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You guys..... I've just realized that I haven't even posted an update since MARCH!!! I've been more active on my Jewelry (NotesNBling) Facebook page, as my lil business has been growing through events we had this year thankfully. Now with the busy fall and holiday shopping season coming about, I thought I should at least update everyone on the shows where I'll be. Music wise it's been very quiet. Several reasons.... lots of them personal and private which I don't want to share. However I'll be picking up my guitar again and then see where the Lord leads or if that season of my life is done. That is up to Him as I'm determined to serve Him, hear Him, listen to Him and then follow where He leads without me creating or striving for anything. These are times where hearing from the Lord and being still before Him are vital!, UPCOMING EVENTS:  THE BLING: In a way I'm really sad that I haven't posted about all the events I've been at this year so far. Starting with a wonderful show in McHenry County in the Chicago area, little shows here, the absolutely AMAZING Munsinger Gardens Art In The Park event, that blew me away! What a response to my jewelry! THANK YOU to all! Then we had the Annual Old Creamery Craft Show in Rice which coincides with the Little Falls Craft Show. Always love it there and met SO many wonderful new people! It's been cool. Now - second weekend in October it'll be time for my Annual Open House again and as last year, it'll be in my backyard under my event tent, with chairs to hang and visit on the deck. You have to email me (notesnbling@gmail.com) to get the address if you are planning to attend. Stay up with more news and pictures of all my new jewelry on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/notesnbling. Then many other shows are to follow for the holiday season I'm looking forward to being a part of (see picture of my schedule). WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT:
Short and sweet: Trust the Lord, REMAIN in His LOVE, do NOT FEAR, keep serving Him and keep your eyes upon Him. Belief vs Unbelief: The Greek word "pisteuo" means "believed". to be firmly persuaded as to something to believe with the idea of hope and certain expectation. (pistes - faith) We stay firmly persuaded of what Christ has done on the cross! We have hope and have a certain expectation of being with Him for eternity if we do not shrink back, nor fear. The Greek Word "apistos" means "unbelief". not worthy of confidence, untrustworthy, a thing not to be believed, incredible. Now that's NOT how we want to regard our Heavenly Father. He is worthy of ALL of our confidence, ALL of our trust and most of all He is to be BELIEVED! Psalm 34:7-10: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them. O taste and see that the Lord is good, how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord you His saints; for those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Psalm 3:25-26: Do not be afraid of sudden fear, nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, He will hear your prayer of repentance and confession of sin right wherever you are. You don't have to go to anyone or be in a certain place to ask for forgiveness and receive Christ as your Redeemer and Savior. You don't have to say a formulated prayer or do complicated things. Just from your heart to His ear - simply and humbly.... Receive His forgiveness, accept His sacrifice for your sin and then be obedient to Him and humbly walk with your Lord. Love you all! Keep shining His light! Sam
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  I would just wildly guess that most of us are ready for Spring to arrive after all the snow we have received all over the place! In late February we finally got a few snow days up North and it seems like the polar vortex took over the whole US with a lot of never experienced hardship down South. Hope all you guys have survived without too much damage.... Prayers to all for sure! UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: Sartell Farmers Winter Market (NotesNBling & Warren's Sauce) Day: Saturday, March 6 Time: 10 am - 1 pm Where: Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South Town: Sartell, MN  Event: Pot-O-Gold Vendors Market. (NotesNBling) Day: Saturday, March 13 Time: 10 am - 4 pm Where: Smith's Central Weddings & Events, 3315 Pearl Street Town: McHenry, IL My daughter Cindy & friends are hosting this event and I'm so thrilled to be back for it this year with NotesNBling showcasing my jewelry line!  