My Knight in Shining Armor

                   Deserted house on Potsdam-Morley Road  Potsdam, NY

God's love shines down on us at all times 
    just waiting for us to accept it.

During many times in my life,
I have wished for a knight in shining armor
to come and whisk me away,
taking all my problems
and making everything better.  

He would know exactly what to do
and know exactly what I wanted and needed.

 
Needless to say, it never happened
and no human being can do all that.  

I have a wonderful husband of 42 years
but even he can’t do all that.

However, God truly is our knight in shining armor.  

He absolutely knows what is best for us.  

He truly understands us
like no one else possibly could.  

He knows what we want and if we allow,
shows us what will make us truly happy. 

      This beautiful vine thrives on this dead tree.
          God's love can make our hearts thrive
            even in the worst of circumstances.

He doesn’t take all our problems away
but He helps us to solve them in ways
that guide us on the right path,
the path to eternal joy.  

Most of us seek happiness and peace in our lives whether or not we realize it.  

The only way to find true and lasting happiness and peace is through our walk with Jesus. 

    If we only allow, we too will blossom with His love.

It’s not an easy trip but so worth the effort.  

The end result is heavenly
with our blessed knight in shining armor.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Jesus is standing there waiting for us to turn to Him.

Life can be dark all around us but we can blossom with God's love

Is Your Heart Ablaze for the Lord?

Do you run to Him?
Do you take all your problems to Him?

Do you tell Him about all your hopes and worries?

Do you lay all your troubles at His feet,
at the foot of the Cross?

Do you answer when He calls?

“Come to Me, My love for you is limitless.”

He’s calling.

His heart is aching for you to answer.

His arms are open wide.

  His love is shining down on you where ever you are 
                and whatever you are doing.
                Just open your eyes and see.

His love for you is so amazing.

                           Windmills between Malone and Ellenburg, NY
    
        If you let Him in, He will energize your life.

He died just for you,

You are so precious to your Loving Father.

Open your heart
and He will fill it with an awesome JOY
that nothing else can possibly compare to.

In Matthew Chapter 11 verse 29, Jesus says
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.”

              Little brook behind barrier before Ellenburg.

         He will provide rest for your soul 
            when you least expect it.

When you open your heart to Him,
your heart will blaze with a JOY and peace
that will carry you through anything
that this life can dish out
and it will bring you to an eternity of bliss
with your Loving Father.

       When life is at it's darkest, turn to the Son.

Run to Him, walk to Him, crawl to Him,
reach out to Him with your arms open wide
and He will set your heart ablaze.

But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.  Deuteronomy 4:29

   
   Each of these trees stands out because each is different and beautiful.  Each of us stands out because God gives each of us our own special talents to work for His honor and glory.

A Means To An End

Is this life a means to an end?

Is what we go through
a way to prepare us for what is to come?

Do our hardships, our sufferings
and those of our loved ones
teach us and soften our hearts
to the problems of others?

Do we allow our Loving Father to love on us,
to teach us, mold us, shape us into His children
for eternity?

Do we see problems and say
“Why aren’t You fixing them, God?”

Or do we see these are our appointments
to be His hands, His feet and His voice
to do His work?

Is that our purpose,
the reason we were born and live?

         To everything there is a season
   and a time to every purpose under heaven.
    Is this your time to shine with God's love?

Is our life the means to an end
to fix the issues Satan uses to undermine God?

Do we listen for the still small voice speaking, nudging, urging, always molding His precious children to His vision of perfection for eternity?

He has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,  2 Timothy 1:9

Book Reviews:



Angels by Billy Graham

Do angels exist?  Or better yet, do they exit today? Are they really all around us, guarding us, fighting our battles with the forces of darkness?  Read the book and see what you think?  I heartily recommend this easy to read book.




The Church God Blesses by Jim Cymbala

Why would God bless a certain church or person more than another one?  Jim Cymbala has some inspiring ideas to enrich your life.  Another I heartily recommend.

I borrowed both these books from the Knapps Station Church library which has a lot to offer.




Knapps Station Community Church

This is my church.  I have been fed spiritually here as I never had before.

(Check out the website for directions and lots of other great information.)

Knapps Station Church is a great place to feed your soul with the "good stuff" from the Bible.

