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BIBLE MEDITATION:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Have you ever stood and watched a painter paint a picture? He starts putting his colors on canvas. He's just splashing on the colors, mixing this one and that. You can almost hear him thinking, "A little more yellow here...."

And we say, "He's so good—how does he do that?" Then suddenly he'll get some colors and go swoosh! across the canvas. We say, "Oh, you ruined it! You've really messed up. Let's see how you get out of this!" And then all of a sudden it just comes together. It's a masterpiece!

Sometimes we look at what God does as God puts His colors on the canvas and say, "Lord, you're really doing well." Then all of a sudden God goes swoosh. "Lord! You've messed things up! How did You let this happen?" Have you ever felt that way?

Now it doesn't make sense to me when I watch that painter. It doesn't make sense to me, but it makes sense to him. And just because things are not making sense to you, do not think that they don't make sense. In Acts 12 we see Herod's ungodly power, James' death, then Peter's release. Yet all of these things are working together. We call that the sovereignty of God, the providence of God.

ACTION POINT:
In Acts chapter 12 in your Bible, write in the margin Romans 8:28. "And we know, we k-n-o-w, that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose."



From the Love Worth Finding Ministries of Adrian Rogers

Is this Sunday?  John is home and usually first day off is Saturday!  Yes this IS Sunday. 

Jeanne thank you for the devotional today.

Judy, you made me stop for a minute to think what day it is!    

Jeanne, as a painter, I loved the devotional!  I spent all week in a painting class, enjoyed it ever so much!  And I painted two paintings that I wouldn't have had the nerve to tackle only a few months ago.  One is the ruins of the Celsus Library in Ephesus, and the other is the scene (one of them) from the hot air balloon ride I took in Turkey.

I attended the play Annie yesterday afternoon in Liberal.  Granddaughter Abby was in it.  She spent the week before attending a performance academy camp at the college in Liberal, and this was their performance.  What an awesome job those kids did, and to think they had only spent one week in preparation!  They were really short on males, so some girls had to play male roles, such as policemen.  Abby played the butler!  So they had changed it to "head housekeeper".  It was very enjoyable, and we were quite proud of our Abby.  (As usual!) 

Darrel's brother is in town and said he would be here at our house at 1:00--hasn't arrived yet.  Hmmmm.

See you all later!

Jeanne I have had to check several times today.   

I saw RuthV and her hubby this evening, we had a great visit. 

We have had great weather today, I spent some time watering my garden! There are a few things left to show their heads, mostly all is doing really well and I need to make a concerted effort in keeping them watered.  Even after all the rain we have had the ground was dry;

Have a great evening everyone!

Yes, Pat!  Happy, happy birthday!!  And don't forget--you are older than me!    By NINE WHOLE DAYS!!

Happy Birthday Pat!

I'm at our son's in Pembroke. His wife had a baby boy last night, and I was privileged to be there for the whole time. Both are doing fairly well. She had had a kidney stone and was in the hospital a couple of nights before, but seems to be recovering okay from that too. This is their third boy, and our seventh grandchild.  I'll probably be here for a few days.

Hi everyone.  It is another overcast and probably rainy day here as just heard on the radio flash flood warnings for the metro area until 4 pm today.  We had a lot of rain yesterday afternoon and during the night.  We had a nice visit with Stacey yesterday.  Her apartment building has a lovely common room with tables and chairs where we can sit and eat and visit.  In fact I didn't even go to her apartment yesterday since we ate in the common room.  We had stopped at the Kroger deli for some friend chicken, potato salad and a sub for me rather than the chicken and when I took the food out of the grocery bag to put on the table there was no chicken.  Fortunately, Pat had gotten a large sub so we could leave half of it for Stacey so we just shared the sub and the potato salad and had plenty.  I called Kroger's when I discovered we hadn't gotten what we paid for and they said they would refund the money or replace the chicken.  When we got back to our town Pat went back into Kroger and came home with the chicken.  I just have my usual Monday activities. 

Jeanne, I really liked the devotional thoughts for this week.

Janet, glad you had such an enjoyable week at your painting class.  I thought of you as I read the devotional a couple minutees ago.  I sure would like to see a picture of your paintings from last week.  It sounds like Abby is quite the actress. 

