We Remember....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So...I have been kinda incommunicado of late; we had an Event in northern Indiana ...gosh, it's been two weeks ago already...and I came home to a dumpster fire at work that was mostly my fault.  To be honest, I have just kinda of not pushed my brain any harder than recovery.

But I do need to address The Event before I resume Normal Blogging, because it is such a pivotal thing.

My precious mother in law came to the end of her life...having just turned 97...on December 12.  The decision was made to hold off on the memorial until after the holidays, so it was on January 31st that we all gathered...except for one young wife who could not get off of work...to, as my sister-in-law so aptly put it when we made the same trek home for my father-in-law's service two years earlier, 'to honor [her] and comfort one another.'

There is a lot that I could say about the trip itself...but I would like to talk about Her.   She was the polar opposite of the trope of the meddling mother-in-law.  She was engaging, encouraging, and always ready to help.  She was an amazing hostess; I remember one Christmas when unexpected guests arrived; she put on the coffee, pulled out tins of goodies she'd baked over the previous couple of weeks, set out the Royal Albert Poinsettia china and - boom - instant party. 

She sang in the church choir, was one of the organizers for the Christmas bazaar her church hosted for many years, taught high school biology and, along with her hubby, who taught math and chemistry, was a senior class sponsor year after year.   

She loved to travel; my inlaws were chaperones on high school trips to Europe...and then traveled on tours themselves.  They  retired young, made good use of time share points and even rode the mules to the Grand Canyon floor.  

A couple of days after my hip surgery a year and half ago, she called to see how I was doing and let me know that she was praying for me.

At the end, she was more than ready to go; the struggles with her health wore her down but she never lost her mental acuity.  

Beyond what her passing means to the family...and I may or may not get into that at some point...I am going to miss her for herself.  I was blessed to have such a caring mother-in-law.

Of Comfort and Sweet Memories

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We've known it was coming for a long time.  And yet...somehow, we had grace for still more years.   

 I remember their 50th anniversary; we didn't think we would gather like that again.  But we did for the 60th.  And the 70th. And even beyond that...most of the family was able to be on hand for the 75th wedding celebration last June.   How amazing.

But time marches on, and my Father-in-law fell back in October and couldn't get back up.  He went in to rehab to try and rebuild his strength but he had problems with hemoglobin counts and other things and just couldn't get back on his feet.  Christmas was a good day, but he began a serious decline right after.  He spent about a week on hospice care and passed away on Jan. 21st at age 98; he would have been 99 in April.

With family coming in from Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Alabama, it took a minute to get everyone organized and travel plans made.  My Sweet Babboo and I drove up to my folk's farm west of Indianapolis on Wednesday, picked up the Florida kids at the Indianapolis airport Thursday evening and drove up to Elkhart; The Artist and his wife arrived at the farm a couple of hours after we left and came to Elkhart on Friday, swinging by West Lafayette and picking up a cousin from Purdue on their way up.  The Princess was on a work trip to Florida (She's a Disney travel agent,  but was learning about Universal Studios), which she cut short, flying back home on Thursday and she and her hubby and the two wee boys made the entire drive up on Friday.  By Friday evening, everyone was in town. Only one granddaughter, who was ill with the flu, was unable to attend; the memorial service was live-streamed so she could see it.

The memorial service was Saturday afternoon, in the 100 + year old Methodist church all the siblings grew up in.

He was a member of the Greatest Generation...a Purple Heart/ Bronze Star WW 2 veteran.  He taught chemistry for years at the local high school, and sang Barbershop, in both quartets and a chorus, and in the church choir, for decades; the memorial service was full of music.  We sang his favorite hymns, and listened to recordings of his barbershop quartet and also of the family, including the special music we sang at church for their 70th Anniversary (I confess to wiping a couple of tears at that point).  But my Mother-in-law was insistent that this was not to be a 'sad affair'; she wanted us to sing and remember good things.  

I was surprised to see some folks I knew; it was good to see distant cousins and old friends we had not been able to contact for a while.

Memorial services are good for that.

My sister-in-law said it well, in a meal blessing on Friday: "We gather to comfort and encourage one another, and to honor the memory of our beloved Dad."

