I have just finished reading a book called God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew and the Sherrills. It's a re-release of a book first published 35 years ago. I love reading these types of stories. He was essentially a missionary, smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. As of 2001, he was alive and well, but his focus had changed to reaching Muslims.
His story is about the power of prayer and the incredible faith he had in God. I've used many of his stories lately to encourage my husband as we go along this journey. I know I'm not doing anything quite as spectacular as Brother Andrew was, but I did relate to many of his stories of faith.
One story in particular that he shared was how he received a fairly large sum of money in the mail one time from a supporter. It was meant to be put towards his own practical needs, not the work of smuggling Bibles. He was so touched by this gift that he immediately sat down to write a thank you note explaining to the giver that they really do try to be so frugal and never spend anything on themselves. The giver of the gift immediately shot back a letter challenging him on his thoughts towards God - did he not see God as caring for his practical needs? He was claiming to depend on God, but was living as if his needs would be met by his own scrimping. In other words, in a way, frugality had become a sort of idol. He had to ask himself if he was nursing what he called "a Sacrificial Spirit". Then she said, "God will send you what your family needs and what your work needs, too. You are a mature Christian, Brother Andrew. Act like one."
That really hit me hard. I wonder if that could be said for us as well. We claim to be depending on God, but really, anything frugal I do is really how we'll get out of debt. Now, don't get me wrong or even what Andrew was saying. He continued to live frugally and I will, too, but sometimes I find myself caught up in what Andrew calls a "dark, brooding, pinched attitude that hardly goes with the Christ of the open heart" that he'd been preaching to others. For me, it's almost a form of self-righteous self-pity. Does that make sense? It's like being a martyr, but I wouldn't want to dare admit it. Another way I see it is that being in a needy financial state is almost more noble! I know that sounds funny, but I think it was another way Satan was really trying to get to me.
When that bill came awhile ago, I immediately felt that darkness coming up again. I remember feeling, "Woe is me...I guess we won't be able to do all the things I hoped." See, that's the darkness trying to get at me. Brother Andrew spoke of this. When his ministry first started up, miracle upon miracle happened, almost to affirm he was going in the direction God wanted him to go. He began to depend on those miracles in a way. He called the miracles "the emergency dispensation to get me out of one spot or another, instead of leaning back on the arms of a Father." We've had countless miracles in our journey of late. I really have come to almost expect them and require them in order to feel I'm in God's will. Wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to always have a miracle, but instead leaned into the knowledge of who I know God to be? A provider, a loving gracious God, One who knows all things...even if a sparrow falls to the ground????? There should be no darkness whatsoever in my thinking if I have a right view of God!
Andrew and his wife hadn't bought a single thing for themselves or their new babies ever. A renovation on their house seemed so frivolous, but then this new thinking made them realize they could take joy in the physical and practical things that God provided. His wife went out and bought a few new dresses for the first time. They took down a wall in their house, so she could have direct access to her kitchen. They got their new baby some clothes with tags on! Imagine!
He realized God is a Father, the King of the universe! He is a God of abundance who wants to give His children good things! Just as it displeases God to have the idol of discontent and wanting more and more possessions, a "cramped attitude of lack" also displeases him.
We've definitely turned a corner in our thinking this past week. Yes, I'd been trusting God, but then I would still feel that darkness always waiting around the corner. It's like our pastor said on Sunday, are we drawing near to God on Sunday and then forgetting about Him the rest of the week? What does it look like to trust God the rest of the week?
For me it's acknowledging that I still struggle with fear occasionally. This cannot be! Fear comes from not acting in the knowledge of God. As we go through our study in Hebrews at church on Sunday, this was even more fully reminded to me. The passage we read was from chapter 10,
19 Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
We "have confidence" to approach God. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith". Had I been acting with confidence, with a full assurance of faith? Perhaps not fully. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised IS FAITHFUL." I must hold fast to the very thing I'm constanting confessing, without wavering, that He is Faithful!
I can honestly say that this financial journey is teaching me so much about God, about myself, about my faith. It's become so much more than just achieving a financial goal. I'm so grateful to be learning what I am learning. I'm supposedly a mature believer. I better act like one.
Monday 28 April 2014
Thursday 24 April 2014
God is in the Garden
Back to the health kick for a bit. Renaissance Man is now down 25 lbs and is in awe that he has lost what amounts to what our toddler weighs! He could still lose just a few more and then my guess is he will stabilize and just maintain the weightloss. The towers he had been working on was his workout routine as he was constantly lifting or moving hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of steel all day, so no need to go to a gym. The work finally got shipped, so now it'll be calm for a little and then yard work and farming start up, so more physical work. As long as he stays physical the weight will stay off.
He continues to be a very good boy and doesn't fuss at anything I feed him! Our routine continues to be the same every morning - eggs with anything green in the frying pan, mixed with onions or some other vegetable. Once in awhile, I'm nice and throw in bacon or sausage, then I'm his favourite. Sometimes he snacks in the morning, cheese and apples or a handful of popcorn as he walks by, but then for lunch it's always a salad with some protein or soup. Maybe a small snack in the afternoon, or even just a coffee or tea. Then dinner, always a protein, always a salad, never gluten in any form anymore, maybe a small amount of brown rice or rice noodles, or something with potato, but never the piles of noodles or mashed potatoes he used to have. He can refill his plate countless times with salad and though that doesn't sound appealing, he does it and feels full! Last night we had tacos, so he and I both made a taco salad while the kids stuffed their food into the actual shells. We just avoid the extra carbs when we can. He feels like a million bucks. He walks around lighter and with less pain. His clothes are swimming on him, but no time to shop. He'll go once he's lost what he wants to lose. Even certain suppliers who haven't seen him in awhile or asking what's going on with him!
Meanwhile, I was busy on the weekend going to gardening courses and meeting with people that run an organic gardening business. I brought most of the children to the first place where we met the people who run the organic gardening business and only the oldest boys to the actual course. Both places were so inspiring. It makes me so excited to think that this is a way I can bless my family and save us tons of money as well as feed my family healthily all through the year. I get quite overwhelmed by the idea because in so many ways, I don't know where to start, but I think I just have to dive in.
Both gardens were able to feed their households without going to buy many, if any, vegetables, or even fruit, all year. ALL YEAR!!!! Can you imagine that? That means they also do a ton of canning or freezing. This also overwhelms me, but again, gets me excited. The first gardening center is run by a Christian woman and she showed me her root cellar and where she stores all her jars. It was oddly just like my house in that we do have a place that could easily be turned into a root cellar. It has the dirt floor and everything, which she said, for some reason is good! I have tons of land that could be turned into a ridiculously large garden. When I asked her how much should I plant, she said, "Go crazy! Be overwhelmed!" I told her that is often how RM and I go about life. We tend to jump into things we know nothing about and then figure it out as we go along. "Perfect!" she said. "We often bought the animals before we had the fences!" "Oh, that's us, too," I said. Which is true. When we first got our cows, no joke, RM was still pounding fence posts almost as the cows pulled in.....so this lady was just who I needed to talk to. Drowning is bad, of course, but sometimes, when the water is coming over your head, you are forced into learning how to swim!
Having my children alongside me at her farm was such an encouragement to her and to myself. I realized they were just as interested in learning about gardening as I was. She spent more time talking to them then to me it seemed! She was thrilled to see their interest and kept telling them all sorts of things to get their gardens going. I realized what a huge asset, once again, that my children are becoming to me. I don't need to feel overwhelmed - I've got lots of helpers. She has to bring in "woofers", which are like an intern. I have my own woofers!
Now, if Spring will just come! It is still quite cold. I'm excited to get a garden going. I planted one last year, but it kind of stunk. I got some vegetables, but no where near what I thought I would get. I was extremely overwhelmed by weeds and rain. I certainly had nothing left over to can, ha! That would have been something.
I did do some grape jelley and grape juice as we have 23 rows of concord grapes on our property. That's such a blessing to us. We also have quite a few apple trees and even a couple cherry trees as well. We just need to start planting more fruit trees. That was her greatest encouragement to us.....plant, plant, plant.
I quickly turn to Ezekiel again for encouragement. Read this awesome passage in chapter 34:27,
"And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them."
Everything I want is in that verse! I want to see our land yield fruit! I want to be safe! I want to have the bands of our yoke broken and I want to be delivered!
The Bible talks about gardens and freedom in the very same verse. Wow. Always it says, that they "shall know that I am in the Lord." He even wants me to see Him in my garden and anything that comes up will not be because of my hand, but His.
He continues to be a very good boy and doesn't fuss at anything I feed him! Our routine continues to be the same every morning - eggs with anything green in the frying pan, mixed with onions or some other vegetable. Once in awhile, I'm nice and throw in bacon or sausage, then I'm his favourite. Sometimes he snacks in the morning, cheese and apples or a handful of popcorn as he walks by, but then for lunch it's always a salad with some protein or soup. Maybe a small snack in the afternoon, or even just a coffee or tea. Then dinner, always a protein, always a salad, never gluten in any form anymore, maybe a small amount of brown rice or rice noodles, or something with potato, but never the piles of noodles or mashed potatoes he used to have. He can refill his plate countless times with salad and though that doesn't sound appealing, he does it and feels full! Last night we had tacos, so he and I both made a taco salad while the kids stuffed their food into the actual shells. We just avoid the extra carbs when we can. He feels like a million bucks. He walks around lighter and with less pain. His clothes are swimming on him, but no time to shop. He'll go once he's lost what he wants to lose. Even certain suppliers who haven't seen him in awhile or asking what's going on with him!
Meanwhile, I was busy on the weekend going to gardening courses and meeting with people that run an organic gardening business. I brought most of the children to the first place where we met the people who run the organic gardening business and only the oldest boys to the actual course. Both places were so inspiring. It makes me so excited to think that this is a way I can bless my family and save us tons of money as well as feed my family healthily all through the year. I get quite overwhelmed by the idea because in so many ways, I don't know where to start, but I think I just have to dive in.
