One of My Happy Places

One of my happy places to visit but can't go to often, because of the crowds, is CADES COVE.

For those who read here and who don't know what Cades Cove is let me give you a quick answer, it's an 11 mile loop in the mountains that you can either drive your car around OR your bicycle and look at old homesteads of years ago, waterfalls, deer, turkey, black bears, old churches and of course mountains and flowers etc... you are allowed to picnic anywhere you can find a spot.

Right before you enter Cades Cove they do have a separate picnic area and campground and a little store that you can buy anything from batteries to ice cream BUT it's expensive. As I found out because I forgot to bring extra batteries and I needed them so I could take pictures driving around the 11 mile loop. :)

My other happy place is anywhere down 30-A in and around Destin, Florida. I would move there is I could or at least vacation there more than I do. I love the ocean and palm trees as much as I love the mountains.

When life is hectic and when we go through dry seasons in  life, we need a place of quiet rest and peace. While the two places I mentioned above offer temporary peace and relaxation and fun the reality is that you eventually have to return home or back to reality. ;)

The kind of peace we need during hard times is the peace that only comes from God. The place of quiet rest can only be found from God. It's an everlasting peace and an everlasting rest that the world can't give us.

Too many times we rush to friends, the mall, food, anything but rushing to the only one who can help us, relieve us from our cares and burdens. God should be the first person we run to and He gives us rest and peace but He also has the answer to every single problem we face and has the provisions for every thing that we need.

This is yet another lesson God has been teaching me. Run to Throne, not the phone. God was teaching me to go to Him first and then to friends and family for prayer support.

I am thankful for the times of refresment that God gives that come in the form of vacation or a quick retreat to the mountains and we will be going to soon to my happy place in the mountains. I plan on taking my camera and plenty of batteries to share with you when we return. :)

Until then, feast on these verses this weekend and I hope each of you enjoy your weekend and as always do something fun. It's important to do something fun whatever your "fun" may be, I plan on doing some reading, relaxing and cooking and relaxing and going over my Sunday school lesson.

"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid (John 14:27) NLT

Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7) NLT

The LORD replied, "I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest--everything will be fine for you." (Ex. 33:14) NLT

that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, (Acts 3:20) ESV

"For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes." (Jerm. 31:25)

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back for our Sunday Chit Chat.

What is your Happy Place?

Thankful 20

One day on Twitter I read a tweet from Joyce Meyer that said, "before I ask God for anything, I thank Him for 20 things."

I thought that was a great idea and it goes along with this verse:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalms 100:4

I began doing that in my quiet time and writing it in my prayer journal. Do you all keep a prayer jouranl?  I love to go back to old prayer journals and look at the ways God answered and didn't answer my prayers. :)

I felt impressed upon my heart to blog about this today and begin doing this on my blog. In fact, God was leading me to write this post this morning and I got busy and forgot and God gently reminded me again. ;)

When I first began blogging I used to participate in Thankful Thursday and it was one of my favorite things to do with blogging.

Being thankful honors God and we all have so much to be thankful for.

My 20 today:

1.  Breezes(The breeze is so nice today and I have all the windows up.)
2. Green grass
3. Sunshine
4. Clouds
5. Spring flowers
6. Warm days
7. My family
8. The Easter season
9. dogwood trees
10. blue sky
11. rain shower
12. rainbows
13. my salvation
14. God meeting all our needs
15. God watching over us
16. God's mercy
17. God's Word
18. friends
19. Bible study
20. God's breakthroughs

God is a good, mighty, great and awesome God.

Enjoy your day and blessings. :-)

Sunday Chit Chat

This is the time it would be nice to sit across the table from one another and chat about today OR sitting on my porch swing with some iced tea or whatever you like to drink.

Did you all have a good Sunday?

It is going by way to fast.

I had my S.S. lesson ready to teach but I felt in my spirit that God was leading me to let the class watch another video from our James study. Normally we watch a video one week and the next week we discuss but today we watched a video again and it fit perfectly for our class and I love how God directs our steps.

The worship hour was so good. Pastor baptized two people and a family joined our church during invitation. Praise God!

I was too lazy to cook so we went thru the drive thru at Zaxby's and picked up lunch.The grilled chicken house salad is deicious and that's what I ate for lunch.

After lunch I started watching golf but I decided to take a nap. Aren't Sunday naps the best?!

I woke up in time to see Tiger finish the tournament and win! I am so happy he won. I know a lot of people have their opinions about him but I am happy he won.

I haven't done much  today but this is where I am glad God wants us to rest on Sunday. :)

My brother made pancakes for dinner. Delicious. Breakfast for dinner can be so good.

So, now I am sitting on the couch and watching Blind Side for the 1,000th  time. ;) I love this movie!

 Pinterest. So many great recipes on there and I found this from a friend's board tonight I thought I would share with you. I am going to make it tomorrow night for dinner. I will let you know how it tastes.

Slow Cooker Cheesey Chicken

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia)
• 1 -8 ounce box Zatarain's Yellow Rice Mix, cooked according to directions
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
• 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

Instructions

1. Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Scatter chopped onion over top. Spoon cream soup over top of that. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese. Stir to combine. Serve hot.

This is where I got it, click HERE

One last thing, This was the sky tonight:



Praise God! He is Amazing! Y'all have a great week!

Signs of Spring

Happy Saturday morning! It's cloudy here today but that's okay, I really don't have much planned today except a little cleaning, a lot of laundry and we are showing the house this afternoon.

