Faith On Friday

England (in the picture above), represents only one of the stops on both my physical and faith journeys in life. This last week, since hearing and studying about Abraham I have been thinking a lot about faith and what it means.

Dictionary.com gives results from 11 different dictionaries. Some of the entries have up to 9 different definitions of faith. The writer of Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Someone in our study asked where the idea of "blind faith" comes in. What a great question! I offered that I felt it comes from the secular world and that God does not expect a blind faith. In fact, the realization has come over me, that my faith truly is a gift from God. The longer I walk with Him, the more I trust that in spite of all I see around me, He is True. Trust is a VERY difficult thing for me. When you've been burnt a number of times, you don't tend to sidle up next to the fire! Where did this trust come from? Honestly, I do not believe it stems from any good or meritable trait within myself. I tend to be cynical and with a medical background and a love of research, I like proof or at least reasonable evidence. So this week I have been mentally tossing it around.

On Dictionary.com, I liked this portion from Easton's Bible dictionary 1897 (faith. (n.d.). Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith):

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests. Faith is the result of teaching (Rom. 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.

What I took from this, besides the fact that I am barely beginning to understand in some ways what I know and believe, is that knowing something is one thing, assenting or agreeing to this information is another. One could be the brightest individual in the world but not use that knowledge and information to better one's own life or the lives of others. Mensa is an organization for those whose IQ score lists in the top 2% of the population. I'm sure there are many worthy people belonging, but I have also heard of Hollywood members with messed up lives touting their Mensa membership. Intelligence, just like money, cannot give you everything. Sometimes it gives you nothing. Most of the efforts we add are like the building blocks of The Tower of Babel - they glorify ourselves and will be destroyed.

I am not a theologian. I've never been to seminary. I don't claim to have a corner market on Biblical knowledge and revelation. I just want to love Him more, better, fuller and grow! And I long to see other dear Sisters in the Lord, grow in their own faith and in their journey with knowing Him. It seems to me that what God is looking for, is not the "volunteer of the year" (though good works are a fruit of our faith and faith without works is dead - James 2:17), nor "Martha Perfect", but willing hearts. God wants people who want to. Please excuse my imperfect grammar. I can have all the knowledge and information in the world, but if I never do anything with that knowledge, it is useless. In other words, I can buy a ticket, but if I don't get on the bus, I'm not going anywhere.

The rest of this quote from the above mentioned 19th century source, takes a bit of thinking to wade through, but I believe it brings up some good points. (You could scroll down to the next black type if you aren't interested.)

Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and a renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God (1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Faith, therefore, has its seat in the moral part of our nature fully as much as in the intellectual. The mind must first be enlightened by divine teaching (John 6:44; Acts 13:48; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:17, 18) before it can discern the things of the Spirit. Faith is necessary to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is any merit in it, but simply because it is the sinner's taking the place assigned him by God, his falling in with what God is doing. The warrant or ground of faith is the divine testimony, not the reasonableness of what God says, but the simple fact that he says it. Faith rests immediately on, "Thus saith the Lord." But in order to this faith the veracity, sincerity, and truth of God must be owned and appreciated, together with his unchangeableness. God's word encourages and emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God's gift, to close with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word's sake, but also for his name's sake. Faith in Christ secures for the believer freedom from condemnation, or justification before God; a participation in the life that is in Christ, the divine life (John 14:19; Rom. 6:4-10; Eph. 4:15,16, etc.); "peace with God" (Rom. 5:1); and sanctification (Acts 26:18; Gal. 5:6; Acts 15:9). All who thus believe in Christ will certainly be saved (John 6:37, 40; 10:27, 28; Rom. 8:1). The faith=the gospel (Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5; Gal. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:9; Jude 1:3).

What I took from this, is that I need to have knowledge of who God is (I highly recommend doing a study, like Lord I Want To Know You. Understanding more of God's character increases your trust in Him to fulfill His promises to you.), but I also have to decide whether I will "sit" on this knowledge or do something about it.

