I'm a Winner

So, the mail truck stopped in front of our house. I assumed it was to bring Clif a book because that is what is usually delivered to our house. But no. It wasn't even a package for Clif at all. It was a package for me. Then I remembered that I had won a giveaway from Linda http://lmarandomcreativity.blogspot.com/ and I could hardly wait to open it. Here's what the package contained.

Wow, I haven't journaled in some time, but now I intend to begin again. Thank you, Linda for your thoughtful and beautiful creation.

Linda wrote this on the first page.

 And here was the lovely card enclosed.

Love this tag as well. Wow.

Wow, the blessings just continue to flow for me. I am sooo very blessed. If you aren't familiar with Linda's blog, I suggest you go there. There is no end to her creativity.

p.s. Thanks, Linda. I scanned my name on the envelope for a signature. I like it.

New Heaven and New Earth

When I posted the info about Charles Spurgeon, I promised to share some more from the book We Shall See God by Randy Alcorn. What a great little book this is. I know I said it before, but I'll say it again. I like the chapter called Homesick for Eden. Here are some excerpts from Spurgeon's sermons delivered in 1860.

People are not the only ones who suffer under the Curse; the Earth itself experiences the devastation of the Fall in the form of thorns, blights, and disasters of every kind. But one day Christ will come to restore the Earth to its rightful state. Then it will no longer groan in the pains of childbirth but will live in joyful celebration of its new life, which will never again be taken from it.

After the first humans sinned, God cursed the Earth.

When Christ came into the world, evil people twisted a crown made of the cursed thorn and put in our his head and made him king of the Curse, and in that day he purchased the redemption of the world from its curse. I believe, and I think it is warranted by Scripture, that when Christ shall come a second time, this world will become everywhere as fertile as the Garden of Paradise used to be. 

 "The whole creation," says Paul, has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth" (Romans 8:22). Groaning for what? Groaning and waiting for the redemption, when this world shall be washed of all her sin. Her curse shall be removed, her stains taken away, and this world shall be as fair as when God first formed her from his mind, as when, like a glowing spark, forged from the anvil by the eternal hammer she first flashed in her orbit. This Christ has redeemed, this Christ shall most assuredly redeem.

And then Alcorn gives his thoughts on the subject.

We are homesick for Eden. We're nostalgic for what is implanted in our hearts. It's built into us, perhaps at a genetic level. We long for what the first man and woman once enjoyed―a perfect and beautiful Earth and free and unstained relationship with God, one another, animals, and the environment. Every attempt at human progress has been an attempt to overcome what was lost in the Fall. If God's plan were merely to take mankind to the present Heaven or to a heaven that is the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heaven s and a New Earth. 

Upon creating the heavens and the Earth, God called them "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Never once has he renounced his claim on what he made. He isn't going to abandon his creation; he's going to restore it. We won't go to heaven and leave earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven's perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God's perfect plan is "to bring unity to all things in heaven and oin earth under Christ" (Ephesians 1:10, NIV).

Wow, I don't know about you, but this really makes me look forward to heaven more than if I were to go there as a disembodied spirit drifting around on clouds as some have envisioned heaven. No wonder so many people have no desire to go there. Compared to a New Heaven and a New Earth, the "cloud" theory does sound a little boring. Although, if this were God's plan, I'm sure there would nothing boring about it. I just agree with Spurgeon and Alcorn. We are promised a new body like Jesus' resurrected body. A new body - a new Heaven and a new Earth - what could be better? I sure can't think of anything.

Now, if you didn't come here from the link on the Spiritual Sundays blog, I hope you will go there and read what others have shared by clicking on the various links. And you might even want to link there too. Click HERE or on the icon at the left to directly there.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Charles Spurgeon. I knew the name. I knew he was a preacher who lived a long time ago. That's really all I knew about him. Then I discovered a book that Randy Alcorn recently wrote called We Shall See God. This is when I found out more about Charles Spurgeon.

Charles Spurgeon lived from 1834 until 1892. He was England's best known preacher for most of the second half of the 19th century. He served for 30 years at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, and it is estimated that during his lifetime he preached to more than 10 million people. His collected sermons fill sixty-three volumes and remains one of the best selling series of writings in history. I say WOW WOW WOW! And that without rapid transportation, modern audio speaker systems, TV or internet.

