Altogether Lovely

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Decorative Clothes Hangers

y mother-in-law had this old decorative clothes hanger for at least 30 years before I inherited it when she died 20 years ago.

 I've always loved it but didn't know just quite what to do with it.

 Recently, I noticed that Alisa Burke used clothes hangers to display lots of her artwork.

And when you are an artist, or an aspiring one, it can be quite expensive to frame everything you paint or make.

When I saw this post of hers, I knew immediately how I was going to hang a canvas that had been laying in my art studio far too long.

I unscrewed the metal hanger part which took about two seconds, and voila, had this most gorgeous hanger for my canvas.

A couple of staples and the job was done.

Well, almost--I've yet to press it and cut the little frayed threads off but that won't take long.  I should have done it tonight but got a "bug on" to get a post up about this.

You know how we bloggers can be.

Also the colors are not nearly this harsh--was shooting in artificial light.  I will probably retake these in more natural light as soon as we have some sunshine.  It has been days now and I couldn't wait any longer to shoot.

The canvas is based on Psalm 150.

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

Praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

Praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

Praise him with the harp and lyre,

Praise him with timbrel and dancing,

Praise him with the strings and pipe,

Praise him with the clash of cymbals,

Praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Another page turned,

Dianne

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Wow Us Wednesdays

Where Will Our Footprints Lead?

  Y
ou've heard and read from many people who are hoping for spring. They express their hope in a seemingly matter-of-fact fashion, never doubting the fact that the evidence of it will be seen.

As I was reading in Psalm 85 today I came across this portion of verse:

We expect seedlings and their little pinwheels of growth

because they came up last year

and the year before that......

We didn't hear them complaining if the weather wasn't perfect,

if there was too much rain, too much snow, too much wind,

Not enough sunshine--

Nor enough warmth--

They did what they were created to do.

They pushed through a sometimes troublesome sod.

And when they peeked out from behind nature's curtain

to make their annual debut

All heaven and earth was applauding

Faithfulness, once again, sprang forth.

You cannot see faith, but you can see the footprints of the faithful.  We must leave behind "faithful footprints" for others to follow. Dennis Anderson

And so we, followers of the one true and living God

Do not possess faith that can be seen,

although evidence of our faith will sometimes

make itself known--

Will our footprints lead others to Christ and His faithfulness?

I wasn't called to be successful.    I was called to be faithful. Mother Teresa

Turning another page,

Dianne

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Our Refuge and Strength

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. The Lord Almighty is with us, The God of Jacob is our fortress. from Psalm 46 I love to hear Pat Boone tell the story of his wife, daughters and him as they held hands and quoted this scripture together during one of the worst earthquakes in California's modern history. God was surely their only refuge and strength.

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Open Door Weather

Not!

We are shivering here in central Arkansas.

33 degrees right now with a real feel of 21--

When I started to Conway this morning, it was sleeting at a pretty good clip but my car thermometer showed 33 so I decided to go ahead.

This is a great victory for me because as many of you know I have had "fear" issues most of my life. 

--fear of this, fear of that--

Last April I had a head-on collision with fear out in North Carolina and God continues to show Himself powerful in that area of my life, eclipsing some major fears with His wonderful peace.

 (But that is another story for another day)

The topic I was teaching on had a fire raging in my bones and I thought I would burst if I didn't get it out to the guys.

There was little that would have held me back today I think--only because of the FINISHED work of Jesus Christ in my life.

His work is finished, He said it when He was on the cross--

I am not finished but I am in a very hot kettle! smile

I started trying to write about this today and there is just too much to get it all down--

I may do a once a week series for a few weeks--If so, I will try to start it tomorrow or Friday.

It is about intercession--I just thought I knew what intercession was!

God had so much to show me and I am just in the beginning stages of learning about what all it entails.

So really I am just checking in with you today, letting you know that I am praying for you, wherever you are all around the world.

What a joy and privilege to INTERCEDE for you.

Just what happens when we intercede--we will be looking at this topic in the next few weeks.

