Dancing with Simplicity

Simple Living, Walking by Faith
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Church Online and a daily Bible Reading Plan

  • February 23, 2021 12:46 pm

Viewpoint Church:

https://www.viewpointchurch.org/

Author/pastor/speaker: Becky Tirabassi and husband Roger have a wonderful Sunday service which blesses me every Sunday morning. 10:00 Pacific time zone, or catch the archives. Enjoy the live chat, and grab your message outline before the service.

Read Through the Bible:

And Becky is right there with her daily Bible reading posts on Facebook and Instagram with her Change Your Life Daily Bible. You can join in her videos on social media and follow the reading plan by purchasing her Bible or using the PDF download plan on Viewpoint church’s page with your own Bible.

As the church physical buildings start to open, remember, there are always resources online for you to access. You may be ill, disabled, or have any number of reasons you cannot go to church, but you don’t have to look too far to find a church home on the web.

Suggested Online Christmas Services

  • December 22, 2019 1:24 pm

If you have no plans or places to go for Christmas services, may I suggest:

https://www.viewpointchurch.org/

Viewpoint Church.  Author/pastor Becky Tirabassi’s church from Southern CA, USA. Becky has long been a  mentor. I have used her Change Your Life Daily Bible and other resources for years, and now she and husband Roger pastor a church. Visit her church site or find her on Facebook. More resources:  http://www.changeyourlifedaily.com/. Coming in January, read through the Bible in one year…with Becky on Instagram.

 

Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren from CA.  https://saddleback.com/

I’m a member of the online community on Facebook, and serve on the online prayer team. You will find many online Christmas services and a new church-wide event begins in January 2020. Watch live, watch the archive or You Tube services. The Worship team has to be one of my favorites, from just anywhere!

Easter Hope

  • April 19, 2019 1:27 pm

© Tracie Koziura | Dreamstime Stock Photos

I often think about one Easter spent in Georgia, somewhere back in the 60’s. My Dad spread blue fur around our hotel room. I’m assuming the Easter bunny was blue. I think that is what Dad was suggesting. He (Mr. Bunny) always took a nice bite out of the carrots I left for him. I believe he did on that occasion as well. Easter was blue fur and bunnies, and carrots with tooth marks in them. And who can forget Easter egg hunts, and being dressed up in patent leather shoes and your finest church clothes?

Those days however, are long gone. What used to be a holiday filled with candy and toys, has now become something much more to me. The Easter story brings hope. Hope of life eternal and grace beyond measure. Hope that streams from putting our faith in the one whose crucifixion we remember. When I decided to become a Christian, to follow Christ, I began to see how the Bible message as a whole became a reason for celebration. The Easter message was there in much of the Scriptures. Scripture was worth studying, memorizing, and above all following.

I would also discover that the most quoted Easter verses did not provide the whole picture. Suffering had to come before joy, fear before worship and God’s plan had to move forward into a message for others to hear. The message of Easter can be found in both Old and New Testament verses. It’s been said; that the message of the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament. The message of hope therefore isn’t limited to just the standard Easter Scriptures. It is woven through the entire canon of Scripture. Bible verses specific to our Easter celebrations, stand as promises and bring us hope while Old Testament symbolism points to something much more.

It may not sound very hopeful to look at the suffering the Cross carried with it yet Psalm 22 reminds us of the suffering necessary to bring us future hope. Christ’s very words ” My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1, NIV) reminds us that the pain was a necessary part of the process. The whole Psalm bears witness of this. I have always marveled that the words uttered on the Cross (Matthew 27:46, NIV) were recorded in that Psalm long before. We cannot possibly fathom this suffering yet it reminds us of why we have our Easter celebrations at all. His suffering had to come before the triumph. His friends, family and followers had to endure great pain, before unspeakable joy. Though they pale in comparison, sometimes our trials precede our victories. We have to deal with pain in our lives, often before we see the glory on the other side. Entombed in our heart are many trials, many days of suffering and pain.  But Resurrection power bursts through as our heart is renewed and filled with hope and joy.

The four gospel books contain various accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. In Matthew 28 an angel explains to Mary Magdalene and ‘another Mary’ that Jesus’ body is no longer in the tomb.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. (Matthew 28:8-10, NIV.)

