Jesus is King

Merry Christmas, everyone!  May the Lord bless you and yours throughout the years.

My daughter is turning 25 on Sunday.  Thinking of my baby girl turning a quarter of a century old makes me realize my age as well – lol!  She is such a blessing to me and has married a wonderful man.  I am honored to have them in my life.  I thank the Lord each day for them both.

I just finished the first half of a great class taught by our Teaching Pastor.  The knowledge he has shared has been amazing and will be beneficial in the future as I make this Christian journey of life.

Windstorm 2015

We had a massive windstorm yesterday afternoon/evening with gusts over 70 mph.  Most of Spokane is out of power (yep, I'm included in that group).  Lifting up prayers of safety for all during this time of power outage and cleanup.

The Lord is with us!

Review - Pieces on Earth by Cathy Bryant

Pieces on Earth is a wonderful Christmas story.  Cathy Bryant brings to life a young military family going through a time of deployment and the reality of the ups and downs of everyday living.  God’s mercy and grace flow through the story and brings growth and healing to the main character, Liz and others.  The sharing of the gospel that each of us as Christians are called to do comes through loud and clear in a lovingkind way.  Cathy Bryant is a talented author who uses her gift to share God’s love with others.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of Pieces on Earth by Cathy Bryant in exchange for an honest review.

Ramblings

It has been over a month since I posted.  Time is flying by -- in a good way.

I am very blessed with a loving Father who showers me with mercy and grace on a daily basis.  I have a home, family, a great job, wonderful co-workers, a Church family with two small Bible study groups, and the list of blessings goes on.

We are starting to cool down here in the Inland Empire of the Pacific Northwest.  I am holding out on a coat and just using a scarf and fingerless mitts for now :-)

Growth

I am excited to begin a class at Church.  This class is going to be taught by our Teaching Pastor.  We are going to delve into the Bible on a different level – background, culture, etc. to help us as small group facilitators (me) or large group teachers.

This is a course that will begin this fall and go through the early part of the new year.

Our Church is blessed to have a man that is gifted with teaching and that God is leading him to share that knowledge base with others.

I am ready to grow!

Thankful

It has been too long since my last post -- life tends to get in the way :-)

I am so thankful for family, friends, my new job, my home and my God!

This is short and sweet for now.

My Cat

Spice

My little fluff of black and white,

Burrowing under covers on a winter’s night.

Faithful companion through the seasons,

You will hold a special place for many reasons.

Farewell my furry friend,

I’m saddened you couldn’t mend.

A pampered life of thirteen years,

Ending in a day of tears.

I had to put my friend to rest on Saturday.  She was battling kidney failure and it was not going well.

Family Reunion

What a wonderful way to spend Independence Day weekend!  The Chase Family Reunion was awesome -- we were missing a few of the gang but enjoyed the company that was there.  I am so glad we do this on a regular basis as it keeps us connected to those we may not otherwise get together with in the day to day grind.

New Job

I am so thrilled with my new position.  I applied for an Administrative Specialist 2 position in early May.  I started on May 22nd - working mornings at my Customer Accounting Specialist 2 job and afternoons at my new position.  I will continue along those lines until I have trained someone for my CAS2 job.  The posting closes this afternoon so hopefully someone will be hired next week.

I have been praying about my work environment for quite some time and I believe this was God's answer for me.  Thank you, Lord!

This isn't a pay increase, not even a lateral move; however, the slight (very) decrease in pay is worth it's weight in gold for the change in environment and co-workers' attitudes.  That is not to say that I won't miss working closely with some of the people that will be left behind; however, they know who they are and that I will still be nearby.

Freedoms

Here in the United States, we are blessed with many freedoms.  Freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, Petition, the Right to Bear Arms, “No-Quartering”, the Right to Equal Justice, the Right to Own Private Property, and many other rights including the Freedom to live or travel anywhere in our nation, to work at any job for which we can qualify, to marry and raise a family, to receive a free education in public schools, to join a political party, a union and other legal groups…

The Glory of God is that we are Free from Sin when we accept the gift of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  Freedom in Christ is more important than any of these ‘freedoms’ we have in our country – because we gain eternal life when we become a child of God and become dead to sin.  As we surrender daily to our Lord, we are given Grace [the power to obey] and the ability to continue to say NO to sin; yahoo!

