Abba's Girl

A couple weeks ago, I found boxes of Christmas ornaments at my mother's house. They were the ornaments we hung on our tree when I was very young, in fact, they were old when I was very young. (They are very old now.) I was surprised she still had them. I thought they were donated or tossed when my parents purchased new ornaments. I brought them to my house and decorated my tree and mantle with them. They are faded and a bit tarnished, but then again so am I.  However as believers, no matter our stage of life, spiritually speaking, we are not faded or tarnished, we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. Remember that ladies.  So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away —look, what is new  has come! We are reconciled to God.  And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.    In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the wor...

It's December 1, this year has been so long and yet so short. I spent many hours at the hospital and hospice in January and February, Spring arrived on schedule in March, I was semi-aware of it as I began the probate process, cleaning out my mother's house, and battling pneumonia. Summer arrived, it was not so terrible, no horrible drought no horribly high temperatures, just a tropical storm named Imelda. We rolled into fall and have a little fall foliage this year which is very rare down here! Thanksgiving was a nice day, we took a day trip to the beach, grilled burgers, ate chips, and roasted marshmallows to make smores. My husband had never made or eaten a smore in his life. I find that astounding, I thought all Texas children from our era had straightened wire coat hangers and roasted marshmallows over a fire to make smores. He liked them, he ate 2. We sat there watching the waves break, the pelicans, and a large Great Blue Herron who strolled by while looking for his din...

Over the summer I ordered bulbs for fall planting, tulips (Wintering in the refrigerator as I type.) and daffodils. I'll plant the tulips in early January, there will not be much of a wait for them to grow and bloom, it will be months before the daffodils bloom. I look forward to their cheery presence in my flower beds and a couple of containers next spring. Much of gardening like other areas of life is all about instant gratification these days because we can buy flowers, plants, and shrubs in 4-inch containers, 5-gallon pots, or whatever our heart desires. We do not have to wait for the seeds to grow unless we choose to sow seeds. I think many times just like in the garden, we want instant gratification in the form of answers to our prayers. (Obviously, if we are in a dangerous situation, we really need an instant answer.) We don't want to wait for a flower to grow and bloom or a prayer to be answered. We want God to act now for many reasons, below are a few: The situatio...

It is that time of year down here, time to cut back summer flowers, fill in areas where the topsoil eroded, plant bulbs - I ordered too many daffodils because they were on sale, plan what winter annuals I want to plant next month, and pull weeds which sprang up after tropical storm Imelda. It is also cool enough to prune shrubs, they have not been pruned since May and need a good trim. Just like the flower beds, our spiritual lives require maintenance. If I look honestly at my spiritual life, I realize my prayer life has been a little sparse over the last 3 weeks. I am not giving the Lord the first fruits of my time, He's been further down the list. I've been avoiding extended prayer time. Most days I pray for friends, family, and the world, but I've not been sitting quietly before Him or praying for myself. I'm avoiding it because grief hit me hard on my mother's birthday at the end of September and there are residual emotions from being a caretaker for 10 years ...

A couple of weeks ago, I took my first vacation in 14 years. One of my sisters-in-law accompanied me. My husband AKA the Man remained at home with the glamorous duty of dogsitting. His concern was would my sister-in-law and I run out of things to discuss. I wanted to drive, my sister-in-law Diane wanted to fly, she was not interested in an epic road trip which meant riding over 1000 miles each way in my Beetle. She assured me it wasn't personal, she was not interested in a road trip with anyone, anywhere, in any vehicle. I rented a 2 bedroom property on the Rio Grande River in South Fork, CO and she took care of the airline reservations and car rental. The night before we left, my husband took me to her house to spend the night because she lives 30 minutes from the airport. Her husband dropped us off on his way to the office the next morning. It was sprinkling, we checked in, our flight was on time. We sit down United Airlines let us know our flight is delayed because it is s...

I am horrified by the pictures of damage in the Bahamas caused by Hurricane Dorian. I've never experienced 100+ mile an hour winds longer than 14 hours. I was 22 and not overly concerned about the house being damaged severely (because I was 22) by a Category 3 hurricane which moved in and was gone in 14 hours. Dorian barely moved for 2 days and was much stronger. Bahamians need tangible and spiritual help. The recovery will be lengthy. Just past the 2 year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey in my area, buildings still being demolished, homeowners still rebuilding. Due to the number of disasters around the world, people move on to the next one they see on the news. Please keep them in your prayers and consider donating to relief/rebuilding efforts these next months. Hurricane Relief

I've been an avid reader since I was a young child. I was one of those children who asked my parents to read to me at bedtime every night. As an adult, my motto is one more paragraph, one more page, one more chapter. Who am I kidding, finish the book and drink more coffee tomorrow morning... As my mother declined, I kept buying books but did not notice I was not reading them due to less free time and increased responsibility. As August heated up this summer, I began reading again. It's been a nice respite from the heat and humidity.  A few pages to go before I finish  Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough and Anne Graham Lotz's Book Jesus in Me. I finished The Veil by Blake K Healy and Killers of the Flower Moon & the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. I will be vacationing in Colorado later this month with my sister-in-law. Flying is our mode of transportation because she does not want to drive 1000 miles in my VW Beetle from the Houston area to southwestern Co...

