I’m off on a road trip with my sister, ’cause it’s my birthday!!!
So, in honor of my new age (sigh), click on the pic below to read an old post that’s a favorite of mine. It’s called, Confessions of a Distracted Homemaker/Artist:
Archive | March 2010
Anchovy Faith
anchovies -vs- swordfish
My family’s been watching the Life series on the Discovery Channel, narrated by
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey.
Tonight’s episode was about the fantastic and sometimes grotesque lives of ocean fish.
One fish, in particular, really caught my attention — the anchovy.
Now, on my pizza, I’d rate the anchovy in the grotesque category, but in their ocean habitat they definitely fantastic.
Swimming together in a shiny silvery mass, called a shoal, they dart around as one due to their highly developed sensory system.
And sticking together makes them really tough to catch.
A shoal of anchovies
Because no matter how quickly a predator like a marlin, or a shark dives at the shoal, their teeth flashing, mouth opened wide, the shoal quickly dart away in a mass or spreads out into a circle that the predator plunges through, empty-mouthed and frustrated out the other side.
“The fishes unity is its strength.“, Oprah Winfrey narrates, ” The exasperated predator gives up and goes after easier prey.”
Remember this scene from “Finding Nemo” starring Anchovies? (or maybe Sardines, or herrings. They all swim the same)
And here’s a clip showing the real thing:
Now, the Anchovy has an important lesson to teach today’s Christian. Why? Well, first, they’re a salty little fish swimming about in a great big ocean. Sounds like us. We’re supposed to be salty little Christians in this great big world. See?
“You are the salt of the earth.” Matthew 5:13
And what does salt do? It adds flavor to food, and it preserves food and mummies and other things AND it cleans in the form of shampoos. So, we’re supposed to spice up our world, preserve the good, and live clean lives. Salt.
And, like the Anchovy, we’re surrounded by sharp-toothed predators with big stomachs…
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
So, swim like an anchovy, Christian. Stick close to your salty sisters and brothers. Shoal would be smart of you!
Remember, there’s safety in numbers. Say it with me — fellowship. It’s a lifesaver!
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
The Anchovy Prayer: “Oh Father in heaven, thank you for loving me and making me the salt of the earth and light of the world. Thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Help me to love them more, encourage them better, pray for them regularly and meet their needs when I can.
I confess I’ve been a little shellfish sometimes. Make me an anchovy, a salty Christian for Christ! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!”
Pour out Your Heart…
Do you know that God is NOT bothered by our laments. He encourages us, in fact, to pour our hearts out to him (1 Peter 5:6) because He cares for us.
And Psalm 62:8 says to pour our hearts out to Him for God is our refuge.
The irony is, sometimes my heart is filled with rage AT God, like when it’s breaking for my children, or when I recently heard of an overwhelmingly horrible thing that happened to someone elses child in the news, or when I keep struggling with the same weaknesses, returning like a dog to its vomit over and over again (That’s from this verse, Proverbs 26:11, in ref. to a fool repeating his folly)
BUT, another irony occurs when I “lament” and pour my heart out to God after times like that; one that supersedes the other, and that is that, in the end, after “all the screaming and yelling dies down”, I feel closer to Him.
I mean, I’m literally yelling at God, “Why!!!!! WHY???????” If you were in the room you’d definitely be bothered, and yet, he remains by my side, or is, rather, holding me in His lap, because I “feel” his arms tighten around me as He whispers gently in my ear, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”, or whatever it is my soul needs to hear at the time. ALWAYS.
And you know something else? If I don’t pour my heart out to God, who can take it, I’ll pour it out in destructive ways to those who can’t, like my husband, my children, those closest to me, maybe even the checkout lady who’s a little slow at the store.
So pour it out to the only one who can pour strength, love, and truth back in. Pour your heart out to Jesus.
Happiness is…
As I posted yesterday, I was awarded the Happiness 101 Award by one of my favorite bloggers, JeLisa over at BloggingEverAfter. Click on the Blog title to read the first post I read of hers. It’s about being married. I had a sappy grin on my face the whole time I read it, and wanted to hug my husband as soon as he walked in the door. A MUST READ!!!
Part of winning the award it to list 10 things that make you happy. Yesterday I listed 6. Well, JeLisa’s post I made mention of made me happy so that must be #7.
I’ll introduce #’s 8 and 9 by sharing my Facebook Friend’s status from yesterday. Hilary posted, “Coffee. Bacon. Conversation.” I clicked the like button right away. I LOVE those three things. But I’ll have to cheat and combine coffee and bacon under #8, put conversation as my # 9, so I can leave room for my all-time favorite Happiness maker….
A scoop of vanilla icecream drizzled with espresso and caramel at my favorite coffee shop
Bacon, Bacon! Thy name is YUM!