Both gardens were able to feed their households without going to buy many, if any, vegetables, or even fruit, all year. ALL YEAR!!!! Can you imagine that? That means they also do a ton of canning or freezing. This also overwhelms me, but again, gets me excited. The first gardening center is run by a Christian woman and she showed me her root cellar and where she stores all her jars. It was oddly just like my house in that we do have a place that could easily be turned into a root cellar. It has the dirt floor and everything, which she said, for some reason is good! I have tons of land that could be turned into a ridiculously large garden. When I asked her how much should I plant, she said, "Go crazy! Be overwhelmed!" I told her that is often how RM and I go about life. We tend to jump into things we know nothing about and then figure it out as we go along. "Perfect!" she said. "We often bought the animals before we had the fences!" "Oh, that's us, too," I said. Which is true. When we first got our cows, no joke, RM was still pounding fence posts almost as the cows pulled in.....so this lady was just who I needed to talk to. Drowning is bad, of course, but sometimes, when the water is coming over your head, you are forced into learning how to swim!
Having my children alongside me at her farm was such an encouragement to her and to myself. I realized they were just as interested in learning about gardening as I was. She spent more time talking to them then to me it seemed! She was thrilled to see their interest and kept telling them all sorts of things to get their gardens going. I realized what a huge asset, once again, that my children are becoming to me. I don't need to feel overwhelmed - I've got lots of helpers. She has to bring in "woofers", which are like an intern. I have my own woofers!
Now, if Spring will just come! It is still quite cold. I'm excited to get a garden going. I planted one last year, but it kind of stunk. I got some vegetables, but no where near what I thought I would get. I was extremely overwhelmed by weeds and rain. I certainly had nothing left over to can, ha! That would have been something.
I did do some grape jelley and grape juice as we have 23 rows of concord grapes on our property. That's such a blessing to us. We also have quite a few apple trees and even a couple cherry trees as well. We just need to start planting more fruit trees. That was her greatest encouragement to us.....plant, plant, plant.
I quickly turn to Ezekiel again for encouragement. Read this awesome passage in chapter 34:27,
"And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them."
Everything I want is in that verse! I want to see our land yield fruit! I want to be safe! I want to have the bands of our yoke broken and I want to be delivered!
The Bible talks about gardens and freedom in the very same verse. Wow. Always it says, that they "shall know that I am in the Lord." He even wants me to see Him in my garden and anything that comes up will not be because of my hand, but His.
Monday 21 April 2014
Can God Bring Our Dry Bones to Life?
We received a bit of a blow this past week. It kind of makes sense when you consider that we were feeling so good at the progress being made. Satan wants to come in and mess things up. Our neighbour came by with an envelope that had been put in his mailbox that was actually for us. It was a bill that indicated we were past due for an incredibly large amount of money. The first thoughts that go through your head when something like this happens is that there must be some mistake, so that's what we prayed. But, unfortunately, when Renaissance Man went through all his records, rechecking every single email and letter, bank statements, etc., he realized, much to his extreme disappointment, that no, there was no error. The money is due and it is due now.
It would be funny if it weren't so serious as we had a lot of plans for where that money was going to go and it wasn't to this bill. So, all weekend long, Easter weekend of all weekends, it's been a battle once again for us - where does our hope lie? Jesus came to defeat death and all hopelessness.
Our pastor did not pick your typical Easter passage from the New Testament story of the Resurrection. He went to Ezekiel 37. The story of the dry bones coming to life. God asks Ezekiel if the dry bones can live. His answer is so classic and is exactly how I feel. "O Lord God, you know." Some translations include the word "only" which makes me smile as it almost makes his response sound sarcastic. Ezekiel's response doesn't seem to show a lot of faith. He doesn't say, "Oh yes, absolutely Lord, you can do this!" I almost picture more of an eye rolling, "I suppose, can't say for sure. I've seen you do great things before, but don't know if you'll do it now. You seem to pick and choose when you'll do great things." Why would Ezekiel be so vague in his answer? Perhaps it is because the situation appeared so bleak. When God showed him the valley of dry bones, He was showing him bones that had been there for years and years. It must have been truly an awful thing to see - death. I probably would have responded the same way as once someone is dead and gone, it's not that likely they'll come around again, especially without skin!
Ezekiel was told to prophesy to the dry bones, in other words to speak life into the death that was in front of him. Interesting order, isn't it? He's told to speak life first and then the miracle happened after. We usually want the miracle to happen first so that we believe God's abilities. The passage said he prophesied "as he was commanded." He was strictly doing it out of obedience, not necessarily because he thought it would do anything.
The dry bones then get skin on them, but they remained lifeless until God breathed the breath of life into them. What is the challenge for ourselves? We must speak life into our bleak situations which is ultimately expressing our faith out loud to ourselves and others around us. I must choose to believe that this bill was not a surprise to God. He kept Renaissance Man's eye's closed to it for some reason. Its timing, though odd, is actually good! If we had received this bill even a few months ago, we would not have been able to pay it. We will be able to pay it now, it just means we make quite a few steps backwards. I don't think we could have handled a blow like this any earlier! So even the timing makes us see God knew when we could handle it. Step one of faith.
Step two. Trust God for his provision. We certainly were hoping to make steps in the forward direction, not backwards! We trust in his provision for our needs. I believe this is the speaking life into what appears hopeless. We prophesy to our bank account! Our bank account is like the valley of dry bones! It's been dead for awhile! It has no skin on it and just when it appears that skin was coming, it got hot and dry again in our little desert! It's interesting that Ezekiel was shown an army of dry bones, not just one skeleton. Our huge bill is like that army in that it wasn't a little thing we could have easily handled on our own. No, no, no - this is a rather large bill, very army-like in it's amount that we cannot handle on our own, unlike a little skeleton that we could have dealt with by ourselves. Yet, we have hope in what we know about God and we keep our eyes on Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. He is very busily trying to perfect our faith. So we don't lose hope, not even facing the death of our bank account. We do this out of obedience, not unlike Ezekiel. God asks us, "Do you think I can bring your bank account bank to life?" "You know," we answer back. We can't say for certain what He will do, but we know He has the ability. We try not to be defeated.
Step three. We wait, but we don't sit around hoping money will pop into place. We actively wait. We started brainstorming all sorts of ways we could make some extra income. We went on the MLS and started looking for building lots again. We are back in the house building mode, not for us to live, but to build and sell again. Someone asked me about that crazy thought at church as everyone who knew us when we built our last place also saw that it was a hard time for us. But I quickly responded that it would be different this time. We would do many things differently which is actually one of the reasons we want to do it so badly. We learned so many lessons through the last house build that it seems a huge waste to not do it again. My poor three year old doesn't quite grasp what we are doing and thinks that we are getting out of the farmhouse and into a new place. This makes him quite happy as he thinks this place is a dump anyway and can't wait to move! Truth is, it is an old dumpy farmhouse in parts, so I get it! He's just speaking what I'm thinking! But I digress.....
I started thinking of all the things I could sew for big bucks. There isn't much, but I've got a few ideas. We started thinking about all sorts of things, so we aren't going to sit around and just hope that money will fall from the sky. My prayer is that God will give us supernatural abilities to make up this sum of money and that He'll bless the work of our hands.
Step four. God has to work. God is the only one with the true breath of life. Ezekiel prophesied out of obedience, and the skin did appear on the bones, but they were still dead. In the same way, we looked for properties on the weekend and we did find one we liked, but only God can make the sale. Back to Ezekiel, try and keep up! Then God breathed on the bones and shazam! The bones came to life! So we have our part to do in any miracle that might take place. But ultimately, God is the one that resurrects life out of hopeless situations.
We were listening to a cd in the van as we drove yesterday and of all things it was on the Renaissance. That period of time followed the Middle Ages when no one had access to books. They were all put away on shelves in churches, kept safely away. The Middle Ages was a time when no one ever read, hard to imagine! One of the reasons the Renaissance gets the name "Renaissance" is because the books came out again and civilization was "reborn" - the actual meaning of "Renaissance". I have given that name to my husband as I write in this blog as at the time I thought it best described him for his abilities as that is now what the term "Renaissance Man" usually means - someone who is pretty much good at everything. But now I see, it suits him even more - he is reborn as well. The breath of God lives in him. The breath of God lives in me. God took our dead lives and gave us new life through Christ. We are walking testimonies to how God brings life. Knowing this, we can look at our "dry bones" situation and see life. We have the benefit of Scripture and know nothing is hopeless.
A great Easter song that we sang yesterday had the verse, "Death, where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?" It's been defeated! It's not just a nice line in a song. It's God's Word to me. God is victorious over this bill and He can even take away the sting of it, if He so chooses.
At the end of this image of dry bones, the Lord says to Ezekiel that it is a picture of Israel. By bringing the bones back to life he says, "Then you shall know that I am the Lord...." It always comes down to the Lord wanting the glory from our lives. May He get the glory in this situation as we leave it in His capable hands.
It would be funny if it weren't so serious as we had a lot of plans for where that money was going to go and it wasn't to this bill. So, all weekend long, Easter weekend of all weekends, it's been a battle once again for us - where does our hope lie? Jesus came to defeat death and all hopelessness.
Our pastor did not pick your typical Easter passage from the New Testament story of the Resurrection. He went to Ezekiel 37. The story of the dry bones coming to life. God asks Ezekiel if the dry bones can live. His answer is so classic and is exactly how I feel. "O Lord God, you know." Some translations include the word "only" which makes me smile as it almost makes his response sound sarcastic. Ezekiel's response doesn't seem to show a lot of faith. He doesn't say, "Oh yes, absolutely Lord, you can do this!" I almost picture more of an eye rolling, "I suppose, can't say for sure. I've seen you do great things before, but don't know if you'll do it now. You seem to pick and choose when you'll do great things." Why would Ezekiel be so vague in his answer? Perhaps it is because the situation appeared so bleak. When God showed him the valley of dry bones, He was showing him bones that had been there for years and years. It must have been truly an awful thing to see - death. I probably would have responded the same way as once someone is dead and gone, it's not that likely they'll come around again, especially without skin!
Ezekiel was told to prophesy to the dry bones, in other words to speak life into the death that was in front of him. Interesting order, isn't it? He's told to speak life first and then the miracle happened after. We usually want the miracle to happen first so that we believe God's abilities. The passage said he prophesied "as he was commanded." He was strictly doing it out of obedience, not necessarily because he thought it would do anything.
The dry bones then get skin on them, but they remained lifeless until God breathed the breath of life into them. What is the challenge for ourselves? We must speak life into our bleak situations which is ultimately expressing our faith out loud to ourselves and others around us. I must choose to believe that this bill was not a surprise to God. He kept Renaissance Man's eye's closed to it for some reason. Its timing, though odd, is actually good! If we had received this bill even a few months ago, we would not have been able to pay it. We will be able to pay it now, it just means we make quite a few steps backwards. I don't think we could have handled a blow like this any earlier! So even the timing makes us see God knew when we could handle it. Step one of faith.