For example, I knew about God from an early age. I believed the way a child believes and this belief was tested by fire. But, when I was 11, the Gospel was presented to me and for the first time in my life, the eyes of my heart were WIDE OPEN. I knew. I understood. Then I chose. Once I understood what I knew, I had no other option than to choose Him. I was compelled to move forward, I was compelled to choose baptism and there was no turning back. Please, I'm not bragging on myself. This was the work of the Holy Spirit coming to fruition in my heart. Romans promises that those He calls, will be justified. If anyone ever tells you that they did something to receive God's love or eternal salvation, then they are selling you a lie and do not know the truth of God, because all of our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. (Isaiah 64)

How do we know who God is? How do we take that next step? What do we do if we are "stuck"? If you are feeling "stuck" right now or just not able to even "feel" right now - please don't turn away. Please don't let the words of men, or for that matter, my words, turn you away. Being stuck is a part of a growth pattern. The key is not to stay stuck. We all go through spiritual dry periods, but we need to choose NOT to stay there. Many times this is easier said than done. I don't know about you, but when I don't "feel" like doing something, it is so hard to get it done... or even get it started.

I couldn't find the verse, but I remember reading that God KNOWS who we are and He is mindful of our frame, that we are but dust. That is to say, He made us (Psalm 139) and He understands how we work. He understands both our capabilities and our shortcomings. He will never ask me to do something I cannot. You wouldn't ask your vacuum cleaner to wash the dishes would you? He is mindful of how you are made and when you are weak, He is strong. Paul wasn't joking when the Holy Spirit inspired him to write, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) Nor, when he wrote Philippians 1:6: "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God keeps working on His UFOs (unfinished objects for you un-knitterly types!). He never abandons them! If you doubt His calling, His love for you, the gifts He has endowed you with, please read the first two chapters of Ephesians. Do you know He is describing you?

Get to know this God in His Word.

Get to know this God in the praises of His people.

Get to know this God in fellowshipping with His family.

Get to know this God in all He has created.

Get to know this God in conversation with Him.

You cannot shock God.

He will not plug His ears or turn His head.

You don't even have to explain yourself.

He knows.

He even understands.

He loves us anyway.

When you can't feel Him there, that's when He is likely closest to you.

I couldn't find the reference, but I remember reading, underlined in red in my Grandma Hopkins' Bible, that He promises to be with us even to our old age and gray hairs, even to the end. She leaned on that promise every day. She knew He meant it. He means the same for you.

When you don't want to open the Bible,

When you don't want to pray,

When you don't want to sing,

When you don't want to fellowship,

When you don't want to talk,

When you don't want to think,

When you don't want to feel,

When you don't want to take another step,

When you don't want to wake up the next morning,

Ask Him,

Ask Him to help you want to,

Ask Him to help you,

Ask Him to hold you,

Ask Him to strengthen you,

Ask Him to lead you,

Ask Him to guide you,

Ask Him to teach you,

Ask Him to show you,

Ask Him to tell you,

Ask Him to meet you where you are,

He will be there!

And sometimes we need to practice Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that He is God!

The Psalmist writes over and over, that he called on God because he knew God would answer. Call on Him. He will answer. He is the answer.

When you are weak, He is strong. He will listen for your voice. He will answer.

When you fall, get up.

When you fall again, get up.

When your heart is bursting, get up.

When you can't get up, know He is holding you in His everlasting arms, that He is hiding you in the shadow of your wings.

Abraham had faith. God gave him the ticket. Abraham "got on the bus". God worked miracles in him.

Theresa had faith. God gave her the ticket. Theresa "got on the bus". Man! What a journey it has been. God worked miracles in her.

Are you holding a ticket? Do you need a ticket?

Ask for faith. Take the ticket. "Get on the bus." Don't let the enemy steal your joy. "Keep on keeping on." When you get to the desert, know that "this too shall pass."

If you are struggling, know that you are loved. If you would like me to pray for your faith journey, feel free to email me (address on upper right) so that it is private. I don't have all the answers, but I know He does. Just as you bless me with your encouragement when I am weak, sad and discouraged, I hope to bless you.

