Wednesday, June 18, 2014

A Grateful Wednesday

                                                           Don't you love June roses?

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"Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me."   ... Psalm 119:133

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Hooray! Tom will not leave for South Africa today. His boss told him (and his traveling partner) that the funds for their plane tickets had been approved, but alas, they hadn't. So, although his departure day is up in the air (tho' probably Monday), that's ok, for we both needed extra time to get used to the idea of his leaving so soon.

I do enjoy a good reprieve! 

Life is filled with these tests, things which happen so that we'll see that, uh-oh! We're not quite the sweet, patient darlings our deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) had us believe. And what grade did we get on this 'quick!-your-plans-have-changed' test? Hmm... Probably B-'s. And you know what that means, right? Someday we'll be tested again, because these tests keep coming until we pass them with A's.

Twenty (and more) years ago I used to always question "Why do these annoying things keep happening?," but how calming to know what's really going on.  :)





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This is part of what I see from my front patio chair:



As with all my photos, the real thing is much prettier.

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On Saturday, Tom and I finally made it over to the new Veterans' Memorial in the town of Niagara Falls:


Not being the emotional, crying type of lady, I thought I'd be fine, but oh dear! At one point, an incredible sadness welled up from within me and I nearly burst into tears, for it's as though I could feel all the grief from the moms and dads, especially, who lost their sons (and daughters) in these wars going back to even the 1800's. I ducked my head, pulled myself together, then resumed my quiet looking at all those many names of local soldiers... and felt grateful for my freedom.



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"The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?"   ... Jeremiah 17:9


"And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not."   ... Deuteronomy 8:2



The SavingStar healthy offer of the week is 20 percent off of loose, unwrapped cucumbers.

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Free Kindle books as of today, June 18th:


Some Things Never Change (Book Two) Ack! Like Book Three, this quickly went back to $2.99 on the same day it  was offered for free.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't despair...all us humans are less than 100%. Tests are hard. Still fail some from time to time too. But then, tests are part of this existence I think. Glad he is home awhile yet however. Sounds like some communication problems in the company (like most these days)...well, now maybe you can have some time to rest and do some fun things before he has to leave.
Elizabeth in WA

Pam said...

Life IS full of tests. Don't know what i was thinking, but when I was a young woman, I believed by the time I hit my 60s, I would have figured it all out. Now I know that the one thing you can be absolutely sure of is change. With that change will come mountain-top days, as well as the "valley of the shadow of death" days. Every day is good, tho, if we allow God to lead us thru it. Debra, hope you and Tom enjoy this bonus time before his trip!