Yes.

Things to be thankful for in 2020

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi     

I decided to see if I could come up with twenty things to be thankful for from this very weird year.  Amid all the crazy, all the stuff that went down that grieved my spirit, could I find twenty things to remember going forward?

And then, as I thought, I realized I had a much better, much easier, much less traumatic 2020 than many people and posting twenty things to be thankful for might even seem to be insensitive.  So...maybe just the things that come to mind first to be thankful for...without thinking too hard.

Of course, there are the general blessings that should always spark thanksgiving...things like having a home to live in and hot water on demand and food to eat and friends and family to share life with... whether it's 2020 or any other time, so I'm thinking about things from 2020 specifically.

Our jobs didn't go away...we could work from home and still have income.  And working from home was a blessing...I got to see a lot more of My Sweet Babboo, and we were able to avoid a lot of risky exposure.  That's like, three or four things to be thankful for right there.

We now have a grandson...who was 7 weeks old yesterday and MAYBE I will get to hold him on Friday.  Masked, of course. 

I am thankful for technology that kept us connected (how many zoom meetings did we have???) when we couldn't meet up in the same space.

While we were not able to travel to the ol' stomping grounds and visit extended family this year, we hope to see everyone at some point next year.  It's a blessing that both of us still have our parents to call and chat with even if we can't actually go see them right now.

My Sweet Babboo and I celebrated 40 years of wedded life; can't believe it's been that long since that chilly, rainy day in August when we pledged our lives and our love to each other.  

And it may seem self-serving, but I am grateful for the crazy-long-running desert Bible study...it's been so timely so many times this year.  I feel like it was there to give me what I needed when I needed it.   If you missed the initial introduction to the blog, I found that I always learned more when I was preparing lessons for Bible study classes so this is my way of fooling myself into digging into the scripture.  I'm just putting my thoughts on the blog instead of in my journal. They are rather raw, but that's kind of the point.  So...if you've joined me at any point, I am grateful for YOU. :-)  

My prayer for all of us in 2021 is that we would learn to see God's hand at work even in circumstances we don't understand, that we can trust him to do what is best for the kingdom at all times, and that we can learn to adapt ourselves to his plan instead of expecting him to move heaven to fulfill our plans. If we learn that...I think we will have learned the lessons we were meant to learn from 2020 and we'll be positioned for whatever happens in 2021 and beyond.

Post number 1, 000 - Reader Appreciation

I happened to look at the post counter tonight and it read '999'....

 One thousand posts in a little over 12 years at Beer Lahai Roi. It's been a journey. 

To those of you who have been here all the way...thanks for hanging with me. 

To those of you who have joined along the way...thanks for hanging with me, too, lol. 

Seriously, this is a 'talking to myself outloud' kinda blog, so I know it's not the kind of thing that really appeals to the masses. The dozen or so of you who stop by faithfully are greatly appreciated. 

If I could, I'd have a party for all of us together. That would be fun. But...I'm just going to have to say 'Thank you all!!!' :-)

Jet Lag is a Thing.

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The Eastern Gate from the Mount of Olives.  

I've been good during the day...but about 8:30 at night, boom, I hit a wall and can do nothing but crawl into bed, where I dream I'm still in Israel and wake up disoriented.

I assume this will go away soon and I'll be back to normal; likely wondering if it really happened, lol.

We had an amazing trip. Several folks have asked me what my favorite site was; I really can't answer that, although I can say that I learned the most at Masada.  (I looked it up on Wikipedia; the details there don't *quite* match up to what our very learned guide told us.)  I only had a vague notion of a battle there, and I thought it had to do with the Maccabees, so I was in the wrong historical period all together. 

I had a lot of incorrect assumptions about many things; seeing how it really is was...amazing.  The Sea of Galilee is much, much smaller than I had expected; the Dead Sea is much bigger, for all that is is evaporating at a rate of about 3 feet per year (plans are being made to bring in water from the Red Sea to stabilize the water levels).  The desert is rocky...and looks almost Martian.  Jerusalem's hills are very steep and the valleys are narrow.

