Kate and Kitten--Unlikely Pair

While Tim was home, he had his dog here, too. 

Her name is Kate.

One day someone captured this scene on camera. 

Dog and cat--unlikely pair! 

Sometimes God surprises us by pairing us up with something unlikely. 

It might be a person we are intimidated by, or a situation we don't like. 

It might be a disease no one would have expected--like cancer. 

It is good to make peace with the things we have been surprised to be paired up with,

especially the things we cannot change.

"Lord," one prayed, "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference 

Feed Sack Bags--and God's Mystery Bag

From a couple years ago:

Colorado has a new law that stores cannot give you plastic bags anymore--except for a tax of 10 cents per bag. So if you get a cart full of groceries, you have to just tote them out without bags, bring your own bags, or pay a 10-cent tax per bag.

 

We are scrounging up the bags we have on hand, besides saving feed sacks to sew into remade tote bags!

Here I am sewing a tote bag for grocery shopping. 

T

This one is from a rabbit feed sack that I washed.

Here is Rose sewing several of her own, some to try to sell.

They remind me of what my mom calls her "mystery bag."

When there is something we don't understand

about God

or about people

or about something God is allowing in our lives that is painful,

she says she just puts in her big "mystery bag."

It just seems as if that is a good bag to have on hand in which to stuff all the things we do not understand.

It is so much better to do that with those things than to carry them around on our hearts or in our minds.

Your mystery bag might have a puppy on the front; Rose's will have a horse, of course;

and mine might have the furry bunny.

But whatever the mystery is, trust it to God's mystery bag, leave it there,

and carry a song away. 

Flowers and Frost--and the Faith of the Matriarch Sarah

A few evenings ago when I could not sleep, I sat down in the rocking chair by the fire, wrapped in a cozy shawl that my friend Mrs. Hagerty had knitted for me.

Nearby was the vase of flowers that my sisters-in law and spouses, Esther, Jon, Barb and Chad had gotten for me in memory of my dad and as a token of care about my recent diagnosis.

And I began to read Hebrews 11, which is where I was in my devotions. 

It was talking about how without faith it is impossible to please God.  

And how we who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! 

That nearly gave me goosebumps.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.   

We believe that He indeed is, and we diligently seek Him. We do not forget Him or ignore Him or run away from Him. 

But we seek Him and His presence. We seek His guidance and His peace.

But most of all, we seek HIM.
Because He is a person Who loves and desires to be loved in return.

I can only progress a few verses at a time through Hebrews 11. 

An earlier reading told about how Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going. But God had called, and he went. 

In fact, in church yesterday morning, the preacher expounded on that subject--Abraham being called of God to leave his father and his relatives and go to a land that God wanted him to inherit. 

And Abraham loaded up his camels and folded up his tents and went.  He left behind the idolatrous city and relatives and pursued the calling of God.

 But then further on in Hebrews, we read how Sarah herself received strength to do something that was unheard of.   

It wasn't a popular thing to conceive and bear a son when you were about ninety years old!

But amazingly, God gave her the strength and ability to do just that.  

Lord, what impossible thing do you want me to trust Your power to do in me?

Help me to believe!

God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son, and although at first she had laughed, she believed. 

We may laugh sometimes and be incredulous about something God wants to do.

But in the end, may our laughter of doubt become the laughter of joy

when we see that indeed God's promise is true!

Give me, Lord, the faith of our mother Sarah!

 

Mountains of Snow--and Blooming Amaryllis

This January we've probably had more snow than in any other January we can remember!

Rose's boyfriend Tommy and brother helped plow our drive once, leaving huge piles of snow. 

There are still mega drifts all over the north side of our property. We have a path by them to get to our barn and chicken coop.

This is what our window looked like one day.

It's a fine time to make those Brownies-in-a-Jar that my sister-in-law Regina gave me when we were back for the memorial service.

When there are mounds of snow, the birds come all the more to the bird feeder we have in the back yard by that bare tree you see behind the house.

God must love to send all those juncos, finches, and sparrows to keep reminding me that His eye is on His little brown sparrows,

and that He watches over me.

Meanwhile, indoors, the amaryllis Jonathan got me for  Christmas is getting ready to bloom. 

"Consider the lilies [Jesus might have said amaryllises if He were talking to us in our home!]

They toil not, neither do they spin.

And yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...

Therefore do not worry...for your heavenly Father knows..."

He knows. 

He cares.

And He will take care of me and you.

Grandma Morley's 83rd Birthday

This week was my mother's 83rd birthday.

When we were back for the memorial service, I couldn't help but catch this photo of her heading for the mailbox with one of her youngest grandchildren.

Jonathan and the boys spent a couple days working at some repair that needed to be done for her.

I took a picture of one of the things that Mom decided to keep to remind her of Dad--the orange hat he used to wear.

At Grandma's house, one of her grandsons was folding the bulletin that we were going to hand out the next day at the memorial service.

 And her littlest granddaughter, Gabriel's youngest girl, loved to sweep Grandma's floor! 

At the memorial service, Nathaniel had put together a map of the world, with dots where each of Mom's children or grandchildren have lived or traveled in ministry. 

It was hard to believe.

I think the best birthday gift Mom could have is knowing her children are serving the Lord wherever they are, all over the United States, and sometimes to some end of the earth!

