Abba's Girl

A symbol of what we look like before we confess our sins to the Lord. A symbol of what we look like after we confess our sins to the Lord.

Please pray for the situation in Israel. The Palestians had a large protest on Sunday near the Galleria. (I am not sure why they did not protest near the Israeli Consulate.) I think we will see violent protests spring up in numerous countries. Karen's friend Diana is in Israel through January 6, please pray for Diana's safety as well as the safety of her group. We know how the story ends, we know through the prophet Ezekiel what happens to those who align themselves with countries against Israel. Time to pray for those against Israel to get delivered from their false religion and take all that devotion and use it in the Kingdom.

Sunday I attended church with my mother at my former church. It is so nice to see friends and worship with them. During Communion, we sang Jesus Loves Me, Father Frankie had mentioned it to the children during the children's sermon. My eyes welled up with tears as we sang it. God reconciled us to Himself through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ - Emmanuel - God With Us. Men have given religion a bad name, just like the Saducees and Pharisees in the New Testament. The only people who did not like Jesus were religious, they knew the laws inside and out but did not have God in their hearts. Believers in Christ should follow him, but not be legalistic and hard hearted religious (dare I say) idiots like the Pharisees. My prayer is Lord Jesus stun the Pharisee right out of me. Believers must take the love of Jesus where ever they go. It's not our job to preach at people and beat them over the head with the Bible; it's our job to love and pray. Jesus saves thr...

Christmas Day was quite warm and humid, though we had a little freezing rain and sleet December 23. (Sometimes you can experience 3 to 4 seasons in 1 day in southeast Texas.) So to add to the ambiance of Christmas we set the A/C down to 66 and built a fire in the fireplace. My husband thought my parents would enjoy it. (Mind you my parents have a fireplace, they don't need firewood and can use a remote to light it, we need firewood and matches to start a fire at our house and there is certainly no remote.) So the point of this is: my husband wanted to build a fire in the fireplace. After all the company left and the last of the dishes were in the dishwasher, my husband and I sat outside talking. We could hear the children across the street playing football until it became too dark to play. They were so happy because their oldest brother had leave and was home for a visit before he ships out to Guam, he is proudly serving in the USMC. Semper Fi ! I mentioned 2008 had been a long ye...

The day people celebrate Christmas has come and gone but it's still Christmas until January 6 th . Today a few women are coming over for lunch, we met in school between 5 th & 8 th grade and graduated from St. Thomas' Episcopal Church & School together. We have threatened one of our male classmates who moved just down the road from me with wrapping his house. We have to get a little exercise in after lunch and his neighborhood is so new, I think we can manage to throw rolls of toilet paper over his 6 foot tall oak trees. (Don't worry Doug, we haven't wrapped your house in 4 or 5 years and probably won't do it today....) This meal with dear friends extends Christmas for me if you will. There is joy and love around the dining room table and it's great , but nothing compared to the pure love God has for us. Just imagine what it will be like when we are dining together in heaven! I try to find God's love in every day situations and events. I really fin...

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 2008 has been a long year for my family due to my father's 8 months in the hospital plus the normal ups and downs of life. Many of you have experienced hard times this year. Keeping our eyes on the Lord is the only way to move forward. He understands our pain, our disappointments and the reasons we cry out why Lord, why? Each day is a new day with Him, His mercy and grace are poured out on us daily, they never run low or run out, He is ever faithful even when we are not. Over 2000 years ago on a starry night, whatever time of year the shepherds were in the field with their flocks, in the City of David, Jesus our Emmanuel, the long awaited Messiah was born. Our heavenly Father trusted Joseph and Mary to raise this little baby Who would bring Salvation to all people. The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings was born in very humble circumstances to a humble couple who loved Yaweh . As we celebrate Christmas with our family and ...

Pictures from my annual coffee, Ann & Karen on the love seat, they were talking to Annette of Annie's Eyes Blog, Penny (1 of my dogs) recovering from being shut out of all the excitement...Joann is sitting on the couch, she is my neighbor...then sadly I started drinking coffee and eating red velvet cake and quit taking pictures...Oh well, there is always next year. Since it's only 38 degrees this afternoon which is cold for people in southeast Texas, I am going to make a cup of tea and warm up. Have a good afternoon. Spend some time with our Heavenly Father: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Today is the 4 th Sunday of Advent, the last candle in the wreath is lit until we light the white candle in the center on Christmas Day. Hard to believe how fast the season of preparation flew by this year. Yesterday I had several friends over, we drank coffee, ate sweets, and laughed. Annette of Annie's Eyes blog made the trip from the northwest side of Houston to my house southwest of Houston. It was a joy to see her in person. (She brought the most wonderful gift, I need to find out if she made it and I need to thank her for it.) My husband made his escape, he decided to spread joy and pink eye to his plumbing shop. (I don't think his employees were there.) I hope y'all are prepared for Christmas spiritually and in the natural realm. I have 1 gift to buy, a trip to the grocery store later this week, and a little baking to do. I hope we have prepared Him room in our hearts and let the things of this world that don't matter in the next world fade away. I pray we sprea...

