Month: April 2008

Borrowed Blessings, Family, Fun, Life, love

Weekend Fun!

A. Knight

A couple of these are from this past summer….the top two to be exact. But I thought I’d share a spoonful of sugar with ya! Now, don’t overdose! That sweetness can get sticky! After you’ve picked up the umteenth truck or almost broken your toe on a car—while kicking it’s wheels before test-drivin’ it!
The top dude loves to play Ninja. The next one down holding the stick, loves to BE NINJA. But he loves to whine more. Which is why I am looking into Ginger Plowman’s new book, “No More Whining”.
The one pictured at the picnic table and with the storybooks and bears is my Rylan. I call him mine for many reasons. His mommy doesn’t mind.
The picture with Papa “trying” to read to a couple of them is funny, because we had more fun watching and listening to Papa deal with this lap full of boys who love books, but love to squirm and ask multiple questions while you are reading…hence, this doesn’t happen very often, so a picture to capture the moment was necessary!
The last sugar-dumplin’ is my Cy-Man. His name is just Cy. But like all grandparents, we have pet names for our kids. Tiffany was “Frog Legs”, April was and is Weezie, and the boys have their own names as well.
My sister, Aimee and I worked on a project last night….more to come on that. It wasn’t a blog. It was a room project. My sister, Wanda’s sewing room. Like I said, more to come on that.
Prayer Requests

Monday is on the way!

A. Knight

It will be here shortly. Is already here for some. A prayer request was given today and I know the mother that added it would appreciate all the prayers that can be prayed for her and her family. (Read about it by clicking on the hand prints for prayer button on the side bar.)

My precious buddy Lori, over at “All You Can Give” created the button Hand Prints For Prayer, before Wanda passed away, and it has a very special meaning for me. Remember the “hand prints”? I still have them. The book is growing. I am adding hand prints to have for prayer time. I still have some family members to “trace” their hands.

If you have any prayer requests for others to pray about, you may add it by clicking on the button on my sidebar (Amy—thank you for making it easy!) and add it via comment. You don’t even have to leave you name, it can be completely anonymous.

Also, don’t forget the Mother’s Day give-away. Read on down to find out what it is.

Most importantly —include God in your everyday schedule. Not just Sundays. Invite Him to join you as you drive to work. As you make breakfast. Spend quality time with Him each day. Be listening should He call. Answer the call. Say yes—to what He asks.

Missions

Saturday Life!

A. Knight

Don’t forget the give-away! Read about it here!

Quick announcement—mainly because I have two very important guests today! Rylan and Zackary—possibly April and Cy as well! We have much playing to do. But if you stop by, I will clear a spot for you to sit, I will put us on some hot water for a cup of tea, it may be raining, so we’ll open the blinds and watch the rain, share our hearts, and listen to little boy-chatter! I am over at the Cafe today. The Internet Cafe!

For Sisters of Faith

Jesus the One and Only

A. Knight


If you have been tuned in recently, you may “guess” at the HUGE hint I just laid out. This is the “gift” for the give-away. Now, for the story behind it.

For my birthday this past year, Wanda gave me a gift card to LifeWay. She knew how much I enjoyed that store! She also bought one for Aimee—the baby sista—her birthday had been in August, but each one of us have a tendency to get so busy we sometimes are late with gifts for birthdays…but never telephone calls! (If they charged for each local call….I could not afford to eat! We girls can do us some talkin’—I mean to tell you some big time girl talk!)

I left work one day at lunch and scurried over to LifeWay, this was in December, which is when my birthday was 🙂 *grin* :), and knew exactly what I wanted when I walked in. This Bible study. I was already currently involved in a study, but I was excited about doing this one. I had in my mind to buy one for Wanda too, as a surprise for her birthday in February so that we could do the study together.

Wanda gave Aimee her gift card to LifeWay, about a week after I had received mine. It wasn’t until after Wanda had passed away that Aimee used her gift card. So it was with deep emotion that she took her sweet self into LifeWay and bought the same book! Aimee didn’t know that I was going to get Wanda one.

So girls, here I have this “extremely special” Bible Study book to give to some sweet individual. All you have to do is say “enter me” with each comment. You may comment as many times as you like. This will go from now until the end of April.

Mother’s Day is on May 11th, and it will be mailed to you in plenty of time. Wanda was an exceptional mother and wife—like none other I have known. She would be thrilled for you to have her “Bible Study Book” and get closer to the Lord! After all, she is with the One and Only today! In His presence! Oh, how I miss my darling sister. Even though I know she is happy and whole….I still miss those daily (about 5 or more times a day) phone calls! I still miss her tiny frame sitting beside me in Bible Study at church and on Sunday mornings. Okay, I must stop here with this. Or the keyboard will become a bigger mess!

