As promised!

 A while back I told you I would be working on rearranging and regrouping my "Other Journals" section on my sidebar.  Well, the first category is complete.  Starting off Christian journals.  These are journals who's entries primarily are edifying in nature or inspirational or expound on the Bible.

 

Now, there are some very nice Christian people here in J-land who's journal is not on this list.  Simply put, their writings primarily focus on other things.  They'll probably find themselves in one of my other categories along the way.

 

So, indulge me and let me walk you through each of these entries and introduce you.  Some will be old friends of yours, I am sure.  Others may not.  Let's all get acquainted, shall we?

 

Always bold and never ashamed, Carolyn, keeps tabs on issues in our culture and our world that deal with life and death and the value of humans and human life.  Be it abortion, stem cells, cloning or euthanasia she's on top of it at A Matter of Life. 

 

Vee is a warm, sweet lady who is exuberant for Christ!  Like me, she's a lamb who had gone astray and she celebrates being back by the Shepherd with some powerful devotional style writings.  She truly is a Sold Out Woman!

 

Tammy almost always leaves you feeling uplifted with her beautiful graphics, the Bible quotes and poems she shares and her own bright personality.  No wonder she found it easy to title her journal Friends in HIM.

 

Who doesn't know Barb?  Most every one in J-land has been touched by her prayers, warmth and love at one time or another.  At Hey Let's Talk, you can get a shot in the arm to help you face the day and carry on.  Her honesty and faith shine through to touch all who venture by.  And From Barb's Spiritual Journal is full of meditations, reflections and prayers from her own journey with the Lord.

 

Penny's past missionary journeys, her life, her children and her own struggles with pain combine with her faith in From Here to There.  She's real.  You can laugh and cry with her like you would any dear friend.

 

Hunybea's Open Journal is a look into the life of a young wife, mother, and Christian crusading against abortion.  She's not afraid to be herself, warts and all.  (Not that she really has warts.  It's a country expression maybe.)

 

Sometimes Cammie simply posts a few verses.  Others she introduces you to an evangelist.  And sometimes with Truth that smacks you between the eyes.  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!!!  Hey, this girl is not ashamed!

 

I have just recently found Wayne.  He is actually a minister!  He shares his testimony and faith in his words at Marturia.

 

At I Believe, you'll find Ginger pouring out her heart and soul, as unto the Lord.  She is living proof that the Lord walks with us through our trials!

 

Carolyn has another journal: No Apologies - Biblical perspectives on world events.  And that is just what she offers!  She's thorough and well thought out in every entry.  Recently she has been doing a series on the last days.  A real must read!

 

Simply named, clean and clear is Kristen's self titled journal.  She, too, is a fairly new read for me.  Her devotional style entries hit the nail on the head.

 

Gwynn is a talented writer ofthe short story.  Her journal Shorts, puts this gift to use for Him and His glory.  Good, solid Christian writing here.

 

Where to spend Eternity.  This is another recent find.  I don't even know the name of the gentleman to whom it belongs.  He has recently been sharing some very interesting information regarding the resurrection.  He admits he is not a writer, but a gather and sharer of information.

 

Don't let the title Faith in Roman Catholicism fool you.  Kellen is clearly a young man with a growing relationship with the risen Lord.  He may practice the Catholic religion, but his faith rests in Someone higher.

 

That about sums it all up.  Take your time.  Mix and mingle.  Enjoy each others company.

 

I covet your prayers for Pete and I tomorrow.  We'll be going to UTMB in Galveston in our ever widening search to find out why he feels so miserable so very much of the time.

For any who don't know, the University of Texas Medical Branch is a teaching hospital.  Patients can get tests and treatments on a sliding scale based on income.

 

God bless all who pass this way!

 

Barbara

Tags: Christian blogs, UTMB

A Day of Animals

                

Yesterday was quite some day.  I usually have Mondays off from work, and yesterday was no exception.  We planned to get Hubby up to have an x-ray of his neck the doctor had wanted.  But he slept in late and I piddled away time, afraid to get into anything too involved, for he'd just wake up and be in a rush to get away.

 

Finally, he did start his day and we made the necessary arrangements.  While I was phoning and doing this, Pete went out to check the live traps he had set near the woods where eggs and chickens had been disappearing.  He had baited them up with old eggs the night before. 

 

To his surprise and mine, we had a small but full grown red fox in one of the traps!!  He was one frightened and vicious little animal.  Pete was pondering what to do with him.  He looked much like Todd from the Fox and the Hound.  He finally decided we'd simply load the cage in the trunk and drop him in the woods many miles from here on our hour journey to the hospital.

