Good morning! Good evening! Good all around world at whatever time it may be.
It is a day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Much to be glad about today with the lovely blooming tree in the header (maybe apple) and the blue sky harmony.
And what an Anniversary made in heaven and celebrated by loved ones here on earth and in ways we do not know there in Heaven.
We have a good, good Father who gives good, good gifts.
It is green and lush right now. It has been a long winter and all that green and all the beautiful flowers on apple, berry and lilacs are a feast for the eyes. The white is also a crabapple with slightly bigger apples. That trees apples are the last eaten by deer during the winter.
Sweet photo of Chas and Elvera.
One of the jam mates of my husband was camping with her husband, so she was not at the jam tomorrow. She planned to be missing for their playing gig today but messaged that the mosquitoes won, and she would be home after all. Yes, the mosquitoes are that bad. Hopefully as things dry up, the mosquito population will go down.
Oh, brother. Read that in the way it should have been written. Haste makes waste. Must be The Twilight Zone if she was missing from the jam tomorrow. Ignore all errors. š
… One spring day in 1997, for reasons too complex and distracting to describe now, God, who had been the Sun of my world since my youth, suddenly became eclipsed in the sky of my spiritual sight. I couldnāt perceive him at all. Existential darkness covered me; the light about me was night (Psalm 139:11). And my faith was in a full-fledged crisis.
This terrifying experience was foreign to me. But as I desperately ransacked the Bible and books searching for answers, it quickly became clear that this experience wasnāt foreign to saints in Scripture.
In one sense, this should have been clear to me prior to this crisis, given how often I had read the descriptions of dark nights like mine in the Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and so on. But in another sense, itās understandable why it wasnāt. When we havenāt personally experienced such disorienting blackouts (and the disturbing doubts that typically accompany them), itās almost impossible to imagine what ādarkness without any lightā is really like (Lamentations 3:2).
Now, I found myself walking through a āvalley of deep darknessā (Psalm 23:4). …
… The Holy Spirit used my darkness to illuminate for me the Bibleās clear witness that, for various and deeply good reasons, God sometimes ordains dismaying dark nights of the soul to descend on his children for redemptive purposes. And God had provided these scriptural witnesses to help people like me ānot be surprised at the fiery trial . . . as though something strange were happeningā (1 Peter 4:12). Their experiences gave me a frame of reference as I sought to navigate my way in the dark. …
… I remember when the thought āfly by the instrumentsā hit me while trying to figure out how to navigate my stormy darkness. When pilots fly planes into dense, dark clouds, they lose all points of perceptual reference. Their normally reliable perceptions suddenly canāt be trusted anymore, since they can feel like theyāre flying horizontal and straight when theyāre actually spiraling gradually toward the ground. Survival in this situation depends on trusting what the planeās navigational instruments tell them over what their perceptions and emotions tell them. They must fly by the instruments.
Thatās what David learned in the realm of faith ā and so must we. One of the hardest and most valuable lessons we learn during our stormy, cloudy, spiritual nights is to trust what the instruments of Godās promises tell us over what our perceptions and emotions tell us. Such seasons force us to exercise faith. Which is why so many faithful biblical saints learned to āwalk by faith and not by sightā during seasons of great desperation (2 Corinthians 5:7). …
_____________________
A good piece that speaks to us all at certain points in this life, amen?
Is anyone familiar with the Glorify app? It was advertised on Facebook and I downloaded it. The first day seemed like a good program of scripture reading reflectoon, guided prayer time with music, etc. A note said if you do it everyday it will remain free. I think it could be good for my friend, Karen. It has some good music and background sounds for prayer times, too.
Good morning! Good evening! Good all around world at whatever time it may be.
It is a day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Much to be glad about today with the lovely blooming tree in the header (maybe apple) and the blue sky harmony.
And what an Anniversary made in heaven and celebrated by loved ones here on earth and in ways we do not know there in Heaven.
We have a good, good Father who gives good, good gifts.
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Two pretty pictures to start the day. May all have a day blessed by our heavenly Father.
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Morning! Oh what sweet photos up there⦠my favorite of Chas and his brideā£ļø
Kathaleena your area is so green and lush!
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Good morning, all, except goodnight Jo, although it is nearly Friday morning there.
