Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Wordless Poetry


There is something almost poetic about a clear summer sky above a canopy of green trees,isn't there?A sight very much like this arrested me and captured my eyes and made me smile in delight and wonder upon our walk through the complex very early this morning.It's medium is not words,but color,and texture and form,splashed around this part of our world,upon this planet we call earth.It caused praise to flow forth to the One who created such lovliness for us to enjoy.

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For the beauty of the earth, 
 for the glory of the skies, 
 for the love which from our birth 
 over and around us lies; 
 Lord of all, to thee we raise 
 this our hymn of grateful praise.

From the hymn

"For the Beauty of the Earth"

by Folliot S. Pierpoint

Blessings~Sharon

Monday, June 29, 2009

Prayer Needed for a Friend


Please keep my deasrest friend Susan in your prayers.I just found out this past weekend she had a stroke about a month ago.Her husband could not find her address book so that is why he did not call me.I had been thinking about her really strongly and so I called them and discovered what had happened.She and I met at work 20 years ago when I was single and in Sacramento.She and I became fast friends and kindred spirits.She knows Jesus so has a lot of people praying I am sure but extra prayer is always helpful.She is in a nursing home till September.She is 65 years old I think.She is slowly gaining strength and speech back.Thank you for praying this dear woman and friend of mine.
Blessings~Sharon

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Oh Be Ye Glad


The following lyrics were going through my head as I awoke this morning from a sad dream involving my mother,who has been gone since January of 2001.In this dream I was doing whatever I could to avoid being near her in a large church.In reality much of my life was spent doing just that as I was weary of her ways.It was later on in life I discovered she had schizophrenia and probably had for much of my life.So much I did not understand as a child.So much pain and confusion and blank pages where there should have been a mother's love.I awoke from this dream saddened and somewhat riddled with guilt.Had I done enough for her in her later years?Had she felt my love and forgiveness on earth before being ushered into the presence of her Savior?And then came the lyrics of this song into my questioning mind and saddened heart.A whisper of His love to soothe this tumultuous soul.Thank You Jesus.
Blessings~Sharon

BE YE GLAD

Words and Music by M.K.Blanchard
© Gotz Music/Benson

In these days of confused situations.
In these nights of a restless remorse,
When the heart and the soul of the nation,
lay wounded and cold as a corpse.
From the grave of the innocent Adam,
comes a song bringing joy to the sad.
Oh your cry has been heard and the ransom,
has been paid up in full, Be Ye Glad.

(Chorus)

Oh, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad,
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord,
Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad.

From the dungeon a rumor is stirring.
You have heard it again and again.
But this time the cell keys are turning,
and outside there are faces of friends.
And though your body lay weary from wasting,
and your eyes show the sorrow they've had.
Oh the love that your heart is now tasting
has opened the gate, Be Ye Glad.

(Chorus)

So be like lights on the rim of the water,
giving hope in a storm sea of night.
Be a refuge amidst the slaughter,
for these fugitives in their flight.
For you are timeless and part of a puzzle.
You are winsome and young as a lad.
And there is no disease or no struggle,
that can pull you from God, Be Ye Glad.

(Chorus)

Friday, June 26, 2009

A Bit of Good News

We saw our sleep apnea doctor yesterday.It was for our 6 month follow-up.I am so glad they called the day before to remind us of it for I had completely forgotten about it.No doubt due to a middle-aged moment.:-)They took our vitals and discussed our sleep apnea machines and masks and how we were both sleeping.I was so happy to discover that we both had great blood pressure.Mine was 118/72 without medication and Steve's was 124/72 with medication!We find news like that very good indeed!They tweaked the numbers on my Bi-Pap and Steve's C-Pap and sent us on our merry way rejoicing.They said they'd send us a post card in a year for our next appointment.God is so good.When in the midst of the battle He sometimes grants us a little hope.A little bit of good news to brighten our countenance and give us something to be happy about!What a good God we have.
Blessings~Sharon

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Most Beautiful



"Summer afternoon,summer afternoon;to me those have always been the most beautiful words in the English language."
~Henry James~

