The power of words

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The Power Of Words

A careless word may kindle strife;
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A bitter word may hate instill;
A brutal word may smite and kill.

A gracious word may smooth the way;
A joyous word may light the day.
A timely word may lessen stress;
A loving word may heal and bless.

– Author unknown

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. Proverbs 12:18.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Luke 4:22a.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Water

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Theme: Water | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

When our older boys were little, there were a couple of state parks nearby where we would often have picnics.

A favorite activity at one was feeding the ducks at the lake. This is Jason at about age 2 or 3.

Feedig ducks

I think we only rented paddle boats there once or twice. They didn’t have them available all the time. This is Jeremy and I when he was maybe 5. Jim was on a different paddle boat with Jason (the back of whose head is in the foreground) and took the picture from there.

At the lake

The other state park had this lovely waterfall a very short hike into the woods.

Waterfall

Those were favorite family excursions many years ago. These picture bring back pleasant memories. 🙂

A Dyson Give-Away

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5 Minute For Mom is hosting a contest to give away a Dyson Slim vacuum! Details are here. I had never hear of Dyson before, but this vacuum sounds wonderful. I can’t believe they are giving one away!

Thursday Thirteen

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1. Man’s way leads to a hopeless end – God’s way leads to an endless hope.

2. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.

3. To be almost saved is to be totally lost.

4. Never put a question mark where God puts a period.

5. We don’t change God’s message – His message changes us.

6. The scriptural church is prayer-conditioned.

7. Plan ahead – It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.

8. Never give the devil a ride – he will always want to drive.

9. A clean conscience makes a soft pillow.

10. Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it.

11. He who angers you controls you.

12. Give Satan an inch & he’ll be a ruler.

13. Deciding not to trust Jesus as your Savior is still making a choice.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Booking Through Thursday

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btt3.gifI just discovered, through Katrina at Callapidder Days, a weekly meme about books called Booking Through Thursday. I had never seen or heard of it before, but it is right up my alley! Every week they ask a question about reading or books.

Today’s question is:

Where do you do most of your reading? Your favorite spot? (Show a picture, if you want to!)

(And yes, I understand that these might not be the same thing–your favorite spot could be the beach, but you do most of your reading at home . . . in which case, tell me about both!)

Well, probably most of my reading most days is done in the bathroom. 😳 (What a way to begin this meme!!) May as well make good use of the time, right? 🙂

My favorite place to read, though, is at the end of one of the couches with my legs stretched out on the couch and a throw blanket over me.

My reading corner

The little pillow below, the longer one, is just right to lean my neck against when I am sitting sideways on the couch. It’s special to me because it was a gift from my mom

Pillow from my Mom

I also like to read while traveling — traveling is not my best thing, and reading keeps my mind occupied as well as provides a pleasant way to occupy my time. I also read in doctor’s waiting rooms — the ability to read undistracted almost makes up for having to wait an hour to be seen.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Easter Treats

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wfmwheader_4.jpgHere are some special treats for Easter:

Resurrections Rolls

I don’t remember for sure where I first saw the idea for Resurrection Rolls, but we have had them on Easter, and only on Easter, every year since.

The instructions I have are as follows:

Make or buy bread dough (the frozen kind is fine — let it thaw first.) On Saturday night, let the children wrap a piece of bread dough around a large marshmallow. Put them on a cookie sheet in the oven and tape it shut (signifying sealing the empty tomb) and leave them there overnight. The next morning take them out and preheat the oven. Bake the rolls, and when they are done let the children open them. The marshmallow will be gone! The little “tombs” will be empty and hollow. Enjoy the rolls with breakfast; they will have a sweet taste to them.

I use the frozen yeast roll dough rather than bread dough — it’s already the right size and you can take out just as many as you want (be sure and get the dough, not the ready-made heat-and-eat frozen rolls, The brand I use is Rhodes). I usually take them out to thaw the night before and then put the marshmallow in first thing when I get up in the morning, before my shower and breakfast-making — I have always been afraid it would rise too much if I put the marshmallow in the night before. But I might try it that way this year and see what happens.

Here are pictures from last year:

They didn’t get as “poofy” as usual, and this picture turned out blurrier than I thought when I took it, but you get the idea.

