THAT peace

Doing a little mini study on peace recently brought me to this writing:

"Are you painfully disturbed right now, distracted by the waves and billows of God's providential permission, and having, as it were, turned over the boulders of your belief, are you still finding no well of peace or joy or comfort; is all barren?  Then look up and receive the undisturbedness of the Lord Jesus.  Reflected peace is the proof that you are right with God because you are at liberty to turn your mind to Him." ~ Oswald Chambers

And this morning I read this in my devotional:

"Don't allow life's obstacles to keep you from enjoying God's plan for your life.  God has allowed them for a purpose.  Trust Him, and realize that when you feel out of control, He is never shaken." ~ Charles Stanley

With confirmation in God's Word:

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:7

God is a solid rock.  We can look to Him and find His undisturbedness (don't you love that big word?!) and see that He in never shaken.  That kind of peace does surpass our human understanding, especially in today's world of craziness. And that kind of peace is available to everyone who trusts in Him as their Lord and Savior.  

It reminds me of the storm on the seas when the disciples were tossed about in a boat with Jesus aboard sleeping (Matthew 8:23-27).  Oh ye of little faith!  Trust Him because He has power over the storms of life and will help you stand with His peace in your heart!

Blessings,

Tammy ~@~

watering the garden

It's May!  There is no better way to celebrate one of my favorite months than by sharing a bright bouquet of flowers!  

Let's take a look at the verse for the month:

"The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones;  You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." ~ Isaiah 58:11

What an encouraging verse and easily understandable as a gardener.  Water is such a regular necessity for satisfying a growing garden.  It's always a delight to walk through the garden after a rainfall because you can visibly see the garden plants perk up, especially during the hot days of summer. When the rains aren't coming, the gardener needs to be especially diligent in supplying water to the plants so they won't wither away.

What an encouraging verse as a believer and so helpful  to read this verse in context by reading through the entire chapter 58 of Isaiah.  The first several verses talk about the difference between a true time of fasting and a false time of fasting.  A true fast results in helping the poor, the afflicted, the hungry. It is being the light of the Lord and serving Him in difficult places.  You are able to do that with His guidance, His strength, as He is our Living Waters to draw upon knowing He will never fail.  This chapter ends with acknowledging the Sabbath as a holy day of the Lord; a day that we do not seek our own way or pleasure, but instead delight in the Lord.  

Delight in the Lord while living for Him and become a bright bouquet of flowers  to those who cross your garden path!

Blessings,

Tammy ~@~

another sign of spring

Yup, a definite sign of spring!

Nope, it has nothing to do with warmer temperatures!

Part of going through my gardening box to check out leftovers from last year is seeing how many popsicle sticks have been collected over the winter.   They make easy garden row markers when planting the garden.  You can use permanent markers to write on them the name of the vegetable you are planting in each row.

AND, as you can see, we apparently didn't eat many treats with popsicle sticks all winter so we need to work on it double time to have enough for the upcoming garden season.  This is one chore that NO ONE complained about when I mentioned the task before them!

Blessings,

Tammy ~@~

garden planning time

Such a late arriving spring this year, but it appears that it's here.  Temperatures were in the 60's over the weekend although there is a chance of a rain/snow mix later in the week when the temperatures dip again.  

My garden may still be snow covered, yet the snow is melting quickly at this point.  It was definitely time to grab my seed catalog and the rubbermaid container with all my planting things to begin preparing for a new season ahead of gardening.  

After checking my food storage pantry, one thing that definitely is part of the garden planning process this year is how much to plant.  As our still-living-at-home family has been shrinking, there's a lot fewer people eating and lots of jars of canned goods still on the shelf.  That factor will allow me to plant less produce, put wider spaces between rows, and perhaps add more flowers (can you see me smiling at the "add more flowers" part?!)

My list was made out and seed packets were checked.  It looks like what I need this year is already in my storage container as I've had great success with this company in using seeds leftover from previous years.  Any vegetable plants needed are noted on the list, too, so I will pick those up as soon as they are available.  

Even though actual planting is probably a month away depending on the weather, I'm now excited to soon have my hands back in the dirt playing in my garden!

How about you?  Planning a garden this year?  

Blessings,

Tammy ~@~

delivery of the sixth

I grabbed my handy dandy name picker and the winner of my 6th blog anniversary basket is:

Wish I could hand deliver it, but the mailman will have to do it instead!

Happy spring, everyone!  (yes, as you can see we still have snow on the ground here.......)

Blessings,
Tammy ~@~

celebrating six years

It's time to celebrate SIX YEARS of blogging!  I think this may be the first year that there's still a lot of snow on the ground with more in the forecast.  SPRING!  Where art thou?! Here's my "Thank you, Garden Glimpses readers!" giveaway for this year:

*a pink spring potholder

*a lime green hand towel

*a pack of 20 guest napkins

*a tea time magnetic note pad

*"Live by faith" garden plaque

*Yankee Candle votive in Pineapple Cilantro

*a small pink journal

*a small tea time tissue box

*a pack of cheery flower cupcake cups

*Peach Mango liquid hand soap

*lime green gardening gloves

*four seed packets - sunflowers, snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias

*one Hershey's special dark candy bar

*one pinwheel


You'll have all week to enter my giveaway by leaving a "happy spring!" comment which includes a way for me to contact you. We'll pick a name at the end of the week and send this basketful to the winner.  See you then!

Blessings,
Tammy ~@~

off my shelves

Remember my recent post about 1000 Books Before Kindergarten?  That came up from conversations with my oldest daughter who loves to read to her children.

She and I have also been having more conversations about home schooling as she considers teaching her own children at home.  A second generation homeschooler!  How cool is that?! As I thought about the love of reading they have in their home, I realized I had a perfect resource on my bookshelves for her - the Five in a Row series.  

Five in a Row takes one book a week - often a favorite book you may have read as a child - and incorporates different interactive activities each day that cover different educational subject areas.  The entire series covers ages 2 through 12 years and the materials are so easily adaptable to the range of ages within your home as it teaches them.  Plus, they've added additional resources to this series since I purchased it when my children were young. 

If you are interested in more information about this fun way to learn with your children, check out their website Five in a Row

Blessings,
Tammy ~@~