Some Real Shepherdesses and a Good Friday Service.

Last evening we went to church for the Good Friday service.  Our Pastor's wife was very moved, I do not know what she had going on in her head, but it was definitely a moment between her and God.  And if you consider what was going on in Christ's life approximately 1,980 years ago.  Then you might have some idea. Christ gave himself over to the soldiers. They did come for Him, but they didn't take Him...He gave Himself over to them, for us.  Have you ever really considered what Jesus Christ did for us.  He died for me, just say that...and let the truth of this statement, just sink in to your brain and more importantly allow the reality of this statement touch your heart.  Perhaps this is the place where Pastor Lori was,  or perhaps she was praying for her husband to be able to speak powerful words, that he might be able to touch many, many hearts with his teaching. I can not say what the private thoughts of this fine woman were or are.  Normally Pastor Lori speaks to us about the offering, but Pastor Don, I believe, seeing his wife praying on her knees on the carpet, with her head on the floor as well, under her prayer shawl, made the request.  In our church we bring our offerings to the front, and so that Pastor Lori didn't get tripped over Miss Kim and Miss Zanette guarded her.  As I am sitting here telling you about this I have tears in my eyes.  It was so appropriate considering our service, but to see these two women and the love that they have demonstrated in this fashion was very moving to me...this was an expression of love.  A very clear expression of love.
I believe there is a tremendous amount of compassion among the people of Harvest Chapel...and this isn't because we are special, it's because we have amazing leadership/teacher.  Teachers who teach the word of God in such a comprehensive way that we all can grasp what is being said, and learn.

Last night we learned some of the following, if you read Isiah chapter 53, you will be reading the prophecy of Isaiah in regards to the Savior.  Now Isaiah is written between 740 - 680 BC.  If a child is reading this then you need to know that prophecy is something that is going to happen in the future as seen by a prophet of God. Isiah 53 foretells what Christ was going to have to deal with, in verse 4, it says simply, "He hathe borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." God knew this would be the only way.  God created our spotless Lamb.
And in chapter 54 Isaiah tells us of the promise kept, for our salvation.
Jesus prayed and spent time before He went with the soldiers, He prayed so hard that blood mixed with His sweat.  He asked His Father if it is at all possible to do this in any other way...can we please do that, but if not..I will do as you ask.  What a difficult place for Jesus to be.  Remember Jesus was a human being with special abilities,  He still felt pain and sadness.  And the pain was much more than any of us could have taken....when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, he was betrayed with a kiss, how unbelievably sad is this.  We also learned last evening that betrayal can only come at the hand of friend. Hmm...what do think about this.  Sad but true.  We also learned that Judas was perhaps trying to force Jesus' hand and that he, Judas, had no idea that the end of Jesus would be the beginning of a different kind of kingdom, than what they were all expecting.

Well it is now 10:15 and I have a few other things to get done.  So I will leave you with this...consider what Jesus did for you, and be thankful.  Also be consistent in your walk...be the same on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday as you are on Sunday.  Use the same language all week as you do when you are in church...if you couldn't do what you are doing or saying or looking at in the presence of Jesus, simple, then don't do it!

Go and be a blessing.

Extreme Shepherding

23 Psalm.....on Wednesday evening when I was at church, one of the things Virginia, our teacher, Christian guide, helper and friend, was telling us about was Extreme Shepherding.   Now you all know the definition of Extreme, and you I think know that Jesus is considered a Shepherd. Let's spend a moment and read the 23 Psalm:

Psalm 23

King James Version (KJV)

