with Purpose!
Which one speaks loudly to your heart
and gives you the inspiration to go out
and JUST DO IT?
Thanks for dropping by.
I’d love to see your choice below.
See ya tomorrow
Understanding and Umbrellas
Understanding
was the first “U” word
that popped into my mind
when searching for
the quality we ALL need to
add more meaning
and
find greater purpose
in life.
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
Understanding and Wisdom go Hand in Hand
What are the common roots of the two words?
I turned to scripture to find the answer to that question. This is a copy of my Bible page. As you can see, it is well marked! Look at how many times Proverbs 2 uses “wisdom” and “understanding.”
Understanding + Wisdom = Compassion
The Book of Proverbs teaches us, if we understand what is right and good, we will see what is just and fair. As a result, it will naturally follow that when we see injustice, when we witness someone being treated unfairly, we will have a heart of compassion, determined to respond.
Compassion is an Umbrella
OnahDave on HumePoets.com posted a poem today titled Drenched:
“Wrecked and broken by pain,
she drenched in the unlimited
down pour of her sorrow.”
When I read his poem, my immediate response was, “Give her your umbrella!”
When we understand another person’s pain, our compassion compels us to reach out with an umbrella of protection.
Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com
Umbrellas Take Many Forms
Sometimes the umbrella is a song! Today I visited my friend, Carol, who (at the advanced age of 95) is struggling to hang on to life. Her son and two daughters were in the hospital room with her.
Carol was having a better day today than when I saw her yesterday. Her children could tell because she was being a bit cantankerous!
Hah! She reminded me of my mom during her last days. Her mind rallied to the point that she knew what she wanted and what she didn’t. Her ability to say, “No!” rallied – – – and she exerted her independence while bed-bound and hooked up to oxygen. Like my mom, Carol is a strong and courageous woman.
Her daughters and I sang some cheery songs to her and enjoyed her smiles and nods – and her ability to squeeze my hand in appreciation. Her son snapped a few pictures. These are moments to remember!
Disney’s Sing-A-Long Songs – Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah VHS
was our first song. You know, you can’t help but smile when you sing that song! It sent an umbrella of joy over the entire room!
Then we sang Frank Sinatra’s “Dream Your Troubles Away.” Do you know that one? You can change “Dreams” to “Prayers” … and sing “Pray Your Troubles Away.” That thought fits the hand-in-hand analogy of understanding and wisdom as described in the second chapter of Proverbs. Here are the song’s revised words:
When skies are cloudy and gray,
They’re only gray for a day,
So wrap your troubles in prayer
And pray your troubles away.Until that sunshine peeps through,
There’s only one thing to do:
Just wrap your troubles in prayer
And pray your troubles away.Your castles may tumble
That’s fate after all,
Life’s really funny that way.No need to grumble,
Smile as they fall,
Weren’t you queen for a day?Just remember that sunshine
Always follows the rain.
So wrap your troubles in prayer
And pray your troubles away!
Sometimes, We Gotta Let the Rain Fall
Max Lucado has written a book titled, Unshakable Hope.
In a message promoting his book, he wrote,“I’ve discovered that nothing lifts the weary soul like the promises of God. This book contains some of my favorite [promises]. Picture God’s words falling like rain from heaven on you. Imagine these promises as gentle spring showers. Receive them. Allow them to land on you, to soak you. I’m trusting that God’s words will prosper in your life.”
Understand God is in the Storms of Life
Rick Hamlin in today’s Guideposts prayed,
“God, don’t let my cynical heart
prevent me from seeing
You in unexpected places.”
Sometimes our vision is blurred by the storms that smack us in the face. The unexpected difficulties can put us in dark places where vision is limited. We wonder, “God, where are You?”
Even Jesus had such moments. “My God, my God, why hast Thou Forsaken me?” From the cross, He cried to His Father. It’s understandable that we sometimes have similar thoughts.
Sometimes we need to set aside the umbrella, lift our eyes to the sky, and dance in the rain – in spite of the trauma.
Wrap your troubles in prayer – and pray your troubles away –
or not!
Sometimes the clouds are meant to stay – more than a day –
But sunshine follows the rain.
Even if that sunshine is our promise of Life Eternal.
Relish the Beauty of God’s Promises.
Photo by Simon Matzinger on Pexels.com
Try to understand!
And be ready to put away your umbrella –
or pass it along –
use it to protect and encourage a friend.
Keep a song alive in your heart!
God bless you.
See you tomorrow.
Feed and Follow
Sermon Notes from
5/5/19
Rev. Jean Johnson’s message
inspired by John 21:1-19
“Feed and Follow”
We are needy people
Who need daily encouragement.
We need assurance;
We need to know what Jesus meant
When He said, “Feed my sheep.”
.
We call out for forgiveness.
We are hungry for God’s grace.
How shall we feed on grace?
How shall we receive forgiveness?
Obey Christ’s command, “Feed My sheep!”
.
We hunger for His grace.
We yearn for His mercy.
We are healed by forgiveness.
We are to care for and feed those
Christ meant with, “Feed My sheep.”
.
Christ converted Shakey Simon
Into the Solid Rock Peter.
Through Christ, God provides us
With the Solid Word to feed others.
We can, in fact, follow “Feed My Sheep.”
.
In His command is God ‘s promise
Of provision for His followers.
The church will feed on the Gospel.
The church will nourish others
With Good News – “We feed God’s Sheep!”
.
We are here as needy people
To receive the encouragement
To feed on His assurance,
And then to go out and indeed
Do as He commands: “Feed My sheep!”
.
On this Cinco de Mayo,
I have decided that when we
go out into the world and
Feed His Sheep,
we bring color into their lives.
Don’t you agree?
The Good News certainly colors MY world!!
Happy Cinco de Mayo, my friends.
See you tomorrow.
