God is Stronger than Our Loneliness

The Bible study, Stronger

has been awesome.

I've felt for some times that

one of the greatest needs

that we have is

community.

Maybe that's why I blog.

Stephen Marche, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely", writes

We are living in an isolation that would

have been unimaginable to our ancestors,

and yet we have never been more accessible.

Within this world of instant and absolute communication, 
unbounded by limits of time and space, 
we suffer from unprecedented alienation.
We have never been more detached from one another,

or lonelier.

 

FACEBOOK arrived in the middle of a dramatic

increase in the quantity and intensity of human loneliness,

a rise that initially made the site's promise of greater

connection seem deeply attractive... (yet)

Americans are more solitary than ever before.

Angela Thomas says,

Reasons for our loneliness are as diverse as

our personalities and journeys.

In my grief,

I longed for community, connection, and friendships

but they eluded me.

Much of my loneliness was of my own making.

Lonely, but fear of being lonelier.

During this study with another group of ladies,

I asked the question,

"From your experience, how do you connect?

What's the secret?"

The answers varied, but we all agreed,

for the Christian, God is greater, stronger

than our loneliness.

I cling to His promise,

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5

If we translated this from the original

Greek it would read more like this,

"I will not, I will not, I will not,

let you down, leave you in a lurch,

leave you destitute, leave you in straits or helpless,

or abandon you."

In my season of loneliness,

I found connection from unexpected people

in unexpected places. 

I walked in class this week
and this was sitting on my table.
A gift from a new friend.

It will forever remain among my treasures, 

to remind me that
God is stronger than my loneliness.
He is enough.

However,  He also knows that connections,
and friendships and relationships in Him are important
to our being whole.



Thankful that God is Stronger, 

Bonnie:)



Home is...

Last night I played around with 

burlap ribbon.

My first attempt at making a banner,
Ugh!!!

Certainly not booth-worthy,
but works for me.

The cat wanted to play with the string.
I was afraid of hot gluing her paws,
instead, I hot glued mine.
OUCH!

I so want to be near my children.
I pray for it, I hope for it, I desire it.
It may not happen, but I'm not afraid
to go boldly to the throne to ask for it!

Mr. H says, "You won't be happy in Nashville."
Who's he trying to convince???

Because home is where those I love are.

I've always heard,
Home is where the Heart Is

I believe that!
Part of my home is here,
but part is in Nashville.
Can a heart reside in two places?

Home is the person or place 
you want to return to
over and over again.

Our home is small.
It was here that we raised our children,
here in this 1000 sq ft home.

We loved, laughed, cried, got angry.
There was no pretense in our home.
We were real-
sometimes words were spoken harshly
with honest, raw emotions.
But we were quick to say,
"I love you. I'm sorry."


Having somewhere to go is HOME.
Having someone to love is family.
Having both is a blessing.

We are blessed.

Home is not where you live, but
where they understand you.

If this is true, and it is,
then some children don't have a home.

This makes me sad:(

I thought I made this up,
Friends come and friends go,
but family is forever.
I found out I didn't.

Do you dream about your home?
In my dream,
home is always the home of my childhood.

Home is where love resides,
Memories are made,
Friends are always welcome, 
and
Family is forever.

Thankful for my memories.

Home is anywhere
Callie can find a place to plop.

Finish the sentence,
Home is...

May You Find Your Way Home,

Bonnie:)

Does Primitive Mean Old?

Primitive stuff for the primitive-loving folks. 

Does primitive mean old?

Does that mean old stuff for the old folks?

I didn't think so!

Although the quilt had a tag (which means it's not old), 

I bought it because it looked old.

I got it for $12.50 at the estate sale 

that I mentioned on my last post.

The stars are wooden and great!

I need to fill my booth 

so I'm gonna sell the stars

(not the quilt).

I know I will regret later!

Especially since I want to turn one of my rooms 

into primitive-style.

The quilt will be perfect!

Yeah!  

Vintage ornaments! 

A year of hunting should give me a

full tree by Christmas. 

High winds are predicted for Friday

in Central Georgia.  

Hope that doesn't mean more falling limbs.

YIKES!

Bonnie:)

Pieces of Yesteryears

I love canning jars and milk bottles.

The color of this is cornflower blue.
All the others I have are aqua.
This is my favorite. 

We collected and used them 

for my daughter's reception

and my son's rehearsal dinner.

We had so many flowers 

that we gave them away, 

jars and all.  

A day later, 

I was just sick

with REGRET!

This is the first milk bottle

that's I've found since then,

that's within my price range. 

My budget is $3 for bottles

and $5 for jars.

I also bought the milk stool at the estate sale.

You would not believe how many 

of these I have sold!

This one I will keep.

A milking stool and a milk bottle-

pieces of yesteryears. 

Oh, the stories my mama would tell!

During the ice storm

and no coffee,

we thought about using this

on the gas grill.

Hey, it could happen!

Hope your day has been as sunny as mine. 

Loving 73 degrees and wind blowing.

Bonnie:)