I should be in bed but I’m WIDE AWAKE at nearly 12:00 p.m. So, I’ve been doing a little reading and came across an article by Israel Wayne who was interviewing a Christian economist named, Lawrence Reed. His interview was very good but I especially liked Mr. Reed’s response to the question below. I better get to bed so I can be awake during church tomorrow. Good night!

“Israel Wayne: Are there any government run institutions that you would like to see privatized?

Lawrence Reed: Government’s core responsibility is the protection of our rights to life, property and contract. That implies national defense, a court system, police (at the local level) and maybe a few other things. Everything else, privatize, which is to say it’s your responsibility and mine. That includes education. I don’t want government teaching our kids any more than I want it growing our food or writing our books. I have no faith that the bureaucrats or politicians can manage my health care or retirement. Sadly, most Americans refuse to grow up and assume the full responsibilities of living in freedom. They want things at other people’s expense and often don’t care who pays for it or whose dreams and aspirations have to be crushed so the politicians can extract the taxes to pay for it all. By treating our fellow citizens as milk cows, we are really behaving like children, not adults.”

I love this site. The page below has calculators that will tell you things like whether it’s cheaper to run a floor fan or your air conditioner. I was amazed to see how inexpensive it is to use your ceiling fans. It was also interesting to see that it’s cheaper to use a space heater for one room rather than run the CH/A. I always thought space heaters cost a fortune!

  The only thing I couldn’t find was information on dishwashers vs. washing by hand. I would LOVE for someone to convince me that I could go back to using my dishwasher instead of washing by hand. I just haven’t found any proof yet.

Anyway, I hope you find this site helpful. Scroll down until you see the calculator.

Mr. Electricity

 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 

 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 

 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Mark 10:17-22 (ESV)

Teach me Thy way: O Lord, and lead me in a plain path.

God only is holy. He alone knows how to lead His children in the paths of holiness.  He knows every aspect of your soul, every secret of your character, its difficulties and hindrances.  He knows how to mould you to His will and lead you onwards to perfect sanctification.  He knows exactly how each event, each trial, each tempation, will tell upon you, and he disposes all things accordingly.  The consequences of this belief, if fully grasped, will influence your whole life.  You will seek to give yourself up to God more and more unreservedly, asking nothing, refusing nothing, wishing nothing, but what He wills,  (Instead of) seeking to bring things about for yourself, (you will) take all He sends joyfully, and believe the ‘one step’ set before you to be enough for you.  You will be satsified that even though there are clouds around, and your way seems dark, He is directing all, and that what seems a hindrance will prove a blessing, since He wills it.                Jean Nicolas Grou

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
 Psalm 121:1

How can you live sweetly amid the vexatious things, the irritating things, the multitude of little worries and frets, which lie all along your way, and which you cannot evade?  You cannot at present change your surroundings.  Whatever kind of life you are to live, must be lived amid precisely the experiences in which you are now moving.  Here you must win your victories or suffer your defeats.  No restlessness or discontent can change your lot.  Others may have other circumstances surrounding them, but here are yours.  You had better make up your mind to accept what you cannot alter.  You can live a beautiful life in the midst of your present circumstances. J.R. Miller

The chief pang of most trials is not so much the actual suffering itself, as our own spirit of resistance to it.
Jean Nicolas Grou

My heart is longing for a closer walk with the Lord today. I was thinking about how I’ve allowed my thoughts to become entangled in the cares of this world.  This focus has distracted me from the Lord.  He has not been found in all my thoughts.. and oh! how I miss Him. (Mt. 6:24, Ps. 10:4)

 So, I’ve asked for His forgiveness.. being so thankful that His Holy Spirit continues to guide, correct and comfort Me! I’ve asked for His help, as I’ve determined in my heart, to limit the thinking that has choked out my thoughts of Him. (Namely… ways to save money in my home.) I’m reminded of Matthew 6:19-35 which teaches that we are to seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness. His promise is to take care of our needs.  Oh, how thankful I am for His living and active Word in my life! 

It’s so much like the Lord to continue His encouragement towards me this morning. This morning Spurgeon’s devotional read:

“Oh that I were as in months past.”
— Job 29:2

Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but regard the present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the days which they have passed in communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the best they have ever known, but as to the present, it is clad in a sable garb of gloom and dreariness. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have wandered from Him, and they say, “O that I were as in months past!” They complain that they have lost their evidences, or that they have not present peace of mind, or that they have no enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God’s glory. The causes of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected closet is the beginning of all spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The heart has been occupied with something else, more than with God; the affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; He must be loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of His presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found in self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in the heart, and self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot of the cross. Christian, if you are not now as you “were in months past,” do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and tell Him your sad state. Ask His grace and strength to help you to walk more closely with Him; humble yourself before Him, and He will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy the light of His countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a certainty of recovery for the worst cases.

I decided that tonight, instead of reading other blogs, I would post a few pictures on my own. Lately, I’ve been tuckered out in the evenings. For the past 3 weeks I’ve watched two of my younger grandchildren fulltime. The time with them has been so sweet but my.. oh my… was I worn out at the end of the day. I was doing well to just keep up the essentials in my home. I kept wondering if I was this tired years ago when raising my own children.  Me thinks me is getting OLD!!

I wanted to share a few pictures of a very special day back in April when my husband asked me to marry him … again ….for our 25th anniversary. 

After the Sunday sermon my husband went up to the front of the church and asked pastor if he could say something…  then he walked down the isle to where I was sitting and kneeled down in front of me while taking my hand…



(I’m thinking to myself.. what is he doing??????)

Then he said … “Georgene… now that you’ve known me all these years would you still marry me again if you could?”.  (Kevin said that he started getting nervous because I took way too long to answer but all I could think of is ‘what is he doing?’  )  I said.. ‘yeeesssss’!  He then said.. ‘now’?  Ah.. everything started to make sense! From my children being there (I was told they were attending the marriage seminar) to my pastor being all gussied up in a suit to the flower girls throwing rose pedals down the middle isle. Everyone knew except me! What fun!

He took me by the hand and led me up the middle isle to the front of the church. After pastor greeted us we watched a video Kevin had made of pictures from the time we were first married and then throughout our marriage. ( I caught my girls off-guard one day at my home. They said they came to take me to lunch. Later I found out they were collecting pictures for the video. Sneaky girls!).

Then Pastor performed the marriage ceremony!



 Pastor spoke such encouraging words. I wish I had them on paper so I could read them again.

“Now you may kiss the bride!”

After the ceremony we took a family picture.




Afterwards we met our church family in the dining room for a wonderful lunch and a beautiful anniversary cake. We were so blessed to share this special day with our own family and our church family, too.

How blessed to think of all the planning and effort my husband put into making our 25th anniversary one I would never forget. It was better than the first ceremony (we were married at The Love Chapel… use your imagination! ). 

 God has done some amazing things in our marriage the past 25 years. The power of His Living Word  to change a person’s life (and marriage) into something that will bring Him glory never ceases to amaze and astonish me.  He is still teaching us so much about what it means to prefer each other over our own wishes and to die to ourselves.  I’m still learning new lessons in submission even after all these years of marriage and my husband is still learning what it means to be the head of our home (although I think he does a FINE job already!).   I never will ‘arrive’ in this lifetime because around each new turn of our marriage there are new seasons of life with their own unique challenges.

I’ve been so wonderfully blessed with a caring family who out did themselves to bless us on our special day and a church family that has always gone above and beyond to bless it’s members!

Thank you, Lord, for each one!

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;  for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,  because we are members of His body.  FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:22-33