When I was in school I had to be in the annual Christmas Choir Concert. I loved some of the songs we sang and really didn’t care for others. I remember in 5th grade when I was 10; we sang Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming, I hated it. As I got older I liked the words and still hated the music. I have not heard it in so many years; I no longer have an opinion. We also sang a song called Fum Fum Fum (rhymes with zoom, not gum), the opening line is: On December five and twenty fum fum fum, I think we all loved it and I think we even sang it at a Christmas party a 2 or 3 years ago after a couple of glasses of champagne. Another song we liked to sing was: While Shepherds watched their flocks by night, Glad tidings brought an angel bright: How great their joy, great their joy, Joy, joy joy! Joy, joy joy! Glory to God in heav'n on high. Glory to God in heav'n on high. We would belt out the echo of the JOY JOY JOY chorus to annoy the organist Mr. Moseley, but he could never prove it. I hear...

As many of you know from a previous post I wanted a truffle last weekend but did not want to go to the Galleria. My husband not knowing about the desire for a truffle; stopped at Buc - cees on the way home from the deer lease and bought fudge for me. What a guy, stopping to buy fudge at the service station. Buc - ees have not been around all that long, but has a loyal following. One of my friends has been known to drive to Buc - ees to buy jerky, it's 1/2 way to San Antonio. Thankfully they have opened a few locations around the greater Houston area and one will open soon in Richmond. You can pull in pump gas, go in grab a Coke, buy freshly baked cookies, have some jerky and get back on the highway. Buc - ees is basically a massive convenience store. I love them. It can be very easy to treat God like a convenience store. We just utter a prayer which is like a fast food order and go on down the highway of life. I am not talking about when a crisis pops up or we need a quick refr...

Does anyone relish a trip to the post office this time of year? I knew there would be a bit of a wait as parking places were scarce. I had 2 choices: stand in line and think nasty thoughts or stand in line and pray for friends and family who need prayer. Part of me wanted to do the nasty thought thing so I could contemplate the woman who told the postal worker to wait as she talked on her cell phone. He called the next customer, she hung up the telephone quickly and glared at him while he waited on her. Remember, these are people - God's children, not idiots, I am reminding myself of this point as well as telling myself I am Kingdom minded. The Holy Spirit can change our mood in a heartbeat if we ask Him to do so. Ephesians tells us: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of th...

My father ate seafood gumbo for lunch Friday which contained an ingredient he was allergic to, as a result we did not go to the Galleria today. He feels fine now. I took my parents to dinner to the Italian Maid here in Richmond, we had a great dinner and then drove around looking at Christmas lights with Christmas Carols playing on the radio. KSBJ played beautiful music tonight; KSBJ is a wonderful station, you can listen online. My husband called from the deer lease, he has pink eye and the wind was blowing 40 mph. I don't think his evening was as nice as ours was. I gave dad some great news today about one of his best friends, dad has been in prayer for 6 to 7 months over a situation and the prayer was answered yesterday afternoon. The Lord's timing is always perfect, He's never late. We may think He is, but He's not. I join my parents and friends rejoicing over the answered prayer. I will attend church with my parents tomorrow, it will be nice to worship with them ...

Lord help me, my father wants to go to the Galleria tomorrow. His watch is losing time again; so Tourneau here we come with 10,000 other shoppers. (My figure is not scientific and may be inflated for entertainment purposes.) My first thoughts were: All the idiots - oh wait - Lord, I repent they aren't idiots - I mean all the people All the traffic All the people All the chaos All the people I thought well, maybe I'll stop by Godiva while we're there, it's less expensive than Gucci. They sell a truffle I love. The Christmas decorations are beautiful and will be fun to see. I may take dad to Starbucks across Post Oak from the Galleria to kill a little time then take him to Goode Company Seafood so he can eat an oyster po -boy. Dad has never been to Starbucks. I think it's time he experienced it. I intend to stay patient and Kingdom minded which will require spending quality time with our Heavenly Father tonight and tomorrow morning. I will never look back and say I...