I've been posting pictures in batches to my Facebook feed; putting notes on them as I go.  But I can only do short batches in the evening before the jet lag hits and I lose my ability to spell at all, along with my ability to compose a coherent sentence with all the words in it.

The travel itself...the flights in and out of New York, and the 11+ hour flights between New York and Tel Aviv...was a test of endurance.  I had long layovers in New York both coming and going, and the last one was especially rough because every time I sat down, I started to nod off to sleep.  I was afraid I'd fall sound asleep and miss my boarding call for the flight back to Nashville, so I spent a lot of time just walking around the terminal and telling myself I could sleep on the plane once we boarded.  But, once I finally got on board that last plane, I got afflicted with what my grandma called 'the heebie-jeebies' in my legs...the muscles were twitching and spasming in a very itchy and irritating way.  I had a window seat, which would have been good had I been able to lean against the cabin wall and snooze, but with my restless legs I was bordering on claustrophobia.  It was an exercise in self talk  "It's only 2 hours... it's only an hour and 45 minutes....it's only 90 minutes...' etc.

I was really glad to stand up when we got to Nashville.  I told My Sweet Baboo that if I go again with him...we are going to upgrade the seats! 

I have to admit, I am a terrible skeptic.  I know that there were unscrupulous folks in the  middle ages who took advantage of folks on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, selling them bogus relics.  I wondered if those same shysters had created semblances of holy sites, insisting that, for instance, that particular slope was where Jesus taught the Beatitudes.  But there's  no doubt that Jesus taught on the southern steps of the Temple, which have been excavated. And the Garden of Gethsemane is still there, with its 2,000 year-old olive trees that could tell us of Jesus's prayers, if they could talk.  Capernaum is excavated...and maybe the house identified as belonging to Peter didn't really belong to Peter, but it was there at the right time; someone lived in it who would have been known to Jesus.

And the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found are there to be seen, having sheltered the incredible texts that prove that the Old Testament scripture we have today is fundamentally unchanged from the texts of Jesus' day.

 I have a lot of personal processing to do still; I came home Saturday night, pretty well zonked, and have just managed to do what I need to do in the daylight before getting zonked again, so the only processing I've done so far is to write the little blurbs for the Facebook posts.  

It was an amazing trip and I'm ever so glad I went.

Catching up

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We've had a busy couple of weeks.

The Grand Opening of the new sanctuary was August 5.  Packed house and a boatload of data entry.

Worked extra hours but still left work for my co-workers to cover, because we had to hit the road to Indiana to celebrate my parent's 60th wedding anniversary.  It was a pretty low-key celebration, actually, just a dinner with all the family who could make it, but it was a blessing to get to be there on their special day.

60 years looks good on them, don't you think?

And, it just so happened that My Sweet Babboo had a class reunion the following weekend, so we headed up to Elkhart for Saturday night.   The reunion somehow didn't get well publicized...or organized, which is odd because the previous ones have been well done.  If that had been the only reason for the trip north, I think we would have felt kinda miffed, but not only did we hit my folks' anniversary, there was also the 104th annual Pippenger family reunion on Sunday, so the trip was worth it nonetheless. 

We did miss the official dedication of the new sanctuary, but, thanks to the wonders of modern technology we were able to watch the video on You Tube from Elkhart

 We split the trip back home up, stopping at Mom & Dad's and picking up a cooler of sweet corn on the way.  Got in too late on Tuesday to freeze corn, so I threw some more ice in the cooler and planned to do it after work on Wednesday, feeling only a little remorseful for missing the Wednesday night service.

However, The Flute Player (whose job is toy sanitation in the staff day care) was playing catch up for missing the first two days of the week and we were very late getting out of the office.  So it was nearly midnight when all the corn was bagged and in the fridge to chill. 

Thursday was the 38th anniversary of the date that My Sweet Babboo and I tied the knot ourselves, but all we did was exchange cards; we both worked straight through to choir practice in the evening. I ended up going to the office to work for about 3 hours yesterday to get some documentation ready for training that starts Monday morning...which is why I didn't get the next Joshua post up.  I plumb forgot it was Friday.

