The Royal Family and Great Britain are in my thoughts and prayers on the passing of Queen Elizabeth. She seemed to be a lovely lady with a beautiful smile, great hats, and most importantly, a strong faith. She will be missed by many throughout the world.

Kim 🙏🙏🙏

Our recent Bible study focused on Martha and Mary. I love these two ladies and can identify with both in so many ways. There’s the Mary in me that wants to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen, and learn; just soak it all in like a sponge. Then, there’s the Martha part of me that desperately needs to be doing … serve, make sure needs for food and comfort are met, take care of the necessities and the business at hand.

Our study focused on Scripture in Luke 10: 38-42, John 11: 1-44, and John 12: 1-8. So many times we only focus on Martha being too busy and not listening to Jesus. The lovely thing I learned through this study in multiple passages was that not only was Martha a doer, she was a wise woman full of faith who took Jesus’s words to heart. She believed in Him for her brother, Lazarus’s, healing and eventual resurrection. Then, when I read the passage in John 12, I saw how she had applied Jesus’s words and although she was working, she did so without complaint which allowed Mary to listen to Jesus and anoint His feet with costly perfume.

I would like to encourage you to read these passages along with a good commentary or two. I really enjoy reading commentaries by Warren Wiersbe, which were recommended by a great pastor-friend (thank you Brother Herman!😊). I have found several of Mr. Wiersbe’s works on Amazon. I also greatly enjoy the no cost “Enduring Word” commentary in the Apple Ap store recommended by my Bible Study group. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it for the Martha and Mary study. God has opened His Word in amazing ways through these commentaries. It’s a joy to study His Word with some help and explanation. 😊

Like Mary, I need to sit at the feet of Jesus to listen and learn. Like Martha, I need to work without complaining, and listen too 😊, in hopes that someone else can also focus on Jesus.

Dear friends, thank you so much for following along with Hope and a Dash of Humor! You Bless me Big! 😊😊😊

Have a blessed Sabbath!

Kim 💕🙏💕🙏💕🙏

My friend, Patricia, went to live with Jesus last night. She blessed me often with kind words of understanding and encouragement. She was a major inspiration for “Hope and a Dash of Humor”as she faced many health problems and setbacks with grace. Please say a prayer for her precious family because their hearts are hurting.

I already miss her but it comforts my heart that we will see each other again in Heaven some day.

Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints Psalm 116: 15

Praying that you too know Jesus and that He bless you with His comfort knowing you will someday live with Him,

Kim 💕🙏

I woke up this morning barely able to move. Lots of folks do that and have to slowly stretch out the kinks like I was doing. I decided to start praying and a favorite, old song came to mind, “Living by Faith.” I started singing the words in my mind because my voice certainly wasn’t ready to even hum along, and I thought of how much I’ve always loved not only singing this song but singing these lyrics, these words penned by James Wells and R.E. Winsett and published in the “Church Hymnal”, 1951. I just have to share it and a blessing …

Living by Faith

I care not today what the morrow may bring
If shadow or sunshine or rain
The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything”
And all of my worry is vain.

The tempests may blow and the storm-clouds arise,
Obscuring the brightness of life,
I’m never alarmed at the overcast skies,
The Master looks on at the strife.

I know that He safely will carry me thru,
No matter what evils betide,
Why should I then care tho’ the tempest may blow,
If Jesus walks close to my side.

Our Lord will return to this earth some sweet day,
Our troubles will then all be o’er,
The Master so gently will lead us away,
Beyond that blest heavenly shore.

Chorus
Living by Faith (echo) Yes living by faith,
in Jesus above, (echo) in Jesus above,
Trusting confiding (echo) trusting confiding
in His great love (echo) yes, in His great love;
From all harm safe (echo) from all harm safe
in His sheltering arm, (echo) in His sheltering arm,
I’m living by faith (echo) I’m living by faith
and feel no alarm (echo) feel no alarm.

I am so very grateful for great songs of the Lord. This song has impressed me since childhood with it’s words and music. It’s one of the many songs my Mother used to teach me how to sing alto and how to play on the piano. I love it so much that the first verse and chorus are ingrained in my brain 😃 and they came back to mind quickly. In order to share all the lyrics, I grabbed my very old and worn “Church Hymnal” and of all things, it opened exactly to pages 162 and 163 which house this beloved hymn… I call that confirmation to share this song with you 🙂. I just love how the Lord does these things!!!! 🥰🙌

I just absolutely must share a lovely gift from the Lord that pertains to all of this. About 18 months ago, after looking at my vocal cords with a scope, my Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor told me that he thought my choir days were over. Now, I really like my ENT. We’ve been through years of sinus infections, some that even needed treatment with IV antibiotics (thank The Lord for those), and more spells of laryngitis than I can count. So when he said my choir days are over, instead of sadness, a thought passed through my mind, “We’ll see what the Lord has to say about that.”

That may sound a little like I was being sarcastic but I really wasn’t. It was just a thought affirming my faith in the Lord that these things are in His hands, no one else’s. My ENT was just being honest, as he should be. I commend his honesty. My choir days could be over. But God has shown me over and over that there is always HOPE when I trust HIM!

