Tag: faith

Posted in compassion, Emotional, eyes, faith, God, heart, heaven, hope, Mental, mercy, Physical, prayer, scripture, Spiritual, temporal

A Heart Knowing

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

Do you ever talk until your blue in the face, like talking to a wall or deaf ears? Maybe the trouble is that the person you are trying to reach has a stoppage somewhere. Either the head doesn’t know, or it is that the heart doesn’t know, or both.

Uh, prayer! Prayer for me for more patience. And prayer for him to open up his doors to God’s heart of compassion and mercy. Look beyond what can be seen with the physical eyes. Big eyes of faith, I call to our Father for this because I lack right now.

To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. ~ Hebrews 11:1 GNT

And for him, that he realize what is more important. The physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being of our loved ones or stuff, stuff that is temporal. Give each of us a heart knowing and then, living out God’s heart in these matters. Two hearts melting together for a heavenly purpose.

 For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18 GNT

Posted in faith, Family, flower, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, life, love, Martha, Mary, prayer, season, Spiritual, thankful, works

A Season For Martha And For Mary

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

I am coming out of a very busy few weeks with St. Jude fundraiser and Asheville outreach projects. I finally am able to sit down and breathe deep breathes even though Thanksgiving brunch preparations started. Cooking for nine or ten family members seems easy compared to cooking for the hundred or double that many meal-on-wheels and seniors on any given day last week. I have a four-day weekend ahead of me. Nice.

As Christians, we cannot have Martha without Mary, and vice versa, Mary without Martha. This is the pull for each of us. “Faith without works is dead.” Then there is the contrasting scripture. “She has chosen the better,” Jesus tells Martha after her complaint about Mary sitting at our Savior’s feet. I sit in the quiet before sunrise, before steps are heard from any other eleven family members (including the furry creatures) in the cottage and meditate. So much to be thankful for. God, You give me life. You give me Jesus. You give me the Holy Spirit. You give me love.

My Novena Rose Prayer
O Little Therese of the Child Jesus,
please pick for me a rose
from the heavenly gardens and
send it to me as a message of love.
O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God to grant the favors
I now place with confidence in your hands…
St. Therese, help me to always believe, as you did,
In God’s great love for me,
so that I might imitate your “Little Way” each day.
Amen.

Posted in bible, comfort, faith, God, provision, scripture, Spiritual, trust, victory

Where Is My Trust?

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

Trust is a big word, because it induces big faith with big action. While I read the Word of God, Psalms says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God.” Chariots and horses are not what most of us deal with in our everyday lives. But what or who do you put trust in for protection, comfort, and provision as you battle everyday life? Our talents, intellect, job, bank account, personality, heritage, health, and people we associate with can all change at any moment’s notice. Another version of this Bible verse says it like this: “Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses, but we take pride in the name of the Lord our God.” What or who do you take pride in?

“Some people trust the power of chariots or horses, but we trust you, Lord God.”
~ Psalm 20:7 CEV

Here is a Pray The Word podcast where pastor and author David Platt goes into depth about this scripture. Platt summarizes this Bible verse, “our God is the only one who is worthy of all of our trust, all of our hopes, all of our plans, all of our dreams can be trusted with God. All of our lives, our family, our work, everything we have, everything we are, we can trust God with them.” Trust in our God, who is worthy of trust.

“A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the Lord.”
~ Proverbs 21:31

Posted in authority, believe, faith, God, love, nostalgia, quote, Spiritual

Nostalgia

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

This week bring some nostalgia to your Valentine’s Day. A little goes a long way. Wear red or pink. Type a love letter. Gift a bouquet of flowers. Bake some cookies to share. Give an old-fashioned Valentine card. No sweetheart to spoil? How about the friends in your life, or someone who needs a friend? Bring lunch to your elderly neighbor. Your sweetheart has not been so sweet lately? Be the example. And pray for him or her. Quoting A.W. Tozer, “While it looks like things are out of control, behind the scenes there is a God who has not surrendered His authority.” With faith, love and believe.

"Most of all, have a true love for each other. Love covers many sins." 
~ 1 Peter 4:8 NLV
Posted in art, atelier, battle, blessings, challenges, Christian, corner, creative, eyes, faith, garden, gardener, gift, give, God, heart, Holy Spirit, husband, mind, passion, path, prayer, road, share, time, walk, words, works, writer

Round The Corner

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

“Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Hard work can be disguised in a hobby. Passion and interest can occupy one’s attention, energy, and time. One starts on a project of great detail. Maybe a cup or two of coffee or tea to keep the momentum going. Then 5, 6, or 8 hours later you are scrambling for a bite to eat and cannot believe what time it is. This is how it has been with baking, gardening, birdwatching, crafting, reading, and writing for me. New brain pathways travelled, mysteries are discovered, prayers said, challenges are overcome, and beauty is found in whatever has been created.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas Edison

Still round the corner awaits another adventure. One that God has placed in my life, your life. A path waiting to be uncovered and walked on. There are bends and forks in the road, and the Holy Spirit is our guide and protector. With eyes of faith an atelier at the cottage here or elsewhere is in the making. A place designated to work on these projects the heart has passion for. A place of our own to create and bless others with God’s gifts. What is around your corner?

