A cheerful smile on my husband's face keeps everyone he meets loving him. He has sweet words for me everyday and that has not changed since his accident. On October 11, 2015, he was opening the door of his above ground hunting house when a swarm of wasps surrounded him. Before he realized what had happened, he and the ladder had fallen eight feet to the ground. He landed on his back, hit his head, and twisted his left foot in the rungs of the ladder resulting in a serious fracture. Counting our blessings from that point forward has kept us aware that God truly is in everything. His brother was with him and able to load him into the side by side and drive him an hour back to the truck. My daughter drove with me to the first hospital and remained with me throughout.  After emergency surgery to mend torn ligaments, blood vessels, and damaged tissue, we drove the six hours home four days later. A week later he had another surgery by a trauma bone specialist at a hospital closer to home. He began holding his left leg up and hopping with a walker to get about. He still has two more months before he can bear weight on his left foot and leg, but he is very compliant with his doctor's instructions. He is still smiling because of all the prayers and phone calls from friends and family. 

The year 2014 was a time of deep grief and loss. With passionate, persistent prayer, life moved on and healing came from my loving God who is always ready to help with any need. Jesus's disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. His model prayer included praying for Him to supply our daily provisions, forgive our sins, and help us to avoid temptation.

Matthew 6: 9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory, for ever. Amen

 

 

Jesus- The Light of The Soul

Depression is not something you sign up for. It is quiet and sneaky. Suddenly smothered by a depth into which you have fallen, you struggle to climb back into the light. I have found only one way. " Trust and Obey" is an old hymn that makes it plain that trusting Jesus will bring us back toward the magnificent loving, all-forgiving Jesus. I ask God to continue helping me to Trust and Obey. Prayer, Writing, Seeking without fear, reaching my hands fully toward heaven and professing my need for protection from the thorns that harm, but rather to be made aware of the dangers of the thorns so they become a wall of protection. This has been a year of recovering from the loss of my dear mamma last August 2012. Throughout 2013, I have lost my older brother, my stepdaughter,  and my 92 year old daddy. This had been a year of unknowns , smothered by the grief, but growing stronger because of the brightness of God's glory.
"Greater is he that is in you,than he that is in the world- 1 John 4:4 KJV
There is a song written by Judson W. Van Deventer,  who lived 1855-1939, with words added by Winfield S. Weeden who lived 1847-1908. "Sunlight" 
" I wandered in the shades of night, til Jesus came to me. And with the sunlight of his love made all my darkness flee" " Though clouds may gather in the sky, And billows round me roll, However dark the world may be, I've sunlight in my soul.." " Soon I shall see Him as He is, The Light that came to me, Behold the brightness of His face, Throughout eternity."

REVIVAL IN OUR SOULS

Revival was held three nights and Sunday morning at our small rural community church. The evangelist Bryan Tyndale is part of Uttermost Ministries. He had held crusades in 26 foreign countries and throughout the United States. Having been on foreign mission trips to Nicaragua with Sonny Holland Evangelistic Outreach, I felt the refreshing joy of hearing the gospel message. Crusades on the mission field overwhelm me with the open weeping as hundreds come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and gain access to the throne room of our Lord. Taking bags of rice, beans, sugar and oil to communities in horse drawn wagons fills a physical need in a country of poverty and starvation. The gospel is preached to groups who enter the rustic medical clinic where doctors see people who may never have seen a doctor for any medical care in their entire life. The children look with beautiful dark brown eyes at missionaries as if to say "Help me for I am hungry". On Sundays, over 600 children come each week to Sunday School and are fed a nutritious meal and blessed with the feeding of their soul. Members of the team bring items on their trip which they feel led to bring. Before I left on one trip, my friend gave me a pair of shoes for a child. The need is so great, I had no idea to which child I would give the shoes. Most of the children came barefoot to church services. A little girl came up to me after one service, wrapped her arms around me and would not let go. I picked her up and carried her to our bus. As she sat in my lap, I looked down at her feet and realized the shoes would be a perfect fit for the child. I fit the shoes onto her feet and she began to cry from gratitude. I could not help but know the hand of God had prompted my friend to send the shoes while God prepared the beautiful needy child to receive them. Every day we saw God work in miraculous ways.

" Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost".

