Our prayers are an influence in our home...

No one can intercede for the man of God, pray for his protection from the "destroyer" or set the mood by prayer like we can. This is spiritual warfare, and the battle is on for our husbands, our home, our families...
"Happy the man, called to go forward in any pathway of faith, who has in his life-companion ony sympathy and help....frail in health and only twenty-eight years in age, Mrs. Taylor's... hands were full with the care of four young children, yet from the moment she learned of her husband's call to the great, the seemingly impossible task of evangelization of inland China she became in a new way his comfort and inspiration. Her hand wrote for him, her faith strengthened his own, her prayers undergirded the whole work and her practical experience and loving heart made her the Mother of the mission..." -Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
"Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." (Neh. 4:14)
Our families have souls, let's fight for them in prevailing prayer today!

The first priority....just one thing!

  We all have priorities rather we acknowledge it or not.  In our heads we have to decide what we're going to do first in our day, where our time and money will go first, who will get our attention first....and that list could go on and on! 
  In Matthew 6 the Lord is preaching and He talks about those things that want our attention first.  I guess we could also say that they are what our "old man" or our flesh desires to put first, so He gives us a warning and a command.

  He talks about "treasures" and tell us not to become consumed with the earthly treasures that want our attention and love first.  That word "treasures" He used is talking about a storehouse or a place that we keep the things that matter most to us.  It is talking about the literal treasures we might lay up or the treasures that we store up in our heart and soul.   We are told that wherever our treasures are we will find our heart.  Things consume our time and our attention.  As a wife and mother we should always remember that our things are to be there to serve us and not the other way around!  A good way to test where your treasure is would be to pay attention to what uses up your time and your money.  If we really want something bad enough we'll find the time and the money for it.  It's good to review on a regular basis and see if something is consuming us! 
   Another good checkpoint that I use is to ask myself if I am neglecting any God-given duties. If I am then I know that I have something in my life I am "treasuring" more than Him.  If I can't find time to spend time with the Lord then I have another god in my life that is consuming the time that should be His.  It's time to see what "other love" has kept me from the Lord. If I can't seem to find time to care for the needs of my husband and children then I need to see what is more important to me than those I'm given to care for by the word of God.  Why can't I find time to cook their meals, wash their clothes, teach and train them like I should?  If I don't have any time for that I need to be removing another earthly treasure from my life. 
  I read a  and I find in books  and articles on taking care of yourself physically they always are death on the excuse "I can't find time."  They give statistics on how much time is spent in front of the tv or the computer and they explain that you do have the time, you're just not using it for the right thing!
  It is true that if we truly love something we don't find time we make time!
   In verses 22 and 23 the Lord talks about the single eye versus the evil eye.  The best definition I ever read for the word single was "to look away from all else".  That is the way to get your priorities in order.  We have to look away from all else but the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Hebrews 12:2)  As much as I desire to keep first things first it won't happen without the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He's the One that gave me the desire in the first place and He's the One that enables me to keep my priorities in an order that glorifies and magnifies Him.  "For  it is God  which worketh in you both  to will and to do  of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)
  There are so many things that are wanting my attention and begging me to look at them instead of what the Word of God (Christ) says.  If for even a short time I turn my head and begin to give them my attention things will fall apart in the spiritual world for me. 
  The evil eye is defined as "being full of labours, annoyances, hardships, being harrassed by annoyances and hardships, perils to my Christian faith and stedfastness."  That is exactly the opposite of the single eye where we are steadfastly looking to Christ for the truth and the ability to live the truth.  It goes right along with the different hearts the Lord talks about and what is used by Satan to destroy them.  It is so important to keep what He says as most important and to not listen to all the questions and doubt that our flesh and Satan hurls at us. 
  You know the questions, "What about....?" and "What if....?"   Sometimes he uses people we don't know and sometimes he uses very real people that we love to make us question what we know the word of God teaches us. 
    If you want a real good thumping just listen to the media.  All the Lord teaches us is questioned, critiqued and mocked.  After you've spent any amount of time watching tv, reading the news, reading their books and their self-help material you can really question the Lord and lose your stedfast faith!
  He ends the discussion of the single eye and the evil eye with the warning that we cannot have two masters.  One will always have our loyalty over the other.  If He is not our Master and doesn't have our loyalty then "mammon" has our love and loyalty.  And we're told in I John 2:15-17 that if we're friends with the world we're not friends with Him and His love is not in us.