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It is green and lush right now. It has been a long winter and all that green and all the beautiful flowers on apple, berry and lilacs are a feast for the eyes. The white is also a crabapple with slightly bigger apples. That trees apples are the last eaten by deer during the winter.
Sweet photo of Chas and Elvera.
One of the jam mates of my husband was camping with her husband, so she was not at the jam tomorrow. She planned to be missing for their playing gig today but messaged that the mosquitoes won, and she would be home after all. Yes, the mosquitoes are that bad. Hopefully as things dry up, the mosquito population will go down.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, brother. Read that in the way it should have been written. Haste makes waste. Must be The Twilight Zone if she was missing from the jam tomorrow. Ignore all errors. š
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š She is an amazing lady, Kathaleena! We have a lot of mosquitoes here at home, too, because we have had regular rain.
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You made me giggle Kathaleena!!!
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“Flying by the Instruments”
______________________
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/your-darkness-is-not-dark-to-him
Your Darkness Is Not Dark to Him
… One spring day in 1997, for reasons too complex and distracting to describe now, God, who had been the Sun of my world since my youth, suddenly became eclipsed in the sky of my spiritual sight. I couldnāt perceive him at all. Existential darkness covered me; the light about me was night (Psalm 139:11). And my faith was in a full-fledged crisis.
This terrifying experience was foreign to me. But as I desperately ransacked the Bible and books searching for answers, it quickly became clear that this experience wasnāt foreign to saints in Scripture.
In one sense, this should have been clear to me prior to this crisis, given how often I had read the descriptions of dark nights like mine in the Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and so on. But in another sense, itās understandable why it wasnāt. When we havenāt personally experienced such disorienting blackouts (and the disturbing doubts that typically accompany them), itās almost impossible to imagine what ādarkness without any lightā is really like (Lamentations 3:2).
Now, I found myself walking through a āvalley of deep darknessā (Psalm 23:4). …
… The Holy Spirit used my darkness to illuminate for me the Bibleās clear witness that, for various and deeply good reasons, God sometimes ordains dismaying dark nights of the soul to descend on his children for redemptive purposes. And God had provided these scriptural witnesses to help people like me ānot be surprised at the fiery trial . . . as though something strange were happeningā (1 Peter 4:12). Their experiences gave me a frame of reference as I sought to navigate my way in the dark. …
… I remember when the thought āfly by the instrumentsā hit me while trying to figure out how to navigate my stormy darkness. When pilots fly planes into dense, dark clouds, they lose all points of perceptual reference. Their normally reliable perceptions suddenly canāt be trusted anymore, since they can feel like theyāre flying horizontal and straight when theyāre actually spiraling gradually toward the ground. Survival in this situation depends on trusting what the planeās navigational instruments tell them over what their perceptions and emotions tell them. They must fly by the instruments.
Thatās what David learned in the realm of faith ā and so must we. One of the hardest and most valuable lessons we learn during our stormy, cloudy, spiritual nights is to trust what the instruments of Godās promises tell us over what our perceptions and emotions tell us. Such seasons force us to exercise faith. Which is why so many faithful biblical saints learned to āwalk by faith and not by sightā during seasons of great desperation (2 Corinthians 5:7). …
_____________________
A good piece that speaks to us all at certain points in this life, amen?
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Amen.
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I figured you’d like that one, Kevin š
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Amenā¦.thanks for sharing that one Dj! ā¤ļø
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Amen! Great to read, dj.
Is anyone familiar with the Glorify app? It was advertised on Facebook and I downloaded it. The first day seemed like a good program of scripture reading reflectoon, guided prayer time with music, etc. A note said if you do it everyday it will remain free. I think it could be good for my friend, Karen. It has some good music and background sounds for prayer times, too.
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I’ve always liked that photo: Elvera beautiful, strong, and confident. Chas slinking in the background marveling he got her!
Totally 50s looks! He was so cool. š
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I paid $6.39 for gas today and was relieved.
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just sorta wondering what I am coming home to…
a friend sent an email today from the airport in singapore saying they had no problem leaving unvaccinated. so nice to know.
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time to go to market for my last things. and for my last time.
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Jo – I imagine that must feel bittersweet.
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I laughed at the gas price post.
And good description of that early Chas-and-Elvera photo.
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