Treyton

Thankful Thursday

Proverbs 31:10-31

A good woman is hard to find,

and worth far more than diamonds.

Her husband trusts her without reserve,

and never has reason to regret it.

Never spiteful, she treats him generously

all her life long.

She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,

and enjoys knitting and sewing.

She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places

and brings back exotic surprises.

She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast

for her family and organizing her day.

She looks over a field and buys it,

then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,

rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.

She senses the worth of her work,

is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.

She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,

diligent in homemaking.

She's quick to assist anyone in need,

reaches out to help the poor.

She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;

their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.

She makes her own clothing,

and dresses in colorful linens and silks.

Her husband is greatly respected

when he deliberates with the city fathers.

She designs gowns and sells them,

brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.

Her clothes are well-made and elegant,

and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.

When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,

and she always says it kindly.

She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,

and keeps them all busy and productive.

Her children respect and bless her;

her husband joins in with words of praise:

"Many women have done wonderful things,

but you've outclassed them all!"

Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.

The woman to be admired and praised

is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.

Give her everything she deserves!

Festoon her life with praises! 

Yay! It's Thankful Thursday again. I'm with Lynn-I heart this day! 

Today I am thankful for my husband. 

The Lord has me focusing on him for the next 30 days. Praying for him daily, showing him how much I love and appreciate him, doing small sweet things for him. Learning how to be a virtuous wife to him. Discovering more ways to serve him.

The scripture I am studying is Proverbs 31. 

The Lord spoke this to me on Sunday. He said, "You ARE a Proverbs 31 woman." He didn't say I would be or that I could be. He said that I am.

I came home and looked up this scripture and as I read through it my heart began to drop. The more I read the more I knew that this couldn't be so. 

Ah, but the Lord said, I AM. It took a while for this to sink in.

Help me to listen and obey.

How about you? In what ways can you pray for, serve, help and show your love for your husband? Allow the Lord to lead you.

For more Thankful Thursday's visit Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage. Have a blessed week!

Time is Rolling!

I can't believe it's almost Thursday again and I haven't had the chance to sit down and blog. I have so much I want to share. God is moving mountains here and I am so thankful. I just want to praise His holy name. He is such a great Father. So tonight I'm keeping it simple.

Psalms 34: I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make it's boast in the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Magnify the Lord with me! Let us exalt his name together!

Thankful Thursday

Genesis 50:17

'This is what you are to say to Joseph:

I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins

and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.'

Now please forgive the sins of the servants

of the God of your father."

When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

My brother and sister and I have always been distant. We led different lifestyles. My sister lives states away. My brother is 10 years younger than I am. For various reasons as we got older we lost our connection, our comfortability around one another.

It's been a rough several years. We love one another so much but somehow couldn't figure out how to bond. We'd see each other at holidays, give hugs and kisses but after the simple greetings of, "How are you doing?" and, "What have you been up to?" We sort of didn't know how to proceed.

I could always look at them and see pain. I'm not sure what they seen when they looked at me. I always prayed for them and I'm sure if they prayed they prayed for me also. It was hard on all of us.

For me, I didn't notice the 'hole'. I guess I filled that place with my family and I felt that my prayers for them were enough. I prayed for so long part of me really didn't have the faith that my prayers would be answered. I've tried to figure out a time period, the closest I can get is over 10 years.

The odd thing here is that this year when I fell flat on my face away from my Father, they were so angry with me, so let down, so disappointed. I didn't quite understand it. I had been praying for them for so long, so many long years and I seen them hurt so badly. I had cried out to my Father to stop their pain and hear their cries and answer their prayers. Somehow when I fell I think I thought they would be happy. Glad to have me living a similar life, we'd have more in common, maybe I wouldn't make them so uncomfortable, finally-maybe we could be family.

But, that didn't happen.

They were so bothered by my fall that it put it even more space between us. My heart was broken. I felt as though I were dangling alone, as though I had lost everyone, and was accepted by no-one.

