In Everything

Each week at Living by Grace, a devotional discussion Facebook group, we post a memory verse and this week's is Philippians 4:6.

Do not be anxious about anything, 

but in everything,

by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

(NIV)

Be sure to check the Cafe for more links to WFW

Won't you join me memorizing Philippians 4:6 this week at Living by Grace?

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Yard Ornaments

Before we get to this week's letter, we have some unfinished business from last week. The correct guess for "Which picture is xeliconia?" is none of them because I made that word up! How's that for being desperate for an X word?! LoL.

And the winner of the Zechariah 3:17 print is Liz Tolsma. Why? Because she actually Googled xeliconia and discovered it wasn't on Google. Way to go, Liz! =) (Send me your addy, girl, so I can get that to you.)

Now, for this week's installment of our a 2 z 4 u & me meme,

the letter Y.

I thought about telling you about my Yoyo fish...






and my sometimes-yappy dog, Gracie...

but those are old news. You guys know I'm a fool for my crazy animals. So, I thought I'd do something different this time. I know, after 23 or 24 a 2 z posts, it's about time for something unique and yet I've got to save a few things up my sleeve for next week's letter Z sooooo...

How about Yard ornaments?!
Yanno, those curious... things people have in their Yards. Sometimes they're cool. Sometimes they're weird. Sometimes they're Yucky and sometimes...

sometimes they're even normal. LoL.

But Y b normal?
**bonus points for telling me about any outrageous yard ornaments You've seen! **

Here's one I've seen, quite recently... a Yard stove.

What? Don't You have a stove in your Yard??

One of these is pretty common out here in my part of the country, along with a whole collection of other antique farm equipment. I love seeing them.

And of course, the old tractor. Cannot forget that.*eye roll*

Here's one I'd love to have. It's an ant made out of  flat stones and metal. Its eyes are jumbo washers and it was really cool. We saw it in February on our trip with the church seniors when Jim drove the bus for them to Bald Knob Cross. (Such a fun trip!!)




So tell me, what's one of the coolest Yard ornaments You've seen?

If you're joining us for the a 2 z 4 u & me meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter Y, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here.

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How to Best Use Blog Labels

Blog labels are tools. In my blogging arsenal, they aren't optional. They're necessary and even vital. But why?

Labels are used for organizing.

Not an organizer? Try this one:

Labels help make your blog posts available for reading, long after they were first published, giving them more mileage instead of gathering dust in your archives.

Some things to remember about blog labels:

• Blog labels are not just key words mentioned in your post.
• Another way to think of labels: it's your blog's filing system. Just like you want your filing cabinet organized so you can find things easily, you want your posts filed so they're easily accessible. Or how about thinking of labels as storage boxes? If they're labeled well, it's easy to find what you're looking for. ;-)  You get the idea...
• You don't want 100 different labels. I've heard no more than 25 labels, which makes sense, even if it can be hard impossible to do. Limit yourself to some well chosen labels.
• Choose your labels based on the things you blog about. Think TOPICS when you label your posts. A side benefit will be that it helps you find a focus to your blog, if you don't know it already.
• Labels, done correctly, will enable your readers to click on a label they see and find more posts on that topic, which blows the dust off your archives and gets more mileage from your blog articles.

Here's a quick and easy way to add labels to your posts:

• Go to your Dashboard. 
•  Click to Edit Posts.
• Check the box next to the post that you'd like to add a label to.
• Under the Search box, click the drop down menu for Label Actions. That will give you a list of all the labels you currently have published on your blog.
• Click the label you'd like applied to that post.

You can only add one label at a time, but if there are multiple posts you'd like to add that label to, simply check the box for each post you want it added to.

To remove labels from posts:

• Go to your Dashboard. 
•  Click to Edit Posts.
• Check the box next to the post that you'd like to remove a label from.
• Under the Search box, click the drop down menu for Label Actions. At the very bottom of the labels it offers, you'll find "Remove label" followed by a list of labels applied to that post.
• Click the label you'd like removed from that post.

Once again, you can only remove one label at a time, but you can remove it from multiple posts at the same time by checking the posts that you want it removed from.

Many bloggers have a list of their labels in the sidebar, others of us use our labels in our navbars/linkbars (tabs, above or below the blog header), a great way to display your blog features and main topics. Later I'll tell you how to use your labels in your navbar/linkbar.

To have a label list in your sidebar:

• Go to your Dashboard.
• Click Design.
• There on your Page Elements, in the sidebar area, click Add a Gadget.
• In the pop up menu list, select Labels.
• Select how you'd like your labels to appear, and click Save.
• It will automatically add it to the top of your sidebar area, but you can position it anywhere you'd like by clicking and dragging it.
• Save your work.

