Wade's work gave him a vehicle so for several years we didn't have to worry about one. When Mom came to live with us here we just used her car, especially because she wasn't allowed to drive any more, then when she passed we inherited it - well, she put it in our name before she passed. It's a Honda, a popular one and it too has low mileage. We'll keep it as long as it keeps going. We also have an old truck that is still going, so it's the one Wade uses to go to the recycling center and to pick up stuff we don't want in the car! LOL!

Marilyn, I hope that you are able to get the diet figured out. I know that you had good test results and felt better when you were on it. I know it's hard (boy do I know) to make good choices when not so bad choices are there. If you have to, change two things for two weeks, then add another thing for two weeks until you get back to where you want to be. You won't feel as much like you are being deprived and then slip up. Allow yourself one thing a week that you wouldn't normally eat and you can look forward to that treat for being good the rest of the week (not something that could ultimately hurt you, but something that will add something to what you are already doing good, maybe a fruit you wouldn't normally eat). I am praying for success for you.

I told Wade that two things I think about when this pain is gone is doing the dishes and taking outside walks. I can't even do indoor walks right now. Walking from my house to the Net House (about 200 steps) and back does me in for one or two days. We talked about wheeling me to Church and then I could walk in with my cane, but I wasn't feeling good in my tummy or the rest of my body and knew sitting would be difficult if I couldn't move around so I stayed home in the morning and Zoomed service. It's not the same as being there in person.

Pastor David gave us such a good picture of the Church in the vernacular of the sea. God is the Captain and He has the helm. The cox'n is the pastor who gets the directives from the captain and then leads the rowers into going in the right direction and at the right speed that the Captain desires. We, the parishioners are the rowers and we need to be pulling all together for the ship to move quickly and effectively. Pulling the oars are all the things that we do in ministry as well as in evangelizing the lost.

Well, I'm going to go and rest a bit before I get my lunch. Love you ladies a lot!

Bren, my recipe calls for cream cheese! Let's see: two cans of chicken not drained; 1 can of black beans drained; I can of corn not drained; two cans of Rotel with chilis; 1 tsp chili powder; 1 tsp cumin; (you can use more of those depending on your taste); 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper (you can also use more of this depending on how hot you like it); salt and pepper, and one 8 oz softened cream cheese. Add it all together then simmer on stove until cream cheese is melted and easily incorporated, or cook in crock pot, on high, for about 1.5 hours. Serve with Fritos or Tortillas, cheese and/or sour cream (if you like that). I know you like jalapenos too, so you could put some of those in there or on top when you are ready to eat it. It's super fast to put together and doesn't take that long to get it cooked. I get two, maybe three meals out of that recipe. Don't add any extra fluids to it, just what comes out of the cans!

Woohoo to getting some work done. I'm happy to make it outside to sit on the porch for awhile or making a simple meal for myself, Wade makes the complicated stuff. I make my apple and yogurt and granola and I made a 1/2 quesadilla with turkey and a blend of provolone and gouda. Yummers. I used my no carb tortilla. I'll just do my yogurt salad tonight, breakfast was heavy and lunch was a Mrs. Paul's Fish patty and potato salad. I need to go light before I'm back up to 239. Oh, I've been at 238 for three days!

I hope you ladies have a wonderful rest of your day. Rest in Jesus, love you

I have to laugh about the stability ball - I'd be in loads of trouble if I rolled off of it - which is very likely for me! Definitely good for core work. I have to be satisfied with isometric work right now, simply sucking in my gut and holding it! 😁 I'm having a good day today, not nearly as much pain as the last few days. Praise the Lord!

I hadn't heard from the Rheumatologist yet so I called their office, what a nice lady I talked to. The referral has to go to one place first and then it gets to scheduling, so I just need to be patient a little while longer. I think that there will be more blood tests or other kinds of tests from them to see where I am - and it may turn out that it isn't a rheumatoid disorder at all since I am smack-dab in the middle of the scale; but I think my symptoms push me into the positive side of things.

Here's a post that spoke to my heart since I and others are going through some difficult things:

03-26-25 TURNING TESTS, TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS, TEMPTATIONS INTO TREASURES

When God gives a command, which He knows we will not obey, it is not to taunt us or tease us or torment us. It is a test, which will prove us, and an opportunity for us to trust Him and prove His faithfulness.

When God allows us to be tempted by evil, we can either distrust Him and sin, or we can trust Him and walk in light, grace, truth, love, the Holy Spirit.

When God either tests us or allows us to be tempted, it is an opportunity to be faithful to Him. God wants us to be saved, and He wants us to be victorious, and He has provided everything we need for life and godliness, and He has power over darkness, but He gives us a free choice to obey and be blessed or to disobey and be cursed. Trial, testing and temptation will either result in godliness or godlessness, it is our choice as believers.

Jms 1:12-17

Don't blame God for your sins.

Don't say God chose not to deliver you from sinning.

Don't say God has destined you to continue in sin.

Don't say that those who are in grace will continue in sin.

Don't say that your continuing in sin is for the purpose of continuing in grace.

Rom 6:1-2; Rom 6:15-22

The Christian response to trial, testing and temptation is faithful obedience to the will of God.

Faithful obedience produces spiritual victory and godly graces. Jms 1:2-4; Rom 5:3-5; 2 Cor 12:9-10; 2 Cor 4:15-18; 1 Pt 1:3-9; 1 Pt 4:12-19; 2 Pt 1:2-11

Okay, that's strange. I copied and pasted this post from one that I had saved on my word processor program (Open Office) and I had to make a bunch of fixes (words joined together and extra spaces put in), so I copied this one from the one I did in my other group and this is what came up. No joined words or extra spaces, but the Bible verses came out in the same size as in the previous copied piece, which is the same size as the text, but that didn't change! Interesting!

