Snowflakes – Each One Unique

 

This year I made snowflakes, I usually do a crafting project for the holidays.  I know they look like tree ornaments, but they are not or they could be.  They are anything you want them to be.

As children we learned that each snowflake is unique.  Well as I was making these, I got a glimpse of our Heavenly Father’s creativity.  Each of my snowflakes is unique.  No two are identical.  Some obviously are very different, but some had the same types of beads.  However, I can assure you their loops were never the same!

You are perfectly and wonderfully made – a unique creation – a mighty miracle with Heavenly purpose.  My prayer is that if you are reading this that you may know intimately your Heavenly Father and walk in His ways all of your days.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  Psalm 139:14 KJV

So as I pondered snowflakes, a song kept rippling in my head.  I did a post about it here several years ago.  Special thanks to Susan White for singing that song and leading me into worship at moments of great need and moments of great sorrow through the years!

As we celebrate the Savior’s birthday (whether we got the date right or wrong) – remember that you are special and unique.  He came to earth to be born so that He could rescue you.  What love divine!

Blessings,

Sandie

Finding Gems & Sharing Them – Snowflakes – Each One Unique

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Good News — The Wise Still Seek Him & Find Him & Spread Joy to the World!

Good News – proclaim it from the rooftops, shout it to all the land!

The wise still seek Him.  They that seek find.

For unto us a Child is born.

Unto us a Son is given.

 

He shall be born in a manger; wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Joy to the World – the Messiah has come and He shall reign forever and ever!

 

Go and tell the world!

Finding Gems & Sharing Them – Good News — The Wise Still Seek Him & Find Him & Spread Joy to the World!

Wise Men Seek Him all the Time; Wise Men Give Gifts; Wise Men Love Others

Dear Friends,

Wise Men Still Seek HimEvery year, I try to write an annual letter because there are some people that I don’t see as often as I would like to and I love hearing from them and what they have been doing so I try to reciprocate. Some years it happens and other years it just doesn’t. Sometimes they go out at Thanksgiving time, other years near Christmas and sometimes they are around New Years. Looks like this one is headed for the latter zone!

Happy-New-Year-Icon

When I moved to Oklahoma in late 2004, I worked in the financial arena for several years. Then slowly, I became more and more involved in the political arena, mostly having to do with Ron Paul’s campaign for president. An entire movement grew out of those efforts, not just mine but so many wonderful people. I met so many other folks who care deeply about God and country and trying to get us back to life and liberty as the undercurrent to our decision-making. And then in 2009 along came the teaparty efforts and another wave of people generally like-minded awoke and I thought well there is hope and I continued for a bit until the teaparty became just another branch of the RNC or the previous ‘conservative’ wings to be talked about in campaign season and ignored once in office.

It gets old after a while!

Many of you know that my earthly father was a great bible teacher and a student of end times prophecy. One of his best friends, Jesse Jones and I began working together to publish some of Jesse’s books online. You can see this collection (available for free online here on Scribd)

JCJ Books 2015

Somewhere along this timeframe I began discovering the wonderful world of essential oils and the many health benefits of same. I am finding remarkable things about the ways they can change our lives for the better.  I use them daily for breathing, energy, pleasure, health, antibacterial uses, disease fighting, disease prevention, and a myriad of other ways to apply and enjoy. It was actually this cartoon, shared by several friends, that prompted this post.

Gifts from wise men - oils

I want to be about sharing the things that help us while here on planet earth, and the things which teach us about the Lord’s will and His ways and how following Him makes all the difference.  He made us and we work best when we follow the manufacturer’s handbook (the bible old and new testaments).

For I am the LordI change not;   Malachi 3:6

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  Hebrews 13:8

So one of the ways I am discovering more about Him is by rediscovering my Hebrew roots.  I am working to learn a little more about the Hebrew language, the Jewish feast days and the Jewish calendar (or I should say calendars).  I have done a post on this recently here so you can see more on the aleph bet gimmel cards and the biblical calendar.01 119 aleph

I still work on keeping information flowing to a group of people in Oklahoma and a few in other states as well interested in politics and how we may make a difference.  My ideas on what is important really have shifted a lot in recent years.  I used to think by electing the right people we could change the world.  I now believe that as we change the culture we will elect the right people.  Sadly from the looks of things in 2016, so far, we have a long ways to go.  People are still listening to the media and watching the presidential race and failing to pay attention to matters in their own backyards.  It begins at home and in our local communities!

We might begin by changing how we order our priorities, how we spend our time, who we do business with, how we spend money, and who we donate our time and treasure too.  I am talking to myself more than anyone else here, but if you find yourself in the same place, maybe we can hold each other accountable.

I have several goals for 2016 — some personal and some worth sharing.  I am working diligently to remove clutter from my life.  I want to know what is important and what is not.  Last year, I eliminated TV.  That simple step has reduced cost and increased time for other things and amazingly, I think I hear better in the spiritual realm without all the peripheral noise.  This year, I have begun my long term project of downsizing personal files and stacks of things to do.  Each pile is itself a project, so we’ll see how far that one goes!  I will continue helping people find the right oil(s) and doing personal research and sharing there as is appropriate but more than the oils and along with the oils, I want to pray with and encourage people to seek the Lord and respond in the time that we have to do so.

