IT'S FAIR WEEK!

Well, it's time for the 4H fair once again. The craziness starts tomorrow and goes through Saturday. I will attempt to update along the way, but if you don't hear from me, you will know why! :)

Myah's projects:
Cooking: making bread and cookies
Horse: western, bareback, trail, showmanship and freestyle reigning
Swine

Joel's projects:
Poultry: he's taking his faithful friend, Cheep Cheep, the rooster
Woodworking: he made a bird house this year
Swine




Kiana's projects:
This is her last year as a clover bud. She has greatly enjoyed photography and created a display board with dozens of photos she has taken this past year. She is also walking her miniature horse through the clover bud parade.

Hopefully more pictures to come!!

THE COMFORT OF ISAIAH THIS MORNING

Isaiah 40:1 "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" Says your God

Isaiah 40:11 "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.

Isaiah 40:28-29, 31 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength... But those who wait on thte LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

.... LORD, mount me up with wings like eagles today...

Isaiah 41:9b-10 "I have chosen you and have not cast you away; Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 42:6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand;"

"RESTORING THE LIGHT"

This picture speaks so much to me. I was unable to be present when the unveiling of it actually happened, but when I walked into the church a couple hours later, I was speechless and emotional. The physical restoration of this 102 year old building has always spoken so much about the spiritual restoration we know that God is doing.  Last summer when we shoveled out tons (literally) of pigeon poo including dead dry pigeon bones, the Lord quickly brought to mind Ezekiel 37 and how HE alone can breathe life into bones as dead as those and make them new. Just like the restoration of this building is all HIM, so the restoration of sinful lives is all HIM. He desires to restore, to bring beauty from ashes and to bring to life something completely dead. Praise God He did that in my life!

When I first saw the light pouring through these windows, it was as if God was pouring His light into that place fresh and new, just like He desires to do in the hearts of people. That is our hearts' desire for the ministry He has placed before us -- to show people Christ, the Light of the world.

We are coming off two weeks of having 40+ people here to help us work on this building. What an encouragement to our hearts and a blessing to the community. It did not go un-noticed!  The Big Horn County News even did an article on it all, which you can read by clicking their link. I love how the author titled it "Restoring the Light". 

So much to tell of these past couple weeks -- God's fingerprint was on it all. A verse we have clung to (which even got printed in the article) is Psalm 127:1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” We are trusting God for every penny and every ounce of labor to restore this building, and He is building! Spiritually, we trust God to build our lives and any ministry He calls us to, because we do not want to labor in vain. Some things we have learned along the way -- 1) it's HIS timing, not ours, and 2) it's not about the end product, but about the journey we are on. I am thankful for every ounce of ministry He has done and is doing in the lives of every person who has labored on that building. We do not wait for a finished product before He can work.... He is so greatly at work already. All glory to God! What a privilege to participate!!

FROM TODAY'S READING

2 Kings 17:33

"They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods -- according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away."

Interesting to me that they not only knew there was a God, but they even feared Him. They eased their conscience enough by fooling themselves with a false religion, but were carried away by the rituals of their culture because they served their own gods.

"This described the pagan peoples that the Assyrians brought into populate the area of the northern kingdom of Israel. They gave a measure of respect to the God of Israel – after all, they did not want to be eaten by lions. Yet they also served their own gods and picked and chose among religious and spiritual beliefs as it pleased them.... this describes common religious beliefs in the modern world." (Guzik)

 “Are you sure this is not a true description of your own position? You pay an outward deference to God by attending his house, and acknowledging his day, whilst you are really prostrating yourself before other shrines.” (Meyer)

“Is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion of England? They live among godly people, and God chastens them, and they therefore fear him, but not enough to give their hearts to him. They seek out a trimming teacher who is not too precise and plain-spoken, and they settle down comfortably to a mongrel faith, half truth, half error, and a mongrel worship half dead form, and half orthodoxy.” (Spurgeon)

DESIRING TO WRITE AGAIN....

God is doing so much. I have kept so much of it quiet for a while, feeling the need to have my focus in other areas. It has been a season of silence for me. Quiet here. Quiet on facebook. I have been enjoying life with my family and those that God has put in our path... and that life is very busy!

Silence, on the other hand, has kept me from giving God glory in areas that He deserves to have His name proclaimed! So, Lord-willing, I hope to share on here again, as the Lord leads. I want to share what God has been doing, what He has been teaching me, and the direction He continues to take our family in.

Please forgive me if it is not regular yet!

(Photo taken in the Big Horn mountains in June. We visited there for my birthday!)