Christian

I have prayed a lot about writing on the subject of current events. My heart is very heavy concerning the actions of others. Someone asked why are Christians upset over the supreme courts ruling on Gay marriage. I would have to say I am not upset about the ruling. I know those who do not know Christ will not and should not behave like a Christian.  I do not hate them. I have no stone in my hand. In Romans it tells us to put on our christian armor part of that armor is a sword. A sword of TRUTH. Many Christians only have on their helmet of Salvation and most of them are hiding that. What I am upset over is the tolerance of sin from Christians.

Growing up Hypocrisy was a big word. Any Christian who acts like the world and commits sins of this world while waving the christian banner is a Hypocrite. You are to be set apart of the world. Love is a big word now. Love is often confused with lust and feel good righteousness, Love is Christ hanging on a cross to die. Love is telling someone they are wrong because the thought of them dying and going to Hell is more painful than them never speaking to me again. People may not like my stance on many issues but I would rather them know the truth than quietly watch them go to Hell. Accepting sin is not love.

I heard the argument that all Christians sin, SEVERAL times this week. Yes we do but they should only be sins of omission such as not reading my bible enough, not praying enough, not going to church every time my church body is meeting, not obeying the spirit. If you as a Christian commit those sins of omission then you will grow farther and farther from God’s will. You will begin slowly committing sins of the world. You will look more and more like the world till your light is no longer visible. What happens then is your loved ones will not seek the Lord, this thought should put the fear of God in you.

The Lord’s love is so great and yes he did converse with sinners but what did he say to them; repent, go and sin no more. He always taught them of the truth. Never once did he say I know your a sinner I accept you and leave it at that. He said I love you, here is the truth and accept my truth to be saved. I have a deep burden for those who sit idly by.It breaks my heart to see Christians sit down on the Lord. I have also been told I was wrong and needed to repent, because of personal experience I can speak on this subject.

I sat in the back of a little church as a nine year old child. It was the finial night of revival. The Lord had spoken to my heart every night asking me to be saved. With my heart beating out of my chest and my mind talking me out of accepting Christ’s offer. I knew this was my last chance for salvation. The moment I made the decision to accept salvation I remember taking that first step and nothing else until I was on the altar crying for mercy. I could have floated down the altar for all I know. I wanted to be baptised immediately but had to wait until the following Sunday. The following Sunday was Easter. I was warned that no one would be there but I didn’t care. I just had a zeal to serve the Lord and knew he wanted me baptised as soon as I could.

A short time after I was saved my family stopped going to church. Many hardship befell us because of this decision. I became less and less of a light.  I looked like the world and made horrible decisions as a teen. The summer before I turned sixteen I began questioning a lot of things. I questioned if I was even saved. Depression gripped my world.

I started seeking the Lord again. My mom sent me to church with my Uncle who was a preacher. My Uncle went out of his way to take me and my sister. We were an extra responsibility he didn’t have to deal with but he did. It was an hour trip to church but he still made the drive. Now that is love. A love for the lost and a love to encourage a fallen christian.  For the first time in a long time I felt hope and peace again. I began to seek the Lord again. It was a long road back but he forgave me and I have been on his path ever since.

I never want to be out of his will again. So much pain and heartache could have been avoided if my family would have stayed in church. I often think of all the time I lost serving God. The knowledge I could have gained. Most important I think of all the souls I was not a light to. The people who I said I am saved but still behaved like they did. It haunts me to think someone is going to Hell because I did not tell them the truth.

Think about the Christians that stand out in your mind.  The ones who led you to Christ. Do you resemble them? Do you aspire to be like a dear saint of God you have seen weather the storms of life and are still standing strong? Or are you sitting quietly in the shadows waiting and hiding from the will of God?

I had one teacher in highschool who told me the truth. Who told me I was not behaving as christian and that I should seek the truth. I have so much respect for him and because of him I began to run back to Christ.  The actions of My Uncle and that teacher standing up, speaking the truth forever changed my life for the better.  Once I was on the right path again God placed several people to help me, inspire me and most of all pray for me. I will never be the one who does not speak the truth again. I have seen where lies take you. Seek God and stand up for truth.