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I am going to try my best to retell what we learned on Wednesday evening, because it was so amazing to me and I want to share it with the people who read this.
Verse 1. The Lord is constantly watching over us, His sheep.  He will take care of all our needs.  Sometimes we do need to ask for help, not because he doesn't see a need, but because He wants us to depend on Him and talk to Him.
Verse 2. Did you know that a sheep is difficult to get to lie down...they will not lie down, if they are anxious, or if there is trouble within the flock, like a few sheep fussing, if flies are bothering them.... so the Shepherd prepares the grass for the sheep.  He stomps on the grass,  which not only will soften the grasses but it will also boot out the flies and gnat.  Also, and I did not know this before, a sheep is a very frightful animal, and it is afraid of drowning, so the shepherd will stomp in the water to spread it out so that the sheep can drink from little bits of water rather than not drinking, because of their fear.
Verse 3. Our Shepherd helps us to feel, and to be, restored to Himself.  And he will guide us only in the correct direction, because we are wanting to be like our Shepherd.
Verse 4. Do you ever feel or have you ever felt, as though you are in a deep, deep valley?  This can be a very lonely place, but when we have our Lord and Savior, our Shepherd walking with us we do not need to be afraid.  Because he is right there with us!  How awesome is this?  For thou at with me!  There really needs to be an exclamation at the end of this sentence, not a period.   This is exciting!  And our Shepherd will guide and direct is with His rod and His staff.  He's not using them to hit at us, His sheep.  He will hit at evil, or a bear or a lion or a wolf if it comes near, but not at us.  And the Shepherd does all this to protect us and for His glory, to show others that we walk with Him.
Verse 5. Because the Shepherd loves us so much, he wants to meet all our needs, so David, who wrote this Psalm want's us to know that God will care for everything even when our enemies are around us God is there and He is our protector. Have you ever been anointed with oil.  Well apparently the Shepherd  would take oil and would rub it on the sheep's head to help to protect it from gnats and other evils.  Do you see? David was equating the evil gnats with the evils that he had to deal with, that God was protecting him from. God is so good!  My cup runneth over.  We are over flowing with God's goodness...bring it on...I want more of you Lord...more....more...more!
Verse 6.  I will always walk with God.  And let's face it, David made some pretty big bo-bos in his life, even though he was walking with God.  David was not perfect, just like we are not perfect.  But he knew that he would always follow God, and that in doing so goodness and mercy would always be there and that he would live for ever with God.

Now before I close I just want to thank Miss Virginia,  what an awesome teacher, for setting me on fire for God.  Virginia I want you to know that I was telling Tim about what we had learned on Wednesday evening, this morning and I was moved to being teary because of some of the realization I felt concerning Gods love and faithfulness to me.  And I can thank you for illuminating this for me.
We all know the love that we as a church have for our Pastors, all of them, I just want you to know the love that we girls have for you!  You are our conduit!

Go find someone to bless!

The Heart and Mind of Christ

Isaiah 55:9, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Do you ever consider, "What does Jesus think about?"  Or maybe the better question is, "What doesn't Jesus think about?"

Last evening, being Wednesday, I was at church, and oh my, what a blessing I received, my daughter Ruthee went with me...that was really wonderful.  But as usual I digress....we spoke about why Tim doesn't come to church with me on Wednesday evenings.  Well that's an easy one to understand.  When we are involved in deepish conversations, your mind gets wired, like you had to much full test coffee, or maybe to many of those five hour energy drinks. (If you drink those things!)  You come home and your mind is going 90 miles an hour, and you can't fall asleep.  Well when you rise from your bed at 3:00AM...you need to be able to go to bed and go to sleep.  Not lay there awake.  So now do you understand about thinking about skatty eight things all at the same time.  Well God thinks about skatty eight times skatty eight times skatty eight things all at the same time.  Remember we can not limit God.  He is huge.  He is everywhere all the time, He is in all things, He is everywhere all the time.  I was going to say to think about God as the air that we breath, except that, the air isn't everywhere, and God is!

How many a people inhabit this earth, or perhaps I should say how many Christians inhabit this earth?  I have found that in 2011 there where 3.1 billion Christians, that is a lot but not all.  I believe there are probably more. And God is with each and everyone, all the time!  Wrap your head around that thought!  Hmm!  God just said to me...Kirsten, how can I explain this to you, when you can't understand it? I know God but I am trying...Kirsten it doesn't matter, as long as all understand that I am always there when they want to speak to me that is all that matters, right?  Kirsten remember this is faith. You need to watch the movie, "Faith Like Potatoes" again. Okay God, are you reprimanding me?  No I just want you to think about things that matter, rather than think about things that don't really matter.  I know that your heart is in the right place.  As long as my people, my children, spend time in my word and follow what is taught in the Bible.  They should be able to instruct and help others who aren't believers in me to get to know me.  The only way to have a good relationship, with anyone, is to spend time with that one.  Like you are doing right now.  God you are so amazing to me.  I know that there will be people out there that will read this and think I am making this up, and that God couldn't possibly be speaking to me.  Well He's not...He's flowing thru me and out my finger tips onto the letters that comprise the words that you see here.  The only thing that I try very hard to do, is to change the colors of the print.  So that it is easier for my brothers and sisters in Christ to see were I am speaking and where God is speaking.  spend time with me and I will speak to you as well.  Even if you don't spend time with me I may still speak to you at an unexpected time...
Okay so in order to understand we need to spend time in the Word.  We need to work hard at emulating our Father (Heavenly), and pray without ceasing.  One of the ways I do this last part is by spending a lot of time singing songs, humming songs, whistling songs.  About the only time I am really quiet is when I am writing this blog.

