Dedicated to God, Dedicated to Each Other

Blessed are the husband and wife who humbly dedicate their lives and their home to Christ and practice the teachings of Christ in their home by being unselfish, loyal, and loving. Author unknown

According to Webster the word dedicate means to set apart for a definite use, to commit to a goal or way of life, to offer, donate, and bestow. We dedicate ourselves to our favorite sport as we train to be the best at it. We dedicate ourselves to our job or a hobby we love, to the point where that is all we seem to do. When we get married we dedicate our lives to our spouse as we promise to love honor and obey them.

We like the sound of dedicating our lives to a sport, hobby, or job but when someone mentions being dedicated to our spouse we tend to cringe. Whether we like it or not this is the way God set it up to be. We were made to be together dedicating our lives, families, and home to Christ.

One must ask the question, “What does it take to be dedicated?” It certainly takes strength, determination, and the will to succeed. We need to be willing to give it our all and hold back nothing. Strong enough to weather the storms and diverse enough to live our lives together with the one we love instead of letting our attitude of, “It’s my way or the highway” separate us emotionally and spiritually.

In the amplified Bible they give the definition of blessed as “happy, fortunate, to be envied.” If you put the two definitions of blessed and dedicated together you come up with, “Blessed or happy, fortunate, to be envied are the husband and wife who humbly dedicate, set apart their family for a definite use, to commit to the goal or way of life that is found in Christ.”

Wow, that is a wonderful definition that we need to hold on to and remember. Remember like we should commit to memory the first time we fell in love with our spouse. Once when I was at Disneyland with a friend every time I saw a couple that was kissing and smiling at one another I prayed for them to “remember Disneyland.” Later in their lives as it happens to everyone, there will be moments of doubt, stress, and difficult times that will make anyone wonder if they really were in love in the first place.

We need to remember our commitment to one another and to Christ as well. Living daily, in spite of the season we are in at the time, loyal, loving, and unselfish lives. Dedicated to doing well, to stand by Christ and the commandments He has given us to follow and stand by each other. As we would never in our lives forget we were dedicated to the sport of football or the hobby of oil painting we should never forget our dedication to each other.

Someone once said the longest sentence in the English language is, “I do.” How long that sentence is, how well it is spent, the good moments we get out of it all depends on us and our attitude going in and our dedication to Christ to succeed. But what about if …….. this or ……….. that happens! STOP! We can't live our lives on the “what ifs.” We need to move forward in our dedication and leave the rest to the Lord. No worries about the “what ifs” only the determination to succeed whether we truly do or not.

My husband sometimes probably thinks he got the raw end of the deal going into our marriage. He should have checked my medical records but they weren’t created yet. A week after being married I had a grand mal seizure, lost my job, my driver’s license was taken away and I was disabled for 12 years before being cured. Twenty years would pass and I would be diagnosed with breast and bone cancer. Was this what he signed up for? More or less, yes, as our marriage license didn’t assure us smooth sailing ahead but our dedication to each other and to God would assure us success, strength, and the ability to endure, together, dedicated to Jesus and that is where we all need to be.

Love you Don, thanks for loving me through the thick and thin of life.

Our host today is Urailak at her blog , LivingforGod it’s a must that you go there and read and share with others what they have to say about today’s quote. For some it’s not a happy subject as things have happened in their relationships but with God we are still able to move forward, to rise above those moments, take our struggles and learn from them instead of allowing ourselves to fall a victim to what deck of cards life has handed us.

Welcome to the Family

Our children can learn that . . . . the concept of “family” does not rest solely on biology.
They can learn that love transcends many artificial boundaries frequently put into place by humans. They can learn that closing one door can open another door and another and another . . . . ” Caroline Harding, adoptive parent

 On my blogspot for kids I have a page reserved for encouragement for my grandkids. The encouragement that is offered there is for all my grandkids “whether adopted by love or acquired by blood.” Technically by blood or biologically I have four grandchildren. By love, all the ones I have adopted over the years I have over eleven. I even have a great granddaughter who was adopted by love. All of which have been welcomed into our family one by one.

Recently one of my adopted grandchildren was concerned about her real grandfather who was recently put on hospice. I asked her Aunt if I had permission to talk to Jayleena about the latest news regarding his health. The response I got was, “Well, you are her grandma. Yes, you can tell her.” It made me feel good inside knowing I not only had adopted her as my child but they had adopted me as well.

It was like a program our church started for the seniors. It was a “adopt a grandparent” program where the younger generation got to pick an older couple to watch over them and encouragement them as a grandchild would. The couple I chose was the perfect pair. Immediately they adopted me just as much or more as I had them. They were the most wonderful pair. Grandma Bunny passed away this year but I still have Grandpa Chuck to love on.

It is so true that the concept of family doesn’t have to rest solely on whether you are biologically related by blood or adopted by love. It goes beyond that. It goes beyond step-siblings and half-brothers or prodigal relatives. What a blessed feeling it is to know that we are loved enough to be adopted by someone.

