Tag Archives: Sanctification

Birthday Week Hodgepodge

Put another candle on my birthday cake, I’m another year old today Friday. It looks like there are 7 candles on my birthday cake above so I’m going to say this was my 7th birthday.

Beware of the Ides of March but not Joyce’s questions for the Hodgepodge this week.

1. March 15th is known as The Ides of March, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C….have you ever been to Rome? If so what did you love most about the city? If not, is this a place you’d like to visit? 

I have never been to Rome. Rome is not on my bucket list even though it has fascinating history associated with it. Coincidentally as I type this my youngest niece is in Rome on a school trip. Sheesh, the only school trips we had living in Southern California was a trip to Disneyland!

I have been to Italy, to Milan, and that was an Italian enough experience for me to savor.

2. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ What project/activity/improvement (of any kind) do you have going on right now to which this saying might be applied? 

Physically…

Well here we are again trying to get a lot of extra pounds off. Time will tell if this new long term effort pays off.

Spiritually…

I’ll be in the Sanctification process (becoming more like Jesus) all my days on this earth. God is faithful in this process even when I am not.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ~Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

3. Let’s do a little this or that with some Italian foods…

  • Caprese salad or Prosciutto with melon? 
  • Bruschetta or Antipasto? 
  • lasagne or ravioli?
  • bolognese or Carbonara?
  • Risotto or gnocchi? 
  • tiramisu~gelato~cannoli? 

Prosciutto with melon, bruschetta, ravioli, carbonara, gnocchi and tiramisu, thank you.

4. Of the colors red, white, and green which would I find most prevalent in your home?

I have a lot of red highlights in my kitchen.

Which one do you think is most flattering to you in terms of your wardrobe?

Red and green and white are colors suited to me as per my color chart.

Have you ever had your colors done?

Yes, many years ago and I still have my color chart. Recently I stumbled across that chart and showed it to my ‘daughters’. The fold up chart is pictured above with my colors rated from 2 – 4+. Four plus are my strongest colors with colors that are just a 2 being my weakest colors.

Is that something you’d be interested in doing? 

It was a fun experience.

5. Life would be boring without____________________?

Life would be boring without all that God has done in my life because of Jesus. All the good things in my life have come from Him. Some of those good things were hard and painful. Many were the most worthwhile experiences in my life.

James 1:16-18

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My birthday is Friday March 14th and my license is expiring this year so I got to go to the DMV on Monday. All their systems were down when I got there. I bummed around Wal-Mart for a while and decided to go back after an hour to see if they were online again. Hooray, they were. I just walked in and in less than 5 minutes had my license renewed for another 8 years. In two weeks I’ll see how awful my photo is this time around!

Another birthday photo from years ago.

Have Patience Hodgepodge

On Tuesday we took our first walk of the year on the Rotary Trail here in Colville. What a beautiful day!

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Do you complete your own tax returns or hire out? Something you’ve found taxing lately? 

When we have to complete tax returns, we’ve always hired out.

I am finding weeding and other planter upkeep more and more taxing on my body the older I get. Just getting down and up again can be a challenge. Using the weed wacker and the hedge trimmer is harder and harder.

2. It’s spring (in the northern hemisphere anyway)…would you rather spend the day hiking in the great outdoors or planting a garden? Do you/will you have a garden this year? Flowers, vegetables, or a bit of both?

I’m not a hiker or a gardener. I will walk on relatively flat areas with gentle slopes in the great outdoors and I will weed the planters and mow in the grassy areas. We have a wonderful array of perennials that pop up every year without any help from me. I owe those lovely spots of color to previous owners of our country bungalow. Besides peonies, columbines, lavender, day lilies, lily of the valley, we have a relentless rhubarb plant and some garlic that emerges without help from us.

3. Do you consider yourself a patient person?

On the outside I can be very patient. I’m a Born Again follower of Jesus and because of that I am in a lifelong Sanctification process where the Holy Spirit is working on my inside changing my mind about a lot of things through what I read in God’s Word, The Bible. Part of that process is in making me more patient on the inside.

