Cee has challenged us to photograph lyrics from songs! This week she has asked us to display YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE in pictures
Here we go…
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
The twinkling waters of Galway Bay
MY ONLY SUNSHINE
YOU MAKE ME HAPPY
WHEN SKIES ARE GRAY
YOU’LL NEVER KNOW DEAR HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU
PLEASE DON’T TAKE MY SUNSHINE AWAY!
Check out other Fun Foto renditions of this song at
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/01/13/cees-fun-foto-challenge-you-are-my-sunshine-chorus/
This poem by Dale Stevens is shared with her permission for your encouragement.
Walking Hand In Hand
by Dale Stevens
Lord I want to hold your hand
Feeling safe, secure and loved.
Walking down this road of life
Not knowing where the road will lead
But trust you are working out
All the plans You have for me.
And if along the way I stumble
Your hand in mine will hold me tight.
And help me to remember,
It’s you and I together
Walking along this path of Life
I came into work this morning and found this letter of encouragement in my mailbox. I share it with you (by permission) in hopes that it may bring some light into any darkness you currently walk in:
Jesus Is the Light In Our Darkness
by Dale Stevens
When we are living in darkness we don’t always know we are in darkness. Sometimes the darkness we live in is just a normal way of life for us. Now, normal is whatever we are used to. Growing up the patterns that we see from our parents and all those living around us become our patterns, some good, some bad. These patterns we have learned can cause us great pain: hurt, feelings of loneliness, low self-esteem, despair, depression, discouragement, unbelief, fear, anxiety, and hopelessness.
Sometimes we become withdrawn. We look around us at others and see them happy and joyful, family and friends having fun and getting along together, and we have a desire to have a life like that. Yet sometimes it feels like we are walking in a cloud. The desire is to step out of that cloud and walk into the light of peace and joy; But the darkness is so thick it totally surround us.
BUT WAIT! THERE IS GOOD NEWS.
The Bible says that, Jesus is the light of the world.
The word light means: daytime, brightness, illumination and exposure to the truth
Psalm 1390: 11,12 “Darkness will not be dark to you (anymore). For darkness is as light to you!”
It may take a while to walk through, but remember Jesus is the light. Sometimes He shines as if coming through the fog, but as the fog lifts the Light gets brighter and brighter. And so it is with the healing process. It is step by step!
Where has your beloved gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
that we may look for him with you?
She
2My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
he browses among the lilies. Song 6:1-3
I have been meditating on the thought of OASIS that was first inspired by the Daily Post in its Daily prompt,
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/oasis/
A sanctuary is a place you can escape to, to catch your breath and remember who you are. Write about the place you go to when everything is a bit too much.
The idea of SANCTUARY keeps rolling around in my head and it has been deepened by some of my fellow writers: Deb in her blog shared how God is her sanctuary.
And then Ben in his share pointed out that WE are God’s sanctuary!
These two seemingly oppositional thoughts have ignited an excitement in me that just keeps growing. How is it possible that God should be our sanctuary or oasis and we should be God’s?
Well it’s not possible outside of personal relationship.
Lot’s of people use God as a sanctuary in times of trouble. They pray when it’s necessary. They say the Our Father or quote Psalm 23 and many times God shows up and covers them because He is a God of love.
But for a person to be God’s sanctuary well that is an entirely different matter. God never needs us the way we need Him. No situation will ever arise where God will find Himself in trouble or danger. If there ever were such a situation, I assure you, He would not come running to any of us for help. When the Bible talks about us being the temple of the Holy Spirit or the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit it is not speaking about God coming to us to hide but about God coming to us to create intimacy.
God doesn’t want or need our protection. An oasis for Him is not about provision of any temporal need. It is about relationship. God created us as empty vessels to be filled with Himself. He wanted us to become a place where he could rest His love and settle His presence!
Oh! now that’s exciting!
Which ones really matter?
Calling all photographers.
WordPress Daily Prompt: Audience of One: Picture the one person in the world you really wish were reading your blog. Write her or him a letter.
I’m going to take liberty and change the letter to someone who wants to participate in my challenge but is too afraid.
___________________________________________________
Dear Reader,
I’ve seen you sneak a peek at photography blogs and even caught you looking at my challenges once or twice. I get a feeling you want to play along and add one of your own photos. But you are too afraid. Those voices in your head are saying little phrases like, you are not good enough, you only have a cell phone, your camera is too old, you are not a photographer, you have no creativity, you don’t have an eye for photography. And then you hear other voices asking what if they hate my photo, what…
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Righteousness was never ours to achieve. It was always ours to receive.
Time to take a walk on the lighter side of the river bank. My posts lately have been getting pretty deep. God is sharing some really good stuff with me and I love it, but it’s time to come up for some air and a little levity.
So Cee has provided me with just the opportunity with Share Your World Week 2
Look at that folks, we are half way through January already! It’s almost Christmas! 🙂
Here are the five questions that get us closer to next December.
Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?
I am a non-hugger who has been culturally conditioned to hug. In my family we generally observed a two foot rule…no hugging, no kissing, no touching unless it was a Gibbs slap (NCIS reference there couldn’t resist) but you cannot have long exposure to church culture even in New England and not be involved in the occasional hug.
What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?
I love raspberry mocha, or orange pineapple, or Cherry Garcia, or black raspberry chocolate chip, or Moose tracks or spumoni or rainbow sherbert or chunky monkey or rum raisin or chocolate cherry chunk or…….
Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?
I prefer exercising my mind. I have succeeded in establishing a fairly rigid reading and writing regimen to keep the old conker sharp. However, I am trying to establish a physical exercise regimen and I hope by the end of the year to be fairly scheduled in that as well.
Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? Why?
I love little dogs and cats. I like something that can sit on my lap and truthfully big dogs kinda’ freak me out.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I am grateful for a very successful Special Touch chapter meeting last Saturday. 
This week I am looking forward to having some extra time to pray, study and write.
Check out how others answered these same questions at
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/01/12/share-your-world-2015-week-2/
In the shadow of the cross
As I approached this fast I asked God what He would have me pray into.
I heard His Spirit say, “Weaknesses, chinks in the armor, breaches in the wall, and strategies for battle.”
So I have been praying about these things. Today, in my afternoon time of prayer and study, I was reminded that often I want an immediate answer from God when it comes to matters of sanctification. If I see a problem, a weakness or a chink in my armor I want it dealt with immediately by the Spirit of God. If I see any darkness in myself I want it gone with the first five-minute prayer I lift up.
God reminded me He doesn’t often work this way. What I want is a tidal wave that wipes out the stronghold of wickedness in an instant. What God often gives me is a tidal surge every time I pray that washes away my rougher edges bit by bit.
I believe this is because my less noble qualities, Ok let’s just call them what they are sins, are all tied in with the good parts of me and the essential parts of my personality that God wants to keep. A spiritual tidal wave might wipe out the less desirable pieces of my heart but it would take pretty big chunks of the good stuff that God would otherwise keep intact. So the answer is not one big prayer session where it all gets done and I am instantly perfect but many moments of prayer where the Lord can come and change me bit by bit…glory to glory. The key here is to remember the change is His work, done in His time. Providing Him with the opportunity, through prayer, to change me is my work. Confusion over who does what is a sure way to fail.
Lillie-Put 