Sadly Sharing It Saturday

We have been fighting a critter for days now, he got into the chicken coop two days ago, killed my Esther, and pulled lots of feathers out of the other hens, we got a foot trap, that did not work, this critter got the meat out of it, and never tripped the trap, so Chuck went and borrowed a live cage trap from a friend, this is what we captured last night. 

Chuck is taking him over to Joe's, they eat them; eek...
at any rate, he gone and I sure hope no others are out there, Chuck will bring the cage back though so if there is we will trap them too. Nothing worse than critters that bother your live stock, we thought it was a opossum, but turned out to be this Raccoon. They look cute, but they are deadly and would chew you up in a second. Hissed when you got near him, I am so glad he did not get to all my hens, broke my heart loosing Esther, you remember I took some photos of her the other day, just striking a pose, she was so dear, come right and eat corn out of my hand. She will be missed.
So that is my sad sharing for today.

But on a happier note, tomorrow is Sunday, praise God, my dear husband is preaching tomorrow in Jacksonville, FL, keep us in your prayers please, that God will fill him with power, and clarity of speech, and that he will preach with boldness. Pray for traveling mercy for us too.

God bless you real good today and always, Barbara ♥ 

Friendship Friday

Thank You, Friend


Thank you, friend, for all the things
That mean so much to me--
For concern and understanding
You give abundantly.


Thanks for listening with your heart;
For cheering me when I'm blue;
For bringing out the best in me;
And just for being you.


Thanks for in-depth conversation
That stimulates my brain;
For silly times we laugh out loud;
For things I can't explain.


For looking past my flaws and faults;
For all the time you spend;
For all the kind things that you do,
Thank you; thank you, friend.


copied from an email, but none the less how I feel my friends, have a good day.  Have a very blessed Friday, and know you are my friends, and I appreciate each of you that stop by my blog, be Blessed and be a Blessing.

♥ Thankful Thursday ♥

Looking at this old photo, I am thankful for electricity today, back when this photo was taken they lived with oil lamps for lighting, not just a switch to turn on, or a night light for getting up in the night, but an ole stinky oil lamp. Now I do have several for when we loose power, filled with the lamp oil and ready for use always.

Here we never know about power, It would go out at various times, even in good weather, really frustrating, although I must say it is much better these days than when we first moved here, (15 years ago) they must of did some improvements. So I am definitely thankful for our electric power. Nothing like coming into a dark house at night and flipping a switch for instant light. We live in the woods and in the Country it is very dark at night. We leave our running lights on the back porch on, so when we come home after dark we can see to put the key in the door, lol it looks like the Love Boat, (anyone remember that show?) all lit up, you can see it through the woods coming down our road. I often wonder what some may think when they see these light through the woods, the ones who do not know us.


I am thankful that I am feeling better these days, I was sick for so long, and now it feels good to feel good. I just am praising God for his mercy on me, and healing my illness.


I am mostly thankful for my salvation, that I can live a good and honest life through Jesus Christ my lord, that he keeps me, and one day I will meet him face to face. Oh glory what a day that will be. This makes me think of this little verse we learned a long time ago. ▼
Let your Love flow through me,
Let your Love flow through me,
Make me a blessing Lord,
Where ever I may be;
Keep me pure, Keep me clean,
So as you may be seen,
Let your Love, Let your Love flow through me.


Okay now tell me, what are you thankful for ladies?
We all have so very much to thank the dear Lord for.

Have a Very Blessed Day, and Be a Blessing.

Wednesday Wonderful Words

Growth!

I've always heard that anything that's alive will exhibit growth!
Ladies, are you growing in the Lord?
Are you even trying to grow in the Lord?
Are you spending time in the Word regularly?
How is your prayer life?
Do you commune with your Saviour?


Listen to the very last words ever written by Simon Peter, the best known Disciple of our Lord.
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." 2nd Peter 3:18


Now that main verb ... "grow" ... is set in the imperative mood, expressing a command!
It basically means "to increase!"
God is not requesting us to grow.
He expects it!
He even commands it!
Are you growing?

This is such a good study on growth, it came from a Godly lady that has gone home to be with the lord, but the word still remains, effective, and effectuel. I love God's word how about you, are you growing in grace, in faith, in obedience to our lord Jesus Christ, may we all grow more, and be more aware of what our lord expects from us. God bless you this Wednesday, and I do pray that this message will be taken to heart, and applied by us all, have a wonderful prayer meeting tonight, and let us all worship God in Spirit and truth.

