Can You Hear the Whisper?

“ Make time for the quiet moments for God whispers, and the

world is loud.”

I saw this sign while shopping a few days ago. I have been thinking about it ever since. We live in a very, very loud world. We can't hear God with the media overload our culture embraces whether it's tv, music, cell phones, virtual worlds on a tv or computer screen. We can't hear God over crowds, cars, trains, airplanes, or just the noise that surrounds us almost every moment of every day. Listen for a minute...is it quiet around you? I can hear cars, a train, the buzz of the computer, my dog breathing as she lays on my feet, a neighbor dog barking in the distance, and music, and it's midnight so the noise is less than it is during the day. Far from being quiet as I sit here in the middle of the night.

For that matter, we can't hear God, or anyone else if we don't stop talking, and start to listen. We also can't hear whispers when we are constantly surrounded by busyness. When is the last time you were completely quiet, and just sat in the silence? Total silence. Total silence can be difficult to find these days. There is so much noise, everywhere, all around. God will not compete with the noise in our lives that drowns out His voice. He waits for us to come to Him, in the quiet, so we can hear His soft voice, His whisper. He waits for us to be still so we can hear Him, and know Him.

I admit, I like music on, and I have a hard time with silence. I think I have always been that way, at least for a really long time. I can intently listen, I just like music on around me. Yes, sometimes the music can lead us to great times where we are praising God in worship, but can we hear His whisper? Maybe during times of worship we can hear Him, I think we can. I would like to know what you think, so please share your thoughts. The problem I face, is to keep that focus on God, and God alone, not to let my mind drift off to my long to do list waiting for me, or the grocery list, or I forgot to do.....whatever... Distractions come in many ways to take our focus, our thoughts, off just listening to our Father. It's easy to talk or be surrounded by noise. It's not easy to be still and quiet, to shut off the many thoughts racing through our brains, and just focus. It's not easy to shut off our electronic world, either. Are you willing to find time to be still, to listen to your Father this week? I know I need to work at it, and I hope you will join me in shutting down some of the noise in the world we live in, and just taking time to be quiet before your Father.

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10

Faith

I know a lot of people going through some tough times right now, and thought maybe this quote could offer some hope:

Very often when I haven't faith in my faith, I have to have faith in His faith. He makes me believe in myself and my possibilities, when I simply can't. I have to rise to His faith in me. A woman who was inwardly collapsed said to me, "Well, I have no faith of my own, but I do have faith in your faith." "Good," I replied, "take faith in my faith as a first step, and then you will go on to something infinitely better - faith in His faith." With faith in His faith you can do anything- anything that ought to be done. There is a passage which touches your need. "For the Eternal... will not let you go." Faith is not merely your holding on to God; it is God holding on to you. He will not let you go! As Walt Whitman puts it, "Not until the sun refuses to shine, do I refuse you." Then keep saying to your soul, "In quietness and in confidence shall be your faith." (Isaiah 30:15). Then repeat to your soul these words: "To say what ought to be cannot be is a brief and complete statement of atheism." It is. Say to yourself, "What ought to be can be, and I will make it so." And you will. And will go beyond yourself. ~Eli E. Stanley Jones

Prayers For My Niece

Today I just would like for you to pray. I would like to ask you to pray specifically for my niece who is in the Navy. She is in Haiti on relief efforts. She talks of the extreme death and devastation surrounding her. She also is experiencing great aftershocks. While you pray for Becky, please pray for all our troops, those on relief efforts, and the victims.



Becky is the first one in this picture. Thanks for your prayers.

There Is A God

They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Romans 1:19-20 (New Living Translation)


Try and put your arms around
the 100 year old tree
Climb up on a horse
and let it run full speed
Take a look out at the world from 30,000 feet
on your next flight

Watch a flock of birds
against the morning sun
Close your eyes and listen
to the river run
Catch a firefly in your hand
or a raindrop on your tongue
That's right

There is a God
There is a God
There is a God
How much proof do you need?

Plant a seed and see
what comes out of the ground
Find the heartbeat on your baby's ultrasound
In a few years hear it laughing,
and don't it sound like a song?