We dodged some thunderstorms to get an anniversary dinner last night and I'm doing laundry like a crazy lady today.  Tomorrow, we're doing a community thank-you service and hosting a 'pep rally'/ tour for the alumni of the high school that has become our church.  Next Sunday will be a day of thanksgiving and praise, with guests David and Nicole Binion.  Labor Day weekend follows, with our annual women's conference (albeit a bit abbreviated version) the weekend after.  So...maybe we'll see life start falling into a normal routine again somewhere around the middle of September, lol.

So, catching my breath just a bit before wrapping up Joshua.  Should be back in that groove by Friday.  I think. 

#Celebrate2300

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi


I looked and looked through online albums and actual books of pictures, trying to decide what the FIRST photo I took at our current (for another 9 days) church location.

As near as I can tell, the first photos I took were for the sewing blog in 2004, documenting the costuming for our inaugural production of  'The Gospel According to Scrooge':

We actually began attending church at The Rock Family Worship Center in spring of 2001.  The building they were meeting in then was a former Sheraton Inn...a very nice hotel in the early 80's, but it had been sold and split up and re-sold and...the previous occupant was Joe's House of Entertainment.  But the church was just renting the space, and in spring of 2003 the owner sold the building.

Through a series of amazing events, we ended up purchasing a building at 2300 Memorial Parkway that had housed a genetics company...but prior to that, it had been as shopping center that featured a Service Merchandise.

We actually have stuff in our house that was purchased from that Service Merchandise back in the 80's.

We moved into the 2300 Memorial Parkway in July of 2003, literally right before we had to be out of the previous location, squeezing ourselves into a small auditorium they had, with a stage that was probably no more than 8 feet deep.

Why did a genetics company have an auditorium?  Who knows?  We had three services a weekend there to get everyone in while they gutted a series of labs/clean rooms and converted them into the current sanctuary.

We got the Certificate of Occupation from the Fire Marshall for the sanctuary the day before our annual Women's conference.  The fumes from the carpet glue, which had been laid that week, were so strong that one of our speakers had a serious respiratory reaction and almost ended up in the hospital.   She did end up spending one of the sessions doing breathing treatments in her hotel room.
There's an amazing testimony from that...we stopped the service and had special prayer for her, and literally at that time something shifted and she found herself able to breathe.

The sanctuary seemed huge.  It seated about 1000 folks, had three cameras running and amazing lighting.  I remember walking in and having to remind myself that this was my church...not a special conference event somewhere.

And the church grew. 

We outgrew that huge space at least 3 times.  We converted large spaces into smaller offices, moved the main doors, added windows, refurbished and updated, cramming classrooms and offices wherever and however we could.

We launched satellite campuses to hold overflow.  We added services back...once more, we're doing three services a weekend to accommodate everyone.

So many memories.  So many adventures.  So many encounters. We did The Gospel According to Scrooge twice, we did several Bible-based costumed Easter productions.

We're being encouraged to post photos and memories, with the hashtag Celebrate 2300 to link them all together.

I commented that I could go through the photos in my Facebook Albums and hashtag Celebrate 2300 to about 2/3 of the pictures.  But I don't have pictures that really document the history of our sojourn there.

We've been in that building nearly 15 years.  I can't begin to list the significant moments, the wonderful people, the blessings.  I've been on staff since 2009; I can tell you that it ain't a perfect church.  But it is a church that loves God and loves people and is making a difference in our city.

We have one more Sunday set of services there...and we'll be boxing up stuff the rest of that Sunday.  The last moving trucks will pull up on 1/29 and 1/30 to haul the remaining goods to the 'new' building...a retired high school.  2300 has already been sold to another church...who has already started some renovations in the areas that we moved out of in December.

We'll stilll be holding three services a weekend in the theater to accommodate the folks while the gymnasium is converted into a sanctuary that will seat somewhere around 1,600.  It should be done late in the spring.

I need to take more pictures.  Someday we may want to review what it looked like back in 2018 when we moved in to the work in progress...

Press Pause

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I know, today is supposed to be 'Bible Studyish' day...and by rights I should be composing the next little look at someone going through a transition.

But, ya know, sometimes ya need a break.

I think that really is beginning to get through my thick skull.

