Thoughts

A friend’s husband underwent heart surgery this past week. Sherman is somewhere in his mid80s. As I prayed for him a few minutes ago, the thought came into my mind that this surgery could be more severe due to his age. My next thought is that, as I see it, most surgeries of this nature seem to be done on people who are older but not in their mid 80s.

My dad had that same surgery when he was 72. Our friend Mary Emma underwent this surgery the first time when she was 67,the second 16 years later. My friend Martha’s husband was in his 50s but he had suffered a massive heart attack.

It seems to me that this procedure happens either when the patient is of advanced age or has had a major medical crisis. And yet, what we hear of this surgery is that it is successful in a vast majority of time.

Is the procedure successful due to the expertise of the medical teams that perform this surgery or is it due to the prayers of God’s people.

That morning, I called the church office to ask how long Sherman’s surgery would take. I have forgotten what they told us 15 years ago. It should take three to three and a half hours.

I found out later that day that this gentleman went into surgery for a double bypass and had actually undergone five bypasses.

On Sunday, his wife was in church and gave praise to God that he was doing so well. I join her in her rejoicing about this latest health issue of theirs having such a good result.

Our Praises

“My mouth is filled with your praise,

declaring your splendor all day long.” Psalm 71:8



When we give praise to God, it is about Him, about what He has done for us. Whether the Father empowers us to action, heals us or our family members, guides us through tough times, or just gives us rest.

We ask Him to help us through circumstances, then we see His answer. It should be our immediate response to say, “ Praise the Lord” or “Thank you, Lord”

A few years ago, I realized I spent all my prayer time giving God a grocery list of requests. I felt guilty of selfishly asking God for things and not giving thanks. I decided to reserve the last page of my prayer list for praises to God. I started out by mentally searching through my day or the day before to find one thing about which I can praise Him. Presently, I now keep my prayer list on my word processor, I still reserve the last section of my prayer list for praises. One positive outcome from this exercise is I have days where I list several items. Another good outcome is I feel better after I offer praise to Him.

One thing I noticed about my praise items is they all start with “God provided” or “God showed me” or “God allowed”. A recent one was, “God allowed me to hold a baby at church.” I felt this was an important one for me to record because my fibromyalgia and a bad shoulder has made me cautious, almost fearful to hold small children..

More Than Conquerors

“. . . we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37



“I just want to find a way to survive this.” I said this at the end of November 1983. I had several symptoms of depression chronic depression. My husband called me at work and asked me to ‘do us both a favor.’ He suggested I take a 30 day leave of absence from my job and try to get through this thing that bothered me.

My first response was,” Honey, I don’t have that much leave.” I wouldn’t get paid for half of the time. He said, “That’s, okay.”

I found out what I needed to do to have my request approved. I left there that day wanting to be a ‘survivor’. That term was a buzz word going around our society then.

One thing I did during the ensuing 30 days was to spend time reading my Bible. Our pastor, at that time, may have preached on this passage. I do know I read it over and over again.

I later started attending another church, where the word was always preached. At that time in my life, almost two years after my 30 day leave, I still had some of the same issues affecting my life. But, with God’s help, I wasn’t dealing with things the same way.

The scriptures came alive to me. I found comfort in passages I had only heard before. I shared with one of my new friends, a German lady, what I told someone about being ‘a survivor’ and how I could now be ‘more than a conqueror’. And all this through Jesus Christ. She rejoiced with me and told me she had learned to rely on passages like this one to get her through her days.

The experiences of life have taught me much. God allows conditions into our lives in order for us to grow in Him. As we learn more about God from His Word, we actually do grow spiritually. We gain wisdom in the way He sees our world and ourselves. As we master these lessons, we do become more than conquerors.

And The Winner Is-

The blessed winner of the basket of writing supplies is:



Jean Hall

Congratulations and blessings to you, Jean.



My son helped me out. I handed him the envelope and asked him to draw one piece of paper out for me. I had him mix the little yellow sheets good.

In addition to the items I listed in the announcement blog entry, I have added a few extra goodies.