Stop and think about
what you don't understand
Things like life and love
and how the world began
Hear the doctor say he can't explain it,
but the cancer is gone

There is a God
There is a God
There is a God
How much proof do you need?


Science says it's all just circumstance
That this whole world is just an accident
But if you want to shoot that theory down,
just take a look around

Oh just look around

Now there is a God
There is a God
Oh there is a God,
How much proof do you need?

Now, There is a God

Yoke

Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is really for? Is it to be a burden to the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite: it is to make its burden light. Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plow would be intolerable; worked by means of a yoke, it is light. A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is an instrument of mercy. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a gentle device to make hard labor light. [Christ] knew the difference between a smooth yoke and a rough one, a bad fit and a good one...The rough yoke galled, and the burden was heavy; the smooth yoke caused no pain, and the load was lightly drawn. The badly fitted harness was a misery; the well fitted collar was easy. And what was the burden? It was not some special burden laid upon the Christian, some unique infliction that they alone must bear. It was what all men bear: it was simply life, human life itself, the general burden of life which all must carry with them from the cradle to the grave. Christ saw that men took life painfully. To some an ill-fitting yoke was a weariness, to others failure, to many a tragedy, to all a struggle and a pain. How to carry this burden of life had been the whole world's problem. And here is Christ's solution: Carry it as I do. Take life as I take it. Look at it from my point of view. Interpret it upon my principles. Take my yoke and learn of me, and you will find it easy. For my yoke is easy, sits right upon the shoulders, and therefore my burden is light. ~Henry Drummond

Garden Dreaming

The temperatures have been somewhat springlike the past few days....rainy, warmer temps. Those temps are making me think about gardening. I know it's way to early to actually garden, but my thoughts are going there!! I ordered my seeds shortly after Christmas. Last year I waited until late January to place my order , and many of the seeds I wanted were already gone. I order from a heirloom/rare, organic seed company, so when the seeds are gone for the year, they are gone, no back orders. This year, only two things were already gone, but I found close replacements. I am dreaming of getting out in my garden beds, digging in the dirt, and working up the soil. I dream of putting the seeds in the ground and waiting with great anticipation for those seeds to pop through the soil. I definitely am dreaming of harvesting the crops and enjoying homegrown veggies. I think that this time of year makes the yearn to have homegrown veggies even stronger, as most stores have very limited supplies right now, and the prices are pretty steep. Yes, I am longing for my homegrown veggies, and even joked with my mom about going out and planting some cold crops in the ground. She just laughed at me, and told me to wait a month to get my tomatoes and peppers started. In the meantime, I will dream of my garden, plan some new ideas for the backyard, and look at my gardening books, with my large envelope of seeds sitting by my chair.

Moving Day

It's been a crazy few days. Friday, we moved my mother-in-law closer to us. She is a woman who does not like change, so this move was a bit stressful on her, not to mention that the retirement apartments she was living at made it a horrible transition. She was really excited about the move until they stepped in a month ago and started to play mind games with her. I know this partially because of one of the people who works there telling me so. This person is the only one who did things the right way by saying 'we will miss you, but you need to be by your family and it will be a good move for you.' The owners told her she didn't need to move, she was fine, and she should show us and not listen to what her son wanted for her, and believe me, they meant every word of it. One of the employees came in to her room as we were packing up the van and told me how horrible of a person I was for forcing her to move and that we had NO RIGHT to do that to her, as she gave me a drop dead glare and went on and on to my mother-in-law as to why she should not go. Professional, huh? First of all, no one forced her! She made the decision. Of course, this place can house about 85 residents, and only has about 23 right now because conditions have gone downhill so bad the past two years. I bit my tongue in respect for my mother-in-law, but did say that we were just looking out for her best interests and wanting her closer to us. I know, we are horrible for caring about her health and well-being, and wanting to be close by to visit with her, but guess that is the way it is. She is now 10 minutes away instead of an hour. Earlier this Fall, she was quite ill, and we didn't even know about it, because she didn't tell us. The place she was living will not share that information with the family. By the time we found out she had been so ill, she almost needed hospitalization to recover. It took many weeks for her recovery, in what should have only taken a couple days, if the proper steps would have been taken during her illness. We had been talking of having her move down by us at that point, but once she was so ill, it was the final decision, and she agreed. One of my husband's first questions to the new place was about contacting family if she was to get ill. They said they do that immediately, because they know that some times the parents don't want to worry their kids, so they don't always share the needed information.

