As I sit at my Desk - Coffee & Conversation

What view do you have as you sit at your computer?

Maybe you have a window to gaze through, maybe you have a wall with a family picture or some other nice thing to look at or maybe you have different views each time because you sit different places to work on a laptop.

I have a hutch shelving unit as part of the back of my desk and on the top of it I have a variety of notebooks kept in place by a set of teddy bear bookends, a picture frame and some videos between a set of bookends which have sections for notes and odds and ends.


I looked up from my chair today and was struck by what I saw (and I have seen this over and over again but today it just stood out more probably due to the way we had been praying at the church prayer meeting last night) so I really had to take a picture of it.

A bookmark I had received some years ago on a Christmas card just saying MIRACLE and a little bit behind it a greeting card from which I had torn off the front part because it has a picture of Noah's Ark (and I love Arks).

So today I was gazing at the phrase Wishing you a miracle and then there in front of it was that plain statement of fact in the bookmark.

How encouraging and inspirational is that to have to look up at as I sit at the computer?

I am just a bit disappointed that so many days & weeks had already passed and I hadn't been struck by those two objects being so close together until today, but I'm thankful I noticed it now.

I do believe God can and does do miracles!

Now I am waiting to see what the miracle (or miracles) will be,

                             because I do believe God can and does do miracles.

 Do you? 

What a Face! - A Dose of Encouragement

Having grown up (as some would have described me) as a Tomboy; I made it into my teens not too conscious of my looks or interested in make-up.

Then when I was 14 I met a boy!

    And I didn't change.

I met him at a youth meeting and decided he was the guy for me.
(There really is a bit more to it than that but that might be for a different story sometime).


 I didn't go to the youth meeting all the time but we got to know each other a little as friends over the next 2 years.  There were things I wanted to know more about from the Bible and he was the one I talked to.

Two years after we met there was a Summer Youth Camp for a week and I wanted to go.
My problem was the week before it I was going to be on a School trip to France arriving back into Belfast on the day the camp started in Bangor.  The Pastor of the church which ran the youth group approached my parents and asked if it would be ok with them for him to meet me off the boat in Belfast and take me to the camp and they agreed.  I was delighted and even though I had been promised for a few years that I could go on this trip in my 5th year at the grammer school I was now looking forward more to the camp than to the trip to France.

While on the school trip I found I had a little blister forming on my cheek but just thought it would be ok. By the time I arrived at the youth camp I was greeted with remarks about how I really should go to the chemist and get something for my face but it was Saturday evening and they weren't open.  By the time it got to Monday morning the blister had spread up my cheek and was not very nice looking.  Walking me along to the chemist were two of my girl friends and this guy I liked, but when I got there I just didn't want to go in.  I dreaded the thought of anyone touching this cheek and even though they tried to persuade me several times I would not go.

It got bigger and bigger and when I think back now I can't believe anyone would have wanted to be near me at all as it could have looked as if I was contagious with something.

Towards the end of the week this blister thing was quite a sight to see and was rather ugly.  I was not looking at myself all day so I didn't have to see the ugliness but others did.

Then there was the day that we all went to walk up Slieve Donard the highest mountain in the Mournes (I believe).  There was a bunch of us who got lost and headed the wrong way but had a laugh anyway.  I'm not sure that everyone else would have been too happy had there been any accidents; as I was carrying the First Aid Kit.


Well who was I sitting beside in the car on the way home?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


Well I sort of (cough, cough) fell asleep on the way home and whose shoulder was conveniently there for my head to slip down unto?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


All during that week I was in his company a lot but never alone, always with other friends.  Then the last night of the camp we did get the chance to be on our own for a very short time during which he told me he loved me.  Quick work for the quiet lad everyone thought he was.

When I arrived home my parents were startled to see the "thing" on my face.
The doctor was called immediately and he did a home visit.
Apparently I had caught a virus while sunbathing in France and it had caused my skin to develop several small blisters as it burnt and these then turned into a horrible scab.  I was prescribed an ointment which was very effective and the scab seemed to dissolve and most of it just slid down off my face.  My family were relieved that my face cleared up very quickly with no scars, while I was relieved that there was not as much pain as I had feared.  This virus still lies dormant under my skin and flares up now and again.


When I would think back to that time and tell our kids the story of how daddy told mummy he loved her before they even went on a date together; the main thing in my mind would always be that this was our special story.  But one thing that my sister had said to me all those years ago always made it more special to me in particular.  She said

She told me that she couldn't understand how I came back from camp with a boyfriend when I looked the way I did.

