Joy

Psalm 30

I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.”
LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
I cried out to You, O LORD; And to the LORD I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit, Will the dust praise You, Will it declare Your truth?
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!”
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Prayer: Father, please forgive me for my often shallow attitude about joy. I confess that my version of joy is often nothing more than an emotion or feeling based on current circumstances. Help me to fix my eyes on You, the Author and Finisher of my faith. I want to live my life against the backdrop of eternity, exchanging temporary happiness for eternal joy. I pray that You will continually teach me to choose joy in whatever lies ahead. ~ Amen

Me, Me, Me...

Have you been wondering why I haven't posted in a while? Me too. I've wanted to write something intelligent and witty on several occasions, but the press of a busy schedule and deadlines and the feeling of "who needs to hear about my life?" have kept me away from the keyboard.

So, I guess I'll play catch up a little, since it is already June and May is gone with the wind! hmmm, will the wind is still here, but May is indeed gone none the less.

It was a fun month, one of my favorite. I love lilacs, it is one of my favorite smells...they bloom but once a year and the blooms last just a few short weeks in the month of May. I have two bushes in my yard. One is white and is about 10 years old. The other is pale purple and is about 4 years old. I have a neighbor a few houses down who has one that is deep purple--I would love to have that color in my yard! I think I have bush envy .

This May was our first annual women's retreat to Angel Fire New Mexico. My friend Kristie and I along with God planned it. There were only 5 of us who went and we had a fabulous time! We talked about Joy. I got to give the message--that was a little stressful, but also fun. We split the cost of a private cabin in the woods and the food and it was very affordable yet luxurious and cozy. We had so much fun that we are going to do it again next year. (If you want to be included, just let me know.)



After we got back, the pressure was on becuase I had the Fiber Arts Fiesta to get ready for. This was a new show for me this year and I had heard that it was a busy show. So I needed to get busy and make buttons, buttons, and more buttons. At the same time Christina started a new job and I was on full-time Gramma duty. It was a challenge to jugle the schedule, but it all worked out. The show was great. I'll do it again. It only happens every 2 years. It was very well organized and there were many beautiful fibers and quilts to see.


I have been having a blast with Amara. Her and I have been doing a schedule on the days that I watch her and she is loving it. "What's next Gramma?" She is so curious and full of joy! She really is a blast to hang out with. She started gymnastics and she really loves it! It's close to home so we don't have to drive far to go.


I could talk on and on about her--that's what Gramma's do. But I'll just tell you one more thing (it happened yesterday, the last day in May). If you know Amara, you know that she is a total tom-boy, she doesn't like girl clothes, she wants to wear boy clothes, she wants to be handsome, not cute, she wants a boy haircut. Well, yesterday her mom took her for a haircut and she now has short hair--a girl style, but short. She loves it!!!! Last night we would catch her looking at herself in the mirror and fixing her hair. She kept saying, "just gel and go." No more rats, brushing and pigtails! She's a great kid!


Now it's June and the schedule is already full. I have the New Mexico Challenge show in Santa Fe in a few weeks. Then I have the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair the week after that. That is a new show for me. I hope that I will do well. I only juried in for Jewelry so I won't be able to take some of my big sellers like wine stoppers and bottle openers and pens. I hope that it is a good show. I have a lot that I need to create to have enough Jewelry for that show, so my schedule is cut out for me for the next month.

We are fitting in some fun though. We are going to take the new camper to Elephant Butte Lake for a camping weekend. Our friends Bridget and Ron live there. We have been planning to go see them for the last 5 years and now we are finally making it happen. I'm so excited to see them and to go fishing and swimming and boating!

Oh, one more thing about May. Since we had the Fiber Arts Fiesta on memorial weekend, we didn't make our annual trip to Carlsbad. So we were in town for Trish's (Wayne's boss) pool opening party. Amara went with us and had so much fun. She swam and jumped in the pool for a good solid 4 hours. It was good to see her have so much fun. At the end of the day all the kids roasted marshmallows on the gas grill and made smores. She was in kid sugar heaven!

Well, as you can see, all is good here at the Jones's. I could tell you a hundred more things...but I'll let you go for now...I need to get my day started. God bless your week. ~ T

Doing what is most important...

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV).

I really do love Thursdays. Thursdays come fast but enter slow. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday fly by with all of their rewarding responsibilities and then Thursday...wide open, full of possibilities. Today's Thursday has entered with a drip, a drop, then a slow and gentle rain, no wind, just a soft and soothing cleansing...so soft, the birds are still out singing their spring song.

Was it just last week I was wondering how long? How long must we go without rain?

Have Thursdays always been this way? I don't think so. I occurs to me that this day is a gift amongst all my gifts. A gift of peace and refreshment in the midst of my responsibility and striving.

Four years ago, I set aside my Thursdays for fasting and praying for prodigals. It started with my son and my friend's children...it has grown. Now Thursdays are a gift of time spent at the feet of Jesus...letting him take my worries and comfort my worn heart.

Looking back, I know that Thursdays have not always been this way. But now, they are a sweet peace and I hear my savior call, "come, sit, let's talk." And we do, we sit, and we talk and His peace overflows me and becomes me.

HE speaks...

As I study God’s Word today, I’m confronted with my doubts...”He doesn’t really love me...He’s looking at all my short comings and He says, “throw this one back””...I know these are lies and I determine to ignore them...to set my face on HIM...to trust and believe despite how I feel...but I still feel and I wonder.... “does HE love me? truly? Will HE help me? really?” I want to scream at them to “shut-up!” How can I ask for forgiveness for my doubt and in the same breath-thought doubt more?

