Among Friends

[gloriajean]

Greetings to all!  Tomorrow is Darla's 42nd birthday!  We'll celebrate both hers and Greg's when they come home in about a couple weeks.  Mass is always a blessing!  Father Mark has the best homilies to listen to, and he talked on the Eucharist as being the Bread from Heaven, he's always got great homilies, never boring. He is a great blessing to our parish!  Today we made saurkraut, lots of shredding in the food processor but that works well. All cabbage from the garden!  Our last garden is truly a great blessing!!! We will surely miss it. Praying for you all!

When you can't fall asleep, spend the time talking with God and in prayer

you will soon be sleeping.  Lord, next to Your heart, what a safe and restful

place to sleep.

S C R I P T U R E   F O R   T H E   D A Y 

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
~Matthew 18:20

M E D I T A T I O N   F O R   T H E   D A Y  

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." 
The spirit of God can come upon God's followers when they are all together 
at one time, in one place, and with one accord.  When two or three 
consecrated souls are together at a meeting place, the spirit of God is there to 
help and guide them.  Where any sincere group of people are together,
reverently seeking the help of God, God's power and God's spirit are there to 
inspire them.

P R A Y E R   F O R   T H E   D A Y 

I pray that I may be in accord with the members of my group.  I pray 
that I may feel the strength of a consecrated group.

Sightseeing things on our journey

When I walk with the Lord He is constantly giving me a way of looking at

life from His view and urging me to remember my sense of sight is distorted

through human perspective, and must be given His truths before I will see

clearly.

We all could be given a scene to watch, and then, asked to give our

perspective on it. Each one of us would possible tell it with full

conviction that what we saw was 100 percent accurate. But, the Biblical

truth is....it often is based on our own personal knowledge, or lack of

knowledge, and rarely fully accurate. We make observations, and run them

through our past experiences, and come to conclusions reached by our human

reasoning which seems as truth to us, but may be far from how God sees it.

Satan also has a way of blinding us from seeing the truth.

God wants us to see from His perspective, and in order to do this, we need

to be examining ourselves in the light of His Word and making sure our lives

are expressing the fruit of His Holy Spirit mentioned in Galations 5:22.

This is something we need to be doing on a daily basis, and for each

situation that we are confronted with. If we remain as King David was in

Psalms 51, we will be teachable and willing to submit our heart to be

changed so it will be pleasing to God.

David had a contrite heart, a sensitive conscience, which was eager to

repent and turn from any ways which sorrowed His God. We, too need to have

this if we want to see things from God's perspective.

Pray:

Heavenly Father, my vision is unclear and uncertain because I am seeing

things through my own human eyes and unhealed emotions. But, I want to be

able to see what is important to you. I desire to wear your lenses, and I

ask for your grace and power of the Holy Spirit to do so. I want to live as

a mature Christian, and represent you in a way that will glorify you. Thank

you for giving me a heart that is willing to repent and change. In the

precious name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

The Perfect Delivery

A number of months ago, my wife and I learned of the tragic story about a young man, 26 years of age with a wife and two young children, who had unexpectedly died while at work. This man of faith, whom I had the

pleasure of speaking with twice, turned out to be the younger brother of our current next-door neighbor.

Although my wife and I knew very little about our neighbor, we did know her to be part of a very tight-knit, loving family. No doubt her loss was a difficult one. Of course, my wife and I had offered our sympathy

and support, in the way of food and cards; however, time had passed since news of the loss, and we had not seen my neighbor in quite some time.

Last night, I saw our neighbor entering her house, and I began to think how difficult the loss must be now that all of the cards and words of encouragement have slowed or ceases. I felt a strong need to make contact with her and offer further comfort, but I did not quite know how. It all seemed so awkward.

So, on a whim, I said a prayer.

"God, I am sorry I have not fully offered and shown the compassion and support to my neighbor which you offer and show to me each and every day. God, I am not quite sure how to make contact with my neighbor,

since we have not spoken in a while. Please encourage me to overcome this awkwardness and provide for me a way to approach her."

The next day, I went to check our mailbox. In the mailbox was a small package, but it was not addressed to my wife or me. The address was not even the address to our home. I was amazed when I studied the label.

The name and address was that of my neighbor. My neighbor's mail had been placed into our mailbox.

Through the eyes of the world. this may be called a simple error. But through the eyes of faith this was another perfect delivery from God. So now, I hold this package in my hand, and I hold assurance in my

heart that God answers prayer. And more importantly, I know where I am going. I am heading out the door to visit my neighbor, to offer her God's comfort... and her mail.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” 1 1 John 5: 14-15.

Dear Jesus,

Divine Physician and Healer of the Sick, 
we turn to You in this time of illness.
O dearest Comforter of the Troubled,
alleviate our worry and sorrow with Your gentle love,
and grant us the grace and strength to accept this burden.

Dear God,
we place our worries in Your hands.
We ask that You restore Your servant to health again.

Above all,
grant us the grace to acknowledge Your holy will
and know that whatsoever You do,
You do for the love of us.

Amen.

PRAYER TO BEGIN THE DAY 

As Morning breaks I think of you, O Lord, and my desire is to serve You joyfully. With gladness, I consecrate this day to Your Sacred Heart, and offer whatever joys and sacrifices may come my way. Thank You for the graces You will send - all the love, all the beauty, and the ways You will answer my prayers. 

Today, may I love my enemies, and treat others as I would ask to be treated; may I forgive seventy-times-seven and show mercy; may I welcome the prodigal, have compassion for the Samaritan; be a peace-maker and love my neighbor unconditionally. Take all my heart, and mind and strength, O Lord, that this day may be truly lived for Your greater honor and glory and for the salvation of souls. Amen. 

August 2 - Jesus Calling

Bring Me the sacrifice of your time: a most precious commodity. In this action-addicted world, few of My children take time to sit quietly in My Presence. But for those who do, blessings flow like streams of living water. I, the One from whom all blessings flow, am also blessed by our time together. This is a deep mystery; do not try to fathom it. Instead, glorify Me by delighting in Me. Enjoy Me now and forever!

Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
—Psalm 21:6

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
—John 7:38

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
—Psalm 103:11

[Puddles]

A French artisit captured this image over Paris:

[lovestopaint]

Happy Birthday to Darla. Praying everything gos well with her surgery.

As you know our cat Boots passed away last Wednesday. We missed him so much we had him for 14 years.

We adopted a little kitten on Saturday he is Boots the second. He is only 9 weeks old and

he is gray and white Boots  the 1st. was black and white they are marked the same.

He is so cute, we love him already.

Blessings to all.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

[gloriajean]

Thanks Puddles! Beautiful!

Harlene - that's what we did after our Ashley died, and she was 14 too, 3 weeks to the day we got Sammy and he was 7 weeks old.  Good choice.  Now he is almost 11, arthritis in one leg, only visible when he goes for a walk, otherwise you can't tell, but he coughs, and has congestive heart failure.  But he's still acting like a puppy sometimes!! What a treasure!

Enjoy Boots No. 2!  The little kitten will make you smile again!

[HeresLucy]

Good afternoon!

I hope that your day is going well so far. I don't post as often as I once did but y'all are still in my thoughts and prayers. 

May the Lord bless you abundantly. 

[gloriajean]

Lucy - nice to see you again!  You are missed when you're not here!  Nice graphic!  Wishing you a great day as well!! How are you and how's everyone in the family?