Wisdom of the Word Wednesday

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” 

1 John 3:1

God has lavished His love on us, because that is who He is. God is love, so He could do no less. His character dictates that He lavish us with unconditional love.

Before we came to be the children of God we were children of the evil one. Could you imagine going to the most vile person on earth and taking one of their children into your home and loving them with your whole heart and lavishing on them all that is yours? Well, that is what God has done for us. We belonged to Satan. While we were still living our lives with our evil father influencing our lives, God sent His one and only Son to die for us. He had never committed one sin and was pure and holy, without any blame. He then gave us the opportunity to leave our vile, evil father and accepted us unconditionally as His children.  We are heirs to all that belongs to Him...which is EVERYTHING that He has created. Can you imagine all that God has created? It all belongs to us, because we are His children. That is how much He loves us.

Do you ever wonder why the world treats Christians the way it does? Satan wants to break Christians so they will turn their backs on God and His precious Son and the free gift He offers to us. If he can’t break us then he wants to kill us so we can no longer influence his children. The world does not really know us, because we are children of God and the things of God are foolishness to the world and they can’t understand us.

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”  

John 15:18-19

(Jesus speaking to the Father) 

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”  James 1:2-3

Not Digestible

If your children like Happy Meals, you really need to read this blog article.

     New Happy Meal                                                      

                                                                                  One-year old        "I purchased a Happy Meal, not to eat, but to observe and blog about. Yes, I bought a Happy Meal and then placed it on my office shelf, right behind me and my computer. It sat on my shelf for a year as a silent witness to our fast food industry.
It smelled delicious for a few days. I’d get a whiff of those yummy French fries every time I walked into my office. After a week or so, you could hardly smell it. My husband worried that when the food began to decompose, there would be a terrible odor in our home. He also worried the food would attract ants and mice. He questioned my sanity."

My Blessed Mother's Day

My children really blessed me this year with their thoughtfulness. My two younger daughters decorated some pots and filled them with herbs and flowers. They look beautiful and smell wonderful. I can't wait to start using my herbs:).

My second daughter typed a poem for me and put it on pretty paper. She also made a booklet with hand drawn portraits of mothers from the Bible. My youngest made me a skirt to match a vest that I had already made.

My son called me and sent me some delectable chocolate dipped strawberries. I could smell them before I even opened the package. My oldest daughter also sent me a Mother's Day greeting. I am so blessed.

My husband also blessed me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a Butterfinger candy bar. (sorry, no photo of the candy bar, we ate it the day he gave it to me:).

Bathroom Renovation Week 8

Ok, we are back from our vacation. Now, we have a working toilet and the baseboards are completely in. The vanity is in place, but not screwed to the wall yet and the sink still needs to be glued to the vanity. We are really getting close. I am so thankful for my husband's tenacity. After returning home on Wednesday, going to work on Thursday, he then proceeded on Friday and Saturday to get back to work on the bathroom.

Multitude Monday

81. quiet drives in the country

82. squeezes from daughters after a short time apart

83. special gifts from the heart from my children and husband

84. God’s gentle nudges

85. safe return home after a restful vacation

86. being a helpmeet to my husband

87. the sound of swishing brooms around the house

88. the feel of rich soil in my hands

89. the anticipating of harvesting just planted seeds

90. the smell of fresh air away from town

The Cost of Motherhood

from Doug's Blog

Once a lady went to visit her friend. During the visit the children of the friend entered the room and began to play with each other. As the lady and her friend visited, the lady turned to her friend and said eagerly and yet with evidently no thought of the meaning of her words: “Oh, I’d give my life to have such children.” The mother replied with a subdued earnestness whose quiet told of the depth of experience out of which her words came: “That’s exactly what it costs.”

There is a cost of motherhood. And the price is no small sum. And if you are not willing to pay this price, no amount of encouragement about the joys of motherhood will satisfy. But the price of motherhood is not fundamentally different from the price of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. In fact, Christian mothers see their duty as mothers flowing from their calling to Jesus Christ. And what is this cost?
Christian motherhood means dedicating your entire life in service of others. It means standing beside your husband, following him, and investing in the lives of children whom you hope will both survive you and surpass you. It means forgoing present satisfaction for eternal rewards. It means investing in the lives of others who may never fully appreciate your sacrifice or comprehend the depth of your love. And it means doing all these things, not because you will receive the praise of man — for you will not — but because God made you to be a woman and a mother, and there is great contentment in that biblical calling.
In other words, Motherhood requires vision. It requires living by faith and not by sight.
These are some of the reasons why Motherhood is both the most biblically noble and the most socially unappreciated role to which a young woman can aspire. There are many people who ask the question: Does my life matter? But a mother that fears the Lord need never ask such a question. Upon her faithful obedience hinges the future of the church and the hope of the nation.
In 1950, the great Scottish American preacher Peter Marshall stood before the United States Senate and he explained it this way:

The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge — that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women — beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman — or of a godly man either, for that matter.
I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.
It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right that socially correct.