In what sort of situation is patience not desirable?

When your house is on fire or when a life is at risk it is time to abandon patience!

Are you happy with the degree of patience you have in your daily life? If not, what can you do to cultivate more of this quality in your life? 

In many situations I pray that God would give me a ‘Mary’ attitude instead of a ‘Martha’ attitude.

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

The good portion is Jesus, believing on Him, sitting at His feet, following Him and learning more about Him and loving Him more and more which develops into a solid trust.

Some practical steps I’ve practiced lately…

Let someone go ahead of me in line. Plan ahead and give myself all the time necessary to accomplish tasks or get to an appointment on time. Think about the other person in a situation and consider what they might be going through. Don’t think too highly of myself and my importance. Consider the other person as important. Tell myself, I’m not in charge of the World, God is.

4. Do you like the flavor cinnamon? If so what’s your favorite something made with cinnamon? 

I do enjoy cinnamon. I don’t have them often but I won’t turn down a fresh out of the oven cinnamon roll!

5. Learn by watching or learn by doing? Elaborate. 

I need both the watching and the doing. After watching I can dive in and do and then I am more confident and better equipped to do.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Do any of you remember the Kids Psalty song ‘Have Patience’ from the 80’s?

Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient you only start to worry. Remember, remember, that God is patient, too. And think of all the times that others had to wait for you. 

Remember When Hodgepodge

Jo has worked on some more questions for us to answer for Hodgepodge Wednesday. Want to join in the fun?

1. What’s your earliest memory?

With this old brain this is a tough one for me. I seem to remember being in front of a wonderful bakery with cookies displayed, a Jewish Bakery, in East Los Angeles. Bakeries always draw me in and that brings me to my biggest first world problem!!

We moved from East Los Angeles to Montebello Gardens soon afterwards and most of my ‘early’ memories are connected with that property. I remember things like an incinerator in the back yard. A cement slab where our new family room would be built where we played jacks for hours. Our first black and white TV, watching Engineer Bill, Chucko the Birthday Clown, Ed Sullivan, The Mickey Mouse Club, and other Disney shows that included the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew? The only books we owned were Bibles and Encyclopedia Britannica. I remember having to sit for what seemed to me hours in front of a bowl of borsch, not wanting to eat it, after everyone else had left the table. Stopping by the seed man after ‘Big Church’ to buy packets of ‘plain’ sunflower seeds that came in brown paper packets and pumpkin seeds that came in clearer paper packets.

I better stop there, you really got my old brain going.

2. What’s something about you today that the old you would find surprising? 

The old me would be surprised that I moved away from the Southern California Beaches to Washington State and now I’ve left the city girl life for the country far far away from the coastal beaches!

3. Do you like to fish? Are you a fish eater? Favorite fish (to eat)? Favorite way to prepare fish? 

You know, I’m not a fan of fish unless it’s Fish and Chips or fish tacos!

4. What’s your biggest first world problem? 

Keeping that bakery weight off is my biggest first world problem!

5. What one word would you use to describe your year thus far? 

Sanctifying. Growing in the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and fellowship of Believers. This is a life long process that got sharpened this year after Greg’s stroke last November and the state of our world. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We got rain on Tuesday and what a wonderful sound that was to wake up to. We’ve had such oppressive smoke filled skies because of fires and the rain should help. Hopefully the rain will fall on all the fires in the region and help the Fire Fighters with their seemingly endless task!

Another good day to stay in and make a dent in the sky of this puzzle!

 

Truth for Today #42


Thursday February 9th

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

Luke 2:52

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

2 Peter 3:18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, Amen.

Ephesians 4:11-16

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

From Vera:

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭12‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

From Karen:

Deuteronomy 4:39

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
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Number Your Days Hodgepodge

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!