Linking up to Sweet Shot Tuesday
Blessed be the Lord,
who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.
Selah
~Psalm 68:19
417.
 |
| quietness brought by falling snow |
418.
 |
| dog wood |
419.
 |
| snowman 2011 |
420.
 |
| wiped out after a day of sledding |
421.
 |
| small feet growing fast |
422.
423.
424.
 |
| white gloves |
425.
 |
| break through |
426.
 |
| snow plastered to tree sides |
427.
 |
| Plenty of wood to keep us warm. |
428.
 |
| Tropical dog = not in love with snow |
429.
430.
 |
| Where’s my ball? I want to play ball. |
431.
 |
432.
 |
| Our “snow angel” digging us out. |
I am short on words today. I quietly ask for grace… patience… and prayer…
I am so thankful encouraging words.
A little backstory for # 413…
This past week I really have been feeling a push to “stretch” myself and stretch myself some watercolor paper, and paint, even if it is just a few minutes a week. (Gotta start somewhere.)
Emily, at Chatting At the Sky, has been writing about Art lately and it has really tugged at my heart. After commenting and mentioning the urge to try to get back to painting, Emily sent such a sweet email of encouragement.
Ann Voskamp has also written of Art lately as well, another tug…
And, Emily at In the Hush of the Moon, has posted about her paintings as well and she also left a very encouraging comment on Hiking Toward Home’s Facebook page…. yet another tug…
Also, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of a conversation a while back, the same wise counselor who told me of paths and neurons, asked why I had stopped painting. My answer almost brought tears to his eyes. I stopped because I was persuaded that it was a worthless occupation of my time by someone behind a pulpit. (Yes, I have been rethinking that one too.)
So, I this past weekend, I bought some watercolor paper and board to stretch it on. It is stretched and sits waiting for pigment and brush…
If you think on it, pray for me as I step into this new area of stretching, it has been twenty years since I seriously dipped a brush into beautiful pools of color and applied it to paper.
So my gift list for this week:
397. a husband who encourages me to go to the local coffee shop to sit and think and write and read
398. the gift of time alone
399. the fresh blanket of snow
400. Reading Class done snuggled up on an overstuffed loveseat
401. the gift of being able to pray for others, it is something that we can give no matter if the person
we are praying for cares or not, it is a gift that cannot be rejected.
Because it is God who is the target and he doesn’t reject our prayer
402. the “self-check” as a result of the challenging reading in Serena Woods’ book
403. the forgiveness of God instantly upon confession
404. wisdom from the Lord
405. being able to enter into the sorrows of others and the heartaches of others and share, uplift and encourage…
406. as a result of having been through our own Hard Eucharsiteo
407. warm socks on cold feet
408. the quietness that falling snow brings
409. the moment in time where the sun breaks the horizon bringing with it…
410. His mercies…
411. that are new every morning
412. time spent with my kids
413. inspiration to attempt painting for the first time in 20 years,
inspired by Ann, Emily, and Emily; their art, writing,
and kind words of encouragement to go for it
414. the loud snapping and popping coming from the fireplace
415. finally being able to turn pages instead of scrolling
(I finally got my copy of ONE THOUSAND GIFTS in the mail!)
416. sweet moments of love between boy and dog
Linked up today over at Ann Voskamp’s A Holy Experience. Join the growing community of gratitude by beginning your own list and linking up!!
You know how you see television commercials for charities for feeding the starving and hungry of the world and you wonder… how much do the kids really benefit? Where does all that money go? Doubt fills your head.
There is one organization that I will gladly stand behind and help.
I have seen first hand how they impact a child’s life.
As a missionary in the southern Philippines, we had contact with a dear lady whose child is a Compassion Sponsored child. What a difference it made in that child’s life. There are so many examples of how, but I want to share a specific one with you.
The child ended up in the hospital with Dengue fever.
[Hospitals are not run the way they are in the States. You pay as you go and the bill must be paid in full before you may leave the hospital. (Yes, kind of insane because the bill that one can’t pay goes up as the family tries to borrow money from everyone they know to pay the bill.) The hospital is the very last resort for so many for this reason.]
Their “health insurance” would not cover it all.
Compassion paid the difference. Whether this is typical of their policies or not, I don’t know.
Whenever I asked the parent questions about the sponsor/child relationship, tears would fill her eyes as she spoke of the letters and photographs they receive from her child’s sponsor.
Her gratitude for Compassion International and for her child’s sponsor overwhelmed her.
Seeing the organization from the point of view of the parent of a child who is sponsored dispelled all distrust I may have harbored.
I do not currently sponsor a child… yet. I have been in contact with Compassion to sponsor a child from a specific place. If you have a particular country, or city on your heart, they can work with you to find you a child from that area.
Reading the accounts of many compassion bloggers, Angie Smith, Ann Voskamp, and Lisa-Jo and a few others, always makes my heart ache for the children and adults we ministered to in Davao.
And they confirm what I already know to be true.
Not a doubt remains.
(You can also support Compassion International by purchasing Colors of Compassion Cards by Blessings Unlimited. Disclaimer: I am happy to be able to offer these cards as an Independent Consultant for Blessings Unlimited.)
I thought of the story The Princess and the Pea as I watched her go through the process of taking a nap the other day. I am sure a pea would NOT have affected her rest. I don’t see how she can wake up so sweet and happy after going through this:
Every time I checked in on here she was in a completely different place.
Hiking Toward Home