Thank you, Stuart, at stubaby777.wordpress.com for including me in this new 3.2.1. Quote Me Challenge.  I sincerely appreciate it, especially since the word you have me is the name of our daughter.  

The Rules of this challenge are as follows:  

• Thank the Selector.
• Post 2 quotes for the dedicated topic of the day.
• Select 3 bloggers to take part in 3-2-1 Quote Me.
• Give them a topic/word.

The topic of the day which Stu gave me was HOPE!

Quote #1

Quote #2

Here are my nominees:

D Ettinger at ettingerwriting.wordpress.com

Gail Loves God at gaillovesgod.blog

Puzzles of the Sould at puzzlesofthesoul.wordpress.com

Note:  Although this is the topic for today, there is no specific deadline for it, meaning that you can answer when you choose.  My word of the day for you is  PRAISE.  

Don’t Let Saul’s Downfall Be Yours

https://ettingerwriting.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/dont-let-sauls-downfall-be-yours-2/
— Read on ettingerwriting.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/dont-let-sauls-downfall-be-yours-2/

Thank you to Kathy Wire for nominating me for this quick and easy challenge.  I am honored to participate.  

Rules of the Challenge

Thank the selector.

Post two quotes for the dedicated topic of the day.

Select 3 bloggers to take part in 3-2-1 Quote Me!  

Give them a topic or word.  

The topic that Kathy gave me was “Justice.”

Thank you again, Kathy, for nominating me.  I inclulded an extra quotation because I had another one to share!  🙂

My nominees are:

Christy Istrate at miraculoussmile.wordpress.com

Loved by the Kings of Kings at plantedbylivingwater.wordpress.com

Seriously Seeking Answers at seriouslyseekinganswers.com

My word for you is:  holiness.

NOTE:  Althought this is the topic for today, there is no specific deadline to it, meaning that you can answer when you choose.  Of course, you are under no obligation to participate.   🙂

God creates everyone, so He has many children.  Can you imagine His turning to one of His angels and saying, “That’s my kid!”  I can, because I know how much He loves each of us, even those of us who have gone astray.  Today, I want to tell you about our children, the three that we have that participated in our constant military moves and all of the changes that came to their lives as a result.

This is our lovely daughter Hope Ellen.  She is beautiful inside and out.  She is the mom of five of our grandchildren and she manages to homeschool all of them and keep her sanity.  She is also a gracious lady who serves the Lord in her local church and throughout her community.  I am so happy to say that she is a Christian through and through and is raising her children to serve the Lord. She is the one who rushed to my side when I had a stroke, leaving her husband in charge of the then four children and all of their activities.  Unselfish to the core, this is Hope.

This is Scott James, our second born who has faced a lot of obstacles in his life.  Told by a math teacher that he admired during his high school years that he needed to take a lower level of math, he just wasn’t suited for the difficult course that he was enrolled in, Scott persevered, passed that class and became a math teacher himself.  I think that encounter with his teacher has given him a lot of empathy for those who do not understand math at all.  Scott also has a ton of patience!  He is pictured here with darling Iris, his “baby” who is autistic and non-verbal.  Although we have prayed for years for total healing for her, that has not happened, yet she is still a joy to be around and I think part of that is the unconditional acceptance that her father offers her.  He is also the father of a teen boy who has a lot of extracurricular activities that his father encourages and participates in.

This is our youngest, Steven Caleb, with his youngest.  Like Scott, he is an amazing father.  He is a stay-at-home dad who works from home and manages to spend a lot of quality time with his two children, Penny and Evie.  He is an Associate Editor for Gamespot online and works hard daily reviewing games, editing stories, pitching stories and soothing Evie and Penny.  It always amazes me how he lifts Penny into his arms in the middle of a meltdown and reasons with her.  Cuddling her close, he continues to say softly, “Let me know when you are ready to talk.”  Sniffling dramatically the three year old eventually responds to her father’s calm, loving actions and calms down.

So, why am I sharing these personal stories with you?  Don’t you see yourself in each one?  Hectic and rushed Hope, unselfishly rushing to the side of her very ill mother.  Compassionate Scott taking the time to show others how competent they really are.  And patient Steven calming down the child who is determined to have her way.  Maybe you can also see the Heavenly Father in each of them.  He is unselfish.  After all, He gave us His Only Son to die for us.  He is compassionate, seeing how weak we are and becoming our strength. And, oh, how patient God is, waiting for us to turn to Him and rejoicing with Heaven when we do!  I am blessed to have three children to demonstrate to me the qualities of God.

