Ruth

I have been thinking a lot about Ruth. I haven't had time to sit down and read through it, but over the next few weeks anyway, I am going to. I think that Ruth probably has a lot to say to us as wives, daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law. So, as I read I will be taking notes and sharing thoughts here.

My goal for the time being is to post here at least once a week. I'm going to shoot for posting on Mondays, and if I have time, I may post more.

I invite you to join me as I begin to journey through the book of Ruth.

Busy, busy

So much has been going on, I don't even know what all we've been doing! :-) We've had such a busy spring. Both Will and Levi participated in track and Levi ended up going to state in 2 events. May ended with graduations and then June got going and the older 3 boys participated in a 2 week mission trip that encompassed 5 local communities. Will gave the message once in each of the 5 towns, and the 2 that we got to hear were wonderful. What a priviledge and blessing it is to hear your grown children speaking the gospel message! It was wonderful.

"Everything" ~ Will in the black, representing lust. Levi is portraying Jesus

Because of the government school graduations and the mission trip, we didn't have our open house for Will's graduation until this past Saturday, the 27th. So, for the two weeks prior to that, we were busily getting the house and yard ready for guests. We had a lovely day, with lots of guests. We had family here that we haven't seen in quite some time and lots of friends as well.
Our menu, which I'll share because it worked really well (I think we ended up with between 50-60 guests), was:
Pulled meat sandwiches (I roasted 5 roasts with onions, pulled the meat and added a bottle of BBQ sauce. Instead of "hoagie" rolls, I made hamburger buns)
Potato salad (made by Grammie)
Pasta salad
Cole slaw
Texas cole slaw
Watermelon slices
Veggies with ranch dip (radishes out of our garden, mini peppers ~ red, orange and yellow, baby carrots, and snow peas)

Corn Chips and Layered Mexican Dip
Watergate salad
And we ordered a beautiful cake from Costco.

Here's Will with his cake

My Beloved is still out of work ~ That makes 6 months now. God has been so faithful! Last month, I didn't know how we were going to make our house payment. We had enough in the account in May, but then had to pay the power bill, and so we just didn't have the money for the mortgage. So, I started to pray, "God, I know you can make the house payment. I don't know how, but I know that you can do it." We went to church one Sunday, and our pastor pulled Mike aside and told him he wanted our house payment information because someone wanted to make our house payment for us! Mike told him no, that we were fine. :-O But, our pastor insisted, telling him that these folks wanted to bless us in this way, and that it would be a blessing to them as well. When Mike told me about it after church, I said, "You can't say no to God answering my prayer!"

God has just shown us over and over how He is the one who provides for us. While I anxiously await a "real" job for Mike, in the time being, God is providing odd jobs to help meet expenses, and providing money through gifts that folks are leaving at church for us. We are humbled and so thankful for His provision.

So, that's at least part of what has kept me away from my blog lately. :-) I will try to do better about posting. I am hopeful that July and August won't be quite as busy as the spring was.

What I'm Reading...

Books I can be found reading right now...

The Bible ~ Focusing on Psalm 119. I heard a challenge by a radio pastor Sunday morning to read 1 paragraph of Psalm 119. Each day before you read, ask the Lord to give you a hunger for His word. 22 paragraphs = 22 days = a new habit!

At Home In Mitford by Jan Karon ~ I rarely allow myself the pleasure of fiction anymore, though I love it. I just don't have time. I decided I could find a few moments just before bed to enjoy a sweet, easy reading book. :-)

The Organized Home Schooler by Vicki Caruana ~ Just picked this up at a yard sale on Saturday. I am always struggling with the overall organization of our home. Hopefully, this will get me motivated!

Please pray for Noah

Little Noah Estes is in serious need of your prayers right now. He is once again in the hospital, and gravely ill. As of right now, they don't know what is going on. You can click on the Pray for Noah button to the left and it will take you to their blog. Please, if you are reading this, take a moment and go to their blog and then lift sweet little Noah and his family before the Throne of Grace.

Thank you!

De-cluttering and Down-sizing!

I don't know about you, but I find that I am a slow learner. ;-) It seems I have to go over the same life lesson over and over before I "get" it. One of the lessons that I am still working on is being able to keep on top of the housework. I manage to be organized in the small things, but it seems that the house is always cluttered. It is frustrating, and it makes me weary. So, I have recently come to the conclusion that we have TOO MUCH STUFF! What an epiphany! ;-)

On our way home from the Home Discipleship conference in Seattle, I talked Mike's ear off. Well, I chewed it pretty good, anyway! And, we came to the conclusion that when we got home, I needed to just go room by room and de-clutter and down-size.

