Treasure of Learning just like Jonah did!

For my birthday an old friend (longtime not old) wrote me a note that said "Happy birthday to the gal who taught me to tie my shoes in kindergarten." Did I really show her how to tie her shoes in Kindergarten?? I can believe I did...sounds just like me !! I was one of the oldest and I am sure I took it upon myself to show the rest how to do what I could already do !! I was sure they needed to learn how and evidently no one else was teaching them...or they weren't listening and learning. Even in Kindergarten, I was already already a Miss Fix-it . And it was always to be helpful.....never to be pushy or bossy....nooooooo, never !!

So, here I am some 50+ years later and I still think I can fix things....for others and for me !!And it is still to be helpful not pushy or bossy...or so I THINK ! I am quite sure God did not go on a vacation and ask me to fill in for Him. In fact I doubt if He even mentioned to me that my services were needed or so in demand ! He is mighty God, creator of the universe and world....I think He can function just fine without my help.......I am not sure my friends can........ but if God be for them, then what can stand against them ??

So this is something the Lord is talking to me about and working on with me !

Letting God be God and do His job....He is really good at it !! Something Jonah seeminly forgot in his running away to Tarshish....and then his pouting about how the Lord was going to be merciful and save the people of Ninevah. A wicked people who needed to learn a lesson or two on how to honor and obey God. And Jonah was just the one to show them...after all he was a prophet and a good one and obeying God was a priority ....or was it.....or is it??  But it became one, finally, as Jonah realized the necessity of doing things God's way. He could agree with David in Psalm 119:71 & 75  "It is  good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me."  The discipline God allowed was not meant to punish Jonah but to prepare him for doing things God's way.....accepting and surrendering to God's discipline was the wise thing to do ! Jonah's heart needed a realignment* to be able to handle his reassignment...or should I say his willingness to complete his original assignment !! So, how is this applicable to me.....do I see a parallel to my life and my " I did it my way" theme song. I think I just might.

 My devotional for today said...paraphrased......Seek my face and your will find my presence and my peace...BUT to receive it, you must change your grasping controlling stance to one of openess and trust. The most persistent choice you face is whether to trust me ......Psalm 46:1-2 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains (or JONAH) fall into the heart of the sea"

What a traceable, trustable treasure…. to be able to leave it up to God…..after all........ He is GOD!


* Jonah pg 64~ by Priscila Shirer

The Treasure of Doing Things God's Way!

I thought I would share with you all, some of the interesting truths from a book I am reading by Priscilla Shirer called "Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted."

You can’t escape life’s interruptions…they shock us and shake us and compel us to change. Yet what you see as an interruption may in reality be an invitation from God himself to a life much bigger than you ever imagined !! God’s plan IS a Divine intervention .…where our balking at God’s plan is an indication of the importance we place on our wants and makes it an interruption. We often feel like Jonah felt about God’s Plan!~~frustrated. The importance we place on our plans, often causes us to frown when the Lord sends new assignments our way.

Would it have made a difference if Jonah could have seen his life laid out in the 4 chapters of Jonah and if he could have seen that this interruption ( which he fled to Tarsus to avoid ) was really an invitation to participate in one of the more supernatural events in the Old Testament…Just that change in his viewing perspective would have made all the difference in his life ….as it does in ours !

It is easier to say that God and His plans are in a place of significance in our lives than to live like they are. The prophet, Jonah needed a fresh view of God and His plan …one he would get the hard way! May we take a page from Jonah’s life and rework our view early on. And may we come to realize that yielding to God is the best decision we can make.  It is such a Traceable, Trustable Treasure.

Prov 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Psalm 81:13-14a  “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies ...

Psalm 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.

The Treasure of becoming as a Little Child

This morning I watched as one of the little ones at church (I think she is 3) from the stage. I was singing with the Praise Team and my eyes usually gravitate to the little ones in the congregation. Maybe because I know that they will be smiling and if they know the song they will be singing along.

Well this little one was holding her dad’s hand….or I should say he was holding hers….probably to keep her at her seat. You see, she loves to dance while we are singing…Now you may not always be able to sing along ….esp. if you are 3 and can not read the monitor! But even if you don’t know the words you can dance!!! When the music starts somehow you just start to move with it ….it is a gift and you can’t restrain it! At least this little one can’t.

This morning we sang”Away in a Manger” which she of course knew so she sang out with all her heart as her dad smiled on and I did too! And to that lullaby type song she just swayed along. But next we sang a song that is a bit newer and faster…and I watched her. For this song she was bobbing up and down and when we got to the chorus she started to sing at the same tempo at which she was bobbing (again with all her heart)…. “My soul, my soul magnifies the Lord, my soul magnifies the Lord…he has done great things for me ….great things for me”.

 By then as you can imagine I was smiling and crying at the same time. What a blessing it was to watch….what a lot I can learn from this precious little one. She is a little girl and I am sure she has days of defiance and disobedience (like me and like you ) but when the Lord moves in her heart with a melody she is busy responding, not wondering if anyone is watching or what they might be thinking. Oh that I may be, oh that we may be  more like little Lauren.
What a Teachable Trustable Treasure to learn.   Amen and Amen.


