He Tenderly Looked at Me

He Tenderly Looked at Me
F.F. Dawdy, 1908

When Jesus alone was standing,
By all His friends forgot,
And Peter, near by, denying,
Saying, "I know Him not,"
'Twas then he saw the Saviour
Look at him tenderly;
And then, rememb'ring the saying,
Went and wept bitterly.

When drifting away in darkness,
Lost in the blackest night,
Out on the sea of sorrow,
Far from the blessed light,
I heard a sweet voice calling,
Calling from o'er the sea,
And then I saw my Saviour,
Tenderly look at me.

They took my blessed Saviour
Out to the mountain side,
And nailed Him there to the cross-tree,
Jesus, the Crucified.
And when I saw my Saviour,
Dying on Calvary,
He drew me graciously to Him,
By His kind look at me.

CHORUS

He tenderly looked at me,
He tenderly looked at me,
He drew me graciously to Him,
When He tenderly looked at me.

 I feel elated when we get home from services on Sunday evening.  I thoroughly enjoy meeting with my Brothers and Sisters in Christ and hearing God's Word taught and preached.  I always take notes as it helps me stay focused.  If I'm not taking notes, or if the message isn't given in a "note-worthy" way, then I find my mind wandering.  I even pay close attention to the songs and often write down the names of the songs that touch me.  The song above was such a song today.  It was sung as a special.

I am so thankful for the tender look of the Savior towards me!  If it had not been for His look my way, I would be on my way to a devil's hell!  But, He loved me and drew me to Him in His mercy and grace!  Thank You, Lord, for dying for me!

Picturesque

Jessica tried to talk to me on Friday, but this conglomeration of wires interfered.

A wheat field we saw when we went to a "7 mile" yard sale in Siloam, NC on Saturday.

A landscape picture of the field.

Ilene's granddaughter spent the night with us last night and went to church with us today.

We treated her to a "Blackened Chicken Salad" at Christo's in Lexington.

The salad was so big that we each took about half of our salads home.

We have a cute little chipmunk collecting bird seed that has fallen to the ground under the feeder.  He would fill his cheeks and run it to the edge of the yard to hide it and then run back to fill his cheeks again.

Look at those fat little cheeks!

So cute!

No bigger than the cardinal who was willing to share the seeds with him.

LOVE clouds!

Our little garden is coming along quite nicely!  We have blooms on the tomatoes and the peppers and the blooms are close on the squash!

Lovely cardinal

Queen Ann's Lace

We have (beefstake) tomatoes started!

Roma tomatoes

Bee on a blackberry bloom.  The dark spots are blackberries beginning to take shape!

Have a blessed week!

Gettysburg

I'm spending the Memorial Day weekend in Gettysburg, PA with Tim's mom and sister. Instead of traveling to their house and then making the trip with them, I drove straight there.  I left the house at 8:30 this morning and arrived just after 3 p.m.

I had a great trip. It was cloudy a lot of the time with a few showers. It was a hot day. Thank the Lord for air conditioning! I noticed during a rain shower in WV the temperature went from 91 degrees to 74 degrees! But as soon as the rain ceased the temperature went right back to 91.

The computer system was down, so we could not check in when we arrived. We sat in the lobby at least an hour. Once in the room we settled in and talked until we got hungry. We ate at Ruby Tuesday. Then came back to the hotel room and settled down for the evening and read before retiring to bed.

I would post some pictures,  but I can't figure out how to get the ones I took today!

Night!

The Roses Are Red

"If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a lifetime."  Swedish Proverb

"What a lovely thing a rose is." Arthur Conan Doyle

"Love and a red rose can't be hid." Thomas Holcroft

"Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."  Gertrude Stein

"And she was fair as is the rose in May."  Geoffrey Chaucer

"A relationship is like a rose,
How long it lasts, no one knows.
Love can erase an awful past,
Love can be yours, you'll see at last.
To feel that love, it makes you sigh,
To have it leave, you'd rather die.
You hope you've found that special rose,
" 'Cause you love and care for the one you chose."
~ Rob Cella

"Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent."  Proverb

Roses are red, my love.
Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet, my love,
But not as sweet as you!