  The last point the Lord makes before telling us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness is telling us not to make food, drink and clothing a matter of focus in our lives.  He tells us that He can take care of all that and when we focus on fretting over where it is going to come from then we're not making Him first in our lives. 
  He says the Gentiles seek these things and as His children we're not to do that.  The word seek there means to "crave, demand, clamor for, seek diligently for, enquire for".  Sounds like it was important, doesn't it?
   Then we have the verse that our first priority is in.  Matthew 6:33, "But  seek ye first the kingdom  of God , and his  righteousness ; and all these things  shall be added unto you ."
 This verse promises us that if we keep first things first then He'll take care of all that the flesh, the world and Satan would have us fret about. 
  I can be the queen of fretters.  Worry seems to be second nature to me.  But the Lord has faithfully taught me in the last few years that if I'll keep my walk and fellowship where it ought to be with Him I won't have to even fret about fretting!  Walking with Him makes the life He offers to live in me, through me and for me so simple.
  It's hard to believe it's as simple as having a daily time with the Lord to keep your priorities where they ought to be, but it works.  I'm not talking about just grabbing your Bible, your Bible reading chart and your prayer journal and rushing through it so the conscience is soothed.  I've done that many a time! 
   I'm talking about recognizing that you're in His presence and talking to Him like you would the best friend you have on earth.  Reading the Bible and asking Him to impress on you what you need today.  The word seek in Matthew 6:33 has a different meaning then the one in verse 32.  It means "to seek for, to seek (in order to find out) by thinking, meditating, and reasoning; to strive after, to inquire into". 
  I've not found one thing that I had a question about that when I turned to the Lord and seriously asked Him about that He didn't give me the answer and I never questioned it again.  That was true of my role as a woman, my place and purpose in life, my full surrender, my dress, my lifestyle as a Christian and I could name more that I've brought to Him.  The will has to be yielded though, you have to say, "Thy will be done." and then do it when He answers. It's always brought me joy--not a feeling of being deprived. 
   During my "wilderness years" when I struggled with depression I read my Bible but my prayer life suffered terribly.  Over and over I asked Him to please show me the path out of my darkness and confusion.  (This is a story in itself that I won't try to tell here.)  It wasn't like a single lightbulb moment but the only verse He ever gave me that I knew was concerning my illness was "He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." (Psalms 107:20) 
  I began to realize that when my husband took his pastorate that I went from being a Mary who set faithfully at the feet of the Lord each day soaking in all He had for me into being a Martha--busy serving tables and meeting the needs of others but neglecting my sweet fellowship that I'd once had because I was just too busy!
  Did I read my Bible and pray?  Yes, but it wasn't what I'd had with Him before and as I gave and gave and never took from Him as I should all the joy was drained from me.
  I know now that I had to go back to where I left my first love (and we don't lose it we leave it) and once again sit with Him and find sweet fellowship in our relationship.  I now have on the first page of my prayer journal "But  one thing is  needful: and Mary hath chosen that good  part, which shall not be taken away  from  her."   (Luke 10:42)  I have it there to remind myself that if I'll keep that one thing  -the first thing in its proper place then I'll be just fine no matter what comes my way. 
  What about you?  Does the word "overwhelmed" fit your life?  Does there seem to be so many tasks and responsibilities that you don't know where to start?  Are you questioning that maybe, just maybe you need to adapt to today's culture and fit in and then possibly things will go better?  Does it seem that more money would solve your problems?  Maybe you're tempted to think that life would be better if you could get out of your marriage?  Maybe you should give the children away to someone else to teach and train you're so overwhelmed with the task?  Are you feeling weary of not looking the way the world dictates you should look?  Are you embarassed of being different in what you have, where you go, what you wear?  Are you to the point you'd rather fit in with the world than be classified with the Christians of today?   Are you envious of what "they" have that you seem to be doing without?
  When I was in my early Mary years I was totally unaware that I didn't fit in I was so full of joy in my relationship with the Lord.  People would often comment on the sweet spirit in our home or the peace and there were four little bodies running around the house and we were living on an income that didn't begin to pay our bills! 
  Now He has me there again.  And it all came from keeping that first priority in order, from making that one thing have its proper place in my life.  If you're overwhelmed I beg of you to make the time in your day to sit at His feet and commune with Him in the Word of God and prayer.  Don't fret about rather you're doing it all right--just do it.  Find a closet (like I had to do during my children's naptime when they were all toddler) or a place on your porch or even the kitchen table but find a time and a place and get that first priority in its place.  The Lord will work the miracle in the rest of your life for you then!