He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Mt 18:2-3

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Mt 19:14

The Treasure of a Child's Confidence

I was thinking today about the Harford Christian School Christmas program on Friday night. About half of my grand-kids were in it and my daughter commandeered the whole thing so, it seemed very special to me. Plus I got to see Kate who just turned three and I gave her a birthday gift.


Sierra's class ( who is in K4) did a Charlie Brown Christmas and she did a very good job of standing quietly and watching Aunt Dawn and her teacher. Do you know how I knew she did good? She told me !! I said Sierra , You did a wonderful job up on stage and she smiled and said "Yes I did do a good job" She didn't have to ask anyone else what they thought or take a survey to see how many thought she did great....And her smile was proof positive that she had won the victory over the wiggles! and she was pleased that her parents were pleased. Sierra does try very hard to please her father and mother    .....because she loves them.....sounds like a good example for me to follow!!

So it should be with us as Children of the King......Our light should so shine that others may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven...our smile should be living proof that our God reigns and that we take delight in His good pleasure. With God on our side who can stand against us??? Not even Mr Wiggles !

Ps 144:15b says "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord"......

and Ps 146:5 "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God."

May you have a blessed and happy Christmas ......may the Lord shine his Light on you as it shown over that stable small so many years ago

And may you have the Traceable Trustable Treasure of a child's endeavor to please ....and her LOVE for her Father.

The Treasure of.........

Yesterday was our anniversary…twenty six years…..twenty six !!! Time flies, doesn’t it?


It does seem like only yesterday when we began this journey together , hand in hand and Heart to heart. It has been an adventure for both of us and we expect the next 26 to be just as much of an adventure. And we will walk (not running much anymore) this walk together with each other and our Lord.

The Lord has been so gracious to me. He has done such great things in my life that I am totally unworthy of but oh, the matchless love of my Savior. He brought John into my life and kept him in my life….. that in itself is a “wonder” ( if you know me you are smiling ) The Lord, my great Physician,  has kept me thru my bout with Parkinson’s and has so graciously provided me with a surgery and doctors who have helped keep the disease in check …and I do very well even tho I have my share of secondary and primary side effects. I marvel at how the Lord has sustained me thru 15+years with this disease. And I marvel at John’s care and devotion to me thru it as well… another gift from God.  And the Lord gets all the praise and glory for all of it ! I would not dare to take any credit myself ……not after all He’s done for me. That reminds me of an old chorus

After all He's done for me
After all He's done for me
How can I do less than give Him my best
And live for Him completely
After all He's done for me

Psalm 40:10  I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.



Psalm 96:15  But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.


So what is that Trustable Traceable Treasure we are searching out…..I would say it is FAITHFULNESS….the Lord’s faithfulness to us and the faithfulness of those who love Him and follow Him.

“His” Smile on My Face

I was at the dentist today and he is finishing up my teeth! I had a lot of work done on them over the past year and still have more that can be done the road when I need it.  It was great when he did my lower front teeth and that did help my smile.. .  But today is the day I really have been waiting for…my front top teeth!! I wanted them done first but I guess Dr Murphy knew if I had them done first, I might have skipped the rest (smile) YES…SMILE…I can smile and not feel like covering my mouth and teeth. What a blessing!  But with that blessing comes this thought….that it really isn’t the teeth that make the smile…..the smile comes from the inside out and only the Lord is the author of such a smile.  At least I hope that is true of me! I want it to be true of me!!   

Ps 126:2 says Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy…..

and Ps 68 :3 says But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. 

Only the Lord can make such a black heart as mine…whiter than snow and filled with laughter and sweet sounds of praise.  What a great God we serve….one that gives us dentists that  have the talent to repair a broken smile,  husbands that work it into the budget to afford a new smile, friends that don’t mind if your smile isn’t quite perfect on the outside and a loving Savior whose spirit fills our smile from the inside out… with all the fruit and gifts of the Spirit.

What a Traceable Trustable Treasure is “His” smile on my face

The Treasure of Praying Together

I have been busy this month with Prayer Force One Women’s post each day in their 31 Days of Prayer for America. What a blessing ithas been....
I tweak their posts so that they fit in the 420 characters allowed in a Facebook status and then look up and add scriptures. I have enjoyed doing this each day and reading the feedback or just the “likes”. What an awesome privilege it is to pray each day for our country….to pray for the many phases of our government, to pray for our leaders and to pray for the people who are the citizens of this nation. God has given us the precious calling to lift up America and ask his blessing on it.   In 1863 Abraham Lincoln offered an amazing prayer for this nation…..how can we do less? Listen to part of it and stand convicted and convinced that our GOD is a great God and Mighty to save.....even to the uttermost.

Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.


We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former condition of unity and peace.


Amen and Amen

 I trust that you will lift your voice in prayer with the hundreds of other ladies in Prayer Force One Women each day ….what a wonderful blessing to be able to come to the throne of the Most High GOD and  join together….to bring our own unique thoughts, our prayers and perspectives; But still coming together with one heart, one Spirit. We can stand alongside our sisters, holding hands  and say "AMEN!"……What a Traceable, Trustable Treasure is the body of Christ... especially when it is praying together!