--a little tidbit for thought--

RECONCILIATION 2 Corinthians 5:17, 18 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. The key word here that I want you to think about is reconciliation--  What is it?  He gave us the ministry of reconciliation?  If He did and we believe that, what does that mean?

Hoping and praying for no power outages as I turn this page,
Dianne

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

His Pages

Recently after several years of struggle, I finally decided to change the name of my blog.

I realized when I started trying to explain this that it would be much easier on you and me if I just made a simple explanation.

So here it is--I changed my mind--nevermind what all went in to that decision.

But maybe a little explanation is in order for the reason I chose "The Pages of My Life."

One of the most obvious reasons is that a blog is really a journal or a web log.  We get the name "blog" from the last four letters of that term.  And I wanted to keep a journal -- of sorts.

But the real reason is in the picture below.  His pages are the pages of my life.

 

In fact they are pages of life period--whether I accept them or not.

There is no true life apart from them.

So it is my privilege and joy to acknowledge God's Word through the name of my blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For those of you who are interested, I've included a couple of pictures in the sidebar under Pages, Counting my Blessings--some of our precious guys (Renewal Ranch)and the sister of one who just graduated--oh, and me too! What precious times we have on Saturdays.  Wouldn't take anything for our Saturdays! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Concerning Photography  One more thing--recently I lost everything on my hard drive (at the Apple Store)--I normally love the Apple store and the guy who helped us was the sweetest thing ever--However, I think he might have been rather new.  He did warn me there was a slight chance that we could lose some information.    I lost everything--all the pictures I have taken for the last few years, everything I had designed for Renewal Ranch--you name it--I lost it--except the pictures I had posted to this blog and the ones to my Facebook account. If you do not have your pictures backed up, back them up NOW--  We have an external hard drive on our desk computer but do not have one on my laptop.  Anyway, I have been having photography sessions every day trying to replace some of my IPhoto library.  Today I dropped my camera and broke my favorite lens.  Believe it or not, I think the camera itself is in tact but my lens.  Boo hoo.  And on top of that, I cannot find any of my other lenses.  Don't have a clue what I have done with them.  Think I may have loaned them to a college-aged granddaughter.  Am checking on that!  So it is back to the IPhone and IPad for pictures.  I will have to figure out a way to make them interesting and pretty.  What a challenge I have ahead of me! Still grateful as I turn, Dianne

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

So I Need Your Help

So I am going to do something that I have never done before except one time for a very short length of time.

I am going to be mentoring the wife of one of our Renewal Ranch residents.  I am so excited.  She is precious and we have photography in common.  She has a college degree in photography!  I was researching tonight about mentoring and it stressed the importance of having something in common although it is not necessary.

I read how we do not have to be spiritual giants--just be sincere and authentic in our relationship with Christ or in other words a heart for Christ, experience in the Christian life or a few steps further down the road than the mentee, and a love for people.

One of my main purposes early on will be to establish what she needs from me--

--a better understanding of the Bible

--a prayer partner

--help in establishing a better devotional life

--parenting help

S
o, here is what I need from you. Would you kindly, in the comment section or in a private email to me, tell me what you think are the most important aspects of being a Godly mentor?

And if you've ever been a mentor, would you share what about it was the most challenging and what was the most gratifying?

And if you have some outstanding literature that you would recommend, I would be most grateful.

 My mentee is already a Christian so we are one step down the path which I hope and pray will be a rewarding one for her and for me also.

One of my daughters-in-law has a mentor that she has had for at least a decade.

Their relationship is to be cherished. That is what I want with mine.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  from Ecc. 4

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

litle bouquet from my yard today

Be Still

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Weekend Worship at St. Edward Catholic Church

Praise the Lord

Praise the Name of the Lord

Praise Him you servants of the Lord

You who minister in the House of the Lord,

in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good

Sing praise to His Name, for that is pleasant

I know that the Lord is great

That our Lord is greater than all gods

Your Name O Lord endures forever

Your renown O Lord through all generations.

Praise the Name of the Lord! from Psalm 135

Turning His pages with you,
Dianne

© all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

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