Anyone want to join me in a challenge for the month of August even though we are almost 3 days in?
I put a word prompt up for each day of the month and our challenge is to post a Bible Verse or a section of scripture that has that word in it. Easy peasy. Since tomorrow is the the third of August already, I’m posting all three days of prompts here. You can copy the list to your blog if you want. Let me know if you’ll be joining in on the challenge or if you post a verse along the way. If you would like to share a verse of your choice in comments instead, please do. I’ll add them to my post. I’ll be trying to post a photo a day, too.
HOPE: Psalm 119:81 ~ My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.
PEACE: 1 Corinthians 14:33 ~ For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
JOY: James 1:2-3 ~ Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
In the last couple of days we’ve had some progress on the shop roofing. Dear and our son Dan are getting the hang of the 20ft 7inch steel roof panels (50#’s each) and how to maneuver them up onto the structure. Underneath each panel is a reflective vapor barrier that they roll out and fasten before they put the steel panel up and screw it into the purlin.
Some encouragement for those who are called by God from Spurgeon and God’s Word…
It is impossible for any human speech to express the full meaning of this delightful phrase, “God is for me.” He was for us before the worlds were made. He was for us or He would not have given His well-beloved Son; He was for us when He smote the Only-begotten and laid the full weight of His wrath upon Him—He was for us, though He was against Him. He was “for us” when we were ruined in the Fall—He loved us notwithstanding all. He was for us when we were rebels against Him and with a high hand were bidding Him defiance. He was for us or He would not have brought us humbly to seek His face. He has been for us in many struggles; we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have been assailed by temptations from without and within—how could we have remained unharmed to this hour if He had not been for us?
~
Psalm 56:9-11 ~ Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
1. The Hodgepodge lands this year on National Secret Keeping Day…on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being I’m a blabbermouth and 10 being I’m a vault) how good are you at keeping secrets?
I’m going to say 8.
I can keep secrets but I will not listen to secrets people want me to keep from my husband except for surprises for him.
There are secrets that are more detrimental than helpful. The truth is easier to deal with than secrets has been my mantra for years. I can deal with the truth but the imagination is hard to deal with.
I read here nine jobs for people who can keep a secret-cybersecurity worker, executive assistant, housekeeper, lawyer, nuclear plant technician, physician, private investigator, psychologist, security guard Of the jobs listed, which one most interests you and why?
I could be an executive assistant and I have been a housekeeper. The houses I cleaned never needed secret keeping. I did get called on occasion wondering if I saw the remotes or other things the homeowners found missing. I also found things in the cushions that they were missing. Sometimes I think I could have been a good detective…
2. What’s the secret of life (or one of them anyway)?
The Bible has the best prescriptions for life and they aren’t a secret.
Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Him.
Today counts for eternity and life continues into eternity. Where will you spend it? There are only two choices heaven with God or Hell without Him. And the great news is you can start spending life with God right now. I pray He is calling you to live life with Him through the life and sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
3. Off the record, best-kept secret, a fly on the wall, top secret, my lips are sealed, secret shopper, as quiet as a mouse, poker face, spill the beans, open secret, bite your tongue…which secret idiom can you best relate to right now? Explain.
Bite your tongue is the one I’ll choose. Don’t answer a fool according to his folly…
4. Spill here the secret ingredient in one of your favorite recipes?
This is a story about my dear mother. She had lots of great recipes that she had in her head not on paper. Our sister Vera worked hard getting those recipes recorded for all of us. Once when our mom visited us at our home in Kenmore she decided to make a large pot of her Borsch. When I was watching her she added something that was not in the recipe, a cube of butter. Maybe that was her secret. I don’t think I have any secret ingredients although sometimes I’ll add a little sugar to some sauces that I don’t publicize.
5. My mama celebrates a big birthday tomorrow. Share a favorite quote, song lyric, saying, or verse of scripture that will add some sunshine to her day (ours too!)
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
A very happy birthday to your dear mom!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Today July 8th is Dear’s only brother’s birthday and Terry is his only sibling. Dear is younger by 4 years. I made this collage to show the resemblance of each of the boys to their parents. I think Terry resembles my mother in law and that Dear resembles my father in law. Rex died in 1985 before our Katie was born and Verna died in 1997. Verna was very close to our daughter Katie. Dear’s brother’s family is living in North Carolina these days. The photo of Terry and my Dear was taken at my mother’s funeral in 2013.
Thank you to Joyce for asking the questions! Click here to see more answers.