This study of Abraham has left me much to ponder. I want to know Him more and more and understand the mystery and riches He has given me. At this time I am thankful for the prompting our new sermon series and Bible study has given! And if you read this far, thank you. If you are feeling "spiritually up", pray for those who are feeling "spiritually down" or "stuck". The greatest gift we can give each other is prayer - lifting each other up to the Father!

Retreat Gleanings

Silence may be a little crazy to blog about; perhaps it is even oxymoronic! LOL But, silence, quietness, rest, stillness and tranquility are things that God had begun to teach me before retreat, which were reinforced while there. So those of you that know me in real life - are you laughing now?! You all know I love to talk. I think that spending most of my life as an only child, moving a lot and being really different than my peers, brought this chattiness out of introverted soul as an adult.

Talking and more specifically, writing have been my main technique of working through problems. I have faced some tough stuff in life - not as bad as some people, but for long periods of my life it seemed like one struggle or grief after another. They were the kinds of things that our enemy uses to distract us from God. Like we learned in our sermon yesterday, when our eyes are on our circumstances, we fall, we fail or we make things more difficult for ourselves, even compounding the consequences! When God is our focus and we trust in His guidance, we can face ANYTHING, no matter how tough!

This reminds me of hiking. Yes, you should watch where your feet are going, but if you focus only on what is directly in front of you, it will cause you to fall, bump into something, lose your direction or worse. But if you look at what's in front of your feet and then look up to where you are going, you at least have a better chance of making it there safely! Many times during hikes, the process is not always fun. But I liken it to Paul saying:


13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


Part of maturing in Christ and in life is learning to keep pressing on. God does not ask us to callously forget, however, when we keep focusing on the past or solely on our circumstances, it becomes egocentric and harmful.

About three weeks before the retreat Hubby and I decided to go on a prayer journey together. Instead of looking at some of our circumstances which are quite discouraging and sometimes feel impossible, we decided to devote time each night to lifting up our concerns and especially about a certain area. I am not sure what I thought when we began... A HUGE BILLBOARD?! That certainly would have been helpful: HERE IS THE WAY, WALK YE IN IT! LOL I don't know about you, but God rarely speaks to me in an audible voice, sends big signs or presents ideas in obvious ways.

Some may feel that He hides His will. Though I have had times of frustration, I do not feel that He hides anything from those who seek. In fact, Ephesians 1:9-10 read:

9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

I believe God wants us to know and that just like me, when I am excited about learning something new, He wants to share everything with me. But He does not spill everything out to be trampled on, abused and disrespected. As Jesus spoke in parables so that those who "had ears to hear" would know, God created us to be thinking, responsive beings. His desire is for us to interact with Him. He delights in us and He treasures the time He has with us. Often we do not value that time and view it as an interruption in the rest of our busy lives. How ironic when all we have in life is His and from Him. Every good and perfect gift came from Him. He lavishes us with His love and the Scripture is filled with references to our relationship with God being like that of a Lover and we are His Bride.

So, shortly before the retreat, as Hubby and I are praying together, I feel God telling me to be still. When I have gone through chaos in life, I have often quoted to myself, Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." I have not had a lot of success at the "be still" part. My approach to struggles is to problem solve - make a plan of action.

But now He was asking me to be still. There was a magical silence - like the deafening roar of silence I experience after an intense ASL/Pantomime session with my deaf neighbor and I realize that we have been communicating in an intense sound free bubble separated from the rest of the noisy world! It was also the peaceful silence that one experiences in a fresh snowfall. There was no awkwardness, no squirming and no struggling to force back all the thoughts that press in from the day and from my mind wandering. Wow! This I knew came from God because nothing like this ever comes from me. The only discomfort I felt was that Hubby was there with me, waiting for words to leave my lips. I worried he might even fall asleep, given it was late at night and we were praying in bed! At the time I thought "Okay this is neat" but I did not put all the pieces together until retreat. It was difficult to leave those quiet respites. I wanted to stay there in His presence, enjoying what our retreat speaker referred to as "snuggles" from God.

