Being comforted in order to comfort........

In life there will be trials the Lord tells us in scripture. There will also be people in our lives from time to time who we thought we could count on in those times, and they disappoint, for reasons beyond anyone’s control.  When faced with needing comfort our Heavenly Father is always there, you can count on Him.

I have found in my own life that in my darkest of days getting on my knees and praying out to God is all I need.  After the tears and sadness, I gain a sense of peace in my spirit.  It’s hard to explain but very real and very comforting.  I still look to others, like my husband, my family or friends and they have been there for me and have given me much support and comfort.  But sometimes only the comfort of God is what we need to be able to move on with our lives.

It’s taken me a long time to learn and put into action this principle, and I thank God each and every day that he has shown me and given me discernment as to when and when not to share some things with others.  If I’ve been struggling with a decision to make, for instance, through the power of the Holy Spirit He will show me what to do.  It will always be for the best of everyone concerned, and sometimes you will not realize that for some time.  

Remember the flesh wants to tell everyone everything that you are going through, for sympathy.  But Jesus prefers us to only go to the person who is part of the problem and address them in a loving and direct way.  He also doesn’t want us telling others just for the sake of gossip, he hates gossip.

What will happen is we will gain the ability to comfort others when they are hurting in similar situations.  The Holy Spirit empowers us with those extra qualities that are sometimes not so easy to acquire on our own. They are the fruits of the Spirit:  “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control” Galations 5:22-23.  These fruits are given to us when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If you haven't received this awesome gift yet, maybe today is the day!!!

Free pattern today is easy to knit dishclothes.  They can be made from cotton, the multi-colored ones really look nice.  So enjoy the pattern and until next time, may God be gracious unto you and your family!!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder........sharing what I love to do!

Bringing some of my art and photography to you on my blog.  Here is a quick peak at some of my work that is available at Fine Art America.  They do an awesome job at printing my artwork on canvas, fine art papers or now even metal art.  I love this website because on here you can preview first hand what the artwork will look like on whatever type of framing you choose or on canvas, it's a preview before you buy concept.  So do check it out and share it with everyone you know. 

Here in the Pacific Northwest we are literally surrounded by beauty in every direction.  I have tried to capture as much of it as I can,  especially the beautiful bald eagles that fly around in our backyard, simply amazing to see.  So enjoy this quick preview, and if you are ever looking for a nice gift for someone who loves nature and art, I even sell greeting cards with my artwork - so there is something for every budget.

Have a beautiful day!!

God's beauty and our Oregon RV trip........

Greetings!

We just returned from a wonderful RV trip to Oregon a couple of days ago and I am excited to share some of the beauty that we encountered.  I first want to say that we were in awesome company, our friends Don and Val in their 5th wheel and Quint and Elizabeth and their son in their motor home.  It was a true caravan going down I-5, kinda cool.  We left Sunday morning April 7th and traveled to McMinnville and stayed in a very nice RV park right next to the Evergreen Space and Flight Museums.  We had a blast and actually were able to walk to the museums from the park, it was very convenient.

After a couple of days we left for the Oregon coast and they went on to Seven Feathers and other areas of Oregon.  We traveled to Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Tillamook, Astoria, and Long Beach.  It was a relaxing trip and we enjoyed it very much.  The best part was seeing all of God's amazing beauty in the different areas we traveled to.  His signature is in each and every wave, tree, and sunset and sunrise we experienced.  I was truly in awe.  I will never understand how some individuals in this world still do not believe there is a God.  He is real, his presence is felt and seen in everything that exists, he created all that is good and beautiful for us to enjoy and take in whenever we can. In each sunrise or sunset, each being different from any other that I have ever seen, I can feel his warmth and love telling me to be still and know that he is God!!

So here are a few photographs of some of that beauty, I do hope you enjoy them.  It's great to be back home though as it always is.  We live in God's country here on Whidbey Island so for us we never have to  go far to enjoy that beauty, how blessed we are indeed. Thank you Jesus!

Have a super Blessed day!!!!!

Jesus and the Cross - what Easter means to me!

When I woke up on Easter Sunday, the thought of how special that day was came into my thoughts instantly. Then the scene played in my mind of Jesus being crucified. There was sadness but then there was joy because of when He rose from the dead - Praise God.

