1 John 5:14

This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. – 1 John 5:14

I have spoken with you before about trusting in God's promises.  As someone who has had many struggles with trusting others I know firsthand how great the lesson of learning to trust in God and his promises to us are. I have often been amazed how many never struggle with the issue of trust and how many never even consider ever needing to trust anyone other then themselves.  Then there are those of us who are in the middle who have trusted, been hurt or disappointed and become weary of ever trusting others again.  For those who are like me, even learning to put your trust in God can be a struggle.

There is hope for those of you like me who fall into this category.  We can even move beyond hope if we faithfully believe and remember often how faithful God really is. If you are like me sometimes, you have to remind yourself what is is that you believe.  Why?  I think perhaps, because the devil would love nothing more then to keep us who struggle down.  He can fill your head with doubts and use events in your life to strengthen those doubts, but we need not let him get the upper hand.

We have been given God's Word to help us through.  In the scripture above we are assured that we can approach God in confidence.  We can trust that if we ask according to his will he hears us.  We may not often know if we are asking in his will but we should trust that his answer will be according to his will.  

I have been struggling with the desire to return to work for some time.  After finally getting back into the workplace and into a position that I know is good for me I find myself rapidly advancing forward.   I also find myself dealing with issues I wasn't quite prepared for.  Issues of the opening of a new business where the majority of us are new and still learning the skills and specifics of this particular business.   Issues of overzealous personalities who tend to step on my toes and the space of others unnecessarily.  Issues of new management that is micromanaging because they have not yet learned to trust in the abilities of others.  I know that many of these issues are due to the unique situation of being a new store, but it  can still be very difficult when rapid changes are needed to swiftly improve conditions.  

I was praying this morning for God to help me improve conditions.  Specifically, I was praying for him to help me to help make the changes that I feel are necessary.  God answered my prayer this morning immediately.  I later tuned in to Dr. Stanley today to hear him preaching about trusting in God's faithfulness and was reminded that I need to focus on trusting on God's promises once again.  I don't need to worry with how I will do what and when, but I need to trust that God will provide the right timing and opportunities should this be his will.  He has brought me this far and will be there for me today and tomorrow through each and every struggle.  Though I am in a position to help make some changes I am not totally responsible for all changes that I think need to be made.   Letting go daily to God, trusting in him is faith strengthening!

Thank you Dr. Stanley!

What about you?  Are you trusting in God in confidence?

Thank you God for your patience with me!

Your Invited!!!

(image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

(image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy)

 Miss Abigail is so excited and has been very busy getting everything ready for her big brew haha!  I hope you all will return next week and sit with her for just a spell.  Heeheeehheeeee!!!

Meanwhile, I thought you might like to revisit last years table.  Some of you may remember this one, and since it's one of my favorite's I thought I'd show it again for those of you who may have missed it. 

 Click HERE to see last years Halloween tablescape, entitled "How to Catch a Witch" from my  old blog. 

Thanks for visiting with me today for 

Tablescape Thursday.

Be sure and visit many more beautiful tablescapes at the link above.

I hope I'll see you all again next week,

for "A Witch's Brew"

A Change of Seasons

I love this time of year when the leaves all start to change colors and the last of the summer flowers hold on with all their might to one last breath with such beauty.  

My Oakleaf Hydrangeas.

The Boston Fern is still hanging in there late this year too!

My Kimberly Queens are still as gorgeous as ever!

I planted these two cascading plants late this summer.  They are new to me and are called Silver Falls Dichondra.  Aren't they so pretty!  I just love the silver color of these!

My Hot Pink Geraniums and Blue Daze are still showing beautifully!

Speaking of showing, one of the twins want's to show off her beauty two.

Misty loves sitting on the railing here during all the seasons.

This gazing ball was mirrored when I bought it, but now it's just a clear glass ball.   Oh well, what do you expect for $1.00 at a yard sale.  

Look how tall the Mexican Heather grew this year!

This is one of our most magical exciting areas that developed out of the pool construction.  After needing to fence in the yard, we decided to wrap the fence around this existing knock out rose that is just before the steps to the back decks.

We think this rose is loving being a showcase when you enter the gate.  It is accompanied by one of my very old Rosemary bushes that I have transplanted several times over here at this house and actually came from our old house almost 8 years ago.

And last but not least in between all of that is a wild Hibiscus that keeps returning from one of the original owners plantings.  

I love how freely my plants just take on a life of their own!  Do yours do the same?

I thought I'd share a little clip off from youtube with you that I always think of this time of year.

