Author: ObtainingMercy

Spring Break

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Uncategorized

Hey y'all!

I thought I'd pop over here and give you a little update on us (while my hair soaks up the coconut oil I just slathered on it!)  Well, now that I have your attention…(heh heh heh)

Doug is on spring break this week and we are enjoying our day together today.  He and Ike stayed home from therapy.  Ike is napping in his bed while Doug is chopping veggies to make some yummy chili.

I have recently embraced the hair that God gave me (ha!) and got a haircut that will let my curls do their thing.  I have always had stick-straight hair, until my gray started coming in.  My gray hair is curly and mostly fuzzy.  I really hated the fuzzy, and I hated trying to wear straight hair styles that just didn't work, unless I took lots and lots of time with them.

So, I got a lovely fresh hair cut, lots of great advice from Beth, my hair stylist, and began my research into how to manage this hair.

I found a great site and am attempting to do all the things that will help my hair be pretty and healthy.  (The coconut oil treatment is here, if you are interested.)  So far, so good, I guess.  Not many people were brave enough to say anything about my new 'do at church on Sunday.  I think perhaps they thought I'd got a bad perm and didn't want to bring it up! lol!

Doug is working on our front porch this week.  It has been stacked full of "stuff" since we moved here in 2008.  The time has come to clean it OUT!  And he is doing a really great job on that this week.

Isaac has not been sleeping well, again, which is so disappointing.  We think it's seizure activity.  He was really SUPER vocal all weekend, and didn't sleep much.  So yesterday he slept from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. yesterday.  Then he slept from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. last night.  Now he has gone back to sleep around 11 a.m.  He is certainly getting caught up on his sleep; but we are also keeping an eye on his temperature and his breathing, just in case a cold is brewing.

I have been super busy doing the things I like the most – writing, reading, making jewelry, and singing.  I've been able to be back in the church choir for a few weeks now, and I am enjoying it so much.  I participated in an online jewelry challenge which was so much fun!  I sold 2 sets of jewelry over the weekend, too!

Yesterday, I signed up for a Do Over Challenge.  A jewelry artist will be sending me a piece of her jewelry that is just not quite up to par to sell.  I will make it "over" and then post my pics on the same day all the other challengers post their "do overs".  Doesn't that sound exciting?!!  I can't wait to see what I get to work on!

Well, my 30 minutes of soaking up coconut oil are almost over, so I guess I need to finish this up.  I hope you are having a lovely spring and that you are being able to spend time with those you love.  I also hope you are doing things that make you happy and challenging yourself just a bit! 🙂

Blessings,

Alesha

 

 

A Thirsty Hope

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"If we went from spring to spring to spring, we would never know thirst…That's why we have to walk through the barren places." ~Steven Carter

 

Are you in a dry, desert place today? 

Are you parched, needing desperately the waters of relief? 

God will not leave you without provision.  As we seek His face, His deliverance will come to us.

 

"He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river."  Psalm 105:41

 

"…I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert…I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." Isaiah 43:19b-20b

 

In the midst of our dry places, God offers relief. 

The Water of His Word flows freely to all who will drink from its pages.

 

Why stand in the desert dying of thirst, when you can simply turn to the Rock?

 Christ offers rivers of Living Water to all who will receive them.

 

 

Hope in the Rock

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"Now the just shall live by faith…" Hebrews 10:38

 

"Believe God's Word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. 

Your Rock is Christ,

and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows,

but your sea." ~Samuel Rutherford

 

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast…" Hebrews 6:19

 

Resist the push and pull of emotions today. 


Tuck yourself into the Cleft of the Rock and hide there from the rushing tide. 


You will be safe. 

You will be sheltered. 

You will survive the storm!

A Motivating Hope

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"Servants don't blow a trumpet out in front of themselves." ~ Dr. Carter

 

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them:  otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.  Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."

Matthew 6:1-2


We don't lose our reward if we are praised by men for our good works.

We lose our reward if the motivation for our good works is the praise of men.


 "That we should be to the praise of his glory…" Ephesians 1:12a

 

Our sole motivation (and our soul motivation) should be to bring God glory.


Why do you do what you do?

 

Hope in Climbing

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"Not many of us are living at our best. 

We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. 

The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills. 

We do not know what we lose in our self-indulgence,

what glory awaits us

if only we had courage for the mountain climb,

what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God."

~J.R.M. (Streams in the Desert)

 

So…let's get on our climbing boots…

("…your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" Eph 6:15)

And head out for those hills!!!

(The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places…" Habukkuk 3:19)


"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." Isaiah 43:1

 

Hope in Holding On

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" Hebrews 3:14

 

"The problem of getting great things from God is being able to hold on for the last half hour." ~Selected from Streams in the Desert

 

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Habakkuk 2:3


God's promises are not always swiftly kept,
    But they are surely kept! 
God moves at exactly the right time, every time.
.

 

Uncomfortable Hope

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope

 

"You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings"~L.B. Cowman

 

"Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me."  Psalm 119:49-50

 

Let despair drive you to the Word. 

Your faith will come alive as you trust in Him.