 
  
 

  

Post-Mother's Day Thoughts...

  I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  The celebration began on Saturday morning when at 8:15 a.m. a florist delivered me a beautiful hanging basket of bright peach geraniums!  I was curious as I opened the card, and to be truthful, Nevin has always been the one that has sent a rose to plant or flowers as a gift so I half-expected them to be from him.  I was already chiding whichever child did it in my head for "spending extra money they didn't have" but yet thrilled that I was that important!  When I opened the card it said, "I love you.  Alicia"  I had had a rough night physically but it was all forgotten in a second as that warm feeling of being special and loved went through me.  She couldn't have picked a better gift at a better time.  Thank you, my dear Alicia. (and family)
  Then the mail arrived and John knocked on the bedroom door with it behind his back.  He said, "You got this" and handed me an envelope, "and you got this!" and handed me a package!   They were both from Niki.  The envelope held new pictures of our precious grandbabies and the package was a coffee mug with pictures from the last year of the Lott family!  The pictures are on my dresser and the cup has the perfect place in my Hoosier cabinet!
  My next blessing was a visit from my mother-in-law which I thoroughly enjoyed.  We had asked her to spend the weekend with us as this was her first Mother's Day without Charles.  I love her as if she were my own mother and am so thankful for her.  We all went "flower shopping" for a while and found beautiful hostas at K Mart.  She and I both benefited from that trip because Gary went back later than evening and got us each two of them for Mother's Day.
  We bought the food for a simple Mother's Day lunch of hoagies, oven fries and fruit and cheese.  Cierra made brownie bites and Gary  bought chocolate ice cream and low calorie/low fat chocolate syrup so we could have sundaes  I was thrilled that we found the exact things on sale at UGO for my Mother's Day lunch I had asked for.  (They even had chicken and turkey submarine [a.k.a. long strips of deli meat] for $1.59 a lb.!  All we had to do was load the sandwiches!) 
   John bought me the clothesline I had requested so I could freshen my drapes this summer and hang out my sheets weekly.  Cierra bought me the can opener that was on my "wish list" and Gary bought me two hanging baskets of ferns and two hostas.  I'm a blessed mother, with or without gifts--but it sure is nice to have them express their love by showering you with gifts!
  I talked to all my children on Mother's Day and the crowning glory of a present was a personal letter written to me from my son Nathan.  It arrived by e-mail and when Gary came to see why I hadn't come to bed at 11:37 p.m. I was sitting there crying for joy at the sweet letter of gratitude from my son.  It was the perfect gift.
  His letter made me think about the choices I'd made as a mother.  Most of my choices were made from watching the example of my own precious mother and from believing the Bible is true and if we do what it says we will reap good fruit in our lives.  My choices were also a conscious decision on the part of my husband and myself being very serious about raising our children for the Lord.  I remember both of us being very nervous about the huge responsibility we had taken on when we had our first little baby girl! 
  I remember our discussions about the seriousness of being responsible for living souls and us making a definite choice for me to be a stay-at-home mother even if we had to "sell the furniture out from under us" for me to do so.  I also remember when Niki became school age many conversations about her education and once again we made the decision to see to it she got a Christian education and together "counting the cost" of this and deciding that whatever the cost our children would have a godly Christian education not a Christless one that challenged all we believed to be true.
   The Lord always sent the right sermon, the right book, the right person into our lives when we were "paying the price".  I remember reading the book Growing Up God's Way by John Stormer and reading about Susanna Wesley saying that the reason she hesitated to give advice to other mother's about child-rearing was that "so few mothers would take the center of their life and dedicate it to rearing godly children". (not a direct quote but how I remember it!)  I decided then that I would take the best part of my life and dedicate it to raising children for the Lord. 
  I remember another friend handing me the book, What the Bible Says About Child Training  by Richard Fugate.  After reading it I had an even deeper sense of responsibility to obey the word of God above all else in rearing children because God Himself held me responsible for it.  It changed my thinking and my life as a mother in a positive way.
   The last few days I've pondered all of this in my heart and yearned for the Lord to continue to use me as a godly woman, wife and mother till the day I die.  Today I was checking e-mails and a blog entitled "What's Been Easy About Losing 25 Pounds" caught my eye. http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=how_to_pay_the_price_for_weight_loss_and_win.  In this article he talked about "paying the price" to lose weight and get fit.  I had been thinking about "paying the price" but in the spiritual realm for two days now!  Every thing he said fit hand-and-glove with what I'd been thinking about concerning my role as a godly woman.  He talked about making a daily decision to "pay the price" and the long-term benefits you would reap.  He asked you to join his Spark group and list as a comment how you paid the price that day.  It inspired me and made me want to become a part of "paying the price" in the area of health, nutrition and fitness.  But it also inspired me to renew my commitments to "pay the price" in my spiritual life, and to think about it on a daily basis.
  An hour or so later it was time to exercise.  I don't hate exercise, I hate the time it takes out of my busy day.  Each day the man that wrote the book 8 Minutes in the Morning (by Jorge Cruise) has a little self-talk he wants you to do before you exercise.  Today's was about "Loser Zones".  In his book he had the quote, "You will never find time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it." -Charles Buxton, American writer.  That went right along with my philosophy that you will find the time and the money for anything you truly love and want.  He asked the question, "What are your Loser Zones, and how many hours per day do you spend Loser Zone activity?"  The number one loser zone he listed was television viewing--up to 30 hours a week for the average American!  He also mentioned aimless phone conversations, surfing the internet, etc.
  Once again my mind ran to the spiritual realm.  Where were my Loser Zones that kept me from spending more time with the Lord in His word and in prayer?  I could name a couple right off the bat.  Was I willing to "pay the price" so I could reap the benefits?  Who might I see saved this year or rescued spiritually if I was willing to "pay the price"?  What might happen in my own life and that of my family if I was willing to "pay the price" and move forward with the Lord to a higher plane than I've been on? 
  Today I was motivated in the spiritual area and in the physical realm to be a better mother this year than I was last year.  To yield what I wanted to see stronger bonds, sweeter relationships and spiritual fruit in my life and the life of my family.
  Because I'm a mother of older children and younger children I am already reaping some precious fruit from my children that lets me know it was worth every ounce of "paying the price".  My son's heartfelt thank you letter left me knowing it was worth every sacrifice I'd ever made as a mother.  Knowing your children are safely in His flock and fold givs you a good night's rest. 
  I thank the Lord for giving us a guide book and for His faithfulness in sending instructions when we are yearning for them.  I thank Him for letting me have the privilege and responsibility of being a mother, and I thank Him for entrusting those precious little souls into my care for a few years. 
  I pray that you too will count the cost and decide that it's worth every precious sacrifice you make to see your children "spiritually" healthy and satisfied.  May the Lord use this to encourage you to not be "weary in well doing" but to keep on keeping on as a wife and mother separated "from the world unto the Lord".   May God strengthen and encourage each one of you as you raise your family for Him.

