Thanksliving!

Its Thanksgiving week...all week long I have veiwed fellow facebookers sharing what they are thankful for, each day of this month.   I know most of them are thankful on a daily, year long basis, and not just for this month.   I know a few that will forget to be thankful, until next November rolls along. 

Heres my thoughts on what I call, thanksLIVING!!

                                      ThanksLiving

                                                       by Lois Stone

We already know, as Christians, that being thankful is not a once a year thing.  It must be continual, every day, all year long, your whole life long.  I call this THANKSLIVING!

Ephesians 5:20--Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.        Being thankful is more than  just uttering a "thank you' prayer to God.  Our thanks must be sincere....Hebrews 13:15-- Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

We not only by our lips announce the sacrifice of appreciation to God, but also with our bodies. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.  Romans 12:1
And, with our minds!!   Verse 2 goes on to say, Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

It is easy to be thankful when things are going our way and life is great.  But what about when things dont go the way we want?   The scriptures say we should give thanks CONTINUALLY...it doesnt say to stop being thankful when life gets hard.  
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says to "rejoice always...pray without ceasing, in EVERYTHING give thanks!   We must look for the good in every situation and in those circumstances that there is no apparent good that you can see, just remember God is with you and guiding you and you can sure be thankful for that!   
 Phillipians 4:11....in whatever situation you find yourself in, learn to be content.

No matter how hard life gets,  your own personal trials, or the family/ health crisis's, the the state of the nation,  the list goes on of hardships we are called to face.   Remember God compassions are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22), and no matter how crazy your world gets, remember to stop and look at the sunsets, sunrises, the stars, the moon...they will always appear at their appointed times and be beautiful and no one can take that away. No one, can take away your faith or separate you from God.  Be still, and remember, He IS God.   Psalm 40:10.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him and bless His name,  for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations!   Psalm 100:4-5      

Whats in your teapot?

   I wrote this for our Ladies Day about 3 or 4 years back...had intentions of making a full book of this someday.  But that got sidetracked!!    Just sharing!!

                                                                                                                

                                  What is in Your Teapot?   

                                                                by Lois Stone

There is perhaps, nothing more comforting to me on a rainy day than to relax in my front porch swing, with a good book in one hand, a cup of hot tea in the other, and of course, a dog at my feet.  Or on my lap.   Sometimes this can be a challenge as most of my dogs are not toy breeds.  Out of my 4 German Shepherds, and one lab mix, there are 3 of them that think they are lap dogs.  Unfortunately for me I have not taught them any differently! 

 

At any rate, tea has long been associated with comfort. 

2 Cor.1:3-5 says that God is the Father of all comfort…..He comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God. 

What is COMFORT?  I looked it up in Dictionary and I find that comfort is defined as not only something or someone that is consoling, but its also a person or thing that makes life easier.   Its Refreshing. Relaxation. Exhortation. Encouragement.     

We all know that a teapot of tea served at our bible studies or get togethers is a relaxing refreshment.

As women of God, I ask you, what’s in your teapot?    The kind of tea you put in your teapot is the kind of tea that will come out of your teapot…so I ask you, is the tea coming out of your teapot influencing others around you to feel relaxed, refreshed and encouraged to go on?  

  

Are you pouring the special blend of ChristianiTea from your teapots?   

 I’d like to tell you the different types of tea that goes into this special blend.

 ChristianiTea consists largely of:

PurtiTea and HonesTea..…the Christian woman is pure in heart, speech and mind, she always has Gods purpose on her heart …She loves it, she lives it!!   In Proverbs 15:26 we find “the words of the pure are pleasant”… and we find in Prov 16:24 that, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. And in  Colossions 4:6 “her speech is always with grace, seasoned with salt.”  

 She always has an encouraging word, and encouraging words are comforting words aren’t they?!  Her mind is always set on those things above in James 3:17, she is found to be always peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Other blends of Tea found in ChristianiTea are

SobrietTea, there is no intoxicating drink in our teapots!  Also constituent is SpiritualiTea, what a refreshing break from the worldly women that most people have become accustomed to today.    

There is still a long list yet of ingredients in our ChristianiTea, I am going to just name off just a few more, you can probably think of others to add to make that pot of tea more perfect.   Besides the ones I’ve already mentioned, there is CongenialiTea, HumiliTea, HonorabiliTea, LoyalTea, SensitiviTea.   

Instead of serving PersnickiTea how about AgreeabilTea, and leaving no room for VaniTea in your teapot, but rather, CharitTea.  Instead of ImmoraliTea, there is the strongest blend of MoraliTea.

Just as we find the comfort of God a pure and sure presence in our lives, we also know that sometimes, His comfort comes to us in the form of other persons.  Therefore we must we be a comfort, a relaxing and refreshing presence in the lives of those around us.  We want to leave tea stains of comfort in the hearts of others, of pure ChristianiTea, nothing added, nothing taken away, and always served in LOVE.

So it all boils down to…..

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

For a as a man thinketh, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

Ladies, what kind of tea is going in and out of your teapots? 

change ramblings....

The past few months were a whirlwind of activity, between the normal (whatever that means!) daily routine of our lives, and the additional activity of planning and, pulling off, a beautiful  wedding!   The wedding WAS beautiful, the bride was gorgeous, the groom, so dashingly handsome.  the dad seemed nervous...the mom, staying busy to hold back tears that threatened to fall if she stopped to think about what was happening,..until one brief moment when the bride danced with her dad...a few tears leaked then...but the dam finally broke when the bride and groom said their goodbyes and headed for the honeymoon).

When asked by others how the mom was doing, as the couple were away on their cruise the reply they got was " partly sunny with periods of spontaneous brief showers"

It is now over, another beautiful memory. The newlyweds have settled into their new home, and mom and dad are settling into a new normal (whatever that means!) daily routine .
Gone are the days when the mom, dad and 2 sweet children would take vacations trips to fun places together.
Gone are the days when the family of 4 splashed in the pool out in the yard.  
The overnighters, church camp, cookies n milk after school, 4H meetings, band concerts, choir concerts, dance recitals and spelling bees. 
Chasing lightning bugs in summer, putting them in a jar for a nightlight by the beds...listening to sweet prayers as only a child can pray.   Fishing in the pond, having picnics, and riding the atvs all over the place!! 
Gone , are my daily prayers, sometimes tearfully, that God will insure my children of finding christian mates, and keep them physically and spiritually, safe.  Gone, but never forgotten, as I look forward to the new memories of what the future will bring.  A new member of the family,  who fit in so well, who has brought my daughter so much happiness, who prays and worships God with her.   A reminder of how great and perfect is Gods timing, if only we trust Him.   
As I settle into this new chapter in my life, the prayers for my children (now there are 3!) are still there....praying daily for their safety, spiritually and physically.    Praying  I may learn how to cut the proverbial apron strings, (can't I do it inch by inch?) but yet, still remain a part of their lives in an acceptable way, never interfering in their lives as they meld together in the Lord. 

While I know they will never be little children again, they will ALWAYS  be MY babies, and I hang onto those precious sweet memories while embracing the future and new memories we will make !    For while my daughter has now matured into a beautiful young woman, inside and out, and left the nest, we are still a family...of FIVE.

Etchings!

Welcome to Heart of Stone-Etchings!!   
Now that I have a blogspot Im wondering when will I have time to post anything here?
I had fun thinking up a title for it....among them :  a Stones throw......written in stone.....stones tablet.....but heart of Stone just seemed more right.  Of course I dont have a heart of stone!   I will write about whats in this Stones heart tho. 
Once I figure out how this all works that is!!! 
Thanks Ashley for getting me set up. 
This could be fun.