TRUFFLES FROM GOD

My name is Pat. I am a chocoholic.

Yes, I confess I LOVE chocolate...preferably dark chocolate and preferably LOTS of it.

I love Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate morsels straight from the bag...

I love old fashioned chocolate cake. Ruthie House makes the BEST!! My son-in-love and I had a conversation the other day about the things some people eat for breakfast that are NOT breakfast items, such as hot wings, pizza, spaghetti, etc. YUK!! But...I do confess the one non-breakfast thing I CAN eat is chocolate cake...with a tall glass of ice cold milk.

I love strawberries dipped in chocolate....

I love chocolate ice cream, any shape, form or fashion.....

I love decadent chocolate desserts. One of my fondest memories is of one at the Opryland Hotel years ago. It was extremely rich and had a delectable raspberry sauce......yuuuummmmmm.....

I love chocolate covered cherries. I cannot be held totally responsible for this love though, I inherited it from my grandmother. I will say my tastes have changed over the years, however, as now I really prefer the dark chocolate with the clear filling as opposed to the white. I try hard to stay away from them at Christmas, as I can't eat just one.

A few years ago when the Harry and David store was still in the Memphis area, they were giving away chocolate-raspberry truffles. Oh my goodness!!! Even now my mouth waters just thinking of them. They were out of this world, they were SOOOOO good!!!

Isn't it amazing how something so little can be SO good? And how much enjoyment we can get from the little things ?

I bought a book several years ago and I think it was called "TRUFFLES FROM GOD". I loaned it to someone and never got it back, but I loved that book! The writer wrote about numerous "truffles" that God would bestow on her day after day. Little things that you might ordinarily overlook or take for granted, she became very aware were just little blessings from God to brighten her day.

Lately I've found God blessing me with some truffles too, and when He would I would find myself just smiling and saying to Him "Oh God...you are so SWEET to me!" You know how a friend will do something for you....something unexpected, but it just makes your day? And, when a friend does that, more often than not we say "Awww...that was so sweet of you...thank you SO much!" Well, God does that for us all the time, but too often we are too busy or too preoccupied with ourselves to notice.

Just yesterday I met a new friend at Bible study. Alice shared with me that she had just moved here 2 months ago and did not really know anyone. As she was walking her dog the day before, she began to pray, "Lord...I really need a friend. Won't you please send me a friend?" The very next day at her son's baseball practice she met Sandra. Now here is where it gets good! Not only does Sandra have a son in baseball like Alice, Sandra is also her neighbor AND they attend the same church!! So yesterday, they came to Bible study TOGETHER! A testimony to the sweetness of our God, who knows the deepest longings of our heart and delights to provide for His children just like we delight to bless our children.

I had been thinking about this yesterday and this morning I read:

"So I will praise You as long as I live; at Your name I will lift up my hands. You satisfy me as with rich food (TRUFFLES!), my mouth will praise You with joyful lips." Psalm 63: 4,5

I hope today YOU will enjoy some Truffles from God!

THE BEST VALENTINE

My sweet husband gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers yesterday for Valentines. But when I got up this morning, several stems had drooped to the counter and the rose petals had begun to fall.

As I was working on a Bible study that I am teaching, a question was asked "Do you think complete surrender to God is attainable for believers or was it just possible for Jesus because He was God's Son?"

That question led me to a thought that had been rumbling in my head since yesterday. One of our worship leaders spoke of how each of us has a deep chasm within us that needs to be filled. We try to fill it with all sorts of things....work, possessions, family, church, etc. But nothing can fill that void except Jesus.

I began to think after she said that 'what would it be like if we could allow Him to fill that void....TOTALLY fill it...to surrender everything else to Him so that He completely filled that void so that as long as we had Him, nothing else mattered. Everything else would just be "gravy" so to speak.

As I meditated on that for a while, a song came to my mind...GIVE ME JESUS. As I listened to it, I couldn't help but think HE is truly what we need. He is EVERYTHING we need. He is ALL we need.

He is our best VALENTINE! When the flowers have wilted and died, when the chocolate has been devoured, when the cards have been filed away....JESUS still remains.

What my heart really needs is JESUS.

FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME

My delightful friend and fellow "Mom to Mom" Bible study leader, Jean Stockdale (see her link at right) has challenged me to share FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME.

1. I love the ocean! I could sit for hours on end just watching the waves roll in and out. I love the sight, the sound and the smell. When I go for a visit, do NOT put me across the street or where I have an "ocean view". I won't to be within spitting distance, if at all possible! (I don't have to get IN it to enjoy it ---one close call with the undertow did it for me ) There I can shut out the world. There I can feel the presence of the Lord all around me. "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon the many waters." Psalm 29:3

2. My favorite Phillip Keller book is Sea Edge, now out of print. Every time I get the chance to go to the ocean, I take that book. The first chapter is entitled "My Bit of Beach".