Resurrection Rolls

My husband played around with it and took some photos on black fabric. I like the way the light behind it looks like it’s coming from inside.

Resurrection roll

Nests

Our kids’ Easter break from school is usually the week before Easter, and the elementary grades will sometimes have some kind of little party or at least treats the last day before break. One year I saw this idea and used it for one such party.

All you do is make up a batch of the stuff for Rice Krispy Treats (I like to put peanut butter in ours) but shape a handful of it into a flat circle, then put a little indention in the middle of the circle (You could put them in cupcake pans, but that it a little too deep for me and a little less nest-like). I filled that space with jelly beans (to look like eggs), but another year I saw someone put some of the little Peeps chicks in the nests. It helps to grease your hands when shaping the nests. 🙂 I would avoid using the tinted coconut unless you know the recipients will like it (no one I know does).

Basket Cupcakes

This is something else that would be good for an Easter celebration or perhaps a Sunday School class that day. I got this idea from a friend whose daughter’s birthday is in March and sometimes falls near Easter.

Just make your favorite cupcakes and frost, then use a licorice stick (a Twizzler might work, too) for a basket handle — insert each end on opposite sides of the cupcake. Decorate the cupcake with jelly beans or sprinkles, or, if you’re skilled in such things, frosting flowers.

For more great tips, or to share your own, go to Rocks In My Dryer.

saturdaystirrings.jpgI am also resurrecting this post for FiddleDeeDee’s Saturday Stirrings at It Coulda’ Been Worse.

Wordless Wednesday: Pollinated

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This is our backyard patio. covered in yellow pollen, though it is not showing up as thick as it looks in real life. Everything stationary is covered. I am staying indoors as much as possible with my AC filter that catches that stuff. 🙂
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For more Wordless Wednesdays, go to 5 Minutes for Mom or the WW Hub.

A sense of Him

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Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China, wrote a book entitled Second-Mile People, in which she told of seven people in her life who had illustrated the Scriptural principle of going the “second mile.”

She begins one chapter with this poem:

Indwelt

Not merely in the words you say,
Not only in your deeds confessed,
But in the most unconscious way
Is Christ expressed.

Is it a beatific smile,
A holy light upon your brow;
Oh no, I felt His Presence while
You laughed just now.

For me ‘twas not the truth you taught
To you so clear, to me still dim
But when you came to me you brought
A sense of Him.

And from your eyes He beckons me,
And from your heart His love is shed,
Til I lose sight of you and see
The Christ instead.

—by A. S. Wilson

Isobel then tells of meeting a young woman named Dorothy at a conference. Isobel had not been saved very long. “My ideas of the Christian life were still in a crude, unmoulded state.” Dorothy seemed attractive, winsome and sweet, and Isobel was pleased when she asked her to go for a walk. Dorothy had in mind to “speak just a word for Jesus” while on this walk, but as it happened, their conversation centered on happy, funny things. “When we parted Dorothy felt she had been a failure, unconscious that the one she had hoped to help was going away enchanted with this glimpse into the very human sweetness of this Christlike girl. ‘…I felt His Presence when you laughed just now….’ The Spirit-filled life cannot ‘fail’, it is fruitful even when it may seem least to have done anything. That walk gave Dorothy ‘influence’ over me when a ‘sermon’ would have created a permanent barrier. In fact at that time I carried a mental suit of armour all ready to slip on quietly the moment any ‘old fogey’ tried to ‘preach’ at me!”

“Oswald Chambers says, ‘The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies of the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly.’ A great mistake is to think that a Spirit-filled man or woman must always be casting sermons at people. Being ‘filled with the Spirit’ (which is a first qualification of Second Mile People) is merely a refusing of self and a taking by faith of the life of Christ as wrought in us by His Holy Spirit.” “We must take the Spirit’s fullness, as we take our salvation, by faith in God’s promise that He is given to us.”