Event: 12 Hour Minnesota 24/7 BURN (Music) Day: Saturday, March 20 Time: 9am - 9 pm. (our worship set will be 1-3 pm) Where: Harvest Fellowship Church, 400 2nd Ave. N Town: Sauk Rapids, MN  RECAP: February pretty much was spent indoors with the exception of the Winter Farmer's Market. Of course that day was the first day of the polar vortex! Despite the coldness it was a busy day and we were able to sell. I'm excited I sold one necklace to a good customer who has eyed said necklace for almost two years, wanting it but always choosing something else she liked even more. Well after all this time she got it! She was so excited it was still there (so apparently it was meant just for her)!! It amazes me sometimes why things stick around for a long time on my displays but also have had the feeling with some pieces they are to be there until that ONE person comes along who it's supposed to belong to! I'm thrilled this necklace is now being enjoyed by the person who has wanted it for so long! It's been nice to also have gotten a few custom orders which brought much joy to those who requested them! The photos below are my setup at the Winter Farmers Market at the Community Center in Sartell. The middle is a custom earring request and the last is a new choker design I have available. WORD OF ENCOURAGMENT:
In these tumultuous times we definitely must set our hearts aright unto the Lord, constantly enduring temptations and trials and not make hastily decisions in time of trouble. Lets cleave unto Jesus (Yahusha) and not let our hearts go astray so we may stay confident and increased in faith. Whatever is brought upon us we need to consider to take it cheerfully and be patient when we face tough times and are humbled. James 1:2-4 says: Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Remember gold is always tried and purified in the fire and so it is with acceptable mankind in the furnace of adversity. Often that's when our true self comes out (and believe me mine isn't always pretty!! 🤷♀️). Adversity is hard and often scary. It's ok to be scared but not ok to be faint! I'm sure Moses was scared, Daniel was scared, Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego were scared, Peter was scared.... lots of examples, but yet all remained faithful (yes, even Peter). So always believe in the Lord and He will help us as long as we order our way aright and totally trust in Him. Fear (revere, honor, obey) the Lord, always wait for His mercy, don't go aside otherwise you'll fall (or fail), believe Him and your reward won't fail you. Always hope for good and for everlasting joy and mercy. We must remember that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, He's long-suffering and patient and He forgives sins and He saves in times of affliction. However, me must not have fearful hearts or faint hands! If we are fainthearted we actually aren't truly believing and trusting, so therefore we make wrong decisions and end up in a mess. Let's not lose patience!!! Let's prepare our hearts and humble our souls in His sight and let's not disobey His Word because if we love Him, we will keep His ways. Let's always seek that which is well pleasing to the Lord and we will be filled. It's so much better to fall into the hands of God than the hands of man, for as great as His Majesty is - so also is His mercy! May you have a wonderful March and if you're local maybe we will see you at any of the upcoming events. Blessings, Sam  Hi to all who are still reading my updates 😄😄😄 I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. It's February already (past the middle now) and it sure looks like this site isn't very active when I don't do monthly updates. 😳 Guess y'all just gonna have to hook up with me on Facebook (there's a button for that on here) to get a lil more interaction and you can 'holler' at me over there as well. Today was planned for me to do some web updating and I thought the January update was done - nope, that didn't happen. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️. So I better git 'er dun!!! Well, we just have come out of a freeze up North that was colder than the freeze down South, but the southern freeze felt colder to everyone there than our temps where here in the North. 🥶🥶🥶 Who would have thought it would ever get that cold in Texas! 😳🤔 Praying for all the folks still out of electricity/water. I think the electric plants down there might need to insulate all their equipment so they are better protected! Crazy times! May we all thaw out without too many broken water pipes and other issues! Well, here are a couple events that will take place in March for us so you might want to put the dates on your calendars if you want to connect. Two events in the local area (St. Cloud) and one in Illinois (Chicago area). So I'll get right to it and post those.  UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: Sartell Farmers Winter Market (NotesNBling & Warren's Sauce) Day: Saturday, March 6 Time: 10 am - 1 pm Where: Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South Town: Sartell, MN Event: Pot-O-Gold Vendors Market. (NotesNBling) Day: Saturday, March 13 Time: 10 am - 4 pm Where: Smith's Central Weddings & Events, 3315 Pearl Street Town: McHenry, IL My daughter Cindy & friends are hosting this event and I'm so thrilled to be back for it this year with NotesNBling showcasing my jewelry line! Event: 12 Hour Minnesota 24/7 BURN (Music) Day: Saturday, March 20 Time: 9am - 9 pm. (our worship set will be 1-3 pm) Where: Harvest Fellowship Church, 400 2nd Ave. N Town: Sauk Rapids, MN  RECAP: January started off amazing with our New Years Eve BURN into the New Year with worship and prayer focusing on our Heavenly Father to give Him thanks for all the good things He has done, despite the world going crazy. We truly do have a lot to be thankful for! Jewelry wise, I've been making a few custom pieces for people and working on a few new projects as well. So make sure you check out my NotesNBling Facebook Page to see the most updated items. I will update the Etsy shop soon as well. It is quite more time consuming to list items due to all the details which need to be mentioned as far as descriptions goes. The beginning of February we finally had the Farmers Winter Market opening once again in Sartell after their Community Center had shut down due to all the restrictions. At least now we have one show a month in person until April. Then we will have to see what will happen next. Looking forward to one music event in a while, which will be at our home church (Harvest Fellowship in Sauk Rapids). This time it'll be 12 hours from 9-9. People can come and go or stay as long as they feel led to stay. Don't have all the line-up yet, but we will be having our music set from 1-3 in the afternoon. Event link: https://fb.me/e/1cqv8UQLK) WORD FROM THE WORD:
I love Psalm 91! I've learned some neat insights lately about this Psalm, it's not in depth, but just a few points. I always get excited when I learn new stuff and want to share it! A lot of people have been mentioning Psalm 91 as a Psalm of protection for what plagues our country and the world. However there is a prerequisite that applies to this Psalm. It is for people who keep the Word of the Lord (Psalm 119:11). It is for those who have made the Lord their habitation (Psalm 119:114). It is for those whose refuge is the Lord (Psalm 142:5). Revelation 3:10 says "because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth." Perseverance is one of those words that really jumped out at me. Are we persevering in our true faith or are we succumbing to fear and worry? Proverbs 29:25. The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. Who are the leaders in the faith we listen to? Are we exalting them above God? Are they true to the Word or are they of some "movement". Beware believer who your spiritual "fathers" are in this life. Be a Berean and check things out against the Word of God. If we've been caught up in certain movements in the Christian faith (and it happens to all of us, me included), we must begin to seek God and show us all the false beliefs we have learned, get rid of them and get right with God! The enemy of our soul has been extremely busy these days. He brings about the snare of the trapper. (Psalm 91:3) A trapper is also called a fowler, bait layer, trap setter. We can be so unsuspecting and then get caught up in a mess (spiritually and physically). Our stumbling blocks are, that we actually end up putting fear or false beliefs upon ourselves by the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the news we absorb, the preachers we listen to, the thoughts and conversations we have. There is SO much more to this Psalm and would take too long to really dive into it here, but - this is a time when we must ask ourselves - how deep is our faith and how much are we aware of the trap layer who wants to steal our peace and joy. How deep is our surrender to our Lord -Yahuah (in Hebrew)? Yahuah means "God of my Salvation". I love Him SO much! Praise be to Him who gives us hope and has saved us from sin through the cross!! He shed His blood as redemption for our sin! May we never take this lightly nor cheapen His grace! May we stay humble and in repentance! Much love, Sam  I just realized the last time any news went out was August! Whoa! 😳 Usually I try to update you guys what's happening and if we are at any events. So I missed sharing about my Open House I hold every year, a couple worship events we took part in, so I guess this is going to be more of a re-cap. First an upcoming event.... UPCOMING EVENTS: Event: New Years Eve 24/7 BURN Day: Thursday December 31 Time: 6pm-1am (We will play from 6-7) Where: Jubilee Christian Center, 3125 Cty Road 74 Town: St. Cloud MN This is an evening of worship/prayer and thanksgiving of God's goodness in 2020. MUSIC RECAP: With so many places shut down this year, including churches and Christian Coffeehouses and Ministries, including all my favorite places (oh how we miss everyone!!!), there was not much music happening. Very grateful for the couple opportunities to participate with the BURN 24/7 Ministry in sharing music and sharing with my WOW Ladies study when we did meet in person. I have to admit that I haven't been playing much, because my attention turned to other things which entered our life, including helping others with some projects. I have lyrics written to one song that I'm yet to put music to. So the goal for next year is to also include the music back into my focus.  