Step two. Trust God for his provision. We certainly were hoping to make steps in the forward direction, not backwards! We trust in his provision for our needs. I believe this is the speaking life into what appears hopeless. We prophesy to our bank account! Our bank account is like the valley of dry bones! It's been dead for awhile! It has no skin on it and just when it appears that skin was coming, it got hot and dry again in our little desert! It's interesting that Ezekiel was shown an army of dry bones, not just one skeleton. Our huge bill is like that army in that it wasn't a little thing we could have easily handled on our own. No, no, no - this is a rather large bill, very army-like in it's amount that we cannot handle on our own, unlike a little skeleton that we could have dealt with by ourselves. Yet, we have hope in what we know about God and we keep our eyes on Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. He is very busily trying to perfect our faith. So we don't lose hope, not even facing the death of our bank account. We do this out of obedience, not unlike Ezekiel. God asks us, "Do you think I can bring your bank account bank to life?" "You know," we answer back. We can't say for certain what He will do, but we know He has the ability. We try not to be defeated.
Step three. We wait, but we don't sit around hoping money will pop into place. We actively wait. We started brainstorming all sorts of ways we could make some extra income. We went on the MLS and started looking for building lots again. We are back in the house building mode, not for us to live, but to build and sell again. Someone asked me about that crazy thought at church as everyone who knew us when we built our last place also saw that it was a hard time for us. But I quickly responded that it would be different this time. We would do many things differently which is actually one of the reasons we want to do it so badly. We learned so many lessons through the last house build that it seems a huge waste to not do it again. My poor three year old doesn't quite grasp what we are doing and thinks that we are getting out of the farmhouse and into a new place. This makes him quite happy as he thinks this place is a dump anyway and can't wait to move! Truth is, it is an old dumpy farmhouse in parts, so I get it! He's just speaking what I'm thinking! But I digress.....
I started thinking of all the things I could sew for big bucks. There isn't much, but I've got a few ideas. We started thinking about all sorts of things, so we aren't going to sit around and just hope that money will fall from the sky. My prayer is that God will give us supernatural abilities to make up this sum of money and that He'll bless the work of our hands.
Step four. God has to work. God is the only one with the true breath of life. Ezekiel prophesied out of obedience, and the skin did appear on the bones, but they were still dead. In the same way, we looked for properties on the weekend and we did find one we liked, but only God can make the sale. Back to Ezekiel, try and keep up! Then God breathed on the bones and shazam! The bones came to life! So we have our part to do in any miracle that might take place. But ultimately, God is the one that resurrects life out of hopeless situations.
We were listening to a cd in the van as we drove yesterday and of all things it was on the Renaissance. That period of time followed the Middle Ages when no one had access to books. They were all put away on shelves in churches, kept safely away. The Middle Ages was a time when no one ever read, hard to imagine! One of the reasons the Renaissance gets the name "Renaissance" is because the books came out again and civilization was "reborn" - the actual meaning of "Renaissance". I have given that name to my husband as I write in this blog as at the time I thought it best described him for his abilities as that is now what the term "Renaissance Man" usually means - someone who is pretty much good at everything. But now I see, it suits him even more - he is reborn as well. The breath of God lives in him. The breath of God lives in me. God took our dead lives and gave us new life through Christ. We are walking testimonies to how God brings life. Knowing this, we can look at our "dry bones" situation and see life. We have the benefit of Scripture and know nothing is hopeless.
A great Easter song that we sang yesterday had the verse, "Death, where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?" It's been defeated! It's not just a nice line in a song. It's God's Word to me. God is victorious over this bill and He can even take away the sting of it, if He so chooses.
At the end of this image of dry bones, the Lord says to Ezekiel that it is a picture of Israel. By bringing the bones back to life he says, "Then you shall know that I am the Lord...." It always comes down to the Lord wanting the glory from our lives. May He get the glory in this situation as we leave it in His capable hands.
Tuesday 15 April 2014
Today the House, Tomorrow the World!
My husband was on the panel of local entrepreneurs at the Family Economics Conference this past weekend. Each entrepreneur explained their businesses as well as the ups and downs that come from working for yourself. One of our main challenges has been to "cash flow" the business in terms of each contract. When RM gets a contract, it usually requires a significant amount of up-front supplies in order to get the contract done which requires a lot of cash, thousands of dollars. We hope to get to a place where this isn't an issue, but until then it requires a relationship with a bank. Well, there's a story in all of this.
Yesterday, RM went to pay off what had been borrowed for this past contract which is significant in and of itself as he isn't usually able to pay off the entire amount. When he went to the teller, she didn't know what to do! Her exact words were, "I'll have to get the manual, this so rarely happens!" It seems paying off loans is unusual in a bank!
So, yesterday was a good day. We made real progress as we not only paid off the entire bank loan, but we more than doubled our mortgage payment which is our new goal for each month. It is a funny thing though...if you pay off your mortgage early, you get penalized. Oh, the irony. The bank loves the fact you are in debt to them.
Back to Swanson for a bit. He started off by explaining he is entirely who he is because of his father. His father was a missionary in Japan and he was one of the rare missionaries who wouldn't send their children away to boarding school and so was one of the first homeschooled generation, at least before it became known offically as "homeschooling" since, I suppose, people have homeschooled since the world began. It was during this time of extreme discipleship that he caught his father's love and passion for God. Time after time, Swanson said this, "I stand on the shoulders of my father." His father wrote many books on faith, even translating some into Japanese. He sounded like an amazing man, still alive today and even now building into his son's life by doing all his research for Kevin's "Generations Radio Show" which I highly recommend. His show takes a look at culture in light of Scripture.
The whole point of Kevin's talk was Family Economics, but not necessarily how I thought it would be. When you hear the word "economics", you assume it means running a business, ideas about money come into your head, etc., but he went right back to the original Greek of the word which means "household management", who knew? This was why he talked about his Dad and reflected on how his Dad had managed their family economy. As a result of all the years of discipleship, all 6 siblings of Kevin's are serving the Lord in some capacity. So "economy", yes, but more in the sense of how are we running our families? Do we have a good family economy? What does that look like?
His point was simply this - we are not a discipling people. It's the solution to the youth mileu he says that we are seeing in youth today. Because young people aren't being discipled at home, but instead are being discipled by their peers and pop culture, young people, in particular boys, aren't growing up - ever. They aren't getting married. They are simply playing. From video games to sports, all they do is play. It is what Scott Brown calls, "the high cost of entertainment". There are no men to marry our daughters. So what we are seeing is a generation of single girls, looking for Godly spouses, but guess what? They aren't there.
He gave lots of awful statistics with respect to young men in particular and where they are spending their time these days. You know it, the internet. More awful than that was how only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important. That goes along with the stat that 70-80% of youth are leaving the church. That makes sense if only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important! Worse than that, only 1/20 Christian families have tried family worship. That is not good.
He gave two options - 10,000 hours with 3 people or 10,000 people for 3 hours. In other words, deliberate, intentional, DAILY, discipling of the children we have over a long period of time, or sending them off to a "revival" that is 3 hours long. He went to Christ's model. The classic question, "What would Jesus Do?" Well, we know what he did. He simply chose 12 men and discipled them and loved them for three years and then those men turned the world upside down. So, clearly, the best way is the 10,000 hour plan, even though that is the harder way. It means constant repetition of lessons to our children. Even Kevin said he knows how hard it is as our kids just don't seem to get what we are teaching them, but even the disciples were a little thick at times. In fact, Jesus seemed exasperated with them, but they got it eventually and did they ever get it!
If we are not daily discipling our children we are in trouble. If we are not controlling their influences, we are in trouble. It is a constant competition for their souls. He asked the question, "Have you ever gone 12 hours without opening the Word of God or exhorting them in the Word of God?" Sure, we all thought. "What do you see, what do you notice right away? Instant hardening of their hearts, a calcification starts to occur," he said. Isn't this true? "
Does it have to be daily? Why? Isn't Sunday good enough? No. Hebrews says is clearly, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13. The Bible says it, not just Kevin Swanson, "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin". This is what happens without daily exhortation.
He said it's like a baby coming out of the womb. They come out "blunt". If we want them to be polished swords with a sharp edge, then they need daily polishing to sharpen them.
The classic go-to verse for so many of us who homeschool is Deuteronomy 6:4-7,
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
The key words in these verses are teaching them DILIGENTLY. That means "characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort", according to Webster. "...When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise...." God was definitely referring to it being around the clock.
The rewards of discipleship lead to converts. His father spoke to his siblings and of course to the Japanese, perhaps 100s of Japanese, but Kevin is now speaking to hundreds of thousands, simply because he was discipled by his father. He said we need to focus less on evangelism and more on discipleship if we want to see conversions! This is not how the Church typically works! But again, he keeps going back to the model of Scripture. Jesus only worked with 12 men, but his ministry was multiplied through these men in the generations to come.
Ultimately, it does affect the choices we present to our children with respect to their future jobs and school choices. Even whether or not they do a profession as opposed to being an entrepreneur. If they want to be successful in either field of choice, mentorship or discipleship must be a part of that picture. It is life application at its best. So many mistakes are made without mentors alongside us in life.
There is so much more he said. This was from one session only!
It reinforced what we already knew, but was a great encouragement to stay on the path of 10,000 hours with the few disciples I have. They can already turn the house upside down, hopefully one day the world!
Yesterday, RM went to pay off what had been borrowed for this past contract which is significant in and of itself as he isn't usually able to pay off the entire amount. When he went to the teller, she didn't know what to do! Her exact words were, "I'll have to get the manual, this so rarely happens!" It seems paying off loans is unusual in a bank!
So, yesterday was a good day. We made real progress as we not only paid off the entire bank loan, but we more than doubled our mortgage payment which is our new goal for each month. It is a funny thing though...if you pay off your mortgage early, you get penalized. Oh, the irony. The bank loves the fact you are in debt to them.
Back to Swanson for a bit. He started off by explaining he is entirely who he is because of his father. His father was a missionary in Japan and he was one of the rare missionaries who wouldn't send their children away to boarding school and so was one of the first homeschooled generation, at least before it became known offically as "homeschooling" since, I suppose, people have homeschooled since the world began. It was during this time of extreme discipleship that he caught his father's love and passion for God. Time after time, Swanson said this, "I stand on the shoulders of my father." His father wrote many books on faith, even translating some into Japanese. He sounded like an amazing man, still alive today and even now building into his son's life by doing all his research for Kevin's "Generations Radio Show" which I highly recommend. His show takes a look at culture in light of Scripture.