After pruning the roses a couple of days ago, with the exception of some of the buds, the rain left beautiful water droplets on the petals and leaves.  I had to take some pictures of the beauty this morning:

When Ilene was in the hospital last November because she had a stroke, they did some monitoring of her sleep and decided she needed to take the sleep apnea testing, which she did last Sunday night at the hospital.  We went to the doctor today for the results.  She had an average of 6.5 episodes per hour but the thing that concerned the doctor more than this was the fact that her oxygen level dropped so low when she was sleeping on her back.  So he wants her to try the CPAP machine for a month.  So, she will go back for another night in the hospital as they regulate the air for her and then after a month the determination will be made whether she will continue using the machine or not.

We had LOTS of rain yesterday, which we needed!

We did some miscellaneous shopping after the doctor's appointment today, so we stopped at "Randy's" restaurant in Welcome on the way back home.

We both had a grilled chicken salad.  YUMMY!

The rest of the day is being spent resting, doing laundry, reading, checkbook work and watching movies.

Psalm 116:7 "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee."

Thank You, LORD, for Your blessings on me!

To The Work

To The Work

by Frances J. Crosby, 1869

To the work! To the work! We are servants of God;
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.

Refrain:
Toiling on, toiling on,
Toiling on, toiling on;
Let us hope, let us watch,
And labor till the Master comes.

To the work! To the work! Let the hungry be fed;
To the fountain of life let the weary be led;
In the cross and its banner our glory shall be,
While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

To the work! To the work! There is labor for all;
For the kingdom of darkness and error shall fall;
And the love of our Father exalted shall be,
In the loud swelling chorus, “Salvation is free!”

To the work! To the work! In the strength of the Lord,
And a robe and a crown shall our labor reward,
When the home of the faithful our dwelling shall be,
And we shout with the ransomed, “Salvation is free!”

This song is talking about our working for the Lord and His kingdom.
1 Corinthians 15:58 - "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Colossians 1:29 - "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."

I thought of this song as I reflected back on the yard work Ilene and I did today.  Hoeing in our little garden, repotting tomato sprouts, pruning the roses, peonies and lilies and then raking all of the plant garbage to the field. And the Lord allowed us to get it all done before the rain came!  We did work in a few sprinkles, which felt good!

Work is good for the body and soul.  After all, even in His perfect world of Eden, the Lord gave Adam and Eve work to do!  Being fruitful and multiplying, replenishing the earth, subduing it, having dominion over the fish and the fowl and every living thing, dressing and keeping the garden.....all of this was going to involve work!

Genesis 1:27 - "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Genesis 1:28 - "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
Genesis 2:8 - "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

Genesis 2:15 - "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

Then Adam and Eve ruined the goodness of work by disobeying God.  So God cursed everything that was good about work!  He cursed everything that was good about their lives!

Genesis 3:16 - "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.  17 ¶ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

We cannot be judgmental towards them, however!  If we had been in their "shoes" we would have done the same thing!  I just glad that God planned a remedy for man's sin!  Thank You, LORD, for being willing to leave heaven to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die on the cross in my place and then rise again to give me eternal life!  What AMAZING GRACE!!

I see a heart!  We are getting a few strawberries from the plants in a barrel in the front yard.  We had to put some screen over them as the birds were eating them, red or green!

Ilene got a nice Great Grandma visit last night from her newest great grandson, Roman.  Would you look at all of that hair!  He is so sweet!

Look at that happy face!

Our green pepper plants are looking good!  I made some "pesticide" from dish soap to spray on the leaves.  Hopefully that will take care of the insect that is chewing holes in them!

Here's our little garden of squash and tomatoes

More tomatoes repotted.  If all of these survive, we will have tomatoes coming out the wazoo!

The roses are now naked!

The ground is covered in rose petals!

We took our baths after working outside.  We are having a sweet potato and black berry cobbler for supper!  Then we are going to watch the movie, "To Joey, With Love."  Have a great evening!