I have discovered Google Hangouts and am already on Skype.  If you would like to visit periodically that way let me know when we can connect and we’ll schedule something.  I am spending less and less time on the internet, so call me or text me to set something up.  And of course there’s always the old cellphone.

May you be blessed beyond measure as you seek to walk in His Way, along His Path, listening for and to His voice; blessing as many as you are able to in ways that you recognize and some that you are unaware of completely — moving in His Spirit to accomplish His Will at all times and in all places.  I look forward to seeing how our paths cross!

Blessings to you and yours,

Sandie

A Gift that Time Travels and Cat Cartoons Too!

eye candyChristmas season means lots of different things to lots of different cultures, but one thing seems to be fairly consistent.  It is a time to give gifts.

When we think about that from a Christian perspective, the greatest gift ever given was the baby Jesus — God coming to earth to rescue man from the bondage of sin with the ultimate consequence of death.  It is a priceless gift beyond anything we can comprehend and explain to others.  To fully enjoy a gift one must unwrap it and embrace it and share it with others!  One would most naturally be thankful to the giver for the precious gift and say so in many ways.  We tell others about the rescue and that they can be rescued to, but some don’t even know they need to be rescued yet.  To those friends we stand ready to share in more appropriate times as the door opens for us to share.  This is an example of a gift that gives beyond life on this planet and steps into eternity.

I am going to tell you about a gift in my life that has given beyond the lifetime of the giver.  You have them too, but maybe this will help you put them in perspective and treasure them all the more.  Maybe this will help you package your gifts to others in such a way that they give beyond a lifetime.  Give them the story that goes with the gift.  Give them good memories.  Give them a treasure of wisdom, a sparkle of imagination, a blessing that multiplies.  Gifts of time and treasure accompanied with love and prayers are the best!

Back in the early 2000’s a good friend of mine who knew of my love for cats (he was a dog person), began sending me cat cartoons and cards rather routinely.  They were often accompanied with the political wisdom of the day also, but that is another story.  I always enjoyed the cards and cartoons and shared some further by email with personal notes back then.  I saved them and realized at some point that I had quite a collection.  It wasn’t until I started clipping and organizing them (with the help of another friend) that I realized how much time and treasure was in the gift of finding them and sending them to me originally.  They turned into a cat cartoon album that sits on my living room coffee table and has brought many a smile to many a guest and of course to me.

In 2006 I had a foreign exchange student named Hanna, who did the cover artwork for me as a gift.  She wonderfully captured the personality of my three cats Ivory, Ebony, and Peaches (L-R).  Ivory was primping, Ebony had on a top hat, and Peaches while she has a halo on her head was sharpening her claws.

Cats Do Talk by Hanna 2006

This year I scanned the pages and put the cartoon album online for my family for Christmas. Hanna’s artwork will be the cover online competing with the New Yorker cat cover on the album on my coffee table.   I hope the smiles will multiply from generation to generation.  There is nothing like the sparkle of light and laughter originally captured and put on paper by someone you love.  The light bulb moment shared.  The blessing multiplied.

Here is the album on scribd (and it is a work in progress).  It is dedicated to our family pets through the years.  There was Count, the pedigreed boxer and then Shadow, the miniature blue poodle and delight of my early years.  Then there was Pierre, the gray tom cat; then Tina the long haired white and gray talker (with a special bird trill alert alarm).  At the Caswell household, we have Calvin and Hobbes, the bengals  — smart, playful, and cuddly too.  Then there were the Garland ferrell cats —  Auria, Melody, Jazz and more!  And last but certainly not least the three pictured above, Ivory (blue eyed female with Siamese markings and playfulness too),  Ebony (golden eyed black male love bug),  and Peaches (green eyed Calico female with a  love of running water).

Some of the cartoonists collected over the years and included are listed below:

Crankshaft

Family Circus

Far Side

Larson Fav - cat fud ->

one of my all time favorites…

Frank and Ernest

Garfield

Get Fuzzy

Hazel

Heathcliff

Mother Goose & Grimm

Mutt

Pickles

Rhymes with Orange

Rose is Rose

Speed Bump

That’s Life

The Bucket

Ziggy

Communing with Cats — selected pages from Cat Fancy 2002

Super Bowl Commercial about Cat Herding – article from 2001

Cat and Fish Bowl ad from Washington Post

Share the laughter and enjoy!

Wise Men still Seek Him & Give Gifts

While pondering the practice of gift giving, I realized that the story of the Wise Men and the ‘Gift of the Magi’ is a profound expression of seeking Him earnestly and giving Him your most precious gifts.  I realized that not only do Wise Men Seek Him while He may yet be found, but Wise Men offer Him their lives as well as their earthly treasure. The result is unspeakable, unexplainable, profound and mind bending — life changing.  I highly recommend that you enjoy the search and the gift.

.

You thought you were giving up something?

Look again at what He gave you.  We have eternity to enjoy unraveling the mystery and the awe of it all!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~

[originally posted in 2010 here]

Posted by Sandra Crosnoe for Finding Gems & Sharing Them

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