It is a gorgeous afternoon here in Salem.Warm,windy and sunny.Though rain is to move in we are enjoying the nicer weather while we have it.We had a productive day here of grocery shopping,cleaning and napping.Such a thrilling life we lead. LOL Quiet but most of the time fulfilling.God has been weaving His mind and attitude into the fabric of my heart and mind this week and for that I am grateful.On occasion he grants me a glimpse of what I am like on my own without Him and it is not a pretty picture.Which is why I am in such need of and so thankful for His grace.His never failing,always abundant grace.New every morning.Indeed every moment when we turn away from our flesh and turn to His spirit,His presence in our lives.His grace and favor,always abundant,and fully realized on this most beautiful of summer afternoons.
Blessings~Sharon

Sunday, June 21, 2009

What He Revealed

I'd been in a bit of a funk lately.Okay it was a full on funk. LOL And I was not sure why.I tend to be fairly optimistic but not lately.As I went about my daily life and wrote things in my journal I came to the realization,with God's help,that I was in a place of grieving again.Grieving losses we have faced in the last few years.And feeling there was not much to look forward to in the future as well.What losses you may ask?Husband and I have faced loss of health,finances,possessions as well as friends and family members in death.And it was so overwhelming for me as things happened so fast and in rapid succession at times I could not completely deal with said losses at that time.I was on overload and overwhelmed.So,I did not have a proper time of grieving.A time to get past one storm or trial before the next one hit in one form or another.It left me feeling like something that had been dredged up from deep within the ocean's depth and unceremoniously spit up on shore somewhere.Have you been there?Has life left you feeling ragged?Weary?Unable to function in a normal capacity?For me this was a huge wake up call once again.It heralded my need to get back to my heavenly Father.To once again build up my hope in Him.And dare I say it,to forgive God for allowing such tumultuous times in our lives?Granted some of these things we dealt with are common to all men and merely part of life.Other things we faced were not something everyone faces such as bouts with cancer and heart trouble that leave you staring death directly in the face and hoping that you will win the battle.I had slowly allowed my trust in God's goodness for the future to begin to erode as I harbored these painful experiences within.It impacted all of my life as times spent with Him were less and less and I just felt like I could not be real with Him any longer.I was merely going through the motions.Life and it's trials had won.But then a friend sent me something via e-mail that began to realign my life and thought processes once again.It talked about how some things we face in life will not be explained to us and we just have to trust God and press on not knowing why.In addition to grief I was stuck in "why" mode.Though it is common to deal with this I do not recommend a person stays there long for the secret things do belong to the Lord and He is God and we are not.I read this and the tears begn to flow and as they did my hope began to once again be renewed.Oh,the grief may come again but as I allow it to do it's work and continue to release it to God healing,total and complete healing will come.And for that I am thankful.
Blessings~Sharon

Sunday, June 14, 2009

This Day Called Sabbath


A Time To Rest
by Dwayne Warwick


Do not let Sunday be taken from you.If your soul has no Sunday,it becomes an orphan.
~Albert Schweitzer~

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So then,there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath rest reserved for the[true]people of God.
~Hebrews 4:9~
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Sunday.Day of rest.Sabbath.Rest.A cessation of labors.A ceasing of work.Time set apart.To reflect.Ponder.To muse.To concentrate on God.To focus on Him who created this day of rest and reflection.A time of peace.Hopefully a time of peace.Inward stillness borne from immeasurable trust in the One who created all things including this day of rest.A season set apart to reflect upon His goodness and His beauty.We can have that Sabbath rest continually in our hearts.Even as we labor mid-week we can know His peace.Peace with God and peace with man.When a man's ways please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.(Proverbs 16:7)Peace that passes all understanding.A heart at rest.Sabbath rest.Eternal issues in a secure and safe place with Him.Hidden in Him.Hidden with God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Hidden with Him in that Sabbath place.His heart's desire for all of His creation.That place of rest and eternal security.Blessings upon each of you on this nearly over Sabbath Day.
~Sharon~

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Find Some Suffering...


