He Still Moves Mountains

What's your mountain? God can move it! Don't believe me? The praise reports I've heard lately prove His existence, His power and His love for His people. I was blown away yesterday by yet another story of a marriage that was filed for divorce and the Lord flipped the whole thing around within a matter of days. This couple is incredibly changed--both husband and wife, individually. I shook my head with tears brimming as the wife recounted how the Lord masterfully gifted His godly sorrow upon them for their sin and how each of them is so overwhelmed by who they were in the marriage, that suddenly, the other person's "issues" don't seem as looming anymore. Only a great and loving God can do this. Before it happens, no one would ever desire to feel the pain of their own sin but after the truth is brought to light by the Holy Spirit, the unbelievable miracle that ensues is astounding!

Be encouraged, Friends! Your situation is not too big for God to handle!

Matthew 17:20 Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Lovin' Family Time At Easter

747. how the yearly family photo changes-heights are obviously different but the cooperation is also noticably better :)

748. two fantastic brothers-in-law

749. swift little legs that run to beat all the cousins to the eggs (Go, Ben!)

750. the grandkids photo with Mama and Papa

751. even better: being released from the photo to go hunting for eggs!
752. finding toads instead

753. Papa's photogenic smile

754. hanging out with Daddy for a whole day

755. sorting through a boy-scuffle

756. my handsome guy who I can still catch staring at me and when our eyes meet, I smile sheepishly

757. starting new traditions with sisters and girlfriends who are sisters (catching that one?)

758. the boy who will climb anything... I mean it (Go, Sam!)

759. the swing that has been in our family since I was a teenager

760. the yard-sale wagon that has entertained every grandchild for weekends at Mama and Papa's

761. sisters who laugh in photos when you say, "Laugh." (the only people who can make me "lose it" in laughter till I hurt)

762. the bravery and mentorship to me of this younger sister

763. girly-ness to the maximum (don't make this kid wear pants just because it's a cold day!)

764. my only one who will actually gobble up all the eggs she finds

765. how he went back to that tree over and over like it was an "egg tree" and would just somehow grow eggs

766. the joy of a prize won and cousins to share it with (Jake's remote truck) 767. this woman who made the whole day memorable for all of us

All Things Are New

He has made everything new.

As winter melts away, spring arises in all her glory.

Baby animals are born and the colours of the world return.

We participate in the creating.

"Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 21:5

...especially, us.

This Is Friday, And It Is Good

It's called Good Friday but when the historic happenings of this day are researched in detail, it's horribly grotesque and sad. My husband and I will experience The Passion Of The Christ movie once again in order to have these images refreshed in our minds for the coming year. I squint through laced fingers over my eyes but I have to see. I need to picture what He may have looked like. I need to fall in love with the way He told stories to the people, how He loved the children, how He led His disciples, how He healed the "nobodies", how He willingly allowed Himself to be taken to the slaughter. And then, when I do fall in love with Him, I watch the death and remember it was my sin that held Him there.

Are you a visual person? When I'm in prayer, I must picture my Jesus. I imagine Him on the hillside and in the boat on the sea... and carrying that cross... it helps me to focus on Who I am praying to. This God of the universe in human form--listening to me.

But it's all GOOD because we know the end of the story. Just days later He lives again and every Easter hymn and every picture and every symbol makes my heart leap because they all proclaim that I get to live too... forever--because of what He did that Friday.

We've just got to remember. Remember with me that this day is good.

(photos of decorating our Easter Tree this week--given to us by Molly's Sunday School teachers, Angela, James and Randi-Lynn--Thank you!)

The Utter Determination Of A Boy

Need I say more?

Banana Bread Bunny

On the way home from the pet store she named the bunny, Banana Bread. She rarely sets her heart on anything, this child who is easy to please--so I buckled. It's her birthday next month and I used that as my excuse :)

Welcome, little bunny, into our hearts.

Spirit Of Heaviness

"the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness... " (Isaiah 61:3)

Needing to find some things to be thankful for this morning...

733. the movement of treetops in the wind

734. everlasting life

735. decorating our Easter tree given to us by Molly's Sunday School teacher

736. Passion Week

737. watching Meg's bulb grow in the warm, bay window

738. Molly's excitement over her homemade mini-ecosystem

739. babysitting a niece today

740. how my sister joked about half-price pedicures when they mentioned amputation for her leg

741. how longing for heaven in the midst of trials actually puts into perspective the reason we're here

742. finally... flowers

743. the ballet moms

744. cancellations... right on time and part of His plan

745. eating "clean" again and the start of each day--a new beginning after failure

746. how deep the Father's love for me--repeating it over and over today

Wide Open Spaces

Wide open spaces means dancing is inevitable, in this family. My husband turned into the airport last Sunday when we were on a drive and our children clamored over one another to exit the van, running and leaping all the way across an empty parking lot.

Daddy let Oliver turn the steering wheel and "drive" around the parking lot while little girls twirled and spun and giggled all the way. I love it when our "togetherness" looks like this, on a Sunday afternoon.

Gratitude:

720. twirls, giggles and running free

721. Sunday afternoon drives

722. how gratitude changes a mood :)

723. how she writes poetry on a whim

724. my sister's successful surgery

725. blogger friends who pray--I praise God for you!

726. my other sister and her husband's fantastic production of Esther last night at their church

727. how he tells me each day he's rounding up the bad guys for the police

728. how my husband's gratitude changed how he led his staff meeting and then the morale at work that ensued

729. how he's my "fix-it man" --again

730. the way my nephew plays Captain Hook, with a twinkle in his eye for our homeschool production rehearsals

731. how my mom drove 5 hours with me for Meg's competition

732. new things the Lord shares when I determine to meditate regularly--so worth it!