{ Monday, Monday }

Oh, how I dreaded Monday's when I had a job outside the home. Since retirement, Monday usually means laundry and pick up and put up day.

No matter how you're spending today, we can ALL use a little humor in our lives!

 

HOPE your Monday is Marvelous!

{ An inquiring mind }

 I'd love to know what your favorite Bible verse, or verses, might be.  

Here are just a few of mine.....

Would you care to let me know your favorite in the comments?

{ A New Year - A New Attitude }

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A couple of years ago a sweet friend invited me to join her and a couple of other ladies in posting something we were grateful for each day. I made it through about a year and a half and then I allowed life itself and a situation that I found I had absolutely no control over, yet kept trying to change anyway and folks involved, consume me. I've been reading more and more about JOY the last few months and this morning I remembered I had the little sign above hanging on the side of the fridge that another precious friend gave me years ago (it's now hanging front and center). As I shared yesterday I want my focus this year to be more and more on JESUS and His blessings and in order for that to happen, I have to change my attitude.  

I  💜  this quote by Chuck Swindoll.....

An attitude like that of Christ Jesus.....

I can HOPE!

Love and prayers that 2019 will be full of good health and blessings for each of us!

{ My Word for 2019 }

If Y'all didn't already know it, I'm BIG on words.

I 💜 puns and jokes about words and looking up definitions.

Two Thousand Nineteen will be the 8th year that I've felt God give me a word to focus on throughout the year and by now I would have already settled on one that's just right for me.  Here are the past ones.....

2012 - Truth
2013 - Calm
2014 - Believe
2015 - Ponder (love that word)
2016 - (be) Present
2017 - More
2018 - Dwell

 I've prayed about it and there have been several that I've jotted down in my journal and they're all very applicable and much-needed words to cling to and ponder over and dwell on during this season of life.....

Joy

Grace

Seek 

Wait

Journey

I actually took a little quiz provided by Dayspring and would you look at what my word was after I had answered the seven questions.....

Click here to find yours

Then yesterday in SONday school we were having a discussion regarding the lesson and a statement was made by a very dear lady that had absolutely nothing to do with a "word for the year".  She simply stated.....

"JESUS is The Word"

If my focus for the upcoming year, each and every day, is on JESUS and His Word, my precious Bible, all those other things will fall into place.....

He is my JOY

He sheds His GRACE on me every minute of the day and night and allows me to show GRACE to others

I need to SEEK only Him in the troubled times and give Him thanks for ALL things

Realize that He's in the WAITing, even when it doesn't feel like it

JESUS truly is my One and Only HOPE

And, what better JOURNEY to be on than going through life with JESUS right by my side

So, my word for 2019 is simply.....

JESUS

{ CHRIST-mas Blessings }

Merry, Merry CHRIST-mas!

💜

{ Monday Motivation }

It's the week before Christmas and I'm pretty much ready, just have a couple of things to pick up for the family get-togethers but this week is going to be FULL.  Today, the carpenter and Pappy are trying to finish up what needs to be done for now on the porch cover, tomorrow we're going on an outing with our special friends (I HOPE they know how special they are to us), Wednesday we'll probably have our two littlest grands, Thursday is Grandboy #2's 11th birthday and Friday is a family gathering here at our house.

I saw this little "sign" and knew it was meant just for me and maybe somebody else, too.....

HOPE you have a happy and blessed, untangled week before CHRISTmas, Y'all!

{ Tuesday Tidbits }

I'm sure Y'all wait with bated breath for what's happening in my life because it's so interesting so I won't keep you waiting one second longer!

😂

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Last Friday our neighbor had a tree cut and a huge limb landed on the shared fence between our backdoor neighbor/friend tearing down a section of the fence and knocking a hole in my she-shed.  The fellows cutting the tree went way above and beyond to fix my shed and the fence and one of the young men even blew the leaves out from around the shed and most of our backyard!  There REALLY are some honest folks left in this world!

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I know many of you don't like scents, but I've mentioned before how much I love diffusing essential oils. My current faves are clove, cinnamon, and orange. So Christmasy!

