Trust no one! Well, except the Lord and the ones that are very close to you or know you for a little while.

I really wavered between ‘Trust’ and ‘Gift’ for Thankful Thursday this week, but ‘Trust’ ‘won’…Again this week I was reminded that we really can trust only a handful people this side of heaven. There are a lot of mean-spirited people in this world. But I digress, so here is my thankful list for this week…

Before I let you go, I want to say publicly ‘thank you’ Mama Bear and Jenileigh for the wonderful gifts you have sent me. Yeah – can you believe that I won two drawings in the month of June/July . I hope to share a digital LO with you soon that feature the wonderful prizes.

So, what are you thankful for this week? If you have posted your own Thankful Thursday post, please link it below.

Thank you for stopping by today…and remember: even when you think there is nothing to be thankful for, just step back, take a deep breath — the Lord is always worthy of our thanks – no matter what

Current Mood: Thankful & Blessed †

I am sure you had one of those days where nothing seems to be fair to you…

Read the rest of my thoughts on the subject of “doing good” over at…

Thank you for stopping by today…be blessed today and always…

Current Mood: Okay

So, the Lord has been tugging on my heart since Wednesday night. Lea read my testimony, which was written almost 2 years ago. She left a kind comment, so I read my testimony over again - tears where just rolling down my face. No, not my story made me weep, but His incredible grace. How He, the almighty God, could love someone like me - take me back after years of wandering aimlessly…

As I said, He has been tugging my heart to republish my testimony. I have been arguing with Him - “It is old stuff - all who know me - read my blog - know my testimony”…This morning the tugging got stronger…”Republish it - someone needs to read it today”…So, if you are the someone who by any chance needs to read my story; here it is:

“Once upon a time, there was little girl that was born to two wonderful people. Peter and Kim loved this little girl very much. She was their pride and joy…

Really, God truly blessed me with wonderful parents. Although they did have their fair share on disagreements during their marriage — they put God at the center and that helped even through the rough times. My parents raised us girls knowing God — church on Sunday, Sunday School, confirmation classes - the whole nine yards. I was very active until I was about 18. Youth-group, summer-camps…It was great. Than more and more I distanced myself from the church. It was no fun hearing every Sunday how much I sinned! There was not much Gospel message involved - believe me. I still went to church — once-in-a-blue-moon. But the biggest problem was that I also was distance from God. Why would I need Him? I was doing well, on-my-own - thank you very much.

Than my dad got really sick; my Sweetheart couldn’t find work in Germany after he left the army…I was holding together the best I could. When completely desperate I would send up a prayer…Did I listen for an answer? No - of course not. Than the biggest decision had to be made. Are we staying in Germany? Are we going to move to the US? My dad (once again) was the driving force. He said: “Your life is already planned ~ don’t refuse to follow”…Yeah, okay dad - you are sick, you will miss Daniel a whole bunch and you are telling us that we need to go??? That was in 1990…Well, we moved and dad died a month after we moved to the States in February of 1991 - and by this time - I was not very happy with God…

Fast-forward…the first years after my dad’s death were hard for me, because he was the best encourager someone could ever have. Did I ever think about picking up my Bible during that time? - Nope!!!! I enjoyed my pity-party. Another fast forward…1995 my Sweetheart wanted to go back to school, I wasn’t able to control our son…here I was again - trying to hold it together. Someone from work invited my to attend church with her on Christmas Eve….I went and the rest is ‘history’…Not really. But God really got a hold of me than. He got my attention big time. He welcomed me back home…no questions asked. He took me in His arms and was glad to see me. Not a “I told you so”, no “What in the world were you doing?”…Just a simple: “Welcome home, little girl”…”

Yes - His grace is amazing - He is waiting for you to come home….Do you have your own testimony? Let me know in my comments - I love to read about His grace in your life…

There are so many things swirling in my head right now – couldn’t come up with the theme for this week…So, this week, I am ‘plain’ thankful…

What are you thankful for this week? Please leave your link below. Thank you for stopping by today - remember - give thanks to the Lord and enjoy every.single.minute you have with your loved ones.

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Current Mood: Thankful

Elisa, I really didn’t mean to skip the last couple of months on “Living Intentionally”. You see, if I don’t put everything on my ‘blogging calendar’, I forget…I am sorry that I forget once again to set my calendar on sharing my up-dates on “Living Intentionally 2008″…

As I was reading over my list from January, I think that some things have changed. Or a least I have made adjustments to it - more or less…so, let me give you a little up-date on the items.

“Not pressing ahead of the Lord, but waiting on Him…” - Yes, this one I do have a handle on. I know that I can trust Him; His timing is always perfect - I just have to be open to His guidance - stop and listen. “Continue with my morning routine to read my Bible…” - Some days I moved it to a later time of the day to read my Bible. This part I have changed - I want to know the books of Philippians in-and-out by the end of the year. To me, Philippians is the top-of-the-list encouragement book of the Bible… “Continue scanning photos of our son…” - this one I had to stop for a while, because it put me into a tail-spin. It made me sad. Let me explain: I am proud of our son - he is a great young man now. Looking at all his baby and childhood photos made me realize that this chapter of my life is closed. Every time I scanned a photo, I had tears in my eyes. I didn’t realize how much it affected me until the day my sweet friend Lynn called me on it - I was on the verge of depression…so, I had to stop scanning for a while. Eventually I will be able to scan all our son’s photos… “Expending on Laced with Grace…” Changed that a little too. Instead of going with a forum, we will have guest authors for the rest of the year. We still have one guest spot open . It would be for November - so just let me know if you are interested… “Stop and listen to hurting people…” I continue to do that as good as I can throughout my busy days. “Share my blessings with others…” I think that I am on track on this one … “Writing down thoughts in my little book…” - Argk - not so good on this one. But I have been writing out my prayers… “To truly live intentionally…” - Yeah - that has been the strong point this year. Take in every.single.minute. - Count my blessings, even when in the valley…Loving the ones close to me and the ones not so close to me. I pray that I will continue this point for the rest of the year…

To check out more “Living Intentionally 2008″ posts, please visit Elisa at “Extravagant Grace” - our hostess for this monthly meme.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my ramblings…Be blessed today and always…

Current Mood: Okay

I usually don’t promote my photos I post on JPG Magazine, but I have published a photo essay about “Faces of Small Town America”. If you are a member of JPG Magazine, would you consider ‘voting’ for my photo essay? Just click on the image above to get to the site and the essay. I know that my chance of being published is very slim, but I still wanted to give it a shot…

Thanks for stopping by today…have a blessed weekend.

Current Mood: Okay