Fill My Family With Christ

Christmas time is a good time for me to share Christ with others. It's a time I can be an example in my home with my decorations, most of all with my actions. Dear Heavenly Father, fill my family with Christ, use me for your teachings. May my family hear your inward call for them to come to You, everyday by using me.

Our family shares Christmas hospitality, we rotate between homes for our family gatherings during Christmas time. This year it is at my home, I have asked for it to be on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. I have invited my Dad and my Mom, and my sisters and brothers and all their children, to come to our home church this Christmas Eve. After church I will have soup in my crock pot and hot warm bread for them when they come over. We will eat dinner and Christmas desserts, and play games, while we enjoy each other.

Eagerly I want them all to come to my home church, "Grace Church", I know my sinful nature will be sad and resentful if they do not attend. This morning I am preparing myself to pray for wisdom, and for Jesus to keep teaching me in my heart, and for the Holy Spirit to give me power to be the example God wants me to be, to fill my family with Christ. I am praying for myself to keep calm, and happy. I must remember if it is God's will they will come to church.

I see things different than some of my family, I'm not better than they are, I just see going to church with Grandma and Grandpa, could be the last time, or all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins, could be a joyful time to praise and worship God. My heart's desire wants this to happen to make it a special and unique Christmas Eve. I tried to explain that to one sister, but she kept saying do not get your hopes up.

Which made me think of our family verse of this year "2009" is Romans 5:5 "Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."

I found a website that said I can make my own Christmas cards for free and only pay shipping of $3.50, since I'm trying to be frugal with our money, I thought this would be a great thing. I put Romans 5:5 on our Christmas cards, this wonderful verse that shows the Holy Spirit is living in our hearts, and God will never disappoint us.

Whoever believes will be saved, may I never neglect the larger scope for God's plan.
May I lavishly serve, show, and share others the gospel this Christmas Eve. Fill my family with Christ.

Bloom for the KING!
QB

Look above the Trees

I'm looking above the Trees to see God's Glory.

Have a blessed day.
Bloom for our KING!
QB

Taking a Blog Break

I am going to take a break from my blog. I'm trying to de-clutter, spring clean, most of all, make my life simpler with less. "Less is More" Right? In doing all these things, I need to take a break from my blog.

I thought I was going to transition into the corporate world like my DH, but our precious Father in heaven has other plans for me, He seems to be keeping me at home, exactly where I want to be!

Being a housewife is a very important position, of all. I have many hats. Speaking of many hats, I must be going...........smile

Bloom For the KING!
QB

Home

My husband has a new job! He will go again into the corporate world. He would rather have his own environmental busines but God had different plans for our lives. A door was closed a new one has opened, which seems even better for us. During this poor economical time, God opened a wonderful door for my DH!

God has opened a great door for my husband, and has taught me to be a more frugal wife with the gifts he has given us. I need to be home for my family, and for God's purpose to nurture and keep our home a place of peace. A place to take care of for our family of five.

I found this poem on a friend's blog. The alliteration in the first line gives the metaphor and is repeated throuhgout the poem. Having almost to go out and get a job in the outside world scared me, this poem touched my heart with a thankful heart. This poem says what the anxieties were in my mind.

If you prayed for our situation, Thank YOU>>>God has given us peace upon our shoulders.

HOME
by William Alexander Percy

I have a need of silence and of stars;
Too much is said too loudly; I am dazed.
The silken sound of whirled infinity
Is lost in voices shouting to be heard.
I once knew men as earnest and less shrill.
An undermeaning that I caught I miss
Among these ears that hear all sounds save silence,
These eyes that see so much but not the sky,
These minds that gain all knowledge but no calm.
If suddenly the desperate music ceased,
Could they return to life? or would they stand
In dancers’ attitudes, puzzled, polite,
And striking vaguely hand on tired hand
For an encore, to fill the ghastly pause?
I do not know. Some rhythm there may be
I cannot hear. But I oh, I must go
Back where the breakers of deep sunlight roll
Across flat fields that love and touch the sky;
Back to the more of earth, the less of man,
Where there is still a plain simplicity,
And friendship, poor in everything but love,
And faith, unwise, unquestioned, but a star,
Soon now the peace of summer will be there
With cloudy fire of myrtles in full bloom;
And, when the marvelous wide evenings come,
Across the molten river one can see
The misty willow-green of Arcady.
And then the summer stars … I will go home.

Thank Him for the Thorns

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks when she pulled open the florist shop door, against an April gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Easter week and the time she should have delivered their infant son.

She grieved over their loss. Troubles had multiplied. Her husband's company "threatened" to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend suggested that Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer.

"She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder. "Easter, Thanksgiving, Holidays? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child's?"

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk.

"I.... I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.

"For Easter? Do you want the beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the "Easter Special"? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Easter?"

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer, "Hi, Barbara...let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped, there were no flowers. "Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk.

Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.

"Yes, please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again." She said, as she gently tapped her chest.

Sandra stammered, "Ah, that lady just left with, uh.... she left with no flowers!"

"That's right", said the clerk. "I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Easter Thorns Bouquet."

"Oh, come on! You can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!" exclaimed Sandra.

"Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do, today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery." "That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel."

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra.

"I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and I NEVER questioned Him why those GOOD things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, "WHY? WHY Me?!" (emphasis mine) It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."

Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is, I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!"the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man.

"My wife sent me in to get our usual Easter arrangement...twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?"

"No... I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem. The Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny, here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem"and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too... fresh."

"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "My experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.

"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read: My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow looks much more brilliant."

Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns....

Different Seasons

Reading Psalms for they comfort me, while giving me peace about new upcoming changes in our household. My husband has had a decline in his business, and it looks like I have to get a job. I do not want to get a job, but I have to. To be a helpmeet for my husband, and to do what my husband feels will help him.

I struggled with this for a long time. Because I feel the greatest career for a woman is staying at home. Keeping her home and family comfortable. A place for peace and relaxation.

A different season is coming my way after being a housewife for over twenty years.

I need prayer to help my anxiety go away. To trust God, He took care of me in the past He can take care of me in my new future.

I have made all kinds of frugal decisions, our gardener is gone but we have no lawn mower, our plumber is needed for we have no hot water at our kitchen sink. My brakes on my car need to be replaced. The best decision has been to cancel cable, we have been reading more. All these changes but, I still need to work outside the home.

I do wish I had a home business,never started one.

I will still work for my KING, wherever that may be.
QB

Love Today

LOVE YOUR HUSBAND. Love your Children!
You have no idea just how long or how short a time you will
have with him or them. So far as it depends on you... walk in love.
Be pleasant. Be faithful. Today is ALL you've got.

Just Love, that's my focus today, is to love..............

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bloom for your KING!
QB