5 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. 2 Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray. 3 In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order myprayer to You and eagerly watch.
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. 6 You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. 7 But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.
8 O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me. 9 There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You.
11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. 12 For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.
It’s not a hummingbird but it flies like one. What kind of bug is this?
Turkeys continue to visit here and there.
Fun to catch the fan.
This little guy is probably going to have a growth spurt. He’s eating everything in sight.
Addy is enjoying her bicycle and she got a bell and handle streamers this week. I think she likes them and riding with her new accessories!
I’m limiting social media at present. Many mean well but there is just too much noise. I need to protect my head and heart. I haven’t stopped praying. I’m reading my Bible which is the best Truth I can digest right now. The only dialogues I’ll participate in are face to face, one on one conversations. That way I can see and hear the tone of the conversation instead of trying to guess what is being communicated. I do have phone conversations with my “Coast” kids since I can’t see them face to face right now.
My morning readings this month are Psalm 19, Psalm 119, The Gospel of Luke and then I read a chapter in Proverbs that corresponds with the day. I finish up with a good dose of Spurgeon. Thursday was the 4th so I read Proverbs 4. These verses stood out to me;
Proverbs 4:13-18 (ESV)
Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. 15 Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Hope you all have a good Friday and great weekend in your corner of the world.
Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for Heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Refrain
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Let not your heart be troubled,
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth,
But one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Refrain
Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Refrain
Words: Civilla D. Martin, 1905.
Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God.
Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.
Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it.
Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow was the outcome of that experience.
Civilla Martin
The next day Martin mailed the poem to Gabriel, who wrote the music.
Singer Ethel Waters (1893–1977) so loved this song that she used its name as the title for her autobiography, and it appears on her tombstone.
Matthew 6:25-27 (ESV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
1. In a single sentence tell us something about your 40’s. If you haven’t reached that milestone yet tell us (in a single sentence) something about whatever decade you’re in now.
The decade in my 40’s (1991-2001) was the most tumultuous of my life.
(Photo above taken at 2nd rental home 1998ish)
2. Life begins at forty. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. And if not at forty, when?
I don’t agree. I’m too black and white. Life began for me in my mother’s womb. From birth on life has been shaping who I am now. I was born again in 1963 so I’ve been in the sanctification process for 57 years. I wish I had been more obedient in this process.
Sanctification: When you were justified, you were declared righteous by God. Now that you are justified, there is a process of growth and transformation in which you are enabled more and more to grasp the reality that you are dead to your old sinful life and that you actually become more and more like Christ. There are three aspects to our sanctification: definitive sanctification, progressive sanctification, and ultimate sanctification.
3. Share a favorite book, song, or quote with a number featured in it somewhere.
I didn’t remember this great song with a number in the title but Theresa posted it on her post and it really has meant a lot to me over the past several years so I’m adding it in here. Thank you, Theresa!
This quote from the Bible is one I wrote down after reading it.
Jeremiah 32:39 ~I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them.
~
And this quote that I forget who said it…maybe Steve Lawson: “Don’t let your feelings get captured. Your feelings can suffocate your understanding of God. Gaze on the Lord 10x more than you concentrate on your feelings.”
4. A picture’s worth a thousand words, a stitch in time saves nine, back to square one, catch-22, on cloud nine, my two cents…pick a number phrase and tell us how it applies to your life currently.
I will pick “A picture’s worth a thousand words” or 1,000 pieces and 500 pieces. One of our COVID-19 stay at home activities has been putting together jigsaw puzzles. Some of these puzzles we’ve had for years and others were acquired before COVID at garage sales. The Fireside Embroidery one was a purchase during COVID-19. I was happy to see our local grocery store had a rack of puzzles a couple weeks ago and I grabbed this one.
Buying a threefold poster board has really aided our puzzling endeavors. We can move it off the dining room table easily if we are having the kids over for a meal. It also gives a nice flat surface.
5. Last time you drove more than 40 miles from home? More than 400 miles from home? Where were you going? Was it before or after this current season of social distancing?
Today bright and early we are driving to Spokane for a follow-up eye appointment. My surgery was last August. This will be a 70 mile drive from home. This one is during social distancing and Dear will have to wait in the car when I go in for my appointment.
