Happy Friday, Friends! I hope you've had a productive week.
I have great news. I have been having problems with my computer for months. I have been blogging using Trip's laptop, but he uses it for work, so I was having to get up super early to use it before he left for work.
Trip was so sweet because he surprised me with a new desktop computer! It is so nice, and it has plenty of storage unlike my old iMac. Once they complete the process of sending my date from my old computer to the new one, I will be set. I am so excited!
What are your thoughts about this week's lesson? I enjoy studying the Psalms, and I agree that there is no greater resource for an extra dose of bravery. Each year when I read through the Bible and reach the Psalms, I always make a list of the ones that speak to me that year. It's fun for me to compare my favorites from year to year.
One of my very favorite Psalms for bravery is Psalm 91, and it is one of the four that Farrell mentions in her lesson:
Each day we are encouraged to put on the Full Armor of God, and that includes the Sword of the Spirit: The Word of God, which is the only offensive weapon in the armor, used to counter spiritual attacks. Fear is a spiritual attack because according to 2 Timothy 1:7, "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." The Psalms are a wonderful weapon to help us stand strong.
Do you have a favorite Psalm?
Here is the Bible verse from the beginning of our lesson:
Prayer Requests
- Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister.
- Please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer.
- Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done. Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
- Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
- Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer.
- Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!
- Carla and her husband has decided to stay in their home and not sell it and move. Pray that God will give them peace in their decision.
- Pray for my mother. I am having a care plan meeting at her nursing home on Monday.
- Rita's daughter Megan had rotator cuff surgery a few of weeks ago. Continue to pray for her recovery.
- Pray for Jenna Meon.
- Please pray for our Westie Finlay. I am taking him back to the vet this afternoon for another follow-up appointment.
"Make it your mission to find the light in the dark."
Soulfull, pg. 214
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Happy Halloween, Friends!
I hope you have had a peaceful week.
Do you get a lot of trick-or-treaters? We do, and I'm hurriedly writing this post before the doorbell starts ringing.
I truly enjoyed this week's lesson because it focuses on what's truly important to a Christian. I like the visual of Notre Damn to remind us that we were also designed to prevail.
Our soul is our cornerstone, and I loved how Farrell broke everything down (into four main points) explaining how we should build-up our faith in a fallen world. In this post I will focus on the second one: We were created to endure.
Here's a quote from Richard Rohr about gratitude, and I think that gratitude helps us build endurance to face the day (whatever it may bring).
Each and every morning offers us a chance to start anew, fresh, and to begin again. Each morning when we awake--- should we choose to listen--- is a message from our Creator to remember the privilege we were given of waking up. It's a reminder to get up and prepare our self, to honor our self, to go out into the world, to connect with Mother Earth, and the hearts of other beings, and encourage those who cross our paths, and most importantly, to enjoy life.
Here is a Bible verse that reminds us that not only were we made to endure, but that God's plan is an abundant life for us:
Here are the Bible verses from the lesson:
Prayer Requests
- Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister.
- Please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer. She is recovering from a 2nd surgery to remove what is believed to be another cancer on her lung.
- Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done. Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
- Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
- Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer.
- Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!
- Carla and her husband has decided to stay in their home and not sell it and move. Pray that God will give them peace in their decision.
- Pray for my mother. She is declining rapidly, and is not waking to eat.
- Rita's daughter Megan had rotator cuff surgery a few of weeks ago. Continue to pray for her recovery.
- Pray for Jenna Meon.
- Please pray for our Westie Finlay. He had to have a second eye ablation today.
Happy Halloween!
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Happy Friday, Friends! How has your week been? My weekend started off lovely because I attended a creativity workshop last Saturday, and then I took my boy Westie to the vet because of a suspected ear infection. Not only did he have an ear infection, but he developed an eye ulcer from scratching his ear on the carpet. Finlay is on four meds plus two eye drop prescriptions and one eye lubricant three times daily. PLUS he now has to wear the Cone of Shame 24/7 until at least Tuesday. I haven't been able to see my mother all week. Hopefully Trip or Shelley will be able to spell me this afternoon so I can go and lay eyes on her.
This week's lesson was bittersweet. We have read a few excerpts about Farrell's friend Tallu and her battle with cancer throughout this book. She sounds like a lovely person who did care about things that truly matter. I loved the message from page 205:
We have to practice what we hope for. As if what we hope for might be possible.
One aspect of their friendship was the sharing and reading of poetry as spiritual practice. Farrell even shares a list of her favorites at the end. I was familiar with a few of the poems, and I hope to have a chance to look-up the rest soon. At the creativity workshop on Saturday, my art teacher Dori shared a wonderful poem by Native American poet Mary Standing Otter that I think is fitting for our lesson this week.
Someone
Right now there are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.
Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.
Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.
Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.
A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”
Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you.
Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favorite food is, and treat you to a movie.
Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.
Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.