Love you!

I did respond to this, but apparently I got side tracked and clicked off before I posted! I'll never remember what I said - LOL!

I remember the tire coming through your office! That's a heart-stopper and a miracle! It's surprising the ways that the Lord speaks to us, but usually He uses His Word because everything we need to know and understand He wrote down for us! That's amazing too. God didn't have to inspire His Word through men who would faithfully write it down - and God wouldn't let His love letter to us be changed. I think about that kind of thing in this way. If you wrote a love letter to your friend while you are far away and when it reaches them someone grabs it from their hands and tells them they will read it to them and let them know exactly what you meant - they should snatch that thing back so fast, trusting that you knew exactly what you wanted to say to them. God's Word is like that. We don't need someone to "change" His Word or place "addendums" to it to better explain what God meant. If God didn't add "elect" to a verse, then He didn't mean it to be there. If God didn't add "effectual" before "call" then He didn't want it there. Yes, sometimes we need someone to tell us about the culture of the times or tell us what a word means. Revelation 22:18-19 tells us what will happen: Rev 22:18  "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 
19  and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." If it's true for the Book of Revelation then it's is also true for the rest of His Word - there will be consequences if you change it! There are pastors who say that whole books of the NT don't apply to us, they are only for the Jews. They don't just take away a verse, they remove entire books! The NT is the fulfillment of the OT and was written to the Church, the believers in Christ both Jew and Gentile. I take it all and listen for what God has to say to me!

Well, that was not something I was expecting to say, but I the Lord laid that on my heart! Love you gals!

Great verse! I hope you were able to get all those things done! I'm doing better. I was so thankful that after my walk back and forth from Bible study I wasn't hurting as bad as that trip had been making it. So happy it's been a good week and hoping that the meds are working sooner than expected - but no matter, Jesus is my Healer!

Tongues are a gift of the Spirit, but they are not the proof of being filled with the Spirit; and the Word gives specific instructions (1 Cor 12 and 14) for how and when tongues should be expressed. They are known languages and for the edification of the body, interpreted so that all might be edified, especially the unbeliever and only one or two at a time. It's amazing how these Charismatic teachers don't speak to any of that!

I went to a Charismatic service once when I was around 14, and I was scared when everyone stood up and started babbling unrecog-nizable things and there was no interpretation or order to it. Just before this my father sat me down in our family room and said we weren't leaving that room until I spoke in tongues. I was crying and begging him not to do this, but he wouldn't listen. I eventually just babbled something and he was happy and left, I went to my room and cried, I didn't want it but felt like I had to keep babbling so added it to my prayers at night. I didn't know any kind of biblical truth at that point in my life. But later I learned that how we live our lives after being filled with the Spirit is the proof of our being filled. There are a lot of people who babble but have wicked things, sins in their lives that they won't give up. That's all they are doing, babbling. There has to be interpretation or it is babbling. It has to be a known language or it is babbling. It's so clear in the Word, but it's like those other things I mentioned in my last post - things get added and changed so that the scripture is what they want it to be and not the Word of God. It's so important to know the Word and measure everything we hear by the Word. Oh, I didn't babble for long, shortly after this we went to a Church that preached the truth (my pastor now was the pastor of that Church and has been since then) and I learned what being filled with the Spirit really was as did my dad.

Well, it's time for lunch. I think I will do my yogurt for lunch and then eat my bigger meal tonight. Wade made me a ham, provolone/gouda, sauerkraut and mustard on rye bread last night - oh my, so good! I think I'll do my hamburger patty and hot dog (off the grill) tonight. Yummers. We are having a sub sandwich meal and fellowship time after service on Sunday. I love those times, so much fun.

Love y'all.

I started singing through your picture of COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. We truly are so blessed. I'm blessed to see a new day, to have a husband who joyfully takes care of me, a lovely home (which we recently learned through our new tax assessment is worth twice what we paid for it! Eek!), the decks we have around the house and our neighbor's chickens, they are such a joy! My church family and my cyber family, what blessings y'all are. The prayers that are sent to the Father for me and the ones that I can go to the Father with for my loved ones. Lots to thank the Lord for, His salvation, His sanctification, His keeping me and the grace He gives in the midst of the trials.

I still haven't heard from the rheumatologist. It's been two and a half weeks since they got the referral. I called last week and then yesterday. They answered last weeks call and said that when it comes in it goes to one department and then is sent over to the referral dept. I told her I would be patient. Yesterday was another week so I left another message but haven't heard back. I'll call again on Monday and see what's happening. I will still have to wait for the appointment once it is set, and those are usually a month or two out! I will be so blessed if it's sooner than that. I don't really know much about help for rheumatoid issues, but I'm sure I can't take quite a few of them since I can't take anti-inflammatories (unless someone invented a new one that won't hurt the tummy)!

Oh, we are having such beautiful weather. It's been in the high sixties and 70's for a few days now, I'm even in summer clothing! God is good. I go out on the decks throughout the day and really enjoy it. We watch traffic from one and chickens from the other! LOL!

Well, I'm going to make a roast beef and cheddar wrap for lunch and go sit on the deck. Love y'all so much. Keep tight hold of Jesus!

I'm feeling less pain today and am so grateful to the Lord for these times of feeling better! He sustains me whether there is pain or not, and I don't know how people go through things without His arms around them.

I hope that y'all are doing better. You are in my prayers.