Friday’s Fave Five: May 17, 2013

Five faves from this week in no particular order.. Link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

ONE. HONEY Greek Yogurt. It’s a given that I prefer Greek yogurt. But why didn’t anyone tell me about the honey flavoured Greek Yogurt? Ohhh, such deliciousness.

TWO. BIBLE reading with a friend. A friend and I (Michelle) are reading through the Bible together. This is her first time through it. I LOVE the questions and insights she has. It keeps the reading fresh. Plus we get to have a bit of time to catch up and then end in prayer.

THREE. BED TREATS are done. When we have our women’s ministry retreat, we put together bed treats. It is some sort of “container” that holds a few pieces of chocolate and earplugs. We place them on each bed before the women arrive. Some years they are totally handmade, like the time we sewed pencil cases. Or they might be a heart-shaped tin box which we bought at Michael’s.

FOUR. SWIMMING pool weather. This past week I was able to swim twice at my apartment complex outdoor pool. I am trying to get into better shape before going to India (Late July). The nice thing about swimming as opposed to walking is that I can more easily exercise other parts of the body besides the legs.

Isn’t that a cute little cake? It started off bigger, but the family great dane decided she wanted to gobble it down. There was lots of screaming in the house for a little while during this walk-by-grab-and eat.

FIVE. Mother’s Day SPOILING. Mother’s Day was filled with pressies, special phone calls, time with the family, a gorgeous lunch, and I even got some work done. It was FUN work though. Why yes, I do have a favourite steak: filet mignon.

Your Turn . . . So tell us what your faves are from this week.

Hope Based on Personal Strength is Futile: Hope Series 1/4

Hope based on our own power is a feeble power and comes to nothing.

Hope is a general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled    . . .   an expectation or wish, an optimism which may or may not be well founded,   . . .     and someone or something on which expectations are centered.[1]

Human beings need hope in order to thrive at life, realize ambitions, overcome another hellish day, maintain optimism through illness, and follow fantastic visions.

Hope is also about something or some person being powerful enough to fulfill expectations.

This latter impression of hope is a new one for me to contemplate. It is also more in line with the biblical definition of hope. This 4-part series will look at hope according to this last idea. I’ll show how Biblical hope, in the Old Testament and New Testament, is centered on a Person.

 Old Testament Hope

 146 passages in the Old Testament contain the word or notion of hope. Half of these uses are secular and are an “expectation combined with certainty and tension, directed towards some definite desired object or event still lying in the future” (Hoffmann, 239).

Many of these hopeful expectations are not well-founded and can in fact be called futile or foolish.

“When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength,” (Proverbs 11:7).

Hope based on our own power is a feeble power and comes to nothing.

The next post will discuss how the other half of the “hope” verses in the Old Testament are centered on a Person.

Your Turn . . . 

• How would you define Biblical hope?
• Where do you place your hope?
• Do you agree/disagree that hope based solely on our own strength is feeble?

Related Posts . . .

• Grateful for the Hope That is Within Me 
• Peace and Hope While in the Depth of Pain – John Stumbo’s Story

4 Part Hope Series. The posts will be hot-linked as they go live.

1. Hope Based on Personal Strength is Futile (5/16)
2. Biblical Hope (5/20)
3. New Testament Hope According to Paul (5/21)
4. Results of Biblical Hope

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[1] Definitions of hope on the web.

9 Types of People I Don’t Need When Life Stinks

Stay away from people who would try to alter or destroy your reality.
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin
Photo credit: Rough & Ready Media

Sometimes life is very hard and sometimes it even stinks. It’s during this very hard, stinky time that I need to be especially careful about the kind of people I am around. Why do I say this?

Have you heard that each of us is a compilation of the 10 people we hang around most? That is how much influence our friends, co-workers, and family have upon us.

Their attitudes, words, and actions can help us transition through the traumas of life or they can help sink us under the waves.

We have a choice as to how and with whom we spend our time. Below are 9 types of people I avoid when life stinks.

I don’t need someone who will . . . 