 

Pete found a good dirt road to go down.  Nothing but woods, no sign of houses.  He set the cage on the ground pointed into the woods and lifted the door.  That fox shot right out of there!!!  Obviously happy to be free once more.  Yet, somewhat confused as to which side of the road to enter the woods on.  He darted back and forth while he loped away from us in indecision.  Just as he almost disappeared from sight he darted in the brush. 

 

So, hopefully his story has a happy ending.

 

The other big event of the day, didn't end so well. 

 

When we returned home it was late and the school bus had already ran.  The kids were in the yard doing chores.  Hubby was walking around checking his garden.  He noticed our quarter horse, Blaze, was acting oddly and stopped to watch her.  She was turning round.  Laying down.  Getting right back up.  Then next thing he knew, water came out and she presented a birth sac just emerging!!  He had no idea this mare was bred!  He is calculating how long it had been since she was last known to be in.  The math wasn't adding up.  We were immediately worried.

 

I came in and found a great online sight about horses:  Horsetalk.  They had a full article on the birthing process.  You see, in the past, every time the mares have given birth when we were asleep or gone from home.  We had never been such a part of it before.  Although, Pete has come upon them immediately afterward.  

 

I run out to tell him if the front hooves didn't appear within 15 minutes or so, he'd better get ready to help her.  But they did.  And then the head.  All still covered by the sac, which is normal.  Time passes.  And on schedule she finally delivers her whole bundle.  But the bundle appears way too small.  And the bundle does not start to kick free of the sac in the required time.  So, Pete enters the pen and burst the sac.  But the poor thing is stillborn.  No sign of life.  Fully developed but no way near the size it should be yet.  He figures a month to two months too early.  

 

Would have been our first filly.  White stocking legs, line back paint.  Blaze is still down.  She keeps checking behind her to see if the little one will stand.  Pete pulls a wagon over and puts the baby in it.  As he pulls the wagon away, Blaze finally stands with some coaxing.  That is a relief!  As Pete pulls the wagon on out of the pen, Blaze stretches her neck to nuzzle the head one time.  May be just dumb animals, but there was a definite disappointment in her eyes. 

 

Pete thinks she may have been kicked by another horse to have caused this.  Or it may have just been one of those some unknown thing not right situations.  He and the kids buried it down the hill by Bug's mare that died.

 

Now we just wait expectantly for Emmy (Immaculate Conception) his Tennessee Walking horse, who we know is bred, to give birth in May or June.  (One month difference in the gestation between male and female.)  The hope is for a mare.  Bug wants to raise and train one by her own hand. 

                       

Tags: red foxes, horses

Who'd a thunk it?

Okay, someone start the drum roll, please!  I have now been blogging here in J-land for two years!  I have to say, I do believe it has exceeded my expectations.  Met a lot of nice folks.  Found new friends. 

I changed out my side bar animation.  Tossed the one year marker and put up a two year marker.  If anyone is looking for one, they are made by Jill Marie at Coloring Inside the Lines.

And in celebration, I'm digging out my third entry in this journal and reposting it here, today:

  Scars of Hurt and Resentment

Hello Sisters! I had to mow some today and strange as it may seem I do some of my best praying and meditating riding that mower. It drowns out the world and puts me in a cocoon. Any way, I was out there and praying. Lifting up some sisters who have been very hurt in the past and the present by others. And all of a sudden God brings Dr. Washburn to mind. Now Dr. Washburn was a real Texas style plastic surgeon. Complete with a cigar in the ER! When I was 11 and our family was hit by a man who fell asleep at the wheel, Dr. Washburn was on call and sewed us all up. Now in a few months me and mom went back to him, because our injuries were on our faces and we needed some surgery to look more normal again....for the scar to not be so noticeable and prominent. Dr. Washburn feels and pushes and pokes on mother's scar and tells her to make an appointment with receptionist to set up the 1st of her surgeries in a couple of weeks. Then he turns to me and again he pokes, pushes and feels. Then he shakes his head and turns to mom and says....it'll be 4-5 years before we can do her. Mom is surprised and wants of course to know why. The doctor went on to explain that children's bodies were so busy growing that their scars actually healed slower than an adults. The scar tissue when new was stiff and hard. It had to get to the stage that it was soft and pliable before restoration could be done.

Now what I draw from this is that the scars on our hearts from hurts and unforgiveness are the same way!
The places where we have been scarred by hurt and resentment can not be restored by our Lord until they become soft and pliable. It may take a lot of time, but the scars can soften and heal! Sometimes the best steps are to pray to forgive. And to pray FOR person who caused the hurt, not ABOUT them. Once you start praying for someone, even if you don't "feel" it at first, eventually you will. You have to take the steps and do the actions like you have forgiven and let the true forgiveness follow in behind.
Then Jesus can sculpt and remake the damaged areas so that they are once again pleasing to His eye!

