WordFilled Wednesday

Our family has been deeply blessed from our friendship with a family that I have only met online. We have never gotten together, we live in separate states. We have a relationship through the same basic love of Christ. We have the same principles for our children and our marriage. I truly love being able to provide warm quilts for their children so that winters are more manageable. We once bartered a quilt for soap. That soap is still something I am using. I still have a CONTAINER full of it. It reminds me of Jesus with the fish, it just keeps going and going..I hope she will entrust her daughters quilt with me also.

Matthew 6:19-21
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Proverbs 22:9
  A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

WordFilled Wednesday

Our Newest Adventure- Chickens

I am loving all the quail and chicken. We hatched 30 over the weekend, 2 did not make it, so we ended up with 28 of our own chicks from the eggs in the incubator plus the ten I bought. That is a lot of birds! It will be nice when we start getting eggs and we can give/sell eggs to those that want/need them, as well as have some for ourselves.

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.Genesis 1:21

Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’Job 35:11

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Luke 12:24

WordFilled Wednesday

Lent

My early church days began in the Church of Christ Church. It was a little church around the corner from our house. At the time the pastor and his wife lived right across the street from this church. I attended every Sunday, sometimes with my younger brother and sister with me, sometimes alone. At this time my parents didn't go to church with us. They had us gives give something up every year for Lent. One year I gave up chocolate because the teacher said I needed to give up my favorite thing. I do remember how hard that was. My mom often baked chocolate chips cookies or would make chocolate cake, esp one that had these red cherries on it at Eater. At that time we did not give it up for just the season of Lent, they had us make it an entire year commitment. However, I remember as a child having the impression that something bad would come upon us if that commitment were to be broken.

As my life of a child continued to sixth grade my mother decided we would start going to a Lutheran church. I remember the traditions of Lent being very different. There were Wednesday night services, you gave something up between Ash Wednesday and Easter. We had a feast sometime during the period of Lent. It had a whole lot of doctrine in the church services with certain songs, creeds etc taking place. Even the colors and flowers in church changed. I can't tell you I remember what I gave up.

I would say that my children have lived a less rule oriented Christian life. We have attended non denominational churches since I was pregnant with our daughter. They realize most of the attributes of the Christian Calendar meaning Advent, Lent and so forth. I wanted to make an impact this year. I didn't want to lean to the tradition of giving something up necessarily but choosing a couple things one to do during the Lent season and one to do all year to increase the benefit in my life. 

I struggle with exercise. I have not exercised regularly in 10+ years. I do not make the time for it. I often think I should get on the treadmill and walk but I don't do it. I will be honest in that in the last 5 years or so I don't even sleep the same hours, I don't eat three meals a day...the list goes on. I am going to use this Lent season to refocus how I live my life. So starting with today I will exercise during my afternoon show that I watch nearly every day Monday-Friday. I will also make it a point to have fish every Friday or Saturday since I know for me the benefits of the Omega 3 for my bipolar and seizures are tremendous. I have even decided that if for some reason I have to be at the school, teach etc during the afternoon that I will make the commitment to work out that evening. It seems my husband is on board too as he started his work out last night. I think this will be a wonderful commitment for our marriage too. Something we can do to encourage one another. My oldest son says what we are giving up is time, so I guess depending on how you look at it that might be the case.

Here is a description of lent and its purpose.

The traditional purpose of Lent is the penitential preparation of the believer—through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, which then culminates in the celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

How are you going to spend this Lent season?

WordFilled Wednesday

Whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 13:11

 

 

I have been praying a lot since Saturday. What I mean that is praying even more than I normally do. We have really struggled more than ever financially this month. I am used to selling a quilt here and there, my husband getting side jobs here and there and pretty much that has not been the case for January 2012. It has really put us in a bind. I subbed all of one day this month. I was looking to the Lord for answers and I noticed this verse.

Whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Proverbs 13:11

How true is that right? I mean when you are scraping pennies to make ends meet you sure do find a way to get things done little by little. We started going through our home, thinking about things we don't use very often or things that we could reasonably part ways with. I listed a couple on craigslist. I wasn't greedy. I kept the price low enough that someone else could afford to buy it but also where it would help us out little by little for each selling item. 

I have really worked so much harder this month at our menu items. I try very hard to stick to what I have planned each week and only go to the store the extra time if we really need something like milk or bread. I also continue to work on a plan to pay down our debt. I am encouraged by some books I have been reading that are fictional that talk about how they would have a family tradition of going to the people they owed money to on the last day of the year and settling those debts so that they would start the new year with blessing and honor. I love the sound of that. I think just not going into every year with debt makes you feel a lot less stressed. The bible is very clear on debt.

 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love on another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 

Romans 13:8

I think it is beyond fitting that today as I ponder this verse about collecting little by little we meet with the bank to see about refinancing our home. We checked into this concept a year ago and it was not enough of a difference to make it worthwhile. I am praying that since we have paid our home down a little more and that interest rates are just around 4% that someone will work for us and help us out. I also pray that they will help with the recent Itunes situation that really made us realize that there are companies out there that do not care about the customer just about the profit they make, even if it is made illegally. 

So I make a continued commitment as we move into February 2012 to the Lord we will continue to collect money little by little so that he can pour out blessings so that we may do His Will and live Debt Free. I will have faith that He will continue to provide and I will trust that we will not ever do without what we truly need.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. 

Proverbs 16:3

Wedneday Thoughts

This morning I don't really have anything to say spiritually just more of a thoughtless ramble for this very early day. I noticed a common factor as I did my morning pickup throughout the house.
1. Shoes not put on the shoe rack or in the right rooms
2. Candy wrappers everywhere, in rooms, on the kitchen and living room floors. This will create a discussion tonight on responsibility.
3. Laundry that I washed and folded and separated into piles yesterday while people were at school and work had been collected from the living room spot but was not put up correctly. In some cases it is left in said stacks and placed on beds, desks or cabinets. Another issue for discussion tonight, as its work for me to rewash said clothes if it doesn't get put away, which I did in one room today since I worked so hard over the weekend to clean it.
4. Homework done in bedrooms last night- some pages still left on the floor or bed, hmm wonder if that means something is not getting turned in/graded, because it did not go back in their folders.
5. Just the random thought about how nice it would be to have said family pick up after oneself, it sure would make my morning run smoother. As I rush to quilt this morning then sub this afternoon.

So my Wordfilled Wednesday is that while I am thankful for the busy schedule, trying to balance meetings, school activities, house work, side jobs and quilting preparation for Saturday's Craft show, I have a prayer over my household this morning. I pray that the Lord help each person realize that they have a job to do outside of eating, sleeping and homework (oh and watching tv/playing the computer/listening to music) that they be responsible for their own things and not leave it off on someone else. Enough said... I am sure there are many with me on this.