Anway, we (me, you and Aimee), will have our books and we can do this study together! Be blessed in the Lord! For He is good and His mercies endureth forever!

P.S.—if you are wondering why I don’t give this to my mother….ssshhhh! (Remember Mother’s Day is coming up!)

*Due to the cost of postage and the weight of this book, this drawing is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.

Life, Thankful Thursdays

Thankful for Mother and Grandbuddy!

A. Knight


My mother was blessed with the most awesome gentle man as her loving husband on January 6, 1990. He became what is officially–and affectionately known to each of our family members and many of my friends as, Grandbuddy.

The pathway for each of our lives has been greatly influenced by our sweet mother. She has been the stability that was needed, and necessary in the precarious world in which we live. She remains as such today. I love you mother. I love you Grandbuddy.

I am also thankful for my sweet man! The thirtieth of June we will celebrate 26 wonderful years of love—through all the trials that have rolled our way….the love continues to remain steadfast. Thank you Lord for the companion of my heart.

I am thankful for each family member. Not every one has the blessing of having your sisters as your best friends, sister-in-laws as dear sisters, or your brother-in-laws as dear brothers—but I have that! Thank you Lord for my dear brother who is faithfully serving his country in a foreign land, and his sweet wife and dear baby girl who are holding down the home front. Our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, all wonderful treasures!

I am thankful for the Word. For what He reveals when I am digging in the Word. For the “verse of the day” that I get from Aimee! I am thankful for job, home, church and friends. Not necessarily in that order! I am thankful that we have such an awesome church family—who share and pray for our needs and burdens.

I am thankful for old hymns (one particular sweet song that Bernadine reminded me of this week!) and I am thankful for new worship songs! The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ rings true and goes forth in both!

I am thankful for an awesome “surprise” I recieved the is week….mmmm—my tea sure tastes sweeter in this “truthful” mug! Thank you sweet friend!

I am thankful for Iris who hosts this awesome and growing group of Christ followers! Our desire is to not only “pray without ceasing” but to have thankful hearts—even in the trying and painful circumstances of our lives. Even as I type this, my mind and heart pauses on the hard thing of the past week. It has filtered into this week and caused a few tears. But I know that God has His hand upon His children. He does not slumber.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” ~ Colossians 3:12-14 ESV

The book of Colossians is chock full of amazing scripture. This is the third time this week that references from Colossians have been given to me or I’ve come upon. Must mean that the Lord is directing my heart and life to dig in!

[As a side note….I have decided that since I am such a “poor” hint giver—I will tell you tomorrow what the “gift” for the give-away is for Mother’s Day…and I will share with you why I have chosen this specific item. The drawing will begin with all comments from now until April (when you say “enter me”), you do not have to post my blog give-away on your blog, but if you choose to do so, that is sweet–and I thank you.]

Back on Thankful Thursday….I love Thursdays—I love reading what everyone has to share. I am always uplifted and encouraged to see and visit with other sisters-in-Christ as they pour their thankful hearts out to magnify the Lord.

So, head over to Iris’ place and get caught up in the thankfulness of Thursdays!!!

Missions

Misunderstood Women- by Aimee Douglas

A. Knight

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Have these words ever come out of your mouth? A few days ago I said something to my teenage son that he misunderstood. This is not hard to do since teenagers have a newly defined vocabulary, such as: when I say something is bad, I mean it is bad. Their definition of bad is “cool.” It can get rather confusing, for instance the word wicked means evil, not in their vocab, it means “awesome.” I give up- how can they do this, did Webster give them permission to do this? Oops, I chased a rabbit. Can you do this Angie? You know I’m still new to blogging. I kinda got on a soap box. I’m off now standing flat footed again.

Anyway, my son misunderstood something I said, he was mad at me, but when I explained what I was thinking as I said it, he understood. Well, let me tell you something, come closer to the screen because I want to make sure you don’t misunderstand me. I want to crack the devil’s egg and show you exactly what’s on the inside, and it is a rotten yolk! The devil loves to play on words- and put thoughts in our minds and cause us to doubt other’s good intentions. I’ve been thinking about a few in the Bible:
Job’s wife- I believe she was a misunderstood woman. Read it in Job 2:8-10. She said “Curse God and die”. What woman in her right mind would want to lose her husband, on top of all that had just happened to them, and would say, “Well hon, while you still have respect, just curse God and die.”