In Revelation, we discover the beloved disciple John was exiled to Patmos. A tough Roman penal colony. Physical labor in the mines was difficult for men in their prime much less for an elderly man like John. Harsh conditions to say the least. John, the disciple who leaned on Jesus at the last supper, the man who took Mary into his home and cared for her the rest of her life at Jesus' request, the man who wrote one of the Gospels and epistles. When times are hard, do we think about John or more likely why Lord, why? Not so much why me, but WHY??? So many messages preached today leave us with the impression there will never be a storm, we will not become sick, we won't be a victim of a crime because by faith we should be living blessed lives 24/7. If that is true why was John banished to a penal colony by a Roman emperor? If that is true why Hurricane Harvey, why cancer, why violence? Because it is not true. John continued doing what he did before exile, Revelation 1: 10:   ...

Who was Haman? In the Book of Esther, we discover Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. He was a chief minister to  King Ahasuerus  AKA Xerxes, King of the Persian Empire.  Xerxes gave him a seat of honour higher than all the other nobles. Everyone at the king's gate knelt before him, well almost everyone. I have a few thoughts about Haman, in my opinion, his ego was big and his skin was thin which is many times a deadly combination. I don't know if he was always conceited or wormed his way into his elevated position and became conceited. I've always imagined him as an Eddie Haskell type on steroids type mixed with pure evil. Of course, my thoughts are just thoughts not necessarily true.   He was disgusted that Mordecai (Esther's uncle) would not bow to him. He is a favorite of the king, has money, in today's world he would exit a limo and people would be clamoring to take pictures of him. Alas, Mordecai would not honour him....

Have you ever done a favor for someone that drags on and becomes time-consuming, complicated, and downright inconvenient? If the answer is yes, what is the condition of your heart as the simple act requested by a friend or family member turns into something you did not envision? I find myself in that situation as I type. My heart condition began with positivity, sure I can do this for you. Happy to help. Then...I noticed as I invested more time than anticipated, 1st hours then days, resentment started to creep into the picture. Now a thought passes through my mind I should have __________________________. Fill in your own blank. Yesterday I rolled my eyes as I realized I was 2 1/2 weeks into it. So what were my motives when I said yes to the request? Were they pure or did I feel obligated to say yes for future harmony? If the answer is pure, did I think the favor should take an hour or two and then I was done with it? If I answered yes for future harmony was I resentful at the be...

Most of this week, before noon the temperatures have been well over 90 and by noon 100 or more. Not unusual for southeast Texas, but certainly disliked...by me! Shortly before 9:00 a.m. I went outside to water potted plants and hanging baskets.  I was not wearing my glasses or contacts so I could not see well, I will say everything was beautiful in a Monet way. As I watered I thanked the Lord for this day and a few other things. I turned around to say goodbye to my husband as he left for work when a large butterfly appeared and stayed near me, it was large enough I could see it clearly. I thanked the Lord for the butterfly and then a cool breeze blew over me. Unexpected to say the least It made a hot humid morning much more pleasant. I thanked Him for the breeze too. The breeze stopped as I turned off the water and coiled the hose. Just a butterfly and breeze or gifts from God? I think they were gifts from God.

To the best of my knowledge, there is not a Spree left in our house. Hopefully, Wayne will send more next June for my birthday. We've had a 2-day break from the summer heat, a cool front moved through a couple of days ago and lowered the temperature and humidity, 89 for a high at the end of July is as unexpected as it is wonderful. It was so pleasant, I sat in a lawn chair watching butterflies flit around the yard. Except for yard work I generally avoid the outdoors at this time of year unless I am on a mountaintop in Colorado.  I began thinking about what else I've avoided the last couple of weeks. The list includes but is not limited to: Unpleasant People Finishing the job of selling/donating all my parents' belongings.  Gathering clothes at my house to donate. (Pride tells me at least I boxed up miscellaneous kitchen items, but procrastination is procrastination and a pat on the back is the last thing I need.) God - many days I've given Him the leftovers ...

My cousin Wayne and I have had a joke about Spree candy for fifty years. The 1st time we ate Spree we were sitting on his back porch, splitting a roll while his younger brother napped. Wayne popped a red one in his mouth and said this tastes like a rose smells. Red Spree still has a special place in my heart. For my birthday, Wayne donated to my online fundraiser benefiting the Lone Survivor Foundation. So, I was surprised to learn a package from him was on the way, it arrived last night. 5 LBS of Spree, yes you read that correctly, 5 pounds of Spree. My husband and I broke into it before dinner. (We probably need to schedule dental appointments and check into Spree-hab.)  Wayne and I differ wildly in our political views but we love one another. We always respect one another and do not speak rudely or harshly to one another which does not seem to be the norm in today's culture.  No one is perfect, we all fall short, but it hurts my heart to see Christians rudely and crue...