I saved the best for last! Number 10 is the B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me! (check out Bible study links to the right)
It wasn’t always that way, though. Used to be, for years, in fact, that I preferred reading books about the Bible to reading the “dry, melba-toasty” Book itself. But a Bible teacher encouraged me to pray and ask God to change my heart to LOVE His Word. I did it, and did it again, and again, until the “dry melba toast” magically changed to a juicy steak dinner with chocolate mousse for dessert when I read it most times.
“Bible Time/morning devotions/ quiet time/ time with the Lord” –whatever you call it, the important thing is that when I do it faithfully, it boosts my faith. Reading the Bible encourages me to try a little harder to love a little better (a LOT better) to understand a little more, to keep going with hope. I become a bigger, better, stronger person from the inside out.
I love the Word! I could do without bacon, coffee, even chocolate (which really should be included on the list,by the way) but don’t take away my Bible! Where would I be without it?
And, finally, the Award goes to…
An important part of receiving the award is to pass it on to other bloggers.
So, I’d like to present this Happy 101 Award to an old friend, Angelia, for her blog, A Year of Letters. Angelia is very organized, which explains how she can manage her goal of writing a letter every day for a year. Letter-writing is a lost art, and getting one in the mail is sure to make a person happy. So, congratulations, Angelia!
“A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:13
Happiness is…
I won my first “bloggy award”!!! (Fireworks, Horns, Hoots, Confetti!!!!!!)
Bloggy Awards are little awards that bloggers pass on to one another to boost morale, show support, say thanks.
I received the Happiness 101 Award from a blogger that happens to make me very
And They Lived Blogging Ever After...
happy whenever I read one of her current post on BloggingEverAfter.
Click the name to see one of my favorite BloggingEverAfter Posts. (Bookmark it for later, if you don’t have time to read it now.)
Ok, part of getting the award is passing it on to another blog (see bottom of post. I’ll be awarding one a day for 3 days) AND sharing 10 things that make me happy.
First, TEN THINGS THAT MAKE GLORIS HAPPY (the music builds…)
I’ll share a few each day, starting with (drums rolling…)
1. —JESUS/GOD/HOLY SPIRIT!!!
It wasn’t always that way, of course. God hasn’t always been at the top of my happiness list, and I’m praying that it will be more and more that way every day.
Here’s BETH MOORE, author/Bible teacher, encouraging us from Psalm 63 to love God. ( :)Beth Moore makes me happy, so that’s my #2 )
Doing her Bible studies is a faith shot directly into my heart! Here’s one of my favorites:
🙂 BELIEVING GOD is another happy thing for me, so it’s #3.
Click on the pic to see about signing up for the it online version if you’re interested. It’s great to do online studies in the comfort of your own home, in your pajamas, even. They’re so convenient.
Ok, Let’s pray that God will be “ours”, like Beth Moore suggested:
:)prayer makes me happy, so that’s #4.
love you, Oh, Lord my strength. You are my Rock, my Fortress, and My Deliverer. You are my God, Rock in whom I can take refuge; my Stronghold. I can call to you and be saved from my enemies (Psalm 18:1-2), from my powerful enemies who are too strong for me. (i.e. Satan and his cohorts)
Oh, Father in Heaven, You are love! (1John 4:8), and you love me more than I could ever love myself. Show me how deep and wide, how high and deep your love is for me. I want to be rooted and grounded in that love. (Ephesians 3:17-18)
And I want to believe with all my heart that it’s true, that, in fact, you do love me.
Increase my faith!
In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
( 🙂 Now that’s a happy verse! # 5 )
And the receiver of the first Happy 101 Award from Gloriadelia is … envelope, please… MutteringsfromtheMoor!
Click on the blog name to see the first post of “Mrs. Mutterer’s” that I read. It about a little wooly lamb named, Annie, that grabbed my heart and made me very happy. (:) #6) The blog is “mutterings” from the moors of England.
Check back in tomorrow for other Happy things and Award #2!
The Apostle Paul and the Three Bears
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Romans 15:1
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
“The Three Bears Poem”
The Apostle Paul wrote all three
To show you and me,
How to love tenderly.
It is pleasing in God’s sight,
when we’re not too hot,
Not too cold,
But love just right!”
The above picture is a Word Frequency Cloud of the Four Gospels, made by Jeff Clark, a statistical analyst.
The bold words, “Jesus, Son, and God”, in the center, appear most frequently in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Do you know “Jesus, Son, God”? Click on the pic above to be introduced.
**Click HERE to see more ” New Testament Word Clouds” by Jeff Clark.
“One Another”
Pastor Tony Evans
Driving in the van today, I was listening to Pastor Tony Evans on the radio.
He said the phrase, “one another“ is a common one in the New Testament. I hadn’t noticed that before, and he pointed it out because it shows how important it must be to God that we look out for “one another”. Hmmm… I made a mental note to look up the “one another-ing” verses when I got home.
Here’s what I found on BlueletterBible.org
Note: There were too many to list! But here’s my favorites…
“…serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13b
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ in God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13
s I read over these verses, I thought, it’s easy to live them out at church, or with people who are nice all the time out in public, but what about at home, where it really counts; behind closed doors, where it may not be as easy to “bear with” the bear your spouse is in the morning, or be “kind and compassionate” to the kind of people you have to live with every day.
