Trust

The Lord has been doing some major changes in our lives, teaching us some deep lessons that I would like to share. Up until June the Lord had been teaching us to trust Him in a very simple way. The bills would come in, they would be paid. He always brought the work in time. Always. Sometimes the very day something was due we would have no way of knowing how to pay it but always before the day was over the money was there to cover it. I finally came to the place of just trusting Him, if an anxious thought arose it quickly was sent away by the realization that God always provided for us. Always. Then June rolled around. We sent out our monthly checks like before and one after the other they were returned because of “Insufficient funds”. No work, no reprieve, nothing. I was totally shocked. How could God allow us to arrive at that kind of trust and then BOOM, drop the bottom out from under us? Had we sinned? Was it a test (for what)? Why??? We waited and struggled to find enough work to put food on the table as well as pay some of the bills and the multiple fees associated with an overdrawn bank account. July, same story. It did not make sense to me, I know God does all things well, but this just did not add up.  The Lord revealed to me that I had become angry with God. That sobered me greatly and made me fall on my face before Him, begging for some sort of understanding, pleading for peace. I went to my husband for help, asking him “why?” his answer was so simple, yet so profound. “Even when we don’t understand, we need to trust the Lord. It is not always going to be easy to trust Him like it has been but we should trust Him even in the hard times. Whenever doubt comes in, take it to the Lord right away.” So I began to pray about that, especially “even in the hard times”. Then the Lord reminded me of Job. WOW! God allowed everything to be taken from Job, even his children, and it was still for God’s glory. Job basically answered the same way I did…paraphrasing... “Why, what have I done? I am innocent.” Yet Elihu rebuked him and his rebuke now stung me as well….

“Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why doest thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.” (Job 33:12) and in 34:5. “For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.” V. 10 “…far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.” V.23. “For he will not lay on man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.” V.29. “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? Whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:” vs. 31-32. “Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.”

The Lord is bringing us into a new level of trust. Up until now we trusted that He would provide. Now He wants us to trust Him even if He does not provide. Is our faith conditional? Will we only praise Him when things go our way? Or will we still trust and praise Him when it seems like everything is falling apart and we are faced with losing everything? Our dear Lord Jesus Christ has a plan and purpose in all things that He does and in what He allows to happen. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Does that mean that everything will go the way we want it to? No. All things work for our good, even what seems “bad” works for our good. God is bringing glory to His name and He has many ways of doing that. If teaching us to praise Him even in the hard times will bring Him more glory, than I rejoice and am very thankful for this deep lesson He is teaching us! Growth is painful, but oh how blessed we are that He is willing to allow us to go through painful times that we can grow through it. Praise Him! Praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!! He is worthy of all praise and honor! Sing to Him, offer a sacrifice of praise, He is worthy! (Hebrews 13:15)

Life!

So much for me posting more often :) Life gets busy and training even one little girl is a great task and responsibility from our Heavenly Father. So the blog can wait...even the dishes can wait if need be, except for the fact that they are part of the training. :) Grace now can stand on a chair beside me and "help" do the dishes, cook, bake, clean. Whatever I am doing I try to include her. It is not always easy and I am by no means doing so all the time or even as much as I would like to, but it really amazes me how much the Lord keeps reminding me..."why are you doing this by yourself?" It also is a great encouragement to see how happy she is when working along side me, she is just bubbling with excitement over being included in real life! Oh how we pray for her that she will come to love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ at an early age, that He would save her and bring much glory to His worthy name through her life! We also pray this for our dear little one who is now due in less than a week!

I have been "nesting" for several weeks now, changing things around in our home with my husbands help....I should rephrase that... Patrick changes things around while I point where I would like them to go. :) He is so wonderful and uncomplaining about my sudden ideas, and usually refines them to a better way of managing our space, or comes up with his own. I am truly blessed to be married to such a great man! We are so excited as we wait to meet our little boy or girl, though I am somewhat nervous about the labor since Grace's was so long. Yet I know the Lord will give me the strength for whatever He allows, I just cannot dwell on it too much, just trust in Him who does all things well.