The whole point of Kevin's talk was Family Economics, but not necessarily how I thought it would be. When you hear the word "economics", you assume it means running a business, ideas about money come into your head, etc., but he went right back to the original Greek of the word which means "household management", who knew? This was why he talked about his Dad and reflected on how his Dad had managed their family economy. As a result of all the years of discipleship, all 6 siblings of Kevin's are serving the Lord in some capacity. So "economy", yes, but more in the sense of how are we running our families? Do we have a good family economy? What does that look like?
His point was simply this - we are not a discipling people. It's the solution to the youth mileu he says that we are seeing in youth today. Because young people aren't being discipled at home, but instead are being discipled by their peers and pop culture, young people, in particular boys, aren't growing up - ever. They aren't getting married. They are simply playing. From video games to sports, all they do is play. It is what Scott Brown calls, "the high cost of entertainment". There are no men to marry our daughters. So what we are seeing is a generation of single girls, looking for Godly spouses, but guess what? They aren't there.
He gave lots of awful statistics with respect to young men in particular and where they are spending their time these days. You know it, the internet. More awful than that was how only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important. That goes along with the stat that 70-80% of youth are leaving the church. That makes sense if only 3/10 parents consider salvation to be important! Worse than that, only 1/20 Christian families have tried family worship. That is not good.
He gave two options - 10,000 hours with 3 people or 10,000 people for 3 hours. In other words, deliberate, intentional, DAILY, discipling of the children we have over a long period of time, or sending them off to a "revival" that is 3 hours long. He went to Christ's model. The classic question, "What would Jesus Do?" Well, we know what he did. He simply chose 12 men and discipled them and loved them for three years and then those men turned the world upside down. So, clearly, the best way is the 10,000 hour plan, even though that is the harder way. It means constant repetition of lessons to our children. Even Kevin said he knows how hard it is as our kids just don't seem to get what we are teaching them, but even the disciples were a little thick at times. In fact, Jesus seemed exasperated with them, but they got it eventually and did they ever get it!
If we are not daily discipling our children we are in trouble. If we are not controlling their influences, we are in trouble. It is a constant competition for their souls. He asked the question, "Have you ever gone 12 hours without opening the Word of God or exhorting them in the Word of God?" Sure, we all thought. "What do you see, what do you notice right away? Instant hardening of their hearts, a calcification starts to occur," he said. Isn't this true? "
Does it have to be daily? Why? Isn't Sunday good enough? No. Hebrews says is clearly, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13. The Bible says it, not just Kevin Swanson, "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin". This is what happens without daily exhortation.
He said it's like a baby coming out of the womb. They come out "blunt". If we want them to be polished swords with a sharp edge, then they need daily polishing to sharpen them.
The classic go-to verse for so many of us who homeschool is Deuteronomy 6:4-7,
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
The key words in these verses are teaching them DILIGENTLY. That means "characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort", according to Webster. "...When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise...." God was definitely referring to it being around the clock.
The rewards of discipleship lead to converts. His father spoke to his siblings and of course to the Japanese, perhaps 100s of Japanese, but Kevin is now speaking to hundreds of thousands, simply because he was discipled by his father. He said we need to focus less on evangelism and more on discipleship if we want to see conversions! This is not how the Church typically works! But again, he keeps going back to the model of Scripture. Jesus only worked with 12 men, but his ministry was multiplied through these men in the generations to come.
Ultimately, it does affect the choices we present to our children with respect to their future jobs and school choices. Even whether or not they do a profession as opposed to being an entrepreneur. If they want to be successful in either field of choice, mentorship or discipleship must be a part of that picture. It is life application at its best. So many mistakes are made without mentors alongside us in life.
There is so much more he said. This was from one session only!
It reinforced what we already knew, but was a great encouragement to stay on the path of 10,000 hours with the few disciples I have. They can already turn the house upside down, hopefully one day the world!
Monday 14 April 2014
Making Progress Little by Little
There was a lot going on last week including sick children, prepping for the Kevin Swanson Family Economics Conference, very little sleep......not a lot of writing got done, but I'm back at it today.
We've seen God's faithfulness again and again. He was definitely at work in our lives these last few days, perhaps just showing us that our prayers have not been in vain, perhaps just to give us a little bit of encouragement. I'm not sure, but no matter what we're thankful!
On Friday, as we were heading out to the conference, Renaissance Man made a deal with our neighbour to take his manure spreader in exchange for the threshing machine in our barn. It is a win-win for both of us. That was a huge answer to prayer in terms of how we were going to acquire machinery without spending any money! It felt like we'd just been given free machinery.
As well, this weekend we decided we would bring some books out of storage that we've sold in the past at other homeschool conferences. We started a little book business a few years ago where we sold books, cds, or dvds that have impacted our family personally and that we wanted to get into the hands of other families, hopefully with the idea that they would be impacted as well.
On the Saturday morning, we were setting up and a certain man came up and was trying to help as he realized we had way more books than the size of the table, so he was trying to get us some more space somehow. I didn't realize he was the pastor of the church where it was being hosted. He started to look at our materials and was amazed. It wasn't long after, once we were all set up, that he came up to me and said, "I want one of everything." I tried not to look surprised, or thrilled, or blown away, but I was. At the end of the day, someone from the church came up to me with a cheque that made me want to jump up and down. I tried to stay calm and merely pointed him to my daughter who handled all the cash that day. Oh my goodness. As we packed up our books that day in to boxes with signficantly less in them, we realized God had pure and simply blessed our book business that day in a major way, not to mention all the other sales we made, which allowed us to pick up some of Kevin Swanson books ourselves!
Again, it felt like free money. We'd purchased those books we were selling and paid for them years ago. We had put the book ministry on hold for a couple of years because our family size had increased in the last few years in such a way that it was trickier and trickier to get to the homeschool conferences without having a major impact on the family. We received some advice from friends that also had a family ministry suggesting that we wait until the littlest ones were a little older as that was what they had done. For them it was now tremendously easier with older children. This weekend we felt we could handle it though as it was a shorter conference and our whole family could be there. We're often not allowed to bring the whole family to homeschool conferences. Ironic, wouldn't you say? Anyway, all that to say, we had been just storing the paid-for books on our shelves for too long. It was time to move them. Getting paid for them seemed like extra money that we hadn't anticipated and we certainly didn't expect to sell as many as we did!
RM's first words to me were, "What do you think we should do with the money?" Uh, a vacation? That's what I was thinking! Yikes, where was my head?! So I quickly answered, "Why, what are you thinking?" He immediately responded, "Mortgage." So today, that's where he's heading. We're putting that money completely towards the mortgage before we spend it thinking that free money could go here or here or here.....you get the idea.
Later on today, we'll have 3 Porsches on our property. Another one arrives this afternoon from a guy out of town that is having his towed here to have RM fix it. There will be another significant chunk of money inside the vehicle as a prepayment of sorts for RM. That is also money we didn't anticipate a few weeks ago. It also felt like free money, so that, too will go towards the mortgage today. In some ways, it's a drop in the bucket, but isn't that what the Bible says though, little by little? So, we are excited to be making progress on the mortgage with money we didn't expect. Barry Cameron, the author of the book The ABC's of Financial Freedom, said this would happen once we got started on a serious plan of debt reduction. God would just bless our efforts in areas we didn't expect and so He is.
One of the Porsches might be leaving soon if another deal works out today. The owner of the skid steer we want is coming by to see if he wants to trade his skid steer for our car. This is a very positive trade for us if he decides to take the car. I'm praying! That will feel like a free tractor if that works out, too.
Do we feel thankful this weekend? You bet. God has seriously blessed us in ways we could never have anticipated. We're so grateful! He's so faithful!
Now, just to keep it all real, I still have water in my basement and I have several laundry loads at the laundromat ahead of me today, not to mention I have new "washing dishes" muscles from leaning over the tub as we have to do them in the bathroom, but my perspective is still gratitude as I just have to see what God has done and know He's going to take care of us, including our plumbing issues, in His timing.
The grass around the farm is getting greener. A beautiful warm wind came yesterday to dry up our soaking wet land. It felt like the wind Noah must have felt when God was drying up the earth after the flood. It made it super difficult for the kids to play outside without being blown away, but I knew God had a purpose, even for the wind. Just as he sent the wind for Noah and for our land, He has a purpose in sending trials our way. And, just to keep us on track, He sends blessings along the way that make the journey, particularly the debt-reduction journey, just that much more manageable.
More on the Kevin Swanson conference later......
We've seen God's faithfulness again and again. He was definitely at work in our lives these last few days, perhaps just showing us that our prayers have not been in vain, perhaps just to give us a little bit of encouragement. I'm not sure, but no matter what we're thankful!
On Friday, as we were heading out to the conference, Renaissance Man made a deal with our neighbour to take his manure spreader in exchange for the threshing machine in our barn. It is a win-win for both of us. That was a huge answer to prayer in terms of how we were going to acquire machinery without spending any money! It felt like we'd just been given free machinery.
As well, this weekend we decided we would bring some books out of storage that we've sold in the past at other homeschool conferences. We started a little book business a few years ago where we sold books, cds, or dvds that have impacted our family personally and that we wanted to get into the hands of other families, hopefully with the idea that they would be impacted as well.
On the Saturday morning, we were setting up and a certain man came up and was trying to help as he realized we had way more books than the size of the table, so he was trying to get us some more space somehow. I didn't realize he was the pastor of the church where it was being hosted. He started to look at our materials and was amazed. It wasn't long after, once we were all set up, that he came up to me and said, "I want one of everything." I tried not to look surprised, or thrilled, or blown away, but I was. At the end of the day, someone from the church came up to me with a cheque that made me want to jump up and down. I tried to stay calm and merely pointed him to my daughter who handled all the cash that day. Oh my goodness. As we packed up our books that day in to boxes with signficantly less in them, we realized God had pure and simply blessed our book business that day in a major way, not to mention all the other sales we made, which allowed us to pick up some of Kevin Swanson books ourselves!