What I see is a man sitting down, rolling in self-pity because he practically lost all he had (she lost children and home and wealth right along with him), and now he was sick with boils all over and sits down in ashes and scrapes his sores with broken pottery. Maybe she might have said this to pull him out of his self-pity, by using a little reverse psychology– for it to be “his” idea- that God is faithful and is trustworthy and uses all things for His glory if we let Him, even if things are going bad.
Speaking of which, let me share something I read from my Sunday School lesson: “Difficulties often leave people feeling hopeless. But as believers, we know that God is always working in, through, and even in spite of our circumstances to bring about His will. Although He allows us to encounter problems, He doesn’t expect us to face them alone.”

Just like Job, we all face circumstances; maybe not to the degree of Job, but it still hurts! Well, I think Jobs wife knew he was hurting, not only physically but emotionally as well and she had to help him fast! She didn’t want to lose him too! (My opinion only.) Because in the next verse he told her she was speaking foolishly. She had heard him whine– (cause men do this when they are sick), until she made that remark. Sure, it may have been sarcastic, but what if she said- “You poor thing, you sure have it bad.” That would have made him wallow more in his self-pity. Perhaps she was only trying to pull him back up to see God was still God and He is worth trusting!

Another misunderstood woman was Eve. There she was listening to the serpent tell her she would be wiser and she wouldn’t die if she ate of the fruit on the tree. The Bible says in Genesis 3:6, that she ate of the fruit and her husband that was “with her”, ate of it as well. Now in Genesis 2:16-17, God commanded the man not to eat. The woman wasn’t even created yet until verse 22. He stood right there with Eve, partaking of the fruit, and let that juicy fruit slide right down past his heart to his belly. (I imagine he had an upset stomach after that!) Now who takes the heat? You are right the woman. She ate, but so did her husband. What if he didn’t eat it? What if he stood his ground, had the spiritual discernment, and being the priest of his home, said to Eve, “It’s a trick don’t eat it!” We might not be in the mess we are in today. We might be living in that perfect garden today! Oh well, it is done now, no need in crying “over spilt milk–or chewed fruit.” However if we keep the faith, one day we will get to go to a place that is perfect and live with Christ for eternity. It will all be worth it- every trial, every mountain, every valley.

Lastly, I want to share the woman that came to mind today to finish this post and it is found in John 12. Mary had a costly ointment, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped his feet with her hair. Now there was some at this gathering that misunderstood her intentions. Maybe she didn’t fully understand her own intentions. Maybe her intentions were just to show her love and gratitude to her precious Savior. She felt He was worthy- He is worthy. She didn’t realize that she was performing the acts of service for His burial. She was giving the very best that she had for Him. Time spent pouring your life out for Jesus is not wasted. Some may misunderstand your intentions. Some may judge you for all that you do for the Lord. Some may ridicule you or persecute you for His name sake. Some may even try and intimidate you to cause you to lose hope, have doubt about your worth, or about what you sacrifice for Him. But rest assured sister-in-Christ, one day it will all be worth it!
Sorry it has taken me so long with this….we have just been so incredibly busy in our work for the Lord! But I have thought about you all so much and have been rolling this post over in my mind for weeks. These thoughts are just my ideas—-of how I feel these women might have been misunderstood…you know, just like you and me.

Ya’ll come back, ya hear!

Still Keeping the faith,

The Sisters (Aimee)

Devotion, faith, Life

Faith in the Fog

A. Knight

One morning this past week, as I drove to work the fog was so thick….you’ve heard the term “thick as pea soup?”—this was thicker. But as I cautiously drove, these thoughts came pouring in my heart.

“Faith in the Fog” came to me as I was driving…do you know how hard it is to drive and write? Especially in the fog??? This reminds me that we sometimes try and do to much in our lives when we need to just concentrate on “ONE THING”. Him. Only Him.

Bring your cup of coffee and head on over to the Cafe—-Internet Cafe that is….

Missions

Hint Help!

A. Knight

Okay ladies—-back up a bit….to the post where I introduced the Mother’s Day give-away. I gave you a ***hint***—***she is a mom***. Okay now I am going to out right tell you that the hint is —she is a mom—which is referring to something about the give-away. Which, by the way —is —-a very good gift!

Since YOU ALL KNOW how I love to read…I will give another hint….***book***. That is just to easy! Now, “someone“ told me to be real plain– very easy….because sometimes when we are reading blogs—we are tired. I know…sorry…I go through the same thing! (Remember this morning’s 2:34 a.m.—I get tired when He wakes me up)

So, the biggest clue I am about to hand out is this…every clue is either surrounded by *** or, it is in bold. Now, before you grab every word in my posts that are bold…I will say that you should be careful…not every bold word is part of the clue.