Grace loves babies! Every morning she has to greet her three baby dolls with squeals of delight and exclamations of "baby! baby!" She cares for them so lovingly, rocking, singing and changing them. We really look forward to how she will be with her little brother or sister, it will be such fun to watch! I have to run, but here are a few random pictures.....

What our life has been like...Part 2

Can you believe it is 2011 already?! It is incredible to me that in just two days it will be the 20^th which marks one year from the time my husband began to court me and he has been courting me ever since! :) I hope you all had a blessed New Year. We were sick for a while with colds, then just as we recovered from that we got two bouts of food poisoning from two separate sources. Talk about NO fun! But the Lord took us through it and we are doing much better now and praising the Lord for health! How good our dear Lord Jesus is to us! One thing I am thankful for, among many, is the way sickness draws us closer to the Lord and to each other. There is such a joy in serving my husband, just being there for him in his time of need. How wonderful our Savior is to bring things into our lives, that though they are not fun bring glory to our Lord.

In July 2010 we took a trip down to Charlotte NC for the annual Operation Save America event. That is the event at which we had met the year before, in Las Vegas. It was so much fun to be there this time together as a young married couple! A dear family that was out of town let us stay at their house for the week we were there, which was a blessing, especially since I was going through morning sickness. We enjoyed seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and ministering on the streets of Charlotte.

 Traveling :)

 Holding signs

 We were part of the setup and take-down team for the American Holocaust Display. Setup on Charlotte's square, it presented excellent opportunities to share the gospel.

 There was open-air preaching as well throughout the days of the event.

 We handed out countless tracts....

 

 We were very happy to see my sister Bonnie and brother Michael who traveled by bus to get there!

We had a memorial service for a precious unborn child who had been killed by abortion. Here is the processional.

 The service was very good, calling for repentance and had a time for everyone to view the little one.

 There was a large crowd watching.

 At one point the display had to be dismantled in a down pour!

 It was coming down hard!

It was a great trip and the scenery there and back was wonderful!

Since then we have been keeping very busy. From scrapping cars....

to tearing down a modular home....

Ministry on the streets...

 Having fun...yes I rode it too! :)

spending time with our growing nephew Josiah and the rest of the family...

...meeting our Midwife appointments and enjoying preparing for our little one who will be here very soon! :) ...and a host of other things that fill our days. How good the Lord has been to us and continues to be! Keep praising our dear Lord Jesus, He is worthy of all praise, no matter what!

What our life has been like...Part 1

I must say that I was surprised to receive so many comments on my last post, thank you all so much!

The Lord has been so good to us, He is faithful in all things just as He promises in His word. Patrick lost his job about a month before our wedding and has not been able to find a good steady job since, yet the Lord is our provider and He has never failed us. Time and again we have wondered how He would provide for our next need only to see His hand move in a mighty way. Our dear Heavenly Father is taking us through a trial of faith that we might be more conformed to the image of His son, Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing to know that whatever He takes us through it is that we might be more like Him for His glory, this is the joy of our journey.

 O to be like Thee! blessed Redeemer;
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
  Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

O to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand'ring sinners to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer, others to save.

Our Lord has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us, we are His children and the sheep of His pasture, He cares, oh so tenderly He cares for His own. When I have times of doubt the Lord points me back to Matthew chapter six. What comfort is to be found in those precious words of our Lord Jesus!

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek;) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:31-33)

We took a trip up to Wisconsin in June to get my dog Abby and some of my things as well as visit with the family. 

 It was wonderful to see everyone again!

We brought back tomato and pepper plants that I had started back in April, which we were able to plant along with beans and a few other things. It was a smaller garden, but a great blessing. It is so much fun to work the soil and care for the plants, then later to harvest and can. This time was especially fun as I worked alongside my husband! 