Just the thoughts of a sister on her mower. May you all be blessed with a Glorious Weekend in the Lord!

Barbara

 

Tags: John Deere mowers, plastic surgery, forgiveness

Signs of Spring in Caneyhead

Isn't he gorgeous!  We have a wide array of roosters around here.  And signs of spring are everywhere.  From the usual blossoms on fruit trees and the ample oak and pine pollen that makes a thin yellow layer on anything outside.  To the abundance of baby chicks in every size and stage imaginable running all around and about.

Another sure sign of spring is potatoes in the ground and tomatoe, pepper and eggplant plants lined up like solders for inspection.

There's the increase in ATV traffic from one house to another.  Almost daily rounds to share coffee or a cold one, check on the progress of yards and gardens. 

Sows who grow tired of the same ole thing and bust out and end up at someone else's house, down the pipeline.  Obligingly, they allow us to board her there until the necessary repairs are made.

There's the fish fry's and the rounds about the pond that Pete and Bug make to get a couple of big bullfrogs to put in the mix.  Bug swears they are delicious.  I'll take her word on it.

There are abundant snakes to kill, as they come for eggs.  And the chicken hawks that have to be discouraged by waving the shotgun.  (Hey, they know what it is!!)  And there are eyes in the backwater behind the pond.  Red eyes.  Eyes that my hubby promises me belong to alligators.  Fishermen on the Neches River see them, but you expect to have to go to the river....not a couple of hundred yards out your backdoor!!

There's good old fashioned "singings".  One of which Bubba attended with the church youth and then went on to Woodville for Pizza.  (For anyone out of the loop, a singing is a gathering where one or more or many sing for hours in a church and everyone is invited:  no charge.)

There are young fellows riding down the sides of the roads covered in mud.  They've tried every road ditch and pipeline for the fun of it on their ATV's.  You pass more and more people on horseback.  Just getting in a ride before the next trailride, benefit or playday.

There is the sound of sleet on the roof the eve of Easter.  And snowflakes seen drifting through the air from Bush Lake to Jasper.

Little sunkissed country girls run and play and plant and fall in the mud, all while barefoot.

If you cut the stinging weed back, you find four o'clocks making their debut.

Yep, spring has sprung in Caneyhead, and it is delightful!!

Hope your's is at least half as good. 

 

 

Tags: trailrides, ATV's, singings, playdays, benefits, snakes, alligators, chicken hawks

Lo, I am with you always.

   He arose!!  He arose!!

He arose a victor from the dark domain

and He lives forever with His saints to reign! 

He arose!  He arose!  Hallelujah!  Christ arose!!

                                          

                                

Tags: Risen Lord

It is finished!

  "Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new rock hewn tomb,  and rolled a great stone across the entrance as he left."  Matthew 27:60 TLB

 

At that time and in that day, all seemed lost.  Even the inner circle could not fathom or grasp what had occurred, what was occurring, and what would occur!!!  Yet, now with hind sight and God's Word, we know this was God winning the war we could never win for us!  Without the blood shed on the cross, there can be no cleansing from sin.  With no cleansing, there is no hope.  Christ purchased for us hope on that cross.

 

If your Christ has no nail scars and blood stains, He's useless.  If your religion does not preach Christ crucified, it is pointless.  If you haven't been plunged to victory beneath the cleansing flood that flowed from Calvary, then you are lost.  Do not stay there!  Don't remain outside the fold.  Hear the shepherd say "Come!"  Hear the Master knocking on your heart's door!  He loves you and desires to abide with you always.                

                               

"Time after time He has waited before, and now He is waiting again,

To see if you're willing to open the door.  Oh, how He wants to come in!"

 

Easter:  Matthew chapters 26-28

Tags: Easter, Christ, Salvation

Things are Changing

Suppose you can call this an informative entry.  A heads up thing.  First, notice in my All About Me, there is a graphic for Breast Cancer Awareness.  It is linked to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  Founded by a Texas woman; Janelle Hail. 

At this site you can check fact against myth, find out about early detection, read up on the signs and symptoms, research or contribute.

This is in honor of my brave and beautiful friends, Jeannette and Sugar.  If you haven't had the chance yet, go by and lend them your love, support and prayers. 

And while I have you here I want to give you a heads up.  I'm gonna be tinkering with my Other Journals section in the sidebar.  I want to update and organize my links according to predominate type or theme.  (i.e. inspirational, country life, family, etc.)

God bless and keep this family we call J-land.  There are so many among us facing one crisis or another.  Spouse who is ill, children with problems, loss of loved ones, financial hardships, depression.  This is our neighborhood and these are our neighbors, our friends.  Let us always be there one for another.

                            

 

 

 

Tags: Breast Cancer, J-land, friendships, blogplugs