Praying for Josiah...URGENT!

The precious child of my former youth pastor's son (4 y.o.)is diagnosed with a grade four gliobastoma, which is the worst form of brain cancer.

Today, Saturday April 25th 2:00PM EVERYONE is asked to lift this child before the Lord for healing~a miracle is needed here!

Praying for a MIRACLE!
Lady Graceful
Jer. 33:3

Just Have to Praise Him!

This might seem very trivial to some. I have some difficulty sharing this really. Sometimes our blessings are found in some stuff that in reality shouldn't matter much~but it does...

Well...it does...no matter how hard I try to tell myself it doesn't matter!

I want to praise God for the new counter top my husband installed in our home today! It's not granite, corian or marble or even tile...it's just plain ole laminate! But it's such a blessing to have it!

Over the past several months, supplies and items have been collected, a faucet, a hose, a tube of caulk, this and that...until today and after about four more trips to the hardware IT WAS FINISHED!!

As these things found their way IN MY WAY into my life, WHEN became the question I did not ask...nagging never helps ;-)

But little by little, item by item, as the supplies were gathered and the builder became prepared for the job...beauty emerged from the ashes!

YOU DON'T KNOW nor can you imagine just HOW ugly my kitchen was!!
But it's just like our Heavenly Father to work quietly in much the same way gathering and preparing for a day when beauty will emerge~how long O Lord will you wait? We long for You God to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves!

Yes! It's just a simple countertop...but to it's owner it's a thing so grand...
We are just humanity, but to our Owner/Designer, we are grand as well...
I was thinking up an acronym for G.O.D.
G Gracious
O Omnipotent
D Designer

That's HIM~I praise Him for my countertop and what He is doing with ME...hey...wonder what He's gathering in my life for the finished effect?

In Him with Praise!
Lady Graceful
Phil 1:6

When ALL Seems Lost...

I had a very unusual experience yesterday. I went to my doctor...actually to the nurse for some medical advice concerning healthy eating and ended up in the Emergency room...hooked to O2, IV inserted, 12-lead EKG...Let me explain...

I have an irregular heart rhythm...I take meds to control and care for me heart. I have no heart disease; they tell me...OK...So ALL seemed lost yesterday...in the blink of a moment HOW did I end up in the ER?

About three mos ago I hurt my left shoulder. It STILL hurts, and now since it hurts ALOT when I move it I mentioned it to the nurse...who took me into the doctor...who b/c of my potential risk and history sent me to the ER...

I really got upset. So upset that I cried and cried...it's not a fear of dying...it was that yesterday was the seventh anniversary of my brother's death, my only sibling...so I DID NOT want to put my parents and family through this on THAT day...dying isn't a choice I suppose...or even ER visits when your doctor is worried...OK...
So let me say that after the evaluation...the 5ALARM Fire Drill~Thank the Lord...It is 'just' my shoulder...as I suspected...and now my doctor is relieved..I will get an appointment to see an orthopod...but hey...as I lay there...O2 up my nose...

I was scared. I was anxious...THEY were giving me heart palpitations and a fast rate..the more the nurse and doctor came in...WHEW!...

I am praising GOD for His control when I cannot be...my experience reminds me of the TV show when the man who had faked illness was in the ER to get his heart shocked by the zealous ER team... but what if...AGAIN it's in His control...

Yeah..I'm glad it was my shoulder and not my heart...broken hearts are hard to fix~shoulders while painful...I can get by...

God is in control WHEN I am not! All might have seemed lost, but He was there with me...I can praise Him even when I am not in control...because HE ALWAYS IS!

In trust and faith
Lady Graceful
Phil 1:6

Hope in God~

When circumstances are not the best, it is God who I can lean upon most.

Psalm 42

1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

3My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

4When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

9I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

11Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Truly God is Someone I can count upon. You can too...He is ever faithful and trustable with all of our needs.

Trusting so that I have HOPE in GOD...
Lady Graceful
Phil 1:6

He Knows My Name!

I picked up a sticky note that holds our daughter's name from a lovely gift she received yesterday. As I noticed her name and thought of the generosity of the giver, it occurred to me that our Heavenly Father knows my name and has it fixed firmly upon the generous gift He has for me!

As a believer in Jesus Christ and trusting in His shed blood upon the cross of Calvary, I can rejoice in the peace as joy that HE HAS MY NAME written in the Lamb's Book of Life~a book to record those who trust in the Savior...how awesome it is to know that of all of creation, God is fully able and totally committed to each and every person throughout times past, present and the future to keep His saved secure until the day of Christ's return. At His return He will come to earth again as reigning King. Whew! What a Savior~What a God~and He KNOWS my name!

Me.

Thank you, Lord!

In Assurance,
Lady Graceful
Phil 1:6

Resurrection Morning!

Happy Easter Everyone! He LIVES! We don't worship a dead and buried Savior, but One who is alive forever more with God the Heavenly Father!

In just a few short hours in our time zone the sun will rise just as it did that first resurrection morning when the women went to anoint the body of our Lord who had been placed in the tomb with the huge rock to seal it. Imagine their grief and that of the disciples in despair believing that their Master and friend was gone forever, killed on the cross, the cruelest form of execution of the day. I have wondered if they worried if they were going to be next because not only had Peter denied the Lord when questioned, but they were hiding out as it seemed in a room away from all the activity and bustle of the day. Fear must have consumed them along with their grief,perhaps guilt too. What could they have done to have stopped the events that unfolded before their eyes? These are very real human emotions that seem possible for ones in this circumstance of losing their leader.

But it was the women whose task it was to anoint the body of the Lord in death who were first to approach the tomb, surprised and almost in shock. I do suppose that I would have been rubbing my own eyes in disbelief as I saw the angel and heard his word, "He is not here; for He has risen from the dead." Running, these women as I imagine them were exited to tell the others...they knew where to find them...had they been there before going to the tomb waiting and praying? Upon reaching the disciples it was Peter and John who run back to the tomb to SEE for themselves. I think it's interesting that the first thoughts seem to be that someone had stolen the body...where was their faith? Had they not listened to their Lord?

Easter brings so much for us as we can consider all the emotions of the disciples that ultimately end in joy and knowledge that Jesus Christ arose out of that grave to walk among the people again. His victory over death is a major distinctive of Christian belief for if He remains dead, then He is like all other worshiped or revered.

Often we are bombarded by cares that we can't control or that seem to come out of nowhere. It is in these times that if we trust God we can see that His plan is one that while it may take us through the darkness, we can rest assured that dawn is on its way~JOY COMES IN THE MORNING! Weeping only lasts for the night...

Joy and peace in knowing that God has a plan that in our humanness seems harsh, not doable, incomprehensible...but if it's His plan then He will carry us through it...Carry us, step by step, inch by inch into safety and His presence.

Oh those disciples were upset and afraid hiding up in that upper room to find that the God of the Universe had it under control all along. I need to remember that in circumstances that are difficult and build my faith.

It's not long and the sun will be peaking up...Happy Easter!
IN Power and Peace~both are the Lord's
Lady Graceful
Phil 1:6

Pray for Josiah...

Please leave a message and I will forward to the family.

In His Grace,
Lady Graceful
Phil. 1:6