Tag Archives: Blessings

A Short Guide to a Happy Life – Anna Quindlen

A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen really is short. It’s a small book, and only around fifty pages. Quindlen starts the book by stating that she’s not particularly qualified to give advice and counsel. She is after all a novelist and a columnist. But she does have some really good things to say. Quindlen talks about the “life of your heart” and says that people don’t talk much about the soul anymore, that it is “easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit.” She advises “Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your … Continue reading →

This Is Why I Sing – part 2

Here is the second part of my list of praise points. I praise God for: Pansies and their happy faces coming out in our garden, also azaleas, primulas,and our first yellow daffodil is out. Human beings don’t ever seem to be able to produce that brilliant clear yellow God does in daffodils and wattle. Studying I John 3 with our Bible study home group I John 3 highlights the love of God and adoption into His family and the hope we have. It also teaches the importance of not continuing to practice sin but aiming to be increasingly holy in … Continue reading →

This Is Why I Sing – Part 1

Another end of a week and instead of a week in review I’m going to do another week of praise points. This is the first part. I praise God for: Dreams, hopes and aspirations. God’s wisdom in realizing I was unable because of illness to do a job I’d been asked to do and not trying to push myself to do the impossible. God’s enabling leading the music on Sunday and the great songs chosen which focused on what an Indescribable and awesome God we serve and that He is Holy but our sins are forgiven and we are washed … Continue reading →

A Week Of Praise

It’s good to be reminded of the big and little ways God provides for us and the everyday blessings we can tend to take for granted. So often we forget to praise God for His goodness. So here is my week of praise and blessings. I praise God for: Safety when traveling. A special time together with family. My footy team, the Sydney Swans, won. God’s wisdom in solving a problem with a neighbor. Enabling leading singing on Sunday and a great selection of songs which fitted in perfectly with the sermon topic. Our minister’s support and encouragement for the … Continue reading →

Change What You Can

We may not be always able to change our circumstances but we can change the way we view them. We can view life as hard and a drag, or we change our attitude to look for the blessings and positives in each day. While we were waiting for our move down to the South Coast, we were unable to change our circumstances. But we could change our attitude. Instead of resenting every moment of the delay, we used the time to draw closer to God and try to discover what the Lord wanted to teach us through the experience. It … Continue reading →

The Secret to Enjoying Life

My calendar this morning says ‘the secret to enjoying life is to be thankful for what each day brings.’ Are you enjoying life? If not, the fault could be that you are not looking to find the blessings in each day. No matter how bad things are there is always something we can thank God for. Here’s my notebook of 10 blessings from the last 3 days. 1. Church music practice this week was so good. We sang ‘Shout to the Lord.’ This song has a lot of meaning for me. The last time I sang it at church was … Continue reading →

Knowing What’s Needed

When buying gifts for friends and family, do you tailor your gifts according to the person they are intended for? In an earlier blog I mentioned a special gift given me for mother’s day. This time I’d like to tell you about the gifts given me my by son, his wife and family. They were: the CD ‘Awake’ by Josh Groban. I’m a big fan of this young man with the beautiful voice. A DVD- ‘The Sea Hawk’ with Errol Flynn. Errol Flynn was always a favorite from when I was a child, even though his best films were made … Continue reading →

Why I’m Happy to Submit to My Husband – part 2

Yesterday I gave one reason why I am happy to submit to my husband. Today I want to look at the other reason and show how it works in practice. But first a story to illustrate. On Wednesday my husband and I went to see ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.’ Did I really want to see it? Not particularly. But I knew he did. Yes, he could have gone on his own and he would have done so, if I’d refused to go. But I knew he’d enjoy it more if we went together and held … Continue reading →

Notebook of blessings

A comment on my last blog and a visit to Courtney’s blog inspired me to think about a notebook of blessings. I hope as you read you will be inspired to create your own list of blessings. I praise God for: The gift of love – that of my husband, family and friends and especially God’s love as revealed to is through Jesus and his death on the cross for my sins. The beauty of creation. We have not long returned from a walk down by what people here refer to as a lake but it is actually St Georges … Continue reading →

The Notebook: The Epitome of Devotion

I’ve been reflecting on devotion and devotion levels recently. Because the stroke seems to have enhanced my mom’s dementia, the romantic in me has also been reminded of the movie The Notebook. If you have not seen this movie, in one of her blogs Christian Blogger Dale Harcombe summed it up best: “Caution – don’t attempt to watch this movie unless you have a full box of tissues handy.” Where the storyline is the epitome of devotion, the movie is the epitome of a tearjerker for sure. Wayne was actually the one who reminded me about the movie. I had … Continue reading →