Fast forward to the retreat. Man was my brain full when I got there! The previous weekend was the home school conference where Sally Clarkson spoke and my mind was reeling with thoughts, ideas, plans and questions. How could I fit anything more in there?! The topic of the retreat was spiritual disciplines. I have read a little on this topic and wanted to read more. That weekend was a good way to get my toes wet as we learned about prayer, Bible reading and Sabbath keeping. We interacted with each other at our tables, we learned from the speakers' insights and presentations and we were given supplementary material to implement what we learned during our quiet times. My Hubby, who now teaches education classes, would have given her an A+ on her facilitative teaching format! :o)

Imagine my surprise as I read from page 14 of our retreat booklet under the Prayer of Rest: "In this kind of prayer we come away from the to do lists and activities and just do nothing. Rest. We don't pour forth words and questions and confessions. We sit in attentive silence...This is a type of prayer where we simply exist in God's presence and let him love us and bring to us whatever he wants, rather than pushing a concern or agenda of our own. We may come away with answers, or we may just come away knowing that he loves us and we are forgiven and special and that God is with us."

WOW! Knock me over with a feather! God had given me this snuggle time and was telling me: "Theresa, you are not in charge of the world, you are not even in charge of all your problems. I am God. I can get the job done. I'll let you know when I need your help. Let's just sit here and enjoy our time together." It reminded me of when I want to just sit and enjoy time with Hubby and he is restless because some job here or there in the house isn't done and so he pushes himself until everything is done and then we don't have time to be together. It always makes me feel sad and in a very small sense, abandoned. Here I had been doing the same thing to God and He was saying, "Theresa, let's just spend some time together. And if you are able to keep from talking and thinking for just a little while, I would like to share some things with you." WOW! Okay, so this might be just an obvious conclusion of a very long blog post for you. But, for me, it was earth shattering and a pivotal life changing moment.

"Be still and know that I am God."

So, during the rest of the retreat, whenever we had time to do other activities, I chose to spend time alone. That might seem anti-social, but I felt like God brought me to that point to LISTEN, not to DO. Or as our retreat speaker emphasized, sometimes we need to stop being Do-ers and start being Be-ers. (That is really going to freak out the spell and grammar check! LOL) Fortunately I had brought a spiral notebook with me, so I wrote and wrote and wrote. It was like that time in quietness along with the definition of that prayer time, added together to make a key that unlocked many of my thoughts and brought clarity and in some areas direction.

When I had written out my thoughts, I began to do some Bible study which I have continued at home, starting with the words quiet, quietness and quieted. One of the verses which I looked at first was Isaiah 30:15, which of course was written to the Israelites long ago, but I saw an application in my own life now:

15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

That hit me full force..."but you would have none of it". Okay, the Lord has my attention now. I'm listening. Quietness and trust are my strength. He is my strength. I am seeking more answers to what it means to be quiet, still, peaceful, tranquil, meek, gentle. These are the qualities that are often used to describe godly women and godliness. In 2 Corinthians 10:1, Paul even appealed to the Corinthians by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

God is powerful and loud and BIG. He is mighty, awesome, fearsome and Holy.

Paradoxically He is meek and gentle, quiet and full of peace.

What an incredible God we serve, who takes time from all His concerns to hear the concerns of our hearts - even the ones we do not know how to voice. He meets us where we are. When we seek Him, He answers. He never abandons, He never leaves, He never forsakes us and He never fails.

Who am I to presume to have the answers or solutions to my circumstances? Yes, I need to engage my brain and apply wisdom, but Godly wisdom is the key. It is by His wounds that I have been healed and it is by His strength that I can do all things required of me. Isn't He wonderful?

If you have some experience in the spiritual disciplines and especially if you have had experiences where He quiets you, I would love to hear. Hopefully more women from our church will take the challenge that Susan has presented to share what we learned from retreat. The challenge is also open to people who want to share how God teaches them at retreats even if they did not attend ours. Susan is cool that way! :o) Thank you Susan. Thank you God! Thank you D for all your hard work in the retreat presentation and materials. And thank you, my cyber sisters if read this far!