Our worship should flow out of this very scene. Because of what He did for us, these Bible verses that celebrate Easter, can be personalized. We can worship at the feet of the Lord, because of the very fact that the tomb is empty. The. tomb. is. empty. He has risen. Our fear of any situation can be replaced with joy. The joy invokes worship at His feet.

In Luke Jesus left us this word “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44, NIV). The New Testament hope is concealed in the Old Testament Scriptures. Our Easter celebration is not made up of blue fur, and bunnies. Rather it is a celebration of hope. Hope based on a God who kept His promises, and fulfilled His word. I can live in light of the ‘everything’ that must be fulfilled.

This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44, NIV).

The Biblical celebration of Easter has to encompass the Cross of suffering, the joy of an empty tomb and the fulfillment of Scripture, past and future. From our own corner of the world we can preach the Easter message to others. We can share Easter verses of encouragement and hope. We can turn our fear to joy, and share that joy with those who need to hear. Be blessed and encouraged this Easter. Our world grows increasingly more troubled day by day. This Easter, embrace your Biblical hope as you live out your day to day life. Take your suffering and turn it to celebration, over the life that was given, and the life that now lives and intercedes on our behalf.

 

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Your Business is His Business

  • December 5, 2017 4:17 pm

As a small business owner since 1986, I am on occasion under attack from those forces of darkness that we are warned about in Scripture.  I run as ethical a business as is humanly possible.  We all make mistakes, but as so many of you do in your business, we try to do the right thing.  In today’s world however, an anger is raging.  A Me First mentality is invading our lives while many of us are struggling just trying to keep their businesses going and to make ends meet. To do the right thing.  I know this is true, many of my online friends have expressed it.  Their prayer requests are filled with God honoring desires that seem to be thwarted.

Social media has made the business owner an open target for attack.  Maybe sometimes criticism is justified, and it can be welcome and put to good use.  But when your peaceful day, where you are simply struggling to do your job, pay your bills and care for your family, is disrupted from an other-world force of rage, or anger or subtle threats then what do you do?

He came to bring peace.  He came during this Christmas season to do so.  He is here to offer that, along with hope and His never ending love.  He told us to ask, to pray and believe He will answer.

Are you struggling with your career, your employment, your business?

Prayer requests welcome. Please feel free to post and share.  I’ll be adding some verses or share the ones you stand on.  Don’t let things ruin your day, your joy your peace. And if you do not know Him, please read the section on the sidebar that addresses that. This is unedited for the most part.  Real honest talk.  God knows your struggles, and I might just understand them too.  If you work hard, if you work to provide for your family.  You gotta keep hope alive. I don’t know much, but I know Him.  He truly is all in all, all that matters.  Keep fighting, keep serving, keep believing.

1 Timothy 4:10 (NIV2011)
10  That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

 

And God Sent Mindy: Lessons From a Rescue Dog

  • August 1, 2016 9:56 am
untitled

Mindy, the Heaven sent Bichon Frise

And God Sent a Mindy…

Matthew 6:8- (NASB77)
8  for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.

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It’s been said that sometimes God doesn’t give you what you want; He gives you what you need. Such was the case in March 2010, when a scraggly puppy entered our world. Mindy came from an animal rescue. In her scrawny, disheveled state, she was what my husband wanted, but not the right dog to fill the hole in my heart. It was bleeding from a massive hole created by the recent death of our Golden Retriever Boris. The rescue could not deliver us a Golden, so they sent us Mindy. Or God did.

She was a curly little mutt. A real mess. (It wasn’t until later, that we determined she might be a Bichon Frise.) It wasn’t too long after her arrival that Mindy became sick. A little cough moved her from the Golden I wanted, to the pup I needed. A cough contracted from life in the shelter. I was beside myself until I knew she was going to recover. Yes, she was becoming what I needed to heal. All five pounds of her. She was in fact, what the whole family needed. She infused joy back into our home. She delighted everyone including two cats and our other Golden, Morgan.

This was our first little dog and we quickly learned that she could get into places we could not. She liked to hide under the bed, beneath the couch, under the table. Taking her to the vet was a challenge. We had to lift the sofa to force her out, or stand guarding either side of our bed in hope that she would exit and we could scoop her up. The only thing we found that sent her directly into our arms was a big bath towel. With every storm, her fur wet and muddy, she would readily walk into a waiting towel. Security. Rest. Comfort. To this day, it remains our solution for her sassy or fearful, hide- under- the-furniture state. Love replaces her fear.