My church is always providing new bible studies. We have begun one on what it really means to be a Christian.
The class takes place every Sunday at 6:30 pm and runs 2 more weeks. It's never too late to start and find out what the word "disciple" really means.


Christian, It's Not What You Think

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I would also like to suggest that you check out the blog page for my friend, Jean Oathout.  I have received much good information and many blessings from her blog:

Treasures in Christ

Resurrection Power  is a current post that is very inspiring.


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Commentary:

The beauty of the fall season is upon us.  My husband and I drove both to Saranac Lake and Burlington last week and took pictures on the way.  It seems that the colors are especially beautiful this year and that the colorful season is extended longer than expected.  Is God blessing us in a special way? We could never earn all He gives us and none of us deserves all the good we get BUT He loves us so much He gives it anyhow.

Blessing:

May your life be blessed with the JOY
   that God gives to each season of your life.
May you see the beauty all around you
And may you be blessed by the JOY
   of knowing how much God really loves you.

Blessings for you,my friend for a wonderful week and a safe Halloween for you and all the little ones in your life. 

All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen - 

  used with permission

All bible reference from the NIV unless otherwise noted

If you are interested, you can click on the Blog Archive 

  dates on the top right side of this post to connect 

  to previous blog posts

I would love to hear from you either on the      comment section of this blog post
  or through my email  

  debbieamcewen@gmail.com

I post every other Saturday 

The next post will be 11-3-2016

 Wild deer eating fallen crab apples in our backyard at dusk

I Could Never Be as Good as You, Lord

                             gazebo downtown Potsdam, NY
    
In heaven there will be peace and rest from our labors.  God has a place waiting for each of us.
His grace gives us more that any of us could ever earn.

I get impatient, angry, frustrated 

   and so on with others

You never do

Your patience Your love, 

   Your tolerance are positively amazing

It reminds me that You are God who is perfect 

   and I am only an imperfect creature

I profess to be Your child

But I make so many mistakes
I sin so often

I try to apologize

But it must be monotonous to You

To see my sins and hear my apologies so many times

I never hear Your frustration,

I never feel Your anger,

I never sense that you are impatient with me

You are so amazing

I am so blessed to be Your child

I need so much help from you, so much patience,
so much tolerance and forgiveness

I am so imperfect, a real work in progress

How wonderful You are that You love me so much

   that you died on the cross
   to redeem me from my sins

I can’t wait to see You in person
   when I get to go to heaven

Praise You that You paved the way
   for me to get there

Thank You so much, Lord
   for Your immeasurable love and grace

Blessed be Your Most Holy Name.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

        At boat launch on Canton-Ogdensburg Road  Canton, NY
    The water was like glass.  Notice the clouds and trees reflected on the water.

            

         Bend in the river on Canton-Potsdam Road  Canton, NY

                Same location.  Notice all the geese in the water.
Despite the sin, the chaos, the wrongs perpetrated every day by man against man, God loves us and reaches out to us.  He coaxes us.  He says "Come to Me, My love for you is limitless."

I Was Wrong, Lord

Please forgive me

I could say it wasn’t a “big” sin

But compared to You and Your perfection,
   it was HUGE

Please forgive me, Loving Father

I’m trying to follow You, to copy You, to model You

But I fall so short

I cannot do all this without You

   without Your love, Your mercy, Your grace      
   and Your forgiveness

With You I can accomplish mighty things

Without You, Lord, I am lost

Please help me, a sinner.

"Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me." Exodus 10:17

Notice the collapsing shed that is overrun by vines. That could be our lives unless we are on guard, watching out for Satan.  His voice sounds enticing. His ways easily lead us on the wide path to destruction.  Choose your path carefully, my friend.  Eternity is for keeps.

           Deserted house on rural road near Morley, NY

                Swamp on Back Hannawa Road  Potsdam, NY

                        Heritage Park downtown Canton, NY

The Golden Days

Nature has taken on a golden caste
   as if her photographer used a golden filter
   on all his photographs

                        Canton-Ogdensburg Road   Canton, NY

Trees are starting to be tinged gold
   with red highlights
   and are peppering the lawns with leafy fallout.

