Final Day of Crazy Joy Dare

Day 31

Back to Square 1

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
(John 14:27 ESV)


This is the day that our world gets upside down and people dress how they want and try to scare everyone.

While others of us are celebrating ALL HOLLOWS EVE.

I am a Celtic Christian.

I find the celebration of evil or the imitation of evil totally, wrong.

Today I chose to celebrate the Holy One as in ever other day of the year.

I chose to celebrate Reformation Day today.

I hope you will join me as we celebrate the hope we have for a future of eternity with our Lord Jesus.


Today' Joy Dare ~ Day 31

3 Gift Holy:  an everlasting relationships with the (1) Father, (2) Son, and (3) Holy Spirit

This is also a reflection on my writing dare of the last 31 days.

I have been able to practice writing in a number of formats and a number of topics this month.

I have been able to share a few of my favorite blogs and my heart has been through a number or emotions.

I will look forward to reviewing my blog from  this month to evaluate these experiences.

For today I would just like to share a comment from the Proverbs 31 Devotion today and my response.

• 
  

  JillGan

  Today, has been hard. When I saw this devotion, I thought,"What would relate to this?" Therefore, I didn't respond just yet. I finished my History Test, and... I saw a grade I didn't wanna see. I was thinking,"A few days ago, I had a date with God... He kept saying 'Trust Me'. I trusted Him through my test, but why did I fail?!" Honestly, blaming God isn't worth it. Eventually, you know that it's not His fault, it's yours. My test was the first test for the year, and I was determined to do well... but everything changed. When I think of 'a quiet place to rest' I instantly think 'God's embrace.' I wasn't thinking that when I received my grade... I was thinking 'Shutting myself in a room would be a quiet place to rest.' I turned to music. As I listened to my favorite songs, the first song that came up was 'Lift Me Up' - The Afters. I was thinking, when I failed my other quizzes... God, where were you? Where were you when I needed YOU to lift me up? Sometimes I wish I could STOP blaming God for everything when it's my fault. It hurts to see that grade, but to God, it hurts when He sees us blaming Him. This may or may not be relevant to the devotion today, but I think that the quiet place to rest is talking to God and listening to some Christian music... I hope/pray that you find your quiet place to rest today. Thanks, Karen for this devotion. God Bless, everyone. 
Dear JillGan, I know how you feel. That first test of the semester is always hard. You don't know how the prof will test or if you studied the right stuff. I pray you will learn from this test and be better prepared for the next one. 

I'm a mom of college students who just finished my own degree last December. Life is full of tests and I could say that is the best advise I could give for all tests in life. Remember  what went wrong with the last test, ask God for wisdom to better prepare for the next and Trust the Holy Spirit to held you recall at the time of need. Our faith in the death of Jesus for our sins and the hope for all eternity with HIM is what makes it all worth the testing. He is preparing you for a forever after with your King and Lord and that is why we praise even when stuff doesn't go our way.
Blessings little sister. Deena

BTW: That Afters song is one of my favs too

~ Happy Reformation Day ~


GISεїз
   ♫

Crazy Joy ~ Day 30

Day 30

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV) Pastor Mark's sermon - Oct. 28

On the East Coast people have just experienced a violent storm.

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people from Maine to the Carolinas awoke Tuesday without electricity, and an eerily quiet New York City was all but closed off by car, train and air as superstorm Sandy steamed inland, still delivering punishing wind and rain.

For those of us in rural, Northern California it is hard to fathom. If we have a  bad storm we are out of power for 3 or 4 days. We may have to use a bucket of water from outside to flush the toilet when the power is off, we don't have water and we have to eat what we have, but we can still use our cars. In the winter of 1995, just before Christmas we had such a storm.
I put my diaper pail outside, because I hadn't been able to wash clothes for a couple of days and the final day of the storm I was expecting to see diapers plastered all over the blackberry hedge when I opened to door. The diaper pail was unmovable.
We didn't have power for 4 days and I had an elderly mother-in-law, and 3 little girls ages 4,2 and 20 months needing my every moment of attention. A friend on the other side of the creek called on the 4th day and invited me over to use her washer and take a shower. ( They had just gotten power.) Before I got home the power was back on and I had a fresh stack of diapers.
That year we were in another kind of storm. The storm of  extreme poverty. Pregnant with our 4th child, my husband got pneumonia. The end of the 2nd month I gave birth to our son. My husband was so weak he couldn't take a walk with the girls, as I was proceeding through labor. He had been out of work for some time and that Christmas, while I was pregnant, I have no idea, how many people God used to bless my young family. My oldest daughter was almost 5 and she remembers her shoes, doll and the doll of her younger sisters.
This year we have faced another storm. The children are much older and the outcome seems much larger. The child like faith they had for provision and protection when they were young has to return, so that we don't go on our own strength. Our strength comes from the Lord. 

Blessed be the LORD!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

The LORD is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

(Psalm 28:6-9 ESV)

Three things that Johnathan Edwards said that the believer must know about Christian Joy:

     1) Your griefs will turn out for the ultimate good.