Charles Spurgeon preaching at Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

Now, back to Randy Alcorn's book. This is a small book but packed with lots of good stuff. He has taken excerpts from some of Spurgeon's sermons on heaven and given his thoughts and comments about them. I intended to share something from that book in this post, but now I'm thinking I will save it for the next post. There are a lot of things in the book that I would like to share. Are you familiar with Randy Alcorn's book called Heaven? I think it is one of the best books I've ever read. If you haven't read it, you really should. You will probably have a whole new perspective on the subject. I know I did.

I'm sharing this for Spiritual Sundays. Click HERE to go to that blog to find links to many inspirational posts. You may want to share a post on your own blog by linking it there.

LOVING AND CARING

Are you familiar with the little book entitled A Touch of Wonder by Arthur Gordon? It contains a collection of heart warming experiences. It is a little paper back book that we have had at our house for years but I just recently discovered it. 

In Arthur Gordon's book he recalls an occasion when he and his siblings were going through the attic of the home where his family had lived for generations. They were to clean it out and get rid of a lot of stuff that had collected there through the years. He thought there might be some treasures there that were very valuable but it turned out to be a lot of junk. He did, however, find value in some old letters he found there. That value was value of the heart which is the best kind. He describes so much better than I ever could, so I'll use his words here.

Speaking of value, he says, "I found it in the letters, a whole trunkful of them. Most of them were written in faded ink and grimy with the dust of decades. . . .  It was like listening to voices, faint and far away, echoing down the corridor of time. The letters were never about great historical events. They weren't passionate love letters either. They simply chronicled the lives of ordinary people. . . . The people of those generations cared about one another, enormously and intimately. . . . In a hundred different ways they spoke of their love and admiration for one another, and you could feel their sincerity warm on the brittle paper:

You don't know how much your visit meant to each of us! When you left I felt as if the sun had stopped shining.

The courage with which you are facing your difficulties is an inspiration to all of us. We haven't the slightest doubt that in the end you will triumph over all of them.

Have I told you lately what a wonderful person you are? Never forget how much your friends and family admire you.

 I'm afraid that in our hurry up, hustle bustle, TV, internet, etc. etc. etc. world today that we have lost some of the "caring" that former generations demonstrated. I'm happy to find that a lot of that warmth and caring is demonstrated here in blogland. This was especially evident in the interest that was shown in Charlie and the Miracle Makeover blog party. I was really touched by all the wonderful comments that were made.
We know how important love is to God. These are just a few of the scriptures pointing out that fact.

1. John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
   John 13:33-35 (in Context) John 13 (Whole Chapter)
2. John 13:35
   By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
   John 13:34-36 (in Context) John 13 (Whole Chapter)
3. Romans 12:10
   Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
   Romans 12:9-11 (in Context) Romans 12 (Whole Chapter)
4. Romans 13:8
   [ Love Fulfills the Law ] Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
   Romans 13:7-9 (in Context) Romans 13 (Whole Chapter)

Please click HERE to go to the Spiritual Sundays blog. It continues to be a blessing to many. I'm happy that so many are sharing there.

I'M ALIVE

When I read about David Rothenberg being so thrilled that he was alive after what he had gone through, I wanted to share it for Spiritual Sundays. I had heard about him back when the incident happened, but was reminded of it in Tim Hansel's book entitled Keep On Dancin'. Here's the story as told in that book.

But to each of us grace has been given as Christ

apportioned it. Ephesians 4:7

Grace is free but it certainly isn't cheap. You may have read the story of David Rothenberg a few years ago. His father, in a fit of rage, went into David's room, poured kerosene all over the room and all over the tiny boy, and lit him on fire. In God's difficult grace, David somehow lived through it, though ninety percent of his body was covered with third-degree burns. It is estimated that David will have approximately 5,000 operations in his lifetime. Each year they have to open him up so that he can grow. Along with a few saints and poets, David Rothenberg is aware of the greatest miracle of all: LIFE ITSELF. At the age of 7, he had the audacity to say:

I'm alive!

I'm alive!

I'm alive!

I didn't miss out on living! and that is wonderful enough for me.

O Giver of life, how often I take

Your gift for granted. 

Be sure to visit our Spiritual Sundays blog for links to many inspiring posts. Thank you again to everyone who shares there. You are all very special people. You can click HERE to go to that blog.

Follow-up:   After I posted this I decided to see if I could find out more about David. I didn't realize it had been so long ago. It happened back in the early 1980s. Here are a couple of websites if you would like to find out more about it.