 We had to harvest the tomatoes while they were yet green because of caterpillars attacking them.

There are no words to explain the blessing and joy of having a godly, loving husband! When I think back over all the years that I prayed for him, hoping that he existed, I can see so clearly now how the Lord was answering those prayers. I used to think that maybe I was asking too much when I told the Lord what kind of a man I wanted for my husband. I thought maybe I would have to settle for less than what I prayed for, then after more prayer I realized that I did not want to marry a man who was not what I was asking for. So I began to think that I would never get married, since it seemed impossible that such a wonderful, godly young man existed. Please allow me to tell you that the Lord answered far above what I could ask or think! Patrick is so much more than what I asked for, daily I am brought before the Lord with thanksgiving for creating me for such a wonderful man!

Eyes Focused on Jesus

Oh, let us keep our eyes on Jesus dear sisters! There is no other help for us. If we focus on our ministry, on the things we do for God and not on Him, then are we sure to drift. To gaze at Him, to seek, and adore Him is our great privilege. Upon taking our eyes off of Jesus we are sure to falter, slip and fall. Remember Peter on the water. He took his eyes off of Jesus, and soon sunk in the waves. How easy it is for us to look at our circumstances instead of our great God. Again, how easy it is to look at our work, and ministry, instead of looking at He who equips us unto the ministry. For a time we can manage to go on "auto pilot", seeming to be in the same spiritual state as before, but time will show that growth has stopped. We will begin to notice a coldness in our hearts, a lack of deep fellowship with our God. Outwardly we say the same things, do the same things, but inwardly we are groping in the dark, dieing. Indeed, if this process continues, we will stop bearing fruit all together, and being no longer a glory to our King, we will in a sense die.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord! Cry out to Him for mercy, repent of your sin. Seek fellowship with your Father in Heaven, and plead with Him to soften and change your heart. He is our dear Father, we can cry Abba (Daddy!) and oh how tenderly He cares for us.

These things I know because for a time I had forgotten. I looked around me instead of at Jesus, and I was miserable. But, Praise be to God who brought me out of the pit and brought me back to the the Light of His countenance! Our God is so good, faithful, and kind!

We do not have the answers, but He does. We cannot see the future, but He does. And He cares, He knows how to get a hold of our hearts. Give Him your heart, and He will glorify Himself through you. Oh what joy!

What has been going on over here?

My dear Mother has been sick for three weeks now...earlier this week her symptoms changed for the worse, so she wet to the doctor yesterday. They ran more tests, and finally decided that even though the result came back negative, she does have Lyme disease. This is transmitted by the bite of a deer tick, which we have up here. These ticks are the size of a pin head, very hard to spot, and are carriers of several diseases. Now my Mom is on antibiotics for three weeks, prayerfully this is "in time". If left untreated for long, this disease begins to effect the neurological system. As it is my Mom has been in a lot of pain, but she can tell a slight difference now after taking two doses of the meds. Please do pray for her recovery, and thank you so much to those who have been praying. Praise God that they were able to find out what was wrong!

I have been *very* busy taking care of things here. Harvesting and preserving, caring for (with my brother's help) almost 150 chickens, caring for the family, etc. My Grandma has been a huge blessing to me as she washes all of the dishes, not a small task, as I cook meals from scratch and use lots of pots and pans in the food preservation process.

So now you know where I have been and will be...

Keep close to Jesus!

I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy
name, O thou most High. (Psalm 9:2)

Praising in Sickness

Wow, what a time!

Michael and I came back from the Missionaries to the Preborn tour on Sunday, I will have to fill you in on the details for that later. My Mom has been very sick for a week, high fever, achenes, queasy, etc. On Monday we had to take her to the hospital because we were afraid that it was more than just a flu. They ran a bunch of tests, including a cat-scan, and everything was negative. Last night we received the results for the Lyme disease test and that was negative as well. Praise God! So it must just be a terrible case of the flu, and we are all hoping that we will not get it.