Loved enough to be accepted into ones family circle, to be a part of the family tree with no missing branches or fallen limbs. Cared about enough to be invited in to where we originally were not planted. We don’t have to put a boundary on our love and who we will accept or not. It’s not something to be ashamed of that you are “only adopted.” It’s a privilege to be adopted into a family just like it is to be adopted by God into His family. With either it’s up to us to receive the invitation as we are welcomed with open arms.

They are wrong when they say, “You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives.” You may not get to pick all of your relatives but there are a lot out there we can pick from. The choice becomes ours if we are willing to open up our hearts to something more. The key is finding the room or better yet making the room to allow others to enter and call your heart, their home.

Welcome to the family!

Our host today in Nina at Mama’s Little Treasures, you need to run over there and join in our Tuesday circle as we write and share about today’s quote.

Truly Thankful

This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him. Psalm 91:2 NLT



I love how this scripture starts out, “This I declare about the Lord!” It gives that firm finger wagging opening approach we use to get from the preachers at the pulpit. Penny Penhollow the preacher I grew up with in Powell Butte Oregon was good at that. He really got into his sermons and how he presented them served as a funnel suction that drew the congregation into what he felt, believed, and lived out in his life. It would do us well to be like those who are willing to stand up and declare to all those around us what we feel about the Lord and what He is to us. To be thankful for and appreciate all He has done whether we understand what is going on or not.


Whenever I read in the Bible a scripture that talks about God is my refuge, my place of safety, my God, my rock, my redeemer, my Savior, etc. I circle the word MY. I claim those as MY own as we all should. 1 Samuel 22 has a whole list of MY’s that would do us well to look at them and claim them for ourselves. We need to do so by putting out our voices or finger and state in words and action “This I declare about the Lord, He alone, alone, unaccompanied, single-handedly, without help, no one else, by Himself is MY ……. and let the list begin.


In today’s society we are guilty as charged of not telling our love ones enough what we think about them in the positive manner. We are quick to criticize and slow to praise. We have gotten that way with our worship and praise of God. We are quick to criticize what He has or hasn’t done in our lives but we are slow to praise Him and declare, announce, speak out, affirm what He truly means to us.


How is anyone ever going to know what we feel about the Lord or others if it’s never stated? One of our biggest problems I think we have with this is we assume too much. We assume our love ones should know we love them and God should know it too. What more do they expect, we don’t have time to stop and say it. ‘Good gravy,’ we’re busy people! A quick text should do. We don’t have time to call, we don’t have time to write, and we don’t have time to declare. They should know this stuff anyway. Can’t they tell? A simple pushing of the “like” button on Facebook should be enough to let them know we care.


WRONG! Without proper declaration with affirmation the message gets lost, smothered and totally distorted. The “I love you” in a text is that short, “I love you” and often it becomes even shorter sometimes, “I luv u.” or “I heart (symbol) u.” I love you in a face-to-face conversation can go on for hours. We need to stop using the shorter versions and begin those face-to-face conversations that can go on for hours. Not only with our love ones but with God as well as we stop assuming and start declaring what those around us mean to us, especially God.


Therefore, this day I would like to go first and declare what my family and God means to me. “God is my refuge and strength. He is my hero, my friend, and my stronghold. He has been the post I have been able to lean upon, the nourishment I needed to grow in, and the guide I needed to see me through dark and roughened roads. To Him I am truly thankful. He was the whisper in the night I needed to make me feel secure, the bright light in the day that gave out not only brightness but warmth as well. He was the hug I required when I felt lonely, the smile I needed when I couldn’t. My provider of all my spiritual wants and needs who gave me the family I have today. To Him I am truly thankful.

They are the family who has walked me through not only my epilepsy but now my cancer. To them I am truly thankful. They are the crutches I needed to walk across soft sandy beaches when my bone cancer prohibited me from doing it on my own. The lift up long stairs, the giggle I love to hear, the blessing that brings Sunshine to my day. To them I am truly thankful. They are the encouragement I require, the joy and happiness I need. I declare! I declare! I declare between God and my family and all they have done for me. I am truly thankful. Thank you for being all that I require and all that I need. To all of you, I am truly thankful.




Our hostess for this mini-series through Psalm 91 is Twinkle Mom who will be sharing on her blog, SunflowerFaith. It’s a must to go over there and see what she declares and the many others who participate.

Special Occasions should be everyday as a time to say I love you in words and deeds

Happy Mother's Day to my mom of 49 years. Ooppsss I may want to lie about my age but I don't want to lie about how long I have been blessed by having mom in my life. So far that has been 53 years. What a precious gift we have to be blessed with a loving caring mom who sets a good example to follow. Not everyone gets that pleasure in their lives but those who do need to stop and take notice and be thankful. No matter how bad we think we have it with our mom's or parents there is always something we find to thank the Lord for regarding them. Waiting for their funeral to give testimony for how wonderful they were isn't going to crack it. I'm ashamed sometimes of myself that I waited till my mom had her major stroke before I really got to know her from the inside out. Being her caregiver and the voice she lost from her stroke I needed to know her more and more. I would give anything to hear her speak one more time, to hear what it sounds like to carry on a conversation with her. I'm thankful she has a few words she can still speak but I still miss her voice. As I watch her fight her way back from her stroke I see a determination to keep going forward and do all she possibly can to succeed, its something that I see coming out in me thanks to her as I fight my cancer.

