Friday Night Foam

This morning I baked some brownies for the volunteers.  Our church is hosting several groups of volunteers who are going out into the community during the day to help clear debris.  Right now there are about 125 volunteers sleeping at the church, eating at the church, relaxing at the church.  This is a HUGE undertaking for our body of believers.  You need people to make food, people to serve food, people to run security 24/7, you need someone to monitor the facility.   We are basically running a free hotel and cafeteria. You can check out the blog I made for the church and learn about our volunteers at Abundant Life Christian Center.


Last night we had “Friday Night Hang Out” for our youth and the visiting youth.

Colby and Jeremy (Lisa’s Husband, she calls them Phineas and Ferb) made some foam machines and set them to work in the church parking lot.

They were soon getting orders from several of the youth pastors staying at the church...gotta love youth pastors, perpetual kids.  It became a foam frenzy and was very challenging to photograph...

Then a few of us went inside and got the sound equipment working.  It took a lot of effort because everything gets moved around and put in different places.  And we started to worship in the Core Café.  Mercy, we know how to clear a house!  The room started with about 50 people and by the time our set was finished there were about 10 people in the room.  We were deep in worship and prayer.  And none of us minded because we were singing and praising God, not performing.  If we messed up we just smiled.  It was peace.  It was exactly what I needed.


It is such a joy to worship the LORD.


God has put something on my heart to share...I am going to work on that today if little boys nap so that I can put it up tomorrow.  And hopefully we will get a few more testimonies soon, I have a few people workin on em.


Lord bless you, have a wonderful weekend!


xoxo


Ronda

Pass the Peace please!

I am a creature of habit.  I usually resist change.  But then there are instances where I am desperate for it…or in desperate need of it.  God has been working overtime on my heart this past year.  I am glad that he works OT.  God = 24/7 Support, 365 days a year.  I marvel at how quietly he speaks to me.  Will you pray with me?  I love talking to God…and guess what…he LOVES it when we do.  He desires fellowship with us, so let’s talk to him together.  I will type my prayer and then I encourage you to take a little minute and pray with me…

God, the words before and after lose their meaning when I contemplate who you are.  You encompass all time and time is not a restriction for you.  You don’t see me in a straight line.  You see everything I am, and it is laid out before you…RONDA.  When I put all my energy into concentrating on you my mind blows up with awe.  You are the God of ALL creation!  And you know my name!  Your grace and gentle spirit amaze me.  I am so grateful to have you as a Father, as a Counselor, as a Friend.  You are my support system.  Thank you so much for everything that you have blessed me with.  Help me to be responsible, and respectful.  Thank you for my wonderful husband Sam. Thank you for giving me a husband that is a friend, who respects me, and cherishes me.  Thank you for my little boys and that with each day that passes Kael is learning more words and his issues are fading to a thing of the past.  Please take all the symptoms of his sensory processing disorder away from him, let it be a memory far removed, and a platform of rejoicing.  Allow his little mind to grow to the capacity that you designed it to.  Thank you for Caleb, my noodle.  Thank you that he has such a sweet personality and is friendly to everyone he meets.  You have blessed me, and I am so grateful.  I pray for my friend Brittany Lord.  Thank you for giving her favor, and a quick answer to our prayers this morning. We pray that you will place a hedge of protection around her and her family.  We pray that any symptoms of sickness stop, and that you bring healing to their bodies.  You have won the Victory.  We praise you and thank you and love you so much!   I will praise you and thank you with my mouth all day. I will do my best not to gripe anymore; because I don’t want your praise to share space with a gripe.  I love you!

[Your Turn]

I started to write this out yesterday, and then it seemed endless the places that God gave me to use it…Stress is everywhere…it is an epidemic!

It is so easy to get caught up in a web of self consideration.  I considered myself considerably over the last few days *window to my world*.  Ok, raise your hand if you have stress.

That’s what I thought.

If you didn’t raise your hand, then you are a liar.