The next great song is being rehearsed.
Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.
Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.
Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. From where they are, they just can’t see it .
Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to arrive, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it’s reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all “So worth the wait.”
Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.
Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.
Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe.
Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.
Someone is regaining their sanity.
Someone is coming back from the dead.
Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable.
Someone is curing the incurable.
You. Me. Some. One. Now.
~ Mary Standing Otter
Here is this week's scripture:
Prayer Requests
Please let me know if I have missed any updates or new requests.
- Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister.
- Please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer. She is recovering from a 2nd surgery to remove what is believed to be another cancer on her lung.
- Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done. Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
- Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
- Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer. She is struggling, y'all. UPDATE: She was able to get chemo this week! Praise!
- Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!
- Carla and her husband has decided to stay in their home and not sell it and move. Pray that God will give them peace in their decision.
- Pray for my mother. She is really declining.
- Rita asks that we pray for her oldest daughter's Jewish friend. She dropped out of her 2nd masters' program at Michigan due to the anti-semitic tension she experienced last year, and is planning to move to Israel in October (she has dual citizenship) to see if a budding romance will work over the next 1-2 years. Please keep her in your prayers for her safety, relationship fulfillment, and eventual safe return to the US (with, perhaps, a soulmate for life).
- Rita's daughter Megan had rotator cuff surgery a couple of weeks ago. Pray for her speedy recovery.
- Pray for Jenna Meon.
- Pray that the peace will hold in the Middle East.
- Please pray for our Westie Finlay. He is my best little buddy, and never left my side during my cancer treatment.
Our local Fall Festival is Saturday. I doubt I will be able to go, but hopefully one of the other adults in the household can go and purchase a few pumpkins for the Trick-Or-Treaters next week.
Have a safe and happy weekend, Friends!
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Ricki Jill
It has been a rough week, Friends. Our Sweet Rita lost her sister, Jackie. She is the first sibling (I think out of seven) that she's lost. Rita's "Jenga Tower" was definitely shaken this week. Rita, I hope that you have been able to read this week's lesson. If not, it is waiting for you when you have the chance. I think it's a very apropos lesson for us when we experience loss.
I made the soup recipe early in the week, and I'm so glad that I did because the wheels came off our wagon later in the week. It was nice having something already cooked on those nights I was too tired to cook.
This is pretty much all of the ingredients for the soup. What's missing are the beans: I already had them cooking on the stove when I made this photo. I didn't use lentils like the recipe suggested. Instead I used some of the delicious Rancho Gordo beans I had on hand, the Santa Maria Pinquito Bean.
I also added beef Polska Kielbasa sausage to it as well.
Here is this week's Bible verse:
Prayer Requests
- Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister.
- Please keep Rita's neighbor Chris in prayer as she battles her cancer. She is recovering from a 2nd surgery to remove what is believed to be another cancer on her lung.
- Kitty's son Mike and his friend are working on a game for a company and need to have it done in three months and have a verbal agreement for another game. Prayers that they can get this done. Also, pray that they will get good news on a proposal (a separate project).
- Keep Rita's daughter Megan in your prayers as she delves into her 3rd and final year of Nurse Practitioner program. Her anxiety is pretty high with the new schedule of work, school and home life balance.
- Pray for my best friend Barbara who is battling cancer. She is struggling, y'all. UPDATE: She was denied chemotherapy for a second time this week due to low white blood cell count.
- Kris has a praise and a request: Her little grandson and daughter and SIL are loving their new home in Michigan. Her daughter landed a great job running a huge 9 practitioner clinic in Michigan. Hoping the learning center that her grandson went to will open the new one very soon near their new home in Michigan so he can go to the same daycare and structure.
- Carla's prayer request is for all the young people entering the military, the love they feel for the USA to become warriors to fight to keep us free. She is so thankful, as we all are!
- Carla and her husband has decided to stay in their home and not sell it and move. Pray that God will give them peace in their decision.
- Pray for my mother. She is really declining.
- Rita asks that we pray for her oldest daughter's Jewish friend. She dropped out of her 2nd masters' program at Michigan due to the anti-semitic tension she experienced last year, and is planning to move to Israel in October (she has dual citizenship) to see if a budding romance will work over the next 1-2 years. Please keep her in your prayers for her safety, relationship fulfillment, and eventual safe return to the US (with, perhaps, a soulmate for life).
- A tragedy has hit a small town just 3 miles from Carla's home in Cameron. A young man shot up his girlfriend's family and while doing so recorded it LIVE on Snapchat!!! They live in such small towns, that this shakes our communities. The shooting took place in Barron, Wisconsin Wednesday at 2pm.
- Rita's daughter Megan had rotator cuff surgery a couple of weeks ago. Pray for her speedy recovery.
- Pray for Jenna Meon.
- Pray that the peace will hold in the Middle East.
I hope all of you find a little bit of joy this weekend.
I love you all!
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
