To Draw Near To God

To Draw Near To God

There's no doubt about it...this life is full of needs
of one kind or another each day.
We are humbled, often desperate, as we come to the Throne
for the needs that we have as we pray.
But in my simple heart I have come to believe
that our greatest need is to seek God alone;
To bow before the majesty of the God of the Universe
and worship everyday at His throne.
For then we take our eyes from the size of our problems
and suddenly they're eclipsed by His face.
Then we see the power that we need every hour
as we look on the Author of grace.
And when we make the choice to lift up our voice
giving glory and all honor to the King,
Then we see our fulfillment is always in Christ
no matter what this life may bring.
Just looking at God's holiness will strengthen our souls
and change us every time we draw near,
Till we want to be holy and set apart for His glory
because we love this great God that we fear.
For there on that throne lies everything we will need
because the Lamb is also Counselor and Lord.
He's the Ultimate Provider...our Encourager and Hope
and the Healer who will leave us restored.
The needs of the flesh and the circumstances of life
point us higher to our greatest need of all;
To draw near to God sitting high on His throne
getting closer every time that we call.

© Sheila Gosney

The four living creatures, each having six wings,
were full of eyes around and within.
And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“ Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“ You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Revelation 4:8-11 NKJV

To get a musical glimpse of the glory of God's throne, click on this You Tube link below. This is the Revelation Song and contains phrases taken from Revelation, describing the Lamb of God on the throne in heaven. Watch and worship. It's worth the wait to load!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCDC3AFuNtU

My dad...it is sad to see them get ill and nothing we can do...

I saw him changing but I thought it will stop and I kept getting phone calls from my daughter Lindsay who lives with them....she would tell me Grandpa is just sitting in his chair starring Mom..I am worried...he isn't talking at dinner time...he isn't going out and helping plant the garden with grandma...I kept thinking this isn't happening...I could hear it in his voice on the phone in the morning as we talk everyday at 6-7 a.m. Then he kept telling me he can't find things and he would misplace things that he always knew right where everything was...this is not my dad. I called his doctor twice and sent him over there and they did blood work and told him to come back in a month. My dad kept telling me how tired he was and exhausted. I started to get even more worried and how he was when I saw him he just wasn't my dad....I called again and spoke to the nurse this time and asked for an MRI and she asked the doctor and it was done over a week ago and the call came the same day Senator Kennedy's test results were announced on TV...I woke up to that and thought please not my dad...a few hours later I got the call that I was right my dad had something wrong with the brain and to bring my parents in to see the doctor today...our lives were changing...I had my middle brother take them over as he is good with my parents and has time for them...my dad has been having mini seizures and we had to go to a neurosurgeon now and I made the appointment for Rush in Chicago as that is where we all go and they were very good and got us right in. The surgeon wanted my dad to have a spinal tap and I got him into Dr. Lubenow and he took him the next day and yesterday my dad had his spinal tap and now we wait for five days to see if it is lymphoma...I think the wait it the hardest...and knowing our lives are forever changing just like my husbands did so many years ago...my husband does not drive and now my dad does not drive and he was my main support all these years...it has just been a devastating loss slowly to see him slip..he cries a lot now and it just reminds me of my husband...please pray for us and for the days ahead for my parents...my mom has so much on her plate and they have so many financial decisions to make..they are wanting to sell our home that we have been in for 24 years...it is our only place that has been safe through out these storms and it is so difficult to go through many more storms as we are all just about broken ships...hugs, cheryl

Paris Thank You card

Paris Thank You card, originally uploaded by shabbyarts.

what a cute card...hugs, cheryl

Cancer cannot...

My parents did this and 62 years on May 25...click on picture and will enlarge

God's Glory In The Difficult Places

God's Glory In The Difficult Places

When you come to a valley in the course of your life
that seems harder than you think you can bear,
You must look for the glory of God in that valley
and for the purpose that's already there.
For if, in that situation - you walk forward in faith
with your eyes fixed on what's true,
Then the promises of God will sustain and uphold
for the circumstance that comes against you.
And if you let go of false notions and concepts
that you've held about God at the start,
Then God will have a student who is ready to listen
to the things He will speak to your heart.
If your focus is not on the "easy life" of others
but on God and what He's doing this hour,
Then you will be filled with His wisdom and knowledge
instead of bitterness that makes a heart sour.
If you look to the Savior, whom you've already trusted
as your example of what's right and wrong,
Then Jesus will remind you that suffering has a purpose
and that hardship through faith makes you strong.
If you get into God's Word you will come to realize
that the heroes of the faith held on tight.
And they were used by God mightily...tested through trials
for they walked by faith, not by sight.
For if you believe undoubtedly in God's sovereignty & majesty
and don't question all the methods He chooses,
Then you will be an instrument God reaches down to fill
and a vessel that He constantly uses.