The Christian life is like that. We hide in spots where no one can touch us. Physically. Mentally. We cower, rebel, or refuse to budge. And God waits to catch us with open arms. Sometimes He will lift us out of our hiding places. He moves walls to shake us loose from our stubborn stance, isolation, fear. Often He waits patiently for us to make the move, to step out into the light. And when we are in life’s storms, He is there to wrap us in that blanket of security, rest, love.

Though Mindy was not what I wanted, she has long since proved she was what I needed. To heal from the loss of a noble Golden. To demonstrate how God stands waiting for me. No doubt when He sees the pup He sent, He smiles. Just as we do, day after day with Mindy. Joy bestowed. Lessons learned.

Has a rescue dog or cat changed your life for the better? I’d love to hear about it! I believe God hand picks our pets.

 

What Are You Waiting for? Hoping in God

  • April 24, 2015 12:23 am

Today God delivered a healing to my husband. A suspected kidney mass, became a cyst. A word from the doctor that this was an urgent situation, became a call from the nurse who said there was nothing at all to worry about. A lot of prayer went into this situation, and the end result was a huge relief and a blessing.

What are you waiting for? Financial help? An end to sickness? A relationship to be mended? A family member to come back home? Waiting is never easy. It can involve hope and expectation. It can also harbor fear, anxiety and worry. I worried all through this incident, and am not going to pretend I didn’t.

The wait actually reminds me of when I was a little kid waiting for my Dad to come home from work. I knew he would be home, and I couldn’t wait for him to show up in the driveway. Well, sometimes I can’t wait for God to show up on the scene. I pace and pace, just as I did waiting for my earthly Dad. I’m thrilled when God shows up, thrilled with the gifts and blessings He brings with Him. Often my Dad showed up with gifts, but actually even if he came home without anything, it was ok with me. He showed up. Period. Just like God. Gifts are wonderful, but my Dad didn’t have to bring them to provie his love for me and my family. Unconditional, unrelenting, undying love. Gifts you could never buy, just like the gifts God bestows.

I don’t know what you are waiting for, or asking God for. I know it may be scary and probably is not easy. You may feel hopeless, helpless, or alone in the situation. I hope you have that eager expectation that God is going to show up. I hope you are wating for, and watching for Him. Here’s a promise to cling to:

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

What’s So Simple About Diabetes?

  • March 13, 2015 11:26 pm

When I started this blog, my theme was simple living, and living by faith. My desire was to get myself and others back to a more simple life. That life was to be centered on God, and the study of His Word. Along with that, my thoughts were toward family, crafts, cooking, and things that just felt less techno.

Of course, it was pointed out to me that blogging is technical, and so was owning anything like an iPad, Kindle etc. Social media was not simple.  Oh well. So I did not entirely make the transition to simple living. I’m still working on what that looks like.

One thing that isn’t so simple is my life with Type I diabetes. Diabetes is not simple or easy. After being diagnosed in 1970, I can honestly say that while technology has helped tremendously, it still has not been an easy journey. Where an insulin pump has made life a tad easier, it still requires patience and a life of constant adjustments. It gets in the way of some of those simple things I want to be doing. Diabetes presents a constant invasion of numbers, and musts and have to’s. It is not simple.  It marches in and over anything that requires my attention.  Activities and moments of real creativity and fun, end up trampled on at times.  Because diabetes is a real time snatcher, but that time is a necessary investment.

I hope if I toss this into my journey of faith, dancing with the simplicity of Christian living that you won’t pass by my blog. If you are a PWD (person with Diabetes) of any type, you know it isn’t simple.  You might shake your head, and walk away. Upset that such a topic might even make it into this kind of blog.  You might be angry with God, or with your circumstances. I for one believe that many people live in countries where diabetes care is less than perfect, and technology is not there to assist.  I don’t ever want to forget that.

I could not make the journey of faith without God, because I could not do the diabetes thing without God.

Psalm 119:114 (MSG) 114 You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me.

My constant rock and source of strength through all that is diabetes, is God.

I can’t give you medical advice, but I can listen and share my own story. Yes, even in a blog about simple living by faith.  Diabetes can show its face, but it cannot win. It can build courage and determination, but it cannot take over.  It can cause your focus to shift to numbers, and meds, and carb counting and the like.  But your ultimate goal and focus can be built on faith in God and His call on your life.