Love,

Mom

Priorities...

My God-given priorities are these: (in order of importance)
1) My relationship with the Lord
2) My relationship with my husband
3) My relationship with my children
4) My home
5) Other activities
After making sure the Lord has my day and my plans agree with Him, that He has the preeminince in my day and that I am spending time at His feet I should be giving my husband the attention he deserves.
Remember the old tv shows where you could see that the entire home was run to take care of dad? The chair, slippers, a hot meal almost ready, the clean, shiny home--all there for dad who was working to provide the needs of the family.
Today's media ridicules that notion and the woman who runs her home and honors her husband that way is mocked and ridiculed by the mainstream media. That's all right. Heaven has always wanted the woman to minister to her husband and family and if God is pleased we shouldn't care what the world thinks. To be friends with them is to be at enmity with God. (I Jn. 2:15-17)
Every so often I have to do a rethinking (renewing my mind) on where my priorities are and how I'm doing on meeting my husband's needs. My flesh is not concerned about this so it takes the Holy Spirit reminding me. (and sometimes my husband's irritation!)
OK, so it's check-up time. It's not the big things, it's the little things. The first question I ask myself is--"If my husband could change anything about me right now what would it be?
I usually immediately can think of a few things that need adjusting in their importance for me.
They aren't big, they're usually small things. You know, how much time I'm spending with other people instead of him (and yes, that includes the telephone, computer and tv).
Or making sure that he doesn't have to ask questions like "Are we having a meal around here tonight?" or "Do I have any __________ clean in this house?" Those are questions that the seasoned wife should see to it her husband never, never asks.
Every man has his little frustrations. Am I making sure that they're removed? My husband's is having to pick his way through anything on the floor. He doesn't care if the dish drainer is loaded but he does care if he can't get through the living room because John has his matchbox racetrack from one end to the other!
I have found that the more I've been consistent with running this household as the "KING of the House" wants it, he is more concerned with making sure the queen has the equipment she wants (not needs) and the more often he is standing at the sink with me helping with the dishes so he has me to himself in the living room or on the front porch sooner! It pays you back!
If you asked your husband this morning, "What can I do to help you today?" What would he say? Are you scared to ask him?
The Proverbs 31 woman is my ultimate role model. I've worked at emulating her for 36 years now and I still don't have all her skills down--but I'm sure working on it! She had won her husband's heart! "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.". Can your husband honestly say that he can safely trust that you won't do one thing today to spoil (make him a prey, a victim, ruined)him? Is he proud of you or embarassed? Is he proud of your housekeeping? Does he feel like he's first in your life or is he running against your friends, your children or even your church?
I am commanded as an "aged woman" to instruct the young women to love your husbands. (Titus 2) I am watching young women making their husbands worse than an infidel (by trying to be the breadwinner of the home), of competing with their husbands in ministry (by thinking they are to have a ministry outside of being his wife, the mother of their children and the keeper at their home), ruling their husbands, (by always knowing better what should be done concerning everything!) and spoiling their husbands (by talking about him, correcting him, neglecting their duties while doing his).
I heard Eleanor Page say one day something to this effect. "Why don't you young ladies learn from the strange woman in Proverbs? She had everything prepared for the man she was going to seduce, she ran out to meet him and told him she had good things waiting on him inside, she was excited to see him, she made him feel good about himself.
Now Mrs. Page made it clear she was up to no good, but she knew how to get him! So today--why not take some time with the Lord and prayerfully ask Him what you need to "lay aside "that's weighing down your being the wife God designed you to be!
I can tell you this--every time I do this the fruit I reap from it makes me know that it's "a good thing".
"teachers of good things"
Titus 2:3b

Love,

Mom

My God shall supply ALL your needs...

Our family is working very hard at eating healthier this year. So I've been counting WW points for all of us, cooking with lowered fat and higher fiber, and we're working at playing games that make us move instead of think! :) (We have a new ping pong table so that helps.)
Yesterday my husband went to a local store that is comparable to a Big Lots but it's groceries. It is the United Grocery Outlet and we all call it UGO.

After my husband left I realized that I hadn't asked him to check for lowfat breakfast meat at UGO. I have a system that works better than any cell phone call in the world for this. I pray and ask the Lord to prompt my husband to check for the item I've forgotten. This saves a world of irritation on my husband's part for my forgetfulness.
It is one of the most wonderful things the Lord has taught me when it comes to authority. You give the issue to the Lord, ("Thy will be done-not mine.") Then you ask the Lord to prompt your authority if it is truly something that needs attention, and you proceed to trust Him to answer. If the authority doesn't mention it or think of it you know it wasn't important or isn't important yet. (Rest assured I don't ever do this on my own, the Holy Spirit has to nudge me.)