There were dots everywhere from Russia to China to Mongolia to New Guinea,

to Peru, to Mexico and Honduras, to Canada and Ukraine and Slovakia and Estonia and India

and Africa--including Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Hawk That Will Not Let Me Go

Tuesday Jonathan and I drove along some back roads on our way to Denver. I was to have an MRI and another biopsy of a lymph node, and I was nervous about everything. 

 Suddenly, we saw a big hawk winging its way overhead. It was flying low over the road, and then we could see something rather large in its cruel talons. Upon looking closely, we made out furry legs--a rabbit!

Later, I had to admit to myself that I felt a little bit like that rabbit in the clutch of something cruel--this cancer that carries with it so many unknowns. And I am very literally crunched in the talons of it!

Or am I?

Upon arriving at the clinic and being ushered in to unrobe and then robe again with the lovely plaid hospital gowns that people like me get to wear, I sat down in the second waiting area. I saw another lady put her things in a locker, so I found a locker and put my things in, too. Then I sat down with a bit of a sigh.

"Are you nervous?" another lady asked me.

I had to admit that yes, I was. 

"Don't be afraid!" she said, with a little shake of her head. "I just figure this is something else in life we have to get through. 

Just another hurdle we have to get over."

Then she said she had noticed my skirt and mask (homemade) and hair. 

"You remind me of some of my old friends in bygone days," she added. "Sort of earthy!"

Just then the nurse called my name, and I had to leave the conversation, this "earthy" lady with her long hair, long skirt, and homemade mask!

But I thought, how sweet of the Lord, just when I was sitting there thinking about all the things I'd read about MRIs and how people can be claustrophobic in them and how the dye contains a special metal, etc...

How good of the Lord to send some unnamed person to just say to me, "Don't be afraid!"

The young lady doing the MRI for me chatted pleasantly. I got to ask whatever questions I wanted, and she was kind and soothing and everything went well as my arm got a poke and an IV for the contrast dye put in.

"I read something on our way here," I said to her. It had been a quote by Charles Spurgeon. "In any trial, the providence of God is the pillow upon which we lay our head."

The lady was quiet, but after she had taken me into the MRI room and was getting me situated and ready to roll face down into the fat round tunnel,  she told me how her son had to be hospitalized numerous times. One time, she said, as she was taking him in, she saw something pop up on her feed, and it was a picture of Snoopy looking up.

"It said, 'Love, hope, and pray,' the lady said. 

I could not say much, for ear plugs were in my ears to deaden the noises in the MRI, and earphones were also over my ears to listen to music, but I was awed at how my small mention of God's providence helped this mother to also relate to our need of God in times of trouble!

Inside the MRI, I was to lie very still so pictures taken would be clear. 

And "calm breaths are best."

So yes, by all means I must breathe calmly. 

The nurse had asked if I'd like music and what kind, so I asked if they had hymns. 

She found something called "Instrumental Hymns," and it started playing "It is Well," and then "He Leadeth Me."

There was just one trouble. 

If I focused too much on the music, emotion began to well up within me! And I was supposed to breathe calmly, not cry!!! 

So I would stop listening too hard, and just breathe calmly.
"As the deer panteth," the music played, "so my soul longeth after Thee.

You alone are my heart's desire, and I long to worship Thee."
Because I would start to cry, I did not think to worship,

but perhaps, just the submission to God's will--

even if it includes lying face down in an MRI tunnel--

is part of worship. 

Just longing to worship Him, and love Him, and submit to Him--regardless what He brings across my path.  

My daughter caught this picture she had taken that morning as we were beginning the morning. I've been enjoying the rocker by the fire more and more lately in these very cold days. And that morning I was reading my Bible there. And I was sitting there again that evening, after the MRI and lymph biopsy were over and we were home. It was after supper, and we were having family worship. 

Jonathan suggested singing, "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," written by a man had become blind.

And so we sang it, though both he and I were in tears by the end of it. 

Yes, that morning I had felt caught in the talons of a hawk called Cancer. A hawk that does not want to let go. 

But God had led Jonathan to choose a song to let me know what was really holding me. 

Not a hawk, but God. 

Not talons but everlasting Arms.

Not an MRI skeleton frame rolling into a fat tunnel.

But Love.

A Love that will not let me go!

Puzzles and Pizzas

About a week ago, most of our family were still sick with the coughs we'd had for a while, so we had to stay home from church and listen to services or messages online. 

Some of us made puzzles while we listened.

I enjoyed listening to the memorial service for Grandma Hazel Plank at Beavertown church in PA that afternoon.

It was nice to see people we knew, to listen to Solomon Schafer's message in the morning. 

 

 Jonathan had been sick for days. Tim thought he was getting away with it, and then he came down hard. He was so out of it for a couple days! He huddled under a comforter on the floor by the wall behind the Christmas tree one afternoon.

These days of just trying to get well have sometimes been a little long. But at least school work is being done and meals made, jobs done, and pizzas put together.

Carrie is good at that. 

Sometimes it seems we get nothing or little done besides taking care of ourselves!

But hopefully that will change as we get well.

Sam came for supper that Saturday evening, bringing a few loaves of bread someone had given him.

We made French toast for breakfast the next morning.   

And Tim smoked some elk or deer steaks last week in a smoker someone had gotten recently. 

And we hoped we were coughing just a little bit less!