My daughter reviews many books for my grandchildren's home school curriculum. Recently she received a book and an  instructor's manual " The Art of Poetry" by Christine Perrin, MFA . As you see in my blog, I write a lot of poetry from inspiration rather than knowledge of the process or the art. My daughter invited me to participate in their first two lessons about images and metaphors. I am thrilled to be completing the study as instructor for my grandchildren using the instructor's manual.  We hope soon to be able to apply critical thinking to various poems and create poems of our own. 

Early Morning Awakening
Birds Chirping their Song.
Sunshine rising- Light
Joy come to me
God's Word fulfills.
Written by Morninglory 3/23/2013

Belief and Endurance Throughout Life

Weeks before this photo was taken, my 91 year old dad asked me to order him many trees of assorted varieties. He said that if people did not start planting trees, there would be none for the next generation. He was especially interested in fruit bearing trees and flowering plants. When they arrived, they were only slightly larger than feathers but looked healthy. My husband offered to help daddy plant , but daddy said he couldn't just sit in his chair and had to get outside. The next day when I drove by to check on daddy, there he was digging the holes and planting. When I asked if he felt stable enough to be planting, he said when he got tired he just leaned on his golf cart or sat down in it. . The post hole digger was standing in the ground beside him and he said the dirt had to be broken with the digger before the shovel would dig out the soil. As usual, I was afraid for his safety, but he was content and felt productive. Having farmed all his life, he has taken pleasure in still being productive at age 91. As you can see by the tall pine trees behind him, he lives by what he believes. The next generation will need us to plan for them, even the oxygen they breathe.
Isaiah 46:4 NASB

4 Even to your old age aI 1will be the same,

And even to your 2bgraying years I will bear you!

I have 3done it, and I will carry you;

And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

Abundant Love

"To my Loving Wife"

This is a little note to tell you how much I love you.I know God blessed me with you from the beginning. My love has grown for you each year.I pray God will send you a special Joy to help you get through this Christmas without your mother. God is in control of all things in our lives.God has placed me to help you and love you.I could not have asked for a better gift from God. You are my sunshine and my love.I wish you a special Christmas. God made a wonderful person when He made you. He has given you a special way to help other people by teaching and showing them how to be better exposed to helping others through Christ. We often meet them when we go out. God will bless you for your caring and love to each one. Christ, you and our children make my Christmas. With Love Always.

The Lord has blessed my husband and I with 33 years of abiding love. This is what he wrote and placed in my stocking for Christmas morning.This tender message filled my heart during this first Christmas after losing my mother. It was also the passage in my life from 42 years of full-time nursing, most recently as an educator into the time of retirement. It takes a true man of God to have written these beautiful words to me.

Ephesians 5:33 "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." King James Version: The Open Bible.

Scenes - Memories- Different Views

How different the same scene can look when viewed on different days in different seasons. This tree is across from the end of the country lane from our house. The old fence posts fallen down remind me of a different time when the land was occupied by neighbors and the fence row stood even and tall. Down the hill behind the old oak tree was a real horse drawn syrup mill. As a child I ventured with my daddy to see the horse walk in a circle pulling on a large wooden stirrer in the syrup as it cooked. The syrup began as juice from sugar cane and ended as Ribbon Cane Syrup, often sold in a quart can.

Memories floating gently like leaves falling from a tree,
Sometimes remembered through the misty fog of time;
Golden like the straw in an old pasture,
New memories branching out green in the hope of Spring.
Written by Morninglory 12/7/2012

"It may be hard going forward, but it is worse going back." 
Charles H. Spurgeon

Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie

When a cool snap comes south during late fall, I begin reminiscing about the food my mother and mother in law used to cook for family gatherings.My husband's all time favorite is Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie". I tried for years to make a pie just like his mother. Somehow mine always came out more like a chess pie rather than a custard. I even tried to slow cook the custard that I had prepared for my daughter when she was a baby and then add fresh grated coconut. Several years ago, my best friend brought us a splendid pie that was just like the pie my husband dreamed about. She wrote the recipe down and I had a winner. Oh my, did I make a mistake when I lost that recipe. I called my daughter to see if she had borrowed it and she said no, but she knew where I could find Ma'Maw's recipe. When my daughter had lived in Gulfport, Mississippi, she had participated in compilation of a church cookbook. She said that while in college when she spent a lot of time with her Ma'Maw, that she had written down her coconut pie recipe and it was now in the church cookbook. I made the pie and my husband smiled and smacked his lips in joy. Here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

Ma'Maw's Coconut Pie

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 T cornstarch

3 egg yolks (Save whites)

2 cups milk

1 dash salt

1 can coconut or 1 cup fresh shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, flour, and cornstarch together. Stir in about one cup of milk into this mixture. Mix the other cup of milk into the egg yolks and stir into the mixture. Add dash of salt. Cook slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly until it becomes a smooth custard consistency. Add coconut and vanilla and blend until very smooth. Pour into a baked until brown pie crust.  Cover with meringue.