Yes, we are to rejoice at the fact God loves us that much.  He didn't want us to perish, but to have everlasting life the moment we gave our hearts to Jesus, who took all our sins and punishment to the cross.  I still today cannot comprehend what God must have been going through watching those Roman soldiers hurting and beating His precious son.  Or Mary for that matter, Jesus was her son too. Then when the nails were pounded, the agony that Jesus must have felt.  There are no words to describe the pain our Heavenly Father and Mary must have endured, as well as our Risen Savior, and He did it for me and for YOU!

I was listening to an evangelical Pastor on television the other night, his name is James Merrit.  He said it this way:  "Here's what happened on Good Friday.  God took the biggest debt ever incurred.  He stated, you think America has a debt problem, or Greece or Europe for that matter?  Well let me tell you, the biggest deficit in the history of the world is the "sin deficit".  The sins of every person who has ever lived, every bad word that has ever been spoken, every bad deed was placed on Jesus Christ that day on the cross. Jesus paid the debt. No one will ever owe a greater debt then we owe to God.  No one will ever forgive a greater debt than when God forgave us."  He goes on to say this, "If you are a Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ you should be a "forgiving person", because you are a "forgiven person" through Christ."

That sure helps to build and strengthen my faith in Christ.  I know that I know that He loves me! That I have been forgiven for what I have done and I am so grateful. The other thing I can be sure of is that He will never bring up those things to me, ever again - truly awesome.  A peace comes over my inner spirit knowing I am loved and forgiven.  Because of what Jesus did am I able to forgive others a whole lot easier.

Easter is a reminder of how much God loves us and that we can experience peace through forgiveness - as long as we receive that free gift, but we must forgive ourselves as well. It's hard sometimes but remember "It is Finished", and when Jesus says it's finished it truly is. 

Well, Easter here on Whidbey Island was the best.  Sunny and warm, we spent time with family and had a nice BBQ. The grand kids and adults had a blast in the backyard throwing the frisbie and football.  It was the best day ever - except for not being able to see some of my family who live in Virginia and Seattle area.  But they were in our hearts and thoughts.

Here is the next "free pattern", it's knitted dishcloths.  They are great for the kitchen or you can use them as wash cloths.  Either way you will whip one up in no time, because they are easy and fun to do.


Blessings:

Lord, give me patience with extra love please........

Happy Friday to you all.  I want to discuss something today that I know affects us all - patience. We would love more of it in our every day lives.  But, did you know that the true meaning of patience is not the ability to wait, it's the ability to keep a "good attitude" while you wait.  Been there done that.  Waiting unfortunately is part of life.  We as humans do not wait very well and we actually spend more time waiting than we do receiving what we want or ask for from God.

Say you ask God for something in prayer, you are believing His word and then you go through the waiting period, which sometimes can seem like eternity.  When it finally arrives you are so happy and rejoice because we finally received what we were asking for.  So the point in this is that if we made a conscious effort to enjoy the "waiting period", not just be happy when your prayer was answered, then we we can enjoy where we are, on our way to where God wants us to be.

It is difficult to wait patiently when we still have pride in our lives.  See pride prevents us from waiting patiently because it says to us you are being inconvenienced and you are better than that, it shouldn't be happening to you.  Satan uses our mind to lead us into impatient behavior and thinking that is idealistic rather than realistic.  Satan is setting us up for a fall, through wrong thinking.  So don't be negative about it, but be realistic enough to realize ahead of time that there are very few things in life that will ever be perfect.

Don't plan for failure, but remember in Jesus own words:  "in this world there will be trials and tribulations and distress and frustrration.  These things are part of life on earth, for the believer and the unbeliever.  But all the mishaps in the world cannot harm us if we will remain in the love of God, displaying the fruits of the spirit at all times".  Patience is a fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22), and is deposited into us as born again people.  It's important to the Lord because He wants others to see His character through us, His children. So next time you are waiting in a long line at the grocery store, remember those words and show others the patience of Christ in you.....start a conversation with the person next to you, maybe you can also share the love of Jesus, you never know!!  Blessings

Ok, it's craft pattern time.  Today I want to share an easy to do crochet pattern that is available at my Etsy shop for only $3.50 as a downloadable pdf file. So when you pay for the pattern via paypal you will instantly gain access to download it.  So you can begin the project right away - very cool.  I made this for my grandsons a few years ago for Christmas.  It's a patriotic throw, easy using only double crochet and those awesome red, white and blue colors with fringe at the ends.  I didn't care for the red color in the red heart yarns, so I used a darker more rustic red color, as you can see in the photo. You will be able to crochet this one in no time at all.  I hope you enjoy it and until next time keep sharing God's love with all those around you.  There are so many people out there that really need a hug, a smile or to hear that God loves them! 

