Thank you, Father

                       "This is the day the Lord hath made
                           let us rejoice and be glad in it."
                                            Psalm 118:24
                This is a picture of my backyard and the fields behind.
                     I greatly appreciate where He has "planted" me.
                      God is so gracious with His many blessings.


Thank you for this opportunity.

A pending surgery doesn’t sound like an opportunity
   to say thank you
   but it is.

You are giving me the opportunity to surrender
   to You and Your love,
   Your grace and Your peace.

You are giving me the opportunity for spiritual growth
   and for You to work on my soul.

You are the potter
   who is constantly tweaking His work to improve it.
I am the clay that is being tweaked.

I started out as a big lump that needed shaping.
You had a plan and started working on me.
You poked and prodded. You nudged.
You removed the excess that is not part of Your plan.

Sometimes it was painful for me.
Sometimes I didn’t want to give up that excess.

However, You are the Master Potter. 

I am only the clay.

Who knows best?
You, of course.

This upcoming surgery is another opportunity
   for You to work on me.

I am learning to trust. I am learning to have faith. It’s not always easy.
Sometimes I have control issues.

However, I need to remember
   that You made everything that exists.
You absolutely know what is best
   and how everything will turn out.

I need to remember that You are my loving Father
   and that I rest firmly in the palm of Your hand.
I need to remember that You will never let go,
   never drop me,
   that You said,
   “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

I need to remember that Your love for me is limitless
   and that You suffered a horrendous death
   to pay my way to spend eternity with You
   in Paradise.

Therefore, I know I can trust You with my surgery.

Thank you, Father. 

                         "Consider how the wild flowers grow.             
                              They do not labor or spin.
            Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor
                     was dressed like one of these." Luke 12:27

                              I found this "arrangement" 
                        growing wild beside my garage.
                        I've never seen the two color lily before.
                     It must be one of those little "God surprises"
                                 that God uses to bless us.

As I was putting this on my blog post, a tremendous storm came up.  The skies opened and the rain poured.  The wind blew hard and the thunder roared.  A very large limb broke off a tree that is against my house and the limb with all the adjoining branches fell against my house.  It partially blocked the entrance BUT there is absolutely no damage to my house.  There will be a lot of work to clean up the mess but no repairs to make.  God is so good, all the time.  He takes care of us through everything that life and Satan can throw at us.

                      This is what I saw when I opened the door 

     after the branch broke.

                   This is what it looked like from outside the house.

This is my husband starting to cut up the branch.  

We got it cleaned up in less than an hour.

"It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, 

and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain."  

Isaiah 4:4

I wrote the "Thank You, Father" prayer because I am facing abdominal surgery that may be laparoscopic or may need to be major surgery if the polyp that needs to be removed is in the "wrong" location.  I came away from the surgeon's office frazzled.  I know I'm not supposed to worry, but I was.  I called to ask for prayers from my church family and I wrote this prayer.  I am now at peace about the surgery.  It is in the hands of a very good surgeon but ultimately in the hands of my Loving Father who will take the very best care of me.  I am fortunate that the surgeon believes in prayer and I asked that he pray for me.  I am so blessed that God put me where He did, among so many Godly people who are my church family and friends.  I am loved and cared for.  I can only wish and pray for this blessing for all of you.

        Another beautiful sunset from my backyard.
              I have so many things for which to say
                                  "Thank you, Father."

****************************
Save the date.  Mark your calendar.
YUMMY  YUMMY  YUMMY
Knapps Station Community Church will have its
Annual Chicken Pie Dinner 
Thursday,  September 19, 2019 

Times:  starting at 5 pm for the dining room
     take outs will be available starting at 4:30 pm

You can call ahead for take outs if you wish
  Call Barb at 315-212-9771 
      or June at 315-244-3149 for take outs 
Or to order a whole chicken pie for $10.00
Whole pies must be pre-ordered by Sept. 12.