Silently...don’t even say it in Your mind...the heart mumbles, “speak to me LORD, please show me that You are there.”

And, I go about my day, check email...a new devotion from Skip...about love...about love? Yes, about how the LORD asked Peter if he loved HIM.

I hear the LORD whispering in my ear...I LOVE You...yes, you! I love you with a divine, fervent, intense, unswerving love! Okay, LORD, thanks for the reminder...was that really You speaking to me. Again with the doubt? Please forgive me LORD.

And, I go about my day, check email...a new devotion from Our Daily Bread...about Peter’s failure and the LORD’s restoration...now Father God is squeezing me tight in HIS arms and whispering, “I love you Teresa. I truly do. I truly, truly do. I hear you, I see you and I love you so much.”

God moments. How thankful I am that HE knows me, HE understands and HE walks this walk called life with me, supplying and sustaining me every minute of every day. I trust HIM more and more every day.

I hope you have God moments every day!

If You Know Wayne....

like I know Wayne, then you know that out of all the "honeydoo" items, he really despises anything plumbling related. Before he even starts--when the idea is just a small seed, he begins to mumble, "I don't have any idea what I'm doing."


So, wasn't I surprised last year when he called to tell me someone had dumped a perfectly good cast iron sink in his dumpster at work (yes, we are a dumpster-diving, trash-picking family LOL!). I asked him "are you sure?" I'm thinking, "he knows he's going to have to install this sink--right?"

He says he's sure and brings home the sink. It gets placed in the yard....and sits there....for six long months and more....it sits there. Now it's full of dirt and de-composing leaves. In fact, if he ever does install it, I'm not sure I will be able to get the stains out. :o(

Then, this weekend he does it! He started on Saturday and lost steam mid-day and I thought he wouldn't actually do it. But he did. He started by installing a new facet in the girl's bathroom (it was leaking). Then he got started on the kitchen sink. I think the reason he hates it (other than knowing nothing about plumbing) is that it is never straight forward. So the first roadblock was that the hole in the counter was a little too small. After a trip to the shop to get his router and a stop at the hardware store for a piece we didn't know we needed...and a large sawdust/glue mess all over the kitchen...the hole is now big enough and we hoist and heave it into place.


The next roadblock is the drains now don't match the pipes. He gathers all of his spare parts and tries to get something to work...alas, another trip to the hardware store where we try to find a piece that is 15" long, but all we can find is 14" long. :o) suddenly I see a kit that looks like it will work if we change the connection where the dishwasher comes in. At first he says no, but then his eyes light up and he says yes, you're right. "Yes, You're right!" He said that several times, he was so happy. (I love it when he says that.)

With our purchase in hand, we head back home and he installs it. Then we test it...several leaks and several hours later, the leaks are stopped up and everything is working perfectly! And my new sink is so beautiful! And it is cast iron, so there won't be any holes in it (the last one was fiberglass and had several holes in the sides). And, a little bleach and it's a pretty sparkly white!


So, when you see Wayne, give him a high-five. He gave up a weekend for one of his most-hated jobs, and he did it all because he loves me!

Multitude Monday

Do I get an A for effort? I know I'm not consistent every Monday...but I'm still going :o)

50. My husband who worked all weekend to install a new facet in the girl's bathroom and a new kitchen sink and facet for me in the kitchen
51. My "new to me" kitchen sink and beautiful new facet!
52. Clorox and Future wax -- my used sink looks pretty as new
53. Joeleen
54. Communion
55. 50% off my new George Foreman grill--for a total cost of two dollars and fifty cents
56. Mondays, get to work on my BSF lesson for the kids and clean house
57. My broke down car
58. New Mexico skies, weather, scenery, everything!
59. Amara and Christina are getting a fun vacation and Auntie 'Chelle is getting to treat them
60. Our new camper
61. taxes are done and turned into the accountant
62. warm home and good food
63. my grandparents
64. BSF
65. the Bible
66. Christian brothers and sisters who are awesome writers and write great devotions and encouraging words in books and in blogs and newsletters
67. My brothers James and Jeff who both turned another year older this month.
68. My Aunt Myrna who knows how to see the good in all things and over look the bad
69. Mom
70. Finding Jesus in the book of Isaiah
71. Amara comes home in a few days
72. Peace of God

Special Thursdays...

I usually don't have a whole lot on my calendar on Thursdays. It is a day set aside to pray for my immediate family, my extended family and for my friends with prodigal sons and daughters.

A few years ago my son decided he no longer wanted to be a part of our family. I cried and raged at the unfairness of it all. How could a son, an only son, abandon his mom, his family? As with all trials I tried to figure it out. What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? What was God trying to teach me? Is HE even paying attention to this disaster in my life?

I decided to stop the raging and the questioning and to pray. To pray and to fast for my son every Thursday. It started with just me and a good friend praying for our kids and the kids of our friends, then other prodigal parents joined us. For over 3 years now we have been praying and fasting every Thursday for our prodigal children and our families, our marriages. God has heard us and we have had praise reports of reconciliations and restorations.

I still have not heard from my son. However, God has given me peace and I know that HIS will is perfect and that it will be done (lessons that HE has taught me through this pain). I miss my son....but God knows when the cookies will be done....