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His Strength

I hold her close. She cries. I feel her tears. She’s been rejected, broken, and neglected. Her life hurts. She has not received unfailing love.

I am overwhelmed, tired, exausted and I feel discouraged. At times I wonder if I even matter; does anyone care? Am I thought about? I feel emotionally drained. Life feels like a mountain that may be unattainable. How will I ever make it through? When thou passest through the the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:2

Oh God! Do you see the tears, the pain, and all the hard? There’s pain in hearts, homes, and my soul. How can I continue on? I’m weak, and this is so hard. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Psalms 9:9

I cry to God. He hears and sees the pain. He gives unconditional love and encouragement in the midst of this turmoil. Is my heart open? I ask to receive strength, and He empowers me to continue on. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7

I open my eyes to receive His gifts. They come to me in such noticeable ways when my heart and eyes are looking and receiving. For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalms 107:9

She’s alone. She has had no one to go to in those times of heart ache. Everyone has let her down. She can’t trust. No one has been faithful to her needs. Then they come. They want her for their child. They want to walk with her through life. They want to call her by the name they have chosen. To hold her hand and guide her as she walks through her loss. But can she trust? Will she open her heart to their love? Will she allow them to guide her and hold her hand?

” God, I give you my pain, daily hurts and grief. I am not able to walk this alone. You are my True Strength, my Redeemer, and Comforter. Thank you for coming to me no matter my state and condition. I want to praise you no matter what you are allowing me to go through. I am giving you my hand; please take and guide me.” The battle is not yours but God’s. 2 Chronicles 20: 15b

– If this is you now, I want to encourage you. You are not alone in your journey. I have felt these feelings, and know what pain and heartache is. Please don’t give up. You can win this with Jesus. Also find someone whom you trust, and talk with them about what is in your heart.

– If you are able, please reach out to the hurting now. They are all around; ask God to open your eyes to their need. Be their gift from God today. We are all broken and need renewed by Him, and refreshed by a friend who truly cares. The power of knowing someone is thinking and praying for you is irreplaceable.

Blogging Credits to Damarus

Spring Salad

Who doesn’t enjoy a good salad? Maybe a lot of people don’t, but we think one with lots of delicious toppings and a beautiful array of color can hardly be beaten! And now is the season when lettuce and spinach are fresh to top it all off! We have a list of some of our favorite ideas to top a bowl of fresh greens. Then drizzle with your favorite dressing.

Here are some things that make a really good salad:

Lettuce

Spinach

Chopped pecans

Bacon bits

Mandarin Oranges

Fresh sliced Strawberries

Slivered Almonds {toasted in butter and sugar, which is optional}

Craisins

Shredded Parmesan or Cheddar cheese

One of our favorite dressings:

1/2 C. oil

1/4 C. sugar

1 T. orange juice

2 T. vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Shake well, and pour over salad just before serving.

Cultivate JOY

The JOY of the Lord is your Strength. Nehemiah 8:10

**Some days just feel unjoyful. Things are not going the way they “should” be and we are overwhelmed by all the hard and wrong of this world. How can we even be happy and enjoy the lovely things?**

I think there is a difference between being happy and having JOY. Happiness comes from having things go as we plan, a fun shopping trip, or being popular. But JOY on the other hand, does not depend totally on our circumstances. We can have it all the time, even when life is handing us a whole pile of troubles, because the source of JOY is God.

Take each day, one by one, and release every burden it holds into God’s gracious care. He is always ready to be strong when we are feeling weak, although it takes a constant effort to turn everything over to him.

**Train your mind to think on the greatness of our God and let yourself marvel at how we have Someone so mighty and powerful on our side!**

**Always remember that God is as close as a breath away, tuned for your petitions and lavish in His desire to give you peace and JOY!**

**The choice is yours. Will you fight to keep yourself filled with JOY?**

Photography credits to Damarus & Daisy

Blogging Credits to Daisy

Watercolor Artwork

The first time I started doing this type of artwork was back when I took a class on it while at the girls’ summer camp, Rubies; I’ve been doing it ever since along with teaching other people how. Extremely beautiful and easy, this is something that I am almost always into doing.

Supplies:

Pencil and eraser

Watercolor paper

Watercolors or watercolor pencil (I use the pencils but they both work great.)

Ultra fine tip black and peach sharpie markers

Begin by drawing a circle on your page, it can be just a rough circle for where you kinda want the wreath to be. Next, work on the flowers, then take a look at the pictures to get an idea of how to make them. Basically you start in the middle with a few squiggly lines and just keep working your way out drawing more and more petals layered on top of one another until you reach the size you want. Draw the leaves for the flowers, I usually draw three leaves for each flower. Now do the greenery, shape all the little leaves like rain drops, putting them directly across from each other or staggering them, whichever you prefer. Add in a bunch of little random stuff to fill in all the gaps and give it a finished look. You could include swirls, little stems with leaves, bunches of berries; this is the part where you can get creative and put in whatever you think would look best.

2. Once you’re happy with how your drawing looks, use an ultra fine tip sharpie to draw over all your pencil lines; doing this gives it a beautiful sharp look.

3. Now get out your watercolors and get ready for the good part! Paint the flowers peach. I have three different types of greenery so I painted the flowers’ leaves bright green, the leaves around the wreath a darker forest type green, and the little leaf sprigs olive green. The other little random things I painted a mulberry purple.

4. The last step is to do the writing in the center. Use an ultra fine tip black sharpie marker and a peach marker that matches the color the flowers were painted. You can come up with styles of writing that you want to do in the middle or you can copy mine off of the picture.

Remember that joy is a choice, not a circumstance.

Art credits to Kinza Weaver

Photography credits to Kinza and Ginger Weaver

Sorrow to Joy

“Verily, verily,I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16: 20-24

These verses are breaking in where Jesus is prophesying to His disciples of His coming death. In verse twenty Jesus is telling His disciples that they will be sorrowful while the world rejoices in His death. Often when we experience hard things in life, things that make us sorrowful, it feels like the world is purposely rejoicing. Joy stands out in the midst of sorrow. We notice joy when there’s sadness.

When Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples’ sorrow was immediately turned into joy. They were so amazed at His power that they completely forgot their intense grief over Jesus’ death. That’s what Jesus wants to do for each one of us. He wants to replace our grief with so much joy that sorrow is totally forgotten. “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” Isaiah 51:11

At one time in my life, I was feeling depressed because I wasn’t having victory in my life. One morning in my devotions, I read John 21. Verse fifteen struck me. “Lovest thou me more than these?” I loved the desires of my flesh more than God’s desires for me. When I realized that and repented of that, I had peace and joy. Jesus replaced my sorrow and depression with amazing joy! But we cannot experience that without allowing Christ to do it in us. Verse twenty-four says, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” God is a God of love. Our sorrow hurts Him, and He wants to heal it. When we ask for healing, we will experience Christ’s renewing joy. Not a little bit of joy either, FULL JOY.

-Blogging and Photography credits to Ginger Weaver