Healing Time City

"Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security."   --- Jeremiah 33:6

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So what do you do during your healing times? 

These past two weeks were Healing Time City around here for me. You know, after that scary incident in our yard.

And what I love is--with Jesus sitting beside me--it's all good. Oh, the feeling of concern and love and warmth He pours into my heart during Healing Time.

What kinds of things does He lead me to do within this waiting room type of time? Just simple things:

Extra quiet time staring out windows (how incredible when I behold Autumn out there).

Listening to the Holy Spirit's whispers of comfort.

Gratitude counting.

Playing dreamy music.

Dreaming of the good ahead.

Remembering the good of my earlier years.

Basking in favorite rituals, like, watching Sunday afternoon football with Tom and Naomi, each in our week-after-week spot.

And also:

Fixing things. Using my hands to make forward-feeling accomplishments.

Reading comfort books. Searching for new ones, as well.

Viewing happy, contented people on Youtube.

Watching favorite old movies or tv shows.

And ok. For the first time in years, I did order, from Aldi, a box of chocolate Pop Tarts. シ

Oh, what a joy to follow God! Even while He binds up our wounded heart we can feel His warm, restoring love making all things new, even better--

--so that we can then offer to others the healing we, ourselves, have known by divine experience.

There does arrive a time of healing, times to stay alone with God within our closed-off walls of comfort. But is that meant to become our lifestyle? Uh, no. But rather this is--

 "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."   --- Luke 11:33, Matthew 5:16

Far and wide, spread the light God has placed within you!

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Wow, just when I thought I'd discovered all the best autumn-loving ladies (tsk, tsk to abandon hope) at Youtube, I found her. So peaceful, like coming away from hours at a spa.

And oh my! After watching this video together, Tom and I had to yank ourselves back to 2022. Vintage train cars as you've never seen them before.

... and Ariel completed another home project!

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Cute Idea, right?--

Taking time off for healing is vital. I've watched too many folks pile hurt upon hurt upon hurt and oh dear. Their heads and hearts become clouded, heavy, sometimes swirling down, splat!, in a hard-to-come-back-from spiral.

Your healing times don't resemble others'? That's ok. What matters most is that you come away knowing this happened to your heart--

"Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved..."   --- Jeremiah 17:14

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

When Things Go Wrong

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."   --- Isaiah 41:10

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Oh dear. One week ago something happened.

Here's how I explained it at Facebook:

"Tom, Naomi and I would welcome any prayers after an incident happened outside Monday night, the first of any kind in our 11 years at Hobbit Cottage. It'll mean some changes, like, after 2 years of van life, Naomi will move back inside our house. We're all fine! But this incident did shake us a bit so really, thank-you for your prayers as we make a few changes around here."

I've chosen to remain vague about this. There's our privacy and also, not wanting you to freak-out or Blogger to pick up on certain key words. But please know none of us was physically harmed.

Yet we were frightened, especially Naomi, and oh Honey, the temptations to seethe and be angry about that, to resent the person who made my courageous little girl start discussing dead bolts, security cameras and perhaps never playing drums on stage again.

But anger worsens things, God reminds me. Ruins the life we created, how we daily feel, and opens doors to dark rooms within where it becomes difficult to, later, find the door to escape.

So what I did, instead? After getting Naomi's ok (and hugging her, telling her she'll get through this as she has all else so far), I built a tiny apartment for her in our basement. Lined-up these three antique cupboards (old photo), below:

.... side by side to form a third wall in a corner, then rigged another partial wall with tall shelves.

(Remember how I wanted projects around here? Well, I certainly got one.)

I emptied and wiped down the cupboards. Bought a rug, mattresses. Then Tom bought black interlocking rubber floor mats and on Saturday Naomi created a gym along the back of the 'apartment'. We viewed it yesterday, told her it was perfect.

This is a temporary fix. To make it more permanent (and legal) we'll need to change one of the windows for the sake of egress, which is doable.

For exactly 2 years Naomi chose a different lifestyle, one inside her van and learned much about living off-grid. Solar options, battery packs, living simply and using carpentry skills. She had adventures, ones most of us will never experience.

That season has ended. But you know? Whenever one chapter ends, there's a page to turn for the next and we're wise to remember--during the healing time--new adventures await farther up the road.

And we thank you for your prayers in the meantime.

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."   --- 2 Timothy 1:7

"Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil."   --- Psalm 37:8

Difficult times reveal to us how seriously we took all our previous Life lessons. Also, how would it look if I stayed fearful, unforgiving, and told you, "I am spittin' mad!," when I so often teach against those things here? Hmm?  ヅ

And hey! This was another example of the benefits of listening to God and following His timing. The basement was repaired and repainted right before Naomi needed to use it. It's like a whole nearly-new space down there. God is good!

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Something I found comforting this past 'week of tests' was rewatching the old Sherlock Holmes films from the 1940's. Perfect for autumn, really.

