INSPIRATION WHEEL

I have a Facebook acquaintance who has a problem with obesity. She was supposed to get the surgery but is having a problem with the insurance company, and she's depressed about it. I put her on my prayer list and an idea popped into my mind (thank you, Holy Spirit!). I call it an Inspiration Wheel, based on the Philippians 4:13 verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

I added some motivational words to read as you spin it. The white border looked too plain, so I just grabbed a marker and squiggled a line around it, nothing fancy. I sure hope it lifts her spirits!

SUNDAY ENCOURAGEMENT

I picked up this "tapestry"/wall hanging at the thrift store last week. I hung it in the living room, of which Mister isn't too happy because I took down the painting our neighbor painted and gave to us! But, I love this scene and the promise verse on it.

SURPRISE! I'M BACK!

Hello friends! After three months of "holiday", I'm back to my blog. So many (frustrating) things have happened this year that, when I gave up Rednesdays, I just kind of faded away from blogging.

Frustration #1: My agorophobic almost-21 daughter uses my computer most of the time (hers gave up the ghost early Spring), so I don't get to just pop on whenever I feel like it. (I took advantage of the fact that she's sleeping right now!)

Frustration #2: My camera broke and I can't afford a new one. I hate this! I feel so helpless without a camera to shoot pics of all the thrifty things I find, and my beautiful flowers, etc. (Don't have a smartphone, either).

Frustration #3: We're in a serious financial bind and may have to move to a town with cheaper tax rates. (Oh, I hope not! I love my house and yard!) My two Asperger girls would be devastated if we had to relocate.

Frustration #4: I had a fender-bender in July with my red pick-up - brakes went. Found out that front and back brakes are all shot to pieces, rusted, etc. Can't afford to fix truck. (Using father-in-law's Tahoe temporarily) Mister's car is very near being on its' last leg, too. We have another small Ford pick-up that he's trying to get working; it's been sitting for six years.

Frustration #5: Because of #4, I had to give up babysitting Jade, whom I've watched for four years. The monetary amount was token, which didn't even cover the cost of gas to pick her up from school in the afternoons,  but it was still money. But, now that I don't watch her anymore, I'm glad that I don't. It's kind of like a small weight lifted off of me.

Frustration #6: My now-11th grade daughter wants to quit school. She's in special ed and they're saying she can do the same amount of work that a "normal" student can. (Duh! What do they think special ed is for anyway?) She says that school has traumatized her and lowered her self-esteem. So Mister and I have a special meeting with the school this coming Tuesday, the 10th.

Okay, are those enough depressing thoughts for you! LOL! Yeah, they kinda shook me up a bit. I still think positive, too, though - I'm not ready to call the funny farm yet! If I didn't have God I'd be flat on my face. I love the New Living Translation's wording of 2 Corinthians 4:9:

"We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.

We get knocked down, but are not destroyed."

Also, 2 Timothy 1:12 tells me,

 "For this reason I also suffer these things;

nevertheless, I am not ashamed,

for I know Whom I have believed

and am persuaded that He is able to keep

what I've committed to Him until that Day."

 

So, it's all good in the 'hood, and I'm glad to be back here! Don't know how often I'll post, but I'll be here!

IN GOD WE TRUST

What's God got to do with it?


The House voted 396-9 this week to reaffirm as the national motto the phrase "In God We Trust" and encouraged its pronouncement on public buildings and continued printing on the coin of the realm. The motto was made official in 1956 during the height of Cold War hysteria over godless communism.

" . . . it would seem that Americans are more aware today than half a century ago that it's up to us to secure our freedom through enlightened secular policies with practical social applications rather than faith-based hope in empty mottoes reflecting an era gone by." (NOT!)

Click HERE to read what else Michael Shermer has to say in the LA Times about this!