Some weeks later when Dorothy and Isobel met again, Dorothy’s “time had come” to “get in a ‘preach,’” for Isobel then was in a frame of mind and heart to receive it. “The Holy Spirit is never too early and never too late.” Though Isobel did not understand as yet all Dorothy was trying to say, her words did lay the groundwork for future understanding, and “from Dorothy I just drank in the inspiration of herself, the ‘sense of Him’, and the fact that this life of undisturbed peace was no mystic dream but a possible reality who sat before me with earnest sweet eyes and soft pink cheeks.”

Please don’t misunderstand — I don’t mean any of this in any kind of a mystic way. I have written much on being grounded in Scripture and not feeling. But I have known some people who seem to reflect Christ and carry a “sense of Him” in everything they do, every word, action, and attitude. May I live so close to Him that people always sense His presence.

God is able….

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The March 8 evening reading of Daily Light for the Daily Path had a list of verses concerning what God was able to do. That led me to look up other references with the word “able” referring to God. The results were a faith-inspiring blessing to me, and I wanted to share them with you:

II Chronicles 25:9
And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this. (See II Chronicles 25:1-9 for the bigger picture.)

Daniel 3:17
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

Daniel 4:37
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Luke 3:8
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (See also Matthew 3:9)

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Acts 20:32
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Romans 4:21
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Romans 11:23
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

Romans 14:4
Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work…

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Philippians 3:21
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

2 Timothy 1:12
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Hebrews 2:18
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Hebrews 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 11:19
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

James 4:12
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Jude 1:24
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy….

Believe ye that I am able to do this? . . . Yea Lord. . . . According to your faith be it unto you. (Matthew. 9. 28, 29).

Marriage meme

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I saw this meme floating around on several blogs this morning, so I thought I’d borrow it. 🙂 I would save it for my anniversary, but that’s not until December.

Marriage meme

1. Where/How did you meet?
In the library, where we both worked, at college.

2. How long have you known each other?
29 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?
About four months.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
A year and four months.

5. How long was your engagement?
Seven months.

6. How long have you been married?
27 years.

7. What is your anniversary?
12/21.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?
Oh, my — I have no idea. Somewhere around 100-120 maybe?

9. What kind of cake did you serve?
White cake with white frosting decorated with blue flowers.

10. Where was your wedding?
My home church in Houston, TX.

11. What did you serve for your meal?
We didn’t have a meal — that wasn’t a tradition then, at least not in our area. Just cake, punch, nuts, and mints.

12. How many people were in your wedding party?
We each just had one attendant — most of our friends lived out of state and we got married over Christmas break.

13. Are you still friends with them all?
Yes, though we don’t keep in touch as much as I’d like.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
No, I don’t think so.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?
There’s no one moment that stands out — it was all special. 🙂

16.Any funny moments?
Not really.

17. Any big disasters?
One of the soloists called in sick that morning, and then just before I was to begin walking down the aisle, a garland wrapped around an arch in the middle of the platform came undone and started slowly unwinding from around the arch. A dear lady sitting at the front went up and tucked it back in.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We spent the first night in a nice hotel in Houston, but didn’t have an extended honeymoon — time and money were tight (we were both still students). Though it wasn’t planned this way, we spent our second night at my folks’ home in my old bedroom because something with our car needed to be worked on and we couldn’t leave that day. I’ll tell you, it felt mighty strange bringing a man into my bedroom! We spent the next day driving (with a U-Haul with my stuff) back to Greenville, SC, to set up housekeeping and get ready for second semester.

19. How long were you gone?
See above.

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?
My veil. I wanted to look kind of like a Southern bell, but later I thought the veil looked more Spanish.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
Left.

22. What size is your bed?
Queen

23. Greatest strength as a couple?
Commitment.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?
My husband’s traveling.

25. Who literally pays the bills?
He does.

26. What is your song?
We don’t have one.

27. What did you dance your first dance to?
We’ve never danced. 🙂

28. Describe your wedding dress:
How about if I just show you instead?
Wedding Day

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?
This is terrible, but I don’t really remember, and I can’t tell from the picture what was in my bouquet. I think there were white roses and blue-tinted carnations. I had wanted more blue, but there weren’t many blue flowers, especially in December.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved?
No.

31. How old were you when you got married?
I was 22 and my husband was 21.

Feel free to grab this meme and play along — let me know if you do.