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So, this brown spot appeared on the side of my face and I immediately started regretting not using sunscreen this past summer when I spent hours in the sun and as I looked at the spot closer and scratched it with my fingernail it hurt and I remembered talking on the phone with it under my chin and my head cocked sideways and using the curling iron at the same time and no, I didn't put the caller on speaker because I kept thinking it wouldn't last much longer and now I have an even browner, uglier spot on my face and learned two things - don't talk on the phone and curl your hair at the same time and use sunscreen!!!

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We've had snow this week and it was beautiful!

There's just something so peaceful about a snowfall and how everything looks fresh and new covered all in white! 

(a sweet example of salvation)

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I love it when you  get a haircut and you know you did but it doesn't really look like you did because you have such a fantastic hairdresser and you get to spend time chatting with her because she's your friend, too, and then afterward you are driving along knowing it's freezing outside and the wind's blowing but you're toasty warm in your car listening to Christmas music and spending time ALONE!!!

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I haven't wrapped the first Christmas present, Y'all. 

I'm hoping to get started on that today. 

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I love this time of year so full of all things Christmasy. We went to a play a couple of weeks ago that all 4 of our grands were in (be still my heart) and this past Saturday evening was a girl's night out for my daughter, grand-daughter and me - we went to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I took Jess to see that when she was a little girl at the Bijou Theater in Knoxville. It was wonderful. If you haven't seen it, there are a few movies that are only around an hour long on You-Tube. It's really about the true meaning of CHRISTmas!!!

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And, I'll leave you with this because surely I'm not the only one......

Well, that's that about that as my Mammie used to say!  

HOPE everybody has a Terrific Tuesday!

{ HOPE }

A sweet friend shared this on Facebook and Y'all know it spoke to my heart!

Hope  you have a terrific Thursday!

{ Wednesday's Word - JOY }

joy

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

If we don't feel well physically or emotionally it'll often lead us to see our medical doctor. Those things can very often affect our spiritual life, too, and that's where I've been for way too long. I've tried on my own to get through a difficult situation and it was getting me nowhere. I told myself that I would "give it to the Lord", but I picked it right back up again and again and attempted to handle it on my own. I use the word "attempted" because I in no way could do it by myself and it was beginning to take a huge toll on me in all three ways.....

physical, mental and especially spiritual.

I shared with two different people this past weekend how I was desperately needing my JOY back. Wouldn't you know that God had a plan all along when He prompted my precious Friend to send me a "care package" that included a Bible study about JOY!

"Circumstances have a way of conspiring to leech the joy right out of our days. 

Even though we know joy is our rightful heritage from the Lord, 

we live as if we have never known joy's presence. 

We long for joy as if it were something far off and unobtainable. 

But joy isn't really a matter of receiving something new, but of discovering what has always been there. 

For believers, sometimes discovering joy is simply a matter of opening our eyes to a new way of seeing."

Contagious Joy - by Christa Kinde

In my heart I know that someone else reading this is in need of a restoration of your JOY.  

Take heart, sweet Sister or Brother, 

JOY truly does come in the morning.....

 and in the mourning.  

It might not be today or tomorrow, but since God's timeline is not like ours He will surely restore our JOY if we'll just ask and persevere and believe and once and for all lay it at His feet! 

{ Wednesday's Word - Relevant }

relevant

1. 
   
   

   closely connected or appropriate to what is being done or considered

   
   

   
   

   appropriate to the current time, period, or circumstances 

I woke up yesterday morning tired.  Not just physically tired, but mentally exhausted.  I hadn't slept well and for a period of time just lay there thinking, something not good for me at all because I have a tendency to overthink each and every situation.  I was in the kitchen fixing my coffee and I said a prayer asking God to speak to me through the Proverb I was about to read. My coffee finished and I headed to the living room, got settled into my comfy chair, picked up my Bible, turned to Proverbs and this is what my eyes fell upon as I read chapter 30.....