On Tuesday Michael and I had to butcher chickens, a couple of friends came to help (Thank you soooo much!!!) we did not get them all done, so we plan to do the rest tomorrow and there are some other friends who plan to help. Yesterday and today we packaged the chickens, and for the rest of the day today we snapped, blanched and froze, a whole bunch of beans which I had picked on Monday. And, I could go on with all the things which should have been done...yesterday. But our God is so wonderful! He gives a song in the night season, a joy when hard times come, a peace when we should be overwhelmed. Oh how sweet is His presence! If it were not for hard times, we would not know what it was like to be carried through them by the One who Knows.

Please pray for us, for healing for my Mother (she is slowly on the mend), for strength in this time of need, and also please pray for our dear friend's baby Jesaias who is very sick right now as well.

Forgotten Blog?

No, I did not forget I had a blog, though it may appear that way! We have just been far too busy with garden work over here, and finally it is all in...almost, there is a little more to do... oh well, if I think about it, gardening is never really done until winter comes in force, and even then we are often canning tomatoes into December. :-) I am very thankful to the Lord for good weather, we have had several days now that are in the 80s and that is great for the garden!

We celebrated Father's Day by planting potatoes together, Michael barbecued chicken and I baked a chocolate cake...Happy Father's Day Daddy!

My brother Michael turned twenty...Happy Birthday Michael! Wow, that is hard to believe!

I gave away the kitten I was keeping "Hope" because her temperament did not work for our family and I am now keeping a kitten who seems to fit much better into our family.

This is Jenny

We also received our meat bird chicks in the mail, or I should say my Mom's chicks since she does all the work with them, and it is a whole lot of work!



Here are some random pictures:

I love where we live!

Beautiful storm cloud

The Sunset illuminating that storm cloud.


My dog, Abby

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise ye him all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created." Psalms 148:1-5

Busy time of Year!

We are having a very busy time right now as planting season swings into full gear. This is also one of the most beautiful times of the year, so I wanted to share some pictures...

This is a part of our yard with three of our yet-to-be-planted garden beds. The yellow flowers are dandelions. I just love dandelions! Doesn't everyone?

This is another part of our yard

Ornamental Crab Apple Blossoms

Crab Apple Blossoms

My Mom weeding the needy strawberry patch

Michael and I were hired a couple of days this week to "pick rocks" from two separate fields. Here Michael drives the tractor a short way, hops down and we scour the ground looking for rocks that would be hazardous for haying equipment. Every year the deep frosts squeeze up more rocks, and the fields must be cleaned again.

My Dad went into our little wooded area to cut posts for a fence we are putting up around the gardens. Why do we need a fence? Because of deer? rabbits? cows? No, because of our chickens! Those pesky fowls lay wonderful eggs and we like them to free range, but they love to destroy gardens!

Here is my Grandma at a historical mansion in Duluth called Glensheen. She and Michael visited on the day they were giving free tours. We love being cheap! :)

Every year we place a half orange on this wire hanging in front of our picture window and every year the Baltimore Orioles come to feed. This year we have two nesting pairs on, or near our property. They drink the juice out of the orange, then use the fibers to build their nests which are hanging, woven baskets.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31)

An Update on Happenings Here

I have been busy, busy, busy, with transplanting tomatoes and herbs and studying Spanish. The plants are going from their seedling soil-less mix to potting dirt and there are a lot that need to be transplanted. I have way too many tomato plants and herbs this year, so I hope to sell some at our local farmers market. I have begun to study Spanish in earnest and that is taking up most of my computer time, but I love it.
Here are some recent pictures, first in the "growing room":

In the foreground are cabbage seedlings.

Out side we have some things growing happily:

Garlic, planted in the fall.


Peas


Pepper Mint
and
Chocolate Mint
I love this stuff, it really tastes like chocolate mint!