CNC Women's Retreat

This is the view looking out from the lawn at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center where my church held their women's retreat this past weekend. In the post prior to this, I shared the pictures of our day up on Friday. Hubby and the kids brought me there and it was a little tough to say goodbye. The kids and I have been at my Mom's without Hubby, but I have never been alone overnight without the kids! It was my first time being away from my family as a whole. I know some of you may think I'm crazy, but it was difficult for me - not in the sense that I cannot be alone or that I cannot handle it emotionally, but because God has been busy bringing us to a certain place together as a family and there have been a lot of changes happening for us spiritually and emotionally. A lot of good things are happening and it felt weird to leave right in the midst of this because it disrupted the flow of our progress. In addition, the home school conference the weekend before was still fresh in my brain and ideas were overflowing, bumping into each other, trying to get organized in my mind. Hearing Sally Clarkson the week before was like already having been to women's retreat. So, I arrived at the conference center feeling like that old Far Side cartoon where the guy is raising his hand, asking the teacher to leave because his brain is FULL! LOL



Being primarily an introvert, I was a little bit nervous about who my roommate would be and if we would be compatible. My roomie ended up being my SS teacher's wife who had watched our girls last weekend while we were at conference. We were well matched, both being quiet and needing rest! The photo above is not too exciting, however, I am posting this here so Mom can see where I stayed. I am at the top dormer, behind that tree. I have always loved houses with dormers because they created magical, inviting spaces that are awkward sometimes to decorate, but often provide a cozy environment for reading, artistic endeavours or gazing out windows and dreaming! :o)

The only thing that would have made our dormer "better" was a cozy little love seat to sit and read. This table served the purpose and you can see my "stuff" sitting there. I spent quite a few hours here, breathing in fresh air, taking in the early morning views and pouring my heart into my journals and Bible study. Much to my surprise, this retreat was about solitude for me. I say it was surprising because solitude is generally not found in a group. But the lovely setting here and the timing of events created a wonderful environment for the work God was doing in my heart.

The rooms were not fancy, but very clean, which is more important to me! I had a double bed with a firm mattress, which is what I prefer. The first night I didn't sleep very well as it was warm and stuffy. We had been afraid to open the window too wide because the temp was in the mid to high 30s at night. The next night we opened it all the way and I enjoyed all the fresh air. It reminded me of sleeping at Grandma Hopkins' as a child.

Each room had a quilt and donated quilts were a theme throughout the conference center. This is a small quilt about 30" square and was not too appealing for my taste, but it was a homey touch to the room.

We could not have asked for a better view on the lake. We could look both towards the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the California side and to the barren, dry hills on the Nevada side. The conference center itself was 4 miles over the state line, in Nevada.


There were several short trails down towards the lake as well as plenty of benches, tables and other spots to sit and contemplate. One thing I enjoyed was that the lake views were reflected in all the windows, so everywhere you looked you saw God's glorious creation!

From the lake, looking up, this is how you viewed the conference center. The building on the right is where the dining room and kitchen were. My room was on the other side of the dining room. Where we met for the retreat was in a conference room on the middle of the ground floor of this larger section.

The retreat theme was "Spiritual Disciplines". The speaker D, whose blog I had read many times without realizing she was our speaker, did a great job. Apparently she used to attend our church before college and career took her elsewhere. She did a great job of presenting some heavy ideas in a fun, but respectful way. Many hours were put into the research and resources that she gave us in the form of handouts and a booklet to take notes. What I appreciated was that there were exercises to practice some of the things we learned about at a later time. As I said, my brain was already full, so during the quiet times, I needed to process the information that was already running around in my brain. For me the theme was "Silence is Golden"! However, this is a topic I have long been interested in and was delighted to hear more.