Well it is time to go and get ready for work, and to find someone to bless....you know I bless the same person everyday.  But there is another person I would like to bless, but I am unable to. This person will not allow it.  How should I deal with this God?  Can you please tell me...I am listening...how would you bless someone who doesn't want to be blessed by you?

The Pastors' Wives'

At Harvest Chapel, my church, we have unbelievable teachers....as I am sitting here thinking about these people I can see them in my minds eye.  These people are our spiritual teachers as well as our spiritual parents.  My husband has an old friend that occasionally has come to the church with her husband, and the one time that we were able to catch up with them after a service, they said that they had learned more during that one sermon than they had learned in many years, yes years, of going to a different church.  Now I don't know about you, but this is what I want from my time at church.  And not just on Sundays!

This past Sunday, three of the Pastors' wives' spoke to us rather than the pastors.  The first to speak was Mrs. Irene Rivera.  We learned from her about walking by faith. This is so important.  When we rise in the morning we need to ask our Lord...okay Jesus, no matter what you have for me I am walking with you so I will do as you direct. And if you are walking closely with the Lord and spending time in the Lord's Words...you will become a little Jesus, and this is our goal to emulate our Father.  Romans 8: 28 to the end.  Is an amazing and concise directory of how to live our lives.  Paul I would have liked to hear teach as well as all of our pastors...he knew how to string words together in such a way to really get his thoughts across....like...all things work together for good to them that love God.   Wow, that really says a lot.  Just a little example.....you are late for work one day...and as you are driving down the road you pass an accident...well if you had left on time...you would have been part of that accident...do you see?  God turned around, the situation from what you may have seen as a problem and if you have your eyes open and on the Lord....you will see where He is protecting you..and shielding you...so something occurs to make you late next time...realize that maybe, just maybe, God is protecting you.  Romans 8: 29 goes on to talk about the fact that God knew us before we were us...God had knowledge of us before we were born...read this to the end...it is amazing.

The next to speak was Mrs. Kim Miller.  She gave us a parallel between the Palm tree and our families...I would never have thought to put these two together.
I just googled  "palm trees," and Wikipedia has some very interesting facts that I never new about palm trees.
A quote from Wikipedia: Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreenleaves arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, many palms are exceptions, and in fact exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics. As well as being morphologically diverse, palms also inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, fromrainforests to deserts.

No wonder Miss Kim spoke as she did.  Not only does a good and healthy palm tree have a very deep and strong root in this earth that God created. We as families need to also have a good and healthy root in God our Father....what amazing women.  And did you notice in the quote from Wikipedia how it says that palm trees are very diverse in some of their traits....aren't we as well.  There are not to many of us that are identical.  Unless God says, I think I will pull a trick on this family and give them identical twins or triplets or what ever number He chooses.  God does have a sense of humor.  Kim went on to speak about her gift of being a hostess.  And while this is an awesome trait, let's see what we can do to help out Mrs. Miller and be a hostess to her.  You know when you go into a restaurant you are greeted by the hostess.  Have you ever considered what a hostess does?  Think about this...there isn't much they don't do, to ensure your time is pleasant...and this leads to what is Miss Kim's verse, Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.  She is a peacemaker...some people are peacemakers...I am not sure what I am.   Maybe one of the Mary's, the one that wanted to sit at Jesus's feet and learn....

The last to speak was Momma Lori, she tied everything together and brought everything full circle.  We are studying the family culture that we all live in and Momma brought it all together.  