We have been in the Book of Romans at Church and this past Sunday the ‘big idea’ was: We have a choice; serve sin and die or serve Christ and live forever!  

Happy May Day

Although May Day is an ancient spring festival; I always think of making paper baskets and flowers or picking flowers and leaving them on our front door for my mom when I was young :-)

Spring Visit and Resurrection Sunday

The last weekend of March, I went out of town to visit with my dad and his wife.  What a great weekend it was!  I’ve wanted cowboy (girl) boots for ages and purchased some *early birthday gift to me*; we went to a couple of craft stores; ate rosemary fries; crocheted; ate pizza; played cards *313* and had wonderful fellowship.  They live just blocks from the Tulip Farm (see pic)!  It makes for a busy road but the tulips are gorgeous.

Yesterday was Resurrection Sunday and I hope you all were as blessed as me in the remembering of our Lord’s sacrificial death and rising from the grave.  What hope He gives all who believe in His life!

Acts 4:12  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

Bible Study Group

I have been in my Bible study group for about 3 ½ years now.  It is such a blessing to forge relationships with other Christian women.  We are from different backgrounds and run the gamut of ages from early 30s to 70s.

I have just embarked on co-leading (facilitating) a new Bible study for ladies on Sundays during one of our church services.  This will enable women to use the child care that is available, if needed.  We have prayed over the room, resources and our willingness to be used by the Lord.  We have been informed that we are a total of 8 commencing this weekend.  The Lord is good!

Learning and drinking in the Word, being accountable to sisters-in-Christ and being a servant for the Lord are all things I am praying come of this group.

Modest Dressing and Headcovering Anniversary

February, 2015 marked my two year anniversary of modestly dressing in skirts/dresses and wearing a headcovering daily.

I have been the only lady in my church to wear a headcovering.  Just this last Sunday, I had a lady (whom I have done volunteer work with) come up to me before service started and begin to ask about my modest dressing and headcovering – did I make my own headcovering?  Were the changes I made hard?  She had been convicted through a variety of situations and confirmed with her husband as the head of house.

I am so thrilled to have another Sister in Christ who headcovers. I did not ask if it was just during church or always as I do.  Either way, I was blessed with our conversation.

I did let her know that my headcoverings are purchased from www.garlandsofgrace.com and I am blessed by that group of sisters.

The Lord is good!

Christian Fiction

I just finished reading The Daughters of Boston series and The Winds of Change series which continues with the same characters.  Author Julie Lessman ( www.julielessman.com ) has done a superb job writing about a family named O’Connor which takes place at the beginning of the 20^th Century.  If you want to read a saga of faith, hope and love with a bit of history added in, please check these two series out!

I love books that share the Christian faith with those who are reading them.  I enjoy other types of books but Christian ones are my favorite as I get such a blessing and much encouragement from reading them.

Winter Continues ~ Grace Abounds

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday…which predicts another 6 weeks of winter.

I have to laugh at that since the official First Day of Spring is March 20^th – 7 weeks away.

The poor creature – who wouldn’t be scared after being ripped out of a cozy bed and thrust into the ‘limelight’!

I am sure the East Coast is dreading another six weeks of winter.  However, over here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had an extremely mild winter.  I’m not sure what that will mean for the spring/summer months…drought?

As a Christian, I put my faith in the Lord.  This is for all aspects of my life, not just weather J  As a human, I fall short of that goal.  However, God’s grace and mercy are in abundance and cover my failings.  Thank you Lord!

A Mentor is a Blessing

A big shout out to my small group leader, Louise.  She is a mature Christian lady that has been leading this Bible study group for over 7 years.  I have been blessed to be a part of this group for the past four years.  Louise holds us accountable in a loving and kind manner.  She models Christian love, discipline and wisdom.  Her life reflects Christ to all who come in contact with her.  I thank the Lord for such a mentor as Louise.