Be blessed and be a blessings, Barbara

Broccoli Rice Pilaf

1/4 cup margarine
1 10 oz or about, frozen broccoli, thawed
1 small onion chopped
1 cup fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1 clove garlic, chopped


Melt margarine in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in rice and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 min. Stir in broccoli and broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium and cook covered, stirring occasionally until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, approx 5 minutes.

This is so very good, an make a side dish of Pork Spare Ribs to go with it.
Nothing better on a nice day, and a wonderful melt in your mouth cake for  dessert: Now cook, bake, and eat with a smile, have a very blessed day.

Chocolate Heaven Cake

Ingredients For the cake:
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
4 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup oil
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups strong, fresh brewed coffee


For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted Butter at room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoons vanilla
9 ounces melted semi sweet chocolate
2 1/2 to 3 cups sifted confectioners sugar


Directions
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of three 9” cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl place chocolate and pour hot coffee and vanilla.
Let stand about 2 minutes to melt the chocolate then stir until smooth.


ln another bowl whisk together eggs and oil until well blended and light in color. Whisk in sour cream, then melted chocolate mixture.


Add chocolate sour cream mixture to dry ingredients and mix on low speed while gradually adding in thirds. Mix until just until incorporated scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fill prepared pans two thirds full. Bake cakes 40-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool then decorate as desired.


For the frosting:
Mix butter and milk until smooth and creamy.
Add vanilla just until incorporated.
Add melted chocolate until completely mixed.
Gradually add sugar until you reach the consistency of frosting.

Presidents Day is celebrated the third Monday in February to honor the long line of United States Presidents. It used to be celebrated on the birthday of our first President, George Washington, which is Feb. 22, but in 1971 it moved to the third Monday of the month. In honor of all Presidents.

Many are off work today for this holiday, me I am retired so every day is a holiday for us retiree's, lol.  We had a wonderful weekend, and such a good day at church Sunday, after the services last evening we went to a local fast food restraunt and had some sweet fellowship with our church members and also some from other churches that we know.
We got home late, and it was good, I do love good fellowship with like minded believers, always so sweet, and leaves me with the true spirit of Christianity, love thy neighbor as thyself, amen.

I am going to share today a fun puzzle I found and if you are a puzzle doer, you will truly enjoy it, if not just forget it.  You can print it out and save it for later. Looks like fun to me.

Have a blessed day on this Presidents Day 2011, God bless each of you, and may God bless America.

Friday Flicks and Friends

A few flicks from the races in Daytona yesterday, hubby took. My son likes the Petty's and my husband like Joey Lagano.

It is going up to 79° here today, and another gorgeous sunny day, oh I do love the warmth, I do not do well in the cold either ladies, old Arthur takes over.

Chuck had a wonderful time yesterday, took about 200 photos with drivers, and the place, and all the excitement there, he and Jim had a good time, he looks like a walking advertisement for Home Depot, Jim bought him a shirt and hat with the Home Depot car, Joey Logano # 20 is the driver he like, I like one called Go Daddy, Mark Martin #5 it is a green car, I call my green apple, lol it is fun, I am not into it like my son, but I did enjoy watching it yesterday.

I am feeling good once again, yeah, thank you lord, it was a very long battle, and it feels good to feel good.

I made lasagna yesterday, did not have mozzarella cheese so used the fine shredded Cheddar, it was different but very good. I also made blueberry/oatmeal and oatmeal/raisin cookies, no bread again.

I stripped beds and washed them and did 2 other loads of laundry, so stayed busy most of the day. Honey came in about 11:30 safe a one tired man, it was a good day, for us all, and I thank the Lord for that, now what is going on in your world, I have monopolized this conversation, heehee sorry, must be feeling better, even my fingers are busy.

Not doing too much today, did a  little yard clipping and picking up, other than that not much.

Hope your day is blessed, Barbara 

"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things". Galatians 6:6

Yes, there are those who take advantage of God's flock and misuse God's money.
This is tragic because many of God's servants minister with few economic resources or financial support. While God never promised ministers of the Word great wealth, he does remind us of the importance of caring for them. Let's use this time to make sure those who share God's word with us are supported in ways that enable God's ministry through them. Let's also remember that sharing "all good things" means much more  than money! Let's keep our missionaries, our ministers, and our teachers in our prayers. Let's commit to send them regular notes of specific encouragement so their ministry will be a blessing not only to us and the Lord, but also to them! Prayer is indeed one of the best methods to convey to God their needs, God knows and he will provide.