2 Timothy 1:5

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

Pastor Lori, talked to us about our family cultures; her's is from around the Pittsburgh area, which is a bit different from this area.  What is your family culture.  Mine is Pennsylvania Dutch (and English)...my grandmother Minnie, short for Wilhelmina, always said the entire 23 Psalm and the Lord's prayer every night before she went to sleep and she spoke it in Deutsche.  I will have to ask God what bearing this had on my life and get back to you on this.  Pastor Lori's life was completely formed by an amazing family culture....if you want to know more about this well...I guess you will just have to come to Harvest Chapel in Abbotstown, Pa to find this out.

Needless to say I have some very important people in my life and people who are influencing my thoughts and the way that I find myself behaving.  Any of you Ladies of Harvest Chapel out there who may read this, did I just make you feel like...oh boy...better be doing a good job teaching these babies!  Yup!  You all are so influential to us, and I thank God for all of you, and not just you three, but the many more that I will not name..because their are so many of you there.

Time for blessings and for you all to bless.  Talk to you all tomorrow!

Privileges or are they _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _?

Do you ever consider the privileges that we receive on a day to day basis?

1. Getting out of bed each and every morning.
2. Having a job.
3. Having money to spend.
4. Having a spouse who loves you.
5. Having children.
6. Having enough food to eat.
7. Having a home.
8. Having nice people around.
9. Having people around that care about or care for you. Example people you work with or your friends.
10. Being able to communicate with each other.

These are privileges that we here in this blessed country of the United States of America can and most of us do, enjoy daily.  And if you are not a believer these are just some of the privileges that you enjoy as a citizens' of this great country....okay I am going to take a bunny trail for just a moment...I have another privilege, and that is the privilege of a dual citizenship.  I have a citizenship in this country and in Gods kingdom, you see I am a child of God.  I have earthly parent's and I have a heavenly Father.  I am truly blessed.

Okay since I have dual citizenship, I have blessings, and/or privileges. And if I were a betting person, which I am not, I would bet that I have a lot more blessings than you have privileges, since you may only be a citizens if this fine country, but you may not enjoy the same kind of dual citizenship that I enjoy.

Another blessing I have is to share things with my friends and confidantes.  Today my husband and I had the most amazing blessing.  We got to share in the sending home of one of God's saints.  A very dear women that we know and also a very dear friend of mine lost her husband, but a few weeks before he went to be with Jesus, he prayed to receive Christ into his heart.

Now there maybe those of you out there that po-po this....however I do not...this is found in the one and only History Book I will ever need anymore... since I am finished with my schooling and I have already learned about the various wars and some of the other things that have occurred during the 2000 plus years since Christ walked this earth.

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

As for me, I need nothing more.  It's amazing how much more comforting it is for a Christian to attend a funeral for a fellow Christian, if you attend a funeral for someone who is not born again,  or you are not sure of where they stand, oh how awfully sad that is.

But I must get back to my point, this dear friend, who lost her husband has the assurance of seeing her husband again.  This is an absolute blessing!  So while there is and will be for quite some time a sadness on the temporary separation from her beloved partner of 50 plus years.  The realization that this is temporary is a comfort.  I have the privilege/blessing of extending to her some compassion and arms to hug her and hold her when she is feeling sad.  We need to comfort our friends and family when they are feeling sad and lost, so make sure that you do this.  Be a blessing, you never know when a kind word or a comforting hug is just the necessary impetus to keep someone from doing something that they shouldn't.  God's blessings to you all!

The Struggle

Once upon a time...okay have I gotten your attention?  

Once upon a time there was a young girl, and as she grew up she faced various struggles as we all do.  Well this girl grew to be a young women.  And she was not happy living where she was living, she thought, the grass is greener over there.

So she packed up her belongings and moved.  Now this young women was always curious about things.  And I am sure that you know it is not always a good thing to be curious...but, Thank God, God was with her.  She didn't know it, but God was always there.  She thought she was living her life, but she wasn't really, it was more like she was just floating thru and life was just happening.

Does this sound like anyone you may know?   Well let's continue.....

Finally as the days, weeks, months, and years, yes years, had passed her by...she started to realize that life was just happening and she wasn't having any real hand in it.  She was just letting time go by with no purpose!  Yes she was rearing a child, yes she was married, yes she was working, yes she was going to the grocery store, yes she was going to soccer practice, yes she was going to church, yes she was spending time with friends, yes she was drinking alcohol, NO she wasn't happy!  (And no she wasn't an alcoholic, she just drank on occasion).