Well, let me go back to the original story. After I prayed I remembered that when the older children were little I would tell them about what I had prayed so they could see the Lord answer. So I stuck my head into the dining room where they were all doing school and told them I'd forgotten to ask their dad to look for healthy breakfast meat and that I had prayed and asked the Lord that their dad would think to look for it.

If you understand a store like UGO you realize that one week they might have Cheesecake Factory Cheesecakes for $3.99 and then you might not see them again or it might be six months before you see them again. If it's a good deal you'd better grab it then!

When my husband popped in the door he started pulling out the items and there was breakfast meat that he'd found a good deal on! He got these sausage links (lowered fat) for 69 cents a box! Needless to say, we've got breakfast covered for a while with low fat sausage links! But the most wonderful part for me was the children seeing that God cares about their diet, and he cares about answering prayers for relatively small things, and that prayer is a vital way to handle relationships.
This all took me back down memory lane on why we have this wonderful grocery (which lowers our grocery bill significantly each week) in our neighborhood! I tell everyone that mentions UGO that God put it in our town as an answer to a prayer I prayed way back in the early 80's.

Back then we were living on a tight, tight budget (If I remember right it was about $125/week and we had four children.) and we literally had to pray in our money for food and shelter and clothing. One day I was listening to Christian radion and I heard them giving statistics on how much food was wasted in America. It was mind-boggling! I simply couldn't believe the amount of food that groceries and restaurants throw away that is edible. I stood right there in my living room and told the Lord that if He would bring it to us we would eat it.

The next few weeks were incredible! My 80-year old neighbor called me and said that someone had told her that the produce man at Marsh grocery would let you buy strawberries with crushed tips, bruised peaches, etc. for a little of nothing. We had to drive over to the store and meet him to get them. We got all kinds of fruit for around $3.00. I'd have to dig my journals out for the exact count but I remember having fresh pies made from the nectarines (I froze some of them) and lots of strawberries and other vegetables to eat.

Then my other elderly neighbor lady got to leaving me little dibs and dabs of vegetables from her garden on my picnic table. It wasn't enough for a meal but each time she'd leave them I'd blanch them and freeze them. I ended up making 26 quarts of vegetable soup from her little love offerings. The other funny part of it was that we ended up using almost all of them at one time when we had a houseful of people come over during a missions conference!

After that a man in our church worked in a meat department told me he'd be glad to bring us the lunch meats that were scheduled for being thrown out because they were outdated. I jumped at the chance and when he'd bring them I'd put them in the freezer. The children's lunches improved overnight.

Then a man who ran a potato chip route asked if we could use their throwaways. Of course we could! I had boxes of chips, cookies and other goodies stacked to THE CEILING in my utility room and ended up sharing with other families who were running a tight ship financially in our church. By that time I was a very excited woman!

Then a lady called me that went to our church and said their freezer had died and she was going to throw everything in it away. Would I want to get some of it to cook up and freeze or can? I made the trip to her house to see what I could salvage. I ended up with fish, meat and lots and lots of other things. I canned most of it and there was a lot to can.

I went to the local day-old-bread outlet and asked what they did with their throwaways. They offered to sell me all I wanted for $4.00. My back seat and trunk were full! I emptied it out in the back yard and had two or three of the other ladies from church come over. We took all of it that had cuts in the bags and laid that in the pile for the chickens. All the rest we divided between ourselves. My freezer was packed when I got done and it not only fed our family but others. We did this on a regular basis till the day we moved from Indiana to Tennessee.

God has been faithful since the day I prayed that prayer to answer it wherever we have lived. Once I heard of a man that was going to till his garden under because he was tired of it. The corn alone was a pickup truck's worth. My husband stopped by a field of green beans they were plowing under (because they had gone a few days over the picking time) and they let us have as many as we wanted. He had to simply uproot the plants and bring plants and all home to stay ahead of the plows! Our carport was literally covered with green beans as tall as my children's waists and we spent several days as a family "fellowshipping" around piles of beans! ) Do you remember this kids?

I have stopped by truck patches and offered to pick beans if I could simply have one bushel of beans for each bushel I picked for them. It was a deal. My little ones sat in the van and watched as I picked two bushels of beans. One for them and one for us.

Once at a youth activity the kitchen staff offered us the leftover sloppy joe mix. Little did they know that it fed us for one week. I became very creative at changing sloppy joe into a variety of meals. All these are true stories and I'm just telling some of them!

When we moved where we live now we were delighted when the UGO store opened. I jokingly said the Lord brought it to town for me! A lot of times it is very high quality (albeit sometimes unusual!) food but it has fed us some wonderful, near-gourmet meals!

When I went on Weight Watchers we were thrilled with the Healthy Choice lunch meat we got every week for anywhere from 33 cents per package to $1.00 per package. In the store the same meat was about $3.00. They also had light cottage cheese, regular cheese, and many other items that were needed on Weight Watchers for a fraction of the cost.

