End of Another Year!

Wow! we are at the end of another year! It is hard to believe! when I reflect on this past year, it has had it's share of challenges and trials, but also it's has had some wonderful times as well.

I can see spiritual growth in my life, which is great! I know for sure that God is totally in control of my life! But sometimes I wish he would not make me wait till the last moment to see his answer to my problems or questions about my life and where it is going, but I am sure that he has the perfect plan.

I am on vacation this week, I am almost done prepping my new laptop as the old one is having major issues powering on, I think the storm we had earlier this fall/winter got my wireless router which I had to replace and damaged the hard drive on my old laptop. So now I have replaced both. I am enjoying my new computer though, I would rather not have spent the extra money right now. I use my computer to dial into work sometimes so I really do need a dependable one, and the old  one was not dependable any more!

I thank the Lord for a wonderful church with pastors that preach the word and challenge me to grow in Christ every week! I am thankful for Life groups that keep me accountable and also challenge me to grow spiritually! Even through the trials there is soooo much to be thankful for!

I am also very thankful for a family that includes me in activities and holiday celebrations, I know there are people that do not have a family to be with and my heart really goes out to them. God has been so good and gave me so many blessing!

When I think about the people that are homeless, and I look around and I have a home that is warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and has food in the Frig and Freezer I am amazed that God has given me so many wonderful blessings! Except for the Grace of God that could be me that is homeless and hungry!

I am looking forward to see what the new year brings!

Thankfullness!

We heard an excellent message this morning on Thankfulness! All I can say is Ouch! It is easy to think we are being thankful, for Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and the redemptive power of the Cross, ….but then how many times do we complain about the little things in life that don’t even matter in the light of eternity?

I have a friend that told me we should consider every event, thing, hurt, pain etc. that we face in this life and consider its importance in the light of eternity, and I have always tried to live by that, but…. This morning’s message pointed out to me how miserably I fail!

The little things that happen at work, that seem unfair, hurtful, and just plain not right, they really don’t matter at all in the light of eternity, but ……still I complain, what matters so much more in the light of eternity is my reaction’s to these events, unfair happenings, and plain ole just wrong things that happen. I want to leave a witness that people will not question that I am a Christian and through the power Christ gives me, live my life as a witness to what the Grace of Christ and the power of the Gospel can do in a person’s life.

A legacy I want to have: Is how many people have I allowed Christ to use my life to bring them to himself, and will I because of my obedience to Christ get to see them in heaven one day? That is something that really matters in the light of eternity!

My prayer is that I will allow Christ to change me and make me soooo much more thankful…..for the tremendous Grace that I have been given, that I am not looking forward to an eternity in Hell! Without Christ and his sacrifice on the Cross that is all I would have to look forward to, but Thanks! To Christ, the Cross and His sacrifice on the Cross I can look forward to an eternity in Heaven with my Lord and Savior!

How can Seniors serve the Lord?

Some might say, “We are to old to serve!”, some might say “What could I do to serve the Lord?” But I believe we serve the Lord in different ways at different times in our Lives. Some seniors are still working full time and have less time to do some types of service. But some are retired and have more time to serve the Lord.

The Bible tells us that Moses was 120 years old when he told the Israelites that he could no longer lead them, and that God had told him he would not cross over to the Promised Land. But until that time, he had guided the nation of Israel out of Egypt and across the dessert, I don’t think I could do that, and I am way younger than Moses. But God is not asking me to lead a nation across the dessert. But he is asking me and all of us to serve him. Bob and Anna Nilsen are serving as missionaries in the DR. Tim and Evelyn Wolf also serves as missionaries in the DR on a part time basis.

What are some ways we can serve the Lord as we get older? We can mentor younger Christians and share with them what we have learnt through our journey with the Lord. Sometimes a person just needs someone to spend some time with them, maybe go out to eat together, just so that they can share their burden with us, and they may just need us to listen to what they have to say, and hold them up in prayer as they struggle with balancing work and family and their service to the Lord. We can be understanding, gently lead, and show them compassion. We can be the hands and feet of Jesus. We can reach out to others with love and kindness. We can pray for our missionaries, we can send them letters to let them know we are thinking of them and encourage them, we can check on each other and help each other with tasks that we cannot do alone, but can do together. We can encourage our Pastors, leaders, and working in the church. Some of can bake and make treats for our kids, for example VBS, or just as a encouragement to someone who would enjoy the treats, but maybe are no longer able to them the treats for themselves.