Posted in come, earth, eyes, faith, God, grace, heaven, help, hope, Jesus, mercy, mountains, sacred, scripture, seed

Rough Crags and Towering Mountains

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

The words were plenty to describe how I felt as a passenger in our sedan driving in the canyons with the rough crags and towering mountains surrounding. I felt swallowed up, minuet, minuscule, insignificant, a speck, as dust in the wind and then vaporized. It was a perspective I had not thought about in years as it had been at least 3 years since I was in the Rocky Mountains. I was overwhelmingly humbled by the sacred terrain at various times while vacationing in Colorado, brought to tears.

Such a vast and broad point of view if I were one of those mountains. It must be a fraction of how God views each of us. Yet He has personalized His love for each of us with His Son, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Oh, the love, grace, and mercy of our God! And how He views my faith the size of a mustard seed, and still helps!

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills– From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.“

Psalms 121: 1- 2
Posted in come, comfort, earth, Emotional, faith, forgiveness, grace, heart, heaven, home, invitation, sorrow, Spiritual

An Invitation

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

Come As You Are is a beautiful invitational hymn by David Crowder…

Come out of sadness
From wherever you’ve been
Come broken-hearted
Let the rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh, sinner, come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t cure

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

Lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
And fall in His arms
Come as you are

There’s joy for the morning
Oh, sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh, wanderer come home
You’re not too far

So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

Come as you are
Come as you are
Come as you are

Posted in answer, anxious, believe, children, choice, day, empty, failure, faith, Family, give, God, grace, heart, house, life, love, mother, People, prayer, quote, rain, resources, rest, saints, scripture, Spiritual, understand, water, worry

Take, Lord, Receive

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

It has been a summer touched by St. Francis, St. Joseph, and St. Ignatius. Their lives still live in God’s people today including in me. A stray puppy became a part of my husband and I’s life one week in August before finding the perfect family to adopt him. After several weeks of packing, donating, moving, repairing, scrubbing, and just plain hard work, we finally put my mother’s villa on the market with the St. Joseph statue buried in the yard. Several willing buyers offered contracts more than what we asked for within 24 hours of being on the market. The closing is in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Dean and I have some major household upgrades. We replaced a furnace well over 20 years old, a roof maybe as old, and gutters failing their job even when removing leaves and debris on several occasions this spring and summer. We have had plenty of rain even over the summer. One wall was showing some leakage during a storm prior to the roof and gutters being replaced, so some plaster work will be next. St. Joseph intercedes while God oversees the details.

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.” ~ St. Ignatius of Loyola

I awoke one day singing from my heart the spiritual song, Take, Lord, Receive. I sang all day long, beginning with my shower and while I worked around the house that day. This song is based on the quote above from St. Ignatius, co-founder of the Jesuit teachings and Spiritual Exercises. I knew I was singing this for someone else besides me. A phone call from one of the kids revealed who. But the words welled up in my heart for myself, too. A yielding I need right now. A yielding of my own heart matters. Worry about things I cannot control, anxiety about the future of those I love, and my lack of understanding for some of God’s people placed in my life. Take, Lord, receive. My liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. All I have and call my own … To You, Lord, I return it. Everything is Yours. Do with it what You will. Please Lord, give me only Your love and Your grace, that is enough for me. Amen.”

Posted in change, day, faith, Family, God, grandchild, health, life, prayer, quote, rest, trust, write, writer

Soar Above And Through

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

This summer brought change, several of them. I retired from my full-time job right into culinary day camps to teach, a week of writing camp for myself, multiple family gatherings, grandkids and grand dogs staying over, moving furniture and home goods, and prepping my mother’s villa for the real estate market. Life isn’t rosy even in retirement. I have had some adjustments to my new job demands. My per diem job requires a devotion and creativity to lesson plans, and with timeliness. Making more time for writing is still a challenge. That week away in June to write and recipe development was so nice. Hard to capture those moments in my home, but discipling myself to keep to pen and paper most days. The house still needs repairs, loved ones’ bodies and souls need healing, and more of Jesus in our lives. Good news, my PVCs have subsided. The meds and part-time rather than full-time employment have been key as well as prayers.

Where is life going? It is a question I ask often. I am a planner, but I must rest in God’s plans, not my own. Faith. Trust. In God, not myself or others. While I have launched into this new season, I spent part of July in quiet, just not doing anything some days. In these contemplative hours, I considered where I have been, and then where life is going for my loved ones and I. I cannot dwell here very long as I begin to think things too much, try to figure out God. I simply need to pray, trust that He is caring for me and my loved ones in every minute of our days. “What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul,” Corrie Ten Boom has said. Soul, fly and sail through this busy month of August, soar above and through all the unknown and unanswered details with God’s guidance. Father God be with me.

Posted in care, faith, fear, God, Holy Spirit, hope, Jesus, love, peace, scripture, strength, sufficient, trust

I Need You

Posted on by deannagreensandgardenart

I need You, my God, my Father, my Jesus, my Guiding Spirit. Hear my heart, oh God! Without You, I drift into downward spiral thoughts. Then anxiety and fear sets in. I lack trust, faith, hope, and love when I live outside of You. Philippians 4:13 tells me “I can do all things which He has called me to do through Him who strengthens and empowers me to fulfill His purpose – I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.” ~Amplified Bible. The key is “self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency”. And Jesus Christ is sufficient. He fulfilled all that our Father required. He gave all. Jesus gave His life for you and me. “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” ~ 1 Peter 5:7. Outside of Jesus, you and I have nothing. Period. I turn to Jesus. Turn to Jesus.