Spring is Only a Few Months Away

That’s my granddaughter…isn’t she a darling?

I Know There is a God because…

Could a telescope just happen? Or would someone have to make a telescope? Given a lot of time, like a billion years, could a telescope develop from one tiny bit of metal.

Creation calls for a creator.

Design demands a designer.

The universe is one very complicated ever-expanding design made of billions of complex systems.

The universe points to God.

Some Comics are Worth Posting

I posted this one on my fridge.

"It's very fast-paced. The book was over before I could finish reading it."

Book a Speech Now

Public speaking is thrilling, like riding a roller coaster or skiing a big hill, only safer. I enjoy the challenge. I even like that nervous stomach thing that happens just before the speech. I love making the audience laugh, hearing applause and selling books. It's all good.

Last year, after two years of training with Toastmasters International, I accepted my first booking, "Bedtime Stories" at a Ladies Conference. This was followed by "the parent speech" at my daughter's grade eight graduation, and a sermon at church.

Then a kick-off speech for the Tillsonburg Christian Reformed Church Ladies' Bible Study on James and a speech on Truth  at the ladies mid-week Oasis at West Highland Baptist Church in Hamilton....

What They Told Me Afterward
Thank you for coming to speak to us this morning. Everything you said was a good reminder and affirmation of what God's plan is for our lives and God-willing, an eye opener for those ladies who have not as of yet made a commitment to the Lord.
Gail Panasiuk, mid-week ladies Oasis Group, West Highland Baptist 


Thank you Marian denBoer for speaking to our group in Tillsonburg. You were inspiring, witty and very relevant. Looking forward to reading your book. God Bless.
Wilma VanGurp, Tillsonburg CRC Ladies Group

Speeches You Might Want to Hear

The Joy of Suffering

Introduction to the Book of James

Self-Righteousness is a Trap

Spirit-led Living

Living for Jesus

Convicted...Again and Again and Again

The Perfect Life

Wood, Hay and Stubble

Storing up Treasures in Heaven

On Being a Mother

Selfless Living and Being Yourself—a Contradiction?

Truth and Lies

Fat Little Sparrows

Yes, the sparrow has found a house...

Psalm 84:3a Amplified

I Lack Compassion, False or Otherwise

“When a cat cries over a rat, it's a case of false compassion.”

Chinese Proverb

According to Dictionary.com, compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

I have come to the conclusion that I lack compassion, false or otherwise.

I see misfortune and suffering as an opportunity to recognize what God can do in that situation. I don’t often become deeply sympathetic or sorrowful.

The way I see it: God can fix anything. He’s the great healer.

But, God is compassionate.

Jesus had compassion when he walked the earth. He had compassion and healed people. If you study Jesus’ ministry you soon realize compassion seems to be the prerequisite for healing.

I’m praying for His compassion.

Why I Need Jesus

I can’t save myself.

Canada is a Christian Country

Canada was founded as a Christian country.

God says in his Word,

Know, therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

Deuteronomy 7:10 (NIV)

There is too much at stake to allow ourselves to strip our great country of its Christian heritage.

I Love Snow

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.”

Psalm 51:7

Bright clean snow is a reminder of what Jesus did for me—the impossible.

One Day and 30,000 Meals

 

Volunteers at Ontario Christian Gleaners filling bags with 3 pounds of freeze-dried vegetables.

 

Volunteers at Ontario Christian Gleaners filling six barrels with 300 three-pound bags each containing 15 freeze-dried ingredients.

These 300 hundred bags are destined for Palawan in the Philippines.

Della Tyrrell tells volunteers at Ontario Christian Gleaners about the six feeding stations in Palawan. 

We take the six barrels of freeze-dried vegetables to Flamborough Christian Fellowship…

…where we unload the barrels…

…and pack the three-pound bags into cartons.

 

And then we pray while we wait…

for the volunteer who comes to take the cartons…

…in his van…

…to Mississauga where they will be loaded into a shipping container and sent to the Philippines. The 300 bags of dried vegetables will make enough soup for 30,000 nutritious meals.