I wonder how many people across south and southeast Texas went a little berserk over the snow fall yesterday? I know I did. Everyone was outside laughing and smiling. Joy was all around. It really takes so little to bring joy and warmth to those around us, as we are living in hard times for many people, try to think of ways to bring kindness, peace, joy, faith, hope, and love wherever you go. As we near the day we celebrate the birth of our King, let's be Kingdom minded. We can renew our hearts and mind in the Word, we can be filled with His love for even the people we consider unlovable - we just pray to be filled with His love, ask the Holy Spirit to guard your lips against unkind words as well as gossip. It can be easy to fall into gossip while visiting without ever meaning to do so. In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyo...

It doesn't happen often, so excuse me for being over the top...it's SNOWING...78 yesterday, 34 for a high today. Most people in Southeast Texas love snow. What a great gift after a hurricane.

What makes you nostalgic during the Christmas season? I think of merry times with my family laughing and singing. I have so few relatives left on my father's side of the family and many of them are serving the Lord in Europe and South Korea. I remember being 9 or 10 and we had so much fun visiting, sharing our Christmas meal and playing Christmas music we opened gifts at 8pm as we were about to leave my aunt's house. I wanted gifts when I was a child, but that was not the biggest part of Christmas. I look back at the doll buggy, the Chrissy Doll, the various Barbies and their accessories (anyone else remember when Barbie's dorm room, kitchen, and house were made of cardboard?) clothes, games, Creepy Crawlers and books, it was all fun, but I remember running into the arms of family members who were in town for Christmas. I remember my Uncle Bob sitting on the couch in his mod clothes smoking a cigarette looking at the children as if we were Martians. He was not into kids, h...

Apparently asking a man if age spots look lighter is right up there with the following questions: Do you like these shoes? Do I look fat in this outfit? Does my derriere look big in these jeans? After getting over the shock of being questioned about age spots at 6:43am central time, he answered yes they look lighter. I was handing him a cup of hot coffee at the time, but I am sure that had no bearing on the answer. ha ha ha So as I think Palmer's Age Spot serum is working, I know and believe with every fiber of my being the following words are true: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, ...

If I attended an Episcopal Church today, I would hear the following passage of the Gospel read: The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." W...

When I was a young girl, either 3 or 4 years old I received the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I loved it and had my parents and Sandy read it to me frequently. At the end of the book there is picture of the Who's and the Grinch holding hands as they sing. For some reason, I decided they were singing Joy to the World. A year or 2 later in 1966 the Grinch cartoon debuted with Boris Karloff ( sp ). The Who's and the Grinch were not singing Joy to the World, I could not believe it. I watched the Grinch cartoon the other night which caused me to remember the Joy to the World notion I held over 40 years ago. My dad told me my uncle read the book to me the 1st time I heard it because he and his wife gave it to me for Christmas. Uncle Howdy read it, some of the adults listened because they had never heard the story, as he finished he said this book makes no sense. (I think the rhymes got to him as he read.) I piped up and said you can't steal Christmas it comes every year wh...

Hope this brings smiles to your faces.

Monday was a long day due to taking my dad to the ER, though the others trips have been 9 to 13 hours before he was seen, our total time from my house to the ER and back was 5 hours, which includes picking up sandwiches and salads to go at Sandy McGee’s in Richmond. I was so tired physically; I was relieved no one was able to attend Bible Study Monday night, though mentally I was sad. I decided I wanted to eat chocolate; I didn’t have anything chocolate in the house. I could not ask my husband to stop on the way home from work and buy a candy bar because he was at the deer lease. Far be it from me to get off the couch and go to the convenience store and buy a Snickers Bar. I looked in the pantry; I had everything I needed to make brownies. I don’t even care for brownies that much. I baked them; I cut them in 2 x 2 pieces and proceeded to eat 4 of them – FOUR, I can’t believe it – FOUR of them. That is called self-indulgence. Hopefully my husband will eat the rest this week. I looked at...

I took my father to the ER at St. Luke's Sugar Land today. It was our 1st time at this location. (And hopefully the last!) We are so thankful to the Lord we did not have to go to the medical center in Houston. We are so thankful the ER doctor was concerned and listened to my father. This trip was all because of a torn ligament in his shoulder and a torn rotator cuff. He is so much better now. He had not slept since Thursday, as a result mom had not slept, they are both exhausted. All the way home they were thanking the Lord for everything that worked out today, as in someone saw us getting dad out of my car as they were coming in to work, she ran into the hospital and came out with a wheelchair. The doctor began treating my dad immediately and we were only gone a total of 5 hours. The Lord's timing was everywhere through out the day. My friend Sandy (who led me to love Red Velvet Cake, OJ's Beauty Lotion, and Pepperoni Pizza in the mid 1960's as well as Go-Go boots and ...