Well more time went by, and more time went by, was she happy?  No

Well the young women decided that it was time to make some changes to her life, so she left her husband and took her child and continued to do the things she had been doing....hmmm....life didn't improve.  She thought, "what have I done, I left my husband, I am now a single parent, I work, I rent an apartment, I have no happiness." (She didn't know it, but what she was missing was JOY!)

More time went by...and life just continued.  Do you ever feel like life is just happening to you and that you have no hand in your own destiny...I think this is what is meant by, "Life has past me by."  Don't let it!

Back to our story.  Well now as all of this was happening to this young women, there was something else happening in the life of a young man...he was attending church regularly, a nice size church, not to huge, but not really tiny.  And this church was about to have an, "old tyme revival meeting!". And the young man had been praying, "Lord direct me to the one or ones that you want me to bring to these meetings!" And he prayed this over and over again.  And as he was walking home from work, he stopped into his car insurance company's office to pay his bill.  He was talking to the receptionist and she got his agent for him and they were talking about his policy....well they talked a bit more and he asked her if she would like to go to the meetings at his church.  Well the women didn't feel comfortable going (she was married and her husband was out of town, and she wasn't comfortable going without her husband) but she said to the young man, wait just a minute,  and she came back into the room with the receptionist, the agent said to the young man, I can't go but Susan said that she would go with you.  Well the young man thought, that will work.
So Susan and the young man went back out to the entry area to establish were and when.  Yup you guessed it, our young women is Susan.

So the young women made arrangements for a babysitter for her child, and she went to the first meeting.   Hmm she thought, I have known this information for many years.  But I never knew that you had to invite Jesus into your life....well the young women enjoyed the first service and decided that she would go the next night.  She thanked the young man and said that she would see him again the next evening.  She went to work the next day and her boss asked her how she enjoyed the service, she told her that she really enjoyed it and that she was going again tonight. Oh good thought her boss.

The young women was getting ready to go to church, she was actually getting a bath, and I don't know about you, but the bathtub or shower is were I actually do some of my best thinking, so Susan thought to herself, I really don't know why I haven't done this before? Well actually I do, I wasn't sure I wanted to give up all the borderline bad stuff that I do and  I never realized that having a relationship with Christ was as easy as just asking Him to take up residence in my heart!
So right there and then, Susan prayed a simple prayer, Jesus, I have done things that I should not have done and I am so sorry for the bad things I have done, Jesus please forgive me?  And please Jesus, come into my heart, and help me to be a baby Christian who wants to grow up in You....Amen...well for some reason the young women was moved to tears...not tears of sadness, but tears of joy.  She was feeling a happiness that she had never felt before. (A joy that can only come from Jesus).  She felt like the struggle was over...

We will have more of this story soon, but for right now, go and find someone to bless...I need to put some wood on the wood stove and go and get baptized again as I take my shower this morning.  God's blessings on you all!

And don't forget: John 3: 16...For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that who ever believes in Him shall have life without end.

Yesterday's Readers.....and Much, Much More...

Yesterday's blog was about what we should do after we have accepted Christ as our Savior.  And I have to say, you regular readers know that everyday I end my blogs with everyone seeking out someone to bless...well I have been blessed tremendously by the people who have read my blog.

Yesterday I had my first reader from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and I had someone from Germany who read 13 pages, so I would say that they were really catching up.  I also had my regular readers from here in the US, Pennsylvania to be exact.  One from Greencastle,  one from York and one from Mountville each of these readers read a few pages.  So you all have blessed me tremendously.

You know since I have gotten a little bit older, I have found that I find happiness in many more things.  Like writing this blog....there are some mornings that I really feel like I am hitting the wall and not really feeling very capable of putting any real words of any real value down on paper, or should I say on the screen.  but God has different ideas...don't you just love those two three letter words? Boy I do...But  God!

I have been doing some thinking lately (and this can be a dangerous thing...) about how much we as adults, sometimes blame our adult problems on the way that we were reared...and I have really been giving this a bit more thought lately than I have perhaps in the past.  And I have come to a grand conclusion....it is time to put the past in the past and to start taking responsibility for our own actions.

In other words get over it!  How long must you carry that baggage around with you?  Well here's the truth.  You don't need to carry this baggage any longer, just put it down and leave it, you don't need it and start realizing that the reason that things may not be going according to your wishes are your responsibility, not your Mom's, not your Dad's, not your grandparent's, not Uncle Harry's.  You may have received some of the ways that you choose to deal with things as a result of your cumulative rearing...all of it thrown together in a ball.  But what you choose to carry with you into adulthood are as a result of your choices.