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20093827,00.html

http://crimeshots.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9616 

LEARNING FROM GEESE

There is much to be learned from geese. I love the following devotional in the little book called Keep On Dancin' by Tim Hansel.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,

just as in fact you are doing.

I Thessalonians 5:11

There are four things that geese have to teach us.
     One, they rotate their leadership. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
     Second, by flying in a V-formation, the whole flock gets seventy-one percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
     Third, when a goose gets sick or is wounded, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him.
     Finally, it's the geese in the back who honk, letting the leaders know that they're following and all is well. If people thought we would be constantly honking encouragement to them, our churches would have standing room only.

Oh God, help me to remember to encourage rather than criticize. 

                                                      -Tim Hansel

As I was thinking about encouragement, it occurred to me how each of us who share on Spiritual Sundays encourage each other. So many of you have told Ginger and me how much you appreciate going there each weekend and sharing. OK. We won't be "honking" but we do want to encourage each one of you and thank you for being a part of this ministry. If you didn't come here from Spiritual Sundays, just click HERE and it will take you there. 

 

INTROVERTS

It's been officially confirmed. I'm an introvert. I've always known it but hadn't given it a lot of thought until I started reading a book entitled  The Introvert Advantage How to Thrive in an Extrovert World by  Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D. As I was growing up I knew I was not outgoing like so many people were and I wished I was. Even after I was grown people would comment about me being so quiet. It always irritated me for people to say that because I always thought if I had something I wanted to say I would say it. I didn't just "blab" on and on like so many other people did. Introverts are outnumbered 3 to 1 by extroverts. Some think it is as high as 4 to 1. Introverts many times think about what they are going to say before they say something. Extroverts tend to just talk more spontaneously.

Another thing I found out by reading this book is that it isn't just a psychological thing. There is a physical difference in the brains of innies and outies. (Introverts are called innies and extroverts are outies). The book explained that. I won't try to explain it here.

Innies enjoy spending time alone while outies feel much better when they are surrounded by a lot of activity. The author of the book is an introvert. The following excerpt from the book had me saying, "Hey, that's me."

The way my brain worked puzzled me. I couldn't figure out why I could think of lots of comments after the fact. I found my thoughts were like lost airline baggage, they arrived some time later. 

Socializing was also a confusing experience. I enjoyed people, and people seemed to like me, but I often dreaded going out. I would go back and forth deciding whether to show up at a party or public event. I concluded I was a social chicken. Sometimes I felt awkward and uncomfortable; at other times I felt okay. Even when I was having a wonderful time, I was eyeing the door and fantasizing about snuggling in bed in my pajamas. 

About now (if you're still with me here), you're probably thinking "who really cares, Charlotte, whether you are an introvert or not." I'm writing this because I know there are a lot of us "innies" out there and I wish I had read this book about 60 years ago.  If you still have children at home, and you think they are introverts, you really should get this book and read it. I know I would have been happier with myself as I was growing up and even after I was grown if I had known why I was not outgoing and that it was okay to be who I was. I still would rather be an extrovert than an introvert. It just seems like life is easier for them. My mother was an extrovert and my dad was an introvert. I always wished I was more like my mother, but I wasn't.

The book goes into detail in explaining the differences in innies and outies. If you are an extrovert, which most people are, I hope you will be more aware that there are quite a few of us introverts out there and try to understand us and not judge us too harshly. It's OK to be an introvert, and there actually are a lot of advantages to being one.

MEMORIES OF 9/11

I found this on the Guidepost website and wanted to share it. I think I would like to read the book. You will need to scroll down and turn off the music on my sidebar before viewing the video.

BOOK REVIEW - GIVEAWAY

In my last post on this blog I told you I had started reading Joyce Meyer's new book called eat the cookie ... buy the shoes. (I didn't capitalize the title because as you can see it is not capitalized on the book cover.)

Joyce Meyer, a #1 New York Times best selling author, has written over 80 inspirational books and two novels plus thousands of audio and video teachings. I have heard her teach on TV but have not had the privilege of hearing her in person. I did not realize she had written so many books, but when I learned that this book was available for review, and being a cookie and shoe person myself, I jumped at the chance. I also liked the shoe connection because my daughter had seen her in a shoe store a few years ago looking for a pair of brown shoes. I mentioned it in my last post.