                  Heritage Park  downtown, Canton, NY

Green grass is rapidly fading to pale green
   with golden brown tints

                             Heritage Park

Fields are turning shades of brown and red
   with some vivid greens steadfastly soldiering on

                   Field in rural near Morley, NY

The fogs are rolling in both days and nights
   as air and ground temperatures
   no longer remain constant

                 My back lawn near Potsdam, NY

I often hear the honk of Canadian geese
   as they fly to their winter homes

We have had a bird convention some days
   with dozens of birds perched on trees
   and telephone wires. 
   Is the result cacophony or just plain squawking?
  
Are they discussing their plans for winter?
I wish I spoke “bird”. 
It would be fun to eavesdrop and learn.

The caterpillars inch along
  also seeking a resting place
  for their long winter’s nap.

I see many deer on the side of the road.
Fortunately for all of us,
   they have stayed away from my car.

The air is cooler. 
This weeks “warm” days
   would have been considered “cool” days
   just a month ago.

I enjoy the color changes
   but dread the inevitable coming of winter.

I tell myself to stop complaining and enjoy today.
 

There is no guarantee of how many “todays”
   remain in my life.

                      Brook near West Potsdam, NY

So for now I will enjoy the beautiful golden days
   and the soon to come brilliant orange and red days.

I will let the next day worry about itself.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

Knapps Station Community Church

This is my church.  I have been fed spiritually here as I never had before.

(Check out the website for directions and lots of other great information.)

Knapps Station Church is a great place to feed your soul with the "good stuff" from the Bible.

My church is always providing new bible studies. We have begun one on what it really means to be a Christian.
The class takes place every Sunday at 6:30 pm and runs 4 more weeks. It's not too late to start and find out what the word "disciple" really means.


Christian, It's Not What You Think

Knapps Station Community Church has many surprises in store for those who seek.

Some creative soul put this in one of the sidewalk blocks.  Can you find it?

         Tree on Potsdam-Madrid Road  Potsdam, NY

I would also like to suggest that you check out the blog page for my friend, Jean Oathout.  I have received much good information and many blessings from her blog:

Treasures in Christ

Resurrection Power  is a current post that is very inspiring.

Book Review

The Jesus I Never Knew

Phillip Yancey takes a serious look at the Jesus he found in the Gospels.  He explores Jesus as the passionate, dynamic, emotional and incredibly loving Son of God that we will find when we carefully read the Gospels and truly look at the One whose life inspired "the greatest story ever told!"  This book is one to be read slowly and savored in order to pick up the insights Philip Yancey learned from many decades of study.  I heartily recommend it. 

Audacious by Beth Moore

Do you have an "audacious" love of God?  Beth Moore, who is a dynamic teacher of Christian classes, takes on the challenge to lead women and everyone to learn to boldly love God who "audaciously" loves us and is longing for us to "audaciously" love Him in return.

Commentary
A friend gave me a Gospel Parallels.  In it, you read the same New Testament stories from Matthew, Mark and Luke - at the same time.  The Gospels are not all identical.  Each has a lightly different slant. Matthew wrote to the Jews, Mark wrote to the Christians in Rome and Luke wrote to the Gentiles (all those not Jewish).  I've read all these stories before but reading them together like this has helped me to gain greater insight into what Jesus meant when He spoke the words.  I am enjoying this.

Blessing

May you be blessed by knowing
   that the Great I Am
   who is Creator of Heaven and Earth 
   is YOUR Loving Father.
   His grace and forgiveness
   for whatever you've done or should have done
   is anxiously, audaciously waiting for you
   to come to Him, to acknowledge Him
   and to ask for
   and experience His complete forgiveness.
And may you be blessed by the absolute JOY
   that only His love can bring.

                    Bridge downtown Potsdam, NY

Blessings for you,my friend for a wonderful week. 

All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen - 

  used with permission

All bible reference from the NIV unless otherwise noted

If you are interested, you can click on the Blog Archive 

  dates on the top right side of this post to connect 

  to previous blog posts

I would love to hear from you either on the comment 

  section of this blog post or through my email  

  debbieamcewen@gmail.com

I post every other Saturday 

The next post will be 10-22-2016

                A cute birdhouse on a stump near Higley  Colton, NY