Later when I asked Fred (the guy I liked) why he hadn't been put off by my ugly face, he just told me that he thought I was beautiful and that something on my face didn't change his mind.

So you see all these years I have been very happy and extremely thankful that Fred loved me when I was looking ghastly and I never would have thought I was beautiful.  He wasn't attracted by my looks,  he was attracted to me, the person I was.

Maybe I should explain that 4 years after this camp I married Fred and we have now been married for 36 years.

Even as the years have passed and I have not thought myself to be pretty, Fred has often told me that I am Beautiful.  That has always helped me to feel special.  This is just one of the reasons I still love my husband.

A lot of the attributes of God are hard for us to see, or to understand because we think as humans but He is God.  When I experience the love Fred has for me and how he sees me it helps me to see how God can love me and see me as beautiful just the way I am even though I am far from perfect for which I can never cease to be thankful.


Do you know that God wants you to know that you are beautiful?

Do you know that God loves you?

Thank you God. - Coffee & Conversation

The first thing I thought as I wrote the title for today's post was

           "okay that will probably put some people off reading this post"

But I really hope that it would do the opposite and entice people in because what is better to write about than something which makes you say

"Thank you God"

It all started with me wanting to do this online graphics course and with all that I had learned so far I decided it was time to create a unique picture for my Facebook Timeline.


     So that was my little project yesterday.


I had already found a nice picture free to use by anyone from a site called Pixabay a few days ago and had downloaded it to my computer knowing I would use it for something.  So today I thought of it and set to work to resize it to be the right size for a timeline pic and crop it to get rid of a piece I didn't want in it.

Then I had to think what I wanted to write on it and where to put this text etc.

Well looking at the picture just one thing came to mind and so I proceeded to finish my creation which you can see below.

To me it was obvious with the rainbow reminding me of the promises of God and His love, that the only thing I could write was 

"Thank you God"

What do you think of when you see a rainbow?

Maybe it's because I collect things to do with arks (if you don't believe me see I Love Arks).

Maybe it's because I have led children's meetings for many years and we would often sing the song "Mr Noah built an Ark" which has as the end of the chorus the words

"So whenever you see a rainbow, remember God is Love"

Or Maybe it's because I believe the Bible story of Noah and the Ark with the rainbow as a sign of God's promise to the world.

      But whenever I see a rainbow 

I see the beautiful creation of God and know that He loves me 

and I believe that He keeps His promises. 

And there in that alone I have 3 reasons why I say

 "Thank you God"

3 Kings & A Camel - A Dose of Encouragement

Tonight we had a puppet show at church.

We laughed so hard I nearly cried.

I wish I had taken a video clip because it will be so hard to explain the episode with the camel to someone who was not there.

The three wise men, dressed as kings, were riding along on one camel following the star.


The music had a certain beat to it that meant the puppeteers were jolting the camel & kings along forward for three beats and then flinging their heads backwards on the fourth beat.


A few times of this went okay and then one of the kings flung his head back so hard he lost his crown.


Next time one of the kings almost disappeared as the one in front head-butted him but then to "crown" it all off the next time the camel head-butted the first king which resulted in him head-butting the second king and of course he head-butted the third king making all of them look like they were falling off the camel.

We laughed so hard I nearly cried.

However the main problem lay in the fact that the camel had such a cute looking face that you had to forgive him & love him even if he may have almost killed the 3 kings.

Christmas Card I sent the Church Kids

Afterwards we came to the decision that the grown ups probably laughed louder than the kids.  We went through to have some refreshments and some of us were doing the camel dance (minus the head-butting of course) and saying how we loved the camel.

So what was the result of our Christmas Puppet Show? 

• Children & adults both had a great time.

• Laughter brought lots of smiles. 

• Easy time of chatting with guests in the relaxed atmosphere.

• Everyone saw & heard the nativity story in a way they won't forget.

• The teenage puppeteers worked together to tell others the Message of God's Love.

God is so good to us all of the time but often we don't see this and miss out on the great enjoyment we can have in our Christian walk, we forget to smile and enjoy being with others.


Of course just as the verse above says we need to have wisdom and choose good friends and companions.

Perhaps we need to see & hear God's word in a way that we don't want to forget it but rather spread it around so that everyone can hear & see God's Love because God wants us to do that for Him, 

Yes - US - the ones who know it all first-hand.

Here are some other  Doses of Encouragement

Here are some other  Christmas Posts