We took a zippy 6 day trip up to Indiana to spend a day or two with our parents, and celebrate our 35th anniversary in the process.

My hubby surprised me by making reservations in the Inn at Turkey Run State Park.  The 'Anniversary Package' included  a night in the inn, dinner and breakfast, and a late checkout.  Oh, and a bottle of champagne (which we switched for sparkling grape juice.  Honest.) and commemorative stemmed glasses with chocolate.




It was quite a treat...and we hiked like crazy Monday morning to squeeze in our favorite bits of the park...the big trees on trail 9 and Rocky Hollow on trail 3. Climbed boulders, ladders, many stairs...yeah, we were feeling it the next day.

We tend to forget how much we enjoy each other's company...when we're so busy that we're basically just saying 'good morning' and 'good night' to each other.

We've taken the kids to Turkey Run a few times...this was the first time we got to go by ourselves.   And the first time we were there for sunset and sunrise.  We actually hiked the half mile down to the suspension bridge before breakfast to take sunrise photos.

Now, of course, I'm playing catch up and I have some pretty major stuff to cover this weekend at work.

Coming back, I told My Sweet Baboo that we need to begin now to schedule our next 'just us' getaway.  

And it needs to happen before Christmas... ;-)



Look for the post on Israel: The 'Face the Music' Road next week...

An Evening with the Whip-poor-wills

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Y'know, before this past Saturday, I had never actually heard a whip-poor-will call.


The Princesses' in-laws have a cabin on a lake about an hour and a half away.  After three years of failed attempts, she finally managed to get us and her siblings all there for a weekend.

It's one of the places in the country where there is ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONE RECEPTION. 

Which meant no internet, no instagram posts, no facebook conversations...just a weekend of family interaction.

The main attraction is the lake and the kayaks were put to use, along with inflated rings and other flotation devices.  I'm not a water person...a couple of bad experiences with water as a kid have pretty much convinced my autonomic nervous system that water is Not To Be Trusted...so I hiked from the cabin  down the hill  to the lake and back a few times taking pictures.   Played some dominoes with My Sweet Babboo.  Listened to the Actor and a buddy of his who tagged along playing worship music, rotating amongst the available instruments...ukelele, guitar, harmonica and djimbe.  Sat on the porch swing and polished up the song for the month of June (I wrote a Christmas song.  That's when it should be written, right, if it's possibly going to be used at Christmas?).

We had a bit of rain in advance of a cold front that finally went through Saturday afternoon, so Saturday evening was cool and clear; the gibbous moon was bright enough to cast shadows.  My Sweet Babboo, the Princess and I sat outside as the fire we'd used to roast weenies and marshmallows died to embers.  We looked at the brighter stars that were visible in the moonlight and listened to a handful of whip-poor-wills calling in the woods around the cabin.

Those are the moments that make a summer.  They come way too seldom.

Week of Praise, Day 7

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Psalms 119.

If you've never looked at that chapter closely, it's worth a look.

It's actually a pretty amazing piece of literature; comprised of 22 eight-verse sections, it is a tribute to the Word...God's laws, precepts and prophecy.

Each of those eight -verse sections has a label on it.  Most folks don't realize that those labels are letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The kicker is that, in the Hebrew, each verse in each section starts with the letter at the top of that section.

It's a massive acrostic poem.

And it extols the glory of God's word.

God inspired the ancients to write His message to us, then sovereignly moved on the scholars of the day to collect all the law, the prophets, the gospels, the epistles...even the history...into an anthology, and then protected that anthology so that we have, today, a book that is unique in all the world.

He gave us his Word.

A lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps 119:105)

It brings peace, and keeps me from stumbling (Ps 119:165)

It contains wondrous things (Ps 119:18)

It is better than gold and silver (Ps 119:72)

It is established firmly in the heavens forever (Ps 119:89)

It brings life (Ps. 119:93)

It brings understanding (Ps 119:104)

...and a whole bunch more.  Just in that one chapter.

We live in a unique time, when the Word is easy to read and study by the common person...in not-so-long-ago-history, it was not available to regular folks like me.

Some of the most horrible persecution occurred when the organized church killed folks for the crime of possessing an English translation of scriptures...which is astonishing now.