Menu:  Chicken pie, mashed potatoes and gravy,  squash, green beans, rolls, and for dessert either apple crisp or pumpkin pie

Prices:  Adult (ages 12-90)  still $8.00
            Child (ages 5-11)    still $4.00
            Free for those under 5 and over 90
            Take outs are available at the same prices
           
****************************

Prayer Request:  I ask everyone to pray that God softens all hearts.  There is so much division, so much hate in our country right now.  Some of you may already be praying for all the victims of the horrendous shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio from this past weekend and I encourage those prayers. I also ask you to pray for everyone who has hardened their hearts and would wish to harm anyone else.  God loves all of us regardless of the color of our skin, where we came from, how we choose to worship Him or who we love.  All lives matter.  God listens and He answers prayers.  If we all pray every week for all those with hurtful intentions, I wonder how many shootings might be prevented, how many lives might be saved and how much heartache might be prevented. Let's call this Preventive Prayer and pray with all our might.  Pray for love and peace and God's JOY to fill the emptiness of those hardened hearts.

              Just as the wax will soften 
                   when the flames melt it,
              so too will hardened hearts soften 
                 when we pray and God acts.

All photos taken by Debbie McEwen

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 have not posted regularly and I apologize to my followers.

Life, health issues and grandchildren interfere.

Mea culpa my friends.

I will try to do better in the future.

Blessing:  

I pray for God's blessings on all of you.

I pray that you experience
    His many "God surprises" 
    on a daily basis.
I pray that you experience 
    the JOY of having

   God touch your heart and soul.

You only have to allow Him in.

Blessings, my friend!!!

           This dragonfly (I think that is what it is)                       
                    is so delicate and beautiful.

          God made us all in His image and likeness.

                      Just imagine how much He loves us.

                     "For You formed my inmost being;

     You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

                             I will praise You,

        for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

                      Marvelous are Your works,

                  and I know this very well."

                                 Psalm 139:13-14
                     
                                 Thank you, Father.

This World is Not My Home

               God filled this world with incredible beauty for us to enjoy 

                                         while we are here 

                                BUT we are only passing through.   

                            We have a different final destination.

                  Photo is of little side road near Waddington, NY Fall 2018.

This finally dawned on me to the point that it’s getting ingrained in my thoughts.

What does it mean?

It means that nothing in this life is my final goal.

It means that I’m in school, in training for a different place.

A place called Eternity.

It’s where we live forever and ever without end.

The choices, the deeds, the activities we choose, the goals we work toward will direct us to our final destination.

Our behavior and choices here will determine if we like our final destination or not.

There are two possible final destinations: heaven or hell.

There are no other choices.

And everyone goes one place or the other, no exceptions.

One place is heavenly and the other absolutely is not.

Our loving Father wants us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven where life will be unimaginably wonderful.

However, He gives us free will and lets us choose to go to heaven or not.

All the while we live, God nudges and encourages us.

He gives us almost unlimited opportunities to live in such a way that we get to go to heaven, but He doesn’t force us to choose Him and heaven.

He wants us with Him in Paradise for eternity so badly that He became one of us in the person of His beloved son who lived to teach us how to live. We can only go to heaven if we are holy as God is holy and no one of us is capable of being that perfect. God knows that and made plans for us anyhow. God loves us so much that He choose that His beloved son, Jesus, would take on all the sins of all men for all time, past, present and future. Jesus chose to be tortured to death to pay for all our sins. God offers forgiveness for our sins if we only repent, tell Him we are sorry and try to not sin again. He knows we will sin again, so He keeps forgiving as long as we keep asking for forgiveness. Our debt is paid.

The road to Heaven, to spend eternity with our Loving Father, who loves us without measure requires us to love Him first and foremost, to love and treat others as ourselves and to repent our sins. Repent means to tell God we are sorry for what we have done wrong.

Somewhere along the way of learning about God and what He wants me to do and how He wants me to live, I figured out that I want to go to Heaven, that Heaven is my final home. As a result, I don’t care as much if I have all the stuff that this world tells me that I need. It isn’t as important to be first or best – except in God’s eyes. It doesn’t matter if I “win arguments”, only that I win souls for God. That does matter. I hope to see all of them and all of you when I do go home.

Will you join me? Our Father is waiting to welcome us with outstretched arms.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Philippians 3:20

                     At the end of our toils, Jesus will be waiting for us.

