love is........

I saw this on Joanna's blog, but it is actually the idea of this blog. The concept is to make an entry about what you think love is. Can be a picture, a poem, a story, etc.

Love is.........

JESUS!

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 sums it up so well:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

This is how I would define love. Patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self seeking, is not easily angered. Keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.

Substitute the word "love" for the name "Jesus".

Jesus is patient. Jesus is kind.

Jesus does not envy. Jesus does not boast. Jesus is not proud. Jesus is not rude. Jesus is not self seeking. Jesis is not easily angered.

Jesus keeps no record of wrongs (thank you Lord on that). Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth (because Jesus IS THE TRUTH).

Jesus always protects. Jesus always trust. Jesus always hopes. And Jesus always perseveres.

Jesus is the perfect example of love because he is love. He LOVES us so much he was willing to go to the cross for us. He was willing to take the wrath of God for our sins on his back. He loves me unconditionally. He loves me just as I am right now, flaws (lots of them) and all. He wants me to grow to be more like him, but he loves me just as I am right now.

He sees my heart (wicked as it is) and he still loves me.

He sees my struggles, my sins, my short comings. AND HE STILL LOVES ME.

Nothing can separate me from the love he has for me.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is love.

and I'm so glad you love me Lord :)

participate here before Valentine's day if you want to

finally

memo to self: get a life

It is finally here. The season premiere of the final season of LOST. I am so pathetically addicted to that show that I've been counting down the days since the new year until tonight. I was a late comer to the show, wrote about it in one of those defunct blogs of mine. Started watching the series in August 2008, captivated by it. Caught up with it to watch it last year on regular TV and waited an (agonizingly) long time for tonight to come.

memo to self: really get a life

Its the only show I watch on TV other than the news. Hubby enjoys the Sci Fi channel and once in awhile I get sucked into one of their "monster movies" (you know, the big alligator that invades the area or the killer Lochness look-alike monster that takes over the town) and as you watch, you know who is going to be killed and who is going to survive and 100% of the time you are right. Occasionally I'll watch something hubby watches on the Food Channel but most of the time I don't watch a lot of TV.

Except for LOST.

So you will know where I will be tonight (and the next Tuesdays when it is on until it wraps up). Not sure how they will wrap up some things but it should be interesting.

memo to self: really think about getting a life

we

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

We have God's mercy
We do not have his wrath
We do not have judgment
We have compassion and kindness

We have God's mercy
We are not condemned
We are not lost
We are saved from doom and gloom

We have God's mercy
We have God's gift he gave freely
We have the grace of God
We have the forgiveness of God

We have God's mercy
We have God's strength
We have God's peace
We have God's love

We have God's mercy
We have God's love
We have God's hope
We have God's son Jesus

and we do not lose heart

We may mourn
We may cry
We may grieve
but we do not lose heart

We trust
We wait
We pray
We praise
We do not lose heart

We hope
We believe
We know the Truth
We do not lose heart

If God is for us, who can be against us

God loves me
God has a plan for me
God does not abandon me
God leads
God guides
God is in control

We have hope in Jesus
We do not lose heart

I love you Jesus!

trust part two

I didn't think it was a coincidence when I heard a message on the radio about suffering that slated the same scripture (John 9:1-3) that my pastor had talked about the weekend before at church. I didn't think it was a coincidence that that morning I heard the message on the radio, I was driving to the gym and couldn't pick up the usual station I listened to for some reason or another. I figured God was having me listen to something that he wanted me to know.


I know why God allows suffering. In my mind I get it. It is to mold us to be like Jesus, after all he suffered. He was despised, mocked, ridiculed, tortured, crucified. Indeed he suffered. He experienced loneliness, rejection, sorrow. He experienced it all so he could be our advocate and we could come to him when we needed him. I know that Jesus never promised us an easy life. He didn't say "if trouble comes" but "when trouble comes". And he promised he would be there with us, that he would never forsake us or abandon us.


I don't know why God allows this or that. But I know he is in control and he knows what is best. And that's when trust comes in. He is sovereign and he gives and he takes. And why one succeeds and another fails, I don't know why.


My heart is hurting tonight but there is someone whose heart is hurting soooooo much more right now who is grief stricken, I'm sure dazed, confused, lonely, sad, wondering why her, why now. I don't have the answers but I will pray and believe God will be with her and will comfort her and guide her and walk with her every step in the difficult journey that she started today that will be always a part of her life now. A defining moment. She'll always be known as this having happened to her. People will look at her and wonder how she is holding up, how she is managing. Yet even before it happened, God knew this day would come and for whatever reason, he allowed it. I pray she will cling to him and he will show himself in so many ways that she will know how much he loves her and that he is right there with her.


My heart hurts for you tonight, dear friend of mine.


Your little princess is safe tonight in the arms of the King. I love you Lord and I love you dear friend of mine.


(my dearest of friends from Montana lost her baby today; the baby was the girl she wanted after 3 boys, she delivered her today and said goodbye to her today; said she was beautiful.....)


I will trust in you Lord........................

does he??????

Does this dog look stressed to you??


How about this picture? Do you see anxiety and worry?? and Stress???


What does a corgi who is treated like royalty have to be stressed out?? He is catered to. He hogs the bed, he gets car rides on the weekends because he expects them. He rules the roost.