1. POUNCE and tell me I’ve grievously sinned.
2. QUOTE Scripture as a blame tool.
3. GLOAT that my life’s use is over because of the situation I am in.
4. OVER-MEDICATE me with advise.
5. URGE me to give up on God and/or people.
6. GOSSIP about my situation.
7. DESERT me in my time of need.
8. PUSH substances as a way for me to cope. I.e.  alcohol, sex, shopping, gaming/TV, food, drugs,
9. MINIMIZE my pain and/or circumstances.

However there are folks I do NEED. Go here to read People I NEED When Life Stinks

Your Turn . . . Please add to this list. What types of people don’t you need when your life stinks?

 

Friday’s Fave Five, May 10, 2013

It is Friday and I am thinking and writing about five favorites from my past week. Go here to join in the fun.

1. Finished Mother’s Day gifts for the women in our church. Each year the women’s ministry team gives something to this invaluable group of women: mothers. We’ve made corsages, cards, and candy. We’ve decorated pens and lip balm tins. We always include a verse. Not only is it rewarding to encourage the moms. It is FUN to get with the gals of this team and craft and talk. I will post a photograph after Mother’s Day.

2. Saw Les Mis and ate home made pizza. My boss and his wife had some folks over for pizza cooked on a bbq. We had 3 types of pizza: 2 savory and 1 dessert. It was delish!!! This is the 2nd time I saw Les Mis. It was just as impactful, but at least this time I didn’t sob.

3. Mentoring is going well. We’ve started a new to us ministry in our church: a mentoring program for the ladies. The age range is teen to 60′s. It is fun to hear how each pairing is so different.

• One pair communicates mainly through texting.
• Another meets face-to-face each week.
• One is by phone every other week.
• One pair is going through a book together.
• And one focuses on the goals set at their first meeting.

I am enjoying my “pairing” and am  reminded weekly of God’s grace. I pray that my mentee also gets this same encouragement.

4. Weekly small group is awesome! I know that my 66 Love Letters group is often one of my 5 faves. This past week was no exception. It was a smaller group than normal so of course the dynamics were different. We had lots to share. I can’t think of a specific thing that made it awesome except that the friendships there are growing, encouraging, and honest. Do you think the German Chocolate cake could have influenced my feelings?  :)

5. Walked with a friend. I like to walk by myself as this is a time to reflect and work out things. But lately I just can’t seem to get out the door. So it was awesome that a friend and I walked 2 miles. We caught up with each other’s lives. We planned. We praised God.  And I felt so emotionally FULL afterwards.

Your Turn . . . What is a favourite from your week? Leave a comment.

Sewing Machines and Lessons Transform Lives in India: Here’s How You Can Help

Each machine only costs $60.00.

Do you have a sewing machine? Do you use it very often? Is it vital to your livelihood?

To some women in India having a sewing machine and knowing how to use it well makes a huge difference in their lives. They are able to provide an honorable living and home for themselves.

In late July four of us from Cordova Neighborhood Church are going to India for about 2 1/2 weeks. We are going with LINC Ministries. One of the things we are doing is to raise money for 60 sewing machines which we will buy in India.

These machines will be given  to four sewing centers that LINC Ministries operates.  At the center the women are taught how to be a seamstress. Upon graduation each lady is given a machine so she may then start her own business.

The women who attend the training are women who have been abused. Besides offering the women a skill, they are offered a new life and hope.

All because of a sewing machine.

Would you like to help us with this? On Saturday, May 18, we are having a yard sale, bake sale, car wash, and flea market at Cordova Neighborhood Church from 9am -2pm.

1. We are taking yard sale and bake sale donations.
2. We need help with the car wash or one of the other stations.
3. If you’d like to make a monetary donation, mail your check to LINC Ministries PO Box 1314 Roseville, CA 95678. Or I have addressed, stamped envelopes to LINC for you to use
4. If you donate money, you can donate towards our general financial need (travel, food, lodging) or towards a machine.
5. We are looking for folks who will PRAY for us.

Leave a comment or call me, if you are interested in doing any of the above.

If you’d like more information about our trip, I have a letter that I can send you. Leave a comment or call me for that too.

Reflections on the April A-Z Challenge 2013

The Blogging from A – Z April Challenge 2013 is done.  And I posted a majority of the days, in fact 84.6% of the time. I am a survivor!