I hope each of you are having a wonderful week!

I am joining 

 Outdoor Wednesday 

and

Seasonal Sunday

to share some of the wonders of the season today.

Thanks for visiting!

Peacocks, Pineapples, and Pumpkins

I don't know exactly where this inspiration came from early this morning!  I was rushing around trying to get ready for work but just couldn't get this out of my head.  So, I set if up, snapped a few pics and out the door I went. 

Let me just say, I really do think of peacocks as a fall bird even though their colors are not your typical fall colors.  I have and hold in my memory a very strong vision of two big beautiful peacocks from several years ago.  They were sitting on an old wooden split rail fence along the property line of a home out in the country.  It was fall and the temps were cooler and I so wish I had the equipment handy back then to have been able to stop the car and gotten out to photograph them.  Their tails were splayed in perfect beauty and contrast against the neutral background of fall colors.  It truly was a magical site!

I know I can't quite capture the beauty of those peacocks in all their splendor but I certainly enjoyed sharing this setting with you for;

Tablescape Thursday

You never know what you might create when you shop your own home.  I highly encourage it!

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Hope you have a wonderful day and and a fantastic weekend!

Random Photo Shoot

Hi Friends!  I had time yesterday to play with my new camera a bit and took a few random shots.  I still haven't had time to read over the owners manuel yet to figure things out more.  Maybe since I am off again today I will find a minute to at least figure out what all the symbols mean on the dial.  Hopefully!

My son and his girlfriend came home from Charleston this weekend.  She is in photography school and brought her camera because she had a homework assignment to complete with shadows and light and dark. Here I am with her holding up her camera looking at my son taking my picture with my new camera.

The Mr. and I decided to go down to the sailing club for a bit for some R&R and I was just snapping away!

This shot was taken from the shore of the back of our boat.  It is 3rd one in the middle.  I really want a telescopic lens now, maybe for Christmas.

Here I was trying to photograph a spiders web on our boat.  Unfortunately, I wasn't very successful.

We had some very strange weather yesterday too.  The skys were alternating between overcast and cloudy with strong gusty winds often sustaining 20 to 25 knots at a time.  In these next three photos I played with the dial some turning it to see what happens. This photo seems the sharpest to me. 

This one turned out much darker!

And this one almost seems kinda floaty like!  LOL!

This couple was quite brave!  This shot was taken during a lull in the wind as they neared our club.

Here they are again as they got further out.  They spent much of their time heeled over like this.  Whew!

Here is another group of fearless sailors heading out.

And yet another group here!  We stayed ashore because I am not a fan of heeling over so much and because we were not interested in doing all the hard work it takes to keep up with shifting winds.

Besides it was later in the afternoon and I was ready for some time to unwind.

We sat on the point.

Where I spotted the bark had been worn off the base of this tree when the water is up to it's peak level.

I decided to take more pictures by the shore.

I had to take several shots to catch the water as it splashed up over the rocks.

The lake level has dropped down considerably for the winter already.

We are pulling our boat out of the water next week to give it a new paint job on the bottom.

We are really hoping it's not too shallow to pull it out at our club or else we will have to take it to the marina and then have it transported by land back to the club.

This is some kind of odd pod weed that is growing along the shore.

I think it's very pretty though!

Here is another photo I had to take several shots of to catch the flag when it was open.  The wind was so strong it was flapping this flag around everywhere!

This photo and the next did not turn out great but I thought they were interesting because they had one of those strange eerily looking orbs on them.

What's up with that?  I must have had a visitor hanging out with me I didn't see.  LOL!

Would you look at that?  I caught our ghostly visitor and she is a lady!

LOL!  Just kidding! I wanted to try my hand at a shadow shot too!  It's kinda hard to do when you are your own subject.

Speaking of being your own subject.  I can't believe I am going to be brave enough to show you these but I am.  These were just a few random close ups I took of myself by turning the camera around.  My eyes are usually so wide and open.  This photo shows how very tired I have been lately.  I also have been having quite a bit of trouble with my eyes and contacts at work lately due to all the dust we are kicking up right now.  They have been extremely red lately.

Not so red now but very droopy!  Gosh and I can see every single pore and wrinkle in these too!  Now that is one extreme closeup, don't you think?

Well that was fun!

Hope you all have a great week!  I am going to be very busy after today.  We are all set to open up the store on time this Saturday and of course I am working everyday.  Hoping I can get caught up on some rest before the grand opening and perk up these eyes!

Thanks for stopping by!