NOTES N BLING: You can imagine with all the closures happening everywhere, most of my shows, craft fairs and festivals have shuttered as well. So my yearly October Open House time came around way too fast and I've held off and off trying to decide if I was going to do it or not.🤔 Usually it always took place within my home, generally for two days and we all had enjoyed a great time visiting, hanging out, sharing snacks, tea, coffee and shopping. With the situation this year I figured people wouldn't be comfortable to come inside. So I thought, why not utilize my new event tent I bought this year (hoping to have events). This would be the perfect setup!! It would be outside, for one day only, we could social distance and still visit. The weather had been in the upper 60's and lower 70's, unusual for October, so the invitations went out. The day of the Open House, it was a tad chilly in the morning (of course the temps lowered that day 🙄), but there was NO WIND!!! It turned out to be a very beautiful day. Folks came out, some hung out for a while and visited. What a blessing! So imagine this - the next day - it was SO terribly windy, there would have been no way to do a tent outside, it was that bad. Ah, so grateful for a beautiful Open House day! If the weather is nice next year, I may just do the same thing again! In the meanwhile more craft shows are being held, however those became either hard to get into (as you can imagine, people were eager to share their wares) or they were too far away or simply people I haven't worked with in the past and I'm cautious who I do events with. Even our Winter Farmers Market in Sartell had only ONE single event which was on the first Saturday in November before everything shut down again. For now the Community Center is not open. We did get to set up at the mall in Hutchinson for 4 days last week which was very cool. Thankfully I've had some custom orders come in here and there and time to try out some new designs, which have been well received so far! More to come next year! PERSONALLY
This sure has been a weird year, yet I can say that we've had a LOT to be thankful for and are grateful for God's provisions for our needs. We got a lot of yard work done, which is so cool, something I've been wanting to tackle for the last 3 years, but always seemed so daunting. Now about half of it is done and no more weeds! YEY!!! The other part hopefully we can finish in the spring, which is another major project, but hopefully it'll be super nice once it's done. I'd really like to have a little fountain/pond going, so we will see if we can get that done next year. We have been busy helping some friends with their home remodel project. So that's been really cool. Other than that, we are staying home a lot and that's nice and hard all at the same time. I think this whole year has affected each of us emotionally in one way or another. We miss hanging out, going out to eat, shopping..... hopefully things will open up soon. We are praying that 2021 will be a year where we see God's glory manifested in every believer's life. No matter what happens, God is always in control and never unawares! We wish you all a blessed holiday season and may God grant you wisdom for your life steps this next year. Peace, Sam  It's a very rainy morning as I'm writing this. Hubby is starting his brisket down in St. Joseph for an event we hope will take place despite more thunderstorms (some with severe warnings) are to come into the area this afternoon between 4-7 pm, the time when we would be serving food into the evening until 8 pm.... ***Update*** So, I just deleted what I had typed in this section about waiting to see about today's event. A few minutes ago they announced on their Facebook Page that they will be holding the event but it'll start 1/2 hour later after the rain stops, so that the band has time to set up to start at 7 pm. They said for folks to come after the rain, as due to COVID they have only a very limited indoor space for people to gather.*** Well that's good news. I got a load of laundry in - might as well while I'm typing this short update (which got quite long actually now looking over it)....so I should check on it before we head out. So I better get this sent off so that we can prepare to take the equipment trailer down and get it set up at least. UPCOMING EVENTS Friday, August 14: BBQ!!! Time: 4-8p Place: Milk & Honey Ciders 11738 County Road 51 Town: St. Joseph, MN The band "Church of Cash" will be playing - we just heard that the event WILL GO ON after the rain stops. So instead of 6:30 pm, the music will start around 7 pm. We probably will start serving around that time as well, since tents would not be safe in case a strong storm blows through.... Check out "Warrens Famous BBQ" on Facebook. Click button below for updates!  