     2)Your great things can never be grabbed away from you.

     3) The Greatest is still to come.

At the end of  Monday and you are thankful that you only ran the shopping cart into a pillar and not the car was the only thing you ran into a pillar, because you have been so tired from life that you can't completely open your eyes.

When it seems like you don't remember the last time you got to sleep 8 hours when you awake on Tuesday after a complete 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

When the sun is shining in your window and you know that all is well with all your children, they are safe in school or at work and they have their personal needs met for the day.

You have electricity, phone service, warm dry clothes and let's not forget Wi/Fi

A season of refreshment fills you...

This doesn't take away the hurt of yesterday

This doesn't take away the cares of the world

BUT this should give you reason to be thankful.

I was thankful yesterday through my pain, sleeplessness and fear, but today I am thankful in the rest of God, in Jesus my savior, my hope, my strength and my deliver.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

(Psalm 18:2 ESV)

Crazy Joy Dare ~ Day 30- 3 Gifts Overjoyed!

          1) My daughter, Abbie, about having her radiator fixed

          2) Cookie Dough Baked 

          3) My heart that aches, but has hope in my deliver

Joy Dare ~ Day 29

Day 29

"And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him" (Hebrews 11:6 NLT) Air 1 verse of the Day

Joy Dare ~ Day 29 - 3 Gift One Time

  1) "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like     eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."  (Isaiah 40:31 ESV )     

   2) "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
    (Galatians 6:9 ESV)

    3) "

          But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

(2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV )

Joy Dare ~ Day 26

Day 26

 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you." (Psalms 32:8, NIV) Proverbs 31 Power Verse of the Day



This is my favorite patch. Someday I will find a new color to put next to it, but until then I am thankful that this patch survived the years.

Our most important requirement for participation: There’s really only one absolute, no ifs, ands or buts about it Five Minute Friday rule: you must visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Voice

Five Minute Friday

My voice is now reliable

I have scare tissue on my vocal cords and sometimes I am very horse

Other times I am the person people turn around and look at in church with the beautiful voice

I don't do anything different than other people when I sing, I just sing

I have had lesson in singing, 40 years ago

Since then I just sing

My voice is my instrument of praise

My voice is my instrument of destruction

And most of the time I feel, my voice is an instrument of conflict

I want everyone to get along and work as a team, my voice...

relaying my thoughts gets thing muddled

But yet my voice is the instrument to sooth a child...

say, "I love you"..

show Praise to God...

let you know I am listening.

STOP

Joy Dare ~ Day 26 - 3 Gifts Extravagant

     1) The most extravagant gift is God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for my sins

     2)  Sacrificing my wants to give someone their need

     3)   I don't know that I have ever had an extravagant gift given to me, so I am thankful that no one would      give me something to be showy, over priced

Gifts Enjoyed ~ Dare Day 25

Day 25

"He said: 'Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is the Lord says to you: "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's."'"           (2 Chronicles 20:15 NIV) Proverbs 31 Devotion of the Day

When I want to quit?

Quit What?

There are so many things I could answer

I never want to quit it all

I want to just quit having conflict

I want a day that goes smoothly

I don't even know what that would look like

Recently, our neighborhood had drug related shooting...

What kind of thing is this to happen in my quiet country lane?

The place I raised my children?

A  Broken Bridge

Being awakened by a Sheriff asking if I know a vehicle that is parked half off my bridge

Trapped in my own yard, unable to move my car

Not that big of a deal in the scope of world crisis

Not that big of a deal in the scope of eternity

I was reading Psalm 121, that God doesn't sleep or slumber and there is a shooting while she sleeps!

He protects us like King Jehoshaphat 

His army protects us while we sleep

He knows we are creatures who need rest

He rested on the 7th day, not because He was tired, because we need an example to rest

Rest on the Lord...How many times do we read that in the Bible?

He knows my going out and coming in

Dress Like Grandparent Day at School

Joy Dare~ Day 25 - 3 Gifts Enjoyed

  1) God's love for me

  2) My family

  3) My safe country

Thank you Lord ~ Joy Dare 24

Day 24

 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV) Proverbs 31 Power Verses


I woke up this morning with a start when a Sheriff asked, "Do you know that vehicle that is on your bridge?"

A truck is hanging 1/2 on our bridge. 1/2 in the irrigation ditch, I don't own a truck.

It was 6 a.m.

The day progressed with Sheriff SWAT teams, a person setting off the Lock Down Alarm at the neighboring  school, and a T.V. new reporter.

The odd part is, this wasn't my story.

This was a story that played out in the dark just 50 feet from my children's windows while we slept.

God was awake.

Last night I read this scripture over my child:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

(Psalm 121 ESV)

Our pastor had used it in his sermon on Sunday.

I had prayed at the end of the sermon to be able to act out hospitality to strangers, like he spoke about.

Following the sheriff's knock was a knock much quieter from the woman who had driven the truck and was hiding in my blackberry thicket for 45 minutes, before we turned on our lights.