I began in the laundry room, because I figured that every other room would produce more laundry, and so I felt like that was the best, most logical place to start. I wish I could tell you that I'm on my third or fourth room, but with Mike's sister's death last week, the Great Down-sizing got put on hold. So, I began again today. It's going to be slow going this week, I've got at least 3 days this week that I'm going to be gone, so I hope that I don't lose my momentum.

My hope is that by getting rid of a bunch of stuff, and trying to be more diligent in making sure that everyone is picking up after themselves, that I will be able to keep on top of things. Perhaps I'll have finally learned this lesson! I hope. :-)

If you have any great organization tips, please share!

In A Positive Light

I apologize for being so desperately sporadic in my posting! It seems that my days get away from me, and though I often think one thing or another would be wonderful to write about, I can't settle my mind enough to put my thoughts together. I don't want this to be a place full of ramblings (though at times ramblings can be fun!), but that what I write here would be a blessing and benefit to those of you who stop by and read.

This morning, in our Sunday School class we were talking about following Christ ~ intentionally living as Christ lived. These were some of the scriptures we read.

"And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? Luke 9:23-25

"Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." John 14:23

"The thief comes only to stea and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

As we read these scriptures, I began to contemplate. First off, He wants to give us life. But not just any life. He wants to give us abundant life! That is incedible. I am a sinner ~ born seperated from Almighty God, who, in His time, reached down and redeemed my soul. But! He doesn't just redeem me into poverty ~ which would be more than I deserved, but He redeems me to abundant life! Wow!! What an overwhelmingly generous Father!

However, do we live the reality of an abundant life? As we read John 14, and Luke 9, it occurred to me that we often think of the Christian life in the terms of "Don't". Don't do this and don't do that. Don't even think about the other! But, how does God speak to us? As author and creator of life, He knows His creation, and He knows how to motivate His children. Certainly, there are "Thou shalt nots" contained within scripture. But there are also many positive directives.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
"If anyone loves me, he will keep my word..."

Think about it, He could have said, "Don't do what you want, don't be selfish, don't disobey me..." But He chose to phrase things positively. In much the same way, He could have spoken to wives negatively. "Don't work outside the home. Don't disrespect your husband. Don't be harsh with your children." But how does our Father, who loves us and wants us to live an abundant life speak to His daughters?

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." Eph. 5:22-24

"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." Col. 3:18

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." Titus 2:3-5

And of course there is 1 Peter 3:1-6. God chose to phrase all of these directives in a positive form. "Do this. Do that." Think about your children. Is it easier to motivate them by being negative or by being positive with them? How effective is negativity? Perhaps things are different at your house, but I have found here that negativity doesn't do much but make everyone negative. :-)

I know so many women who read the above passages and see them negatively. Particularly Titus. They have a right to work, and no one is going to oppress them and tell them they shouldn't work, or that it's unbiblical to work outside the home. I have no desire here to really flesh that out, or cause a great debate. However, I do not believe that God's best is for women to be in the workplace. Many women I know and love work ~ and I am not going to stand and condemn them. Some I know have prayed long and hard about being able to come home, and that has not happened; so while I know that the normative principle would be for women to be at home (this does not mean that we don't work!), that does not mean that there are not times and cases where it is God's will. But, if you are one of those who has seen these negatively, I would ask you to read them afresh. Ask God to open your eyes and heart to what He means. Not what man says, but what is God saying? God, who created you woman. God who always treats His daughters with love and respect. God, who wants you to live life abundantly! What does He say His best is? What does He say glorifies Him?

Then the question is: Do you want to live the abudant life? It can be inconvenient. It can be difficult. It will mean sacrifice. It will mean dying to self. Are you willing? Is it what you desire? Or, are you willing to settle for less? Do you prefer to live a defeated life? A life of heavy weights upon your shoulders?

I pray you would choose abundant life.

Grief and Comfort

My Beloved's oldest sister committed suicide this past week. It has been a long week, full of grief and memories. On Friday, all of the rest of his siblings came here to our house and we spent some time together thinking about and honoring her memory. We sang songs of praise and worship to our Heavenly Father, we read scripture, and we released balloons into the darkened sky.

Throughout this week, God has shown Himself faithful. He has comforted us as we grieved. I had contacted some dear prayer warriors, and asked them to cover my Beloved in prayer before I told him. Of all the deaths in his family that I have walked alongside him through, I believe that he handled this one best, and I know it is because of all the prayers lifted before the Throne of Grace on his behalf.

If you were one of the ones praying for him, THANK YOU!! May God bless you as you have blessed us with your prayers. I am so thankful for the internet. In a moment's time, I was able to ask for prayers around the world ~ how amazing is that? And God answered. That too is amazing.

"But God, who comforts the downcast..." 2 Cor. 7:6a

Truely our God is close to the broken-hearted.

In Loving Memory

Stacy Michelle Ferguson

1958-2009