It wasn't that exact version, but as tears filled my eyes I whispered a prayer of thankfulness because we serve an all-knowing, ever-seeing Savior who loves us dearly and realizes how weary we get sometimes and the ONLY way we can get through this life full of problems and struggles and difficulties is with the strength that comes from our faith in Jesus! 
💜

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{ THANK-full Thursday }

Do you ever have an idea and it seems to come out of nowhere and you surprise yourself at just how smart you must be to come up with that?   I've come to realize that my feeble mind that's so filled with "stuff" these days isn't really capable of those "light bulb" moments on its own. During my prayer this morning, I was thanking God for planting those ideas in my mind and how grateful I am for His wisdom and discernment. Y'all, I hadn't much more than said Amen when I was led to this verse of scripture as part of my daily devotion.....

It was truly a WOW moment for me as I realized that this verse was a confirmation of what I had just prayed. 
Apart from HIM I can do NOTHING - 

that includes having brilliant ideas!

I just want to say how full of THANKS I am on this chilly Thursday morning, 

especially for the love of Jesus!

{ Monday Motivation }

By now I'm pretty sure all of you have read this before, 

but I got it on my mind this morning and just knew it might be an inspiration to someone else, too!

HOPE your Monday is Marvelous!

{ Monday Motivation }

I had four different ladies share their hearts with me last week, each one struggling with an issue in their life that's overwhelming them right now. I came across the above quote and as I read through the lines I saw my friend's faces and the difficulties they're facing in each word. Maybe the entire thing doesn't fully apply to their situation, but if they're reading this, I want them to focus on these words.....

"Don't you dare doubt your worth or the beauty of your truth"

As women, we so often base our self-worth on what others think about us and I'm right there with you, my sweet Friends, because I've sought my own self-worth through someone else.  Satan will do his best to convince us that we're not good enough, pretty enough, strong enough, a good enough friend, wife, daughter, sister and he'll use whatever means he can to make us doubt ourselves.  As Christian ladies, we need to place our focus on how our precious Jesus sees us. That's something that we know in our heads, but it's often difficult to get our hearts to understand, even for us older women. 

Ladies, you're in my thoughts and prayers!

{ Thank-full Thursday }

These verses have shown up and/or been spoken to me multiple times this week.

I'm so very THANK-full that God doesn't give up on making sure I plant His word in my mind and heart!

{ Who Wants to Cry? }

Let's talk a little about prayer.

Prayer is such a wonderful blessing and privilege that so many of us don't take full advantage of.  I've always felt like I have a good prayer life but I want to be perfectly honest with you about something. There are times that I pray little short prayers instead of getting into a really deep conversation with the Lord because.....

I know that I'm going to wind up in tears.

I don't mean just a few tears in the corners of my eyes.  I'm talking about boohooing and pouring my heart out to Him and asking forgiveness of sins (yes, I'm a sinner - we're ALL sinners) and praying for others and just sharing my heart with Him. It's during those prayers that I find it difficult to stop, although I'm crying because that's when I feel the closest to Him. It's like He's right there wrapping His arms around me to comfort and console and let me know that I'm truly His.  

This was one of those mornings and I felt like maybe I needed to share this with Y'all just for the sole purpose of telling you to NOT  be like me. Don't hesitate to pray because you know it's going to end up being a cry fest and you don't want to walk away from where ever your "war room" is looking like a total wreck because of the tears.  It's okay! The tears will dry up (He tells us He wipes away our tears) and the swelling will go down in the eyes and you'll feel like a burden has been lifted and will have peace in your heart to face the day!

{ Wednesday's Words - Rinse, Repeat }

rinse, repeat

 

1. used to indicate the continual repetition of an action or sequence of event

Our three older grand kiddos have chores they're responsible for every day and one of them has to be told repeatedly to do theirs.  This is a source of frustration for our daughter and for the child, to have to be told over and over to do something.  I thought about this situation when my daily devotion this morning led me to Deuteronomy 31:8 where Moses is speaking to the children of Israel and he tells them.....

"Do not be afraid or discouraged, 

for the Lord will personally go ahead of you.

He will be with you.

