The Lord Will Provide

It was late Fall 1999 and the world's thoughts were turning toward the new millennium.  Many were fearing Y2K and what the year 2000 would bring.  I'd come across an old devotional at the flea market, dated 1900, and the entry for January 1st seemed the perfect antidote.  

I had 5,000 bookmarks printed with the quote and put them in a holder on the checkout counter at my store.  Almost every person took one, and most had me put a copy on the top of the Christmas gifts we wrapped for them.  One pastor took 500 for his congregation.  By the time the New Year arrived, only a handful of bookmarks were left. 

~this is what it said ~

"Write deep in your heart this New Year's day this word of sublime confidence,
Jehovah-Jireh. It tells you that you can trust God always; that no promise of his ever fails; that he doeth all things well; that out of all seeming loss and destruction of human hopes he brings blessing. You have not passed this way heretofore. There will be sorrows and joys, failures and successes, this year, just as there were last year. You cannot forecast individual experiences. You cannot see a step before your feet. Yet Jehovah-jireh calls you to enter the new year with calm trust. It bids you put away all anxieties and forebodings --- "The Lord Will Provide"."

It was true then, and it's  true today 

 

Happy New Year

and May You Be Blessed Beyond Measure

xo Susy

Birds-on-a-Branch Christmas Greetings

 

To all my family and friends ~

a very blessed and Merry Christmas.
May the day be full of happy celebrations, shared moments, and the makings of beautiful memories.

"For unto you is born this day

in the city of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:1

CHRISTMAS  BLESSINGS,
Susy

I'm joining Spiritual Sundays

      

          

Teddy Bear Photo Shoot

Something special that comes out
at Christmas time at my house
is a furry little bear,
who sits in a doll rocker
near the fireplace,
and makes me very happy because....

 

....this little bear was made from my mother's mink stole

I  had a larger bear made for my sister,

and the sweet lady who created it

 

surprised me with a smaller one

made from the leftover materials

The pads of his little feet are from the lining of the jacket.

 

                                                                      

For me, part of the makings of a Merry Christmas

is the nostalgia of Christmas's past,

family traditions, childhood memories, old photos,

and reflecting on happy times with loved ones.

 There are other bears in the house

[in the no-husband-traffic-zone]

A trio of buddy bears on an old dressing table chair

A cutie made from vintage chenille
sitting atop a hanky box

And this loved-to-pieces Teddy was mine as a little girl!

He once had a squeaker tummy. Ha! and fur

And this is the darling little girl he belonged to

                                                    

I still have that crocheted dress too (somewhere)

 

We All  Wish You a Beary Merry Christmas 

xo Susy

I'm joining 

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Show and Tell Friday

 and

Spiritual Sundays

just to send Christmas Blessings

The King of Glory

    Kindness sent His son to earth;

        Sacrifice laid him in the manager.    

       "What Christ is to us we ought to, in our human measure, be to others.  Christmas means love. Christ came to our world to pour divine kindness on weary, needy, perishing human lives.

        The Christmas spirit in our hearts should send us out on the same errand.  There is need everywhere for love's ministry.  We should learn the true Christmas lesson of gentle,

thoughtful kindness to those we love and to all we meet in life's busy ways. 
            J.R. Miller ~ In Green Pastures 1901

*  *  *

*  *  *

 

   Christmas Blessing from my house to yours!

 xo Susy xo

 I'm joyfully joining Spiritual Sundays

Life in the Pond

To say that my husband and son love to fish is an understatement.  They own a bass boat and take, find, or sneak every opportunity they can to hit the lakes.  I spent some time recently with my son in front of his computer admiring pictures of the big beauties he'd caught on a recent trip to the Sierras.  It got me thinking about how it's said people are like fish in a pond ~ some are little fish in a Big Pond, and some are Big Fish in a little pond. Which one do you think you are? 