No Time

Since buying the house I have discovered I have no down time. I have also realized that if you work from home, home is no longer a place of rest. I need to make changes and slow things down. I need to take time to smell the roses so to speak.

From the time I wake up till I go to bed I am doing something. I start my morning hitting the snooze button every five minutes ten times followed with coffee and God. If I do not set time for this in the morning I have learned my day will be ruined. At 7 a.m. the beautiful chaos begins getting breakfast ready. My husband leaves for work and shortly later the kids I babysit are dropped off. My children slowly drag themselves out of bed.

The school day begins, interrupted by life, potty breaks, emotional meltdowns, outside time and lunch. Lunch is followed by much needed naps, quiet time and silent reading. Anytime I can find a free adventure we load into the van throwing  all of the days routines out the windows. Homeschool field trip are a necessity even if it is just a library outing. As afternoon turns into evening I start supper. The kids I watch get picked up. With any luck Kevin will not be required to overtime and will be home soon. sometime before nine thirty I have to squeeze in sewing projects and orders. I also have to find time to get this little farm up and running.

My current farm projects are assembling the chicken coop, planting the garden and organizing the garage. I have found that I  sleep so much better if the house is clean before I go to bed so that has to be done also. every time I mark something off my list, ten more projects replace it. Now I am in no way complaining because I know I am very blessed but now you know why I have not been blogging…..I just have no time. When I can find time I will write but until then..

In His Sheltering Arms

Three a.m. Sunday morning I opened my eyes to a house filled with smoke. I could see flames in the room where my children slept. I feared they were gone. I jumped to my feet screaming “the house is on fire!” my husband following close behind me. We entered the living room and found our children still sleeping soundly on the couch while a mere feet from them was a wall of six feet high flames.

I shouted repeatedly for them to get out of the house. I carried my daughter onto the front porch wrapped in my bathrobe. As I reach the front door I found our twelve year old boxer staring up at me with fear. The fire had started between the hearth and the side door in a container that held what we thought were cold ashes from saturday morning.

My son stood dazed in the hallway not sure if this was real. Both of my children had been sleeping in the living room since moving in. My son had a plague of ladybugs hit his room and didn’t want to sleep in there. My daughter wasn’t going to sleep upstairs by herself and that was one battle not worth fighting.

My son awakened enough to go get pots of water. While I pitched melted toates of tools and tool boxes, originally destined for the garage that previous day, out the side door. I grabbed a stack of empty flaming boxes a tossed them out the door where they caught a bag of garbage on fire, melting siding and Charing the door. My husband was in the yard pulling the objects I was tossing off the wooden porch and away from the house, beating the flames out with a snow shovel. I grabed a few more objects and finaly tossed the bin, the origin of the fire.

I look back to see my daughter half asleep sitting on the couch again. My husband coming to get her telling her to get out of the house. She replied “but I have no shoes” half asleep and trying to covering herself back up, he scoops her up and heads outside.

The last of the flames are gone. I know all of this happen within seconds but it will live on in my memory in slow motion till the day I die. There is a minor amount of soot on the ceiling, a burn spot on the tile and brick hearth. The walls,floors and my children are all undamaged.

My husband and I turned off the furnace, thankful it was almost fifty degrees outside, opened the windows and turned on all fans. Upstairs the amount of smoke was deadly we were thankful the children were sleeping downstairs. We are blessed to have been in God’s sheltering arms.

He loved to go to church

I had the honour of sitting with an elderly lady a few days this week. Like most her age reality escaped her. She lived in the past and had brief moments of the present. Few things were constant in her thoughts. Her husband who had past a few weeks prior was the most prevalent.
Most of her day was spent gazing out the window at the passing cars singing a gospel song then reading from her worn out bible. Sometimes she would come back to reality, always repeating the same words. “My daughter wants me to live here but I have a house. Someone can stay with me there. I don’t like to be alone. Daddy passed away two, no, three weeks ago. Did you ever meet my husband?”
I would answer with a no and she would continue. “No, you don’t say. Well, he was a good man. A real good man. Everyone loved him. Honey, he loved to go to church. I was really blessed.” Teary eyed she would fade back into her memories and look out the window.  Tears would come to my eyes also as my thoughts went to my husband, whom I could say the samething. I am blessed.
Alzheimers is an awful disease but if my husband was called home before me, I would live in the past too. I have seen that disease in many forms, steal the present from many people. The caregivers are the ones the disease hurts the worst.
I hope that if my mind fails me that I will still be found singing a gospel song, reading my bible and talking about my wonderful husband. What a great life she has lived all because her and her husband loved the Lord.