Ma'Maw's Meringue

Cream of tarter-One dash

3 egg whites

1/4 cup of sugar.

Whip egg whites and cream of tarter on high speed until peaks are formed. Slowly add a small amount of sugar at a time while still whipping on high. The meringue is ready when it is no longer gritty when a little is rubbed between finger and thumb. Seal the meringue to the entire crust edges so no filling leaks out. Cover the entire pie surface. 

Bake the pie at 350 degrees until the meringue is golden brown. Cool and serve unless someone you love digs into the pie before there is time for cooling. Enjoy!

"This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24

Cast Iron Cooking

Sometime I just have to revert to my country heritage. My 91 year old daddy planted enough mustard greens to feed an army and they just keep producing.. He has been worried that they might go to waste even though he gives mustard greens to every person who comes to visit.Growing up in the depression era, he is not one to waste food of any kind.  He has given to all the neighbors and still the greens grow. I decided I would pick a 33 gallon bag full and cook them in my black cast iron dutch oven outside on the butane cooker. My husband and I picked mustard greens, pulled the stems out and torn the leaves into small pieces. About that time an elderly couple came to visit daddy. Of course they said yes when I offered them mustard greens. God blessed us with all those greens and sharing made us all happy.
"Everyone helped his neighbor,
And said to his brother,
Be of good courage."
Isaiah 41:6

We had not used the butane burner since last year and it did not work. My husband banged on it and determined that the line was filled with a dirt dauber clay plug. By the time he had the fire burning and the black pot on the blaze, I had bacon ready to sizzle until tender before adding a chopped onion. Once the onion sauteed, we added the fresh washed greens and covered with the lid for about 20 minutes on low heat. When we uncovered the greens they had begun to turn darker. I added a smoked ham hock and about a two quarts of water. We covered the greens and let them cook slowly for over an hour.

My uncle used to call all greens rabbit food and a friend of mine said I was eating grass. I know that southern cornbread served with fresh mustard greens smothered down in an iron dutch oven really make this country woman smile. Try it and you might like it.

Holy God-Eternally Invincible

Walls surround you,
Tall, Solid and Strong.
Angel guards watch and wait,
To protect you from all enemies.

Prayer opens the door;
Opens communication with God.
Seeking from the Lord of Lords,
Comfort, security and protection.

He is our rock and fortress.
Invisible yet invincible. 
Your hand in His nail-scarred hand,
Joined in fellowship of holiness for eternity.
Written by Morninglory 11/7/2012

Abstract Painting Joy

My three grandchildren live close enough to ride bicycles over to swing, play music, cook and many other activities including painting. Last week they brought their nine year old friend. She looked at the background of the above painting and said, " It looks like an abstract". All of the children quickly agreed that the painting could be enhanced by streams of colors flowing down. They each selected colors and the final painting was completed with joy, laughter and excitement.

"Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged;
           parents are the pride of their children." 
Proverbs 17:6 NLT Everyday Matters Bible for Women.

Mandevilla Memories

The last Mandevilla blossom.
Love- Heart's Empathy.
Imprinted in my memories.
Pulling my Spirit skyward.
Positive light flowering
Glimmers of hope.
Written by Morninglory 10/28/2012

" For we walk by faith not by sight." (2Cor. 5:7, NKJV)

WEAK BUT COURAGEOUS

Early morning breeze
Blowing gently.
Blue Heron lifting off pond
Wings spread wide.
Pine trees
Swaying in fog.

Human touch
Cool and soft.
Self, Renewed and refreshed.
Soaring with hope.
Still  swaying weak
but courageous.
Written by Morninglory 10/18/12

"One thing I have desired of the Lord,
that will I seek: that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion
in the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock."
(Psalm 27:4-5, NKJV)

BOUNDARIES

Thorns sharp and piercing.