I really hope that I am speaking to someone out there and touching someone's heart. You know I am sure that when you become a Christian, God looks at you as a person in the whole.  He's  not looking at you and saying,  "well I do believe that 30% of this person is mom and 28.5% is dad...and 40% is sister and 1.5% is brother."  Nope God looks at you and says," welcome my child."  Pastor Don said one Sunday that the reason we have such a small rear view mirror is because we shouldn't spend a huge amount of time looking back, looking at what is going on behind us, but we have a relatively huge front window to look thru so we can see where we are going.  Why not start looking at your whole life like this.  Just like when we ask Christ to come into our hearts and we ask God to forgive us for all of the wrong that we have ever done...Jesus does this, and the past is forgiven and GONE!  If God can do this why would you want to hang on to it?  Seems to me this is a no brainer, just let go.  And start to live your life...

So many times when our children grow up and have become young adults, they can't wait to be out of their parent's house and on their own....do you want to know what I think about this situation....well I am going to tell you, I have control of the keyboard right now.... oh good, I get to be on my own, I get to pay rent, and electric and trash removal, and phone bills, and car insurance and car payments.....happy now.

And then some things start to go a little off track, you don't have quite enough money to pay your phone bill...well this is because of the way I was raised (reared).  No it's not, it's because you choose to take that little trip to that other state, when you didn't really have the money for it.   You see.  It is so easy to say, oh it's because of the way that I was reared....well, let's start to take responsibility for our behavior and stop looking in the rear view mirror and saying well it's because of this or that or the other thing...

Well it is that time...go and find someone to bless.  And if any of you would like to contact me there is a space for comments below or you can send an email to me at rebeccacreates2012@Gmail.com.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Blessings to all!

Okay...so You are Born again...Now What?

What Hapens Next?  Do you have a mentor...if not... you need one.  I seriously feel that a baby believer has a much more troublesome time of staying on the correct path without a wise mentor.  If you are attending a church where you are comfortable and were you are learning, I would seek out the Pastor and ask them to help you find someone to mentor you, I do think it is better to have someone who is wiser than you, pick out a mentor for you.

Consider that you are in a strange country, by yourself!  It is wise to find someone who knows the country to help your walk in the country.  When I accepted Jesus into my heart, I was in the middle of attending a revival at a little tiny church in Denver, Pennsylvania.  I had been invited by a very kind man...who showed me some of the important things that I needed to do to have a successful walk with God.

Probably the most important thing to do is to get into the word...and if you have questions about what you are reading, make sure that you ask these questions, and get the answers that you can understand.  I was instructed to read one chapter of Proverbs each day and pick a book of the New Testament and a book from the Old Testament and start working thru things.  And definitely spend time talking to God.....do you know...I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your Daddy, but I like to imagine that if I could have had a great relationship with my father, it would have been even better with the Lord than it would have been with an earthly father.

This coming May 2, I will be celebrating my 24th birthday in Christ.  And it hasn't always been an easy walk.  But that is a whole other story.

Please understand that just because I am a Christian that my life has been easier than someone who doesn't walk with Christ.  This is not necessarily so.  One thing that is extremely important for a new Christian to know is that the devil will be upset that you have decided to serve Jesus, the devil will not be happy with you and will play with you and make things difficult for you.  You may laugh about this, but it is definitely true.  So beware and be ready for the fight for your life, because that is ultimately what it is!  And this is also where a great mentor comes in handy.  If the problems that you are dealing with are related to...just say for example...jealousy... well if you look in your Bible in the Concordance and look up the key word...you will find all sorts of Bible verses to look up.  These will help you to know how to change your thinking.  As you read the Bible you will slowly get to know Jesus, and you want to imitate Jesus.  You want to show the love of Jesus in your daily walk.  When you get up in the morning start talking to God.  Not necessarily out loud, especially if you are married or live with other people, you may want to carry on these conversations inside your head.  If you are in your private prayer place there you can probably speak out loud to the Lord, our goal is to get to know Jesus and the word of God, not to necessarily make people think we are nuttsy.
Remember it isn't easy,  but when things get tough...they may get even tougher...just keep persevering the rewards, yes I said rewards, will be great.