Prayer Requests:

So much is happening these days.  There has been terrible weather.  There was a partial shutdown of our government and thousands of people suffered terrible financial difficulties as a result.  There is a virulent flu going around and the flu shot does not prevent it.  I was very sick with that "bug."  More severe weather is expected this week.  The list of problems goes on and on.  So many people are in need.  Our country and our world are in great need and the only one we can really turn to for solutions is Our Father.  He already has all the solutions.  He tells us: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  Matthew 7:7. 

Our world needs our prayers and our acts of kindness too.  Every prayer and every act of kindness will light a candle to brighten the darkness in this world and make it a much better place to live.

May God bless you greatly, my friend and thank you in advance for your prayers and your acts of kindness. 

All photos taken by Debbie McEwen

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 usually post every other Saturday.

Lately I have been very busy with Grandma duties on weekends 
    so I may try to post during the week.

                               Here's another one of my sunsets.
                        Sometimes I think God sends so many my way 
                          because He knows how much I enjoy them.
                            The colors are sometimes so glorious that 
                          they are almost like a little piece of heaven,
                                      my little piece of heaven
                               that I share with you, my friend.
                                            Blessings.

The Pieces of My Life

               Sometimes my life feels like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle 
                                with no picture and no directions 
               - until I look to my Father and His guidebook, the Bible.

Here are my pieces, Lord.

Here are the pieces of my life,
the pieces of my family and my friends,
with health, relationships and all the other issues.

Here are the pieces of my church
with all our issues, needs and prayers.

Here are the pieces of my country
So many issues, Lord.
So many problems
So many people trying to do their best
and then there are the others, Lord

Here are the pieces that don’t fit into any category

I give you all my pieces, Father.

I know you will sort them out and make sense of them.

When you are done, this puzzle will be a masterpiece
because You know the best way to put everything together
and how to make sense of it all.

Only Your way is best.

Only Your time is right.

It can only be Your will, not mine, Father.

And the pieces will fit perfectly!


“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.   Matthew 7:7

           Picture was taken at Fobare's near Chase Mills, NY.
                     When I give all my problems to my Father, 
                 He will handle them and make everything right 
                                    - in the end.

Prayer Requests:  Please pray for all the less fortunate, especially those in Alaska where there are earthquakes, those in the war torn zones, the refugees who are seeking asylum at our Mexican border, those guarding the border and all those in need.  There are so many needs in our world and the only good answers are from our Father.

        Our Father is the light through the trees.

           He is the shelter in the storm.
        He doesn't take all our problems away
      but He helps us find a way through them
            and guides us to the solution
               -when we turn to Him.

    He is the glorious sunset at the end of the day.

All  photos taken by Debbie McEwen

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 usually post every other Saturday.

Lately I have been very busy with Grandma duties on weekends 
    so I may try to post during the week.

The next post should be in about 2 weeks.

This post is a little late.  Sorry.  My husband had knee replacement on Nov. 13 and I am late posting.  He is recovering nicely but still in a lot of pain.

If you like my photos and would like prints, I have started printing my pictures and I am selling them.  If you are interested, please contact me 

at debbieamcewen@gmail.com 

or call at (315)265-7469.

                   This is the church at Paul Smiths.
      A good path to find your way to your Father
     is to join a Bible based church of your choice
           and fellowship with other people 
                 who are seeking Him.
              I attend and recommend 
        Knapps Station Community Church 
                      Norwood, NY

The Knot

                 Does your life ever get twisted and confused?

                          Do you ever feel like you are tied in a knot
                      and have no idea of how to get straightened out?

Sometimes my life is so difficult 

  that it seems to be tied in a knot.

I get anxious.

I absolutely cannot manage things on my own 

  and tend to make them worse 

  when I try to proceed.

However, when I pray 

  and put everything in God's hands, 

  He untangles the threads one by one 

  that were tied so tightly. 

He smooths out the bumps and loops. 

It seems so simple when He gets done. 

I can see clearly now, 

  when before it had been such a tangled mess. 

He puts His hands on my shoulders 

  and I can feel His loving presence 

  calming my anxiety 

  and taking my worries away. 

