Friday, April 27, 2012

Where God talks to His own

"Without prayer the Christian life, robbed of its sweetness and beauty, becomes cold and formal, and dead; but in the secret place where God talks with His own, it will grow into such a testimony of Divine power that all men will feel its influence and be touched by the warmth of its love." 
                                                                                   ~EM Bounds  
 
                                                                               

Friday, April 20, 2012

Exciting changes ahead...


I like to make goals for myself. Why? What is the point? Mainly because I see so much work that needs to be done in me! If I hope to improve, I must set goals and work to achieve them (with the Lord's help) or else I will always be stuck back in the same old rut. I also find goals to be fun and exciting. I love to learn new things and new goals keep life interesting and fresh!

Recently, I revised my goals for this year. My new ones are as follows:

1. Be ACTIVE at least 45 minutes everyday. (Sunday is my only exception. If I want to just rest that is fine, although generally I like to do a little something in the afternoon as well.) I have been implementing this goal for the most part for about a month and a half. I feel like a new woman. I never want to go back to a more sedentary life again! Life is for the living!! Bring it on!! Whoot!

2. Learn to drive a standard. Yup. I will learn THIS year.

3. Be confident using firearms. I know the basics, but still do not feel comfortable using them. This is mainly from lack of experience. My goal is to target practice at least once every two weeks in warm weather.

4. Get out on the water at least once a week, either in my kayak or in my canoe. Also, I would like to become confident enough with my kayak that I could just take it and go paddling by myself. I so enjoy the water. For me it is very close to being a spiritual experience. It is calmly and comforting, (yet can be exciting, too.) Somehow, when I am on the water, I feel at home. It is as though there is a need in me to be out there. If you are a "water" person, you will understand this. For years, I did not get out on the water and I missed it terribly. It is also great exercise. I plan to be out there every chance I can get.

5. Build up the soil in my garden. My garden was just a piece of lawn two years ago and the soil is very poor. I am working diligently this year to build it up and have a bumper crop of produce in my little garden! As of right now about 1/5 of my garden is done. This is hard, satisfying work. I will reap the benefit of better veggies and herbs and am also reaping the benefits of the hard physical labor on my body.

6. Keep my furnace room organized. This room is the catch-all of the house. It is nearly always a mess. My goal is to KEEP it organized and tidy! So often people come through this room from our garage to enter our home, I cringe each time at the mess!!

7. One day out of every 10, visit shut-ins, people who aren't feeling well, etc. I SO often overlook this opportunity to be a blessing and be blessed! That's right, I go with the intent of being a blessing to someone and every time I leave I realize I was the one who was blessed!!

8. Be bold about sharing Christ with others- get myself and my pride out of the way! Our church has a visitation program once a week in the summer. We go door-to-door and meet people, invite them to church, etc. I look forward to being involved with that again this summer. I also want to be bolder in my day to day life to share Christ. By bolder, I do NOT mean shoving it rudely in any one's face but rather, telling others of the GREAT and awesome blessing I have in being a child of the King and that they can KNOW Him and have their sins forgiven, too!

9. EVERY day, spend time talking to my Lord and drinking from the Water of His Word. NO excuses. NO exceptions. Time spent with Him is the most productive time of the day and it is so precious!! All too often I do not "make the time" to be with Him. - I need to change that and do it each and every day!

10. Number 10, not my final goal by any stretch, but the last one I will post here. ~smile. This one I expect to hear a great "Hurrah" from many people in response to it! My goal is to be ON TIME from now on!! Yes, no more "doing one last thing before I go." I will be ON TIME or even early... is that applause I hear???

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Don't Give Up





"I think Christians fail so often to get answers to their prayers because they do not wait long enough on God. They just drop down and say a few words, and then jump up and forget it and expect God to answer them. Such praying always reminds me of the small boy ringing his neighbor's door-bell, and then running away as fast as he can go."
 
                                                                                           - E. M. Bounds



.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Easy, inexpensive, EXCELLENT dishwasher detergent

I have been using this "detergent" in my dishwasher for the past week.
It is
inexpensive,
easy to use,
and won't harm the environment. 

The best part is...
it works great!!
My dishes are sparkly clean!

Dishwasher Detergent

In the compartment where you would normally place your store-bought detergent, place:

1 tsp Borax
1 tsp Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1 squirt of Dawn dish soap

Close the lid and run cycle as usual.


Friday, April 13, 2012

Is there an answer to this question?

I woke up early this morning. 

I grabbed my Bible, 
notebook, 
my snuggly fleece throw,
and sat on my couch.

As I sat there reading in the book of Romans, 
a thought kept running through my mind.

 A thought that stems from an entirely different passage of scripture.....

 2 Timothy 1:8-9,"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 

God has called me with a holy calling before the world began. Hence, He knew me before the world began. 
This is an wonderful fact, but not the persistent thought that was running through my mind. ~smile

Since God has known me since before the world began... 
then in a sense... 
{and someone feel free to correct my line of thinking if this sounds way off base.... }
then would it not appear...
 that my soul existed before the world began? 
Certainly not in the sense that it does now- but... 
if God KNEW me than I had to exist.. one could not be known who does not exist...could one?

I know this is a strange line of thought... but since He did indeed know His calling for me before the world began... then if my soul existed by the world began..
(and again I am open for clarification and correction from God's Word on this, please share if needed.)

This was the thought that kept running through my mind....

How old is my soul?? 

This is something I have spent a little time thinking about before... I find the thought fascinating..... Knowing that God's sense of time is not like ours and that He has always existed... our human minds may not be able to fully comprehend such things (my mind anyway).... yet, I do find it interesting to think over.... and it makes me feel blessed that God does make some things a bit more difficult to comprehend with our human minds. It thrills me as I rest in the fact that He is in control and knows everything.. and that He allows me to have little puzzles to ponder over. ~smile.

 For me, it makes life more interesting.