Grace Notes

Before my sons and I moved to town, we had five acres of land in the country. We had a barn, horses, dogs, cats and even donkeys at one time.  A pond was in the front, we had lots of oak trees, plenty of shade, and peace and quiet.  I thought I would live there forever!  Then came divorce, extreme tension between parties, and it was advised by my dad that we move to a safer area, along with a better school system.  What I thought I was giving up, I found was made up in many ways.  I no longer had the sole responsibility of keeping up a large piece of land.  I was able to focus on maintaining a much smaller lot in a subdivision, and have been able to do extensive gardening and landscaping.  What was once a chore has now become a pleasure.  And I still get my jaunts into the country any time I please.  I just get on the Interstate and travel about 30 minutes south to my parents' place.  There they have everything we had, plus more!  I love sharing photos and tales of goings on in t

Personal thoughts on Luke 11:1-13 and Jeremiah 18:1-11... Recently I was reading in Luke 11:1-13 how Jesus’ disciples came to Him and said John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray a specific way. Jesus’ disciples asked if He would teach them to pray His way. Jesus accommodated them with what we call the Lord’s prayer. I love how The Voice translates verses 2 - 4: " Father [in heaven], may Your name be revered.   May Your kingdom come. [May Your will be accomplished on earth as it is in heaven.]   Give us the food we need for tomorrow,   And forgive us for our wrongs, for we forgive those who wrong us.   And lead us away from temptation. [And save us from the evil one.]” * Jesus then launches into dialogue about how the Father is willing to give us what we need and what we ask for, as long as it is within His will, and summarizes in verse 13 (continuing from The Voice): "Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all you