My Thoughts for Today::

The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few....  I am praying to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers!  People who are grounded in the Word of God, willing to get their hands dirty and desire nothing in life but to please Him, serve Him and bring Him glory.  Every day I realize how great the mission field is here.  How dark it is.  How, without Jesus, it seems so hopeless.  We have been told doing ministry here is like "plowing through concrete".  I could not have expressed it better myself.  Please join me in prayer for more help!  God knows exactly who He has in mind.  This town is desperate for truth!  Please consider joining us, if nothing else, please pray for God to change hearts here in this community.  I'm so excited to see all that God has in store for so many broken lives!  He is working, and I praise His name!!!

Bless you!

NEW SOFT CLAY RECIPE!

I have always had a favorite recipe for homemade soft playdough.  I found a new recipe in a magazine sitting in a waiting room one day.  It was very similar to the one I always use, but had one new ingredient:  koolaide!  It smells good, and does not require food coloring.

Mix:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tarter

Mix in sauce pan:
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. oil
1 pkg. koolaide

Mix together and then cook over med. heat till soft ball forms.  Kneed & play!

MULTITUDE MONDAY

71.  A text from my husband that turned my whole morning around early on after a sleepless night.  Starting a Monday with a good laugh is the best way to start!

72.  Herbs to make tinctures with.

73.  Medicine when necessary.

74.  Sunshine and melting snow!

75.  Friends who really care.

76.  Time in the Word with a friend.

77.  Godly teachers.

78.  An almost-free hand again. 

(Down to a finger splint with a promise to be careful!)

79.  A cheerful voice on the phone.

80.  Warm fuzzies!

I LOVE SPURGEON!

"Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him.  Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer?  Then it is there you must seek Him and find Him.  Did you lose Christ by sin?  You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin....  Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures?  You must find Christ in the Scriptures.  It is a true proverb, 'Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there'.....

.....Without Christ you are like a sheep without a shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest -- not bound to the tree of life.  With thine whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee..."

*************************

Some personal thoughts relating to this... some other places we lose Christ:  pride, selfish gain, falling into the lies of false teaching, busyness, false priorities, pretty much anything that takes our eyes off Him...  We will find Christ in no other way but by giving these things up and seeking Him with our whole hearts!  Run away from those things that bind, and run towards the freedom of the only One where we can find true peace and true joy!  If you've lost Him, do whatever it takes to go find Him!

SOMETIMES IT HURTS!

Wow. 

God has been working on me. 

It's been painful. 

But I so desire it.

I have recently found myself repenting of something only to turn around and a half hour later fall back into the same trap.  We are studying Romans on Sunday nights.  Because of what Christ did on the cross, we all CAN walk in victory over sin -- ANY sin. 

Not in defeat. 

Any particular sin that we face is not a battle that

we have to bear for our lifetime on this earth. 

God's power is greater!

Take my discomfort in my heart, and my hatred for this sin, Lord, and use it to change me.  Help me to walk in victory, knowing that my sin was crucified, and I died to it! 

Praise you, Lord! 

Your work on the cross is so much greater than I understand.  Please keep teaching me, and removing scales off my eyes to see truth more clearly. 

I love you, Jesus. 

No matter HOW MUCH IT HURTS,

 keep changing me. 

I desire to look like You.

POST-SURGERY UPDATE

Things didn't go completely as planned.  Instead of coming out with a finger that moves, the doctor mid-way got permission from Evan to fuse the bones together.  There was no cartilage left in my finger tip, which would have caused any movement I did have to be painful.  I am thankful God answered our prayers to give the doctor wisdom.  I feel that he had wisdom in this decision, otherwise I may have needed another surgery down the road.  This journey is coming to an end, finally!

Monday I get my big arm wrap off.  I am thankful to be feeling much better today!

MULTITUDE MONDAY

61.  Healing through the hand of intelligent & caring doctors.

62.  Romans chapter 6.  The topic of our study last night. 

What an amazing passage!

63.  Opportunities to share the Gospel. 

64.  Shrimp in the freezer for dinner with good friends tonight.  :) 

65.  Honey.  It makes all things better!

66.  Special kids for my kids to grow up with.

67.  A pantry full of food.

68.  A mud room. 

69.  Knowing that God protects those who honor Him.  (Ps. 5)

70.  Godly women that I can call at anytime for wisdom

(including an amazing mom!)