Daffodils
and...

Kittens! This is Maria.

Mother's day was a fun day as we had my sister and her four children over. There were three mothers to celebrate! I decided to forget about being an adult for a while and played with the children...it is 1841 and we are pioneers out west, we have finally arrived at the place we wish to settle. There are no cars, planes, phones or computers. Sorry, no flame-throwers either! Oh no, lookout here come some Indians! Actually, we can't understand their language, if we want to trade with them we will have to make them understand by signs....you get the idea, we had fun. :-)

The three Mothers!

The three Stooges..oops, I mean Devin, Ashely and Brittany. :-)

and Matthew
in Grandpa's truck. He is taller than me now!

On Tuesday last week we were out at the abortion clinic bright and early as normal. It had been especially impressed upon us to make sure we share the gospel as we talk to the mothers, pleading for their babies lives. It is wonderful to open our mouths in praises to God as we stand on the streets. We sing hymns, read the Bible, pass out gospel tracts and pray, pray, pray, while we wait for the mothers to come. Spiritually, it is a lot of work! This Tuesday my Mom talked to one mother who said that she was "undecided" about getting the abortion. My Mom talked to her about her baby and told her that God has created her and He has created her baby. She asked this lady what she would say to God when she stands before Him to give an account of what she did to her own child. My Mom asked if she could pray for her, to the which she agreed and afterward gave my Mom a big hug and left the area. A little later we saw her drive away and she smiled and waved at us! We praise God for this life spared from the pains of death and pray that He will draw this dear lady to Himself for salvation.

As we were preparing to leave, a young mother and her mother came out of the building smiling and crying (this is always a good sign!). When asked if they had changed their mind, they said Yes! Praise God again! This young mother said that she was not sure what made her do it, but she asked to see her ultra-sound and changed her mind when she saw her baby. They were both so excited, the Grandma of the baby said, "he looks like me!" and "we're going to have a baby!" They were very happy to receive the gift of a diaper bag with baby things and a $100 gift certificate, (we try to give these gift to all those who tell us they have changed their mind). We also gave them a Bible and gospel tract and my Mom was able to share the gospel with them.

You should have seen us after all this happened, we were so excited and praising God! What a joyful time that was, but it was damped by the thought of the seven other mothers who did not come out.

Later on that same Tuesday we went to UMD to hold gospel signs and pass out gospel tracts. There were several good conversations that took place, we pray that God will turn the hearts of these young people to Himself. Steve brought his two daughters Amoriah (3) and Maylea (almost 2) and they helped pass out tracts as well. People enjoy taking tracts from these adorable little girls. Though we were saddened to see how many young women would harden their heart and turn away from that little out-stretched hand. This is most likely because they have had an abortion, since the statistics show 1 out of 3 woman in the US have had an abortion.

Here is part of the crew, my Mom is taking the picture and Josh was somewhere else.

Yesterday abortions were done again and there were thirteen mothers who went in. None said they changed their mind but one did leave early. One pedestrian passing by on the sidewalk began yelling at my Mom. She was very angry that we talk to the mothers who are going to kill their children, she kept saying "I see how things are, you are in your own little box and don't see what is happening." This made my Mom call to mind John 9:39-41, so she asked, "You say you see?" The lady answered "Yes, I see!" My Mom said, "So, you are blind." The lady soon left, but this was a sad reminder of the state many people are in. They believe themselves capable of sight and reason, but do not know that a veil of blindness is yet over their eyes and heart. Proverbs 28:5 Evil men understand not justice: but they that seek the Lord understand all things.

Today I am meditating on this scripture: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

It hit me that here we are given a very good reason to share the gospel, the terror of the Lord! If we take verse ten seriously, than how much do we have to hate someone to not share the gospel with them?! (in the words of an atheist who said, if the gospel is true than that is what he would ask.) and yet so often I let opportunities slip by without a word. Oh Lord, teach me to have the terror of the Lord!