Just kidding.  If you don’t have stress that is awesome!  You must be the most faithful person on the planet and give all your cares to God right from the get-go.  If this is you…I am slightly jealous.  I either forget to take it to God, or more stupidly, I willfully neglect to take it to God so that I can whine and cry about it.  If I take it to God right away what am I going to have to stress and whine about?!?  Exactly.

You see, I fully trust God and I know how capable he is.  He is like the best problem solver EVER.  Even if that problem is me!  *OUCH, burn!* He will fix it/me if I ask him. So if I trust God 100%, why is it then I don’t fully rely on him?

I am always stressing about stuff.  Work, church, money, wasting energy and our ridiculous electric bill, is the house clean? Are the boys “normal”?  Are we truly in Gods will?!? How will we know?  Like I said…it is an epidemic, and I caught a highly resistant strain.

Let me share with you a one of my recent run-ins with this pesky critter stress. I am a Home Mortgage Lender. The day before yesterday…an average day in my crazy life, I had two loans totaling over half a million dollars jump ship.  Bam!  One was just a day before closing, but my customers got a blessing straight from God and didn’t need the loan anymore…it was so out of the blue I know it can only be a blessing from God for them.  So I was ok with losing that loan…and the commissions that went buh-bye right along with it.  The other loan I lost was due to a bummer of an appraisal report.  I watched as month’s worth of work, and reams of printed paper and reports become meaningless.  Instead of being deals, now they were just paper to shred. Lots and Lots of paper.

But you know what?  God gave me this job, and he has blessed me with every file I have, and he is still blessing me despite these losses.  So what do I have to fear?

When I give all my problems to God and I take a breath he is faithful, and he ALWAYS provides.  He might not provide what I ask him for right there, right then, in that very moment.  Let me just say that how you ask matters, and what you ask matters.

From the word we can see very clearly that God likes to be considered in your considering.  He wants to help you!  He wants to be a part of your life.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

God wants to bless us, but all too often we ask him for stuff with the wrong mindset…Purify us God, let us know that we come before the throne of the KING, and that you see us through and through.  Let us behave accordingly.  Let us consider your will and allow you to direct us.

You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  James 4: 2-3.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. (!!! I felt like it should have exclamations) What is your life? You are a mist that appears a little while then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  James 4: 13-15

Snapper turtle that is good word!  Convicting, but with such great promise!

1^st Peter 5:7 says: Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you.

Cast your burden on the LORD and he will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22

And my all time favorite!!! Drum roll for Jesus!............

These things I have spoken to you, so that in ME you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation (big troubles), but take courage; I have overcome the world. ~John 16:33

Mercy!  Doesn’t that just feel good!  Doesn’t it feel amazing to know that God, the creator of everything…loves us enough to think of every detail?!?  Come on, Gravity…hello!  He is awesome.  And the details he thought of…AWESOME!  White blood cells (awesome), honey bees (awesome), ocean tides (awesome), kittens (awesome), gustatory cells (awesome)!!! I am sure glad I have gustatory cells…you probably are too.

God wants to be a part of our lives.  He has poured so much of himself into us and has done so much for us.  We are but a vapor…a mist…And our cares and concerns are too.  But they will consume us if we don’t relinquish control.  If you have stress don’t just trust God, rely on him.

My friend Gail Reichelt collects frogs because of the acronym F.R.O.G. Fully Rely On God.

You know…this is easier to say then do.

If you find yourself chronically stressed, overloaded, fatigued, depressed, underappreciated, over self-examined, anxious, aging like it’s going out of style, constantly griping, an overachiever when it comes to whining…might be time to do a spirit check.  Whew…my spirit check almost gave me whiplash!  I gotta be a doer, not just a sayer…just sayin.

What is a spirit check you ask?  Well for me I like to sit in a quiet place and I pray and ask God to search me. I picture it like a search on email when you have to find a buried email and the little flashlight icon sweeps back and forth as it pulls up emails with your ‘keyword.’  Ask God to search you and show you if you have ends to be tied, or sin to be dealt with.  Ask him to help you make the conversion from self reliance to God reliance.  Through prayer and daily applying the word, you will be healed of your stress.  It is GOOD medicine! Results guaranteed.  And IT IS FREE!  Good deal.