Also if we are physically able, we can volunteer at Rest Homes – they need people who are just willing to sit and visit with someone, again sharing time with them. Just think how lonely it would be to be a patient in a rest home and no one comes to visit you, this does happen, for a variety of reasons, maybe they have no family still left, maybe their family lives far away and can’t come often, just think how you would feel if you were them. Wouldn’t you want someone to show the new pictures of your grandkids that you just received, or to share your happiness about a recent wedding, or great achievement that has happened in their family? Or just maybe they would like to share their concerns about their health with someone they know will be praying for them, or maybe they just want someone to come and pray with them.

Looking forward to next week!

Well I have not blogged for a while, so I thought I should put another entry in my blog. the reason that I am looking forward to next week, is that I volunteer at Rest Haven and next Thursday they are taking the volunteers to Bear Creek for dinner and a concert. I think it will be a lot of fun.

We are required to take a PTO [PaidTime Off] day on Friday so I will have a long weekend, last year if was difficult due  to the first everything without my Mom, but this year I am actually looking forward to it.

On Monday I am having some good friends over for lunch, I need to get busy and decide what I am fixing, I am making carrot cake for dessert, but  have several ideas floating around my head for the meal.

I really enjoy cooking when I have the time, so I am very much looking forward to having my friends here on Monday.

This weekend is kind of busy, on Sat I am volunteering at Rest Haven I will help get patients to the activity of the day, and then after I am going to sit outside with patients that can not sit outside by themselves, they might wander off etc. And the staff is so busy and short handed they don't alway have time to sit outside with the patients that need it, and I really enjoy it. I can't do things for Mom anymore, but I can and do enjoy doing it for the patients at Rest Haven. I also really enjoy seeing the staff, I really got to be friends with  them when Mom was there, so I enjoy catching up with them as well.

Where is the Lord taking me?

There are two possible paths my career could potentially go at this time, neither one will happen quickly, and the Lord has taught me one thing in the last five years, and that is that I must follow my life verse and wait on Him, he knows where we are headed and I for sure do not. I have a plan of where I would like it to go. But......I know the Lord knows best! and so I must just wait and be patient. But.....being patient is really hard for me to do, I am the type of person that wants a plan and to follow the plan to the letter with the expected result. I work with supply Chain users [Inventory systems] and I believe God is a "just in time" type of person, he does not always give us the plan up front, and then execute the plan the way we would like!

I would appreciate everyone's prayers that I will wait on the Lord and not get ahead of Him that would not have good results!

"My Baby"

I forgot to mention "my baby's" name it is Sparky, he sure is a spark in my life! He is a pound puppy, he was one year old when I got him, I had actually went to the pound to see another dog, but the dog I went to see, was wild and out of control, but when I picked up sparky he just clung to me and that was it, he has been "my baby" every since! and he is a real "Mama's Boy"

Some things I enjoy doing

I enjoy doing crafts, working on the computer, helping people understand and use their computers, crocheting, and always learning new things, my boss at work told me I have an an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. That is true I don't  care how old I live to be, I will always want to be learning something new.

Here are some pictures of the baby afghans I have made, I made a lot of them while I was sitting at Rest Haven with Mom, it is very hard for me to just sit and not be doing something! And she slept a lot.

 Below are  some christmas crafts that I have  made from Plastic Canvas:

This is a tissue box, I also made one for a friend that is a school teacher that was a little red school house.

I have also done a lot of Christmas Tree Skirts, I have also made a lot of crocheted Christmas Trees, I will try to get a picture of one and post it on the blog.

Also as you can tell "the baby" was curious about all the picture taking when I took the picture of my aghans!

Begining Thoughts

I had mentioned to a friend at church how much I enjoyed reading the blogs of some ladies at church, and how because of reading their blogs, I felt like I had come to know them so much better, her comment to me was “now you need to start a blog so we can get to know you better.” I don’t have funny stories of my kids to tell as I have no kids, but I do have a four legged Kid, my pooch, whom is such a good companion and gives so much love! The picture below is a picture of “my baby” just after I first had gotten him! But now the light brown is almost all white, he is 9 years old.

When my Mom passed away he handled it pretty good, but Mom lived with us when I first got him, and he would sit by her, and if he wanted something I would not give him because it was not good for him, he would just look up at her like “tell her yes I can have it!” after she first went to Rest Haven he would not eat, and I had to take him to see her, then he started eating again, the same thing happened when she and I were not able to make the transfers from the wheelchair to the car by ourselves and so she was not able to come home on the weekend afternoons.