Again, it felt like free money. We'd purchased those books we were selling and paid for them years ago. We had put the book ministry on hold for a couple of years because our family size had increased in the last few years in such a way that it was trickier and trickier to get to the homeschool conferences without having a major impact on the family. We received some advice from friends that also had a family ministry suggesting that we wait until the littlest ones were a little older as that was what they had done. For them it was now tremendously easier with older children. This weekend we felt we could handle it though as it was a shorter conference and our whole family could be there. We're often not allowed to bring the whole family to homeschool conferences. Ironic, wouldn't you say? Anyway, all that to say, we had been just storing the paid-for books on our shelves for too long. It was time to move them. Getting paid for them seemed like extra money that we hadn't anticipated and we certainly didn't expect to sell as many as we did!
RM's first words to me were, "What do you think we should do with the money?" Uh, a vacation? That's what I was thinking! Yikes, where was my head?! So I quickly answered, "Why, what are you thinking?" He immediately responded, "Mortgage." So today, that's where he's heading. We're putting that money completely towards the mortgage before we spend it thinking that free money could go here or here or here.....you get the idea.
Later on today, we'll have 3 Porsches on our property. Another one arrives this afternoon from a guy out of town that is having his towed here to have RM fix it. There will be another significant chunk of money inside the vehicle as a prepayment of sorts for RM. That is also money we didn't anticipate a few weeks ago. It also felt like free money, so that, too will go towards the mortgage today. In some ways, it's a drop in the bucket, but isn't that what the Bible says though, little by little? So, we are excited to be making progress on the mortgage with money we didn't expect. Barry Cameron, the author of the book The ABC's of Financial Freedom, said this would happen once we got started on a serious plan of debt reduction. God would just bless our efforts in areas we didn't expect and so He is.
One of the Porsches might be leaving soon if another deal works out today. The owner of the skid steer we want is coming by to see if he wants to trade his skid steer for our car. This is a very positive trade for us if he decides to take the car. I'm praying! That will feel like a free tractor if that works out, too.
Do we feel thankful this weekend? You bet. God has seriously blessed us in ways we could never have anticipated. We're so grateful! He's so faithful!
Now, just to keep it all real, I still have water in my basement and I have several laundry loads at the laundromat ahead of me today, not to mention I have new "washing dishes" muscles from leaning over the tub as we have to do them in the bathroom, but my perspective is still gratitude as I just have to see what God has done and know He's going to take care of us, including our plumbing issues, in His timing.
The grass around the farm is getting greener. A beautiful warm wind came yesterday to dry up our soaking wet land. It felt like the wind Noah must have felt when God was drying up the earth after the flood. It made it super difficult for the kids to play outside without being blown away, but I knew God had a purpose, even for the wind. Just as he sent the wind for Noah and for our land, He has a purpose in sending trials our way. And, just to keep us on track, He sends blessings along the way that make the journey, particularly the debt-reduction journey, just that much more manageable.
More on the Kevin Swanson conference later......
Tuesday 8 April 2014
Porsches, Trading Up, and Laundry!
Give thanks and the miracle is imminent. That is how I've been trying to live since I first heard Ann Voskamp speak. I had always lived feeling thankful, but I didn't realize how it was tied in to miracles!
We had a couple miracles yesterday and I can only attribute them to God intervening and blessing us as I didn't want to feel thankful!
Sometimes after I post on the blog, I then go and journal the more personal stuff and that's what I did yesterday. I just wrote and wrote how I was feeling, pouring it all out before the Lord. But as I did this I was still reading in Philippians and of course Paul says to present your requests to God, with thanksgiving. So I did. I wrote out my requests. I even wrote that I wasn't feeling hopeful, but by faith I would choose to believe God was faithful, recognizing the enemy's voice making doubt want to enter in.
Satan's other tactic if he doesn't get anywhere with me doubting God is making me doubt my husband and his abilities, clever eh? Let me explain. I've said it many times before, my husband can do just about anything he sets his mind to and do it well. When we first got the Porsches, he figured he knew what was wrong with each one and estimated how long it would take, what it would cost, etc. Over the last few weekends, it appeared with Porsche #1 that he was wrong. Each time he bought a part and put it in, nothing would happen. He couldn't make it start.
My sons were watching all along and were starting to think this wasn't going to work. One of them came in and said to me a couple of days ago, "Dad can't figure it out. It won't start. It wasn't the part he thought it was. He wonders if we're in over our heads. Now he has no idea where to begin looking for what's wrong." Guess what enters into my mind, just like doubting the faithfulness of God, this little feeling of doubt starts to enter into my mind about my husband and whether or not he'll be able to fix the Porsche!
But no, I recognized the attack fortunately - isn't that half the battle? Sometimes I think Satan is so clever, but is he really? No, not at all. I don't ever want to give him that much credit. He just tried an old tactic in a new way. So I fought back with prayer and thankfulness, exercising my spiritual muscles. I read yesterday in Philippians how we must "practice" this - I want to get really strong faith muscles, more than physical muscles, so that when the attacks come, I can fight them with a faith that is so spiritually strong it can withstand anything.
I wrote as one of my first requests, the fixing of the Porsche - I was looking for a miracle. It could have been millions of things. Where to start was what RM was wondering. All day long it was bugging RM as he did his regular job, what was it, what was it. Finally he sat at his computer, going on all the Porsche sites and entering the symptoms of the car. All of a sudden he came across a comment on of the threads he'd been reading that sounded like it might have just the solution. It meant driving out quickly to pick up a part, so he threw the boys in the truck and off he went. I think the fact that there is a place nearby to even pick up the part is a miracle in itself.
When he came back, I was in the house working away. Suddenly an onslaught of noisy boys came in so excited! The car had started! This time it actually stayed on instead of starting and then dying. Sure enough, RM came in shortly after also excited - he'd fixed it! He'd been right! It hadn't taken a million different attempts, just the one. We were back in business.
I got my first drive to the end of the street last night. It felt like old times. Trusting the Lord's goodness brought the miracle we needed, I'm convinced.
Another thing I wrote as a request was how our list of needs, equipment, supplies for the house and farm was far exceeding what cash flow was coming in. I never know how God is going to answer, I just left it on paper.
Earlier on that morning, right after breakfast RM's truck disappeared with him in it going who knows where. I just assumed he was off to the bank. I had just finished sitting with him and the older kids sharing what I had been reading in Philippians and we had all prayed and started our day.
He arrived back home a few minutes later saying, "What do you think of this idea?" He went on to explain our new neighbour down the street wants to do a trade with us for some equipment. That's where he had gone, to check out the guy's farm equipment. This is the funny part of the story. This other farmer wants this old, delapidated, antique threshing machine that has been sitting in our barn for, no doubt, over a 100 years! It is worth something to somebody, but not us! We've been trying to get rid of this thing since we moved here, but no one wants it. We figured we'd have to turn it into scrap metal. This farmer/neighbour wants to trade his working manure spreader (which RM needed and was planning on buying with who-knows-what-money). RM checked out the spreader and it looked ideal. Was this guy for real?
As RM explained this to me, I realized God was working another miracle. He was helping us to attain the things we needed basically for free! We were trading up - how cool is that??? It really wasn't going to cost us a dime to get that equipment on our property and if anything this other farmer was helping us by getting rid of our junk! Awesome.
Turns out, that is what we are now hoping to do with the Porsches, too. We are hoping to aquire some other farm equipment by trading them for large farm machinery like skid steers, etc. This trading up idea could really work in our favour!
Now, I still have a stinky basement, but yesterday I tried to thank the Lord for it. In order to stop the leaking I had to go to the laundromat to wash my seven loads of laundry, but God was even in that. How so, you might wonder? Well, I turned it into a field trip! I brought all the little ones and tons of quarters and it became the most fun part of their day! It was a new and novel place to go. The funniest part was watching my 3 year old. He saw me getting change from the machine and figured this was a money making machine - how could he get some of that? Very funny. We brought some of our school books with us and actually got quite a bit done all the while being watched by a few Grandmas and Grandpas. What a good place to go for encouragement! It was as if God sent me there just to lift me up. So many nice compliments from all of them about our children. They seemed to be on their best behaviour, so they loved that. Plus, they watched how much fun they were having loading, starting the machines....they were being very cute! So, if you ever need a lift, go with your kids to the laundromat!
Was that the answer I was looking for, not necessarily, but it was fun and I know RM will get to the basement and the disaster of plumbing eventually.
It was a good day yesterday. God is faithful. I don't need to doubt Him or even RM's abilities. I know all things are under His control. My job is to keep being thankful in all things, even the things that aren't looking like they are going in the right direction!
We had a couple miracles yesterday and I can only attribute them to God intervening and blessing us as I didn't want to feel thankful!
Sometimes after I post on the blog, I then go and journal the more personal stuff and that's what I did yesterday. I just wrote and wrote how I was feeling, pouring it all out before the Lord. But as I did this I was still reading in Philippians and of course Paul says to present your requests to God, with thanksgiving. So I did. I wrote out my requests. I even wrote that I wasn't feeling hopeful, but by faith I would choose to believe God was faithful, recognizing the enemy's voice making doubt want to enter in.
Satan's other tactic if he doesn't get anywhere with me doubting God is making me doubt my husband and his abilities, clever eh? Let me explain. I've said it many times before, my husband can do just about anything he sets his mind to and do it well. When we first got the Porsches, he figured he knew what was wrong with each one and estimated how long it would take, what it would cost, etc. Over the last few weekends, it appeared with Porsche #1 that he was wrong. Each time he bought a part and put it in, nothing would happen. He couldn't make it start.
My sons were watching all along and were starting to think this wasn't going to work. One of them came in and said to me a couple of days ago, "Dad can't figure it out. It won't start. It wasn't the part he thought it was. He wonders if we're in over our heads. Now he has no idea where to begin looking for what's wrong." Guess what enters into my mind, just like doubting the faithfulness of God, this little feeling of doubt starts to enter into my mind about my husband and whether or not he'll be able to fix the Porsche!
But no, I recognized the attack fortunately - isn't that half the battle? Sometimes I think Satan is so clever, but is he really? No, not at all. I don't ever want to give him that much credit. He just tried an old tactic in a new way. So I fought back with prayer and thankfulness, exercising my spiritual muscles. I read yesterday in Philippians how we must "practice" this - I want to get really strong faith muscles, more than physical muscles, so that when the attacks come, I can fight them with a faith that is so spiritually strong it can withstand anything.
