Elise's Perspective

Reflections are very interesting...they help you see the objects and scenery around you in a new way. I took some neat reflection shots today, and thought I would share them:) A smiling face in a tea cup:) Yes, I know, the computer screen is pretty dirty;) And while we are on the subject of reflections...I thought I would "reflect" on January so you get a little update on what I have been doing:) Since I was working in the general contracting world for several months, I learned some useful skills, and have recently been putting them to good use here in my home. We built our home many years ago, but moved in before the interior was finished. Doors needed to be put up, base trim, door trim, and painting all needed to be done. So now that I have those skills, and some time, I have taken on the job of finishing the inside of our house:) When I get a chance, I will take some pictures of projects I finish and post them for you. Besides that, I am still te...

While listening to a sermon  this morning by Voddie Bauchum, I found the content of his sermon very interesting, and I took some notes. I thought I would share them with you, and don't forget, these are my notes  on his sermon;)  There are four questions that most, if not all people ask... 1. Who am I?  2. Why am I here? 3. What is wrong with this world?  4. How can what is wrong, be made right? Bauchum went into great detail, that I couldn't write down, so I will share what I did write:) First- here are the worlds answers... 1. You are nobody....a mistake, an accident.  2. To consume and enjoy...(and he added in there..."get all you can, can all you get and sit on the can";)  3. People are either insufficantly educated, or insufficantly governed.  4. By getting/giving more education, and governing more carefully. - Either people need to know more, or they need to be more carefully watched.  Does that sound like a good world view? Makes you w...

As beautiful as this snow is, I was reminded of something even more beautiful tonight. I was thinking about all the children who don't have a good home, or worse, no home at all, and want to be loved so bad. The only person who can fix those children's problems is Jesus, through me and you.  As I thought about what I wanted to do after graduation this past year, the thought that kept coming to me seemed so simplistic, "I just want to help needy, and hurting people." And I prayed that God would use me to do that, somehow, someway. But as I was thinking about all the hurt in this world, and at the time, particularly for children in foster care and such, it made me angry that the government is so controlling and won't let those who truly care, do what the children really need. And for some reason, John 15:35 came to mind,"Jesus  wept", and that may sound like such a random verse, but my train of thought gave that verse a renewed meaning. Jesus wasn't we...

On the way home from church one Sunday, a little girl said to here mom, " Mom, our Sunday school teacher said God is big enough to hold the world in His hands, is that true?" Her mom answered, "Yes, dear." Then the little girl turned to her Daddy, "Daddy, our teacher also said that if we ask Him to, Jesus will live inside us. Is that true too?" "Yes, Honey." Her Daddy nodded. "And God and Jesus are the same person, right?" The little girl added. "Yes, that's right." Her Daddy answered. "Well, if Jesus is so big that He can hold the world in His hand, but He can also live in me, and I am so small, why doesn't He show through?" WOW! If you take that question and think about it differently... Christ should be showing through us! We are broken vessels and His light needs to be shining through our cracks. Think about what that little girl was asking, in a indirect way.  She didn't even realize the trut...

I was reading through some quotes I had written down a while ago, and thought I would share them with you all so you can be encouraged as well:)  "If prayer is birthed out of desperation, than anything that makes me desperate for God is a blessing." ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss "God is always doing 10,000 things in your life and you may be aware of three of them." - John Piper "You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have." - Corrie Ten Boom "We make a god out of whatever we find most joy in. So find your joy in God and be done with idolatry." - John Piper  "The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest." - Elizabeth Elliot "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of christian, but the fact that I am a christian, does make me a different kind of woman." - Elizabeth E...

In an effort to blog more, I am going to cut down on my Instagram page and try to make more time for writing here:)  Half the time my post are longer than a typical Instagram post, so if I take a little more time, I think I can keep up more regularly with my blog:)  Recently I wrote down some thoughts on joy, I thought I would share them... "When we have "lost" our joy, one thing to ask ourselves is, what is stealing our joy? Is it an issue, a thing or even a person, that we are allowing to steal our joy? Once we have thought about this, we need to give this thing, issue or even person, to the Lord and not try to take it back again later. If we can trust the Lord with salvation, can we not trust Him with this thing? We can not find joy in the things of this world; our joy can only be found in Jesus. When we are fully concentrating on our Lord, the things of this world can not enter our mind and thoughts, and therefore, can not steal our joy.  I suppose it is possible to ...

I was thinking about what my New Years goals and resolutions should be while playing the piano the other night and I was singing this song, and I thought, "I couldn't have better goals and resolutions than these..." Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee, take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King! Take my silver and my gold, not a mite w ill I withhold. Take my heart it is Thy own, it will be Thy royal throne. Take my will and make it Thine, it will be no longer mine.  Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love!  Take my love; my Lord, I pour, at thy feet it's treasure store. take myself, and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee."  "May the mind of Christ my Savior live in me from day to day, by His love and power controlling- All I Do And Say."   There is much that I am unsure about in this...

Well, folks, I don't know if anyone ever reads my blog, but if you do- I guess you have realized that I haven't blogged in a while:)  I don't have as much spare time as did at one time, but that doesn't mean I enjoy blogging any less. Life marches on and it seems the older you get, the faster it marches. {Do I have any Amens?} If you have an instagram account and follow me, you will probably know some of what has been keeping me busy, but for those of you who don't, I will give a little update:)  December was full of chicken processing, caroling, Christmas concerts for my sisters and I, prayer meeting, travels to DE and PA to visit family for Christmas, a Christmas party for the young people and adults at church, finishing my work with the contracting business, teaching piano as well as our annual Christmas service. We kicked off the New Year by having some friends over and making eight homemade pizzas, (yes, I was in charge of getting them all made, and I loved...