Death

Death

— Read on runwithit.blog/2018/11/16/death/

Since Sue expresses herself so well, I posted her blog here. It’s a testimony about what happens if you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and it’s a call to Christians to testify about their faith.

What pleases Him most is if we produce fruit for the kingdom. Say hello to a stranger and start a conversation with the lonely person in the coffee shop. Put yourself out there so that the Holy Spirit can speak through you. I’m talking to myself in this post as much as I am to you. Death is real and it’s the destination for all of us, but for those of us who know the Lord, it’s not the end but a new beginning. Make it your goal to take as many friends and family with you as possible! If there were a big sale at the exclusive store down the street, you wouldn’t hesitate to tell your loved ones about it so that they can also reap those benefits. How much more should we be eager to share the love of Christ to the lost. This is my last day in town with my sister. May God grant me boldness and grace and give me wisdom to speak in His timing. Blessings to all and thanks to Sue Love for her magnificent gift with words!

www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863515

I remember watching old westerns with my grandparents, and one of the phrases that was frequently used was, “You need to give yourself up!  You are surrounded!”  Then the bad guy would come out and the good guys would rush in, handcuff him and take him to jail.  I never really wanted to be surrounded until I started understanding that in God, it can be a really good thing.  The Bible tells us that we are “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses….”.  Since this is true, we can then know that we have a cheering squad watching over us, encouraging us to keep running the race that God has given us to run.

I grew up in a valley surrounded by mountains in the distance.  What a glorious sight! But those mountains were more than just beautiful because they also provided protection for those of us living in the valley.  Bad storms rarely did very much damage in our little part of the world because the mountains blocked the heavy winds that came with the storms.  Isn’t it a wonderful promise that God surrounds us like the mountains surround Jerusalem?  Can you feel God’s love and care encompassing you?  I can, and it’s wonderful!

I have been spending a few days with my sister, praying for her daily that her health issues will be resolved.  And guess what?  The doctor called with the results yesterday and all is okay!  Praise the Lord who surrounds us!  I return home tomorrow and I’m looking forward to that, but I am a little disappointed that the Lord does not seem to have opened a door for me to share His love with my sister.  Maybe she already knows His love, but I want to make sure.  Maybe this isn’t the right timing?  I don’t know, but when I want to share, she is sleeping or watching TV or reading.  There isn’t a lot of just talking time.  Well, one more day and we will see what happens.  I’m just happy that God is healing that relationship that has been broken for over a year.

I have a headache today and that usually sends me into a tizzy of looking for meds to control it since according to my neurologist, headaches are not a good thing for someone who had a stroke.  Instead, I am siting in a chair writing this blog and knowing that God is with me no matter what I face.  I will find medicine if I can but it’s not my priority right now.  God speaks peace to my heart because I know that He is right beside me, at all times.  I hope that you all know the peace and love and joy that comes from knowing God as Lord of your life.  I hope that you have accepted Him into your hearts and that you know that He surrounds you.  He is my shepherd and my protective fence.  I don’t need to worry and neither do you.  Have a blessed day!

What are the most important things in your life?  Is it your new car?  Maybe your thousand dollar phone?  Or your new computer?  Perhaps it is your job and the challenges or recognition it brings.  I hope it is none of those.  The priorities in your life should be J-O-Y.  That means Jesus first, yourself last and others in between.  I learned that mnemonic as a new Christian and took it for my own mantra.  Jesus is first!  After all, He died for me and has faithfully stood by me through some pretty rough times, including a massive stroke and the rehab that followed.  I could go through all of the names of Jesus here, but that is not my plan for the day.