I granted her what hospitality I could. 

This was not of me, this was of the Lord.

I had 3 children needing to get to school...

and a stranger at my door.

I called a friend that was able to take my son to school.

The tow truck guys let the girls through just in time to get off to college.

We took pictures, but they weren't our story.

My story is the knocks on the door, the stranger in need, the children God protected through the night, the holes in the bank and bridge needing to be fixed...

...but even those are  other's stories.

My children slept ~ God protected

My bridge is broke ~ My husband will get someone to fix it

The young woman was in need ~ God gave me provision to provide

I watched a play take place and I just did a small part

That is how it is when we ask God to take over our lives. 

He does all the work, we just obey.

I had plans for the day, God had other plans.

Joy Dare ~Day 24 - 3 Gifts Accomplished (Oddly for a day that is not what I planned)

      1) Kids got to school on time

      2) Lock down at local school ended before school started

      3) I was able to share God's Love to a stranger

Joy Dare ~ Day 23

Day 23

Proverbs 31 Power Verses:
 "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship (adopted daughtership) through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves." (Ephesians 1:4-6,NIV)



Some of the patches I don't want to remove, so I try to put an embroidery patch on them

It doesn't always work

The ancient threads of the fabric pull apart

My heart cries, "Don't do that I want that piece to stay"

"It is too hard to take out all the stitches and put an entire new piece in that place."

That works on the quilt, but in my life, it doesn't work. 

It is so hard to take out all the stitches holding a comfort zone in place.

The fix is staring at me, as I painfully remove the old stitches

I try to remember the pattern as I remove the ancient craft of beautiful stitches

God removes the old patch after I have obediently removed the bad habit

Now He will pin the new piece in place

"Ouch..." I whine with watering eyes.

Then I ask for the prayers of my friends 

The stitches (Prayers) of my friends begin to knit me into place.

I rest in my place with the new patch of ancient grace.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

"and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever".

The 23rd Psalm

  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

(Psalm 23 ESV)

“Praise is the beauty of a Christian. What wings are to a bird, what fruit is to the tree, what the rose is to the thorn, that is praise to a child of God.” ~ Spurgeon



Joy Dare ~ Day 23 - 3 Gifts Begun

     1) I am a new creation in Christ
     2) Back to complete sugar free, fruit free, gluten free diet
     3) Life with 3 legally adult children

Happy Birthday Johanna Lee

Abbie wanted to "reenact" this picture when Ian ~ 2, Abbie ~ 4, Johanna ~ 3
Now they are: Ian ~16, Abbie ~ 19 and Johanna ~ 18 (Oct 21, 2012)

 

Joy Dare ~ Day 22

Day 22

'We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.' Romans 5:3 NLT

                                                       Living in the Valley of Shadows

We have the first rain of fall

There is no shadow today

We can't see the sun

Students want to dance in the rain instead of doing school work

My quilt has been aired out for the winter and covers the daybed

I am thankful that my windshield wipers worked

We will get at least 25 inches of rain before summer

The time to curl up and read a book

I am instead waiting for the storm to clear and head to Redding

Still looking for work

Still waiting for the open door

My van is sitting under a fall tree

Breath

Don't cry

Stand up straight

God has a purpose and a plan

The shadow only mean that God has my back

JOY DARE ~ Day 22 - 1 Gift Silent, 1 Gift Still, 1 Gift Strong

       1) Silent of the clouds

       2) The Stillness that my heart desires

       3) The strength of the Lord

Praise the LORD!

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in his commandments!

His offspring will be mighty in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house,

and his righteousness endures forever.

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;

he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;

who conducts his affairs with justice.

For the righteous will never be moved;

he will be remembered forever.

He is not afraid of bad news;

his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,

until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever;

his horn is exalted in honor.

The wicked man sees it and is angry;

he gnashes his teeth and melts away;

the desire of the wicked will perish!

(Psalm 112 ESV)

    

Crazy Joy Dare ~ Day 19

Day 19

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:28-29 ESV)

If you are reading my blog. I need prayer for the day. Here are the pictures of the bridge I took. My dare for the day is 3 Gifts unexpected. I have to wait and see.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

                                                     2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

                                                    3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person   who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. READ, SET, GO!

GOOD MORNING GOD, THIS IS DEENA,

I know that You have been her all along. 

I am so tired, You are so strong.

I make mistakes, You don't make junk.

I feel like giving up, You will never leave me or forsake me.

I need Your help, You say "take my yoke...my burden is light".

I have pains, You took my pain and what I feel is only a shadow of what you felt on the cross.

I need encouragement, You gave me a book of it, I only need to open and read.

I need a financial miracle, You own the cattle on a thousand hills.

I need to give off the "I" thing and set my mind on You.

Set you mind on what is pure, lovely, of good report.

Rejoice in all situations for this is God's will concerning you.

There is no one like You. You are with me. You are a true and Loving Father...STOP.