”And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8: 28 NKJ

I believe, and have faith, that God is working all things for my good. At that particular moment, I didn’t know if I would ever sing again because it certainly didn’t seem likely. And I didn’t sing, except in my heart, for a long time. Actually, I attended my last choir practice in March 2020 right before COVID hit and changed the world. But I always loved the Lord and trusted in Him whether He decided to let me sing or not… no matter what! Trust the Lord!!!

Here’s the awesome Goodness of God … Recently, He gave me my back my voice to sing! I’ve been able to sing with the choir some lately! I don’t know the how, and I still struggle, but I am so very grateful for this time, for an encouraging husband (who is also our great pianist but I’m chasing a rabbit now 🥰 ), an awesome music minister who encouraged me to come back and do what I can and change to tenor, for my awesome choir buddies that have welcomed me back, loved me and accepted me despite my flaws. I am most grateful to God for letting me sing again! My heart is overflowing with gratitude!

God doesn’t always restore but He always gives us what we need to make it through our trials and He gives us new ways to praise Him and serve Him (like this blog 🙂). I may have many singing days ahead. I may have few. Regardless, I rejoice in this gift from the Lord, in this time, and I will strive to give Him my best.

“O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.”
Psalm 96: 1 NKJ

I can’t wait to tell my ENT of the goodness of God!!! 😃🙌

Dear friends, thank you for reading this longer than usual post. I just had to share the goodness of God and encourage you to always Hope and Live by Faith!!!

Kim 💕🙏

Greetings from Alabama in the Sweltering South! It’s been a hot summer with a good bit of rain around here lately for which we are grateful. My blog posts have been less frequent than I like and I do indeed apologize. This summer has been interesting and a time of restoration, acceptance, adjustments and accommodations and returning strength. Issues with my feet and spinal discs have been like a plague over the past few years but seem to be stabilizing. Thank You Lord! 🙌. As my strength is returning, I find that physical adjustments and accommodations are keeping me occupied. But then, life is full of adjustments; some just take more effort than others. Regardless, I am grateful for the goodness and mercy of God and Him always helping me.

One of our adjustments has been related to cooking meals because honestly, I’ve not been cooking much over the past several months. I like to cook and I’m ready to cook more but now we have no reliable oven and that means no cornbread or biscuits! Not good! Biscuits and cornbread are almost a staple in Alabama! Our oven has been a good worker for us but is now sadly on her last leg with no replacement part available.

So, I started researching the internet for options, availability and sales; especially the sales! Being a bit under the weather with my asthma, I didn’t feel like doing much more than reading anyway so I hit the internet. There is a ton of information and I just have to say that there are some fascinating ovens in the world these days. Some of these ovens even communicate with the barcode on a product box, like a frozen food, then cook the item when you place it in the oven! I had no idea of such things! Sounds like a great idea, if you have the internet; and if you like appliances with brains 🤓; and if you can get that replacement computer brain when in need … which we can’t. It’s really ridiculous that I have to rely on a computer to cook cornbread!

One particularly appealing oven photo caught my attention. It was the most beautiful oven I’ve ever seen. A glorious white double oven with beautiful brass handles and brass detailing. Oh, she is so pretty and would be lovely in the kitchen! She called out to me from that photo telling me to just go ahead and tap that purchase button. She would soon arrive and grace our kitchen with her beauty. Then I stopped. The madness in my brain stopped with a good, practical thought, “Her outside won’t be worth much if her insides can’t do the job at hand.” And thus the spell was broken. It’s a good thing the spell was broken because we don’t even have a place to put a double oven, nor do we even need a double oven! (The internet sure can be tricky! 😳)

That entire episode then reminded me of the verses throughout the Bible about our inward selves being more important than our outward selves. One of my all time favorite verses is really applicable here …

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Proverbs 31: 30

I hope to be that Proverbs 31 woman! I want to be a woman who loves the Lord, does the best she can with what she has, makes the most of her time and resources … the list goes on and on when you really study Proverbs 31.

This year I am having to adjust. I have to rethink how to do things that I’ve never had to think about before. I’ve also had to stop worrying about what folks think when they see me limp or use my trusty walking stick. Sometimes I have to use ankle support braces that require frustrating, to say the least, adjustments to my clothing and shoes. I have to ask my hubby to carry, climb and clean much more these days, bless him 🥰. In facing these changes, we know that accommodations are necessary in our lives now. These are not complaints; they are just life as we know it now.

Unlike the “beautiful” oven, my outside may not look or work so well but I can always keep working on my inside and strive to be that Proverbs 31 Woman … a woman who fears the Lord. Focusing on the inside woman who loves the Lord and wants to be like Him and be pleasing to Him will make me a better woman for everyone … my husband, my family, my friends and others. I will be a better witness for the Lord and all He has done for me and all He can do for others!

I really don’t know if that beautiful oven can cook worth a flip. I admire and love beauty in many things and that’s ok. But I mostly admire and love the “inside” beauty. I don’t want to be allured by appearances. The inside is always more important than the outside … like a good, work horse of an oven that can bake some good cornbread and biscuits… a great oven on the inside … kinda like that Proverbs 31 Woman. 🙂

Thanks so much for reading this somewhat rambling post today. I really appreciate you following along with Hope and A Dash of Humor! 🥰

Have a lovely day blessed by the Lord!

Kim 💕🙂