TGIF.....thank God I'm Forgiven...and that it's Friday!

Greetings everyone and Happy Friday. I do not mean to boast, but I am very excited that I am saved and that it is Friday.  There is such a bounce in my step knowing that one day when this world passes and this tired old body dies, my spirit will be with the Lord in Heaven.  I will get to see my family and friends who have passed on and it will be an awesome reunion.  I did not always believe this was going to be the case and I am sure there are numerous individuals out there still that do not have a hope for anything else past what is in this world.

So, I am here to say to those folks, examine your heart and the word of God.  Pick up a bible and see what God says about us, this world and the life to come.  It's very interesting and gives us so much to look forward to.  This world is filled with so much misery and heartache and so today I want to pray for those who are afflicted with cancer or other diseases, those feeling down and depressed,  or fearful for their jobs and what tomorrow will bring.  For those who are lonely and do not believe anyone cares or loves them.  Let me tell you - God does love you so much he gave his only Son to die for you on the cross so that you could experience all the goodness and love that he wants to give you.  

God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, peace and a sound mind.  My prayer today is that the Holy spirit will be real and present in your life, if you do not believe that, begin to search out and research the word of God and may it speak directly to you and guide you to Jesus.  Jesus is waiting and knocking at your door, let Him in because he is the only one that can go bat for you, to plead your case before God.  But you have to do your part and that is believe by faith that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Then repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness and watch Him to go work.  When you do this you will start to see a difference in your life like never before.  Remember there is not a hole so deep that God's hands cannot reach into and get you out of.  So no matter what you have done, his Grace is sufficient.  May you experience all that is good and pleasing and may God receive all the Glory - Amen.

Now on a different note, which is the crafty side of this blog. The "free pattern" for this week is "Grandma's Knitted Slippers".  My late mother in law taught me to knit these adorable slippers years ago.  I have made so many pairs of these for family and friends. They are truly easy to do and take only a couple of nights of knitting while watching my favorite television shows.  So here is a photo and link of the slippers which were also featured on "Favecrafts" website this week......have fun and may God bless you and all your days!!!!!!!
Click on the website link above, that is where you will find the instructions to print to make your own.

Let's be positive living in a negative world - shall we!

Top of the morning to you and Happy Friday.  I learned a new definition for TGIF and I shared it with my sisters via my phone this morning.  Thank God I'm Forgiven!!!! Love it.

Today I want to discuss being positive in a negative world.  We have people all around us it seems that are so negative and at times I have to catch myself because it can be contagious.  In her book "Battlefield of the Mind" Joyce reminds us that positive minds produce positive lives.  Then on the other hand negative minds produce negative lives.  The negative thoughts are full of fear and doubt, but positive ones bring forth faith and hope. I choose faith and hope thank you very much.  But there are individuals who choose all through their lives have had bad things happen to them so they refuse to even once believe there is hope and think positively.  It's a kind of protection against being hurt again, because it's disappointing and it hurts so much.  So they would rather refuse to hope and stay negative than believe that something good will ever happen to them.

I am speaking to those individuals right now.  Start asking the Holy Spirit to convict you when you begin to think negatively, and replace those thoughts with positive ones.  I know it can be hard sometimes but it can be done.  Just remember God's word and what he says about you and your situations. In Proverbs 23:7 it states that "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he".  When you begin a life of thinking more positively about the situations you are in you will begin to see that it works.  It doesn't mean that we will always get what we want in life just by thinking about it.  God has a perfect plan for each of us, and we can't control Him with our thoughts and words.  But what we should do is speak and agree with him on his will and plan for our lives.  God wants us to to live a peaceful and fruitful life and receive his blessings which will be so many we will not be able to contain them. Therefore we can bless others with what he gives us and brings into our lives in return.  The toughest time to be positive is when something bad is happening or you can't figure out what to do in a tight spot.  Remember, practice being positive in those times, and expect God to bring good out of it, as He has promised in His word. 

Now, on a crafty note.  I wanted to share my "free pattern" with you of a really cute spring wooden birdhouse.  It's  a double pirch wooden birdhouse that I decoupaged a few years ago.  It's easy to do and looks great in any area of your home.  Hope you have fun making this cute craft.  Thanks and until next time - may God's grace and mercy follow you for all the days of your life.  Here's a pic of the birdhouse - you are going to love it.  Then I added some other birdhouses you can choose to purchase and decorate, either way they are fun to do especially with your grandkids.