Reminding Myself

I wrote this almost a year and a half ago. Doing some maintenance on my blog, I came across it tonight. It's a good reminder.


"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2:4-7

Thoughts and Thankfulness

Monday night and Tuesday, the busy world of people outside the walls of my house came to a stand still. The cold winds swirled and the snow piled up and everyone stayed home. It was a perfect time to work on my latest quilt.

I love quilting. One of my favorite things is the tangible progress. Every cut, every stitch, every seam pressed I can watch the quilt take shape. Many aspects of the ministry don't offer that reward. Teaching and mentoring have a few "aha!" moments but for the most part the success isn't visual.

Quilting also keeps my hands busy. My mind is always whirring. I am still amazed when I ask someone what he or she is thinking and they answer "nothing." I can't imagine it's even possible to think nothing. 

A busy mind can be a problem sometimes, at least for me. If I'm not careful, I brood. I foolishly replay the tapes of failures and betrayals and my heart can spiral downward into darkness. Quilting occupies my mind and keeps me from going there.

While the blizzard of 2011 and its aftermath whirled, I quilted and my mind mused on my blessings. I live in Iowa, a place where the people have learned to live with nature's fury for hundreds of years. This blizzard has been the first time the schools have closed this year. We've had over two feet of snow fall since winter began, but in Iowa, life only stops for the most extreme storms.

I thought about those pioneers who lived on these prairies during the 19th century. I'm safe in a house with indoor plumbing and a furnace. When it came time to dig out, snowplows cleared my street and a neighbor brought his snowblower over to help clear our driveway. 

I cut my quilt pieces using my knife sharp Fiskars and a rolling cutter.

Seamed on my nice sewing machine.

And pressed with a modern iron.

I didn't have to build a fire, use a chamber pot, sharpen a blade, treadle, or heat irons. I am thankful: Thankful for those who have gone before and braved the trials; Thankful for those who invented the conveniences I enjoy; Thankful to my husband for working to pay for the things I have.

I'm ultimately thankful to my Lord who daily loadeth me with benefits.

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah."

Psalm 68:19

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Enough Said

Mine Ebenezer

"Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12

You would think that after all this time, I would figure it out. I've been in church every Sunday that I wasn't sick since I was 2. I've went to a Christian school. I went to Bible college. I've taught Sunday school in some capacity for almost 30 years. I've read the Bible through too many times to count.

And yet, often I come across a passage of Scripture and have an "aha!" moment. I love the song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" but I never really knew what an Ebenezer was until today when I read this verse and made the connection. An Ebenezer is a reminder of the Lord's help.

I need the Lord's help all the time, but right now I have a few things that I desire to see the Lord do. Today, I need to raise my Ebenezer and remind myself of all the "hitherto" help that the Lord has already given me. It makes it so much easier to trust Him.


Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.


Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.


Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.


O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.


O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

West Texas

On cloud-shrouded nights
darkness suffocates
among the gnarled arms
of mesquite.
Silence disturbed
by wind-rustled seed pods.
Skyborn cold wrestles
earth-warmed radiance.
Imagination abounds,
Folklore is birthed,
Goatmen roam pastures,
Wolves nurture lost infants.
Dawn unveils the fiction.

Very Productive Morning!

Beau woke up in a bad mood and was very uncooperative: Morning Prayers - check

I forgot stuff from downstairs three times and had to make extra trips: Morning Exercise - check

Got halfway to daycare & had to turn around to get tuition envelope: Take time to enjoy scenery - check

Fell in the snow: laughed like a kid again - check

Turned on work computer only to find network down - Innovation - check

I wonder what the rest if this day holds?