And there you have--why and how to use labels on your blog posts. Later I'll show you how to use them with your linkbar/navbar. =)

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Midwestern Life

It's gotten to the point that I don't often mention it when I post on other sites... that's not necessarily a good habit. To be honest, I post on several sites and it got to the point that I felt like all I was doing was posting notices here to visit me elsewhere, and that really, really bothered me. So I quit.

Each month, on the 5th and 22nd, I post at the Barn Door. I use lots of pictures that I take here, there, and yonder as I go through my days here in Southern Illinois. That's one reason why I love the Barn Door so much--it's just about life here in the Midwest. Down home. Easy. Comfortable. Very much me.

So, for that reason, today I'd like to invite you to join me at The Barn Door. It's simply a post about this season that I love. Few words. (Which makes it even better.) And if you're curious, *eye roll* you can see other places I post by clicking the Community tab above.

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Floss Your Heart

Raising kids is great, but it is not for the weak at heart! Why is it kids have to be constantly reminded to brush their teeth? You'd think they'd get tired (and grossed out) by their yucky tasting , scuzzy, scummy mouth, but they aren't. Even when reminded of how nice a minty clean mouth is, they still drag their feet and bellyache about brushing their teeth.

I was grumbling about that to God as I brushed my teeth, and when I finally paused for a breath I heard that still voice.


Don't you do the same thing?

He wasn't talking about brushing my teeth, but my heart. I felt like I'd been sucker punched. How many times have I done a ten second brush job—on my teeth and on my heart—hoping a blanket prayer would do the trick. 'Dear Lord, please forgive today's sins, amen.' --when what I really needed to do was a comprehensive brush, complete with a thorough flossing.

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. ~Proverbs 28: 13

Just like we need to use floss to get the grungies out from the crevices between our teeth, we need to use floss to reach into the hidden and secret crevices of our heart. Those are the places we like to tuck away—hide--the sin we don't want others to see. We all have those places, and we all need to stop concealing our transgressions there. If we continue to ignore them, the hidden sin will do to our lives the same thing that mouth grungies will do to our teeth: rot them. At the very least—give us bad breath. That tucked away sin will give us bad spiritual breath and will cause rot and decay in our lives.

Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.”
~Hosea 14:2

Blanket prayers are not what God wants. He wants us, His beloved children, to sit and talk with Him, to tell Him what we've done. It's that open communication that's so important. When we take words with us, we're confessing, which leads to true repentance. Confession removes the sin that will cause rottenness.

I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. ~Psalm 32:5

Acknowledged sin leads to confessed sin.
Confessed sin leads to forgiveness.

“Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” ~Isaiah 1:18b

The redemption price, and the consequence of our sin, has been paid in full already by the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God: Jesus. We don't have to carry around a heart full of nooks-and-crannies stuffed with sin. We just need to acknowledge and confess our sin to God, and He will forgive it. There's no reason for us to have spiritually bad breath when we can floss with the Word of God and spend time confessing.

When was the last time you not only brushed your soul, but flossed your heart, too?

Dear Heavenly Father, I confess to You my tendency to hurry through this matter of confession. It's not nice to see my sin, but Lord, You already see it and know all about it. Thank You for loving me in spite of it all, and please help me to bring words with me as I enter Your presence. I want to remove all that separates me from closeness to You, and that means digging into those out-of-the-way places and confessing that sin. I love You, Lord. In Your name I pray, amen.

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Don't Just Listen

Each week at Living by Grace, a devotional discussion Facebook group, we post a memory verse and this week's is James 1:22.

Do not merely listen to the word,
and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22

Be sure to check the Cafe for more links to WFW

Won't you join me memorizing James 1:22 this week at Living by Grace?

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Which Pix?

Now, for this week's installment of our a 2 z 4 u & me meme,

the letter X.

I tend to laugh when I look through my parent's pictures. Regardless of the year, almost every-other picture is of a flower. Really. Ask my sister. So this post is for you, Mom and Dad. All flowers...

Since the letter X is such a bug-a-boo, but NOT impossible, I have a little quiz for you.

Which of these flowers has the latin name of Xeliconia?

Leave your guesses in the comments and I'll draw a winner from the correct responses and send a picture of this year's theme verse, which you can see at the top of the sidebar. =)

I do believe that I'm now every bit as bad as my parents because if I see a pretty flower and have my camera (or my kids have theirs) I'm right there, getting a picture of it. Okay, so it's more than one thanx to my digital camera.

Getting pix of flowers is something I've come to very much enjoy, even though I know nothing about photography. LoL

Now, if you're stumped by which pix is xeliconia then here's a question for you...
If you were one of these flowers, which would you be?

Don't forget to leave that answer and your guess in the comments and I'll pick a winner from the correct guesses and announce it next Tuesday. =)

If you're joining us for the a 2 z 4 u & me meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter X, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here.

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