We may live in different parts of the world, and our resources for dealing with diabetes may be quite different.  I hope to see you on the path of hope and faith.  He’s got your back through it all. Feel free to comment……..

What Are You Seeking in 2015?

  • December 31, 2014 6:14 pm

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

There is no greater goal, no greater resolution than to seek God more in 2015. The world is obviously a little bit stressed out lately. 2014 saw a whole bunch of chaos. No matter what your political views, there’s no denying the chaos was and is there even on this last day of the year.

You may have had a wonderful year, or one filled with struggles. In any event, the new year brings a new opportunity to set some goals and work toward some changes. Now you probably know from the past that most of these changes  just do not get done. It’s like decluttering your house.  How many times have you vowed to do it, and how many times have you failed? That’s what I thought…me too!

The only thing I can guarantee you and myself, is that seeking God first is the real solution for everything. Check out the following:

Matthew 6:25-34 (HCSB)
25 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?
27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height
by worrying?
28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these!
30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith?
31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For the idolaters
eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Notice how the seeking part, is buried in the worry and the stress? Matthew has it smack dab in the middle of the mess.  Why? Because it works. The emphasis though, is on what to seek first. In the middle of 2014 and 2015, lies the chance to do some serious seeking. One day at a time.  It may be a little late to recover the time from 2014, but tomorrow is just a few hours away.  Start now, seeking Him in prayer as you offer Him your new year.

If you don’t know how to seek Him, or what it means to have a true relationship with Him, visit the Knowing God page on this blog. Feel free to research and discuss what it means to seek both His kingdom and His righteousness.

If Christmas taught you anything, it’s that all the stuff you may have been seeking either didn’t show up under the tree, or it didn’t make you happy.  I write from reality and I can tell you you will always have struggles and chaos in the midst of peaceful days. Happiness is never lasting. The choice though, is to seek Him through every year you have on the earth.  There is no other way. Seek Him first. Not Facebook friends, not alcohol, not drugs, not money. Seek Him first. Not status, not the perfect career, not toys and the fastest greatest car. Him. First. Above all. Right now before you land in the middle of a new year. And for the record, can you believe another year has come and gone already? Start now!

Ephesians 3:20-21 (HCSB)
20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—
21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Struggling with Prayer?

  • December 10, 2014 9:18 am

I’m a bit behind in my study of Max Lucado’s new book.  Proverbs 31 Ministries has been doing the study in the online Bible study (OBS) format, and it has been a real blessing. Lucado offers a very concise prayer model, that you can utilize and modify for your daily prayers. I wanted to make you aware of a different site, so you don’t feel like you have to fit the time frame of the OBS study. This is the last week of that study, but these resources have no time schedule. Take a look, read the book and let me know what you think.  I find Lucado’s style to be very warm and encouraging, and I think his model prayer is a great place to start, or continue your prayer life from. Just as he suggests, his pocket prayer will provide you with something to focus on the minute you get out of bed in the morning.  Instead of running to tune in to the news, take time to pray

Visit the site for more information and sign up for a four week prayer challenge. While there, take advantage of the free sample chapter, free worship song download, and sample video.

The Simple Joys of a Rescue Dog

  • August 26, 2014 4:12 pm
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Mindy

Five years ago:  We had just buried our 10 year old Golden retriever.

Boris was a very large, noble dog. He had lost his sister Natasha to a heart attack three years prior.

Boris had lung cancer.

We had one golden sized hole in our home.

God had other plans.

The little rescue pup became our Mindy.

We swore we would never have a little dog.

We didn’t realize how very special they could be.

Mindy, grew up to look much like a Bichon.

She is the joy of the home.

God has a sense of humor.

Natasha’s absence was filled by a Golden named Morgan.

Mindy snuggles in her side, and kisses in her ears.

Mindy, among other things, does the Bichon Buzz.

Morgan doesn’t seem to mind.

Two cat boys are also loving Mindy.

God has a sense of humor. Through it all.

We have a home filled with much laughter.

Simple living means simply enjoying God’s gifts.

Even the furry ones.  Has a furry kid brought joy to your life?

Mindy the rescue dog

Mindy the rescue dog