From the first hour that I strolled, barefooted, along the shimmering sands of this remote bit of beach, I fell in love with it. It lay warm, secluded and peaceful at the base of rugged cliffs that had faced the surge of a thousand Pacific storms.

It had taken patience and endurance to discover the spot. I followed every road and scrambled down any cliff trail that led toward the ocean edge. Some trails came to empty dead ends. Even more were closed to public access. Then, at last, one sunny afternoon in eary May I clambered down a steep, broken bank overgrown with wild beach peas and found my bit of beach.

A profound sense of peace swept over me. It was every bit as real and palpable and strong as the incoming tide running across the golden sand. Here was intense inspiration of spirit, as tangible as the warm thermals rising against the sun-drenched ramparts of rock soaring above the beach. Everywhere was beauty, splendor---the eternal impace of my Father's wondrous design conveyed to me in grandeur and loveliness.

At such moments----interludes of intense delight and keen spiritual perception----our inner souls long with exquisite yearning to know that somehow they shall endure. And little did I dream on that sun-splashed spring day, seven years ago, that in God's own good time, my permanent home would be perched on a height of land just a few hundred yards from this special spot.

Such is the gracious touch of God's hand upon our little lives. It is His generous pleasure to give us dreams. It is His unique habit to help us see those fond hopes come to exciting reality and heart-pounding fulfillment. This is all part of the exquisite wonder of knowing Him as a dear companion.

He and He alone, was aware how I would be nourished by each breath of so much space and light---such sharp, cool, clean air from the vastness of the ocean. Here He would, through the sea and sand and sun and surf, disclose to my heart eternal principles that stirred me to the depths. Here I would understand some of the mystery of His ways with man. Here He would speak to me in terms a comman man, like myself, could clearly grasp with acute perception.

From this bit of sea edge He has shown me, dramatically, tremendous truths in the form of ocean parables. These cameos of His own greatness are not mine alone to be hugged only to my heart. They are a legacy for all of us who have come to know and love Him.

3. I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate.

4. I am blessed to have a circle of friends called the "Divine Divas". Most of us have been friends for over 30 years! We meet once a month for dinner and some of us who still have small grandchildren meet once a month for an outing with them.

5. I love to scrapbook!!!!!! I can lose myself for hours...no, days if given the opportunitiy...to scrapbooking. To me, it is more than just collecting photos. It is creating a legacy of faith for our children and grands so that in the ages to come they will see how God blessed us and how He was faithful to us.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Today is a day for lovers. All over the world today, thousands....maybe MILLIONS of women will be lavished with roses, chocolate, perfume, teddy bears, diamonds and more....all in the name of LOVE.

Maybe you are one of the lucky women who will be acknowledged and pampered and treated with one of the above. Or maybe you are alone and for you Valentine's Day is a day that makes you feel more alone than ever...more unloved, more unwanted, more undesirable than any other day of the year.

Maybe you are a widow and you remember your husband today and all the Valentines you shared together, and you miss him terribly today. Today makes you sad.

So here's a thought today for ALL of us...men and women, attached and unattached, expecting a Valentine or expecting nothing. Today is ultimately about L-O-V-E. And Love is about giving. Think back to our Love chapter, I Corinthians 13: 4-8:

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

(The Message)

If we read this and remember, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME....Let me say that again....IT'S NOT ABOUT ME (OR YOU!!), it's about glorifying God with all that we are and all that we have, we can ultimately make this the best Valentines Day ever!

How? By reaching out to someone else today. Reach out to someone who may not normally receive a Valentine. Maybe you have an elderly neighbor who lives alone. Maybe you know of a young woman who is not in a relationship and will probably spend today alone. Maybe it's the girl in the checkout line at Walmart who will check out every guy's last minute Valentine purchase today, standing 8-10 hours on her feet, making minimum wage to put food on the table for her kids, with no thought of a Valentine from her husband....maybe while you are picking up a bouquet for YOUR sweetheart....you could pick up one for her and just give it to her after she checks you out....or leave it anonymously at the Service Desk and ask them to give it to her. Maybe you could do something nice for your parents or your grandparents today or an aunt or uncle. Maybe you could take a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates to the local nursing home and ask the manager to just give them anonymously to someone who never has a visitor or gets a gift...they will know.

Ask God to direct you today. Ask Him who YOU can be a blessing to today! I guarantee you He will show you and this will be the BEST Valentine's Day you will ever have!!!!!!!!!