ANOTHER BLOG????

SURELY NOT. SURELY I'M NOT STARTING ANOTHER BLOG. WELL - YES - I JUST GOT IT UP AND RUNNING. IT IS A BLOG JUST FOR PHOTOS. I HOPE YOU WILL CHECK IT OUT. IT'S CALLED "SHARING MY PHOTOS" (really unique, huh?) I'll be adding additional photos soon so stay tuned.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

I remember my husband using the following illustration in a sermon many years ago. I just ran across it in a book I am reading and wanted to share it with you today.

The phone rang in a high society Boston home. On the other end of the line was a son who had just returned from Viet Nam and was calling from California. His folks were the cocktail-circuit, party kind -- drinking, wife-swapping, gambling, all the other things that go with it. The boy said to his mother, "I just called to tell you that I wanted to bring a buddy home with me." His mother said, 'Sure, bring him along for a few days.' "But, mother, there is something you need to know about this boy. One leg is gone, one arm's gone, one eye's gone, and his face is quite disfigured. Is it all right if I bring him home?"

His mother said, "Bring him home for a few days." The son said, "You didn't understand me, mother. I want to bring him home to live with us." The mother began to make all kinds of excuses about embarrassment and what people would think. . . and the phone clinked.

A few hours later the police called from California to Boston. The mother picked up the phone again. The police sergeant at the other end said, "We just found a boy with one arm, one leg, one eye and a mangled face, who has just killed himself with a shot in the head. The identification papers on the body say he is your son."

- Dale E. Galloway, Rebuild Your Life

I can't even begin to imagine how that mother must have felt when she found out it was her son. Isn't it wonderful to know that if we are a child of God he knows everything about the condition we are in and he accepts us. Not only that but one day all the deformities will be taken away. I love what Joni Eareckson Tada says about it. She is so looking forward to walking, running and jumping again. But for now, she thanks God that she has the problems she has. What a great lesson for all of us.

I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog to share with us there or just to click on the links there to read what others have shared and be blessed. Here is the link: http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

I found this on Glenn Beck's site and wanted to share it.

When You Thought I Wasn't Looking

Author: Unknown

A message every adult should read because children are watching you

and doing as you do, not as you say.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I knew that little things are special things.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I believed that there was a God to talk to.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight, and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked... and I wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

posted on GlennBeckClips.com

Little ones are always looking.

Have a great day!

PORTLAND, OR

Do you live in the Portland area? Do you know someone who lives in the Portland area? We have a good friend who lives there and he has just started an online business featuring restaurants in that area. I know you will want to check it out.

Hopefully it will be a great success and it will be expanded to other cities. His beautiful daughter does the intro video on the website. Be sure to click on it. Here is the url: http://yumfinder.com/

GREAT NEWS & AN AWARD

First I want to thank all my Spiritual Sunday friends for praying for me. I had skin cancer surgery scheduled for Monday. Last week I started getting a cold and I was concerned about how that would affect my surgery. In talking to the doctor's office about different things, I was told that since it was basal cell cancer that it could be taken care of topically. Why wasn't I told that before? I don't know, but I was sure happy to hear it. So, I cancelled the surgery and will be seeing a dermatologist. Another concern was when I had my mammogram a couple of weeks ago, I had to go for a follow up mammogram and an ultrasound. I just got home from doing that, and was told everything was OK. I don't need to go back until next year to have my yearly exam. Now I'm ready to celebrate.


On top of this good news, I just received an award from a new friend I recently met through the Spiritual Sundays blog. Her name is Audrinna. Thank you so much, Audrinna for this beautiful award. It is really special. Her blog is called Audrinna World. I hope you will go visit her there. Here's the link: http://aurinnnworld.blogspot.com/  I am supposed to pass this award on to five people. I thought and thought about who to pass it on to and there were so many people that I couldn't possibly choose 5 so I want to pass it on to all my angel blogging friends. You know who you are. I really want each of you to have this award.

PLAYING CHURCH

Did you ever play church when you were a child? I didn't, but my children did. I guess that's the reason the following quote from Anne Ortlund caught my attention. Here is that article.

When I was little we used to play church. We'd get chairs in rows, fight over who'd be preacher, vigorously lead the hymn singing, and generally have a great carnal time.

The aggressive kids naturally wanted to be up front, directing or preaching. The quieter ones were content to sit and be entertained by the up-fronters.

Occasionally we'd get mesmerized by a true sensationalistic crowd-swayer--like the girl who said, "Boo! I'm the Holy Ghost!" But in general, if the upfronters were pretty good, they could hold their audience quite a while. If they weren't so good, eventually the kids would drift off to play something else--like jump rope or jacks.

Now that generation has grown up, but most of them haven't changed too much. Every Sunday they still play church. They line up in rows for the entertainment. If it's pretty good, their church may grow. If it's not too hot, eventually they'll drift off to play something else--like yachting or wife swapping.

- Anne Ortlund, Up with Worship

So what is the "point" of this post? I think we need to examine ourselves and decide if we are serious about loving and worshipping God and giving Him our lives, or just playing church, or just playing at religion.

I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog and share with us there or just go there, click on the links and be inspired by what others have shared. Click HERE to go there. I'm so pleased that over 100 people now follow that blog. My prayer is that God will continue to use it in this new year to bless many people.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I'm hoping and praying for a good year for all my blogging friends. 

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

The Candle of Faith

A poem by Helen Steiner Rice

In this sick world of hatred

And violence and sin,

Where men renounce morals

And reject discipline,

We stumble in "darkness"

Groping vainly for "light"

To distinguish the difference

Between wrong and right.

But dawn cannot follow

This night of despair

Unless faith lights a candle

In all hearts everywhere

And warmed by the glow

Our hate melts away

And love lights the path

To a peaceful, new day.

Jesus spoke again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  --John 8:12

I hope you will visit our Spiritual Sundays blog to share with us there. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS AWARD

When I visited Sarah this morning to read her Spiritual Sundays post, I saw that she had received this Circle of Friends Award and she was passing it on to her friends. Sarah has been participating in our Spiritual Sundays meme for quite some time now and I am always blessed by reading her blog. I hope you will go visit her at Gentle Recovery.

I have received this award previously but I say you can't have too many friends, so I accept it from Sarah. Just like so many of you, I have been amazed at the wonderful friends I have found in blogland. I never dreamed it would be this way. As Sarah did, I want to pass this award on to my blogging friends. I love and appreciate each and every one of you. So grab the award and know that you are special. I hope you will pass it along as well and we're supposed to list five things that we love to do. So here are my five things:

1. Worship God
2. Spend time with my family
3. Blog
4. Reunite with old friends
5. Shop

I hope you will visit my other blog, Charlotte's Weblog, to read my Spiritual Sundays post for this week.

Update: Cathy at Melodies & Hymnsongs has also awarded me with the Circle of Friends Award. Thank you so much, Cathy. If you don't know Cathy, you should get acquainted by visiting her beautiful blog.

Mary, Did You Know?

This has been one of my favorite Christmas songs since the first time I heard it.
You will need to turn off my music on the left sidebar before viewing the video.