Thanks mom for all you are and all you have made me be thru your examples.

Happy Birthday Don. I love you both. Speaking of special occasions after Tuesday is another special day. On Wednesday is my grandson's 8th birthday. Happy Birthday Anthony. I love you too.

The Fourth Man In

I looked tonight to see what the quote was going to be come Tuesday morning but I didn't see anything. In the morning at the crack of dawn my husband and I will be getting the grandkids ready for the county fair, five to be exact! We have chickens to catch and rabbits to cage up so we can get them to the fair by 7:00am. Its going to be a long day tomorrow, I can only hope for a long night's worth of sleep. Especially since those five kids are spending the night here. Ha Ha.


If I could type on something this Tuesday it would be on the love and support of family when the boat in life starts to rock and take on water. There are those who bail out the water trying to save the boat and those who jump overboard at the first sign of trouble. May we all do our part in holding together in the love God gives us to endure till the end. Trust is a major tool followed by the patience it takes to wait for the answers we all need and desire.


As I feel like life has me hanging upside down with my long hair almost touching the floor it seems like satan is shaking me to see if he can get anything more to fall out of the pockets of my life to steal. The choice is mine on whether I will allow him to play his games or not. I have to remind myself as well as him that my family and I have the God factor on our side.


What I have and what I am belongs to Jesus. It is through Him that victory will come. The most difficult part I play is being patient in the time being. Patient enough to step back and allow that to happen without holding a calendar in God’s face or a stop watch in my hand attached to my front pocket while my toe impatiently taps on the ground for every calendar day and second that passes by and answers are still pending.


It’s important to remember that although we go into the fire of life bound up we can come out with a friend. Something we didn’t even know we had, the fourth man in like Shadrach and his friends did in Daniel 3:25. Jesus is our fourth man in, the friend who is there when life’s trials heat up. He is the one who takes our mess and turns it into a message. He takes our manure and uses it to mature us.


What Satan finds in the pocket of our heart is exactly what we put there. The choice is ours.


Lord God, to You I give my family. Be the fourth man in. The one who will see us through no matter how rough the ride, no matter how long the road.

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

See You Later

“You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” by Frederick Buechner, inTelling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale


As I read this quote, many visions of saying good-bye to love-ones popped into my head. For example, the good-bye’s to our daughter who in the 8th grade flew from Oregon to Washington DC in a school project. The frequent weekend good-bye’s to my fiancé’ as I returned to college a 100 miles away each Sunday afternoon. The tough good-bye to my four grandchildren the time I left for a conference one state away.

The grand good-bye of all that will leave a vision in my mind and heart forever is the walking away from my three-year-old grandson who stood wrapped in the curtain of his bedroom window. Looking down from the second floor to grandma and grandpa walking to the car with his three older sisters crushed my heart as much as it did his. He was too little to understand or appreciate the fact that he wasn’t being left behind but merely awaiting his dad that was soon to come. No amount of smiles, waves, and blown kisses were going to change what he was seeing and felt inside.

Saying good-bye can be a tough thing. For some it holds a memory of the “last time” they saw that person. However, it can be a memory to cherish and store away in the world within us that we gave them permission to dwell in through our actions, attitudes, and choices. It’s often not the miles across the globe that separates us. It’s our indifferences, choices, and stubborn pride that create the feeling of being “miles apart” yet under the same roof.

Once when I was in an emergency room with my daughter a lady was choking to death on her vomit. The people in the ER called her daughter and the reply they got out of her was, “Oh, we’re not speaking to each other. Call me when she dies.” It doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to shut people out of our world. It doesn’t feel good when people do it to us but it doesn’t give us permission to do it to them or others.

As children of God, following His example we are not to create the distance but to shorten it. To go first anyway when others are being the ones who are stubborn. We need to live our lives as if every day was a goodbye expressing how we feel instead of storing it up for a memorial service later when they are gone.

It reminds me of my own lesson on this when a dear friend of mine died suddenly and I regretted not being able to tell her goodbye before she left. It took years of healing to realize that I had already done so long before her death by allowing her in my world. The world of cherished love ones that was expressed daily instead of set aside for storage. It’s true what they say that it isn’t “goodbye” but “see you later.” Don’t wait till tomorrow what you could do today!

Copyright 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

In Other Words Tuesday----Happy Anniversary to Me and Don!

No "In Other Words Tuesday" for me today, I'm off to the Coast celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary. Don and I are taking our grandkids we obtained along the way on our journey with us to enjoy the sun or at least we hope it will be sunny. :)


I'll have to do double duty next week for "In Other Words."





In Love W.I.T.H. Christ,


Karen