NOTESNBLING/MUSIC Events wise, there is nothing lined up until October and hopefully the one crafts show at the American Legion in St. Augusta will take place. So far they are still looking to do the show and are looking for vendors. This is a show I've done with this event coordinator for a few years and I really like the show. It's small, but it's fun and the people are cool, plus you can order food from the Legion, which is by the way pretty darn good! I hope to also hold my annual Jewelry Open House in October again. Due to Covid I most likely will not hold it inside my home as in the past years, but hope to have my little shop, the "she-shed" fixed up enough to where I can put my displays inside there and have some heat going in case it'll be cold. Also hopefully we will finish that part of the yard in front of the shed to where you can actually walk on paved stone instead of weeds and it'll be landscaped nice. Should we not get this done.... I'll have to do some thinking on how to hold the show this year to keep you, my customers comfortable and healthy as well as my family too. Maybe it'll be by appointment where I won't have folks gathering together like in past years. If we can be outside that would be perfect! Maybe setting up my tent in the driveway and display my jewelry like I would at an outdoor show might work also. Then, if it's nice we can sit on the deck and still visit. But this is all still a couple months away yet.... Music wise, I'm working on a new song. At the moment titled plain "Jesus" and it's about who He is and what He means to me (us). Lyrics are there, melody is still not in my head quite yet. Otherwise no music events as all has been cancelled for the rest of the year. However God always opened doors on very short notice for me music wise, so I'm ok with nothing being scheduled. I think for how life is right now - that's the best thing. No expectations, no disappointments, no planning - just letting God move. IN ENDING
If you've been following the news, everything seems dismal and if you are getting depressed or angry because of the news - TURN OFF THE NEWS!!! I have! Now that doesn't mean I don't scan through to see if there's something I do need to know about, but I'm careful which news I follow and what I'm supposed to pay attention to and I'm selective to hear news which presents events of today in a biblical perspective. Use discernment of the Holy Spirit. Most of all my eyes have turned to my Bible more, for in the Word of God I find wisdom, direction, calmness and God's leading. We need to be repentant, humble, seeking the Lord more than ever. If we are a follower of Christ, we need to live as He did, act as He did and show kindness even when it is not returned or we are attacked. It's hard, but gosh I see so many people hating on one another because of politics, masks, skin color, opinions. We need to allow one another to be who we are and to have different views and opinions. Yet, NONE of these will matter in light of eternity. The ONLY thing that matters is, if Christ is your Savior and your name is written in the Lambs book of Life! Are we to care about the world we live in and seek the good for it? YES. In Jeremiah 29:7 it says: Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare. (NASB) This scripture refers to a city, but our country is made up of many cities and a lot of the big ones have had some major turmoil in them! Also remember that once we are saved we are not of this world, we are exiles here. Man's way of "fixing" the wrongs or the issues of today will never work, unless we all have repented hearts and do it God's way. All the "self" (add any word: care, help, sufficiency) is all built on self, within ourselves. We are so messed up we can't help ourselves! The help we need comes from the Lord! I too get discouraged - I've lost most of my business since March with no shows (jewelry or music) on the horizon except possibly October. It's not been easy and I'm sure for many of you it's probably even worse. However, we cannot put our trust in government or anything else. We MUST TRUST GOD! ....remain strong, remain focused and do not give up or give in! Also remember the CHOICES you make today will affect your tomorrows.... Remember it's the ENEMY OF OUR SOUL who comes to kill, steal and destroy! Psalm 121:1-3: I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He wo keeps you will not slumber. (NASB) Love you all, Sam |
Christian Organic Folk Singer/Songwriter & Author
based in Minnesota See my Jewelry!
 Psalm 100 Scripture
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Archives
June 2020
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