SURGERY ROUND 3

I am suppose to go in for my third and final surgery tomorrow morning on my right ring finger.  The plan is to pull the pin that has been in place, and to free up some tendons that are restricting the movement.  I am hoping this isn't going to be as big of deal as the last two, but I still will be sleeping through it so there is always recovering from that aspect. 

The biggest hold up right now is the freezing rain and snow that has made the roads really bad.  I appreciate prayers for all of it, and will keep you posted as to how things turn out!

Have a blessed week!

PICTURES:  FOCUS ON MYAH

Messing with the milkweed

Being loved on by Squanto

Her best buddy

Sisters

PICTURES:  FOCUS ON KIANA

Kiana's favorite thing to do:  ride "Little Joy"!

I *love* this picture!

Multitude Monday

51.  Anticipation of a few days away.

52.  Open hearts praying about how to help with ministry.

53.  Hearing from God's Word today.

54.  Almost completed math lessons for the day!

55.  A "sort of" clean house to start a Monday.  (Which is much better than usual!)

56.  An old sewing project picked up and a good friend to sew with!

57.  Peace in my heart.

58.  Water and boats for 2 year old entertainment.

59.  Believers who hold me up!

60.  A husband who fears the Lord.

PICTURES::  FOCUS ON JOEL!

Two Brothers

Joel with favorite rooster 

So handsome!

MORE PICTURES:

FOCUS ON AJ

Sitting on Cowboy

Playing with Mommy

 Running through the fields

Riding Cowboy



LADIES BIBLE STUDY DINNER PART 2!

Strawberry pretzel salad is in the fridge.  Soup is the crockpot, and bread bowls are bought!  We are ready to EAT!  (Not to mention all the other goodies coming!) I am so excited for tonight!!

My prayer is that we are not only ready to eat PHYSICALLY, but more importantly, SPIRITUALLY tonight, and as we begin a new year!

The second part of what we will discuss tonight is from:

2 Timothy 3:14-17

But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We need to be equipped!  Here are just a few thoughts:

• The average “Christian” spends less than 3 minutes per day in the Word of God. Think of how much time you spend filling your mind with other outside influences: TV, books, radio, even advertising!  Now compare that to the average time in the Word -- our One source of truth!



• Statistics show you will walk away from a Sunday morning sermon with maximum 10% of what he said. Imagine what you would look like if you were fed one meal on Sunday, and you only ate 10% of what was there and had nothing else, or very little to eat the rest of the week. You’d be a walking skeleton – very weak, and you would die within a few months.


• Put this into spiritual perspective. How are we surviving on what food we are feeding ourselves?


We see in Genesis 2:7 where God breathed into our physical bodies to give us life. We see here in 2 Timothy where God has breathed into the Scriptures through inspiration, literally, He breathed OUT! It is the source of our SPIRITUAL life! Without God’s physical breath, we would die. Without His spiritual breath, we will die spiritually. We daily need spiritual breath from Him, or we will suffocate!

So, GO EAT, and have a blessed day!  :)

MULTITUDE MONDAY

31.  Sunshine on a "gloomy" day!

32.  A full house for Bible study last night.

33.  Seeing the JOY in a friend coming to real life in Christ!

34.  Life Journals for the kids.  A fresh way to do our morning quiet times, and they are LOVING them!

35.  My Carhart overalls for doing chores.

36.  Sledding through fluffy snow behind the 4-wheeler with a permanent GRIN on my face!

37.  Not getting hurt while sledding.

38.  Encouragement from a friend, who made my day with one simple comment.

39.  The ability to "walk with God" just like Noah.

40.  Seeing my children's faith become their own.

41.  The new method of reading Scripture that has come alive to me the past couple of weeks.

42.  Ladies, who are willing and excited to come to Bible study week after week!

43.  Growth.

44.  God's expiration and inspiration.

(Gen. 2:7, 2 Tim. 3:16)

45.  New trim in my bedroom.

46.  A barn roof almost complete, in spite of the snow.

47.  An endless stack of split firewood. 

(Thank you, Harvest Chapel!!!)

48.  Examples of both wise and foolish people learn from.

49.  Text messaging.  (What did I ever do without it???)

50.  Fuzzy blankets and a warm fire.