General Reflections about the Challenge

• I benefited from the accountability to post (almost) daily during April. Once I started writing I didn’t want to break my streak and so wrote something 22 out of 26 days.
• I found out about the challenge the night before it started. Therefore I didn’t have any posts written ahead of time. Each morning I woke up early to write. I found this to be a productive and enjoyable time. I hope to keep up with morning writing.
• What I did was to (mainly) finish up drafts that had been in my draft folder for at least a year. I thought these would be a snap to complete. WRONG. I still spent around 2 hours per post.
• I went though my drafts and picked 26 to finish. (I did change 3 or so posts as I went through the alphabet.)  I put them in a list here and hot linked them as they went live. This helped me to focus on each day’s post. And since the title was already in “ink,” I was more motivated to finish it that day.

What I liked

• I liked having the categories for the blogs. At the beginning of the month I went through the list and looked for the bloggers who had a craft  or writer blog. Even though I don’t do a lot of crafts or consider myself a writer, I like to read such posts.
• I liked the requirement to turn off word verification. All the blogs I visited did not have this on.
• I also liked the suggestion to read the five blogs after your name. With so many blogs on the list and having little time to read, I sometimes I didn’t know where to go. I was fairly regular about reading these blogs though.
• Finally I liked the Facebook page which I discovered about at the end of the challenge.

New (to me) Bloggers I Enjoyed

• Freelance Tourist: Travel Tips
  
• Sue’s Trifles
• Waiter, drink please!
• WRITERachael
• Words and Palabras: A Spanglish Blog About My Life in Mexico

I Will Participate Next Year

• Even though I didn’t write according to a theme, I really liked reading the blogs who did so. So next year I will write theme-based posts.
• Another thing I will do differently is to pre-write as many posts as I can. In fact I have already scheduled myself to do that January-March 2014. That way I hope I can spend more time reading posts in the A-Z Challenge.

Be sure to read my posts HOW TO Get People to Read Your Series: 9 Ideas.

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NOTE: This post is written for the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. There are 22 categories for the blogs and my category is MI = Miscellaneous.

During the month of April I posted 22 out of  26 days  (mainly) finishing up posts that have been in my draft file for at least a year. For a list of all the posts go to the A-Z button on my header.

Today’s topic is Reflections on the April A-Z Challenge 2013.

Friday’s Fave Five

Friday’s Fave Five reminds me to look at the week and think about the joys it contained. Spending a few days in the East Bay was joyous.

• I wrote a (rough draft) paper for work.
• I read up for my talk for Retreat.
• I made a Kindle cover from an old hard back book.
• And I enjoyed going with 3 family members to see Rafi as a kid wolf in Jungle Book (play).

But wait, there’s more. I am extra wordy today because its been a long time since I’ve posted an FFF.

So below are 5 more highlights from the week.

1. Getting to know my 3-month old grand-daughter.  Today I got to hear her first giggles. Her mom sent me a 17 second video of this event. It is cuteness!!! AND I got to hold her some when I visited last weekend.
2. Fixed headlight. The bulb has been burned out for weeks. When I visited my daughter last weekend, she changed it while I read the directions.
3. I had one vhs video transferred to a dvd (at CVS). I wanted to try one first to see if it was worth it. It is! I watched  home movies with my kiddos from when they were 6 and 7 years old. We had two hours of memories with my (deceased) mom, site-seeing in England and Wales, and hearing my kiddos with their cute British accents.
4. I participated in the April Blogging From A to Z Challenge. I only missed 4 days. That is pretty good for me. But I do plan on finishing these posts. It was also cool to be able to “meet” new bloggers.
5. I finalized my India mission letter today. And I created an Event on Facebook for an upcoming fundraiser: a yard sale, car wash and flea market on Saturday, May 18. We will be doing 3 (main) things in India. (1) Host a conference for 500 women. (2) Buy and pack shoeboxes to give to children. (3) Raise money for and buy 60 sewing machines. Go to the following link to read more about the trip: INDIA Trip is More Than Travel Delight; It Includes a Conference, Shoeboxes, & Sewing Machines.

Leave a comment about a fave from your week. Or better yet, write your own list and link up at Susanne’s Living to Tell the Story.