Blessings In Disguise

I struggle with the word

 Blessings. 

Do you? 

Why does one person seem more blessed than another?

If something bad happens in our life are we being punished, or chastised, or is it a natural consequence for the way we conducted our life prior to the event that brought us unhappiness, or grief?

Recently I had to look at this in the face. My husband was spared because he listened to his body, and got to the Dr. in time to take care of a life threatening  situation. He was aware of his body, he listened to the tap on his shoulder.(I believe that tap was God’s voice.)

What if he had not listened? The natural consequence for that action would have most likely been his death. 

Would that have been a punishment? In a way I guess it is. If you think about it, we are given many warnings in life, not just with our health, but with our circumstances, and the way we conduct our lives, and the way we treat our relationships.

God’s word tells us to be obedient, and we will be blessed.

Sometimes we need to stop, and look inside, and look really hard at what part did we play in the outcome of our lives. 

Often times I think if we stay open to the lessons we are to learn by the experiences, people and consequence we have in our lives, we can see where God’s hand was there all along.

Our pastor gave a sermon on why bad things happen to good people. He said it is either for protection, or correction. 

The bottom line is WE must listen to God’s word. 

WE need to listen to that still small voice inside of us that is telling us exactly what we need to do, or to take care of.

Do things happen for what seems to be no apparent reason? 

In our earthly minds, absolutely YES! But if we were able to look at it from a Heavenly plain, or in God’s way we would see it so clearly.

 Do I question these 

unexplainable things?...

...You bet I do, but when I really start looking at it from my heart of faith, I know that God is omnipotent, and he has a plan that is bigger than just me, or the thing that just happened in my life.

We never know who is watching, or listening to us. What will they see?....

 

....Will they see someone that is so broken that they only show how life has dealt them a bad hand. Or will they see someone that seems to have been dealt a bad hand in the eyes of the world, and YET they seem to have a peace, and a grace that goes beyond human understanding.

That is the GRACE of God!

The ultimate GRACE we can all receive is when we turn our lives over to God, and except Christ as the ruler of our hearts. 

When we follow Gods plan, and his way it does not mean our lives will be perfect, but if we truly believe in his GRACE we will be able to move forward, and onward, hopefully glorifying him in all things.

In my reading to understand better what is a BLESSING I read the following………

The ultimate blessing that God has given is the new life and forgiveness that comes through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The material blessings we enjoy from day to day are temporary, but the spiritual blessings available to us in Christ encompass time and eternity, as well as material and immaterial things. As the Psalmist said, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psalm 146:5).

My prayer for your life, and for my own is that we look at our lives through the eyes that God has given us by his GRACE and to truly love, and follow his word. 

He is always there, and always talking to us. Look for his hand, and listen to his voice in your everyday life.

  

 

 

Tried and True New-To-Me Summer Products

   

Summer is just a fun time of year! Being a California born and raised gal I do enjoy my summers. 

I will have to admit I love the sun, fun and water, but not high temps so I am always grateful for the air conditioned house, and the cool water in the pool out back.

With summer we have certain products that we bring into our arsenal. I thought I would share a few new-to-me products that are becoming new favorites…..

FIRST  and a very important product is sunscreen………

(click HERE to purchase!)

My days of sun bathing are long gone, plus I have fairly,  fair skin. I discovered this product when we took our trip to Hilton Head we spent a great deal of time on beach.

I loved the convenience of this product, the fact that it worked with the high humidity we experienced,  and a plus was the wonderful fresh, beachy fragrance.

I literally could spray this on like I would any of my fragrances. It gave my skin a wonderful glow as well.

You will find this in my permanent arsenal as long as they continue to make it.

Also notice it got an award from ALLURE  magazine as a 2011 breakthrough product.

It is sure a winner in my book!!

How to get a summer glow without sunbathing........

Since I don’t sunbathe I miss that summer glow that I use to get. I always have sunscreen on my face but I still want to look a bit bronzy. 

