Jesus Saves by Travis Cottrell

Written in 2016.

Today is Palm Sunday (Hosannah!) and the choir special is 'Jesus Saves' by Travis Cottrell.  Here is a Bible passage for each line:

Hear the heart of heaven beating, Jesus saves, Jesus saves,

. . . and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.  Luke 2:7

And the hush of mercy breathing, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

But because of His great love for us, God Who is rich in mercy made u alive with Christ even when we were dea in transgression - it is by grace you have been saved.  Ephesians 2:4-5

Hear the host of angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests".  Luke 2:13-14

And the sounding joy repeating, Jesus saves.

As soon as the sound of you greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Luke 1:44.

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See the humblest hearts adore Him, Jesus saves, Jesus saves,

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:20

And the wisest bow before Him, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him.  Then they opened their treasure and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.  Mathew 2:11

See the sky alive with praise, melting darkness in its blaze.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  Luke 2:9  (see also above Luke 2:13-14).

There is light forevermore in Jesus saves.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  I Peter 2:9-10

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He will live our sorrow sharing, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

Surely He took up our infirmities and shared our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.  Isaiah 53:4

He will die our burden bearing, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.  I Peter 2:24

"It is done!" will shout the Cross,

When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."  With that, He bowed His bead and gave up His Spirit.  John 19:30

Christ has paid redemption cost!

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  Ephesians 1:7

While the empty tomb's declaring, Jesus saves.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  Luke 24:2-3

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Freedom's calling, - To Him Who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father - to Him be glory and power forever and ever!  Amen.  Revelations 1:5b-6

chains are falling, - Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery in their fear of death.

hope is dawning bright and true.  Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.  I John 3:2-3

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, Who went before us has entered on our behalf  He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizadek.  Hebrews 6:19-20

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Day is breaking, - And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  2 Peter 1:19

night is quaking.  I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.  Acts 26:17-18

God is making all things new.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  2 Corinthians 5:17

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O to grace how great a debtor, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8a

All the saints will shout together, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

In a loud voice they sang:  Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!  Revelations 5:12

Rising up so vast and strong, lifting up salvation's song,

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throng and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice:  "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb."  Revelation 7:9-10

the redeemed will sing forever, Jesus saves.

I will sing of the Lord's great love forever, with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

Time Passes

Written in 2012:  

Blogging comes into perspective as life experiences happen - falling somewhere between tragedy and family drama - factoring in the whether it is a planned event of something that lands right in the middle of other

About 4:30 p.m. on November 14 my husband was getting hay to feed the cows.  When he returned and came in the back door I started chatting about a phone call I had received.  When he staggered in before me and waved me 'off' and practically crawled into his chair, I knew we had no ordinary event - my husband is not dramatic when it comes to physical pain. 

It took me a moment to gain my composure.  When he had his hip replacement surgery on the left hip in July, they had told us to make sure and call them if he had any sign of blood clots in his legs which would be accompanied by sharp pain.   "Should we call 911?", I asked.  He said, "No" - just to get him an icepack for his right leg.

I got the ice pack.  I looked up our clinic's Urgent Care hours and let him know they were open until 7 p.m.  As he wavered as to what to do, I suggested it might be better to go to the Urgent Care while it was still open rather than wait until later when we would have to go to the hospital emergency room. 

 He finally decided that it need to be looked at and it was all I could do to not speed to get there.  When we parked at Urgent Care, the pain had subsided somewhat and he wasn't sure he really wanted to go in.  I began seriously praying - I knew this was no ordinary pain - he knew it was not a muscle cramp  - and I could not believe we were going to return home for what I knew would be a very long nervewracking night.

We finally went in - they were busy (when aren't they).  After waiting about an hour and a quarter (about 7 p.m.)  we saw the doctor.  He could not rule out a blood clot so he sent us to Salem Hospital with an order for an ultrasound.

At 11:30 p.m. the ultrasound specialist finally became available to check Chuck.  She did a thorough job, taking her an hour and a half.  After she went to report her findings to the emergency room doctor, they told Chuck he was not to get our of bed again - not even swing his legs over the side of the bed!  The source of his pain was clots being thrown down his calf from an aneurysm in an artery behind his right knee.  But not only did they find clots there, they found clots in his left leg, the largest being in his femoral vein in his left groin.

Salem did not have a vascular surgeon available to work on him, so Chuck was transported to OHSU in Portland.

This was just the first few hours of a #2:  Unexpected medical emergency.

What I learned:
   The roundtrip from Salem to Portland and back can be done every day..
   It is possible to get lost every evening trying to find the way to the freeway from the hospital.
   It is possible to stay awake for 36 hours.
   Getting the basic daily care a patient needs at OHSU requires an advocate - at least where we were.
   Surgery in the nerve areas near the surface heal faster but the pain can last much longer than more invasive surgeries.
   There is a whole 'nother world out there where everyone (it seems) takes coumadine.
   Vitamin K is very high in green leafy vegetables.
   Slippers was just fine all by herself for 6 days (I came home late evenings).
   I can drop off to sleep at a moments notice, sitting straight up - something I've never been able to do - even on long airplane trips.
   Our cell phone plan definitely needs to be upgraded.
  