Then in 2007 I had my bout with Clostridium Difficile and because of the damage I could no longer eat the lunch meat and some of the other high fiber foods we had consistently had found at UGO. My husband came home one day from his weekly UGO trip and said, "You know Tami, I think God did put UGO there for you. Since you'd been unable to eat the Healthy Choice lunch meats they've not had them a single time." God does love humor doesn't He? He also loves to show us His love and care.

"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. It not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" ( Matt. 6:25,26)

I'm afraid when I hear young women complaining and whining about how terrible things are and they even begin to express anger at their husbands for not providing (or they start talking about how they're going to have to go get a job and leave their home and children) I find myself thinking of the verse "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." (I Tim. 6:8)
It doesn't even mention a house!

Most of the ones I hear moaning the loudest have high speed internet, two vehicles, cable or satellite tv, cell phones for hubby, themselves and sometimes the kids, they spend enormous amonts on groceries and eat out on a regular basis. I could slash their budgets by $200 per month with just a few adjustments. We don't have a right to complain until our houses contain only what is required to survive and we're without clothing or food for the day. (Remember, we are to pray for "daily bread".

He promises to dress us as beautifully as He dresses the lilies of the field and take better care of our feed than the fowls of the air.

May I recommend that you give Him each and every area of your life? Long ago I gave Him my wardrobe and I've had such beautiful clothing since then. It's been with very little effort on my part on top of that! I have given Him my possessions, my home, my food and my time. He's such a wonderful Keeper for us.

Learn to accept the budget the Lord has put you on and make the best of it. Learn to let Him provide your needs and be willing to roll up your sleeves and use some elbow grease when you see an opportunity. Learn to live within your means instead of sacrificing what really matters to the gods of materialism and carnality. Learn to find joy in all the wonderful free things the Lord has for us. Learn to be creative and use what you have! Ask the Lord today to give you His value system and give you joy in what He provides! Take what He provides and use it to serve Him. It's a wonderful, wonderful life!

Lessons from my pastor husband...

When I was a girl I remember laying in bed and listening to my pastor dad counseling people with the word of God. He had no idea that someone else was getting counseling at the same time. I would watch these people leave our home and either follow the counsel or ignore it. Most of them didn't listen and I watched as their lives fell apart. I remember making decisions based on what I heard and saw.
Now I'm 53 years old and I'm still listening to the man of God counsel people. My husband seems to have a lot of people call him for their counsel. This week I overheard him talking to someone about "dying to self" and living in obedience to God.
Now I've heard that message again and again but this time as I heard him it came home. He kept repeating that we cannot back God in a corner and agree to do what He wants if He'll do what we want. It doesn't work that way. We do what God wants because He's God and that's the only way that will make life work for us.
People will agree that their life is a wreck, they'll agree they need help, they'll agree that they are at the end of themselves--but my husband made the comment that until we want God worse than we want anything else in the world we won't see that there is no bargaining with God or making deals with Him.
He said it's called "dying to self" or the "crucified life". I stood at the sink later realizing that I still have areas where I need to delete the words "I want" from my life. It doesn't matter what I want. It matters what God wants and it matters what the authority he's put in my life (my husband) wants.
I remembered years ago when a lady came to us constantly wanting help because her husband had left her for another woman. She had been fasting for days and days and she had given up her improper clothing, wrong music, and other "questionable" things she'd allowed in her life. I was impressed and couldn't understand why my husband was what I thought-- "very hard on her".
In the counseling we had both realized that she had been a very strong-willed woman and both she and her husband had been very carnal Christians. Authority had not been a pleasant thing for her but it appeared to me that she was finally ready to surrender to it.
One day I finally asked my husband why he was so unimpressed after she was making so many changes in her life. He told me that her attitude was one of holding God's arm behind his back and making deals with Him. She felt God "owed her" a restored marriage because she was finally doing what she'd known all along He wanted. He also told me that when God didn't give her what she wanted (and God was under no obligation to her to do it) that everything would go back to where it was and she'd be angry at God for not giving her what she'd "paid" Him for.
Sure enough, when the husband married someone else that woman became a major problem in the church. All her new standards disappeared and her bitterness and anger was spread everywhere!
Now I knew my husband was right but it was like it finally fell into place for me this week. How I pray that when I obey the Lord it is because of just that--He is Lord. I pray that when I start to tell the Lord what I want I'll be prompted to stop and add to that--"once I am certain that this is what You want, Lord."
Thank You Lord that I'm still receiving counsel from You and thank You for a man of God who faithfully delivers Your word to those who talk to him.

Trusting Him in the dark...