Also, my first Dana Girls mystery books arrived (somehow I'd never read these before) and they've been sweetly comforting as well. (Some can be found at Open Library, but sometimes a gal just has to grasp old books within her hands.) Those adorable vintage covers, right?

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Oh, and I so appreciated all comments and concerns from my friends at Facebook. Thank-you!

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

October This and That

"Change keeps life fresh and adventurous. Embrace change with faith and trust that God will see you through." -Joyce Meyer

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1.) Don't you  just love Autumn? This is the vine beside our house, it went all meh last year, but is beautiful this one. Never give up on things changing!

2.) Speaking of that, for too long I believed my decorating days were finished, that just one more change here would tilt! tilt! the whole thing over into Cluttersville. But whew. I was wrong.

My Randy Lynn Reed calendar arrived, I framed two of her paintings and now color me all inspired to decorate in a year-around autumnal style. Yes, it's a challenge, but you know? I'd forgotten the joy of conquering difficulties.

But now I remember--and am on a new exciting-to-me journey.

3.) Need something lovely to listen to this Autumn? Here's the soundtrack from the first Narnia movie. Inspiring stuff there.

4.) Okay. I'm only sharing this to give you much hope in God's creativity in meeting peoples' needs.

When Tom told me in June the cost of having our basement waterproofed, I nearly fainted. I was, like, oh sure! Let's just go out to the crab apple tree and start pulling down one-thousand dollar bills!

But it needed to be done. Our 90-year-old basement walls were crumbly, moldy and leaking. 

Well, Tom's savings account had 1/3 of the amount, so we set up an appointment for 3 months later and hoped for the best.

Here's the miracle: sometime during those 3 waiting months, I checked our latest bank statement and oh! My mouth dropped open. It's as though someone had deposited 7 extra paychecks!

Now, I confess I do not check our monthly statements, well, monthly. I mostly just rely upon my own math and record keeping. If there's enough in there to pay the bills, well, I'm thrilled.  ッ

 So I sat down for around an hour with all our statements since last January and found only one paycheck I'd not counted. Only one! 

Anyway, all I can think of is that God made a secret deposit of His own. Over and over we've watched Him make a way where there was none and today may I encourage you to stay open to weird, unexpected miracles (of all sorts) in your own life.

The basement after (which shows a bit of how dreadful it must have looked before! Ha! No, actually it's much brighter and newer-feeling than this photo illustrates.)

5.)  Now, I'm not a huge reader of picture books, but The Stranger was autumnally enchanting. Wow. You can read/see it here. By the author of The Polar Express.

6.) So for some added encouragement regarding Today's grocery prices, I made a list of foods from our local Aldi which sell for $1.09 or less. Of course, not everyone has access to Aldi, but most areas have a discount supermarket with similar prices.

Anyway, we don't use all these, but it's remarkable the cheap meals I'm still able to make for Tom and myself in wildly-expensive 2022:

Bananas, fresh green onions, cucumbers

Various canned vegetables, including potatoes

3-pack of yeast

Various canned beans (pinto, refried, etc.)

Frozen peas, frozen green beans, frozen corn, mixed vegetables, etc.

Canned tomatoes

Baking soda

Canned mushrooms

Small tubs of yogurt

Boxed jello, boxed pudding

Canned tuna, canned soup

Canned tomato paste, canned tomato sauce

Canned peaches, canned pears, fruit cocktail

Cake mixes, brownie mix

Bottled spices

Boxed soup or dip mix

Canned green chilies

Boxed stuffing mix

Whipped topping (tub)

Boxed tri color (and regular) rotini

Worcesteshire sauce

Packaged chili seasoning, brown gravy mix, ranch dressing mix and Italian

Boxed rice pilaf mix

Boxed mashed potatoes, au gratin, scalloped, also

Packaged seasoned croutons

Canned sloppy joe sauce, canned Vienna sausage

Small bottle white vinegar

Boxed spaghetti pasta, 15 oz. canned pasta

Various bottled mustards

Frozen chicken pot pie

Boxed shells and white cheddar pasta entree, packaged ramen

Boxed macaroni and cheese

White bread loaf, hot dog buns, hamburger buns

7.) It's been awhile since I mentioned The Cottage Fairy at Youtube. She's another who revels in Autumn and I especially enjoyed her peaceful latest video. Soo relaxing.

And this woman has a lovely idea--taking a vacation everyday! (I can really get into something like that.)  シ

Oh! And have you ever watched this woman while she cleans houses for free?? What a thoughtful thing to do, especially considering what she often faces. Oh dear.

8.)  And here's something to remember. Many folks are saying what they believe looms ahead for our Country. Many. People. But the most important thing is what is God saying?

It helps keep us calm to never forget this:

9.)  And finally, for each of you, my friends, who so faithfully read here year after year, these--  (You are much appreciated.)

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15