I wrote as one of my first requests, the fixing of the Porsche - I was looking for a miracle. It could have been millions of things. Where to start was what RM was wondering. All day long it was bugging RM as he did his regular job, what was it, what was it. Finally he sat at his computer, going on all the Porsche sites and entering the symptoms of the car. All of a sudden he came across a comment on of the threads he'd been reading that sounded like it might have just the solution. It meant driving out quickly to pick up a part, so he threw the boys in the truck and off he went. I think the fact that there is a place nearby to even pick up the part is a miracle in itself.
When he came back, I was in the house working away. Suddenly an onslaught of noisy boys came in so excited! The car had started! This time it actually stayed on instead of starting and then dying. Sure enough, RM came in shortly after also excited - he'd fixed it! He'd been right! It hadn't taken a million different attempts, just the one. We were back in business.
I got my first drive to the end of the street last night. It felt like old times. Trusting the Lord's goodness brought the miracle we needed, I'm convinced.
Another thing I wrote as a request was how our list of needs, equipment, supplies for the house and farm was far exceeding what cash flow was coming in. I never know how God is going to answer, I just left it on paper.
Earlier on that morning, right after breakfast RM's truck disappeared with him in it going who knows where. I just assumed he was off to the bank. I had just finished sitting with him and the older kids sharing what I had been reading in Philippians and we had all prayed and started our day.
He arrived back home a few minutes later saying, "What do you think of this idea?" He went on to explain our new neighbour down the street wants to do a trade with us for some equipment. That's where he had gone, to check out the guy's farm equipment. This is the funny part of the story. This other farmer wants this old, delapidated, antique threshing machine that has been sitting in our barn for, no doubt, over a 100 years! It is worth something to somebody, but not us! We've been trying to get rid of this thing since we moved here, but no one wants it. We figured we'd have to turn it into scrap metal. This farmer/neighbour wants to trade his working manure spreader (which RM needed and was planning on buying with who-knows-what-money). RM checked out the spreader and it looked ideal. Was this guy for real?
As RM explained this to me, I realized God was working another miracle. He was helping us to attain the things we needed basically for free! We were trading up - how cool is that??? It really wasn't going to cost us a dime to get that equipment on our property and if anything this other farmer was helping us by getting rid of our junk! Awesome.
Turns out, that is what we are now hoping to do with the Porsches, too. We are hoping to aquire some other farm equipment by trading them for large farm machinery like skid steers, etc. This trading up idea could really work in our favour!
Now, I still have a stinky basement, but yesterday I tried to thank the Lord for it. In order to stop the leaking I had to go to the laundromat to wash my seven loads of laundry, but God was even in that. How so, you might wonder? Well, I turned it into a field trip! I brought all the little ones and tons of quarters and it became the most fun part of their day! It was a new and novel place to go. The funniest part was watching my 3 year old. He saw me getting change from the machine and figured this was a money making machine - how could he get some of that? Very funny. We brought some of our school books with us and actually got quite a bit done all the while being watched by a few Grandmas and Grandpas. What a good place to go for encouragement! It was as if God sent me there just to lift me up. So many nice compliments from all of them about our children. They seemed to be on their best behaviour, so they loved that. Plus, they watched how much fun they were having loading, starting the machines....they were being very cute! So, if you ever need a lift, go with your kids to the laundromat!
Was that the answer I was looking for, not necessarily, but it was fun and I know RM will get to the basement and the disaster of plumbing eventually.
It was a good day yesterday. God is faithful. I don't need to doubt Him or even RM's abilities. I know all things are under His control. My job is to keep being thankful in all things, even the things that aren't looking like they are going in the right direction!
Monday 7 April 2014
Weddings, Horses and Plumbing
Another busy weekend has come and gone....more lessons learned!
It started at the wedding we went to on Saturday. Both families lived out in the country, so I wondered what style of wedding they would choose. I only knew one of the families really well, but I knew they were quite conservative Christians and were already making very different choices from the world.
It ended up being very simple, but quite profound because of it's simplicity I think. The pastor, in fact, even drew attention to the barrenness of the decor, saying it was on purpose. That is not to say that they had no decorations, but they were certainly kept to a bare minimum. The pastor started off his homily by pointing out how the average wedding costs $28, 000 (I actually thought the number would have been higher) and how so often the marriage breaks down at a later date, but none of that money is recoverable, nor is the marriage. He was trying to point out that going into debt right at the beginning is a really challenging way to start off. He made a good point. I also thought it was interesting because of where we're at and how my spidey debt senses are so heightened these days. My guess is they spent less than $5000 on this wedding, possibly less than $3000 - incredible. But at the end of the day, they are still married!
The next day I was off to a homeschool conference, the first of several this spring we'll be at. I went on my own, so that was a nice break in itself, but it was more of a challenge this year as prices at these conferences are not low at all. In fact, I find the vendors at these booths cannot compete with the big box stores, so I hate to say it, I found myself not really buying like I had hoped, but instead writing down titles so I could find them cheaper later! So much for supporting the Canadian economy!
However, (funny story coming) it just isn't a good post if there isn't a farm story. As I was heading out for the homeschool conference, I saw a pickup truck slowly coming towards me and then stopping, rolling down his window and saying, "You know there are two horses running around behind the house, don't you?" "What!? You're kidding me!" Nope. He wasn't kidding. Usually our boys are so responsible, but this time, they forgot the gate when they gave them hay. We aren't sure how long they were out, perhaps the whole night. Perhaps even the whole day of the wedding as we didn't get home till after 11pm and no one checked on them then.
The not-so-funny part of the story happened after I left. I asked Renaissance Man if he wanted me to stick around to help get in the horses. He told me to go, they'd get them somehow. So off I went, praying, mind you. Meanwhile the boys were wakened out of deep sleeps to the sound of Dad's voice, "Horses are out!"
They're so good about helping right away and my oldest boy really has quite the touch with animals. It wasn't easy, but somehow they managed to get them close enough for RM to grab one of their manes (the horse didn't have a halter). As my son approached RM, he got spooked and took off with RM's finger tangled in his mane, his pinky finger. Ouch. Eventually he got it loose, but not without first hearing a "click" sound and then seeing it hang at an odd angle from his hand. The pain didn't come at first because his hands were so cold, so he quickly popped it back into place. It seems it was a dislocation, not a break.
The pain came later, however, and lots of swelling. Not that these things ever come at a good time, but this is not at a good time! RM still has a couple of weeks of extreme heavy lifting as he is finishing off his tower contract. It looks like my son will have to be his left hand for a few days. Fortunately we have help right within the family, so that is a blessing.
The weekend brought some relief from the cold weather, but the damage has been done with our plumbing. In addition to the damage from the weather, the owners before us really did a terrible job of plumbing and the whacked way they plumbed thing has led to major issues for us. Basically all the laundry water and kitchen sink water (including the dishwasher) is now running into our basement. Terrible thoughts go through our minds.....maybe we should just burn the house down.....that would solve a few issues! Of course we're kidding....sort of.....sigh....
But church is a refuge, a place to go to worship God, thank Him for His goodness to us, be reminded that He only sends us what is good for us (which we sometimes question and quite frankly find hard to believe....this is good for us?????") The pastor reminded us, too - these challenges come to keep us close to God, on our knees, and here's the big one, to, yuck, humble us. My oldest son said last night as we were all sitting around, ready to pray together, "I don't like being humbled." "Don't say that!" I said. "God will just send more challenges until you love being humbled!"
So we are in a desperate place, but a good place. We don't love being humbled. Not at all! But all it takes is a quick reminder of the many people around the world who don't even have indoor plumbing for me to remember how spoiled I am. We have a home, with a roof, with heat, a few silly animals that love to drive us nuts....we're a privileged bunch.
We have been going through Ecclesiates as a family. We read through part of chapter 10 last night,
"Through sloth the roof sinks in,
and through indolence the house leaks.
19 Bread is made for laughter,
and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything."
We wondered if we are suffering with the "roof sinking" and "house leaking" because of the neglect of those before us. Things were left to rot when we purchased it. We've heard some interesting stories from neighbours who knew these people. Were they slothful, indolent? I looked up indolent in the dictionary. Fascinating definition, "wanting to avoid activity or exertion." Wow. RM looks at the way they plumbed things together and it doesn't look like it was done with a lot of love and forethought. It looks like they wanted to avoid activity and extra exertion. It was done with bare minimum in mind, just to get by.
So our home is teaching us many things. It points back to all those posts on sloth - the consequences are huge! Impacting people we may not even know and in this case it is US!
Funnily enough, the verses I quoted ends with "money answers everything." Did Solomon really mean it is the solution to happiness? It might get my plumbing fixed, but I don't think it means what it seems to mean. We all know it doesn't fix discontentment - only temporarily.
Like I said, we learned a lot of things this weekend, but all that we went through, in just a few short days reminds us of the battle we are in. I've said it before...We've declared war on debt. We've declared war on sloth. We've declared war on discontentment. We've also declared war on this house! It won't win! It won't get the better of us....(even though we still kind of want to burn it down.....)
It started at the wedding we went to on Saturday. Both families lived out in the country, so I wondered what style of wedding they would choose. I only knew one of the families really well, but I knew they were quite conservative Christians and were already making very different choices from the world.
It ended up being very simple, but quite profound because of it's simplicity I think. The pastor, in fact, even drew attention to the barrenness of the decor, saying it was on purpose. That is not to say that they had no decorations, but they were certainly kept to a bare minimum. The pastor started off his homily by pointing out how the average wedding costs $28, 000 (I actually thought the number would have been higher) and how so often the marriage breaks down at a later date, but none of that money is recoverable, nor is the marriage. He was trying to point out that going into debt right at the beginning is a really challenging way to start off. He made a good point. I also thought it was interesting because of where we're at and how my spidey debt senses are so heightened these days. My guess is they spent less than $5000 on this wedding, possibly less than $3000 - incredible. But at the end of the day, they are still married!
The next day I was off to a homeschool conference, the first of several this spring we'll be at. I went on my own, so that was a nice break in itself, but it was more of a challenge this year as prices at these conferences are not low at all. In fact, I find the vendors at these booths cannot compete with the big box stores, so I hate to say it, I found myself not really buying like I had hoped, but instead writing down titles so I could find them cheaper later! So much for supporting the Canadian economy!
