Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Flowers

Song of Solomon 2:12   Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come...
I love flowers! They are so delicate, intricate and graceful. 
Luke 12:27  "Consider how the wild flowers grow...
Can you imagine a world without flowers. It is just like the world is coming back to life after a long winter's sleep. Flowers are proclaiming the coming of hope and a new start. 
Genesis 40:10  ...as soon as it budded,
They are the signature sign of spring.
Genesis 40:10  ...it blossomed...
The flowers seem to be saying come look at me. They are saying pick me, pick me just like little kids waiting to be chosen for a team!
1Peter 1:24  ...their beauty is like a flower in the field...
Take a moment today and just stop and really look at  God's beautiful flowers. It is guaranteed to reduce your stress level!

Praying for you,
Mama Hoover

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Exceptional Weather!

Isaiah 17:13...They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
 like a tumbleweed whirling  before a storm.






For most of the last year we have been in what the meteorology world calls an "exceptional drought".  This was a new term even to us who are used to dryer than average weather.


 It means when Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, they pretty much pulled up a bucket of dust and dirt.  It means devastation of crops, ponds, vegetation, and many, many forms of life in nature. 


Funny thing, I did not think to take pictures of things in the "heat of the drought" (pun intended! lol)  I wish I had of but it would have been ugly. 

 Most of our ponds dried up, which means all the pond life died with it.  If there was water left, it got so hot that the fish and beings could not survive the heat. (plus I did not have a new camera then) LOL@MS
Psalm 18:42 I ground them as fine as dust in the wind.
  I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
Ecclesiastes 12:7  For then the dust will return to the earth...






I did brave going out in one of your many dust storms to take these pics. It was nasty as you can see. No that is not fog, that is good ole' dust a blowin' on the plains! 








                                                                                                                                                                                     
Then our exceptional drought, became exceptional rain. In the last two weeks
 we have had over three inches of rain! 
Psalm 68:9 You sent abundant rain,
O God, to refresh the weary land.
Psalms 65:10   You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
 You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops.
Genesis 9:16   When I see the rainbow in the clouds,
 I will remember...God






So much changed so quickly with the rain.  Green became a common color again, ponds had water again, and life seems to be everywhere. Trees are rejoicing with green buds, wild flowers are smiling, and the creeks sing beautiful songs.






Isaiah 41:18 ...I'll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond...
Even the mountains in the background seem to have a deeper shade of purple mountains majesty! (This is my favorite pond!)
...the waterless waste into
splashing creeks.
Exceptional drought, exceptional rain, I say Exceptional God who is in charge and speaks to us daily through so many things around us. Take a minute today and notice where God is in your world!

praying for you,
Mama Hoover

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Hands

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might...
Ecclesiastes 9:10

I love hands.

You can tell so much about a person's life by studying their hands. Not the kind of studying where they read your palm, check your life line, and tell your future.

Look at the top of the hand and the fingers and the thumbs at the life these hands have lived! 

Senior hands seem to have so much character.  Just stop and think about all the things these hands have touched and done in their lives. 

For where two or three come together in my name,
     there am I with them.      Matthew 18:20
Early in life these hands probably held their Daddy's pinkie finger.  Think about the time they first grabbed a spoon and carried a bite of ice cream to their mouth or splashed in the water or played in some mud. 

In a few years, they grabbed a girl's hand for the first time and held it tightly as both their fingers tingled with excitement. 

Soon they would be gently rubbing a baby's face with tenderness.  These hands might have been stirring up cookies, or taking a shovel to dig in a garden. They might have been pounding on a keyboard, or writing out instructions or prescriptions or I love you notes.  These hands might have built a barn or sewn a shirt or counted out money or waited tables or smoothed concrete just to provide for someone they love. 

...do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
1st Samuel 10:7
 I am sure they have flitted about to emphasize the telling of some story or to enforce a scolding or two.


These hands probably have dabbed a few tears throughout the years of their own as well as many, many others tears.  I bet they have even wiped a way tears of laughter. 



They have probably petted a few dogs or kittens, fed or milked some cows, cooked a few meals and washed many a sink full of dishes and washed a few clothes.

They have probably played catch, thrown a few balls and drove many a mile and patted a back or two.


...Let your hand be with me,
 and keep me from harm...
1st Chronicles 4:10 




 I bet they have even stopped long enough to ponder a thought or two.


I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer...      1st Timothy 2:8














And may we never forget the times they have folded their hands and prayed.  Prayed for wisdom, love, forgiveness, protection, guidance, healing, patience, and for us. 
 
I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.   Psalms 143:5
 The next time you get the chance to look, hold, kiss or just pat a pair of these precious hands remember inside those wrinkled, bent, hands lies a picture of some one's history, their life. Looking at those hands can give you a glimpse into their heart and soul!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Cobwebs!


Don't scream! Most people are very afraid of spiders.  They have never bothered me much-- obviously if I can take this picture.  This is actually a very friendly spider who's real name/variety escapes me at the moment.  He comes around each fall and builds these amazingly huge cobwebs usually somewhere on our patio.  This year he brought a friend too! (see her picture below) Any way this blog is not about spiders they just help make a point.

God has been after me to memorize scriptures. Actually he has screamed that at me lately!  Let me just say I had no idea how many cobwebs were in my head!  The top of my refrigerator has nothing on my brain!!!  It is definitely a test of God's power.  

I am claiming Romans 12:2. (Yes, it is on my memory list) If you are not familiar with that verse like I was not a couple of days ago, it's God's promise to transform our minds! (get rid of the cobwebs!)   


The actual translation of this verse uses the words "to be transformed by the renewing of your mind!"  I kind of like the literal translation from the  Message translation.  It goes like this:  
Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, going to work, and walking around life and place it before God...don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking!  

Wow! How many times have I sat thoughtlessly staring at the TV...Guess I better get my cobweb infested mind to work! 

Here's praying many blessings come your way today!
MH