He will neither fail nor abandon you."

As I turned in my Bible to read this verse I noticed right above it I had highlighted verse 6.....

"So be strong and courageous!

Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.

For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you.

He will neither fail you nor abandon you."

Moses repeated himself to the Israelites to get his point across that no matter what they were facing God wasn't going to just leave them helpless. He would be right there with them in the midst of whatever they were facing, in the good times and in the bad. He knew there would be times they would get discouraged and that hasn't changed for us today.  

Obviously, God has to "rinse, repeat" His promises to me over and over again, too. He led me to the above verses today and yesterday this is the one He put on my heart.....

 He's ALWAYS there, even in those times that it might not feel like it. If that happens with me, it's definitely not HIM, but Deb who's getting in the way. There are lessons to be learned and faith needs to be nurtured and grown so that when the NEXT issue pops up.....

because there will certainly be another one.....

we'll be better equipped to handle it and can look back on what He's already walked us through!

Ain't God good?

Oh, yes He is!

HOPE your Wednesday is wonderfully blessed!

{ Wednesday's Word - Wait }

wait

verb

1. stay where one is or delay action until    a particular time or until something else happens

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   • 
     

     
     

     
     
     
2. 
   

   
   

1. 
   

   
   
2. 
   
   

   
   
3. 
   

   
   

noun

1. a period of waiting

Pappy and I are reading through the Psalms this summer and yesterday's reading was Psalm 139, probably my very favorite of them. As I read my daily devotion in the Journey magazine, the scripture reference was Psalm 139:16.  As I read a little farther I came across the word "wait" and I'd already planned to focus on that word today.  It seems that's the season we're in right now - waiting on others to make decisions before we can move forward. Here's part of what I read.....

"If you find yourself in a seemingly never-ending season of suffering and waiting, take heart - it will end. In the meantime, do the important work of sowing your tears. Take your pain to the Father, who bottles each and every one of your tears and stores them (Psalm 56:8). Not one of them goes unnoticed.  And then wait with anticipation for your harvest of joy. (Psalm 126:5)"

~~Sowing in Tears - by Emily Chadwell~~

I'm so grateful that my HOPE is in the Lord.....

not people!

HOPE your Wednesday is wonderfully blessed!

{ Marvelous Monday }

This is a modified excerpt from a book I just read that stood out and made me think .....

"Which is better - to be blind and optimistic—to wear rose-colored glasses and allow yourself to be vulnerable—or to be realistic and cynical? To be prepared for someone to disappoint you? To have your guard up and not be taken by surprise? Being an optimist doesn’t make you blind. A cynic can be blind too—in even worse ways. A cynic can miss out on something wonderful because they only see the dark side of it, so they steer away from a good thing because they expect it to go wrong eventually."

~ A Curve in the Road - Julianne MacLean ~

Want to share your thoughts on the statement?

Are you an optimist or a cynic?

I think I'm a bit of both and maybe we all are. I try to give the "benefit of the doubt", to show grace, to almost everybody, until I repeatedly witness their true colors. The cynicism comes to light because I do seem to have a lack of trust in folks.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In the meantime......

{ Friday Foto Friends #142 }

See that little sign above? 
I'm gonna print it off and make copies and put them all over the house to read and read again because.....

I haven't been anywhere to get any new fotos this week because we've spent practically the entire week in "wait" mode. Am I the only person who doesn't like to wait? To put your life on hold waiting on somebody to do what they said they'd do, but then they don't come through? And, really, how hard is it to make a phone call to somebody to let them know that you can't do what you said you would? I'm not gonna lie, Y'all, my patience has worn thin waiting on this building. It's been one thing after another and I do believe all of this is the reason why I didn't have a good feeling about it from the very beginning, but it's too late now. If and when it ever gets delivered, I'll be sure and let you know and fill you in on all the crazy details because I know each of you are waiting with bated breath for fotos of this fixer-upper!

 Since I haven't been out and about this week, I'll just share this foto of my current flag in honor of all those kiddos and teachers returning to school this month.

HOPE everybody has an awesome weekend!

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