...and do something about it.That was what our pastor Lanny spoke on in church this morning.Look around you for hurting souls and help them.Pray for them.Love them like Jesus would.Easy?No way.Worthwhile?Definitely, according to a gal in our church family who has opened up the front porch of her home to the local homeless population in her neighborhood.For myself much of the service was spent really listening and fighting back tears.Occasionally they slipped out with utter abandon.:-)And what about the poor and suffering beyond our own community,our own nation?I believe the next Sunday or two is going to focus on Compassion International,a ministry that helps many of the world's poorest children.I look forward to this as I have had a heart for this particular ministry for a long time and hope that perhaps we may sponsor a child.We'll see.If I was a single woman and had the funds I definitely would.Being married one must consider the spouse and make this a matter of prayer that involves both people.Oddly enough,over the years I have had more of a heart for the suffering of those living abroad.Not that I am calloused to those here.I just see what appears to be greater needs beyond our own backyard.And I am determined to somehow put feet to prayers prayed.:-)It was good to gather at church today.We'd missed much church recently due to illness and other issues.And therefore I am glad to be well and gathering with this local body of believers once again.
Blessings~Sharon

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Perfect Storm


Highway to the Stormy Horizon
Oregon's Willamette Valley is home to many people for many reasons.One of the biggest ones,I think,is it's natural beauty and generally mild climate.We seldom have extremes of weather here.Our water is too cold for hurricanes for instance.Thursday of this week past surprised us all.We'd had a week of cloudy,humid weather.Wednesday evening a very brief thunderstorm came through.2 peals of thunder,2 lightning flashes and it was gone.But Thursday,now Thursday had a storm.Steve and I had taken off to a local Albertson's store to buy some meat marinade.He loves Adolph's and they are the only ones to sell it.As we left our apartment and headed toward I-5 we both noticed some ominous clouds to the southeast of us.Dark and foreboding they were.I innocently commented that I would not be surprised if the heavens dumped on us soon.:-)We arrived at the store with a jangling cell phone to herald our arrival.It was our daughter April.Our very excited daughter.Seems she had the news on and they had just announced tornado warnings for a town in the foothills east of us called Lyons!And severe thunderstorm warnings for our area.It felt more like we lived in the Midwest at this point!Though we'd seen some lightning and heard some thunder by now it was not much.We hurried into the store with the thought that it was not really going to be much of a storm.Most of them fizzle out quickly and with little damage here.Still we felt the need to get in and out as fast as possible.Flickering store lights encouraged us in this endeavor.We found what we came for and prepared to exit the store quickly.Ha.We reached the exit only to be impeded by many shoppers huddled in front of us looking out at the now drenching rains pouring forth from above.There was so much rain coming down it looked as if a dark grey fog had descended upon the parking lot.We debated.we could see our van parked in the disabled spot(Steve has a placard due to COPD and heart trouble,etc.)just a few feet in front of us.But it was pouring.So we decided to go for it.Neither of us were prepared to be soaked to the skin but we were.The parking lot was beginning to flood as overworked drains struggled to keep up with the deluge.The winds were wild and the sky was dark as night almost in some places.We drove out onto the road and watched as cars drove through now flooding streets in an attempt to get home.They had been dry only moments before.We slowed to a crawl as the rains and wind assaulted our van and the lightning and thunder tore open the skies above.We had to slow way down at various points as we could not see to drive.Our wipers did not have warp speed on them.:-)We finally made it back to our complex though it took some time.Branches and leaves littered the driveways as if a tornado had gone through.Some of the branches were as big as trees themselves!It turns out there were peak gusts of nearly 75 miles an hour here in town!We finally reached our carport and were greeted with mud and pebbles rolling down the sidewalks in small rivulets from some sloped landscaping near the stairs.We reached our apartment's safe warmth to learn we had not lost power.We were thankful.Thankful too that our cat was only slightly freaked out.Though it continued to rain and we still saw and heard thunder and lightning we bbq'd on our covered patio.We had witnessed some of the wildest weather this are has seen and lived to tell about it!God is good!And it really was a perfect storm.:-)
Blessings all~Sharon

Monday, June 01, 2009

Liquid Grace

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Rain is grace.Rain is the sky condescending to the earth;Without rain there would be no life
~John Updike~

Liquid grace is falling from our leaden skies this evening.It's fragrant refreshment will cause deep and peaceful slumber to arrest us this night.And this blesses me immensely.For it reminds me that He is as faithful as the rain that pours forth from the heavens above.Have a wonderful night all.
Blessings~Sharon