The last time we drove closer to 400 miles from home was December 2019 when we drove to the Seattle area to stay overnight with our “Coast Kids” and then continue on to Chilliwack, British Columbia for our annual MGCC Christmas Party. This was before we knew about this Pandemic.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
I’m going to go deeper into that decade in my forties. Dear’s mother was living with us in a Mother-in-law apartment in our basement. In that decade Dear completed his Pharmacy degree at the University of Washington, had a year of residency, got a job at Immunex Corporation in Seattle Washington. While he was in school I started a house cleaning business and added a medical clinic and dental clinic at night as part of the job. Dear and I worked together in the evenings at those clinics. Because Dear’s mother was living with us we could leave at night after the kids were in bed. I was the skinniest I had ever been with all that aerobic scrubbing.
When Dear’s new career was going well I retired my cleaning business just in time to pull our daughter out of public school and home school her for 4th, 5th and 6th grade. She was experiencing heart wrenching persecution at school. During those homeschooling years with our sons in high school we had a major landslide on our back slope and long story short we walked away from our dream home and started the very new to us need to rent homes while still having all of Dear’s mother’s stuff in our possession. When the major slide forced us to walk away from our home, Dear’s mother moved out of our home to Yuba City, California to live close to her younger sister.
In May before our oldest son graduated from high school, Dear’s mother passed away and we were in Yuba City for the funeral and then having to divide up her stuff between Dear and his older brother and haul it back to our place. In August I drove Josh to Westmont College in Montecito , Califonia. (Santa Barbara), on my own. An emotional time for this mom. We were in our 2nd rental home at this time.
In Dan’s senior year we moved to our third rental home in October of 1998. In November of 1998 just one month after moving all our stuff to this third rental home the owner of the home told us he had to sell the home. We were devastated with this news not knowing where we could move next. We decided to try to buy this rental and were amazed to find out that there was nothing on our record showing we had defaulted on our landslide house loan! We bought our home in Kenmore not because we chose it but because we couldn’t face moving again. We enjoyed 20 years in that home and made some amazing upgrades to the property. Dan graduated from high school in 1999. We had Josh and Laura’s rehearsal dinner at this home in August of 2001 and then in September of 200l life changed for all of us because of 9-11. And that my friends was my decade in my forties.
That’s just a little of the story of my 40’s! I’m happy to say my fifties and sixties have been less tumultuous and filled with some wonderful adventures and travel. In my late fifties I was connected to the Mennonite Girls. In my sixties we enjoyed the weddings of our daughter Katie and our son Dan. We made a major move again this time to the country from the city. Blessed with two grandchildren in our sixties. And now Dear is officially retired.
But…we press on to the upward call…
Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Thank you to Joyce for coming up with the questions for Hodgepodge!
This is a photo and tribute our niece Melissa wrote about her Dzeda, our Pop, Moisi, on May 7, 2014.
“My Deda….he loves his Bible. Tonight he told me that he doesn’t rush when he reads. ‘I meditate on it,’ he says. His goal from now on is to start memorizing more of it. He’ll be 91 at the end of the month and questioning his purpose on this earth without Baba is a daily struggle. Yet despite his broken heart, he has never lost sight of what is truly important. He presses on, striving to live for Christ every single day. The man never ceases to amaze me. He is a true inspiration.”
This photo was taken of our Pop in his bedroom when he was still living in the senior apartment in Brea, California. He would soon move in with our oldest sister and her family, Melissa’s mom.
My prayer for you is that if you are meditating that you would only meditate on the Word of God, something from the Bible.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
“For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.” Psalm 18:28
“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:20-23
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me -practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4: 8-9
A look back to days of easy traveling in May and some Gardens visited from my photo archives.
The Japanese Gardens in Seattle Washington in May of 2010.
In May of 2014 Katie and I toured the gardens at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
May 2016, Mother’s Day in our yard in Kenmore, Washington. Our huge Rhododendron Bushes. With our “Coast Kids”.
May of 2018 Tulip fields in Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.
May of 2019 archives but we actually visited this garden the end of April. Manito Gardens in Spokane, Washington.
The primary reason I’m looking to my archives is that my photo uploads aren’t working yet again. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8
I’ll leave you with good words that I’ve pondered recently:
I’ve been concentrating on Psalm 119 and Psalm 19 in my Old Testament Readings. In the New Testament I’m in Colossians. Here is a selection of verses from Psalm 119:
119:4 ~ You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
119:11 ~ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
119:15 ~ I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
119:18 ~ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
119:27 ~ Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
119:34 ~ Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Mother’s day like other special days that have fallen within our social distancing time have and will be different. Plans are afoot for our family here for an outdoor gathering together on Mother’s Day since we have a nice day in the forecast.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 