A New Year Begins

I came across this timely devotional and it seems good to me to mention on my last post of 2006.

From 'God at Eventide'

December 31 - New Year's Eve

Bring to Me this eventide the past year with its sins, its failures, its lost opportunities.

Leave that past with Me, your Savior today as ever, and go into the New Year forgiven, unladen, free.

Bring to Me your youth or age, your powers, your love -- and I, as your God-guide through the year to come, will bring My agelessness, My powers, My love.

So shall we share the burdens and the joys, and the work of the days that lie ahead.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

A New Beginning...... into 2007 walking with Jesus . Happy New Year to all my friends and family.

I Needed to Hear This

Navigating the Crossroads
by John Paul Jackson


Many, many people in the Body of Christ right now are struggling with important decisions that will directly or indirectly affect every step they take after this. They aren’t little, general decisions about which in-laws should be visited this Christmas; they’re the to-move-or-not-to-move decisions — occupation decisions, life decisions.

A whole host of questions comes up in the process: At the cliff’s edge, do I run or take the plunge? Is this even the right cliff? Is there a “correct” way in this? What if I get it wrong? If I go right, will I be in sin? If I go left, will I successfully cut off my destiny forever?

Have you ever asked yourself questions like these before? I have. We make choices every day. We make them for the dark, and we make them for the light. We choose God, and we choose our soul, which is darkness.
Sometimes we choose the soul thinking it’s spirit, and we reject the spirit because we think it’s soul. But the more we mature in Him, the more time we will spend in the light, and the choices we make will be the light and life of the world!

Said a little differently, every choice we make will either lead us toward God or away from Him. That is how He set up our world to work and function. This is why the littlest choice we make, even just a teeny one, can open the floodgates of Heaven in our life. He takes the little we give Him and makes it a great thing.

That being said, how many of us live a life that oozes a deep, abiding confidence that God really is all-powerful and, therefore, really in control of everything? If we truly believed this, we would never worry about the questions in the first paragraph.
It wouldn’t be that we’d suddenly have all the right answers or know, without doubt, one thing from the next, but we would trust implicitly. Even if things didn’t turn out the way we’d anticipated, we would know that they happened the way they did for a reason.

This type of thinking evidences deep spirituality that comes only from the Holy Spirit of the Living God. All you have to do is make the right choice — one choice at a time, and it starts with choosing Jesus. There is no enlightened thinking outside of choosing Him!
There is no true knowledge outside of the knowledge that comes from Him. There is no holiness; there is no righteousness; there is no lasting power of any kind outside of Him. The problem is that we have limited what He can do for us because of our unbelief. That has to change!

How many of us have a deep, underlying faith that the decision we make today is really God’s choice for us? In making it, we simply discovered God’s choice. Even if it doesn’t turn out as we wanted it to, God still chose it because He wanted us to learn something we did not know.
Don’t worry about the questions you have. Is your Father able to take care of you? Yes! Take what you know and rest in Him. He is more powerful than you could ever know, and He really is in complete control of your world.

Thank You

My first stop this past holiday weekend was to visit with my lovely friend Carol-Ann and her family Bruce and Kinza. They had agreed to sit Sam for me while I spent a day with my son and his new bride, and their dog Maggie.


Meet Maggie...she's such a good sport.
Sam is not exactly socialized when it comes to other animals, so thus the need for a sitter.

This family are so talented musically, and the Lord used them to kiss me with His Nearness while Carol-Ann and Kinza practiced their music for Sunday service.

Silent Night is my very favorite Christmas Carol, and it has been a long time since my hair stood on end in response to the warm presence of Jesus while this lovely mother and daughter duo practiced.

Thank you so much Allen family for your loving me and my Sam. Bless you all in the coming year.

Christmas Memories

Christmas 1954, Dad was in Korea . We had had our baths and sat for this picture , behaving very well, to send to our daddy .

Many years later some very special memories.




Jason's first guitar.....do we remember Shaun Cassidy ???

1994 Sam's first Christmas


1996 Sam's second Christmas


Sweet Anneka ..... funny how time slips away.




Jared, Ryan, Anneka and Aila.

Another really great thing about Christmas Day is it is Ryan's Birthday.
Today Ryan turned six years old. Happy Birthday Ryan !

Christmas Joy

JOY IS GOD EXPRESSING HIMSELF IN THE FACE OF JESUS !

May His Face shine on all my friends and Family as we remember that
"IMMANUEL"..... GOD IS WITH US!
Merry Christmas and God Bless us every one!
I too will snuggle up in His Presence here.

Toronto

In a few hours Sam and I are heading to Toronto to spend a couple of days with Friends and family.
Then we are driving back Christmas Eve Day and I am working a long shift including overnight with my Lakefield couple.


Here they are, aren't they cute. They sit and hold hands for hours and hours, and have been married 65 years. The headphones on my Lady enable her to hear the television well.

Another fun thing happened yesterday when my lovely niece Holly gave me her old cell phone. Now I am truly hip, and I even bought a sparkling 'bling' case for it. Thank you Holly for your loving generousity.

,

More later. Must sleep to drive and not die on the 401 in a few hours.