D broke the topics into sections and we covered different types of prayer, Bible reading and Sabbath keeping (from a personal rest perspective, not a legal/moral perspective). Some of the ideas seemed strange to a few of us, not having experienced them before. Many of my friends and a few family members do come from a high church background so it was not totally foreign for me. Many people do feel uncomfortable exploring this, feeling that it is stodgy and has no meaning or belongs to certain denominations. D did a pretty good job explaining why we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. One of the most compelling reasons to try some of the liturgical prayers or other methods mentioned, was the connection to many Believing Christian Souls who have gone on this journey ahead of us.

To my surprise, when I came home from retreat, the gals on the Christian Artisans list were discussing these same topics. The conversation began from a hymns versus choruses discussion, but blossomed from there. Thankfully, that is such a loving group that we can discuss different perspectives of an often divisive topic without hurting each other or throwing fiery darts. I really appreciate this in my cyber fellowship them. For me, I have to say that I like both sides. There is a lot to be gained in some of the old hymns, liturgical prayers and so on. On the other hand, sometimes certain praise choruses cause my heart to soar and fall in love with Him all over again. This may surprise some of you, but this gray haired old lady, even occasionally loves to "rock out for Jesus"! LOL It depends on where I am and what He is working on in my life. The conclusion in our group discussions was that it is the intention of the heart - as Paul put it, whatever we do, whether in word or deed, should be done for Him. Personally, I am looking forward to trying some of these different ideas to see how they fit with our family's mission. We have already instituted a Sabbath rest of sorts, though the world always crowds in with noise and demands. But I find that, the weeks in which we are successful in finding that pause and rest, flow better and more gets done. I think we have become so selfish with "our" time that we even get stingy in sharing it with God!

These are views from the outside of the dining area. We were well fed spiritually and physically! I have never eaten so much in a weekend! Monday morning I fasted half the day just to give my stomach a rest! Of course it wasn't quite as good as when your Mama makes it, but it was the best institutional food that I have ever eaten. There was a lot of variety too, including a salad bar and the nummiest, most sinful desserts!

This is inside, looking at the upper part of the dining hall from the walk way near our room. The buildings here were well planned and in their design really do promote worship, contemplation and fellowship. As a creative person, I find architecture fascinating.

This is looking down into the dining area where they had just washed the floor. It gives you an idea of our experience.

Do I have any Presbyterian readers? I was curious as to the significance of the design of this cross. It appears to me that the Holy Spirit is descending upon a baptismal font, but I am not certain. The world is behind the cross and the cross is red, yellow, black and white - so I wondered if that symbolized how Jesus Christ came to save ALL His children, no matter what their ethnic or religious background. Perhaps I am reading more into it than is actually there, but it seems to be more than just a regular cross design.

As I mentioned, quilts abounded. I cropped this so that you could see the airplane on the right. Obviously some children or some rambunctious men on retreat had been here as this is up two stories from the dining hall! LOL This quilt was very pretty and I have always enjoyed the various trip around the world designs.

This autograph quilt was in our lodge and was made with some of my favorite colors. Star designs always intrigue me. This was simple but very beautiful.

In addition to all our serious discussions and serious eating, we did have a lot of fun! There was a purse decorating contest. My friend L was a winner and here she is holding up her design, sharing how she made it and what it symbolized. There were some very creative entries but this one was my favorite because of the story behind it.

L has been de-cluttering and she used items that were sentimental - buttons from her Mother's and Grandmother's sewing box, a tatted trim, a crocheted doily, family costume jewelry and her Mother's picture to decorate her purse. A judge told why they chose each purse and M.E. gave a humorous presentation including the fact that she thought it would be practical when she was old to have her picture on her purse to know who she was and where to go home! We had good times of laughter while looking at all the purses!

Humor interjected our serious discussions and we have a lot of talented ladies in our group. At the beginning of each session, Susan would bring in "phone messages" to be read to the ladies. They weren't real, but made us all laugh. One session there was a note for me saying: Hubby called. He can't tell the twins apart and they aren't telling! LOL I laughed hard. Right now they have different hair lengths and they don't know they could torture their poor father in this manner, but it is a possibility in the future! The next session there was another "message" and it said that Hubby had found a Sharpie and solved the situation! I had to chuckle at that too. I can tell them apart now but when they were first born it was hard and we painted purple nail polish on J's toes and pink on A's.

