Another Message on the Beach ... THIS Year
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Sunrise Serendipities -- a Trip into Yesteryear
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Sunrises are always serendipities -- not that we don't expect them and not that they don't always come, but we never know what we will get. Each one is different, and each one is a gift from the hand of our Creator! Maybe the gift part is more true than we realize, because each sunrise signals a new day. And really, none of us is promised that day ahead of time...pure grace when it comes!
Read MoreA Message on the Beach ... Last Year
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I was walking one morning on the beach at sunrise, taking in the glory of the vastness of the Ocean (my favorite metaphor for God) and the littleness of me.
All of a sudden, I stopped dead in my tracks…Wait! I had just walked this way a few minutes ago.
Read MoreOcean Sunrise in Scripture & Song
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For several years before my mom went home to Jesus, I spent lots of precious time with her on the coast in New Jersey. One of the highlights had always been my early morning walks along the beach at sunrise.
I’m returning to this blog that I wrote after a sweet summer with my mom at my sister's house in Belmar.
Maybe you too need some peaceful reflection today. Why not join me as I "go down the shore" and enjoy the glory of our great Creator in pictures (my own), Scriptures and song.
Blessings, my friend.
Read MoreThis "Branch" is going "Down the Shore" Again
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From my very first year of blogging and many years since, I’ve been blogging my journeys to my “happy place”…the Jersey Shore.
A portion of this blogpost is a trip into yesteryear —one of my early Jersey shore blogs, Aug 2016.
And actually in a couple days, we will again be on our way to that favorite place on earth for me. It’s not just the ocean that calls me. It’s my roots — the precious loved ones (family and friends) and memories of my growing up years. So off we go for another adventure…
Read MoreBlessing: Watching The Chosen again
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My husband and I started watching The Chosen for the third time through. This truly riveting dramatic series has grabbed our hearts and minds.
Read MoreA Morning Conversation in a Time of Upheaval
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I sit with my Father,
Abba Father God,
I hold onto You today as I do everyday.
I am secure because You are holding onto me. Thank you..
I like just sitting here with You. I don’t have to know all the “stuff,” do I?
I don’t have to get it all straight so I fit into “the camp,” whatever that may be, right?
I’m not sure I even belong to one.
No Negative Self-Talk: the Father HIMSELF Loves You
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Do you know in the depths of your being that God your Father loves you and even likes you? Or do you feel like He just tolerates you; puts up with you?
Does negative self-talk dog your steps? Are these your thoughts and maybe even words out of your mouth:
Read MoreGod Loves Coffee and Coffee-Drinkers
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I’m a coffee drinker. Many of us East Coast natives grew up watching our parents sip the brew every evening after supper. There was no Starbucks back then, but in NJ we did have Dunkin Donuts L-O-N-G before it ever crept into the Midwest….
Read MoreHe HIMSELF: our Peace
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For he himself is our peace…
Ephesians 2:13-14a
Peace is a Person. Peace is not an entity that God pours down on us if we ask correctly. No, a Person, the Lord Jesus, is Peace. And if we have that Person, we have Peace residing within us.
Read MoreLoving God for HIMSELF
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… As far back as I can remember, I have always loved God. I can’t remember when I had the very first loving thoughts and feelings toward God. But He has always been most important to me. …
My granddaughter Claire asked me one day,
“Babci, Who told you about God?”
My immediate reply,
“My mommy told me about God.” And she had because God was her life.
Read MoreHE HIMSELF: An Amazing Double Emphasis
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… for He Himself has said,
“I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,”
…In this post, I’m focusing on another of my favorite words. Himself!
He Himself … Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God and Son of Man.
Happy Dependence Day 2024
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Here at A Branch in the Vine, we are proclaiming our Declaration of Dependence! We are celebrating that every day is Dependence Day for those of us who "live from the life of Another."
Read MoreSIMPLICITY IN CHRIST -- HE IS the Christian LIFE
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Christianity is a PERSON, not a procedure; the LORD, not a list! Not church attendance, not Christ-like qualities, not good works, not the Christian "to-do list" (which may vary depending on the group and "camp" you are in)...
Not evangelism, not mission trips, not a quality "quiet time," not Scripture memorization or Bible study...
Not spiritual disciplines, not prayer, not fasting, not obedience, not miracle-working faith...
Read MoreSIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: Morning Thoughts for Battles You Face Today
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But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV
Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ.
May you rejoice in this gift of another day to experience the sufficiency of Christ who lives in you today … right now.
And let’s face it … there will be battles today in this fallen world. Christ has won the war. But while we are here on earth, we will face opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil (who uses the world and the flesh to lie to us and lure our dependence away from our loving Father God).
So here are a few thoughts and scriptures that may help as we face our today:
Read MoreRevisiting My Needed, Favorite Words
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I have favorite words…do you?
Maybe because my “love language” is words of affirmation, I treasure words … especially words I hear from God. Sometimes His words are those that “jump off the page of Scripture.” Sometimes they are words that enter my consciousness, gently or suddenly or in response to a question I barely had time to ask.
Called to Be Spiritual Fathers/Mothers
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If we are followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, siblings in the family of God, we are called to mature into “spiritual fatherhood/motherhood” in the family.
Is that a surprising thought? Let's think together about this idea of "spiritual parenting."
In his first letter, the fatherly, aged apostle John penned a tenderhearted passage on the growth stages in a believer's life.
Read MoreI Have a Father
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For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. …
As we come up to Fathers’ Day, I’m remembering this song. Its a heart-warming reminder of my True Father, and it grabs my grieving soul with its moving music and lyric.
You see, the beautiful person deep inside my earthly father had been often obscured by the abuse of alcohol that trapped his soul and body. (Remembering My Dad)
Oh how sad and painfully tragic! Oh how I miss the real Daddy whom I truly loved yet often “hated” at the same time.
Read MorePraise to You, O Father of Mercies, for These Graduated Beloved Ones
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O Abba Father,
I am so grateful! You worked it out. Despite my sickness and hospitalization, you gave me the desire of my heart … to be at the high school graduations of our two oldest grandsons — in two different states, spaced 10 days apart. Amazing!
Read MoreSurrendering to the Will of Another: my recent hospital stay
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It all started a week ago. At first it seemed to be a severe cold compounded by allergies. But it was continually morphing throughout the week. I cancelled everything I could to rest and recover. Our two oldest grandsons would be graduating soon, though a week apart in different states, and we had plans to be at both.
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