Welcome to That’s Encouraging formerly known as Lemon Pie to Make the Heart Glad. My greatest daily need is encouragement. If you experience the same need, join me here for uplifting, sometimes humorous, and occasionally just for fun thoughts.

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Please Speak
By Sandra McGarrity

…if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak. - Acts 13:15

As I sat alone in my living room one evening the phone rang. I knew I didn’t recognize the caller ID. It turned out to be a lady living in my area. She had just read a devotion I had written for “The Secret Place.”

“I was unwinding after a day at a funeral and the devotion touched me,” she said. “I hope you don’t think I’m crazy but I just wanted to thank you.” She then added, “These things reach so many people.”

We chatted for a few minutes and hung up. I was blessed that she took the time to encourage me, a stranger. It is nice to know your work is accomplishing something.

The next day I received a rejection for something I had written. I was disappointed and disheartened. I had so hoped to have it published. I was also extra thankful for the encouragement from the night before.

On the day after, I received an e-mail from a young woman who had just read one of my stories. It spoke to her in a time of need. I was able to communicate with her and hopefully encourage her.

I don’t often get responses to my writing other than acceptance or rejection letters. As I thought over those three days, I saw that God had “bookended” my disappointment with two special instances of encouragement. The women didn’t know anything about my personal life but I so needed that encouragement.

Who needs a special word or action today? The more correct question would be, “Who doesn’t?”

For Laughs

I just read an article entitled “More Bad News for Sugar Lovers.” It seems that the higher glycemic carbs (sugar) can double the risk for heart disease in women. I believe that is probably true. My problem with the article was in the accompanying photograph. As I sat here eating my low fat string cheese, reading an article about good health, I was slammed with a mouth-watering pic of pie, cake, donuts, muffins, and what had to be peanut butter cookies. Now, all I can think about is those warm peanut butter cookies with little crisscrosses on top that my Mother used to make. They should’ve posted a picture of a diseased heart or something.

@May 6, 2010

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Countless Thoughts
By Sandra McGarrity

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, you are still with me!
~ Psalm 139:17-18, NLT

The above scripture was my e-mail verse for the day. I have always loved this passage and have been in awe of it also. If God had one thought about me today it would be precious but this verse says He thinks about us so much we can’t possibly count the times. That number is more than the grains of sand. It is said that if we could possibly count all the grains of sand in the world, the number would have changed by the time we began counting. I can’t even get my brain around this idea.

That thought leads to another: What is God thinking about me? I have no idea other than what I read in His word but a little research about grains of sand brought me to the conclusion that His thoughts about each of us are unique. I always thought of sand as tiny bits of brown dirt. It turns out that sand has more colors, shapes, and textures than we can imagine. I’m sure the scientific minded already know this but when we look at these pictures and think of these grains of sand as God’s thoughts about us we see how much He cares about every detail of our lives.

Please have a look at this link. It is stunning.

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/01-each-grain-of-sand-a-tiny-work-of-art

@February 23, 2010

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More Sandra McGarrity from 2009...

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