He shows me the way to proceed. 

And it always works.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
               Proverbs 3:5-6

       Jesus has the incredible ability to straighten out our messes 
                    when we surrender to Him and His love.

****************************

Monday July 9 through Friday July 13
      6:00 to 8:00 PM

(Registration starts at 5:30 on Monday night 

   or you can pre-register.  

   Registration forms are available at Church.)
Vacation Bible School
at Knapps Station 
            Community Church

Children ages 2-12 are encouraged to come and 
     learn more about Jesus and the bible
     through stories, crafts, games, snacks, 
     music and fun.

There is no charge 
  and each child receives a free t-shirt.

There is also a free hotdog cookout with bouncy house, smores and much more on Friday July 13.  Everyone is welcome for a fun night.

Here are a few moments of the great fun from last year's VBS whose theme was "Operation Arctic".

****************************
Prayer Request

5 people were shot and killed at a newspaper in Maryland yesterday.  2 more were injured.  This makes my heart ache.  There has been way too much violence.  Please pray for everyone involved.  Please pray that all people allow God into their hearts and allow Him to work.  This world needs Jesus more than ever.  He is the only solution to all our problems.  He can work out solutions where none existed before.  And He always will - if we just cooperate.  Please pray that we all cooperate.

All photos taken by Debbie unless otherwise noted.

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 on July 14, 2018.

                                          Both flowers are beautiful.
The one in the sun is more beautiful just because the sun shines on it.
                          We and our lives are so much more beautiful 
                                when the Son (Jesus) shines on us.

May God bless you greatly, 
           my friend!

Just for Today, Lord

                                  As I gaze at this beautiful sunset, 
                              I am in awe of Your might and majesty.

Just for today, Lord, let me live Your way.

                       Please, Lord, open my eyes to  see You
                    and Your love in the beauty of Your creation.

Let me know that I cannot live in tomorrow.

I cannot relive yesterday.

Let me know that this moment is the one You give me now.

Let me make the most of it.

                            Your creativity and love, Lord
         are mirrored in the beauty You provide for our enjoyment.

Let me hear You knocking at my door this morning and invite You in.

Let me open my heart and soul to You.

Please fill me with Your love and Your JOY.

Just for today, please take hold of the strongholds of my flesh 
     and open my will to do Your will.

                             These lilies are beautiful 
         because they are true to the plan that the Creator made for them.                                            We too are made beautiful 
                       when we do our best to follow the Word.  
                              We cannot do this on our own 
                  but only through the grace of our Loving Father.
         

I’m not strong enough to handle all the things      
     that will take place in my tomorrows
     or to redo all my mistake and sin filled yesterdays
     but please give me the grace to live today
     to the best of my ability as that ability is guided by You.

I am weak and You are strong.

I am a speck. You are the creator.

I am sinful but You love me so much
     You want to spend eternity with me.

            (Cross on steeple at St.Gabriels Church near Paul Smiths, NY)
                   Lord, may I never forget what You paid for my sins. 
                        Please help me to live as You taught
                     so I can enjoy paradise with You forever.

Please forgive me my sins and help me Lord not to sin for today.

Please take my hand.

Please help me to make this my best day ever.

Please come back tomorrow and repeat.

Amen

                 Because we are made in the image and likeness of God, 
                       we too can reflect Him in all we say and do.
            Please Lord, let me be a loving, Godly reflection of Your love and JOY.
               Let Your light shine in and through me to everyone I meet.

Just for This Moment, Lord

Just for this moment, Lord,
may I enjoy my time with You.
May I praise You
and thank You for the multitude of blessings that I enjoy.
Quiet my thoughts.
Slow my breathing.
Close my eyes.
Just for this moment, Lord,
may I enjoy my time with You.
Amen

                            St. Gabriels Church near Paul Smith's, NY.
                   May we always make time to worship and fellowship 
                                  at the house of our choice, 
                          giving all glory and honor to the Creator 
                              who gives so much to us daily.

All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen unless otherwise noted- 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 Wednesday and Saturday
The next post will be August 5, 2017

  

  

                     Take time to reflect and REJOICE!