It was not a visit I ever wanted to make. I never dreamed my mother would have a rare cancer. She’s battled high blood pressure most of her adult life so, as a nurse, I thought that would remain her biggest health battle. But here we were, planning to see a specialist for this rare cancer. We have known the diagnosis for a few weeks and we still feel stunned and unsure of what to think or feel.

So as I’m getting my stunned self ready to go with my mother and sister to the specialist, my loving Lord gave me a verse …

“I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth”. Psalm 34:1

So I did …. I blessed the Lord and reaffirmed that I know He is in control no matter what and I will not turn from Him because my mother has a terrible disease. If anything, I will turn to Him more … more in prayer and more in reading my Bible. The Scripture is the main way He speaks peace to me so as I repeated that verse several times to myself, I began to sense His precious peace. He is with us and He will guide us. And I will continually “bless the Lord at all times.”

Dear friends, we appreciate your prayers at this time. Thank you for following along with Hope and a Dash of Humor … Humor may be a little scarce right now, but we always have Hope in our Loving Lord Jesus!

May the Lord bless you, and may you bless Him,

Kim 💕🙏

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:13 NIV

Hello dear friends. I apologize for it being way too long since I’ve posted. On the surface of things, you would think that a healing knee injury would allow more time for blog posts but on the other hand, it seems that the knee injury actually requires more time. Such is life.

But the irony of this post is that the Lord placed this Scripture on my heart to share at a time that I find it difficult to physically stand firm. But spiritually, these are the times for which we need to prepare to stand firm. The Lord never promised a life without difficulties. He did promise to always be with us through the difficulties. But we have to do our part and prepare by putting on the full armor of God and then to stand firm.

The Scripture says it much better than I can …

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
Ephesians 6: 14-17 NIV

My friends, those precious words pierced my heart even as I typed them. I need to work on all of these areas in my life so that I can stand firm in the days of evil … the hard times. Then I can ultimately be a better witness of God’s love and grace, and a better encourager to others.

Dear friends, may the Lord be with you and may you stand firm in Him,

Kim 💕

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.

Hebrews 13: 15

It’s not easy to praise the Lord when life is hard. I always considered this verse to mean praising the Lord in song at church but lately I’ve been seeing a deeper meaning. It’s not easy to praise the Lord and to give Him thanks when life hurls disappointments, loss, injury or illness. I’ve been walking through some of those lately and I’m seeing that God wants us to praise Him even in the midst of those hard times.

As I’m typing this post I see some humor in using the term “walking” through hard times because I’ve actually been limping around for the past 3 1/2 weeks. For no good reason, one of our lawn chairs attacked me and we wrestled violently until I hit the ground. I tore up the skin over my knee and had other sprains and some lovely bruises. I will spare you the gory details, although the nurse in me loves to chat about such things. I will say that daily activities and preparing for Christmas have been a challenge thanks to a knee that barely bends. And I will confess that I’ve been grumpy about the whole situation, with having to ask for help (I’m very independent) and also with having to miss church and Christmas celebrations with family and friends. All the while, I should have been thanking the Lord for His protection from broken bones, and head or back injuries. But to my shame, I’ve often given in to frustration, sadness, discontent and grumpiness. So, I pray, quote Scripture and try to do better but it has been more of a challenge than I’ve experienced in a long time.

Thankfully, and much to my husband’s relief I’m sure, I’ve had a very real attitude adjustment with God’s help. God placed the phrase “sacrifice of praise” on my mind often throughout this discouraging time. I have been learning that although praising God is often easy for me, sometimes, especially when life is hard, it truly is a sacrifice. In this situation, I sacrifice my self-centeredness and my discontent and I focus on Him and His goodness, blessings and all He has done. It is so easy to give in to discontent and dissatisfaction, but those things are not of God. They are part of our old nature. As Christians, God gives us a new nature, a new life that is to bring glory to Him and Him alone. When I give the sacrifice of praise, I am a witness of God’s goodness, grace, peace and love. My situation may not change, but personally my heart becomes more content. I can rest assured that God is in control no matter what I face. And I truly believe that contentment, that “peace that passes understanding (see Philippians 4: 7)” can point others to Him. And that’s what we as Christians must remember … it’s all about Him and living a life that points others to Him.

To ease your mind, I will assure you that the lawn chair was not injured from the wrestling match and proudly continues to reside under the back porch in view of the bird feeders hoping I will return again. That has yet to occur as stairs are not friendly to me these days either. Bama Kitty and Abby Pup were witness to the wrestling match and stayed close by until my husband came to my rescue. Bama remained calm and collected as a kitty cat should. On the other hand, Abby was so upset and intent on telling my hubby about my fall that he could not help me until we reassured her that I would be alright. She’s a very smart Pup! 🐶😻🥰

And yes, I am being a little silly but a little silliness about such things in life helps too 🙂. And truly, because laughter is typically easy for me, I had a hard time laughing until I got my attitude adjustment! What a blessing to be able to laugh easily again! So let me say Praise the Lord for His many blessings! 🙌🙌🙌😃😃😃

Thank you for reading and following along with Hope and a Dash of Humor! May God bless you and keep you safe this Holiday Season!

Kim 😃💕

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

These are some favorite verses of mine that I try to remember in all situations. As we here in the USA celebrate a day of thanks, this year I am especially grateful to our Loving Lord for His many blessings! Our lives have been blessed beyond measure with dear family and friends, healing and restoration, and His Grace to face each new day. Life just seems easier when I remember these words from Paul and thank the Lord! So today, I thank Him for His salvation, for being with us through the good and the bad times and for His mercies that are new every morning! 🙌

I also want to thank You for following Hope and a Dash of Humor! You are a blessing and an encouragement to me. I thank the Lord for you and remember you in prayer. Thank you so very much! 🥰

May the Lord richly bless you beyond measure!

Kim 💕🙏🙂

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4: 19 NASB

Just a quick note and greetings from the beautiful Alabama in October! The trees are turning colors so that the mountain sides look like lovely, living, patchwork quilts🥰. Mom and I thoroughly enjoyed God’s beauty as we traveled from one follow up medical appointment to the next yesterday. We were both “worn out” in Alabama terms, by the end of the day but I was so grateful for the time she and I had together to enjoy God’s Autumn beauty!🙌

See, life happens. And lately, life has thrown us curves that made us wonder how we would manage; even how we could keep going. Severe illnesses, unexpected medical procedure complications and other issues have happened. Through it all, we have seen God provide all our needs from healing, to the strength to go on, to a precious pastor who provided a blessed cheeseburger and fries when a meal wasn’t available.

I like to use the phrase that God will give us what we need when we need it and this verse in Philippians supports that phrase entirely…. God will supply ALL our needs! My Mother, Sister, and I, along with the rest of the family, thank our loving Lord for supplying us with what we needed when we needed it!

Dear friends, yes, life happens. But we don’t have to live in defeat and worry about what will happen next or how, or if, we will make it through. Dear friends, God supplies our needs for us!!! That’s His promise and you can claim it with each passing moment in your day giving Him the praise and glory for providing!!!

God bless you,

Kim 💕