Anxiety and Peace, Reflections from Philippians 4:6-7

~photo by wm conk-nigeria

Anxiety—don’t carry it, walk with it, eat with it, live with it, go to bed with it. Don’t entertain it, support it, encourage it—not in big things or little things, present things or future things, pressing things or perplexing things. It is a foe not a friend, a downer not an edifier, a binder not a freer. It will quickly introduce you to its close cousins, fret and fear. When anxiety knocks at the door of your heart or mind, be sure to renounce it, reject it, and refuse it any place.

Instead of being anxious about anything, you can begin to pray about everything. Prayer means that you have a God to go to and to talk to, who hears and answers prayer. Mix your prayers with thankfulness. Thanksgiving reflects an attitude of gratefulness to God for inviting you to come to Him, and it shows that you truly trust Him to take care of you, regardless of your circumstances.

As you pray and trust God to work, He will give you the assurance that He is in control. He will do this by giving you His peace. God doesn’t give you circumstantial peace, but His peace, a peace which remains constant and undisturbed through every circumstance.

God’s peace is His answer for anxiety. His peace will quiet you and calm you; it will minister health to your nerves and rest to your spirit. God’s peace is more powerful than anxiety, fear, or worry, and His peace will defeat any foe that tries to attack your heart and mind. At the heart of these attacks is an attempt to have you to turn your faith away from God and to focus instead on your needs and circumstances. God’s peace strengthens you from these attacks by giving you the assurance that God is for you and that no weapon formed against you will prosper.

Never turn away from God’s peace. Yield and surrender your heart and mind to His peace. Say, “Yes, Lord, I receive Your peace.” You do not need to understand why certain things are happening in order to have God’s peace. His peace transcends your understanding. God’s peace is the same peace that Jesus said He would give to you. It is a peace that the world cannot give you. His peace belongs to you because you belong to Him.
~meet me in the meadow

Winter Storm Stirs up the Lake!

These are all taken from my van because there was ice everywhere

and I did not dare to get out! The roar of the lake was wonderful!

Beautiful, Cold and Windy Day up the North Shore!

Love this lake and this cabin in any weather!

A Beautiful Day in the Twin Ports Today!!

~Spring is coming to Canal Park

~Canal Park

~taken from the waiting room of the First Street Clinic

~lovely sunset taken from Superior

~ the bay, note the fish house and Spirit Mtn in the back

Your Divine Valentine

A Valentine may play a love song for you, but God sings you the sweetest love song in the universe.

The Lord your God... will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

A Valentine may give you flowers, but God sent you the most beautiful rose of all. Jesus.I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.Song of Solomon 2:1

A Valentine may bring you chocolate, but God provides you with something even sweeter, His Word.How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

A Valentine may love you for a lifetime, but God loved you before you were born and will love you for all eternity.Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love...with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3

Praying you're blessed by the wonderful love of God this Valentine's Day and always!
~dayspring cards

"Lessons LIfe Taught Me, by a 90 year old woman

~hydranga

Written by Regina Brett , 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio ."To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it

.15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks

.16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Deepest Dreams

God comes to awaken the deepest dreams that are lying dormant in our soul and give us the courage and joy to live them out~~~~~Ryan Bauers

Ryan was a teenager when we went to Nicaragua the first time in 1993 and he went with us. Now he is a Pastor in Duluth. He shared this on Facebook this morning and it touched me....he said I could quote him!~susan

Desires from the Heart........

~winter berries

I don’t recall who said it, but years ago I heard this statement: “God carries in His heart the fulfillment to all the desires He has placed within yours.”
The Bible puts that thought in this way: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass…rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:3-7

Here are some things we can learn from this passage about the desires of our hearts:
1. The desires we carry in our hearts must come from God—His desires will be those of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

2. He is the only one who can fulfill the desires He has placed within us—the fulfillment of these desires will glorify Him. He doesn’t say to us, “I have placed My desires within you, now it’s up to you, go out and make them happen.”

3. He places His desires in us as a result of us delighting in Him—we will desire what He desires, delight in what He delights in, and rejoice over the things He rejoices over.

4. He wants us to trust in His faithfulness to fulfill those desires.

5. Don’t give up on any desire that God has placed within you.

What should you do as you wait upon Him to fulfill those desires? Do not attempt to strive, manipulate, or struggle in yourself to fulfill them. God has promised you that He will give you the desires of your heart; God has said that He will bring it to pass.
As you wait, rest and wait patiently for Him. There is no benefit in pressing or pushing, but rather be at peace, knowing that God’s timing is always perfect and His ways always bring the best.

~meet me in the meadow

My Birthday Celebration at JJ Astors with the Girls

Yvonne, Susan and Dianne
Evelyn, Elaine and Toni

Good Food, Great Friends, We are blessed!

Dependence Upon God

~park point winter 2011

My times are in your hand." Psalm 31:15


Let this precious truth divest your mind of all needless, anxious care for the present or the future. Exercising simple faith in God, "Do not be anxious about anything." Learn to be content with your present lot, with God's dealings with, and His disposal of, you. You are just where His providence has, in its inscrutable but all-wise and righteous decision, placed you. It may be a position painful, irksome, trying, but it is right. Oh, yes! it is right. Only aim to glorify Him in it. Wherever you are placed, God has a work for you to do, a purpose through you to be accomplished, in which He blends your happiness with His glory…live a life of daily dependence upon God…it saves from many a desponding feeling, from many a corroding care, from many an anxious thought, from many a sleepless night.

~Octavius Winslow

The trials of life may look bleak, but just remember things may look desolate but spring will come, the sun will shine again.....God will never allow Satan to discourage you without a plan to lead you to victory! Hang on with me! Love to you my friends and family~Susan