This was when the Holy Spirit wooed them in.  He wooed my brother and He wooed my sister. The Lord answered my prayer, after all this time. Then He did the same for me. He brought us all to repentance. The Father refused to let us go, to turn us over to ourselves.

We all had a lot of forgiving to do, and are still a work in progress, but tonight as I read that scripture above and I remembered what Joseph had been through, I knew my walk was a piece of cake compared to his. He was told to forgive and so should I. Not only forgiving others but forgiving myself, which to me, is the hardest part.

So today, I am thankful for my brother and sister, I am thankful for forgiveness-that they forgave me and I forgave them and the Father forgave us all, and I am thankful for unity. It is so wonderful to be a family that is growing and getting to know one another all over again.

This is but the beginning. If you think of us please continue to lift us up in prayer.

Have a very blessed Thankful Thursday. 

For more Thankful Thursdays visit Lynn at  "Spiritually Unequal Marriage."

Wordless Wednesday

My old blog design. My how the time has passed.

Remember my birthday?

It was just the other day. I was not going to share this but my oldest daughter insisted.

She had come to visit me that day and someone had walked through my front door calling, 'Hello..Hello, is there anyone home?' She greeted them to find that they were delivering a vase of flowers for me for my birthday. She brought them in to me and my facial expression didn't change. Um, who were they from I wondered? We read the card and it was from my precious sweet dear husband.

Most of you are going....awww.

Not me.

They were so ugly.

Here is what they looked like.

Well maybe I would not have thought that had it been a different occasion, but I was turning 39 this year. These were not the flowers I love. To me, they reminded me of a funeral arrangement. Getting ready to hit my 40's hasn't been easy for me either. They are orange asiatic lilies with a purple flower for garnish, a green vase with a burgundy ribbon. The lilies were not in full bloom yet, so they would have lasted a while but there was no smell. None. They looked like a fall flower and the burgundy just does not go with the orange and purple, the purple does not go with the orange. I just couldn't see paying money for this arrangement.

My hubby called and I tried so hard to pretend that I loved them. He asked me to send him a picture of them and that excited me because I just knew when he seen them he was going to see how ugly they were and call the florist. There had to be a mistake. He called later and told me that they were nice, and he asked me if they smelled good.

That is when I broke. "No," I answered, "They stink!"

Oh my.

So I went ahead and explained the dilemma and asked him if I could return them to the florist. He told me to go ahead.

I returned them to the florist and I know that lady thought I was crazy. She is actually a friend of mine. She said, "You actually told your husband that they were ugly?"

Well, I wasn't trying to be rude or ungrateful. I know that many of you are probably reading and would think that the gesture alone was enough. And it was. Sort of.

I knew what he meant to send but that particular florist couldn't get them in time. So I took my refunded money and went to the next town and purchased the flowers that I knew my sweet husband meant to send.

This is what I got. 

Now, those of you who know me and have been reading my blog from the beginning have to know what a flower lover I am. Every single blog design has been flower themed. From tulips to roses to fields of flowers. So just to let you know how picky I really am, I did not like the purple or red in this arrangement either.

Gasp! ( My family was not surprised!) 

I wanted pinks and whites. I love the babies breath, I love the pink roses and I adore the stargazer lilies but I didn't understand why the florist insisted on adding the rest.

So there this what I did. 

I separated the arrangement into two arrangements. I pulled all of the red, purple and some white out to create a different vase. It reminds me of a friendship vase. The stargazer lilies and roses speak boldly to me. They seem to scream celebrate! Whether it be love or happy birthdays, they simply take my breath away.

I also went one step further and ordered myself this....

This cake was divine. Mmmmm makes me wish I had a piece right now. Mmmmm

Thankfully since my husband and I have been married for 17 years and he knows me well, he understood-sort of- after the initial shock- that I wasn't being ungrateful and that I did NOT mean to hurt his feelings. I simply want what I want sometimes. I like what I like and in simple things like flowers if I can fix it, well....I fix it. 

I am a very spoiled wife. I have the greatest husband in the world. 