The beginning point for this give-away is here. The gift will go to the first person that guesses the gift! When leaving your comment, you don’t have to tell me that you know the hint (so that you don’t give it away), but please tell me you “think” you know. You can e-mail me and tell you what you think it is—with your return e-mail and I will reply with a confirmation or tell you “look again” :-).

IF no one is able to guess—(I will make it easy as possible)—the gift—for Mother’s Day, I will use the random number generator to select from each individual that comments. It’s the only fair way I know. BUT I would love it if you try and guess!!!!

Have a blessed evening—and Friday! AND Saturday!

Since I will be hosting a grandson sleep-over Friday night for a couple of them, I may not post on Saturday due to mental and physical exhaustion!!! (Lori, I sound old…well, tonight, I feel old!)

Devotion, faith, Hope, Life

Mediocre Life

A. Knight

What kind of life is that? Sometimes—many times it is what we settle for instead of perservering before the throne—or pushing ahead and believing God for what He wants for us in the first place! He does NOT want mediocre for His blessed children!

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. (NIV)

This morning at 2:34—well, probably just a few minutes before that, the Lord woke me from a deep sleep. I woke, rolled over and snuggled deeper, only to hear Him in my heart/head beckon me from that nestled postition. Well, old flesh immediately says, “I hate it when You do that…wake me up from sleep…YOU know how much I love sleep….” I was instantly rebuked, “No, Lord, I’m sorry, I don’t hate it…. You know I love YOU more than sleep.”

So, I rolled over on my back, as if to ready myself to “listen”. His instructions are clear. “Get up-go to your prayer room, lay before me in prayer.” I try just for 2 seconds, to reason with Him, that I can pray here….but no I can’t. I pray out loud when He instructs me like this…and I KNOW already that this will be an outloud prayer. Not a whispered or silent type.

As I roll the covers back, my thoughts begins to “wander” down the corridor of my mind filled with pictures of family. Is someone in distress? The brink of disaster? A fire? A tornado? (There was that one time of the tornado—an old post…don’t remember which one–you’d have to hunt back to last year sometime…)

I go to the bathroom, then on through the dining room, where the Bibles, books and computer is arranged, just as I’d left them hours before…walk into the kitchen and look at the clock, thinking surely it must be almost “getting up time” anyway. Not so. Only 2:34. Good sleep being missed. Girls you have no clue how much this youngin loves to sleep!

I walk into the prayer room/library. Small room. Only big enough for the “granddaddy chair”, two book cases and a desk. Just enough floor space that I can lie down and meet the Master of the house. So I take my place. Same place everytime.

As I began, I told Him, “I don’t know what You’ve called me here for ….but that’s okay. I don’t have to know.” My prayer began slow, as He blew the sleep from my heart, I began to weep before Him with the urgency of NEEDING Him to hear my plea. Not knowing who or what I was praying for, I left it up to Him. Many of you were prayed for. Many of you that I converse with on a daily basis via e-mail or a visit to your blog were on my heart. So, your name was called.

The Lord prompted my spirit….”it’s not about the numbers, Angie. It’s about the message.” I asked for the message. For the annointing. For His Spirit to rest upon me and pour into me what needs to be said. To the hurting. To the damaged. To the brokenhearted. To you and, yes, to me. He pours it in….I pour it out.

I can’t tell you how many times a day I think about what the Lord wants to use my life for. What He’s up to. But girls, it is all up to Him. Whatever He wants to do with me, use me for I am His. Totally.

I love my precious family. My sweet darling man. My girls, their husbands, their children, my parents, my siblings…but I belong to the Lord. For His work….I don’t know what it’s to be. It may only be to get up at 2:34 a.m. and pray for someone I don’t know. Someone I’ve never had the pleasure of a neck hug. But that’s okay too. If the Lord crosses our paths here….then it is for a reason. I question Him not.

Dear sweet sister-in-Christ, it is not about the number of visitors I have or you have. Nor about the comments or who they come from. It is about the message of Christ….and getting it out to the lost and dying. It’s about Him. All about Him.

Now, I am off to bed again. I have prayed. Laid back down, couldn’t get you off my heart and mind. So I got BACK up and went to the computer. I needed to tell you that we don’t have to live a mediocre life. That He has a plan and purpose for EACH ONE OF US! YOU and me! All we need to do is be obedient. (I’m not even checking this one for boo-boo’s…so please excuse—I am tired—I’ve never posted this early.)