I had my camera out yesterday and snapped a few pictures. Yesterday evening the sky had a weird color to it and it was almost 9:00 o'clock and the sky looked so blue and light and we had a rainbow. :) God was showing off last night and I was inclined to give Him some praise!

Enjoy your weekend!

Stirring Up

Have you ever been in a season where you felt the spirit stirring something inside of you but you were not sure what is was?  Also, where you realize that a new season is coming but you have no idea what that might entail?

That is our family right now.  As I wrote in a previous post, we have been under stressful situations for most of March.  From the way God was leading me in His Word, I knew it was spiritual warfare. The enemy was beating the stuffing out of us but God....

Yesterday as I was praying and asking for a specific Word from God, He led me to Joshua 24. I read and reread that chapter three times.  Then I started breaking the verses down that stood out to me and prayed them into our situation.

In this chapter God was reminding the Israelites how many battles they had faced and how each time God fought for them and gave them the victory. In fact, they didn't have to do anything, God did it all and they reaped the rewards.

I knew after I finished reading and praying about what God had showed me,  I knew God had fought this intense battle and won the victory for us. I felt my spirit get lighter and I knew that I knew that I knew it was complete.

The one thing God was telling me to do and we all need to remember is to start praising Him as we are in the difficult situations and to also continue serving Him and obeying Him and to NOT forget what God has done for us.

While we haven't seen the victory manifested on this earth yet, it will come. In fact, God started answering our prayers and meeting our needs last night. He is doing things that only He can do.

If you are going through a difficult time OR you are unsure of what your future holds, don't try and reason everything out (learned this the hard way) and you don't have to figure it out, God knew your need before you did and by the time you found out he already had your deliverance planned out. He will bring it to you in His perfect timing. He faces no deadlines, He is not bound by anyone or anything. We may be; but He is not.

I can promise you thru my own experience that you can trust Him. Let God have it and you sit back and watch God bring you the victory. Go ahead and start praising Him for it. Even if you don't feel like it. Feelings change and your feelings will catch up to the truth of God's Word eventually.

As I tell my S.S. class, we have the facts of our situations and then there is the truth. (God's Word)

We are never hopeless if we are in Jesus Christ. We are never alone even if we feel like we are, God said He would not leave us or forsake us. Trust Him.

In a Moment

Friday started out nice with pretty weather and we were just doing our normal routine along with taking mom to a doctors appointment. She is doing better walking since she began physical therapy. She was having a good day and afterwards we took her home and got her settled and left to come home a take a quick nap.


I was just dozing off when my brother told me that mom had taken a bad fall. We headed over to their home to meet my sister. Mom fell and hit the wall and then hit her head into the bathtub. She knocked herself out and was disoriented and she was in bad shape. We called 911 to have an ambulance take her to the hospital. My sister and I met them at the hospital and we didn't know what to expect but given the severity of the trauma to her head and neck and arm, it could have been bad.

This is where I get to say BUT GOD!

There were no broken bones, no brain bleed and she ended up with a bad concussion with amensia for a bit and they admitted her in the hospital for overnight observation. Prasie God we got to take her home on Saturday afternoon.

There are other stressful things going on in our family but the enemy has been fighting hard for a month now.  I am so thankful that God says that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, not illness, job loss, home loss, sickness, family issues etc... nothing.

I can't thank God enough for watching over our mother. 

I look forward real soon to the day that God brings a breakthrough to our family.

We are all tired and battle weary and our faith is being tested to say the least.

I have had great days and bad days with all of this but I do know from experience that God is faithful.

God hears us when we cry out to Him.

God rescues His children. In fact, it's a delight for Him to do so.

Above all, I am thankful that I can be real before God and tell Him my real feelings(even when I am angry, upset etc.. about the situation) He can take it and He knows it already anyway. :)

I am praying for a peaceful week for my entire family. I am asking God to please keep mom from falling and I am asking for a breakthrough, a victory this week. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed week!

Catching Up

I cannot believe it has been this long since I have posted on this blog. I have posted a few things on my other blog but I have neglected this one.

What has been going on....

A few weeks ago my father became ill and almost died but God kept His gracious hand on him and protected him and our father is continuing to do better each day. He spent 2 weeks in the hospital and we spent two weeks with mom. We were all pretty busy and I did not have time to be on the internet.

I teach a S.S. class and by the grace of God I was able to write out a discussion for our class last Sunday and I love our class. We have the best discussions. We are studying James by Beth Moore. Only a few are doing the homework so it's interesting trying to lead the class as to include those not doing the homework in the discussion. ;)

My brother has been home helping since dad's illness and after he came home from the hospital we decided to take some time and clean out the garage and throw away a lot of stuff and we did yard work all the while enjoying the beautiful weather.

We even had our first grill out of the season.

I moved my swing out of the garage and I am enjoying it very much.

We have been watching a little of March Madness but my VOLS did not make it to the big dance but they are in the NIT tourney and we are watching them.  I usually make brackets just for fun but I didn't have time this year. I miss doing that but the games are exciting. Cheering for KY to take it all.

There are more things going on but I will write about that later.

I know there are a lot of people heading to the beach this week for Spring break. If that is you, enjoy yourself and have a blast.

As always, have a wonderful weekend and do something fun!

A few pictures I took with my phone over the last few days.

 Sunset. I love the clouds in this one.

 Sunset.

 Beautiful Bradford Pear tree in full bloom.

This picture I was trying to capture the sunlight streaming through the curtains and we had the windows up and the breeze was blowing the curtains up and down. It was nice to be able to have the windows up BUT the A/C was quickly turned on because it has been in the 80's all week. Love it.

That is is longest explantion of a picture. ;)


Be back soon.