©Sheila Gosney

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13 NKJV

Lord of my future....

You can purchase these from my friend at Ruebee at http://angelasheartwork.etsy.com

An ant & a contact lens...

An ant & a contact lens...

from a friend at Ruebee...worth reading...hugs, cheryl


*****************************************************************************************************************
Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens . 'Great', she thought. 'Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.'

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.'

She thought, 'Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.'

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, 'Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?'

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, 'Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You.'

I think it would do all of us some good to say, 'God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will.'

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him....I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Something to think about

She just looked so cute...

Lindsay and back surgery....

Lindsay had surgery on her back yesterday..It has been a rough 24 hours and she will be in for a few days...they have been very good to her at Rush! She just has a lot of pain and her asthma is acting up and struggling to get the pain under control...please keep her in your prayers...hugs, cheryl

Today I took the first part of Donna Kato's classes...

This was a fun day...we learned a lot of different things today and tomorrow we will be doing beads and a bracelet..my goal this year is to learn different things and polymer clay has always been something that has looked so interesting...it is so neat to see how you can take a chunk of clay and design it into something so unique...Donna has so many neat ideas and such an awesome teacher...hugs, cheryl

Payton after surgery...doing better!

Here is Payton after getting her paw checked...she is doing great!

Why are you crying?

Why are you crying?

A little boy asked his mother, 'Why are you crying?' 'Because I'm a woman,' she told him. 'I don't understand,' he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, 'And you never will.' Later the little boy a sked his father, 'Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?' 'All women cry for no reason,' was all his dad could say. The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, 'God, why do women cry so easily?'God said: 'When I made the woman she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue with out complaining. I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed.' 'You see my son,' said God, 'the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides.'

Thankful for my mom...A Christian mother!

My mom spoke for the first time that I ever heard her this past Saturday at her church for the Ladies Spring Banquet and she is going to be 84 next month..she did an awesome job! She told me she was so nervous but you never would have known...she didn't even look at her notes! I was amazed ...I have been very fortunate to grow up in a Christian home my entire life and today I got to hear my mom share how she didn't grow up in a Christian home and it wasn't until she was married that she ever really got to go to church...

My parents have been married this month for 62 years. My mom spoke on loving your neighbor and your friends or enemies...it was neat to hear her share how some neighbors really were hard to love and she had to learn to love them....they have lived in the same neighborhood for over 50 years. My mom has been involved in Child Evanglism Fellowship for over 38 years and she has taught so many Good News Clubs, Awana's, Sunday School Classes and she is involved in Christian Women's Clubs...she still teaches Bible Studies and is always on the go...Last weekend Child Evanglism even gave her an award and are going to give it out each year and call it the Ruth Johnson Achievment Award....for all of her faithful years of giving! She still works out at the Womens Workout Center and is there oldest member. She faithfully goes at least 4 times a week to work out...

I have to say my mom is one amazing person....her mom lived to be 101 and just passed away a year ago..These were my mom's favorite verses and she used them today...it was cute at first she had a huge fresh basket of fresh fruit and asked if anyone wanted it...everyone just sat there and she kept asking if anyone wanted it and finally someone said she would love it..my mom told her all she had to do was come and get it...then everyone was like wow she really just gave that with nothing attached! My mom shared that is how God is...I thought that was so neat....hugs, cheryl

Give your moms a hug this week if she is around or near...they are special people to us and sometimes we take them for granted...

Psalms 92:14English Revised VersionThey shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and green

John 15:12-1712 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Payton having surgery on Tuesday May 6

They have to remove her first part of her paw...kinda like our small finger...they are hoping that is all they have to remove as her infection will not clear up...it has been going on for over 7 months and it just keeps coming back! Pray that they can get it without having to go in for a second surgery......hugs, cheryl

P.S. This is Lindsay's dog and and then Lindsay has to have a back fusion on May 15th...

Please pray for Payton and Lindsay Back surgery and her dog need surgery on her paw!

Her paw is not healing and now they have to go in and take off part of the paw...we have no money for this and my oldest daughter is having back surgery May 15..this is her dog...we are really needing prayers...and help...hugs, cheryl

Lessons in Life....

Lessons in Life by Regina Brett'

To celebrate growing older,
I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls overto 50 this week, so here's an update':
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what theirjourney is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don't worry; Godnever blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busydying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one isup to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no foran answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, willthis matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone, everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you didor didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'dgrab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift