The White Stone

Picture Prompt! Here’s Leah’s pic to prompt us at THE LOFT to write. I like it!!

What comes to mind when I see this pic she asked? Tennessee farmland, days gone by, Daddy, Larry, ABBA, for starters.

Tennessee farmland because that is my growing up place in days gone by and as you would guess my Daddy was a farmer who baled hay. Ours were much smaller and rectangle bales though, that had to be hauled and placed in the barn for keeping til the winter when they would then be fed to the cows.

Larry? My beloved brother who actually enjoyed hauling hay. Why? Because baling and hauling hay meant he was alive and active. Larry was diagnosed with ‘Bright’s Disease’ when he was 12 (1959).  And baling and hauling hay allowed him to feel as though he was ‘normal’. Something the doctors would probably have frowned upon but Larry said give me 5 years of doing what I enjoy or 10 years of bed rest and I’ll take the 5. As it turns, he did have about 5 years from diagnosis with us before he stepped into Eternity. And because of his certain testimony about Heaven given on a Friday night,  followed by a traffic collision the next Wednesday that ushered him to JESUS, another young man came to that same certain testimony after saying to our Pastor: tell me how I can know what Larry knew (about his eternal destiny).

ABBA. A Certain Eternity. Because of JESUS we can KNOW what that Eternity will be.

³ If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. [source] John 14:3

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. [source] John 3:16

 

Hay Bales. Food for cows. Food for thought for us too.

Until Next Time ~ ~ ~ Kathie

A place called home. (Graphic below by Kerry Messer )

There have been many places I have called home; some for just months, others for years. My first home was Kenton, Tennessee, for about 16 years; and now, Satsuma, Alabama is where I hang my hat. 🙂 Actually, this is my second time to live here. The first time was long ago, in another life. 

Satsuma, round two, is full circle for me. A redo you could say. November 1975, I called Satsuma home as a woman who knew a lot about GOD but with NO assurance that I was His and He was mine. In His grace and goodness that changed on November 18, 1975 at right about 9:00 pm when I surrendered my pride and stubborn will to the Savior, JESUS CHRIST the Righteous. We walked together in sweet fellowship for many years through many places and a couple States. 

Today, I am here again, a new wife for almost ten years now. A new address in the same community; a new name in the same church. Day after day Satsuma reminds me that ABBA gives do-overs.

From here where will we go? ABBA knows. This I know:

² In my Father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be also. [source] John 14:2-3

Until next time ~ ~ ~ Kathie

I am . . . 

The LOFT   (Graphic by Kerry Messer ) is open again and I am well pleased about that; the LOFT encourages me to write, something I have been lax in doing all this year. This week’s topic about which to write is who am I. And the post begins. I am . . . 

I am a rusher. I rush just about everything I do or think. Today’s Journey, of all things, is asking who am I. And what did I do as I began to read it? Yep. I rushed to read it, in fact as soon as I finish forming this sentence I am going to go back to it for I have yet to finish the reading as I rushed here to start writing this post. 

Other than one who rushes I wear many hats: wife, mother, grandmother, step-mother/grandmother, Sunday School leader/teacher; sometimes runner, more often walker 🙂 ; active Curves member, which probably clues you in that I have a thing for fitness. Truth is I stay active because I like to eat. 🙂 And I like to cook; I try to keep things on the healthy side, most of the time. My hubby retired this year and we are still adjusting. Actually, we are flat-out giddy about 6 Saturdays a week! Our days are packed with back to back long-awaited to be done projects and GRANDS who keep us young with all manner of activities. It’s all good! 

Still with all that, is that who I am? Am I, are any of us, the sum total of what we do?  What happens when my doing is done? Who will I be then when what I do now I can do no more? Valid questions for pondering, huh?  There is an answer.

Isaiah 43:1 But now this is what Adonai says,
he who created you, Ya‘akov,
he who formed you, Isra’el:
“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I am calling you by your name; you are mine. [source]

You are mine, says GOD. Could there be anything more identifying? Who’s I am determines who I am.  That’s the cake! What I get to do with all the people I love is delicious icing!

So that’s about it. If by chance you have not read Our Story, check it out HERE.

Until next time ~ ~ ~ Kathie