As we approach America’s national Mother’s Day celebration, lets remember that we are fighting for the Lord, and it is He who prioritizes motherhood and home as the highest calling and domain of womanhood “that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Titus 2:5. May the Lord fill our churches with faithful mothers!

Susanna Wesley Quote

"Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."

- Susanna Wesley (Letter, June 8, 1725)

Playing Footsies With Our Adversaries

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Bravelass. It is a pretty challenging article. Check it out and see what you think about "religious feminism".

"I once observed, in an allusion to a more famous saying, that one cannot play footsie with the religious feminists and hope to retain all of one’s toes. There is good reason for that, because one finds at the heart of religious feminism the seductive lies of heresy. Let’s face it, we’ve all known the charm, the pull, the glamour of heresy. Evil is attractive; it is alluring or one would never fall for it."

Our Little Vacation

My husband and I went on a little vacation this past week. We flew to Kansas City, Missouri. We stayed there over night then drove the next day to Branson.

We stayed there for two nights. While in Branson we ate at Fuddruckers. We hadn't eaten at one in a very long time. It was a great hamburger. While down in the south central portion of Missouri, we drove through some very beautiful country side. We visited Thornfield, Gainesville, Dora, Drury, Vanzant and Ava. About five hours after we left Dora, a tornado roared through.

We experienced a little rain while other parts of MO were experiencing tornadoes. Here is the driveway in front of our motel room. Within a very short period of time it was completely dry and you couldn't even tell there had been a river running down the parking lot.

A water and fire show on the Boardwalk in Branson, played to music

A water wheel on one of the back roads

Some of the beautiful country side we enjoyed

We then went to Springfield. We stayed at the BEST Best Western hotel we have ever stayed at and we have stayed at quite a lot of them over the past 30 years. It was the Best Western Coach House Inn. I would recommend this for anyone who stays in Springfield. The service was awesome (thank you, Davita for the great service you gave us). While we were in Springfield, we visited a battle field, Wilson's Creek. It was the location where the third battle of the Civil War took place.

Ralph next to a civil war cannon 

(he would have liked to take it home, but it wouldn't fit in his suitcase)

A small cabin built over 150 years ago on the grounds of Wilson's Creek

(we didn't know the civil war was fought that far  west). We attended the Baker Creek spring festival. There were people selling all sorts of things, such as homemade soap, (even demonstrating how to make it), plants for the garden, trees for the orchards, there was a blacksmith demonstrating his trade, canned foods for sale, and LOTS and LOTS of heirloom seeds for the garden. There were speakers who spoke on such topics as GMO's and how to avoid them. We picked up a book by Doug Oster called "Tomatoes Garlic Basil". He even signed the book for us. It was a lot of fun. We also visited Seymour, Mansfield (where the Laura Ingles Wilder museum was supposed to be, we never found it), Macomb, Mountain Grove, Hartville, Bucyrus, Raymondville and Licking. While in Springfield, we ate at Chick-fil-A. This is the BEST fast food chicken ANYWHERE! The food is great, the service is better than some non-fast food restaurants. We had very lovely young ladies come to our table asking if we wanted our drinks refilled, cleared our table and even opened the door when we left. We also ate at Buckingham's BBQ. It was finger licking good.

Here is what a plate of food looks like at Buckingham's BBQ

After our time in Springfield, we drove back to Kansas City, not the high point of our vacation, then flew home the next day. After the flights home I was reminded of one of the reason's I really hate flying. We had a LOT of turbulence on both of our flights. I was a nervous wreck and poor Ralph's arm probably has permanent indentations on it. God reminded me when we got home that I didn't need to worry, all I had to do was trust Him. I sure wish I had been listening when He was trying to tell me that while we were experiencing the turbulence.

We really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to returning some time real soon and bringing our girls with us..

Book Giveaway

Ladies Against Feminism (LAF) are having a book giveaway. They are promoting and giving away a copy of "Start Your Family" by Steve & Candace Watters. Read the review by Jennie Chancey.