Titus 2:4-5 KJV

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

The long week

Monday night the most eventful thing to happen to us was catching a mouse, oh the joys of living near a field. I am currently on the look out for a good outside cat. I think with all the traps and borax placed, we have the problem under control for now.
Tuesday was fun. My son had saved up money and wanted to buy a new T.V. for his new room. A friend of ours helped us get a great deal. Tuesday night we went to bed filled with contentment.
Waking up Wednesday morning to no water was heartbreaking. I tried all day to get the water running again. I even called the water company and had then assure me there was water coming to my house. Luckily my momma taught me how to survive situations like this. We had plenty of water after all, it was just in the form of snow. We also had several people call to help.

It was alas, the main line coming into the house that had froze. We called in the help of our buddy and he rushed over after work with a propane heater and duct work. My husband stayed home from church that evening because of sickness. Which worked for the best, even though he would have rather went,  as he was able to watch the heater while we were gone. When church was over I called and the pipe was still frozen. Going on to plan B ( taking pipes apart) we made our way home. Walking through the door my husband greeted us with unexpected appreciation. The pipe had thawed on our way home!
Thursday I began putting the laundry room back together, even doing several loads of laundry. It was a happy day. You know it is the little things in life.

Letting the water drip continuously so we would not have a problem the rest of the winter. Friday the main line froze again!  Discourage to say the least I began praying for a way to thaw the pipe while everyone was at work and our friend who had helped us before was out of town. A few ideas came to me ( answers from God ). I made a barrier/tent structure around the corner of the house where the pipe lay and heated the area with a small electric on one side and a blow dryer on the other. I then went inside and shoved a heating pad as far back onto the pipe as I could get. Within minutes we had water again. Saturday Kevin insulated the area and improved the temporary wind blockaded by funneling the dryer heat into the area also. So far we have not had an issue but there is threat of an ice storm on the way so we shall see.
No matter what comes, no matter what happens in this life, I can still say I am blessed and I am saved. This is just my temporary home and far better things await me. This song sums up my week.

They ask me why, I struggle along. When it seems all hope is gone. They ask me why in troubled times I can still sing victory song. Let me tell you the reason why, though you may not understand. I’m struggling along singing a song. I’ve heard of a land.

Ten days ago

We Recieved the keys to our home and rushed home to show the kids. Thinking I had a week to paint the green brick fireplace, blah and add personal touches before the big move. Boy, was I wrong!

The next day the house was filled with family and friends eager to share in our excitement. We showed off our new home proudly. Telling the plans we had for the future. Me and my best friend worked late into the night.

Stopping by to check on everything Sunday after church we discovered the pipes were frozen but luckily had not busted. The pipes had been ran along the exterior walls and then incased in a wooded soffit, which was insulating the pipes from the heat. We had to remove part of a wall, all soffits and a kitchen cabinet.

Immediately you could hear them began to thaw. Only one small place stayed a problem. A borrowed electric heater helped. A major snow storm was heading for us and we were extremely low on propane. I was stuck at the rental hoping the electric wouldn’t go out and the propane would be delivered on time. Worrying was once again for nothing.

I began work painting the dinning room the next day. Another snow storm hit while we were there. I attempted to deliver lunch to my husband but it became so bad I had to just go to the rental with an unfinished room. A friend had to pick up my husband.

I made it to the rental with my nerves shot. I managed to make it into the driveway even if it was sideways. My husband and friend laughed at my parking job while walking through the door.

The following day the temperature reach -12. We had been letting the cold water drip in the kitchen, on that day the hot water froze. We removed the remains of the wooden encasing. For now, the freezing is fixed but it is no longer pretty. Our to do list just gets longer.  But wait, there’s more!

