Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Looks like another hot and steamy day and it is only May! Don't want to think about what June and July will be like! But we didn't like the extreme cold this winter, so can't complain about the heat...never satisfied.
Brian and I drove to Ocoee Saturday to visit my sister-in-law, Ruth, who is not in good health. We saw some beautiful country in central Florida...still some open fields with cows, orange groves, and rolling, hilly land. It was good to see that Florida still has open land with no condos or shopping centers! We drove over the new (to me) toll beltway, which is much shorter and very little traffic at the time we were on it. A good trip.
I took choc. Chunk cookies to the church picnic yesterday, but since it was held outside, I could not stay long. I just cannot take the heat any more. I almost stayed too long. Ever since I collapsed from the heat at the end of my walk across the new Howard Franklin bridge back in '91, the heat affects me more.. Well, anyway, I make it a point now, to drink enough water.
I went to the Park yesterday early afternoon, and it looked so peaceful and cool with the shade and water and shadows of the trees reflected in the water. I watched an anhinga take off and land to spread its wings. They look so funny when they walk, because they have webbed feet like a duck and their legs are kind of bent. They are very graceful swimming underwater, though. God has made everything beautiful in its own way. God is good!
From Hebrews NLT:
Hopping around Hebrews 10 and 11;
Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be entrusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue tto do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is sealed in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don't become weary and give up.
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs and Happy birthday, Dena!
Amaryllis