Most of the bronzers I have tried are too dark, too orange, or too brown.

I did a little searching around the web, and I found this product mentioned more than once by different make-up artist.

I figured it was worth a try!

Especially at such a great price.

Only $15

(You can purchase it HERE!)

I love the luminosity this gives my skin, plus the healthy glow of color without looking artificial.

If you purchase this use a good bronzing brush, and apply light coats. You can build up the color, and it has a nice sheer look, never chalking, or too much color. It does not settle into pores, Or, shhhh! (wrinkles.)

I am going to leave you with another favorite of mine that I have been using for YEARS!!

(You can purchase it HERE.)

I use this for two tasks. When my make-up is done I spritz a bit of this on my face to set my make-up.

I also spray just a bit on my body as well. It has a moisturizing property which is always welcome in the summer.

If you are outside and it is blasted hot, a quick spritz of this is very cooling.

The big plus for me is the lovely light fragrance. If you have not guessed by now, I am all about clean fresh scents.

REASON FOR MY ABSENCE

Now onto the miracle of the last week.....

My husband told me on Sunday night he did not feel right. He proceeded to tell me while taking a walk he felt a new sensation/pain in his chest that he had never felt before. He felt it upon excursion.

We went to his Cardiologist the very next day. Scheduled an angiogram on Wed. They found 3 blocked arteries. The main artery was 99% blocked, the other two between 70-80%. At this point they rushed him into surgery immediately!

Surgery was a success to say the least.

Thank God, my husband listened to what his body was telling him.

 

He is recovering so well all the professionals and I are amazed. There is no doubt the prayers by many, and their love were lifting us up. 

We are both beyond grateful for this

 second chance!

 It looks like we are going to be allowed a little more time together.

For those of you who knew what was going on, and sent us both your love and prayers I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Your love and prayers were needed and felt by us both.

 

 

It All Began With A NEED!!!!

 

Decorating projects can begin for many different reasons. 

Our next project began with a need. We have three wonderful Grandchildren, and various guest that come to stay in our home from time to time.

Three years ago we re-did the playroom/guest room more for our kiddos that were growing up……

We loved it and they loved it. The little couch makes out into a bed.

Three years ago the reading nook could be used for sleeping quarters for one child so that made two beds in the room.

It worked out great!

UNTIL!!!

All three of the kiddos took growth spurts, and now no one can fit in the reading nook.

We knew we had to make a change, it had now become a NEED!

We went over all the different combinations of guest that could possibly stay in this room, and finally made a decision that the room needed to have two twin beds.

The designing process began!

The next decision had to be made…….

USE

The kiddos are all growing up, and they don’t really PLAY in the room any longer, they really just sleep in there, or go in there and lay on the bed, and play a game, or read a book.

We have grown-up guest as well so do I make it for grown-ups, or do I keep it a little more fun and playful?

I knew my priority was the kiddos,(sorry grown-up guest), and how they would like the room so I went with the more fun route.

You see I started with a NEED then I moved onto it’s USE, then I thought about how I wanted the room to FEEL.

With the Need, Use, and the Feel of the room established the fun part began.

Since a bedrooms main piece of furniture is the bed the bedding is pretty much the star of the room.

I usually start with the bedding when designing a bedroom. I knew I wanted it to be fun but what colors would I use? 

It had to be both masculine, and feminine at the same time. The current color scheme has worked well for both boys and girls. The navy and white with green and turquoise was a fun combination.

Normally I choose all white bedding for my bedrooms I find it to be restful and uncomplicated.

In this room I actually already had in mind what I wanted and it involved more stripes. I do love a good stripe!

I am going to use the rugby striped bedding from Pottery Barn in navy.

This bedding is the base for my design in this room.

The beds that we chose are the white Thomas twin  Beds……

Simple clean lines uncomplicated.

The bedding is here, and the beds are on their way.

We are really excited.

Next choices:

Color of walls

Night stand

Accessories

Lighting

Stay tuned for more upcoming post on our guest room.