My old nature wants me to be the big fish that makes a big splash, a "keeper" ~ but God's nature in me says otherwise.  Sometimes our lives seem small and insignificant, or we're made to feel that way (if we take the bait).  But that's not the truth.  You actually might be the one that walks into a room and brings critical mass.

Jesus understood the significance of a few right people.  In the story of Jairus' daughter, where he was making a house call to a sick little girl, he dismissed all but a handful from the room before he prayed for her. It was those with big faith that were allowed to remain.

It's not our position or education, social status or gifting that makes us big fish.  It's what we bring to the "pond" through Jesus.  In Him, you are "the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath".  It's possible that when you show up, so does the Presence of the Lord.  You are a carrier of His Glory, and a partaker of the Divine Nature.  You are His hands and His feet; His ambassador representing His kingdom wherever you go.

It's not how we look, or feel.  What matters is that we allow a loving Jesus to be big in us and through us to overcome evil, and by caring about people.


 Philemon 1:6  Let the communication of your faith be made more effective by the full acknowledgment of all that is in you through Christ Jesus.

Study along:
Luke 8:51, Deut. 28:15, Math 18:20, John17-21-23, 2 Pet. 1:4

                   Yay!  The tree is up!

Christmas Blessings,  Susy

I'll be linking to Spiritual Sundays

Photos:  son and brown trout,  antique Austrian fish platter & plates (gift from son and fam),

               ornaments on our tree - of course

Look up!

As our thoughts begin to turn toward Thanksgiving, I'm reminded of the long-ago November I attended a conference in San Antonio.  I'd come home with the music of the guest singer and was playing it while setting the Thanksgiving table.  The lyrics of the song spoke of  looking up from your table and seeing the fields that were ready for harvest.

I took the timely words to heart, and looked up to consider the "fields'" that were just across from my neighborhood.  One was the university and the other was the Veterans Hospital.  Within a few days I was in the office of  the Chaplain at the V.A. asking if I could visit patients.  At first he declined my offer, but eventually introduced me to one young man that was paraplegic, who wanted to know more about God.

It was awkward and uncomfortable for both of us at first, but after several visits we began bonding - and he asked me to pray with him.  From that day forward things began to change.  Over the next few months he was reconnected to extended family that had ignored him, and reconciled to his father that had rejected him. Eventually he returned to his home state to be near his family, in assisted living, with plans to become a champion for wheelchair access rights.

So what did I learn? I learned that even I was called and qualified to be a laborer for the Lord.  That I  had to be willing to go into the field; and that in this case, the field was just across the street.  A shift in my thinking, a few willing steps ~ He did the rest.

P.S.   I think it was a set up (:

John 4:35   I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Blessings to you,  Susy  

I'm joining Spiritual Sundays

Thank You!

In the early summer of 1967 I married my high school sweetheart.  It was the   Viet Nam war era and he had volunteered for the draft, knowing his number was coming up.  He was stationed in Texas at the time and came home on leave for our wedding and a short honeymoon.  Within a week he was back on duty, and I remained living at home with my parents.   

              One month later his unit received their inevitable orders to go to Viet Nam.  They trained together for several months, then deployed as a company.  He was a Recon Sargent, at age 20.  He, along with a Radioman and his 1st Lieutenant, would scout out the enemy and call in firing coordinates for the heavy artillery.  Soldiers with that position had a short life expectancy on the battlefield.

He'd been there for five months when his two years were up.  Within 48 hours he left the jungles of Viet Nam, was mustered out, and found himself back home in our first little apartment.  What he experienced in those few short months forever changed him.  I doubt that a week goes by that he doesn't think about it.  Every once in a while I hear a story he's never told me before, and my heart hurts for him ~ even after all these years.

So it's with a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving that I salute my Veteran ~  and all the others that have served, and I pray for those that are serving still.  I love and appreciate my husband every day, not only for the fine man that he became, but that he came home to me at all.

Blessings to you, Susy

                                                       I'm linking to Spiritual Sundays

 

Vintage plate, above and here, with Old Glory flag decal