Today is one of those days when I have to shut myself off to human feelings and rely completely on the fact that if the Lord says something to me it is true. I often think of my dad talking how a pilot must learn to trust his instrument panel and not his feelings if he gets disoriented while flying.
Sometimes the events of life are crushing to our emotions. Emotions are just as much a part of our depraved humanity as the body of flesh and bones or the mind. They can get wounded or damaged and when that happens we must lean with all our might on the words of our Beloved Saviour. If He says He is with me always, He is- rather I can sense His presence or not.
One of my favorite verses that the Lord gave me through my years of depression was this, -"Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath not light? let him trust in the name of the Lord , and stay upon his God." (Isa. 50:10)
I'm reading The Hiding Place aloud to the children and every time I read it I remind myself that I should read it more often than I do. We must learn to trust God that He is good all the time. He is good when we feel wonderful and blessed and He is good when we cannot begin to understand what He is doing in our lives.
As I read it I am reminded that if He asks me to go through a dark place He will enable me to walk through that dark place. I don't have to try to toughen myself up for it or prepare myself for it. All I need to do is lean hard on Him as we walk through it together. I must take the initiative to obey and trust Him to give me the strength to obey.
Every time I obey by the power of the Spirit I have partaken of the life of Christ. This is the well of water He promised that would be springing up in us.
Many times when I pray I find myself getting upset emotionally as I bring seemingly impossible requests to the Lord. The Lord taught me a lesson through my 9 year old son about this. John was memorizing Phil. 4:6,7 in school and he asked me to explain what it meant.
I asked him if he ever worried about rather we would feed him. He said no. I asked him why and he said because he knew daddy took care of making sure we had food. I asked him if he ever worried about having clothes or a place to sleep. His answer again was no, that daddy made sure we had that.
I asked him if he really wanted something for his upcoming birthday would he be afraid to ask his dad for it. Of course, he said he wouldn't.
Then I told him that's how our heavenly Father wanted us to be. To trust Him just like we trusted our earthly fathers to care for us when we were children. Just to come to our Father and give him our concerns and request and then trust Him that He's going to take care of it for us.
Since I've explained that to John the Lord has reminded me to practice what I taught! When I go to pray and feel myself churning emotionally, I am reminded to pray, thank the Lord that He cares more about it than I do and then walk off and leave it with Him. He's going to take care of it because He said He is. That must be enough for me.
So today as I bring a friend to the Lord that just had almost half of her face removed because of cancer, andI bring my precious daughter with MS to the Lord, (with 5 small children and a new baby on the way), loved ones that seem to be straying further and further from their spiritual moorings, personal concerns and lots of little foxes that like to nibble at my vine, I know that I can come to the Lord and pour it all out on Him and He'll bear my burdens for me.
May I urge anyone reading this to let the Lord teach you through your sufferings to believe His every word as literally as they are written to us. No matter what rages around you in your circumstances that seems to make your case the exception don't believe your senses--believe the Word.
The result is the passage I call my "post-depression" verse- Song of Solomon 8:5-"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"
It's a wonderful place to be!

Love...

Valentine's Day is here again. I thoroughly enjoy it. The kids and I have made homemade Valentine's to send to all the children in the family and I have a delicious things planned for tomorrow. There will be little boxes of candy on the children's pillows and pink waffles or pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. Supper will be one of the family favorites.
Love is powerful, isn't it? But in a society that has everything upside down I think most of the time even Christians get the cart in front of the horse when it comes to love.
Love is supposed to be the spiritual first, then the mind, will and the emotions and last of all the flesh is to be involved. At all times the flesh must be controlled by the Spirit of Christ in us or love becomes lust.
We cannot really love someone unless we can offer them the love that Christ has offered us--unconditional. He loves us even if we don't love Him or care about Him. Real love is a commitment and it will offer love on days that we "feel" so in love and days we feel out of sorts. It carries out its responsibilities to the loved one rather they appreciate them or they don't. It offers love to the grouch as well as the gentleman! Real love is making a commitment to meet the person we love's needs (that we are responsible for) without conditions. It can only be done with the aid of the Holy Spirit!
We must set that will in gear to be a biblical wife irregardless to conditions. We must control our mind by not allowing thoughts to be fed that create anger and animosity. And we must nurture tender feelings for the one we love.
Intimacy is a by-product of knowing we can be trusted. We can be trusted to be faithful, loyal, true--to-keep those vows. When "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her" he will open up and become your best, truest and faithful heart's friend. Oh, how sweet life grows when your mate becomes your best friends and confidant.
How God blesses the union of the man and woman who both obey the word of God and put real love in place in their lives.
On this day when love is given so much attention I want to review my life and make sure that because Christ is my "first love" I am offering my mate real love and in the right order! Doing it His way never, never fails.