After finishing this delightful book, I was tempted to eat a cookie to reward myself, but alas, there were no cookies in the house. Perhaps I should go out and buy a pair of shoes. No, what I need to do right now is finish writing this review.

Joyce wants to help readers of her book to experience joy and celebration. She says it took her many years to learn this important concept. She calls it giving your soul a vacation. She states that the entire premise of "eat the cookie ... buy the shoes" is designed to let your soul rest. It is not wrong to let go of life's demands and circumstances for a while and do something you enjoy. She also emphasizes the need to not try to fix all the problems in life by yourself, but to turn them over to God who can do a much better job of it than you can anyway. She also points out that time after time God ordered his people to celebrate. She also states that fun and enjoyment are needed in our lives, and we can't be healthy without them. She says that for too many years she was addicted to guilt and the only time in life she felt right was when she was wrong. I think there are a lot of people who can relate to that. She says we need to lighten up, give our souls a rest and in the long run we will get more accomplished. She gives little nuggets of advice all through the book. Here's one I like. "See how many days you can go without getting into a bad mood or finding something in your life to complain about."

You may be fortunate enough to win a copy of this book. If not, I think it would be a good investment to obtain a copy from a bookstore or from Amazon.

The generous folks at Hachette Book Group are allowing me to host this book giveaway for five (5) copies!

• Winners are restricted to the US and Canada. No PO Box mailing address please. You do not have to be a blogger to win.

• I must have a way of contacting you, so be sure to leave your email address in your comment.

• Some choose to omit the @ sign and the . dot by writing it in "code" like this: you (at) your email (dot)com.

• I'll close the comments May 27 and pick the five winners. I will contact the winners via email to get their mailing information. The winners will have three days to respond. If I do not hear from them within three days, I will select another winner(s).

Eat the Cookie ... Buy the Shoes

See the pair of shoes on the left? Those little brown patent leather shoes were our daughter's all time favorites. She saw them in a department store, and wanted them. They were rather expensive so we decided not to buy them. When we got in the car to start home, she started crying. She really really wanted those little brown shoes. She was never one to "throw a fit" to get what she wanted, and we knew how important those shoes were to her, so we went back in the store and bought them. We have been so glad ever since that we did. She has never forgotten it and every so often she will bring up the subject of how much she loved those shoes. You may or may not be curious about the other three pair of shoes. The ones next to her belonged to her brother and the other two were cousins.

So why in the world am I writing about these shoes? It reminds me of another "shoe" story. Our daughter was in a shoe store in Scottsdale a few years ago trying on shoes and said she heard a gravely sounding voice over in the next aisle. She thought to herself, "That voice sounds familiar." The voice said she was looking for a pair of brown shoes. Out of curiosity, Carol went over where she was, and the voice belonged to Joyce Meyer. Yes, "the" Joyce Meyer. This leads me into talking about the title of this post. Joyce Meyer has written a book by this title. As many of you know, my husband reviews books on his blog. I have also reviewed a few but do not do it all the time like he does. When he saw the publisher was offering this book for review, he asked me if I would like to review it. Since I love cookies and I am definitely a shoe person, I decided sure - why not?

The book arrived a couple of days ago, and I have just started reading it. When I finish it, I will be doing a review of the book and giving away five copies. So, be looking for that review, and if you would like to receive one of those free books, you can let me know then. Now I think I will go read a few pages.

BOOK GIVEAWAY

Here are the winners of the triad of books including The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck:

Dina, Marie, Joyce, Tammy and Angela. They have all been notified that they won. I appreciate everyone who signed up and wish I could send books to all of you. There will be other opportunities in the future for free books so maybe next time you will be one of the winners. 

BTW to see the photos I took this morning of a mother cat and her kittens who showed up in our back yard, go to Charlotte's Weblog. You can enter by the gate on my right sidebar.

ANOTHER BOOK GIVEAWAY

HACHETTE BOOK GROUP has authorized me to give away five copies of a Triad of books. I would love to give these books to those who are interested in improving their health and the health of their family. 

The first book is called THE NDD BOOK by William Sears MD

This book explores how nutrition affects the brains and behavior of youngsters. N.D.D., or Nutrition Deficit Disorder, as coined by Dr.. Sears, is based on the idea that if you put junk food into a child’s brain, you get back junk behavior and learning.”

