The Sun behind the Clouds

My son Will snapped this a several years ago when we were at the beach in August. Isn't it beautiful?

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen

Maui Sunset

My latest handwork completed is the scarf above, a gift for my son, Will. We enjoyed dinner at Carrabbas. Don't miss the beautiful full moon in the photo. For dessert, we enjoyed homemade strawberry ice cream with a special, one of a kind black and white cake.

Three Days Until Spring

While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and suummer,
And day and night
Shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

"Prayers Do Not Die"

I have just begun to read E. M. Bounds on Prayer. Take time to consider the author's opening in book one, Purpose in Prayer. I have often thought about the brevity of our lives, compared to the eternal value of our prayer. Bounds makes these statements with great eloquence.

The prayers of God's saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon the earth. Great throes and mighty convulsions in the world have come about as angels move on more powerful, more rapid wings; and God's policy is shaped when the prayers of His people are more numerous and more efficient.
The most important lesson we can learn is how to pray. Indeed, we must pray so that our prayers take hold of God. The man who has done the most and the best praying is the most immortal, because prayers do not die. Perhaps the lips that uttered them are closed in death, or the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them. Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them -- outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world. 1

E. M. Bounds on Prayer is a anthology of seven books on prayer. You can read the book online at Christian Ethereal Classics Library.

1 E. M. Bounds on Prayer, published in 1997 by Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA, p. 11

White as snow

All too soon,
The snow plows will come and clear the beautiful fluffy white snow off of the roads
But for now the neighborhood is at rest
Except for an occasional car that comes down the street.

I am thinking of
families gathered together in warm homes with porch lights burning
big bowls of popcorn
root beer and chili
playing games together
mittens by the fireside
pizza
hot chocolate for all the kids in the neighborhood
memories of walking our dogs in the snow
and my Daddy opening the drapes in my bedroom on a snow day when I was young
crocus bulbs and pansies soon blooming
and how our Lord, in his goodness, covers the dirty ground with a beautiful mantle of white, making everything clean and new.

Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord,
Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow:
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool. Isaiah 1:18