I'm finally home again after a month of commuting from Tennessee to Cleveland, Ohio to the Cleveland Clinic trying to find some answers to the health problems I've developed since my hospitalization in March 2007 with a bacterial infection called Clostridium Difficile and pancreatitis. Somehow it has left me with a whole new set of problems in my digestive system. Since going to Cleveland it seems the only thing new I've found out is that on top of gastroparesis I now have a small bowel overgrowth and lactose intolerance.
While at Brian and Niki's house in PA I was feeling rather overwhelmed with the whole thing. While trying to sort it all out it was only becoming more confusing. I told the Lord that I wished I could spend the weekend with Frances Havergal. Reading Miss Havergal's writings always makes me see the Lord a little clearer, trust Him a little more, and it always renews a love for the Lord in my heart.
Well, as it turned out little Halle was sick over the weekend and Grandma Tami got to spend Sunday with my granddaughter and Miss Havergal. On top of that the Lord sent snow, snow, snow, which is always therapy for me. I curled up with one of the Havergal books and read to my heart's content between tea parties with Halle and time in the rocker. It was just what the Great Physician ordered.
Before it was time for me to come home (with more questions but no answers) I had peace reigning in my heart again. The Lord gave me many verses that comforted my heart and all week long He kept quoting the verse to me, "All power is given unto me.."
On Sunday my favorite preacher (my hubby) preached a message on the authority of Christ in Matthew 8. He had power to cleanse, power to enable, power to comfort, power to cast out Satanic influence, and power to control the elements. It was that wonderful comforting "witness" of what the Lord had told me all week. Although I don't know what it going on He has it all in control, I just need to yield myself to His control and trust Him that all things will work together for good in my life.
As I've had to do so many times in my life once again I've had to get my mind and heart's focus off the wind and the waves of life and on to the Christ who created them and controls them. He makes no mistakes and has a purpose for each mountain and valley in my life.
How thankful I am that my life has been put into the hands of One who makes no mistakes, makes no wrong decisions, and who I can safely trust to guide me through life.
I pray that each of you who are going through a trial or valley will keep your eyes on Him who is faithful. If your faith is low or weak may I encourage you to make this a week of reading every passage you can find on His power and authority. Tell Him you yield yourself to Him to have complete authority in your life to cleanse, enable, comfort, cast out anything that might be Satan's influence in your life and take control over every circumstance in your life. He will not fail you if you yield to His authority and the result is great peace and joy!

A perfect fall day..

Dear Daughters,

I wish you were here. Today was one of those perfect fall days with rain pattering against the kitchen window while I baked Oatmeal Sandwich cookies. In between loading cookie sheets or spreading filling on the cooled cookies I sipped coffee and listened to Christian radio.
The kitchen was warm and smelled of brown sugar and cinnamon. I love the lighting in the house on a rainy day--all my small lamps seem to make it so cozy in the house. A day when you want to kiss your kids every time they walk by you. :)
Years ago I read a book and the lady pointed out that you can be a woman who always has to have something purchased to make you happy or you can learn to live within your means and find joy in the free things. That struck home since I didn't have anything material but I did have a husband and four little ones that were a great source of joy for me. I began to notice all the things the Lord has given us to enjoy.
I noticed my coffee pot perking cheerfully near the window with the steam being drawn out of the open window in the mornings. I noticed how precious little ones playing in the yard are, and how wonderful clean clothes on a laundry line look. I realized what joy bathing a baby brought me, and how good a clean house makes you feel. I noticed how wonderful baked goods smell on a cool fall day, and the look on my husband's face when he came in the house to the smell of his supper and a counter with goodies waiting. All for free-gifts from the Lord.
I also began to notice what made me unhappy with my life. If I spent too much time looking in magazines, or going shopping, or being around friends that hadn't found how to live within their means, or if I watched the unreal world of television too much then a spirit of ungratefulness would begin to find its way into my heart and life.
We lived on a very small income at that time and my house and its belongings were certainly nothing to brag about. I remember praying to the Lord that people would sense His presence in my home and that they would feel welcome and that my home's atmosphere would be what they noticed not my possessions.
People always did seem to enjoy our home and more than once people I didn't even know that well would comment on the sweet spirit in our home. People would comment on how comfortable they felt or how peaceful it was. My table never lacked for people stopping by for a cup of coffee or a meal.
Dear daughter, don't focus on what you have but instead on the spirit and atmosphere you desire in your home. We can get so caught up with material things we forget that the home is simply a tool that's been put in our house to shelter what really matters-our family.
Use that kitchen table for sewing little garments, for making costumes for your frontiersmen, princesses, and even for George Washington himself. Use it for playing games with your children while they are still at your table. Use it for wonderful mealtimes spent laughing and telling stories. Use it for tea parties, birthday parties and for coffee with friends and family.
Ask yourself what memories you want your children to have and pour your life into that. Ask yourself what memories you want to leave with your beloved husband. What do you want him to remember about stepping in the door? The warm smell of coffee and his favorite foods with a smiling face coming to greet him? Or a scowl and complaints and him wondering if he's getting a hot meal tonight?
Do you want your children to remember you in the kitchen with your apron on making cookies or slouched on the couch watching tv?
Pour your heart and life into what really matters. Get your Bible out and pick a color just for the passages that have to do with the woman. Mark them and make a note of what she's doing and where she is. Find out why things went wrong and why things went right for the woman.
Find out why you were made and where God says your place is. Memorize Proverbs 31 and make her your role model. I assure you it's a lifetime project!
This week begin to notice those things that are yours for free--your husband's smile, your baby's eyes full of love for you, a child that hugs you, the sunshine coming through your kitchen window in the afternoon, a quick nap on a rainy day--just those little love touches from your Saviour that cost you nothing.

Well, till next time your on my heart,

Mom