We had planned on moving last Saturday. Of course an impending snow storm was on it’s way on top of all the snow we already recieved. Needing to be out asap so the house could be rented again. My church family surprised me and we had tons of help.

Now I’m sitting in my beautiful house surrounded by boxes.

God has blessed us with some wonderful people in our lives.

Valentine

Hey, two post in a row. I’m on a roll! Tomorrow is the big day, we get the keys to our new home. I woke up in excitement. Did my morning routine of a  little talk with God, fixed Kevin’s breakfast and packed his lunch. This is not a requirement of his. It is something I choose to do so that I will get out of bed and get motivated. I then kiss him goodbye and sit down with my coffee to dive into the kjv and finally into fb.
Ok, so I only really get motivated after coffee but at least I’m out of bed.  My happiness turns to sadness and pity for others as I read various post on fb. Many are not living right, walked away from God, it breaks my heart. Some are sick. A few have friends and family that are sick. A lot just need Jesus. I pray for all of them.
The one that stood out the most this morning in liue of Saturday being Valentine’s Day, was the post about a woman whose husband had a mistress. I automatically thought; burn all of his stuff in the front yard. Then I began to read all the comments. Several women said similar things to what I thought others were way more violent, lol, and a few said to pray.
Prayer and seeking God is definitely the correct answer but I wonder if the woman was praying before this happened, I know her husband wasn’t. I began thinking about my marriage. When I hear about someone unhappy or in a horrible relationship. I think of how my life could have been like that too. How my life was heading somewhere miserable before I came back to God. I automatically thank God and tell my husband how much I love him.
There are many things I complain about, for instance I can count on one hand the times he has done dishes and he really likes to watch t.v,.. Those are just two of the petty, selfish complaints of mine, that I can think of off the top of my head. The list of things he does that matters is much longer and they all revolve around his desire to serve God. He provides, protects, and prays for his family. We laugh and serve God together and we have sorrowed together. My life doesn’t revolve around my husband but our lives together revolve around God.
We pick at each other, get frustrated and don’t agree on everything but we always work together. Marriage isn’t about your husband knowing how to read your mind, making your life easier or showering you with constant praise. I know because It took me several years and a to figure this out. Life is a battle, and marriage is finding the one who God wants you with. The one He knows will fight in the trenches with you. The one who will pull you through when you have been wounded and just don’t think you can make it. There is a flip side though, you have to be a strong enough Christian to pull your partner through also. If you are doing all the pushing, pulling, crawling and taking all the bullets your going to want give up.  You have to be will to take a bullet for your husband and be willing to get in the fight.
If you think you can both can make it through the battles without the armor of God you are setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. You can’t make through this life alive without God. If you don’t have him in this life you will not have him in the next. I’m sorry to inform you there is no pleading your case at the end of your life either, a lot of lies have been told regarding this subject. Here is the truth that not everyone understands, what the bible says. You seek God at a true church, through the foolishness of preaching ( it’s in the bible look it up, KJV) and the prayers of the church, in that moment you will plead your case and be found guilty, we all are. If you accept your sentence you will through your self on the mercy of God and go to the alter where the church will surround you in prayer and He will forgive your sins. It is so simple, no apocalypse, no pleading your case when you die. It must be done now and if you were not saved like I explained you should seek some answers but I digress.
  You must put your pride aside in order to make it through the dark and scary times together. If you don’t you won’t appreciate the victories together. If your unhappy in your marriage seek God, go to church ( a true church, if you are seeking God you will find one. Tv services do not count) then go as often as possible and pray, pray a lot.