That’s where it ain’t so easy to be “humble and gentle”, not to mention “forgiving”…
The “One-Another Prayer:
h, Father in heaven, You are love. (1 John 4:8) AND You are rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4)
“Father, I want to be merciful, kind and compassionate to the people I live with, to the ones I work with every day. I want to bear with them, and forgive them just like you have forgiven me.
I know I can’t do it on my own. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who will come along side and help me. The fruits of the Spirit are “love, joy, peace , patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22), all that I need to be all that You want me to be to those closest to me, the ones who see the real me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
To Bake or not to Bake. That is the question…
To bake brownies, or not to bake brownies?! That was the question in my kitchen this evening.
Get it? Sounds Hamlet-y, “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Here’s a comic of Calvin’s dinner [from Calvin and Hobbes] quoting more of Hamlet’s Soliloquy, if you’re interested. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to see it. Come on, it’s funny. 🙂
Ok, back to the brownies…
Must resist! Must resist! But they’re SO gooey, and chocolaty, and yum-yum-yummy when they’re hot and melt the ice cream in the bowl.
Sigh…Ok, I gave in and baked. 😦 Why do I do this to myself?!!!!!!!
A TommyImages Photo
Coincidentally, I just read this in Proverbs 16:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 16:25
And this is in Psalms 16 **:
“Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup…The boundary lines [ooh, there’s that ugly word, boundaries] have fallen for me in pleasant places…” Psalm 16:5-6
OH, “the air bites shrewdly…” (that’s Hamlet, too)
I hate BOUNDARIES! When it comes to food, anyways. BUT, I know not everything I want to put in my middle-aged mouth is good for me (or my thighs), so, I guess it’s good to have them (boundaries, that is).
And it’s good to know what will satisfy me, too. Longer than brownies. Later on, in Psalm 16 I found the recipe for something more filling:
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11
The Fill-me-up Prayer:
Oh, Father, the Apostle Paul said, ” ‘Everything is permissible for me’-but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’-but I will not be mastered by anything.”( 1 Corinthians 6:12) I don’t want food, not even chocolate to master me. David wrote in Psalm 16 that running after other gods will only increase my sorrows. (vs. 4)
I no longer want to try to fill my soul’s holes with ___________(fill in the blank, whether it be food, drink, or any other “god” you may be running after. Anything you believe will only increase your sorrows.)
Lord, help me to agree with David in Psalm 16, “I have set [You] always before me. Because [You are] at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)
More of You, Jesus. Fill my soul with more of You.
In Jesus’ name, amen.”
“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.” (Psalm 16:9)
Do you know the Lord? Knowing Him —really knowing Him–is better than chocolate. Honest! Click the pic below to be introduced:
** I like to read the Psalm and Proverb for each day. Today’s the 16th, so I read Psalm 16 and Proverbs 16. Something I learned along the way. Works out really well for Proverbs each month, since there’s 31 of them, but with Psalms I’ll keep going after the 31st and just read a new one each day. This month, though, I started over again with Psalm 1 on the 1st of March, etc.
Springing Ahead, A whizbang excuse for being late…while it lasts.
“Oh, sorry I’m late! I forgot to spring ahead this morning.” *sheepish grin*
Great excuse for being late for church while it lasts. But it only gets you by for so long before the excuse police start to intervene. They can’t wait to point out the obvious, “It’s July!” Partypoopers!
Heard on the radio that one clever church waits till after the service to spring ahead. Keeps their members from being an hour late once a year.
Anyone who forgets and springs ahead eats bagels and drinks coffee ’til the rest of the church shows up. Hmmmph…no excuse at that church — “Sorry, I’m late, I forgot to spring ahe….never mind.”
In other Springing Ahead news, I heard on TV that doctors are blaming the loss of an hour’s sleep with increased heart attacks and strokes this time of year. Hmmm…”Sorry, I’m late, I’m protecting my heart…” It’s got possibilities….
Well, there’s one thing we don’t want to sleep through, no matter what day of the week or time of the year , and that is the fact that GOD LOVES US! I don’t know why, but He does. That’s the way He rolls.
And, in case you doubt that, here’s some verses you can “fall back” on for proof. (I know. It’s clever. Hold back your applause):
“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:10-11, 16
You know God calls his church, his beloved, his bride. Not his wife, mind you, but his bride. Significant, maybe, because there’s A LOT of passion/ joy/love a groom has for his bride that might cool down years later when she’s “just” his wife.
Here’s a wedding video that I hope brings a smile to your face and maybe might “wake you up” to how much GOD REALLY LOVES US!!!!! The Bible says he dances over us with great joy!!!
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom…” John 3:29
Do you know the One who IS love? (1John 4:8) There’s no time to waste! Click on the pic below to be introduced:
Gloriadelia 