During the free time, some ladies went shopping and to a craft fair and some took drives around the lake. Others took naps or like me, stayed on grounds. I rested in my room and then later took pictures of the lake and even did a bit of drop spindling. When I came down to dinner, some of the ladies said, "We watched you from our room, WHAT were you doing?!" LOL While on my walk, I tried calling my friend Shelley and when I was leaving a message for her I saw this:

This is the Nevada side of the lake, which is dryer.

Don't these look innocent? I think it was a fir tree. When I touched one, pollen flew everywhere! Big mistake!

We had one session early Saturday evening and then more free time. I was excited to watch the sunset because I had watched it through the window the night before without being able to take pictures! On the way down to the water I saw these lovely lilacs.

Some of us found quiet places to phone our honeys. :o)

Isn't this a gorgeous view? There was a house on the point... tough to be them! LOL

Here is my friend J. She lives less than a mile from me and sometimes we go there and our kids play in their huge backyard. She is a lot of fun, but very smart too and I enjoy conversations with her. That night we had some silly giggles with L and some other gals over J posing with her popcorn. It was a "guess you had to be there" moment!

This is another view to the west (California) from the beach area and those are the same docks in the previous pictures. It looked beautiful with the golden pre-sunset light.

Here is the view to the east (Nevada side) and the steps that are part of the beautiful amphitheater. The young single gals all agreed (and we did too!) that it would be a beautiful place to get married.

This is also towards the Nevada side. They have an awesome view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the California side, but I think they'd go swimming if there was an earthquake!

This is my friend L, who is also our CE director at church, in the yellow sweatshirt. She has been a great support to me with some of my challenges over the last year or so and I'm glad to have her as a friend. The gal behind her is one of the young college aged women who played keyboards for the worship at our retreat and plays on the youth worship team at church. One of the nice things about retreat is getting to know people you might not usually interact with - like nerds like me who rarely interact with the younger people at church, getting to meet them in this lovely setting. I do have a few other people pictures, but because I don't like to post images of others without permission. Since L blogs, I thought hers would be okay. Also, I need to get a flash for my camera so that the people pics I take indoors will be better quality. I did enjoy sitting with the gals to watch the sunset!

I took a lot of pictures at various settings and stages and found the ones after sunset were prettiest. In the city, naturally we still see the sunset, but it is not framed and silhouetted by nature. Having grown up always living within a half hour of the salt water and usually also near freshwater (lake, river, pond), I find that watching beautiful sunsets or "chasing" them (as we call it when we rushed to find the best spot for pictures), is one of the things that I miss living here.

I lightened this photo a little so that you could see the amphiteater. Don't you think it would be a lovely wedding setting?

A post on Lake Tahoe wouldn't be complete without pictures of the stunning water. These are NOT photoshopped! Isn't it beautiful?!

And this was my one last shot before leaving. I rode home with T and M.E. It was fun. Usually I am so serious, it was nice to relax and let go and laugh and just enjoy being before heading back to the rush of daily life. Last year I gifted to T as a "secret sister" at church. It was a fun, but challenging experience because we had never interacted at church before since we usually attend different services. This gave me an opportunity to talk to her and get to know her a little. And M.E. is an interesting lady that I am getting to know too! Thanks for the wonderful ride back.

Well, it seems my Abbie kitty and my husband missed me the most. D, who had teared up when I left, gave me a hug and the girls acted like cats - looked at me like "oh, you're back" and returned to playing. Hmmm... not sure what to think of that. Hopefully it just means that they are very secure in their relationships with each of us. I was glad to see them though, even if it meant returning to the land of refereeing toy ownership disputes and "I don't want to"! :o)

Now the challenge is applying what I learned to my everyday life and walk with God. There was some discussion at the retreat for the few of us who are homeschoolers, that some traditional forms of worship and liturgical prayer could and should be introduced to our children. So, yesterday I decided to start with the Doxology (Praise God from whom all blessings flow...). This led to them deciding to sing Holy, Holy, Holy, which mentions the Trinity. Another door opened and we got out our book 3 in 1 which explains it at a simple level for children using apples as an illustration. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful our school sessions are when the Holy Spirit is the real Teacher! So, our first introduction to liturgy and theology went well. And the beat goes on...