Judy, it is amazing how fast the ground can dry up when the temperature it high.  Our ground is soggy but a day or two of warm weather and we need rain again. 

Happy Birthday Pat.  You and Janet have several months on me. 

Betty, congratulations grandmother on this new grandson.  It sounds like you have a good sized immediate family. 

Betty our daughter had her baby last night as well!  A girl!

Yes Larry the ground drys quickly especially when there is a constant breeze blowing.

Well I now have to finish my last assignment, and start preparing for the exam.  It will be multiple choice, which can be easier or confusing.....we will see.  That is on the 19th at 1:00 in the afternoon.

Had to come back today to share this beautiful video:  ​https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=nj2ofrX7jAk

Just stopping by to say

The VBS meeting went very well but I didn't learn a thing about registering the kids.  Sylvia and I are going to register.  Hope everything is set up this evening.

Larry, I couldn't get your YouTube to work for me.  My DIL sent this one to me today to enjoy.  I did.  Hope you dog lovers do too!!  Glenn Miller and Dog Routine

Jeanne, thanks for the devotion.  I, too, thought of Janet ..... and Kitty, since they are both painters.

And it seems God was busy last night bringing in two new little babies into our world. 

I am doing some laundry and then will find a bite to eat.  I will probably have popcorn tonight after VBS.

Cloudy and overcast today.  Kitty said it was raining when she got up.  I guess I missed that since I slept so late.  It was dry when I got up.  Quite breezy but that will dry the moisture. 

Boy, this has been MONDAY all day!  And it is 110* here, with such a hot, dry wind you would think it was coming right out of a blast furnace.  UGH.  Have I happened to mention that I hate the wind?  (And Larry, I wouldn't live here, except this is home and where my hubby lives!) 

I have one installment (about half) of the trip story ready, but don't know where I should put it.  Pat?  Anyone?  Where?  And I will need help with the photos as I would love to post a few of those along with the story.

Darrel's brother and wife were here for a couple of days.  They live near McAllen, Texas, and came up to do some business.  He is 7 years older than Darrel and not in good health at all.  I was surprised he would even attempt the trip.  They had their daughter's boyfriend to drive them.

I'm going to work on the trip story some more.  See you later.

Love,
Janet

Janet, the best place for your travelogue is probably "Landscape and Travel".  Just start a new topic on that board and post your messages.  I'll be more than happy to help with photos or text or whatever.   

We stopped early today in North Platte, Nebraska as they have the hottest windy day.  It feels like an oven to us because we have been in very cool and downright cold northern Minnesota then back to southwestern Minnesota where it has been rainy and foggy.  We drove 85 miles in heavy fog this morning and some people don't use headlights when they are on the highway - it was really  tense.  So, sun came out in South Dakota and now we are hot but this motel is nice and cool.  That is the weather report. 

We are so thankful for an incident on the freeway as we could have easily been in a rollover.  Don controlled the car just right.  I think that plus the fog just exhausted both of us so we stopped quite early and now will try to stay awake to a normal hour.

Happy Birthday Pat

Betty:  Enjoy the new babe. 

Hi all. 
We didn't have Spring this year.  A very late Winter and then Instant Summer!  Along with several dust storms...at least no tornadoes out our way, so I need to stop complaining.  We finally did get a little bit of rain, which was most welcome.  New Mexico has been declared to be in the worst drought of any state in the country.  Not a reputation you could be proud of.  At best, we are terribly dry, but this year and last...extremely dry. 

I have some good news; my gr gr-son accepted Jesus as Savior on Sunday.  He is 7 ½ yrs old, but is very serious little guy.  Sidney wants to be baptized but they are not sure yet whether to do that over there in Korea, or wait until they come home for a visit.  Patty and husband are still members of our church, and Sidney practically "grew up" in this church. 

My sister has been admitted to Health South for rehab, in Texarkana.  I hope she benefits a lot from their therapy.  Her daughter says the doctor told them if she had not been admitted to hospital when she was, he felt that she would be gone in 2 months. Sunday will be her birthday.  Maybe that will spur her on to taking care of herself. 

Jeanne, thank you for the devotional.  I see you enjoy Adrian Rogers writings too.  I heard another of his sermons yesterday.