I really think we as Christians fail in the matter of prayer, it is not important how long of prayer you can pray, or how grand a prayer you can pray, it is that you pray out of a loving and pure heart, God will hear, God loves us to talk to him, especially when we are praying for others, many times we pray so selfishly, lord help me, thank you. Well we need to be specific and ask on behalf of some one else, pray for your Pastor, he has so much more on him than you would ever realize, his daily needs are innumerable, he and his family more than likely have given up many things to come be your pastor, let us pray for him on a daily basis, let us revere him, and let us let him know we love and appreciate him, and all he and his dear family do for us.  

I hope you all have a wonderful prayer meeting tonight, and that God will bless you in all ways, in all you do for him.

Lots of love and plenty of Hugs, Barbara

ISN'T THE LOVE OF JESUS, SOMETHING WONDERFUL

We know all hearts turn to love in this month, it is the month that Valentines Day falls in. Mostly we talk about love in association with our mate, our loved one, my beloved has been with me for 53 years on this valentines day, praise God for this love and devotion. But now we are going to talk about Brotherly love, and the Love of God. Sit back relax , and pray that God will open your heart to this message as we read his words, and all about His love. I started doing this lesson on love, many years ago, I have used it to teach various ages throughout the years, now I am using it for this February devotion. Visuals always help us to understand better, make us more aware of things being said, I pray you all enjoy it and let the word of God speak to your heart, my purpose is to show how mighty love is, the real agape love God talked about in his word. With each one of my little hearts there is a scripture, but I am condensing it for the blog, it was an hour lesson in person, so cutting back here and there, but in all it will explain the love of God for us, our love for him, and for each other.

1. God is love: 1 John 4:8 "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." That is some strong words here, and we see so many schisms in the church, that is not love, and that is not of God, we see here if we love, we are of God, where is your heart, search deep, find a place and time you accepted Christ and asked him into your heart. That is the very first step to find true love.

2. God Loved us: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave, his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." We see just how much God loved us, now are we going to love him?

3. Love God: Matthew 22:37 " Thou Shalt Love the Lord they God with All thy heart." This is a commandment, and just one of the two Christ give us in the new testament. Let us keep it, let us cherish its meaning, let us love the lord thy God with all that is with in us, that is the agape love he put in us, other wise we could not love him with all our heart. We would love self, and all things concerning us.

4. Love One Another: John 13:34 " A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye also love one another." I do believe this is what lacks in most of our churches today, loving one another, for some reason everyone wants the attention, they want to be the head of all, they want to in the spot light, this is of the flesh ladies, it is not of God, he wants us to be humbled and to care and love for others as he always did, you never seen Jesus wanting the attention, he was always giving, giving and then he gave everything he had for us, how can we not be giving to each other, when Christ give so much for us.

5. Love Our Neighbor: Matthew 22:39 " And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thy self." This is still talking about loving each other, who is your neighbor, everyone around you, not just the family next door, but everyone in your community, love them, reach out to them, and most of all talk to them about your Jesus, let them experience the love of God first hand through you, Lord help us to be all like Jesus, may every one we meet see him in us, reach out and touch some one, tell them you love them, and care for their soul, it will touch them, even if they do not accept it, it will reach the heart.

6. Give Jesus Your Heart: Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." First you have to give Jesus your heart, then he pours love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So let us LOVE one another. May we go away from this lesson saying, wow the love of God truly is ♥something wonderful, marvelous, and I have it. ♥

Well that is it for our love devotion, hope you enjoyed it, and remember this is condensed, if you want to use it for a SS lesson, and add your own words, and extras to teach your style then you have my permission to do so, I made the graphics, and did the work, but I praise God if it will help one other soul. I can do nothing without him.

God bless you every one, Have a wonderful day, Barbara

Is It Spring Yet?

        

 

 

 

 

 

These are my Lily of the Valley's, they are coming up now, so guess Spring is close here, it has been a long hard winter for Southern Georgia, and still very cool for this time of year, I have not spent much time out side, just not wanting to get sick again.

I love Spring, and there are so many verses that talk about spring in the bible, not always the season, but springing up etc. I think that is why I do love Spring, everything is new, all the trees will start budding new, and the grass and leaves will turn green, just a new beginning for a new year, God is remarkable he made things, we see trees with no leaves, and way well that tree is dead, no it is dormant, waiting for the lords time to spring back up into something beautiful. Just like us as Christians, we were dead and lost in sin, then Christ came in and made new creatures of us. Here is a scripture I want to share about this with you, God bless you and do have a wonderful weekend.

De 8:7  "For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;"

Nu 21:17  "Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:"