Sabbath Keeping

"I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God;

than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness."

~ Psalm 84:10 ~

"Never pray to be a better slave 

when God is trying to get you out of your situation."

~ Shannon L. Alder ~ 

"He who lays up treasurers on earth spends his life backing away from his treasurers. To him, death is loss. He who lays up treasures in heaven look forward to eternity; he's moving daily toward his treasures. To him, death is gain." ~ Randy Alcorn ~

"We may speak about a place where there are no tears, no death, no fear, no night;
but those are just the benefits of heaven. The beauty of heaven is seeing God." ~ Max Lucado ~

"There are no unique postures and times and limitations that restrict our access to God. My relationship with God is intimate and personal. The Christian does not go to the temple to worship. The Christian takes the temple with him or her. Jesus lifts us beyond the building and pays the human body the highest compliment by making it His dwelling place, the place where He meets with us. Even today He would overturn the tables of those who make it a marketplace for their own lust, greed and wealth." ~ Ravi Zacharias ~

"Believers are never told to become one; 

we already are one and are expected to act like it."

~ Joni Eareckson Tada ~

"God never said the journey would be easy,

but He did say the arrival would be worthwhile."

~ Max Lucado ~

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." ~ Francis Chan ~

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep,

to gain what he cannot lose."

~ Jim Elliott ~

"Remember who you are. Don't compromise for anyone, for any reason. You are a child of the Almighty God. Live that truth." ~ Lysa Terkeurst ~

"The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake hem for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others do the same."
~ C. S. Lewis ~

"In my Father's house are many mansions,

if it were not so, I would not have told you. 

I go to prepare a place for you."

~ John 14:2 ~

Please pray for ~ President Trump and family ~ politicians who have servant's hearts and are leaders ~ Katie ~ 

Sabbath Keeping

~ my newest love, my grand nephew, Mason Bennett W. ~

"And the parched ground shall become a pool."

~ Isaiah 35:7 ~ 

"We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that Satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of the vision becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation. ...

"God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry. In the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. Ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape. ...

"The vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. ...

"If you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you." ~ Oswald Chambers ~

"A man who is intimate with God is never intimidated by man." 

~ Leonard Ravenhill ~

"A clever arrangement of bad eggs will never make a good omelet." ~ C.S.Lewis ~

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious."
~ John Scully ~

"I think there is a danger of something I call "The Peril of the Immediate." We are living in the framework of the immediate. We live there as much as other men. We are not supposed to. We are to live as men branded for eternity." ~ Leonard Ravenhill ~

"To the person who does not know where he wants to go, there is no favorable wind."
~ Seneca ~

"I'm an adventurer, walking with Jesus." ~ Sandra ~

"Festina Lente: Make Haste Slowly"

"...your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

~ Matthew 6:8 ~

Please pray for ~ our country and President ~ Laura ~ Maxine ~ me ~

Hello, Goodbye....

HA! Bet you might have thought something else, eh? Recently, it was my extreme pleasure to go on a small group tour of the Lake District, UK with Helen Bertram of Whitecroft Traditional Tours. It was, in one word, excellent; to use two words...most excellent. All I had to do was show up and be taken care of; long time blog readers know that for an amazingly rare treat. To say it was a shock, coming home to the lovely cacophonic reception of dogs, cats, horses who ALL wanted me to get back to the job of tending to their needs...I ask you...is there a recovery program available for me? 

But I digress. I'm at the library, again, sigh, and am uploading photos of the trip with the actual travelogue to come later...when internet at home has been restored and, more importantly, when someone teaches me how, using my extremely high tech language here, make smaller my photos. Since the "powers that be" decided Picasa needed to die, I have NO idea how to (high tech verbiage again) make smaller my photos...they are extremely dense and need to be around 350 dpi for upload.

I've just learned I can make an appointment with the library high tech geek and see if they're able to help...please, God, make it so.)

Each day/evening had special delights, each evening we would say, "Best day ever; it can't get any better!" and then...and then...BETTER! My notes are home so I can't remember (ducking and running from those women who do remember! sorrrreeeee!) the name of this home but we had dinner here one evening. All our gamboling was done within a 40 mile area, thereabouts, and we still didn't "see it all". This man had three black labs, all of them totally sweet and he, the man, was over the moon when we squealed (you know women...), "We'd LOVE to see your dogs!" The pleasure on the man's face was over the moon happy...people wanted to see, and love on, his canine companions.

Not all photos will be of humans and dogs; some are meant to whet your appetite; the last photo is for Sue, she of Oregon fame.

I haven't received permission to put names to faces, so you'll have to enjoy sans names, except for Helen and Betsy, Helen's cohort in crime tour.

(photographic evidence of Betsy loving on a dog.)

 Helen Bertram, Whitecroft Tours, on right

New Jersey

Our host and Helen, seated at head of table.

Mrs. Heelis and Mrs. T.

Helen and Mrs. T celebrating H's birthday and the arrival of Mrs. Heelis.

listening to Mrs. Heelis

(I would tell you where...but I've forgotten...I do remember this is a private home)

enthralled by Mrs. Heelis

practicing for retirement

and, because people always tell me..."We never see photos of you, Sandra; where are you?" Well folks, here am I.

I took about 1,000 photos and it'll take time to do the travelogue...especially as I have to come to town to access i-net. Be patient...God willing and the crik don't rise, it'll happen.

Ponder this ~ "The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page." 
~ Augustine of Hippo ~

Sabbath Keeping

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb,

sweet to the soul and

healing to the bones."

~ Proverbs 16:24 ~

If you can't say anything nice

Don't say anything at all. 

~ Mom ~

For most folks, it doesn't cost anything extra to be nice.

"Not only do I think being nice and kind is easy, but being kind, in my opinion, is important."
~ Dwayne Johnson ~

"I still get weepy when I see a father being nice to his child. It so affects me." ~ Pat Conroy ~

"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." ~ Mark Twain ~

Kindness is never wasted.

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." ~ Princess Diana ~

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate." ~ Albert Schweitzer ~

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them and they bless you, the giver." ~ Barbara de Angelis ~

"It's nice to be important

but it's more important to be nice."

~ John Templeton ~

"I'm just one woman away, my mother, from being the same as Mike Tyson. I would have ended up like him if my mama had not been so tough and strong. A lot of people, including Mike, don't know I came from the ghetto. They think I'm too nice and proper. But that's the way my mama raised me - to look people in the eye and respect them." ~ Evander Holyfield ~

"Wherever there is a human being,

there is an opportunity for a kindness."

~ Seneca ~

"Three things in life are important.

The first is to be kind.

The second is to be kind.

The third is to be kind."

~ Henry James ~

"Always be a little kinder than necessary." ~ J. M. Barrie ~

"There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity." ~ Nathaniel Branden ~

"Be kind to one another,

tenderhearted, forgiving one another

as God in Christ forgave you."

~ Ephesians 4:29 ~

Please pray for ~ Katie, JW  & Mason ~  and me, as there might be great change in my life ~

(Apologies all...my home internet isn't working and, lately, life is chaotic, thus, no blog updates nor blog visits and am at the county library doing this update.  I've used this time to take a vacation (see photo above and tell me where...), try and catch up with mowing, take a quick trip to visit family, celebrated July 4th and dealing with "the rest of life". To those who've written to say, "You're missed"...many grateful thanks and to those who've stuck with me...many grateful thanks. It's been a mess and as Dave would say, "Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you." As Julian of Norwich said, "All shall be well..." and so it is.)