You Know Your Day is Worthwhile When…

1) You are tired at the end of it…a good tired

2) What you did will help others

3) You were part of a team effort

4) You feel satisfied

5) You smile when you think about your day

6) In fact, your heart is bursting with joy

7) Someone thanked you for what you did

8) You can hear God say, “Well done.”

 

I’ll tell you about it tomorrow!

I Have a Cell Phone

I didn’t want this to be my cell phone, but the phone company wasn’t about to sell a phone to my daughter, the one without a credit card. What if she didn’t pay her bills?

So, my college-age daughter’s phone became mine in her possession. We signed up for the best plan going (according to the company). She could phone ten numbers anywhere and have unlimited texting all for the price of $35/month which is really $52/month when you count the hidden charges.

The phone fell in a sink full of water the day before my daughter had to return to McGill in Montreal after Christmas break.

She tried to dry it up with a hair dryer, but alas the 3,6 and 9 were no longer effective keys.

We went back to the phone company, where on the advice of the young girl, we bought a replacement phone for $49 which is really $67.

I claimed the old phone. I put it in rice which according to some is supposed to draw the water out. I did this in the name of good stewardship. I hate to throw out something that might be fixed.

After a day in rice, the phone still isn’t working. It’s sitting on the shelf in my office. I should throw it out.

Cross Country Skiing

I love cross-country skiing. It puts me face-to-face with the beauty and complexity of nature…glistening snow made of billions of uniquely individual snowflakes.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:9

Ten Things I Do Because I’m a Christian

(in no particular order)

1) Go to church

2) Read the Bible

3) Talk to God

4) Believe God heals

5) Believe Jesus saves

6) Ask God to heal people

7) Smile inside

8) Hold things loosely

9) Pray for my children

10) Love

A Gift That Keeps on Giving

(at least 8 times)

Yesterday I shovelled the drive and the sidewalk. We have a corner lot. That’s a lot of sidewalk, but here wasn’t a lot of snow, so it didn’t take more than 20 minutes.

Our very wide driveway. In times past the kids would help shovel.

Usually my husband shovels. Sometimes he talks about getting a snow blower. I wanted to get him one for Christmas, but once I started looking at them I realized we would need one very big snow blower. Our drive is three cars wide and we can only pile snow on one side.

A very big snow blower is not only expensive, but takes up a lot of room and looks very mechanically complicated. Many things could go wrong with a very big snow blower.

So, for Christmas I gave my husband 8 coupons to be redeemed at his discretion. Each coupon was worth one shovelling of the driveway and sidewalk.

I thought he would be ecstatic. He wasn’t. Snow shovelling is man’s work.

But, he got over it and redeemed the first coupon with the very first snowfall.

A Disaster of Biblical Proportions?

“In many ways, it is a disaster of biblical proportions,” Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser said about the flooding in Australia.

Almost a million square kilometres of land has been affected. About 200,000 people live in that area, about 1,000 people are staying at evacuation centres, and one woman drowned after trying to cross a flooded causeway.*

What part of this makes it a disaster of biblical proportions? What does that even mean?

When I asked the question on Facebook, a friend answered with, “When God said he would never again send a flood to cover the earth the inhabited parts of the earth were much smaller. I'm thinking that the people in New Orleans, in Newfoundland and now in Australia are feeling that their world is flooded. I just hope that all the wild weather in the world is the sound of HIS footsteps getting closer.”

When I was in the middle of my own disasters of unbiblical proportions, I began to understand.

Disaster # 1: My daughter’s cell phone slipped into a sink full of water. She needed a new phone. Cost: $67.

Disaster #2: When we lifted the protective plastic that had been placed under the Christmas tree to guard our precious hardwood floor, we discovered a slightly wet floor.

While I was blow drying the wood and sanding down the rough spots, I thought of all those people in Australia. That’s when I began to pray for them.

Thank you Lord, for showing me the answer to my question.

* The facts according to a report in The Hamilton Spectator.