My hiatus from blogging has been a steady trot from pillow plumping to personal hygiene for my husband, from learning how to feed cows to keeping the wood stove fed, from remembering when to get the recycle can out to finding the right wrench to replace the washer in a leaking bathroom faucet. 

Today, nearly 4 weeks later, Chuck is doing better, somewhat limited, but much better.  We started a Physical Therapy regimen.  It still hurts too much for him to drive so I'm still doing a lot of chauffering.

But at least now we are in the predictable somewhat plannable future stage and I feel that I can blog again.

Thank you for reading.
  

In (God) Dependence Day

First let me say that this blog is inspired by and in some cases quoted from our Pastor's Sunday sermon, including the title.  After reading this past week about a child in Uganda that needs sponsoring and Ann Voskamp's "Letter to North American Churches", this message went from my head to my heart.

I hope it blesses you with the very best kind of blessings - to hear God's voice, His child's heart listening.

Text:  Deuteronomy 8:10-20 from NIV Holy Bible:

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and His decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."  But remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who give you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

"Under God" was added to the American Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, making the phrase "One Nation Under God".

As "ONE NATION UNDER GOD", let us be. . .

THANKFUL:  All good things come from God.  We in America have much to be thankful for.

CAREFUL:  Don't forget that God has given us these things. 

MINDFUL:  God gives us the ability to produce wealth. 

I like how this causes our focus to be on God - as Christians we know that "all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose."  This means no matter where in the world we live.  What we have in America is so very precious, especially the gifts of time and spare cash that can be spent either futilely or fruitfully - our choice, at least for now.

I love the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States where it says:  "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 

Obviously, the writers did not intend for our nation to have independence from God.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/105979112/five-freedoms-first-amendment-inspired

https://www.etsy.com/listing/128090295/vintage-childrens-book-where-was-patrick

And the quote from Patrick Henry, one of the ratifiers of the US Constitution: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."











I've read the Book, I know how it all ends - but in the meantime my heart cries out in utter thankfulness to God that I am blessed to live in the United States.  I pray I use my freedoms and gifts here and now, wisely and well.

Luella

https://www.etsy.com/listing/111988325/scripture-art-fall-thanksgiving-orange

 

 

We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near . .  Psalm 75:1

 

 

 

Sisters Travel to Yellowstone

A happy circumstance in my life is a family cabin near West Yellowstone, one of the entrances to Yellowstone National Park.  My husband's and my first trip there was in 1989, a year after the devastating fire that burned a reported 793,880 acres, a third of the park being affected.

In the many many trips there in intervening years we have seen this lovely park at many times of the year and seen many sites in outlying places in the area.  We have brought many guests to join us.

The trip this year was notable because it was with two of my sisters.  They have come with me and my husband once each before but never the three of us together.

Some of my favorite pictures from this wonderful time:




An evening walk with Elaine from the cabin to Lake Hebgen

 

 

 

 

Renee and Elaine - Firehole River

On our way at one of the major Geyser sites . . .

One of the luscious Midway Geyser sites - love that pale turquoise often with bright rust orange trim!

Hit the play button here if you would like to see what we saw at Old Faithful.

 

 

 

 

Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt . . .

The oldest lodge at Old Faithful, love the windows and siding.

Morning Glory pool . . . well worth the mile and quarter walk from Old Faithful.

 

 

 

View out the front of the cabin - Lake Hegben in the distance - only quarter mile actually.

Beautiful background for two beautiful sisters!!



at the Paint Pots

 

 

 

Sweet  . . . !

 

 

 

Did you say Rocky Mountains!?!   On the road to Mammoth Hot Springs.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs with its lovely backdrop.

Glorious shot looking down on Upper Falls of Yellowstone River.

 

 

 

Love the perspective the trees give this shot, the white is not snow but rock.

 

 

Osprey, female at nest, male came in landed and quickly took off again, - don't miss the fish he is carrying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower falls of the Yellowstone River are as magnificent as ever.

 

Tyler and Emily's Wedding

October 6 was a gorgeous warm autumn day in Pullman, Washington.  This was a very good thing when you're close to the 45th parallel and going to an outdoor wedding.

God truly blessed Tyler and my grand neice Emily on their wedding day.  Such fun for my husband and me because we got to stay with my younger sister who lives in Pullman for several nights.  And afterwards with my older sister in Pomeroy, Washington.  I love the wheatfields of home - they draw me like the ocean draws a sailor.

Here are some pictures from this lovely festive day:

The Venue

Colors were aubergine and lime

 My granddaughter walking in:

 








My brother's darling grandsons:

Bride on father's arm:

Ceremony:

Husband and wife!!

Bride with my granddaughter Sarah, one of her five attendants:









My sister with granddaughter on right and her friend:

Learning how to salute from my sister who despaired of the rest of us.  This was a take-off from everyone looking into the sun at the bridal party during pictures after the ceremony.