Etta Sue, I hope your church has a good VBS.  How did the first night go?  I used to work in VBS long ago. 
Not able to do that anymore, but I can make cookies!

Carol, I know it is hard to drive in fog...so thankful Don was able to avert a traffic accident.  Sounds like you have been having an enjoyable trip, visiting with family and all.

Congratulations on all the new babies amongst the group. 

Larry, it's good that you and Pat were able to go have lunch with Stacey, and the place was ideal for your
little get together too.  Sorry that Kroger's forgot the chicken though, y'all had skimpy servings for your lunch. 

Happy Birthday to Pat, a little late.  Hope you enjoyed your day!

Hello to all others, I hope everyone is doing well.

G'night.   ~Janice

Hi everyone.  I think we will be having a sunny and warm day today.  Nothing new here and just have my normal Tuesday activities and will have the afternoon and evening free.  A friend came over yesterday and replaced our thermostat, which I really appreciated.  I am sorry that link I sent yesterday on gratitude didn't work.   This worked for me this morning.  This one works. Hope your Bible School went well last evening.  Let's try again on the link to the Gratitude video, which is worth watching.  I had put the hyperlink brackets around it but found that isn't necessary.  https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=nj2ofrX7jAk

Janet, it sounds like summer has arrived in your area big time. 

Jeanne, thanks for helping Janet. 

Carol, sounds very wise to stop early and get out of that heat.  Hope you experience no fog today as you drive on home.

Janice, it seems that some years skip either spring or fall. We certainly have no drought here in Georgia as are already 3 or 4 inches of rain above the avergage for the whole month.  My yard looks like a green carpet as they just mowed it yesterday so everything is very even.  Nice news concerning Sidney's acceptance of the Lord.  It sounds like your sister had a very close call.  Glad she is now out of the hospital.

Carol, you were very near my sister when in North Platte.  She lives in Hershey, but they attend church in North Platte.  Hope you get home without further problems.

Larry, thanks for re-doing the link.  That was a beautiful presentation!  Glad you have had rain, we are in such a terrible drought here.  And the wind is blowing again today.  Sigh......

Janice, always good to hear from you!  Wonderful to hear of another one being added to the Kingdom.

I got up early and spent time working on the second half of my trip story.

Dark, cold and rainy again this morning.  Like Larry, we are well above normal for rainfall - and only a month ago we were four inches below. 

I have to laugh to myself about this weather.  Gene always insisted that the last Friday of a month was the "weather breeder" for the next month.  Well, the last Friday in May was hazy, hot and humid -a high of 90 degrees and bright sun.  So far June has been 10 to 15 degrees below normal and very rainy with sunshine only for a few minutes at a time.  So much for that old wives tale! 

It is good to read all the posts.  Pat has been in Ohio this week, she should be back sometime today.

Nearly everything is coming up in the garden, even the deer know it.  John tilled the garden yesterday and we say plenty of deer tracks.  I will have to let the dogs loose more often they keep the wildlife away.  We are at the end of a  municipality controlled road, however the road goes on and is considered  to be a forced road.  In the summer and autumn it can be quite busy, with people going back to the hunt camps.  The camps are a wonderful retreat for the owners.  There is no hydro back to them, however one has a windmill!.  We enjoy knowing these folks.

We had a lovely visit with Heather and the kids last night.  JC has agreed to come for a week to help John with a renovation we have to do.  It will be nice to have him here for the week.  I have asked Kim to come for the summer to help with the garden.  I will pay her a bit of the time, and this will be a learning experience for her.  She didn't give her answer but the thought of $$ at the end of the summer is a big hook!

I have 8 days to go till my exam.  I am trying not to stress about it, as it is all multiple choice, which I generally do fairly well with.  I have the final assignment to finish. then freedom.  I really understand the ditty "no more pencils no more books".

Well I am off.  Be back later!

Judy, I hope you don't mind my asking, but who are the two babies you have been posting about on Facebook?

Jeanne, thanks for your offer of help!  I will be contacting you.

Hot, dry, windy, UGH.  That's our weather report.