What is really important to you is shown in your life.  My sister, who has not really spoken to me for months and basically told me not to call her, sent me a text to call her, so I did.  When I called, she was noticeably upset, so we talked about what was going on in her life.  She had gotten back some test results on her health and they could mean bad news.  She didn’t know yet and still doesn’t because her doctor hasn’t called to interpret them for her.  Nevertheless, she feared going to sleep because she fears death.  She wanted me to come into town and stay with her for a few days, so here I am.  Remember what I said:  J-O-Y.  She is one of the “others” even though she treated me as an outcast for so long.  We have to love others, even when they don’t seem to love us.  And I very well understood her fear since I have had the same fear myself, right after my stroke and again recently.  But God continues to show Himself faithful to me, showing up in the wee hours of the morning and whispering gently to me of His love and faithfulness, telling me that He is with me no matter what I am going through.  Likewise, He is with my sister, even though she says she doesn’t believe in my “religion.”  I ate lunch on Sunday with a friend from church and she reminded me that I don’t have a religion; I have a relationship!  That is what I will try to share with my sister as I stay with her during these days.  I want the opportunity to comfort her as God as comforted me so that she, too, can have that same relationship with the one that holds to you in the darkest night and tells you morning is coming, whether on this side of earth or in Heaven.  It’s all going to be okay.  Those very words are what my husband used to tell me each time he got new orders and I was distraught about moving yet again.  (25 times in 22 years of service). He always told me, “It’s going to be okay.”  And it was, eventually.  I got used to the next new place, and then it would be time to move on again and Harry would tell me the same thing again.  That is also what God tells me when I pray about friends who are dying of cancer or even about my own health.  “It’s all going to be okay.”  So, how does God know that?  Because He is faithful and He is the One who will make sure it’s okay because He will be walking the steps of that trial with me.  I covet your prayers, my friends, because I really need to share this message during this visit and I need to do it without being pushy or causing offense.  I am believing that the results of the health tests won’t be as bad as my sister expects, but even if they are, God will still be faithful to take her through it.  God doesn’t care for me any more than He does her, so my belief is that He can and will be there with her.

He calls us His children, and that is what I want my life to reflect—always, every day, in every way, not just when I am visiting my sister.  I am a child of the King, the Creator of the Universe, and I can hold on to his promises that it’s all going to be okay.

My hope is in God, and I pray that yours is, too.  Furthermore, I pray that this hope will shine in the heart of my sister before I leave to go home again, that she will not fear sleeping, or the news of a health report, because she will know once and for all that God has it all under His control.

I didn’t get to play tag much when I was I a child because I had asthma during a period of time when the treatment included sitting inside quietly.  So I am really happy that Christy tagged me for this fun game!  Thank you Christy!

Now to the game of Alphabet Tag.  I am thankful for the following:

A is for all of God’s attributes (I especially like His omnipotence and omniscience.)

B is for brothers.  I am blessed to have two of them biologically and so many more in my Christian family!

C is for the children that I teach in Sunday school.

D is for daughter, having one and being a daughter of God.

E is for Evie, my little granddaughter who is seven months old now.

F is for friends and family.

G is for God’s grace.

H is for Hope, my daughter, and the hope that God gives.

I is for Isaac and Iris, my grandchildren who live here in Virginia.

 

J is for Joy, the joy that only God can give.

K is for kittens and also for kids who love the Lord.

L is for love and laughter.

M is for mercy, from God and from other people who forgive my mistakes and offenses.

N is for neighbors…all I meet are my neighbors!  I want to touch them for Christ.

O is for the ocean that reminds me of the endless love of God.

P is for my granddaughter Penny.

Q is for quietness, the peace that God gives me in my spirit.

R is for the ring that I have had on my finger for over 45 years, reminding me of love and faithfulness and Relationship.

S is for Sons Steven and Scott and Sisters Denise and Ann.  Family is so important!  

T is for Tyler, Teya, Teryn, Tinslea and Teagan (and for little Tessa whom I will meet when I get to Heaven).

U is for the United States of America, Land of the Free because of the Brave!  

V is for veterans, included among whom is my beloved husband Harry who served for over two decades.  He missed seeing his children growing up so that he could serve his country.  Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, so let’s all thank a veteran for their sacrifices.  

W is for warmth and wonder.

X is for the Extra days God added to my life when He healed me after my stroke.

Y is for years to live and the memories of yesterdays.

Z is for the zeal for God that I hope I feel until the day I die.  

Thank you again to Christy for this opportunity to share in this fun game.

Rules:

1. List your thankful ABC’s.
2. Add one theme clip art to your post. (Mine is from bio-touch.)
3. Tag 3 people who you would like to participate.

My nomineees are:

Alethea’s Mind

Lisa Blair

Shae’s Days

If you are too busy to participate, I understand because I know this is a busy season.  Please do not feel any pressure but participate if you can without stress.  I hope that you all are feeling blessed and peaceful.  Thank you for reading my blog.