Now to unpack my suitcase sitting in the kitchen! LOL

Songs On Sunday

Today I was in church for the first time in a month and it was really nice. I was out a few weeks with sick kiddos and once with a migraine. Our church celebrates communion on the first Sunday of every month, so I am glad I was there today. Pastor Jeff, who is in training for missions, spoke today and his message was refreshing! In fact it has given me inspiration on how to tackle some difficult issues/decisions we have been facing.

The title of the sermon was "What Jesus wouldn't do!" He meant no disrespect to WWJD, but suggested we might ask the alternative question. The emphasis of the sermon is that we cannot do anything of our own efforts, no matter how good, wonderful etc that we are, to be holy. We are holy because of Him in us and He is our guide every step of the way. That is an oversimplified version of the sermon! :o) It gave me a lot to think on and it was neat that our discussions in SS were along the same lines - it was unplanned, but as it so often happens, dovetailed with the sermon.

At the close of service, we sang a hymn which invoked memories of childhood Sabbath meetings at Grandma's side.

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain
I need Thee, O I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee;

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;

Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;

Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;

And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;

O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.

Refrain

Spring Concert

J, Mom, D and A

On Monday March 31st the home school kids at our church gave a concert for The Club. The Club is a respite care program for adults with memory impairment. It gives their caregivers a chance to go to appointments, run errands or just catch their breath. God bless this ministry! There was nothing like this available, at any cost, when my Grandma Johnson had Alzheimer's. Being a caregiver is exhausting. When you add to it the grief and weariness of caring for someone you dearly love who no longer knows your name, it can feel unbearable!

One of the things I really love about our church is that "community" is not just the name! They really are involved in the community in lots of ways - some very visible and some behind the scenes. In addition to this ministry there is an affordable childcare service for before and after school and school breaks/summer and a new low cost preschool. We live in a low income area and these services are really vital.

When we were asked to participate, I was delighted. I have long had a heart for the elderly and those who are "special needs". How fun to do something that would brighten someone else's day as well as teach and train my children. I was really surprised at how well they paid attention when it was their turn to sing... except A who turned around and sang to the other families instead of the Club clients! LOL Mom was there to help J who is extremely shy. They sang Jesus Loves Me and a couple verses of Holy, Holy, Holy, which is one of their favorites!

I didn't include other pictures in the post because I don't post children's pictures without parental permission, but there is a lot of amazing talent in our young people! Several girls have lovely voices, there are some great budding pianists, a poem was read and one beautiful young lady has quite a talent making balloon animals!

After the concert and before the lunch we shared with everyone, there was exercise time. I don't know who this lady is, but she is good at her job and handled the kids so kindly, just going with the flow. J was crying because she got pushed out of a seat so the lady invited her up to sit on the piano bench. A then followed suit, because where one goes, there is the other! :o) I was surprised that J went because the whole thing with all the people was very overwhelming for her and several times I had to hold her and comfort her. But she responds well to kindness and individual attention and liked this lady. In this picture she is showing how to use the dynamic bands.

This picture shows the whole group of children. The adult clients were sitting in wheel chairs and chairs behind them.

Continuing with exercises!

The lady leading exercises asked the children to give ideas of what they wanted to do next for exercises. Most of the kids came up with great ideas, but had no awareness of how this might effect those in wheel chairs, using walkers and having limited mobility! :o) We all laughed when one girl suggested jumping jacks. The leader never missed a beat or made the girl feel silly. She just said, "Sure, show us" and the kids did jumping jacks and the leader used adaptive hand movements that could be done in from a chair.

After exercising, everyone enjoyed a nice lunch together and it was a really fun day. I hope we have opportunity to do this again.