A journal book.

A 2 year pocket/purse secretary.

A bag of ball point pens.

As We Wait

“Oh, Lord you have searched me and you know me.

You hem me in- behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:1;5



In years past, waiting has been hard for me. About the time I think I have learned patience, I find myself in a situation that tells me I am still human.

When I find myself in the hurry up and wait mode, I feel frustrated. When I feel this emotion, I react to issues and events because I find myself under stress. I can make myself sick from dwelling on the problems at hand.

I know better than to get myself upset. But I have to remember my humanity. During these times, I can be very high strung. Add to the mix one husband who can be more high strung than I and we have the makings of a disaster.

I found myself reading a book, called “My Heart Remembers” by Kim Vogel Sawyer. Throughout the story the scripture, Psalm 139:1;5 came into focus in the lives of three people, two sisters and a brother, separated in childhood.

Their story simply stated tells of the oldest child, a girl, looking for her younger brother and baby sister for 17 years.

The story ends happily. Along the way all three have made commitment to the Lord. God leads them to the same town in Missouri. The baby sister meets a young man and his family and works for them in their store. The brother takes a job as a sheepherder in a ranch near the town. The older sister has spent the majority of her life traveling the nation as a photographer’s apprentice and then a photographer. She is searching for her siblings all the while.


Now, the fifth verse speaks to me. The Lord God surrounds us with His love (hems us in). He has His hand on us. He knows when we face difficulties in this life. Our redeemer keeps us strong. He draws us close to Himself.

As a human being, I forget these aspects of God’s watch care over me. As a child of God, I am very thankful for His presence, His precious, loving, presence.

Help Me Celebrate!

July is my blogoversary month, my second one. I didn’t celebrate my first year. So I am celebrating my second by giving away a basket of writing supplies, and what writer can have too many supplies :)?

I enjoy writing my blog. I enjoy reading those I follow. I wanted to celebrate my blog’s birthday with my blogging friends.. Enter the drawing by midnight July 4th.

If you leave your e-mail address in the following form

Name(at)internet service(dot)com/net, I will enter your name in the drawing.

Remember no e-mail address means no entry.

If you remind me that you follow my blog, I will enter your name a second time.

If you sign up to follow my blog, I will enter your name a second time.

If you follow my blog from Facebook, I will enter your name a second time.

If you tell others about my giveaway on your blog, I will enter your name a third time.



Here is a listing of what the blessed winner will receive, as of June 24th; the winner will hear from me in the next day or two. 



1, package of colored paper clips small 2. package of colored paper clips large

3. two flag highlighters,

4. wite out exact liner,

5. five note pads,

6. three small tablets,

7.,8 two memo books for pocket or purse.

9. package of sticky notes

10. package of small binder clips.

11. one book, entitled “Communicate to Change Lives” by James N. Watkins.

All these writing supplies are contained in a rectangular Amish small lunch basket with leather carrying straps.


This giveaway is limited to residents of the United States and is void where prohibited. No fee was required to enter this drawing. The winner is responsible for their eligibility. All items were purchased by the holder of the drawing.

On Being Strong

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:25 (NIV)



Very recently, a daughter of a close friend told me that I was a strong spouse. I thanked her for her observation.

I began thinking about what makes a person strong in faith. Can it be something we ask God to do for us? Or is it like patience? We have been told if we pray for patience, God allows us to experience events in our lives that cause us to develop it.

In our human lives we have times when we have to realize how weak and helpless we are. Day to day, we make choices that causes us to either experience times of trial and tribulation or bypass a lot of extra grief in the process of life.

Sometimes we have to deal with the hardships of this life. We have the option of looking at the particulars through the eyes of man or of God. We learn of God by studying His Word, by prayer and reading devotional thoughts and meditating on what we learn.

Certain people learn from experiences that come into their lives. Others hear of their neighbor’s plights and take to heart the hard lessons that inevitably follow.

I have stated before that if we don’t learn what God intends for us to learn; we WILL get the chance to repeat the lesson until we do learn it over and over and, if need be, over yet again.