However, (funny story coming) it just isn't a good post if there isn't a farm story. As I was heading out for the homeschool conference, I saw a pickup truck slowly coming towards me and then stopping, rolling down his window and saying, "You know there are two horses running around behind the house, don't you?" "What!? You're kidding me!" Nope. He wasn't kidding. Usually our boys are so responsible, but this time, they forgot the gate when they gave them hay. We aren't sure how long they were out, perhaps the whole night. Perhaps even the whole day of the wedding as we didn't get home till after 11pm and no one checked on them then.
The not-so-funny part of the story happened after I left. I asked Renaissance Man if he wanted me to stick around to help get in the horses. He told me to go, they'd get them somehow. So off I went, praying, mind you. Meanwhile the boys were wakened out of deep sleeps to the sound of Dad's voice, "Horses are out!"
They're so good about helping right away and my oldest boy really has quite the touch with animals. It wasn't easy, but somehow they managed to get them close enough for RM to grab one of their manes (the horse didn't have a halter). As my son approached RM, he got spooked and took off with RM's finger tangled in his mane, his pinky finger. Ouch. Eventually he got it loose, but not without first hearing a "click" sound and then seeing it hang at an odd angle from his hand. The pain didn't come at first because his hands were so cold, so he quickly popped it back into place. It seems it was a dislocation, not a break.
The pain came later, however, and lots of swelling. Not that these things ever come at a good time, but this is not at a good time! RM still has a couple of weeks of extreme heavy lifting as he is finishing off his tower contract. It looks like my son will have to be his left hand for a few days. Fortunately we have help right within the family, so that is a blessing.
The weekend brought some relief from the cold weather, but the damage has been done with our plumbing. In addition to the damage from the weather, the owners before us really did a terrible job of plumbing and the whacked way they plumbed thing has led to major issues for us. Basically all the laundry water and kitchen sink water (including the dishwasher) is now running into our basement. Terrible thoughts go through our minds.....maybe we should just burn the house down.....that would solve a few issues! Of course we're kidding....sort of.....sigh....
But church is a refuge, a place to go to worship God, thank Him for His goodness to us, be reminded that He only sends us what is good for us (which we sometimes question and quite frankly find hard to believe....this is good for us?????") The pastor reminded us, too - these challenges come to keep us close to God, on our knees, and here's the big one, to, yuck, humble us. My oldest son said last night as we were all sitting around, ready to pray together, "I don't like being humbled." "Don't say that!" I said. "God will just send more challenges until you love being humbled!"
So we are in a desperate place, but a good place. We don't love being humbled. Not at all! But all it takes is a quick reminder of the many people around the world who don't even have indoor plumbing for me to remember how spoiled I am. We have a home, with a roof, with heat, a few silly animals that love to drive us nuts....we're a privileged bunch.
We have been going through Ecclesiates as a family. We read through part of chapter 10 last night,
"Through sloth the roof sinks in,
and through indolence the house leaks.
19 Bread is made for laughter,
and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything."
We wondered if we are suffering with the "roof sinking" and "house leaking" because of the neglect of those before us. Things were left to rot when we purchased it. We've heard some interesting stories from neighbours who knew these people. Were they slothful, indolent? I looked up indolent in the dictionary. Fascinating definition, "wanting to avoid activity or exertion." Wow. RM looks at the way they plumbed things together and it doesn't look like it was done with a lot of love and forethought. It looks like they wanted to avoid activity and extra exertion. It was done with bare minimum in mind, just to get by.
So our home is teaching us many things. It points back to all those posts on sloth - the consequences are huge! Impacting people we may not even know and in this case it is US!
Funnily enough, the verses I quoted ends with "money answers everything." Did Solomon really mean it is the solution to happiness? It might get my plumbing fixed, but I don't think it means what it seems to mean. We all know it doesn't fix discontentment - only temporarily.
Like I said, we learned a lot of things this weekend, but all that we went through, in just a few short days reminds us of the battle we are in. I've said it before...We've declared war on debt. We've declared war on sloth. We've declared war on discontentment. We've also declared war on this house! It won't win! It won't get the better of us....(even though we still kind of want to burn it down.....)
Friday 4 April 2014
The Love Bank Account is Full (and Overflowing...)
Once in awhile we get a freebie that is such a blessing! Last night Renaissance Man and the older five children were invited out (along with the whole engineering society around here) to a free IMAX film showing. This included popcorn, drinks, the whole works. They had such a good time and it was a great film - all about the Hubble telescope. It sounded fascinating and I was sorry I couldn't go, too!
Meanwhile, back at home I was being blessed out of my socks by the remaining little ones here. They are so cute! You don't notice it as much when they just mix in with the big people all the time, but get them on their own and you realize how adorable they are, even when they are sick. The littlest one has been fighting a throat virus it seems and has had a fever for a couple days now. I do love sick babies, at least ones that have a simple virus! They are extra cuddly, extra needy, and they sleep all day long! It makes life very easy, except when they won't let you put them down and you have to make dinner.
We watched a show together, too, so they wouldn't fee left out. Then we cleaned up the kitchen together. After that they both wanted to take a bath. This winter, taking a bath has become a major event. I fill up the tub basically to the top, add bubbles if I have them, then away they go....it's like having a swimming pool indoors! And it is a way to wash my floor as the water rarely stays in with all their splashing! That has kept them busy for what seems like hours this winter! And, all 3 little kids can fit and they usually get along, for up to a half an hour or more! Another free, fun activity!
After the tub, they were getting ready for bed, so I said, "Let's go read some books." Then, upon reflection, even though the older kids weren't there, I said, "Let's have family worship and read the Bible!" This was when I started to get a major blessing. They were so excited. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I was treating them like they were older or maybe it was just my tone of voice. I don't know, but they were right out of a "say a cute thing" book. If anyone had been listening in, it might have even sound contrived, but I think what they were excited about was gathering together as a family. It makes them happy, loved and it's a time when we regroup, talk and have really meaningful conversation. Plus, because they were just little, I sang all the sweet songs that my big kids used to hear me sing which we don't pull out as often. You know, the classics....Jesus Loves Me, My God is So Big (with lots of actions), Zaccheus....it was a sweet moment. "I LOVE family worship!" one of them said. "I LOVE you, Mom!" the other one said. How could I not feel so loved at that moment!?
After we sang, the 3 year old, wanted me to read the story about Absalom and Joab where he gets killed after his hair gets caught in the tree! I had told him the story the night before because I was trying to think of a Bible story that would interest him and boy did it interest him! Blood and guts, swords in the heart...he wanted me to find the actual place in scripture where it was written. So I did! It is a sad story of a father losing his son's heart and as a result dying in a horrible way. I wanted him to know obeying Mommy is really important! It has long-lasting consequences if you don't!
Then we read about Zaccheus. Less blood and I knew they would like the story as we know the children's song. Sure enough, we had to sing the song after. It led to a great conversation with the 5 year old about giving money to the poor and all the poor people in the world. It was as if I were having a conversation with an adult. She was showing an extreme sensitivity to spiritual things and I was just eating it up.
Once again, nothing had changed in my life financially, debt remains for awhile longer, but my love bank account was overflowing. That time with my little ones was such a precious gift. When my husband got back, he was saying the same thing. He had just enjoyed his time with the older ones so much. Sadly to say, there were some engineers at this event that went on their own. They were supposed to invite their families, but one guy, upon arriving and seeing all the kids with their parents said, "I should have brought my kids." Uh yeah! What was he thinking?!
Today, another blessing...we are attending a wedding of a special young man who worked for us for nearly 8 months when we built the house. He and his two brothers lived with us for 6 months and then he stayed on an additional couple of months. They basically worked for us for free though we gave them room and board for that whole time. At the end of their time with us, RM made sure they left with some financial remuneration and a whole lot of skills. That was the whole idea actually. In exchange for the room and board, they would receive tons of house building experience as well as every trade under the sun as they also helped in his engineering business. It was an amazing time.
A few years after they left, the oldest boy met this nice girl and now they are getting married. Just another blessing to us, to be a part of their day. Everyone is looking forward to it.
The Lord has given us so much. Give us eyes to see the blessings all around us. Like I said, nothing has changed in our life financially, but the other bank account, the love bank account, has received a huge deposit this week and that'll help to carry me through the dry financial times for sure. Thank you, Lord.
Meanwhile, back at home I was being blessed out of my socks by the remaining little ones here. They are so cute! You don't notice it as much when they just mix in with the big people all the time, but get them on their own and you realize how adorable they are, even when they are sick. The littlest one has been fighting a throat virus it seems and has had a fever for a couple days now. I do love sick babies, at least ones that have a simple virus! They are extra cuddly, extra needy, and they sleep all day long! It makes life very easy, except when they won't let you put them down and you have to make dinner.
We watched a show together, too, so they wouldn't fee left out. Then we cleaned up the kitchen together. After that they both wanted to take a bath. This winter, taking a bath has become a major event. I fill up the tub basically to the top, add bubbles if I have them, then away they go....it's like having a swimming pool indoors! And it is a way to wash my floor as the water rarely stays in with all their splashing! That has kept them busy for what seems like hours this winter! And, all 3 little kids can fit and they usually get along, for up to a half an hour or more! Another free, fun activity!
After the tub, they were getting ready for bed, so I said, "Let's go read some books." Then, upon reflection, even though the older kids weren't there, I said, "Let's have family worship and read the Bible!" This was when I started to get a major blessing. They were so excited. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I was treating them like they were older or maybe it was just my tone of voice. I don't know, but they were right out of a "say a cute thing" book. If anyone had been listening in, it might have even sound contrived, but I think what they were excited about was gathering together as a family. It makes them happy, loved and it's a time when we regroup, talk and have really meaningful conversation. Plus, because they were just little, I sang all the sweet songs that my big kids used to hear me sing which we don't pull out as often. You know, the classics....Jesus Loves Me, My God is So Big (with lots of actions), Zaccheus....it was a sweet moment. "I LOVE family worship!" one of them said. "I LOVE you, Mom!" the other one said. How could I not feel so loved at that moment!?
After we sang, the 3 year old, wanted me to read the story about Absalom and Joab where he gets killed after his hair gets caught in the tree! I had told him the story the night before because I was trying to think of a Bible story that would interest him and boy did it interest him! Blood and guts, swords in the heart...he wanted me to find the actual place in scripture where it was written. So I did! It is a sad story of a father losing his son's heart and as a result dying in a horrible way. I wanted him to know obeying Mommy is really important! It has long-lasting consequences if you don't!