The Twelfth of Never

The Twelfth of Never

You ask me how much I need you, must I explain?
I need you, oh my darling, like roses need rain
You ask how long I'll love you, I'll tell you true
Until the Twelfth of Never, I'll still be loving you

Hold me close, never let me go
Hold me close, melt my heart like April snow

I'll love you 'til the bluebells forget to bloom
I'll love you 'til the clover has lost its perfume
I'll love you 'til the poets run out of rhyme
Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time

Until the Twelfth of Never and that's a long, long time

Songwriters: Jerry Livingston / Paul Webster

Twelfth of Never lyrics © Guy Webster/Webster Music

Look how young!  I guess I should expect that, knowing this was taken 42 years and one week ago!  Tim finished his college semester at U. of Louisville on Friday, May 7th, 1976 and we were married by the Justice of the Peace the following day in the 3rd floor apartment I started renting in March or April.  Mom and I made my dress because I wanted to be able to wear it again.  I bought Tim's green suit to match my green dress.  Yes!  I said GREEN!!!  What was I thinking?!  I do not remember who bought the cake or the bouquet you see behind us.  AH!  Young love, first love, my only true love!

Young Love

by Connie Francis

They say for every boy and girl
There's just one love in this whole world
And I know I've found mine
The heavenly touch of your embrace
Tells me no one could take your place
Ever in my heart

Young love, first love
Filled with true devotion
Young love, our love
We share with deep emotion

Just one kiss from your sweet lips
Will tell me that your love is real
And I can feel that it's true
We will vow to one another
There will never be another
Love for you or for me

Young love, first love
Filled with true devotion
Young love, our love
We share with deep emotion

Songwriters: Ric Cartey / Carole Joyner

Young Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, The Bicycle Music Company

Yes, our love was a true love!  And it was orchestrated by our heavenly Father!  Otherwise, I would have messed it up BIG time!  He brought us together and He kept us together.  Thank You, LORD!  I am so blessed!  Much more than I deserve, that is for sure!  I'm so glad you love me so!  The only other one to care for me even close to You was Tim!  Thank You for giving him to me for as long as You did!

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true.
I would tell you how He changed my life completely;
He did something no other friend could do.

Chorus
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me;
O how much He cared for me.

All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me;
All my heart was full of misery and woe,
Jesus placed His strong arms about me
And He led me in the way I ought to go.

Ev'ry day He comes to me with new assurance;
More and more I understand His word of love.
But I'll never know just why He came to save me,
Till someday I see His blessed face above. 

A Mother's Day Reflection

"My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother"  Proverbs 6:20

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children drop everything in their busy lives and let you know they love you by coming to spend time with you, or call you on the phone when they live several hours away.

It's a wonderful thing when you see your adult children repeating things for their children that you did for them when they were children.

It's a wonderful thing to share a laugh with your adult children.

It's a wonderful thing to know your children feel the same pain you do as they share their tears with you.

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children lean their head on your shoulder for comfort when they are hurting.

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children get along with one another.

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children walk in your faith after they have made it their own.

It's a wonderful thing to see happy grandchildren who know they are loved by their mom and dad.

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children share your values.

It's a wonderful thing when your adult children center their lives around the Lord.

It's a wonderful thing to see your grandchildren being saved.

It's a wonderful thing when you move from a parenting role to being a friend of your adult children.

It's a wonderful but sad thing to know your children are grieving the loss of their parent, your spouse.

It's a wonderful thing to love and be loved by your adult children's spouse.

It's a wonderful thing for your children to express their love and appreciation for you.

It's a wonderful thing to receive a voluntary hug from your grandchildren.

It's a wonderful thing to receive (clover) flowers from your grandchildren.

It's a wonderful thing to be called, Grandma!

It's a wonderful thing to be called, Mom!


Pictures:

LOVE this field of wild flowers.

Watching a soccer game in 90 degree temps!

Any of you know/remember these?

Prayer before the game.  LOVE it!

Ryan in action during his soccer game on Saturday, May 11th, 2018:

A craft on the deck - a garden stone made of plaster of paris and glass and stones

The gift of flowers from the hands of a grandchild.....PRECIOUS!

Had a wonderful weekend with my girls and the grandchildren!

I dropped Ilene off at the hospital tonight for a sleep study.  Praying she will not have to start wearing a CPAP machine!

I am tired!  Time for bed!  Have a blessed week!