Pulling and pushing, we cross the thorny hedge.

Enticing and inviting; The sweet of the unknown.

Bleeding, we suffer the consequences;

Harmful death to our soul.

Thorns , the needed protection;

Serves to warn us not to cross the hedge.

Guarding us from harm;

The thorns prick our awareness.

 Watch cautiously. There is another path!

Inspired by "The Hedge of Thorns", dating back to 1611 is

one of the oldest tales in the "Lamplighter" collection.

A hymn of deliverance written by William A Ogden, 1841-1897
" Tis the grandest theme thro' the ages rung;
Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
Tis the grandest theme the world ever sung.
Our God is able to deliver thee."
Morninglory

"The Lane"

When I was a young child of 8 years, this area was an open pasture where grass was planted for hay. Since we dairy farmed, bailing hay was an annual event. Daddy had bought an old model 39 Chevrolet  which had a fairly large trunk. My brother would take the square bails of hay, stuff the trunk full, and we would take off down this lane. Of course, the ride was bumpy since the lane was red clay dirt with no gravel. We headed to the back pasture where we cut strings off the hay and tossed it about for the cows to eat during winter months.  At other times, I recall walking down the lane with my mother toward the back field to bring cows home to be milked. Those walks provided good times for mother-daughter talks. Sometime during my pre-teen years, daddy bought a horse which we named "Old Maude". Again we went down the lane to bring the cows home to be milked.  About 17 years ago, my parents decided to plant the acreage in pine trees through a Farm Service Administration program. The tall pine trees on both sides of the lane have enhanced its beauty. As I drive out through this memory lane, joys of childhood return. My grandchildren now use the lane for bicycle rides and photography. My 90 year old dad now rides his golf cart or four wheeler through the lane to my house.
"Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere." 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tears Rain on Cheeks

Rain clouds gray; 
No rain.
Broken self;
No tears.
Warped soul holds internal pain.

Gray clouds shed
Soft gentle rain.
Heart of self sheds
Flowing tears soft on cheeks.
Self's soul released into healing.
Written by Morninglory 9/29/2012


" Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." ( Lam. 3:22-23, NKJV)

FRAGILITY

A fragile flower found on sidewalk,
Broken from its bush.
Landed hard,
Still intact, just bruised.
Written by Morninglory 9/28/2009

John Newton wrote, " Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;Tis grace has brought me thus this far, and grace will lead me home."

Joyous Path of Life

Joy fills us internally while happiness is fleeting and usually based on external circumstances. As many of you know from following my blog, my mother has been terminally ill for the past four months. She created some of the best memories as we laughed together and dealt with the sad reality of  end-of-life issues.. My mother had grown up during the great depression, married young, worked a farm as entrepreneurs of the dairy business with daddy and raised two children to work more than play. Here at the end of her life she freely expressed her joy and hope in Jesus Christ she knew. One day while mamma, daddy and I sat at the dining room table watching doves feeding outside, she took my hand, looked over at daddy and said, " You know I always loved your daddy".
Hospice called me to come home as mamma had taken a change for the worse. When I entered her room and told her who I was, she reached up with both arms and held me close in a hug. That was her final hug to me as she went into glory later that night with me at her side.
Later in the week, I glanced at the date of her burial on the calendar. It said "New Moon".

 "You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16: 11NAS Study Bible

He Anchors My Soul

Lightening streaked closer and closer and the thunder kept getting louder. Even though it was not raining yet, it was evident by the black clouds that a storm was brewing. My daddy’s dog Jack, also known as Baby, is very frightened by bad weather. Daddy opened the back door and let Jack into the utility room.  When I arrived to drop off groceries, no one could find Jack. We called as we searched throughout the house. Daddy found Jack in the old fireplace behind the artificial logs. He was happy and unafraid and refused to come out until the storm was over.

It seems that life’s circumstances can bring joy or grief, happiness or despair. It is so great to know that for those who love the Lord Jesus Christ there is safety from all harm. The challenge is to simply believe that God’s assurance of His everlasting love is true. If we want to live a life without fear, we must trust and obey God completely. v. 19 “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19 NAS Study Bible

 Psalm 112 v.7 “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.  v. 8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look with triumph on his foes.”