Well I must get myself ready for my day so God's blessings on all of you,  and I hope that you can find someone to bless...it's not that hard to find someone to bless.  Sometimes just a smile is a blessing.

Ladies who do Brunch!

When the women of Harvest Chapel meet for extra activities, I really need to take my camera so I can get pictures to show you.

We are learning about a family culture (not that most of us do not now what this family life is, but what we do not necessarily know is, what a truly good and Godly family life is)....now let me ask you this, when you have family gatherings...if your gatherings are anything like ours, there are cameras and pictures are being taken. These are then shared with the others in the family.  Right now it seems that our Jen is the one taking the pictures..but I will have to get mine out when we have our Easter gathering so that we can have some nice pictures of our Jen.

On this past Saturday the "Women of the Word" and some of the other ladies from the church all got together and had a very good brunch.  We had an amazing and Godly women speak to us about her testimony....oh my goodness...this women is amazing!  About nine months ago, she lost one of her sons in, I think, Afghanistan.
Now if this was a women with no faith I doubt that she would be able to so eloquently speak of her sons demise, but because this women has an amazing relationship with our Savior, she is able to speak of this occurrence with joy, and not always without tears.  Her name is Mrs. Pamela Smith...and my goal is to have a mature Christian faith like hers when I am a grown-up Christian.  If you ever have an opportunity to hear this women speak... your faith will grow with her input.  She is a truly amazing women.  God has been kind to her in ways, I can only imagine, if there is an opportunity for her to speak for Christ, Pam will use it to convict someone for Christ. And she can sing like an angel...if there were lady angels that is...but there aren't, but let us just say that Pam can sing beautifully.

Well, all of us, had a wonderful and blessed time together, I made some new acquaintance's, who I am hoping will become friends.  Let's open up Ladies and find the value in each other.  If you haven't realized it yet we women, need each other.  If I am speaking to any women out there who do not have a Christian female friend, I would really suggest that you get one.  And you Christian women out there find an un-churched women to befriend...it may be a struggle for a bit....but it will be worth it in the long run.

Well it is time to get ready for work and to have my breakfast and to find someone to bless...hmm...I wonder who that will be today.  Also I have some prayer request for you all to pray about...there is Marky with a probable case of childhood onset leukemia...pray, pray pray...and there is Grace, a less than a month old baby who caught a cold and is in the hospital with many complications....pray, pray, pray....and there is Ron a young man who had the flu and his body now has a very low white blood cell count to fight off infections...he also needs prayer...as well as the family's of these people.  So let's pray.....God is good.

The Begining of a New Week.

How was your Sunday?  And yes since I can't hear your answer I will use this question to tell you about mine...it was wonderful. 

Church without a doubt was aweome.  We just love our church, right now we are learning more and more about living in a family culture.  And I thought I knew about living in a family, but what we are learning is taking it to a whole new level, a level that I had no realization was even there.  Infact for Tim and I a possible level that I will only be able to tell you about in the weeks to come.  I will tell you this, we think it is awesome! 

When you go to church the next time I want you to look around at the rest of the congregation and just imagine them all as brothers and sisters, because that is what they are.  Just imagine how different the world would be if we treated each other as brothers and sisters, or as daughters and sons or extra mothers and fathers?  Would it be better?  I think so!

Well when Tim and I got home frome church I looked out the kitchen window and I saw that the goats were out. So they looked like they might be wondering a bit so I let Louis, the dog out to entertain them.  They seem to like to play together.  So they were happier to stay a little closer to home....

So after Tim and I got the boys back into there pen and we had come back into the house we recieved a phone call from our covenent daughter and she asked if they could come for a visit.  Well of course. I have told them so many times they don't have to ask...you can just show up...we are fine with that!  Apparently they had had a very busy morning with two church services and when they were close to their house Mary said to Samuel, don't you think we could just drive for a bit so Levi (the baby) can take a good nap...and Samuel said, Do you want to go to Mom's, so Mary called and of course I said yes!  so we then had a wonderful visit from a well rested little Levi and his mommy and daddy.  what a wonderful end to an awesome weekend. 

Pappy sure loves his grand-sons and grand-daughters!

Look at me Mam-maw!

See what I can do?

