Patience and Daisy

Couldn’t help but starting off this post with a picture of our dog, Daisy, especially since this one’s mostly about her. 🙂

Isn’t she cute?! Yeah, that’s an empty red pepper container that she’s playing with. 😀 Anyway, I couldn’t resist a chance to talk about Daisy.

Daisy has a real problem with patience. Especially when it comes to her food. My parents are trying to teach her to hold a treat on the end of her nose and wait until they say “okay” before she eats it. Let’s just say that she’s not doing so well with the waiting part. 😉

When we first got her, we had a really hard time keeping her from diving for her food. Now she’s a lot better, thanks to my dad’s hard work, but it’s still funny to see her licking lips and straining to keep from going for her food.

Aren’t we like that sometimes? Sometimes it’s really hard to wait for things. We like to do things in our time, people time, not God time. Although I have to admit, a lot of the time, God time is a LOT slower than I’d like.

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not grow weary, They shall walk and not faint.

-Isaiah 40:31

I love this verse. “Mount up with wings like eagles.” Sure makes me want to be patient!

Challenge: Ask God to help you be more patient with others this week. I’m sure it would be good if you started with your parents and siblings…

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Hey Devil

Finally, a tobyMac song! Tell that devil to get his junk out of your life, cuz you don’t need him. 😀

Blessings

“Hello?” Carolynn called shyly.

The old lady looked up from her cup that had only a few jingling coins in the bottom. “Yes?” she croaked.

“Here,” Carolynn said. She handed the homeless woman a shopping bag stuffed full of groceries. “I thought you might be able to use these.” She’d gone into the store and bought them for the lady when she’d spotted her sitting outside of the store.

The lady grinned. Her teeth were surprisingly white. “Thank you, dearie.” Her voice croaked, but there was something new in it. “Bless her, Lord Jesus.”

From that day on, any time Carolynn was feeling down, she would spot a rainbow in the sky when no one else would see it.

~~~

 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Matthew 25:40

Pride and Humility

“Pride leads to disgrace,

but with humility comes grace.”

-Proverbs 11:2

Pride. God’s word says it’s bad. I like this verse about pride, too.

“Pride goes before destruction,

and haughtiness before a fall.”

-Proverbs 16:18

Pride will destroy us. It will lead to disgrace. Haughtiness will make us fall. But, if we’re humble, we will have grace. God wants us to be humble. We’re nothing without him. So don’t have pride in what you do, but in the God who gives you everything.

Challenge: Be humble!

Prodigal

I hope this song encourages you and touches your life… like it did for me. And another flash fiction…

Coming Home

The farmer studied the horizon, holding up his hand to block out the sun. His hand rested on the handle of the plow. His younger son had abandoned him weeks before, heading into the big city to find “adventure”. The farmer couldn’t help hoping that his son would come back to him.

Suddenly, he spotted a small figure in the distance, trudging towards the farmhouse. The farmer dropped the plow and raced to the farmhouse and down the driveway. The figure grew nearer until the farmer recognized him. He threw his arms around his son, pulling him close to his chest.

“Dad, I’m so sorry,” the son blurted, pulling away from his father. “I didn’t come back to be your son again. I want to work for you as a farmhand, not your son. I don’t even deserve to be called your son.”

The farmer wrapped his arms around his son again. “God brought you back to me. You won’t be treated like a farmhand; you’re my son.”

The Answer

“Please wake up, Betsy,” Alice whispered.

Alice gripped her sister’s hand as she listened to the heart monitor beep. She hadn’t slept in days while her sister was in the hospital, and her face was pale and drawn. Her sister’s white face looked so small on the pillow. Alice bowed her head in silent prayer.

“God, please, heal my sister,” she pleaded silently. “I need her so much. My parents told me when I was young that you listen to every prayer, and that you’ll answer. I know I haven’t been the most faithful,” she gulped back tears, “but I need you to heal Betsy.” Alice laid her head on the hospital bed, struggling to hold back tears. She drifted off to sleep, not noticing when the heart monitor’s beeping slowed and then, finally, stopped.

“Miss Alice?” a nurse asked softly, gently shaking Alice awake. Alice sat up, struggling to hold back a yawn. She looked down at her sister’s still figure. The hand she was still grasping was icy cold.

“I’m sorry, Miss Alice,” the nurse whispered sympathetically. “She-she died only a few minutes ago.

Later that day, Alice dragged her feet in through the autumn leaves that had fallen and covered the sidewalk. She looked up at the gray cloud-covered sky. A single raindrop fell and landed on the end of her nose. She wiped it away harshly.

“God, why didn’t you answer me? I asked you to heal Betsy, but you didn’t,” she whispered angrily.

A voice deep inside her soul whispered to her. I did answer. But I have something better in mind for both of you. Just trust Me.

~~~

For the Daily Post’s Weekly Writing Challenge. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/writing-challenge-dialogue/

Holding Nothing Back – Ryan Stevenson

Thanks to my sister, Amanda (www.mandiesworld.wordpress.com) I’ve found out how to post a video on my site instead of the link. Thanks!

I love this song so much! Ryan Stevenson is one of my favorites, probably my second favorite, after tobyMac. Although this song is pretty hard to put into practice. It’s really hard to hold nothing back from Jesus, to give him everything. It takes a lot of faith, and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of courage.

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

-John Wayne

I’ve added a photo gallery to the side. Please let me know what you think!

Love ya’ll!

Singing Lessons

No, I’m not taking singing lessons. Sorry. No, that’s actually just the title of the story I finished. I wrote it for my buddy, Emily, for her birthday. It’s only forty-five pages long, and just over 9,000 words, so it doesn’t qualify as a novel. It’s a novella. I’m hoping to get it published! I’d really appreciate any advice. Love to hear your comments! This is only the first part, though. Just let me know what you think.

Singing Lessons – Part One

A Joke and a Picture

What plant did Noah not want on the ark?

A leek

Please note: I have NO IDEA where I first heard that joke, but I do know that I most recently read it in our church bulletin, as a trivia question. So it’s not original, and it’s not my joke.

All right, sorry about that joke. I couldn’t help it. Besides, it offered me the opportunity to (hopefully) make you laugh, and gave me a chance to post a picture I took a while back of my mom’s house leeks. Hee-hee.

Okay, I really like taking pictures. So, I hope you enjoyed this super random post. Even though it has ABSOLUTELY NO POINT!!!!!! Except maybe that you shouldn’t bring leeks with you on a boat… or in the house.

You Are More

You are more than your circumstances…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtcwQwgdsA

Jesus loves you! Find your identity in him, rather in your circumstances or what the world says.