For Carol-Ann

He has him in his sights

Sam has finally discovered the squirrel population around here. There are black ones, brown ones , and grey ones. They are everywhere , busy doing what ever it is that sqirrels do. Until recently Sam has not even noticed them.



In his old age,and being sick, he still has the 'little lion' in his heart. As for the blurry pictures, that is my doing, but Sam's attitude is clearly seen as he walks away.What a funny little guy !

I was moved by this posting from Lisa at The Uprising, and since I cannot always get the link thing to work, decided to dispay it here. I hope that's ok Lisa, I want to think on these things more than I have been. Thanks for the reminder.



My kid fell today. turned, looked, & saw my kid in full scream sprawled spread eagle on concrete. i dropped everything... and ran. i don't run. anyone you meet who knows me will tell you this. but i ran. after the comforting hug, washing of the scrapes, & some neosporin, he was off on his next adventure. i got to thinking about the prodigal son's dad running out to meet him. yeah, it makes total sense. my world stops at my sons urgent need... and to his urgent needy cry, i am captive to respond. i could do nothing else. it's in my d.n.a. i wonder if God is like that too.

And if the grief stricken, impaled by tragedy, are too wounded or angry to cry out, can we cry out for them? is this then the definition of intercession. if a nation, a people, or a person, becomes too broken or bound to even think of heading home, can we cry out for them? is then this the definition of intercession?

Dad, Joe is too broken & angry to cry out so i cry out on his behalf. Dad run out to meet him... where he is. Dad the people of Joe are too grief stricken & shell shot to lift up their heads toward heaven & cry out to you in their grief. Dad hear my cry on their behalf. Meet them as you would have met me. And if they share blame - forgive & have mercy & hurl in solutions - for Your name's sake

Yesterday when I arrived at work, I found a most pleasant surprise. A lovely , tall Christmas Tree sat in simple splendor in front of the living room window, lights on . A very welcome sight indeed .

The best thing about this tree is that is a "real" tree, and is giving off the most beautiful fragrance. Ahhhhh......

It has been a very long time since I have enjoyed that real tree ambiance. Thank You Jesus !

Later in the wee small hours of the morning I heard my Lady exclaiming in alarm," I dreamed that a man came into my room and told me that my time here was finished."

Needless to say, I have been awake since then and have been praying .

Ahhhh the memories.... Boney M Christmas Music....a flash from the past to be sure, but playing now as I get ready to go to work for the night.

How much I would rather be where Yvonne and Jason are tonight.(IHOP)

These overnights are a challenge. Not difficult , just tiring .
A very different kind of 'Night Watch'.

Now I must drop Sam at the sitters, so I am on my way. God Bless!

Musings and Memories

It was two years ago today that my Little Aunt T. went to be with the Lord. I miss her.
My time spent walking with her through the last stages of her life are a precious memory to me still. The very fact that the Lord sent me there at all is amazing and I am grateful for every step of the journey, no matter how difficult and terrifying.

Some days in our lives are "marker days". That is why remembering is important. All too often I can become overshadowed by the grip of past trauma. This is not the case today. I am just quietly thankful for the whole journey, even the bumps and camel rides, not to mention the watering of same. (Genesis 24:19-20.)

There have been times in my life when I feel that the Lord has asked me to :


This has never, ever been an easy decision and I know there have been many unintentional woundings and misunderstandings along the path, with many regrets as well.

I am not only talking about leaving my beloved children and grandchildren,and the birthing of the Sanctuary House of Prayer, but unhealthy ways of thinking and believing, fears of making a mistake, all the 'what if's' that can so easily cause me to stumble and tempt me to be offended in my journey.

Learning to trust Jesus has actually been the whole point most of the time, and discovering His Faithfullness every step of the way is becoming my Joy.
The Truth I keep coming back to is that He IS Who He says He IS, and His Word is the Absolute Truth , no matter what I am experiencing, and, no matter how much the enemy would try to have me accuse Him and believe otherwise.

HE DOES SEE IT ALL, and HE DOES CARE !And He moves in my behalf.

Some time ago I found a word on Mair's blog and as I was reading it again today felt the Nearness of His Presence encouraging me to remembering my story.

Pack nothing.
Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free.
Don’t wait for the bread to rise.
Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at a moment’s notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind, fear, silence, submission.
Only surrender to the need of the time, to love justice and walk humbly with your God. Begin quickly, before you have time to sink back into old slavery.

Set out in the dark. I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire and I will be with you in the cloud.
I will give you dreams in the desert to guide you safely home to that place you have not yet seen…. I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be so changed by weathers and wanderings that even your closest friends will have to learn your features as though for the first time.
Some of you will not change at all.

Some will be abandoned by your dearest loves and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth and feel abandoned by you.
Some will find new friendship in unlikely faces, and old friends as faithful, and true as the pillar of God’s flame. Sing songs as you go, and hold close together.

You may at times grow confused and lose your way, touch each other and keep telling the stories .

Make maps as you go, remembering the way back from before you were born…. So you will be only the first of many waves of deliverance on these desert seas.
It is the first of many beginnings of your Passover. Remain true to this mystery.

Pass on the whole story. Do not go back.
I am with you now and I am waiting for you.