Sarah and me:

Matron of honor - sister of the bride:

 

 . . . and mother of the newest member of our family in his daddy's arms (he wore a tux that day too  :)

 
First dance:

Aw!  the kiss!!  (see those lovely wheatfields in the background)

Cake, accompanied by - you guessed it - lots of cupcakes in three flavors:

Beautiful couple:

My sister with her first great grandchild!!!

Bride next day at the firehouse where the reception was held - she is an EMT and finishing college:

 

Congratulations Emmy and Ty! 

Wishing you God's Best in your marriage!!

 

 

Misty Winter's Dawn

I was so pleased to be able to finish an original creation for the Etsy Beadweaver's Team October Challenge titled 'Misty Winter's Dawn'.

My two bead choices for this challenge were gray tilas - a bead I have never worked with - and Swarovski black diamond bicones.  From there I looked through my stash for appropriate accompaniment.  My first design was to make a path of tilas bounded by distant mountain peaks with the bicones, clusters of dark green bead forests and gentle peyote rolling hills, a stream crossing with tiny chain boundaries, etc.




 But time was not on my side. 




After several starts and stops (tear outs) I got the top of the drop in place. I had no idea what would transpire after that.  On a road trip to southern Oregon - the Rogue River area - I sketched a drop that fell naturally to a 'v'.















The execution was not as was on paper, for as I worked down the 'v' and got the four tilas in place and was working on 3, it became very apparent that they would not center, I would either adjust or have to give up the project - no time for another tear out.

The temptation to give up at this point was very strong - on my graph paper diagram I had not completed the other side and I felt stuck.  I decided to just put two with a drop in the center and proceed.  I wasn't far from finishing.



I got over that discouragement and finally finished to a successful point.

Few days at home and off on another trip to a family wedding.  In my sister's home in Pullman, Washington, I finally came up with a design for the finishing strands that hold the triangular pendant in place.  It incorporates the tilas and bicones in a beautiful finish, I think.

The length can be as short as 15.5 inches or as long as 18.5. 








My sister's dining area faces north and is completely windows on three sides - the perfect place to take photographs.

My final challenge was to write a description that would fit the theme and describe what I thought and felt as I created this piece.  The tilas were the wet pavement, the bicones - city rain, the gray, a Misty Winter's Dawn.  Inverted it would be a tiara. From the air, a cityscape. 

I love the rich dullness of the gray tilas, and how movment causes the bicones to intermittently and randomly sparkle.

My challenge piece was entered with just a couple hours to spare!!  It is an elegant necklace in one of my favorite colors - gray.
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Please visit the Etsy Beadweaver's Blog between October 9th and 15th and see the team's entries and VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE:  http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/

Thank you for visiting!

Knotted Crystals with Spaces

If you have been with me for awhile you know I have a customer who often brings vintage jewelry and beads to me for repair or update. 


A big departure from the Bear Claw Necklaces project I blogged about earlier this year is a necklace she would like me to do for her.  It involves gorgeous clear crystal rondels in graduated sizes, the thread being knotted to leave space between each bead. 











THE PROBLEM

The thread is broken and unraveling.  I cannot tell but what it may have been completely broken at one time or had some other beads along this thread for there are no knots there.  One end of the box clasp is missing.



I decided to redo it with what is here and not add anything but I needed to keep the spacing with the knots.  I loved the novel design (new to me at least) and wanted to challenge myself.



The vintage necklace got a little bath - strung.  Usually I unstring beads for their bath.  But on this one, I didn't want to have to use a caliper to correctly string them in graduated fashion, so decided to cut them one by one as I did the stringing. 







SPACING

My first thought after measuring the spaces was to use 3mm bugle beads and crush them later.  Wow!  Problem solved, or so I thought. 

But the size 10 silk Bead Cord I purchased to simulate what had been used before would not fit through the bugle beads.    I looked up the hole diameter of size 11 seedbeads and saw that they were a little larger than bugle beads.  They are generally 1.8mm long so I decided using two would work; they didn't fit on the cord either. 

Well, seedbead size 6 did fit over the cord.  I put four crystals on with these as spacers and crushed them just to make sure the space was right.  It was a little short but that was not the worst of it.  Crushing these glass beads cut into the silk thread and caused it to fray looking very unsightly, certainly not safe!


Glass was not going to work.  I had to use another substance that could be put on and taken off after the 'knotting'.  I had several metal findings to try and finally ended up with a 4mm crimp cover which I tightened just enough to let the cord slip through and hold it in place through the procedure.


Voila!  - - - A process in place, clicking along . . .






Until I got to the bottom of the curve and realized the beads on the curve were looking crowded.  Easy enough fix - just lengthen the spaces.

But now the beads look a little jumbly on the bottom - a couple bunching together and leaving a super large space.  Hum!  I think I need to finish the piece and mull this over a bit.  Perhaps glue on the cord in the middle of the space - but that will take away the free flow of the piece.  Do I care?  I don't know?!?!?!?













FINISHED

It was great to put the finishing touches on this necklace - here was familiar territory.  Here is a picture of the finished piece.  Still not sure how or if I will change the bottom curve.

Thanks for stopping by!