The second book is THE G-FREE DIET by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Elisabeth, one of the ladies from The View TV show shares her hard-earned wisdom on living life without gluten and loving it. She discovered that what had been making her sick for years was gluten. Doctors and nutritionists couldn’t seem to come up with any answers. When she finally realized that gluten was the problem, she started eating a gluten free diet and she wrote this book which covers everything you need to know to start living a gluten free life.

The third book in the triad is called IF YOUR KID EATS THIS BOOK EVERYTHING WILL STILL BE OKAY by Lara Zibners, MD

As an Emergency Room pediatrician, Dr. Lara Zibners explains that more than 50% of these visits may be unnecessary. In this book she explains when parents may need to take action and when they may just need to go back to bed and call their doctor in the morning. 

I know there are a lot of you ladies out there who would love to have these three books. To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. The contest will close May 20, and the five winners will be picked after that time. Here are the guidelines:

• Winners are restricted to the US and Canada. No PO Box mailing addresses, please.

• I must have a way of contacting you, so be sure to leave your email address in your comment. 

• You do not have to be a blogger to win.

• I’ll close the comments at 6 PM May 20 and pick the five winners. I will contact the winners via email to get their mailing information. The winners will have three days to respond. If I do not hear from them within three days, I will select another winner(s).

• If you’re interested, just say so in a comment with that all-important email address in code. Example of email in code: you [at] your email [dot] com. 

BOOK REVIEWS

"What?" you say. Charlotte is getting into book reviewing and book giveaways? As many of you know my hubby has been doing this for some time and he has encouraged me to start. He started blogging way before I did and couldn't understand why I didn't want to blog too because he was enjoying it so much. I really wasn't interested until I visited a few women's blogs and then I got interested. This time I decided to take his advice and give it a try. 

So, my first book to review arrived by UPS late yesterday. I have only had a chance to thumb through it and read a few pages. I have to tell you I am very impressed with the book and am eager to get more into it. 

How Not To Look Old - that was something I didn't need to be worried about for a long time, but now when I look in the mirror, I think, "When did it happen?" When we were first married people who came to our front door would ask me if my mother was home. This made me furious. I was well into my 20s.  Anyway, it has been a long time since anybody has asked me that question. LOL

Now, I want you to be aware that in the next few days I will be posting a review on my Charlotte's Weblog blog with instructions on how to win one. 

Books, Books and More Books

When I first started writing my blog, I mentioned that my doll room was one of my favorite rooms. This bookcase is in another one of my favorite rooms -- the room where we spend most of our time -- the family room.

My husband loves books. When we moved to our last church over 18 years ago, the preacher's office had beautiful bookcases, which would have probably been fine for most pastors, but there wasn't nearly enough room for his collection. So, the church built more bookcases for him. When we were thinking about retiring a big question was, "Where will we put all the books." So we had a bookcase built on one whole wall in our family room. A whole bunch more books are in our home office where I'm sitting right now. There are books everywhere. Guess what he got for Christmas? Among other things, he got about 5 more books. One thing for sure, we'll never run out of something to read.

Windows of the Soul

Nannykim left a comment on last Sunday’s blog where I talked about this wonderful book that I had discovered. It has been around for over a decade, but I just started reading it.

Nannykim’s comment was: “Well, what’s it about.”
It’s a book that is hard to describe what it’s about so I looked it up online. I got this picture there and the following description..

Are you straining to hear the still, small voice of God through the noise of your life? In this insightful book, Gire reminds us that God whispers to us through the ordinary experiences of our lives---music, laughter, the beauty of creation, even tears---to get our attention and to nourish our souls. 208 pages, hardcover from Zondervan.

This is a much better description of the book than I could give. I'm still reading it. There are a lot of inspirational stories in there.

Something Less Frivolous

Since today is Sunday, it seems like a good time to write about something more important than dolls and tins and such.

Yesterday after doing my blog I went downstairs and looked for a good book to start reading. We have a whole wall covered with a bookcase full of books. Choosing one is always a daunting task. I picked out a book that I remembered my husband had talked about years ago as being one of his favorite books. I had never really looked at it before, but decided to now. The name of the book is Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire. I had not expected the reaction I had to the reading of the first chapter. No. I didn’t start with chapter 1. I scanned through the book and it looked like one that you could start just about anywhere so I started with page 64. When I finished reading that chapter, it took a long time for the lump in my throat and the tears in my eyes to go away. If you have access to this book, I would definitely recommend it. You might even consider buying it. I think it could be life-changing.

Tomorrow I will be writing about something more frivolous again but I won’t stop reading this book.