Tony, I want to thank-you for putting up with me. For loving me. For spoiling me so. I love you so much and this truly was the best birthday ever. 

And just so you know, my stargazer lilies are STILL blooming and putting off there sweet smell in my home. I smile every single morning that I come in and sit down in my spot on the couch beside them. 

Check these out....

Happy Birthday to me! 

New Beginnings

It seems that the Lord has been speaking 'New Beginnings' to me. It's what I need, it's what I want and desire. I want to be new, start new, be fresh, washed clean, become a new man. I want to find my first love in Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the  new has come! NIV


This evening at our church the pastor spoke about 'New Beginnings'. I love this kind of confirmation from the Father.

New Beginnings.

A chance to start fresh and anew. An opportunity to change old behaviors. Washed clean, white as snow, forgiven. It's a divine place to be. Such a precious gift that the Lord has given us. Sending His Son to die for our sin. A man who knew no sin, that we might become His righteousness. Oh how He loves us. If we could ever comprehend how much He loves.

For some reason, no matter how many times I'm reminded that it's not about us, it's about Him.... I seem to forget. I forget that *I* don't need to know everything, that I don't have to be good at speaking in order for the Lord to use me to speak. If I could truly grasp, comprehend this in my mind and my heart I would be seeking HIM so much more.

In my mind I always have these great ideas of what I want to do for the Lord. I can vision, dream and create such wonderous things, but in all my planning I forget that maybe-just maybe-this isn't His call for my life. It's not about what I want to do for Him, it's about His plan for me. Do I really want to know His plan for me? Is it what I want? Is it what I want to do? Where I want to go?

I was reminded today that Moses wasn't a great speaker and that he doubted his ability to do what the Lord asked him to do. He questioned the Lord over and over again, trying so desperately to get the Lord to see that he wasn't capable of fulfilling the call that the Lord had placed over his life. In the end Moses chose to obey. In spite of his fear, in spite of his doubt, in spite of his reluctance, and in spite of the fact that he wasn't looking forward to, nor did he really want to do what the Lord had asked, he obeyed anyway. His obedience was vital because had he allowed the fear and doubt in himself to stop him he would not have fulfilled the call that God had for his life. It's not about Moses' ability, it's about God's.

Occasionally I look at people and I think there is no way that they are ever going to change or be any different then they are. There are times that I pray without believing it will actually be answered. I look at people and situations and often times my life with a look of hopelessness.

Think about that. 


Hopelessness. 


Definitions for hopelessness are: providing no hope; desperate; despairing, impossible to accomplish; not able to learn or perform; inadequate for the purpose. 

For example, I will look at the person-the alcoholic that has been that way for 40 years and think they are never going to quit and live for God. Yet I pray for them. I look at the situation rather than to my Father and His word. I have the habit of fearing that things will never change, believing that God that won't answer. I don't do it on purpose, it sort of just comes naturally. It's a habit, a bad habit that happens without my even thinking about it. 


What a lie from satan!

Satan doesn't have to possess you all he has to do is to get you to believe the lie. If he can do that, he's won that battle.

I am so tired of this habit! I want to remember that my God can do ANYTHING! It isn't about US it's about GOD! It's not what we want to do, it's what He wants us to do! It's not about what we can do, it's about what He can do through us. If we learn to trust His word, know His greatness, believe in His power and remember His love for us and take our focus off of ourselves, the people, and the world-THEN- we could LIVE what we BELIEVE. If we can see through the physical realm and see into the spiritual realm remembering that we do not war against flesh and blood but against principalities, the rulers of darkness in this world then we could allow our faith to come alive.

Imagine that. FAITH. Real faith, feeling it, experiencing it, living it. Through and in spite of everything. Being content with what we have and where we are knowing we are in HIS will and fulfilling the call He has on our lives.

If God could use regular people like Moses and change men like Paul, then just imagine what He will do with you and me when we hear and obey.

New Beginnings.

I'm so thankful for New Beginnings.