BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Well, its my birthday! They seem to roll around quite quickly as I age. How can this be? I feel 19...ok ok 29! Put the music on and lets dance and celebrate!!!!!! I'm excited about my big 'surprise' party tonight...you all know I love a party! Thanks now for what will be a fun and love-filled evening.

I used to send my mother flowers on MY birthday because I have always been so grateful for my life.

I choose to focus on the blessings and the gifts of people that the Lord has given me. I rejoice in each one of you!!
You are the buttercream frosting of my life.

Thank you, Lord, for creating me and watching over me and

caring about every single thing that happens in my life.

You are my strength & my peace.

I love you.

Psalm 139

13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

Hair & Aging

So what is fair about this? My friend Norma has not a gray hair in her head! She looks younger every time I see her! She is not coloring her hair or highlighting it. I think it's the vitamins she takes. Certainly her sister has some gray... certainly I have a mop full of white hair except in the back by my neck...NO FAIR I SAY!!!!




My mother had a beautiful head of white hair...so did my Dad! Why does mine have some other tone in it that I don't like? NO FAIR I SAY!!!!

Revlon has come to my rescue! Now that is FAIR! A product that can take away the gray 100% it says! I know its lurking there at the roots waiting to grow -- probably faster than I want -- but this works for me!!

I'm coming up on a birthday in about a month and while its a very old age, I feel like I'm still 19 .. okay 29....but certainly nowhere near 68!! Good grief....NO FAIR I SAY!!

Grateful that I feel younger! Grateful that I have all this wisdom built up over the many years - oh that I could go back and fix everything I was so stupid about - but alas, not possible. Grateful that I am still kickin' it pretty good!!!

And that, my friends, is all I am concerned about

right at this very moment.

Shallow? Admittedly VERY!!!

Seasons of Life

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. He was the second son born to David and Bathsheba. II Sam. 12: 23-24 says he was beloved of God. David chose him as his successor while he was in his teens. He is well known for his temples and palaces, 700 wives and 300 concubines. I Kings 4:32 says he spoke 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. His wisdom was sought after. Due to his sinful ways, however, he fell into idol worship and far away from God. You can see this if you read all of Chapter 3. He has no sense of security in God at all. He reigned 40 years and had one son.

-ooOoo-

Everything has a time and season. Besides when we are born and when we die, as well as the times for planting and harvesting, the rest of the scriptures really give us wisdom as to how to live our lives while we are in this time and space that the Lord has given. We often find ourselves tearing down when we should be building, or giving up before we are done. We speak when we should be silent. We often hate what we should love and love what we should hate. We dance when we should be working and some people work and never dance!

When I woke up Saturday morning I had a thought in my head (very unusual)!! The thought that I believe God placed there for my benefit is what I want to share with you for your own consideration as we age and move through our seasons here on earth.

My thought was: As you age and the physical body deteriorates (much to your chagrin), how important is that compared to what God is doing in your spiritual life as a Christian? If you are walking with God in obedience He is renewing you; you are not deteriorating at all!

This is a positive element within our spirit. God placed the Holy Spirit within us as believers in Christ. If you do a word search on the names of the Holy Spirit, they are many. They are powerful and positive. God has graced us with His spirit within in order to renew us to be with Him in perfection one day.

Let us be encouraged as we move through the seasons in our lives, that our God is with us and for us, giving us a renewal as we follow Him. What grace!

In His Grip,
Karen