Then we read about Zaccheus. Less blood and I knew they would like the story as we know the children's song. Sure enough, we had to sing the song after. It led to a great conversation with the 5 year old about giving money to the poor and all the poor people in the world. It was as if I were having a conversation with an adult. She was showing an extreme sensitivity to spiritual things and I was just eating it up.
Once again, nothing had changed in my life financially, debt remains for awhile longer, but my love bank account was overflowing. That time with my little ones was such a precious gift. When my husband got back, he was saying the same thing. He had just enjoyed his time with the older ones so much. Sadly to say, there were some engineers at this event that went on their own. They were supposed to invite their families, but one guy, upon arriving and seeing all the kids with their parents said, "I should have brought my kids." Uh yeah! What was he thinking?!
Today, another blessing...we are attending a wedding of a special young man who worked for us for nearly 8 months when we built the house. He and his two brothers lived with us for 6 months and then he stayed on an additional couple of months. They basically worked for us for free though we gave them room and board for that whole time. At the end of their time with us, RM made sure they left with some financial remuneration and a whole lot of skills. That was the whole idea actually. In exchange for the room and board, they would receive tons of house building experience as well as every trade under the sun as they also helped in his engineering business. It was an amazing time.
A few years after they left, the oldest boy met this nice girl and now they are getting married. Just another blessing to us, to be a part of their day. Everyone is looking forward to it.
The Lord has given us so much. Give us eyes to see the blessings all around us. Like I said, nothing has changed in our life financially, but the other bank account, the love bank account, has received a huge deposit this week and that'll help to carry me through the dry financial times for sure. Thank you, Lord.
Wednesday 2 April 2014
I Am Not Unaware of His Schemes
A series of not-so-good nights and a few interruptions in the mornings have led to very little writing this week. It's funny how it has become such a part of my day now that if I miss a chance to write it feels like something is really missing.
Not too much has changed, but I've been struck by a few things recently. First of all yesterday, being April 1, beginning of a new month brought back a flood of memories. When we were building the house I was told on multiple occasions by Renaissance Man that we would be in the new house by "this date" or "that date". He wasn't trying to deceive me or lie to me, but those dates would pass time after time as there were so many variables he wasn't in control of, be it the weather or other trades we had hired, etc. I normally thought I was fine with the delays, but one day, on the first day of the month, I think if was March 1, it struck me, we weren't in the house. The date he had told me had arrived and we weren't in and it didn't look like we would be in for a long time. I started to cry as I was due with our 7th child and I had no idea where I would be living, where I would give birth....Now normally I am pretty strong and don't cry at life, but the date, the first day of the month somehow hit me (plus all the hormones that come with being pregnant) and I was a mess. Fortunately I was on my own, and no one saw me cry.
As each month came and went, the first day of the month would start to be a challenge for me as it marked the passing of time in a way that was negative to me and I was starting to become a weepy mess. This was not like me and RM was getting worried! Would his wife be able to hold it together? I am so grateful that through this time I had a very strong husband who just listened to me and prayed with me, as well as family and close friends that encouraged me and also prayed for me on a regular basis. I was also forced to rely on God and His Word because it was all I had. The long story short, as you know by now, is we did finish the house, we did move in eventually, it did sell (in fact we marked the anniversary of the closing just a few days ago) and the baby came and never once did the newborn say to me, "Well, it's about time you found me a place to get born. I was getting really worried." No, the baby just came and loved the fact he was out of the womb and into the world.
All this to say, yesterday was April 1. Sure enough, the flood of memories that came evoked the same negative feelings....at first. I'm so much more aware of Satan and his tactics with me now. Before the whole house building experience, I had never really been prone to anxiety. I had never really been a fearful person. In fact, if anything, I used to view myself as a person with quite a large dose of faith. Perhaps Satan saw that as a threat to himself and decided to take me down a notch. It sure worked for awhile. But in the process I gained some great tools of defense....multiple passages of Scripture, an even stronger prayer life than ever before, and just an awareness of my own weaknesses.
Yesterday, however, I got caught off guard. I must have let my defenses down. When I realized it was April 1, my first thoughts which originally had been hopeful, turned sour. The night before, March 31, I had gone to bed with a sense of anticipation! Tomorrow was the beginning of a new month! April! Surely April would bring warmer weather. Surely April would bring more potential work for Renaissance Man. In fact the government's fiscal year end was March 31, so more work automatically gets posted on April 1. We both knew this and were excited about what April could bring. I was shocked when I woke up, started reading in Philippians and journaling that a heaviness started to come over me. It happened as soon as I wrote the date. Satan's old tactic, looking at time passing, not being where I thought we would be, seeing the date as a negative, not a postive.....it all hit me at the same time.
God was good though, faithful as ever. I shared with RM how I was feeling and basically begged him, "Help me get out of this pit!" He quickly reminded me the date is a positive! He reminded me of how far we have come! How God has been so faithful! It was all true. I didn't snap out of it in two seconds flat, but I did come around. Later on in the day I heard that comment on the radio about how Satan tries to make us doubt God....all day. I realized he just won't let up. He'll use anything he can to bring us down and doubt God and his goodness.
The tactic we can use, and this is the only tactic, is speaking God's truth back to ourselves OUT LOUD. Isn't that interesting? It is one thing to believe it in our minds, but to speak it out loud puts Satan on notice. "We are not unaware of your schemes. We believe that God is good and that He will be faithful. Nothing can separate me from the love of God, not the first day of the month, not looking where I thought we should be.....nothing."
I already walk around talking to myself out loud and praying. The kids probably think I'm nuts, but I do find it helpful. "Jesus free us," is often the phrase I say, but now it'll probably change to speaking more of what I know is true. That goes back to the Philippians passage on thinking on things that are true and lovely. I'll just make sure I not only think these more noble thoughts, but speak them, to drown out the voice that is in my head making me, or at least trying to make me, doubt God.
April 1 ended up being a good day. It was a warmer day. The muck is eventually going to dry up. The kids spent hours and hours outside. It was a good work day for RM. In fact I was even able to spend some time with him out in the shop doing some odds and ends to help him ship out his product today. He may not have gotten another contract, we may not necessarily be where I would like to be in our war against debt, but I still saw it as a good day.
Good morning! I have
8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God
Not too much has changed, but I've been struck by a few things recently. First of all yesterday, being April 1, beginning of a new month brought back a flood of memories. When we were building the house I was told on multiple occasions by Renaissance Man that we would be in the new house by "this date" or "that date". He wasn't trying to deceive me or lie to me, but those dates would pass time after time as there were so many variables he wasn't in control of, be it the weather or other trades we had hired, etc. I normally thought I was fine with the delays, but one day, on the first day of the month, I think if was March 1, it struck me, we weren't in the house. The date he had told me had arrived and we weren't in and it didn't look like we would be in for a long time. I started to cry as I was due with our 7th child and I had no idea where I would be living, where I would give birth....Now normally I am pretty strong and don't cry at life, but the date, the first day of the month somehow hit me (plus all the hormones that come with being pregnant) and I was a mess. Fortunately I was on my own, and no one saw me cry.
As each month came and went, the first day of the month would start to be a challenge for me as it marked the passing of time in a way that was negative to me and I was starting to become a weepy mess. This was not like me and RM was getting worried! Would his wife be able to hold it together? I am so grateful that through this time I had a very strong husband who just listened to me and prayed with me, as well as family and close friends that encouraged me and also prayed for me on a regular basis. I was also forced to rely on God and His Word because it was all I had. The long story short, as you know by now, is we did finish the house, we did move in eventually, it did sell (in fact we marked the anniversary of the closing just a few days ago) and the baby came and never once did the newborn say to me, "Well, it's about time you found me a place to get born. I was getting really worried." No, the baby just came and loved the fact he was out of the womb and into the world.
All this to say, yesterday was April 1. Sure enough, the flood of memories that came evoked the same negative feelings....at first. I'm so much more aware of Satan and his tactics with me now. Before the whole house building experience, I had never really been prone to anxiety. I had never really been a fearful person. In fact, if anything, I used to view myself as a person with quite a large dose of faith. Perhaps Satan saw that as a threat to himself and decided to take me down a notch. It sure worked for awhile. But in the process I gained some great tools of defense....multiple passages of Scripture, an even stronger prayer life than ever before, and just an awareness of my own weaknesses.
Yesterday, however, I got caught off guard. I must have let my defenses down. When I realized it was April 1, my first thoughts which originally had been hopeful, turned sour. The night before, March 31, I had gone to bed with a sense of anticipation! Tomorrow was the beginning of a new month! April! Surely April would bring warmer weather. Surely April would bring more potential work for Renaissance Man. In fact the government's fiscal year end was March 31, so more work automatically gets posted on April 1. We both knew this and were excited about what April could bring. I was shocked when I woke up, started reading in Philippians and journaling that a heaviness started to come over me. It happened as soon as I wrote the date. Satan's old tactic, looking at time passing, not being where I thought we would be, seeing the date as a negative, not a postive.....it all hit me at the same time.
God was good though, faithful as ever. I shared with RM how I was feeling and basically begged him, "Help me get out of this pit!" He quickly reminded me the date is a positive! He reminded me of how far we have come! How God has been so faithful! It was all true. I didn't snap out of it in two seconds flat, but I did come around. Later on in the day I heard that comment on the radio about how Satan tries to make us doubt God....all day. I realized he just won't let up. He'll use anything he can to bring us down and doubt God and his goodness.
The tactic we can use, and this is the only tactic, is speaking God's truth back to ourselves OUT LOUD. Isn't that interesting? It is one thing to believe it in our minds, but to speak it out loud puts Satan on notice. "We are not unaware of your schemes. We believe that God is good and that He will be faithful. Nothing can separate me from the love of God, not the first day of the month, not looking where I thought we should be.....nothing."
I already walk around talking to myself out loud and praying. The kids probably think I'm nuts, but I do find it helpful. "Jesus free us," is often the phrase I say, but now it'll probably change to speaking more of what I know is true. That goes back to the Philippians passage on thinking on things that are true and lovely. I'll just make sure I not only think these more noble thoughts, but speak them, to drown out the voice that is in my head making me, or at least trying to make me, doubt God.
April 1 ended up being a good day. It was a warmer day. The muck is eventually going to dry up. The kids spent hours and hours outside. It was a good work day for RM. In fact I was even able to spend some time with him out in the shop doing some odds and ends to help him ship out his product today. He may not have gotten another contract, we may not necessarily be where I would like to be in our war against debt, but I still saw it as a good day.
Good morning! I have
8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God
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