Thank you?

Yes, thank you, Lord.

God has prompted me lately to say 'thank you' for all sorts of things: walks in the chilly air arm in arm with my girls, that the glass did not break when I dropped it, a kiss from my Latvian man when he comes home from work, our basically perfect young man, Felly (our adored little dog), a candle burning, a friend calling.

I have had some rough points looking for the blessings in the season I find myself -the 'thank you's' - some hours between, some days - but the Lover of my soul brings me back to thank Him for it all. To bask in Him and His glory and His love and His protection is a privilege and a joy. I know (I have been learning) that I need to keep my hand open to all He gives me, because I know that He only gives me what I need. "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus".

HIS riches, not this lady's.

All that I have that is good, rich, beautiful - ALL - is from God. Ooh, that gives my heart rest - I don't have to produce any sort of goodness/awesomeness - ANYTHING good is from Him, and He will do it!

:)

Oh, dear ones, I pray that I can encourage you to get to know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent better and better and better, because I KNOW it is the only pathway to true thankfulness. As we become more intimate with the Perfect Caregiver, we will live more and more fully in His presence, which the Scriptures so beautifully show is to be in that joyful, thankful place.

How James can exhort us in James 1:2-4 to

  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

quite shows me that a heart who knows the living God will see as all good for himself and others, no matter how hard; that it is making us more into His image.

Ok, Rocked.

I am blown away by the term, "pure joy". That is what we CAN have!

I want me some of that.

Father, I pray that anyone reading this will be moved by the Holy Spirit to pursue, seek, desire You above all else. That we would look at our trials as opportunities to grow more in love and more dependent on you. I pray that you bless anyone reading this with your presence.

blessings!

Lisa

Are YOU content?

I ask this because I think, as a Christian, we all feel like we are supposed to be, but many of us, deep down, are not. This is THE place where the world, flesh, and devil all come together to really hit us up.

I have one verse that is most prevalent for me, because I can tend to get wacky caught up in circumstances, and altho I used to believe I was in no way a perfectionist (or at least had only fleeting fancies in this area), I am now seeing that I was depending more than I thought on circumstances and things being as 'ok' as I felt they needed to be to be content. But, there was always that niggling (love that word).

Here's the verse from Hebrews (13:5): "Be content with such things as you have, for He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'. Ok ,let's pull it apart...

God is telling us (not asking us, this is written as a command) to be content. Why? What is THE reason to be content? Because HE will NEVER leave you nor forsake (to leave alltogether, to abandon) you. That is it. We get soo caught up in our surroundings - the world and all it's stuff pulling at us - better this, more that. The reason to be content is that He, our Counselor, Rock, Lover, Redeemer, will never leave us or abandon us.  Please, let's all let that sink in.May we all be renewed in this encouragement, this exhortation, this hope...

Anything you would like to add? I would LOVE to hear from you...

...and here are those fall-y decorations!

dining room table - yeah, I like gourds. We have some property in the country, and we have been trying to find something to grow. Well, these gourds proved to be easy! Just dried them, washed them off, and gave them a coat of poly...I am trying to sell them at a local store, but...not so good so far! Oh, well Lord, if you want them to go, they will!



hall table



Fall in Virginia and seasons

                                                    Fall is here in Virginia in a big way... so many dreamy strolls down fairy tale country roads, the fall colors bringing God's creative inklings into warm, heart-hugging focus. I like to decorate big time for fall, outside, but really inside! I pray where you live you are appreciating this time of year.

Speaking of seasons, maybe this is a beautiful, warm, rich, lovely spirit season. You have just come out of a trial or dry spell, or God has been showing you many new things - molding your 'clay pot' - and you can see the beautiful, new lines and creative details. Maybe this is a hard season, where your clay pieces are smashed on the ground and it hurts as God is slowly but surely putting you back together. I am reminded (as this is the season I am in), that He is always at work, and ALWAYS up to something good. Always. So many verses of His faithfulness, sovereignty, LOVE, and perfect devotion - I will have to add a few - but His word is TRUTH (remember - Jesus is THE WORD), and we are here for His glory - He will beautifully create through molding, cutting, reshaping - all to be those wondrous instruments to fufill His purposes! Yes, YOU are a one of a kind tool that is being shaped for His glory!
The beauty of this season for me is the way God has the trees die back (and are glorious in their death - hmmm, sounds familiar) so they may be all the more beautiful in the spring as they come back to life.

You are becoming more and more beautiful in Him.

Fall, Baby!

Welcome, dear woman!

I move out onto this new, seemingly endless landscape of blogs - hoping to love on you as you stop by. I truly want this to be a place where I am sharing God's word (His Word = TRUTH!) by encouraging you, passing on to you God's grace in abundance, and exhorting you to carry on when the days seem nutty and you feel truly like you cannot go on. I know that there are MANY places you can go on this here 'blogworld', and, quite frankly, I have been a bit intimidated by all the really witty, creative, wonderful women who do this and are SO gifted! BUT, I do feel led just to do what my Daddy (our God) I feel is nudging me to do! Sooo, I am just going to do this - whether 2 or 20 come by! It AIN'T about me, precious women...:)

I LOVE God and my family and green and decorating, and will tell you how this came to be called 'the Cottage of Content' soon...

Blessings ABOUND to you - may you know without a doubt how precious you are in your Savior's eyes!