Even when an English translation was legalized, printed Bibles were rare.  One Bible per family....that was handed down as an heirloom (One of my aunts has a Bible that was originally purchased by my great-great-great-???-great grandfather in the 1800's, and handed down through the family, with difficult to read records of deaths, births and marriages in the family).

The family owned the Bible, but it was preserved, and read aloud by Mom or Dad, if at all.

Now I personally own about 6 Bibles...and we have a myriad of translations available on line...even Hawai'i Pidgin.  We have ACCESS to the Word; any time, any place.

And I'm amazed and grateful.

Week of Praise Day 6

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

All of these verses I've been posting...it can seem kinda removed.  'God is all this stuff, so let's praise Him.'

But this morning I got a fresh look at a reason to praise Him.

It's all through Scripture, so I'm not going to go dig up all the references today. This is MY story.

He is worthy of our praise because He knows.  He cares. And...oh, my...He responds.

This morning had been a bit of a battle in myself to stay in the ground I'd claimed, if that makes any sense.   Then, scrolling through Facebook, I came across a friend's post.  She'd posted it for her daughter and others who were off at college, but it was a highlighted Bible verse and the wording jumped straight into my heart.

As it happens, it's the Message translation, which kinda made me smile.

Rev. 3:8:

I see what you've done.  Now see what I've done.  I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut.  You don't  have much strength.  I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word.  You didn't deny me when times were rough.

I wasn't looking for encouragement, but He gave it.

Because...He's like that.

And words can't express my thankfulness to my God, who gives us what we need when we need it.

Week of Praise: Day 5

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It' the OMNIs that get me.

How could we not praise a God who is all the OMNIs?

(all scriptures today taken from the NIV 84)

Omniscient -- all knowing:

          The LORD is a God who knows - 1 Sam 2:3

         ...for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. - 1 Jn 3:20

       Plus a multitude of individual verses that lists all the variety and extent of His knowledge.

Omnipresent -- existing in all places at once
  
         Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?
          If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed on the depths, you are there.
          If I rise up on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 
          Even there, your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. -- Ps 139: 7-10

         'And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' - Matt 28:20

Omnipotent -- all powerful

          But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there,  the Lord Jesus  
         Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will
          transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.  -- Phil 3:21

         Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God
          and was returning to God;   -- Jn 13:3

          Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his -- Dan.2:20

Plus another multitude of verses describing various things over which God has power.

There is NO ONE ELSE, not on earth, in earth, under earth, above earth or in any other realm who has all knowledge and all power and is present wherever one could possibly go.

And this incredible, unfathomable, OMNI Person...loves and cares for...me.

Week of Praise: Day Four

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Because He loves me, and loved me even before I knew or cared anything for Him --

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us - Rom 5:8 ESV

Week of Praise: Day Three

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We are all familiar with Jeremiah 29:11 --

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  (NIV 84)

But what we fail to recognize sometimes is that declaration follows immediately after God says for them to settle down in the foreign land, to accept the exile and dispossession...in short, to accept as God's plan something that seems totally foreign to anything God had ever done for them, even in opposition to what He had promised them.

In that same passage, God names the duration of the dispossession...70 years. Long enough that the older folks who were carried off would die in exile, but a promise that their children would return and rebuild...and He promised to prosper them where they were.

Even in judgement on the nation, those who stayed faithful would be under God's protection.

God is a Covenant-keeper; even when we don't understand and it looks like everything is going wrong and falling apart, He can be absolutely trusted.

Selah.

Week of Praise: Day Two

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I thank God for His unwavering faithfulness...even when I am weak and doubleminded and consumed with myself.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, 
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness;
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will  hope in him."
-Lamentations 3:21-24  ESV

Week of Praise: Day One

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I can't seem to get the vimeo to embed nice and pretty, but here's the link to the recap from the women's conference:

She is Redeemed 2014 recap

Pastor Leisa challenged us to spend a week just in praise and thanksgiving, so I decided to just do that here.

My praise for today:

Thank, you, Father, for beginning a good work in me and for the promise that you will continue to do that work until it is complete. (Phil 1:6)