Daddy caught my reflection in the woodstove! Cool!

Levi and Mommy!

Tomorrow I will tell you about my Saturday...wonderful breakfast with the ladies!

Circumstances

What are your circumstances in life?   And how do you react to your circumstances?

This word circumstance, is a very interesting word.  I did look it up in our dear friend Merriam Webster, and although I read thru the definitions, and I do understand what I read, this is a somewhat difficult word to understand.  Think about this word and think about how you would define this word to someone.....

My circumstances are guided by the Lord.  But....only when I am alone.  And this may also be your circumstance.  Now once you set your foot outside your door....you walk out to your car...you get into your car....do you ask God for His protection each time you go out into the world, you should, we should, I should.  Alright you are driving down the road,  now perhaps you have never been involved in an accident.  Oh that is wonderful.  I was 16, and it was minor (but reportable accident)and I thank God for that.  Other than that the Lord has always been right there along side of me.  And he was there with me when I was 16 as well, even though I didn't know it.  Now that I am older and a believer in Christ, for a good many years, my circumstances are such that I always have God with me.

HOWEVER this doesn't mean that I am perfect...far from it....there are times in my life on a regular basis that my circumstances are such that I struggle...just ask my husband...I come home and poor out my heart,  and I just wonder....this is because I react to my circumstances, I need to not do this...And God is helping me, but if you are also reacting...take a moment, and look at the circumstances surrounding your particular issue.  Now I know this may seem trite,  (but oh well, this is the way I think about things) how do you think that Jesus would respond to your particular situation?   Just try very hard to look at your various situations thru Gods eyes.  And to take it a step further.  Find a word that may describe your situation.  Just as an example it might be jealousy, or it might be trust, or blasphemy.  Okay now take that word and go to your Bible's cyclopedic index and look up that word.  Now you can look at the various scriptures where those words are used and in what form they are used.  This will help you to understand a particular emotion and perhaps it well give you a hand on how to deal with this in a Godly fashion.

When you are in a particular circumstance, try not to react, especially if it is not a good circumstance, until you have had an opportunity to sort of stand back, and re-look at the situation, and just try to have a Godly response.  Remember, we as Christians, may be the only Bible, some people ever read.  Yes, I know, but it is true?  And I am not just talking to you I am speaking to my self.

God help me to have a better understanding of the circumstances that I find myself in each and every day...and Lord I ask you to be within me and help me in my body language, and with the looks on my face, and the pitch of my voice and the words that I speak, let me show whoever is with me that I have the love of you in me for them.  And nothing they can say or do well make me respond in an un-Godly way.  Just be with me constantly Daddy. I love you Lord.

And now go and bless someone!

Anointed

What does it mean to be anointed?   We'll first of all let's look at what our friends Merriam Webster has to say:

anoint

 transitive verb \ə-ˈnȯint\

Definition of ANOINT

1

: to smear or rub with oil or an oily substance

2

a : to apply oil to as a sacred rite especially for consecration

b : to choose by or as if by divine election; also : to designate as if by a ritual anointment <critics anointed the author as the bright new talent>

— anoint·er noun

— anoint·ment  noun

Well the first thing you will probably notice is that even though I put in the word anointed I was given the definition for anoint. We'll that is okay as well, and I checked a couple of sources and the same thing happened, but I still ended up with the same definitions so all is good...

Did you know there are 104 places in the bible where the word anointed appears in the Bible, and that we are God's anointed.  Just like David was God's anointed.

The direction that I want to go with this is, oh dang that devil, he just got me side-tracked for just a second and I lost my train of thought.  But I got it back!

Where ever it says in the Bible that God is pouring out His spirit, He is anointing us who are His children.

Acts 2:17-21

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁷ ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
²⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
²¹ And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’^[a]

Isn't God's word exciting.  I love to receive epiphany's. Last night at church, with it being Wednesday I was in my "Women of the Word class". And this is what we were looking at.  We are working our way thru the book of First Samuel.  And when you look at the lives of Saul and David being anointed is very interesting...the devil is not to touch God's anointed and Saul and David are both anointed (see 1 Samuel 9:27 and 16:1). So think about this.   

We are also anointed so since we are anointed the devil can play havoc with us by our surroundings and various issues but he can't touch us.  We are God's anointed....spend some time on this thought why don't you...and while 
 you are doing this, find someone to bless.