Two babies in St Louis who have congenital heart defects.  Parents have been asking for prayer. Caleb underwent open heart surgery on Sunday, and thankfully it was a success.  Sophia is 9 months old.  it has been determined that she needs a heart transplant.  That is why I have been passing on the requests for prayer.

I finished my assignment, only to find I have done something wrong.   I have asked RuthV to see if she can find the mistake. 

Have a great day everyone and a restful night.

Oh, Judy!  I hope you find the problem soon but please don't beat on yourself.  Take a deep breath and you can check it again.  Sad stories when transplants are needed for infants. 

Smoke is in the area and we can see the smokey clouds from one of the three wildfires - not at all near our place.  Actually, our cabin may be more in a fire area but we can't pinpoint where it is right now. 

#2 son will walk over later. 

#1 grandson has a new job and he will be assisting an elderly man who has beginning Alzheimer's Disease by driving the man to the bank and keeping him in his sights.  He is the one just graduated from high school. 

I am praying for both these babies.  1. That Caleb's heart operation has fixed the problem, and 2. that God's will be done with Sophia..  For her to have a new heart a baby has to die breaking another mother's heart.  I can't pray for that....it is just too hard.

I am headed to California tomorrow for Forest's 8th Grade graduation, that boy is sure growing up fast. it will be good to see the family and I am going to stop by and see Willa before I come back home.

Hi everyone.  It is going to be another very warm day today in the mid-90s.  Pat and I are going to Bible study and afterwards I will run over to Kaiser to have another blood test (I have to have 3 tests done in the next month because of the new medicine the doctor gave me for fluid retention.  Pat will go on over for coffee with our friends at Dunkin' Donut and I will join them when the blood test is over.  Nothing else planned for today. 

Judy, glad to read the one operation is over and apparently successful.  Isn't it amazing that they can now do heart transplants on babies if they can find a donor heart that small.  I sense you are really fretting over your exam but put it in perspective as to whether this is one of lifes biggest problems and maybe that will help a bit.  I always thought multiple choice was helpful as if you didn't know an answer for usre you could at least take a guess. 

Mariiyn, I expect you will be in California or back before you see this but just wanted to wish a good and safe trip.

Carol, they had a bit on the national news last night about the wildfires in Colorado.  Sure hope it doesn't get your cabin and stays away from your home.  I expect your own bed was very comfortable last night as you ended your trip. 

Janet, at least you know what to expect from the weather.  Hope your story writing went well yesterday. 

Jeanne, at least the lower than normal temps helps on the AC bill. 

Time to leave for coffee at McDonald's. 

Thanks for answering my question about the babies, Judy.  I was really confused, as I thought one was a grandchild of yours...then when I saw about the other, I really was mixed up!  Yes, praying for a transplant for an infant is tough.  There is a lady here who kept us informed about a little boy needing lung transplants---he finally did get them, lived for two more years and then died.  Tough situations, for sure; and how could one pray for organs from another baby?  We know things happen, but in those situations I pray for God's wisdom, as only He knows the final outcome.

Carol, glad you are home.  Sorry about the smoke--is it worse than the dirt we are breathing here?  If we don't get rain soon, I don't know what's going to happen.  But God does, and I believe He will send us rain!

Marilyn, enjoy your trip, the graduation, and the visit.  Come home safely!

Larry, I see we were posting at the same time.  I pray your blood tests show good things. 

Judy, why are you so wound up over this test?  Is it something you are taking with a plan to use in the future, to make income?  Is it really a life-changing thing?  Try to relax--remember "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of love, power and A SOUND MIND."  You will do well!  Don't get ulcers worrying over it, just do the best you can, praying for supernatural recall before taking the test.  Okay, off my soapbox now! (And I hope you know I am saying this in love!) 

I am praying for wisdom in the use of my time.  So much I want to do, so little time to do it!

Happy Wednesday to you all!

Love,
Janet

And Janet, add to that - so little stamina to get it done.   

This is an Alistair Begg Photo that Pat and I shared on Facebook.



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This is the comment I received from John's Cousin in Holland!

QuoteAndries Boneschansker This photo, it's one of our Dutch Lifeboats! This is the kind of ship I sail on for the Dutch Sea Rescue Institution. If you consider the conditions in which we go out on the rescue I'm sure He sails with us.