Merry Christmas, Friends! I hope you are having a lovely Christmas with family and friends. The stomach bug is all over Birmingham, and unfortunately, it has made an appearance in our home. The good news is that it only lasts for about 24-48 hours. I have been busy disinfecting everything in the house!
We have two lessons this week, and the first one is entitled "Crazy, Beautiful Life." I enjoyed this lesson because it was filled with examples of those living life to the fullest. There were two Bible verses in this lesson, and I think that the John 10:10 verse is one we should keep in our hearts at all times:
The other verse is from Ecclesiastes:
He has set eternity in the human heart.
~Ecclesiastes 3:11
I love the section about A Collector of Hearts. This might seem silly, but I play this game with God. He sends me hearts to remind me how much he loves me. I see them all the time, whether in bubble clusters, or in an iron pan drying on the stovetop, or examples in nature, like leaves or puddles. Try looking for them. Ask God to send you hearts, and he will do it!
The second lesson is entitled "Never Postpone Joy." Farrell reminds us of how two men (Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama) found and lived with joy during exile and imprisonment. My favorite quote from this lesson is:
Every day is a new opportunity to begin again!~the Dalai Lama
I think that's a great way to view life. Every morning brings the chance for a do-over!
I did not bake the love muffins because most folks around here are drinking plain tea and eating saltine crackers. But I will bake them soon.
I don't know if y'all noticed, but after this last lesson there a few more recipes and lists of Farrell's favorites from books to music to podcasts. I want to check out her favorite cookbooks!
I hope y'all enjoyed this book. I did! Next Friday we will begin Peace With the Psalms, and the first Psalm we will be reading is the 23rd Psalm!
Do you have any thoughts about the lessons?
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Rita as she mourns the loss of her sister. First Christmases without loved ones can be especially difficult.
- Please pray for Kitty’s son, Mike, who is excited about working on his own idea. Pray for Kitty that she can be supportive and encouraging to him as he shares his ideas and developments with her. He is such a good guy and needs something wonderful to happen in his life.
- Praise for Rita's daughter Megan for finishing her semester of the FNP program successfully! Just one more semester after a Christmas break! Let's keep up the prayers and get her over the finish line next semester.
- 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. Let's especially lift up our National Guard as they are deployed both here at home and abroad.
- Pray for my mother. She is declining rapidly.
- Please pray for Kris's MIL because she has been having some heavy health issues, and Kris is currently her full time nurse. Pray that God will help and bless Kris as she cares for her MIL. Pray that other family members will step-up and will be discerning about what's best for her care.
- Kitty's younger brother is having health issues. Please lift him up in prayer.
- Pray for Kris's husband Terry. He is home from the hospital, but is still having difficulty eating. UPDATE: Terry had surgery Friday night (Dec. 26th). He did very well, and Kris is hoping he will be discharged today (Sat. Dec. 26th). Let's pray for a speedy recovery for Terry!
- Rita's HS Friend Pam needs us to start banking-up prayers now. Her oncology and reconstructive team of two surgeons will perform an estimated 12 hr surgery Jan 5 to remove at least half of her tongue (tongue cancer) and, minimally, lymph nodes on her right side of her neck. She will have skin grafts taken from her forearm and thigh to reconstruct. She's expected to be in the hospital a minimum of 10 days. It's a long road ahead for her.
- Please pray for travel mercies for Shanley Belle and Christopher as they drive home to Michigan tomorrow.
- Travel mercies for Carla and her family as they travel to rural Wisconsin. They will be traveling 12/24 through 12/28. (Internet is sketchy where they're going FYI.)
We had planned on going out for sips and trinkets this afternoon. I hope everyone feels like it!
Until next time...
Merry Christmas!
Ricki Jill
As with every week's devotion from Farrell, I thoroughly enjoyed these two. I was really happy to see not only the recipes, but all the books and music she loves at the end. I noted one in music - The Piano- by Michael Nyman. I have that and loved the.movie and cd, highly recommend, and i liatened to it again.. I plan to look over her books, as I think we all loved this book by Farrell so much, we may find another for future study!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Farrell, for a good year of devotional study and reflection, and thank you, prayer warriors for standing alongside me. Thank you, Ricki Jill, for leading us and finding this book. I hope your family recovers quickly from the stomach bug.
Also, I hope Terry's surgery was successful and that both he and Kris can start the new year in good health.
I enjoyed these last two chapters as much as all the rest. I also learned a new word and that was sentient. Isn’t that what we all should hope for…to live a sentient life? Being a collector of hearts, this also made me smile. My late beloved and I would find heart shaped rocks when out and about.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great book, Ricki Jill, and I’m prepared with my Psalms book for next week.
Thankfully, you’re over the flu and here’s to all of us headed for a beautiful 2026.
Prayers for all of you, dear friends, as we encourage and lead each other onto prayerful, joyous, sentient (I hope I used that word correctly) lives. I love each of you!
I loved the last couple of chapters too. This was a good pick for the past year. I have the new Peace with Psalms to begin the new year. Glad Shanley and Christopher are doing better. Stomach bugs are the worse. Prayers were so appreciated for Terry and his surgery. We finally have turned the corner on this issue and hopefully going into the new year things will be more normal. Big hugs for all of you and prayers as we enter into the new year it will be much better for all of us. Hugs. Kris
ReplyDeleteHello, I love finding hearts too. I have a collection of rock hearts, sea glass and driftwood. I also find heart shaped leaves and just as RJ said, a heart found in soap suds and dust bunnies. Hee Hee ... they all make me smile.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the prayers, we all made it home safe. Our last traveler just beat the winds of the blizzard we had yesterday. 9 more inches of snow for us up here in Northern Wisconsin.