Yet he is plagued with stress. How do I know this?? Because we had him in the vet today with a flare up of that nasty stress colitis he had right after Christmas. I know I said in my last post that all was "firm and dandy" over here, but this weekend things turned a bit runny again which had us concerned so we took him in today.

Talk about stress. If anyone is stressed it was hubby getting up every few hours taking him outside to take care of his "business" last night. (this makes up for all those nights when I got up with the kids when they are babies, now he gets up with Koda; in the cold outside air, poetic justice if you ask me). Or if anyone else is stressed it is me wondering what the heck I'm doing wrong and what am I giving him to eat that is upsetting his stomach. And then being prepared on walks with tons of paper towels to clean up his business. That is stress.

The vet prescribed another 10 days of medicine and a probiotic, said sometimes it takes a bit to get the dog back into balance after a stress colitis episode.

and then..............................................

he had the "talk"

the dreaded talk

Koda was pretty upset by it all right now. He had been manhandled and poked and prodded and enough was enough.

But then the vet brought up a very unpleasant subject.

Oh dear.

Weight!!

Good news is Koda lost 2 pounds in a month. Bad news, he is still at least 6 pounds overweight.

Vet wanted to know what he ate. EVERYTHING he ate. People food and dog treats.

This was a bit embarrassing but we knew we would get read the third degree for giving in to those eyes of his.

Drastic measures ensued. NO MORE PEOPLE FOOD. None. No cheese, no cream cheese, no occasional Cheetos, no bites of bagel. NO MORE!!

One dog treat a day. Take it and cut it into four pieces and give it to him 4 times a day.

Cut back his dinner by 25%.

Bring him in every month to get weighed.

I'm sure Koda won't ever want to step back into that office yet alone come in monthly to get on that dreaded scale.

He sympathized with us and he said those corgis are good at being manipulative to get food but it is not good for their joints or their health. He said he knows it will be hard for us but we have to do it.

Koda is not sure what is worse. The thermometer or the diet talk.

Anyway which way, he is seriously on a diet.

Which means if he comes looking for food at your place, please don't give the corgi a cookie.........

organic

Koda is a creature of habit. He has his routines and he sticks to them pretty consistently, give or take a few minutes. Lately, in the evenings, he's been going into my son's room and sleeping for a few hours before its our bedtime and he hogs the bed.



I have to absolutely laugh when I see this picture. As so many of you know, son's girlfriend, KRC, lived with us for six months until she went back to her mom the third day of this new year. I cried the first day she left, I think it was just a release of emotions, but I am enjoying no drama and less trauma. I forgot how moody teen girls can be. But I digress. I have to laugh. When she was staying with us, she and son shared a room. He slept on the couch, but they kept their clothes and such in the same room. She always kept the room spotless. Made the bed right when she got up in the morning, didn't have anything on the floor, etc. A day after she left, son moved back in and it became a whirlwind of mess immediately. She would be appalled if she saw it. I'm happy to report, though, that she and her mom are getting along reasonably well and although she misses being here, she is adjusting and making some decisions about schooling, etc.

Koda doesn't mind the mess. He looks sooooo very content.

When Koda had his bout of stress colitis, the vet recommended we increase the fiber in his diet and suggested pumpkin. Dogs, I guess, like the taste of pumpkin. Sounded like a great idea. Except now that the holidays are over, we can't find any other pumpkin other than this organic pumpkin from Target. $1.99 a can!! A can lasts about 3-4 days since I add a liberal spoonful to his dry dog food. Every time we go to Target we grab a can or two or three or four to have on hand just in case.

Of course one time we just were not thinking and when we went looking for pumpkin, we bought this. It looked different than the plain pumpkin but it didn't click with me for a few days until Koda started getting "loose" instead of "firm" like he was. I racked my brain trying to figure out what was wrong since we had changed so much for the best in what he ate, etc. Then it dawned on me (thank you Lord) about the pumpkin. We were giving him the pumpkin mix to make a pie that had spices, etc in it (thankfully just for 2 days). Got that out of his diet and put him on the organic stuff and life is wonderful once again. The things we do for that corgi puppy.

Its been raining here since Monday. And its COLD (okay, I'm a wimp, 49 is cold). Our roof sprung a leak. Glad we are renting and thankful nothing got ruined.

So what is new with you?

God's will

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We all want to know what God's will is for our lives. Where to go, what to do, who to marry, what kind of career, etc. etc.

But God's will is more than that. God's will is how we live.

will - desire, decision making, capacity by choice without reluctance.

God's will is to have me glorify him, honor him, praise him, love him first before anything or anyone else. To believe in Him, trust Him, have faith that He knows what is best for me. To believe Jesus died for my sins and Father God rose him from the dead. To believe Jesus is the only way to heaven and with that knowledge and the fact that God wants me to be like Jesus more and more every day, God's will is that I live a life pleasing to him, a life that glorifies him, a life that is purpose driven to be more like Jesus every day. A life that takes up the cross of Jesus every day, a life that models Jesus.

A life that

loves one another
loves my enemy
loves God first
serves others
humble
moral
compassionate

and to live a life like that, I need to not live like the world

not be

bitter
angry
self righteous
me first
my wants
immoral
arrogant
proud

I need to re-think, change the way I think. Transform my mind to thinking about God first and then I can know his will.

Tall order but I'm willing to try it.