As far as the new apartment, she is settling in already, making some new friends, and getting involved in activities. After having her first meal at the new apartments the night she moved in, she thinks she will definitely like it there. They serve upper end restaurant style food, with several choices for starters, entrees, sides, and desserts. It is real food, not prepared starchy bad cafeteria style food, like she was having. There are servers to wait on them, take their order, and bring them whatever their hearts desire. Her first meal was home made clam chowder, grilled salmon, steamed veggies, and huckleberry ice cream. At the other place, she had to serve herself for two of the meals, and the third was brought to their table much like the hospital does, with a big industrial cart and a tray, no options for what you would like to eat. Now, serving yourself through a cafeteria line is not easy when you use a walker, so she's thrilled to be waited on at her meals! She said "I think I will lose some weight with this healthy food." I agreed with her. The new place is made to make the residents feel special, like they are living in a resort. Much detail has gone into making it a spacious, yet homey place for all who live there. There are game rooms, computer labs, a pool and spa, workout area, along with many other rooms/areas we have yet to discover. Unlike other places, this one makes the residents feel like they still have something to offer to society, and they want to give them options to keep them busy, keep their minds busy and vibrant, and they seem to honor them as valued citizens, as those in the older generation should be treated, not demeaned and forgotten about.

We still have a few boxes to empty, and pictures to hang, but we have made progress. We were all quite worn out by the end of a couple days, so decided to take a little break and get back to it tomorrow. I am grateful for finding this new home for her, and hoping it truly becomes home to her within the next few days, as I think it will. I know my husband is happy to have his mom close by so he can check on her health wise, and so we can stop in and visit and enjoy more time together.

Beautiful January Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day! I got out and enjoyed the sunshine. The temperatures were only in the mid-twenties, but the sun was great to see! I took in a few sights and enjoyed the eagles that remain at Lake Coeur d'Alene.





We had a lot of rain, and melt off early in the week. This is not a pond, it's a frozen wheat field.

The perfect end to a beautiful day!

Busy Times

No, I did not fall off the blogging world map. Life has just been so busy lately, I haven't even sat down at my computer for days. I am behind in blogging, loading and editing photos, and pretty much everything else in life! My home has been the place where we come home at night, and fall into bed, exhausted. We finally had a night at home last night, where we enjoyed watching Boise State win the Fiesta Bowl. I hope this week brings some quiet and some 'normalcy' back into our lives. While I have enjoyed the holidays, spending time with family and friends, and getting to do some fun things, I am ready for a little down time, some quiet time, some time where I can look at my schedule and it's not loaded up with things to do. We received an email late last night from the cabins we stayed at in Cannon Beach over the summer, telling us of their amazing specials they have going on right now...over half off their regular price. I have never been to the coast in January or February, and I envision a lot of cold, wet times, but it is almost enticing to do a three day getaway right now. I could load up my hubby, my dog, some books, and just runaway for a few days of solitude and quiet. I doubt it will happen, but the thought is a good one!

Today, I hope to get my house back in order, try to remember what my regular schedule for the week involves, get a little rest as I am very tired, and work on some photos. I have my Bible study group tonight, and I look forward to getting back on track with that as well.

It's sad when I think about how I have to work at resting right now! It needs to be a part of each day, time to rest, to reconnect with God, to let my body just be still and quiet. We need to rest. It keeps our minds and bodies healthy. It also keeps me in balance with where my relationship with Christ should be because busyness keeps my mind and body racing, with no time for stillness or time to focus my thoughts. So, this week, I am going to work on getting a balance back in life, and remembering to take some time to rest.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30