1 Corinthians 7:3 KJV
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

Almost

We dredged through last week. Limping our way through on grocery and gas. Not wanting to ask for help again. Thankful for friends that did volunteer with a few things and the ones who offered. Worrying our refund wouldn’t be here in time. I felt like I would never make it till Friday the13th (yes, that is the day of the closing, lol ) but here it is Wednesday and were in the home stretch.
Yesterday was so refreshing. We paid all of our bills, I recieved everything from my Steeped Tea party, went grocery shopping and one of my mom’s dear friends called me yesterday. I feel so loved when she calls and a little closer to mom ( even though mom has been gone a long time). I am official on the mountain top, not sure how long I’ll be here. You can’t live on a mountain top and I know God will need me to get back down in the valley soon enough. For now I will just stand in amazement of the would around me and thank God for bringing me to this point.
I have to keep myself motivated with cleaning, homeschooling, sewing and several calls to friends or my mind over takes me. I end up daydreaming of the house or on Pinterest and before I know it hours have gone by. Then I feel guilty knowing I’m sitting while my husband is killing himself at a job he just tolerates for us.
I just keep telling myself that I will have plenty of work to do once Friday comes. Unpacking and decorating, stocking the pantry. O! And spring is right around the corner. The garden, chickens, and many, many other projects await us!

Patience

Patiently waiting, well at least trying. In ten days we get the keys to the house. We are still waiting for our income tax return to help pay bills but God is providing. The pot and the oil have never ran out we just have to patiently wait on God.I can’t rush time I just have to run my race with patience.
When my son was little he was always into something and at lightning speed. To this day he is still hard headed and stubborn but he gets that honest. I did what every good mother at her wits end would do. I prayed for patience.
Patience, faith ect are spiritual muscles. The more you exercise them the greater they become. Patience is mentioned so many times in the bible. Today in our microwave, I have to have it now society. People are so busy trying to figure things out themselves they never seek God and patiently wait for his answer.
God answered my prayer by making me wait; for everything(or so it seems). Am I more patience, I would hope so. I strive daily to be what he wants me to be but I have also found that his grace is sufficient.
Romans 5:1-5 KJV
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Back story

  In two weeks we will have the keys to our home. To understand how amazing this is I have to take you back five or six years. We were living in the suburbs. My husband had a great job. I had a great job. We had the American dream. House, new cars, dog, and two kids. My husband had been called to be a preacher. We thought everything was perfect.
As young adults and Christians we prayed earnestly for a closer walk with Him. I wanted to be exactly what God wanted me to be. I wanted to be the mom, wife, daughter, sister and friend that God wanted me to be. Well he heard me. He went to work by completely changing our world, chipping away everything.
The American dream soon turned into a nightmare and a trap. Pay cuts at my husbands work, debt from credit cards, vehicles and just living the dream had us treading water.
Life began to change for us. If you pray for rain expect for things to get muddy and so I lost my job. God then placed it on our heart to homeschool. Fighting to gain control of our finances we entered a non profit debt management program but it wasn’t enough. Having tried everything we could to keep the house, we put the house on the market. Failed short sale sent us to live with my husband’s family for a year.
To top it all off, the church my husband grew up in. Where we were married and had planned to see our children saved in ; fell into disrepair because of declining members and a violent  neighborhood. So we were now driving an hour every Sunday to church. I know it sounds crazy but when God says go you go and we went.
We had a desire to be at church no matter what. God always made a way for us to be there, we always had had money and some kind of vehicle. He always gives us the desires of our hearts granted we are seeking to do his will and not our own.
After a year and a lot of prayer we moved closer to church. By renting a house from an acquaintance at a discounted price for a year. During that year Kevin was driving an hour everyday to work until they shut his company down. We had another miscarriage and were heartbroken. God helped ease that pain by placing people in my life that helped me over come my grief .
  Living off severance and then unemployment. I really miss him being home. It was amazing having the whole family together. It would be amazing if he could work from home.
Not being able to rent a decent apartment on unemployment and not able to stay where we were our best friends took us in. We could have went back to my husband’s family but felt the lord wanted us to stay close to church.
So we stayed with friends for a year and are amazingly are still best friends.
God blessed Kevin with a Job. We began renting a house with another friend who was married shortly after and moved out. That is when the house buying journey began. Now six months later here we are at the end of one journey and the beginning of another.
We have lost plenty but kept all that God gave us. We are a little wiser, a lot closer and understand what blessings really are. A lot of people questioned our decisions but everyone of them was made after much prayer. There were many times we question God. Through it all he never left us and continues to guide us. We are so thankful.