Oh God, SEARCH ME!  Know my thoughts.  If there is anything in me that is displeasing to you, help me!  Show it to me and give me the strength and the wisdom to deal with it, right then, right there, no hesitation.  Forgive me for being stubborn, forgive me for being prideful, forgive me for being self-centered.  Thank you for working tireless on me.  It is not in vain.  You are greatly appreciated.  Thank you for interacting with me and answering my prayers.  It brings tremendous peace and immeasurable joy to know that you listen.  And the weight of my anxieties get lifted off, and I can breathe easy.  You get me…and you got me.

It is amazing what peace can do…he is peace.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

And all Gods people say...AMEN!

Sometimes you just have to take a break, doesn't mean you stop multi-tasking...

And who could be stressed when you have lips like this to kiss?  Not me!

xoxo,

Ronda

Take 2 ~By Dorothy Platt

I call this “Take 2” because this is the 2^nd attempt at writing this. I began earlier and was on the 2^nd page, nowhere near the end; now we are going to the very condensed version of my testimony. When you have lived as long as I have, (70 years, I don’t mind tellin’) there are too many chapters in life to convey in detail.

God has always kept my back! “…For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12). This is my testimony in a nutshell. When we listen to Him, (the key is to listen), he will keep us from making many mistakes. Unfortunately, I have made a great many mistakes in life because I didn’t listen to Him.

God has richly blessed our family in many ways, and I believe it has a great deal to do with the fact that both my husband and I have always tithed. We both tithed before we married. My husband of 51 years has never been without a job, our bills have always been paid (sometimes not as quickly as we would have liked) and we have never had to go without. Our washers, dryers, and other household appliances have lasted longer than normal. God has always met our needs. He is faithful!

We did live from paycheck to paycheck for many years, but I would have to say, honestly, it was mostly due to our lack of being good stewards with our finances. If we didn’t have the money we could always put it on a credit card, right? It took us awhile to realize we couldn’t do that. We did some stupid things in our younger days. Again, I can just say, God had our back and showered His favor toward us. “For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.” (Psalms 5:12). The favor of God has most definitely been upon our lives.

When the newspaper in Decatur, Illinois downsized in 1982 we weren’t concerned because Larry had been there 16 years, right? Wrong! They let 6 people go and he was one of them! Again, favor—they gave him 6 months heads up. How many companies do that? Resume after resume sent out, but no response. While in the bathroom at work one day, Larry picked up a paper with an ad from the Houston Chronicle: seeking newspaper pressmen. Long story short, we were soon headed to Houston, Texas. This country girl who had grown up on a farm, gone to a one room country school, (all 8 grades in one room, total of 22 students) living in Houston—no way, José. Again, God had our back and it turned out to be the right thing for to us. (We didn’t think so at the time). My saying at that time was “God has something better for us”, and indeed He did!

Living in Houston, Larry made excellent wages that prepared him for retirement. God had begun His “setup” for the remaining chapters of our lives. Larry and I had individually both thought to ourselves that Joplin would be a good place to retire but had not mentioned it to each other. One evening at dinner it came up that if we moved to a smaller town he could retire sooner. Both of us said, “Joplin” and it was a plan set in motion—but we had no idea it would happen so soon. The expenses of living in a large city just didn’t compute with retirement as well as house payments. Larry drove 28 miles to work each way. Of course, retired, he wouldn’t be doing that, but everything was a drive in Houston! Houston is a spread out town and Texas is probably the only place where you will see pastures of cows between your home and the mall.

Joplin seemed the logical choice for us. We met in Joplin where we both attended Ozark Christian College. Our son, Steven attended and graduated from OCC, as well as his wife. Joplin was familiar territory. I grew up 45 miles from Joplin and it was always a treat to come to Joplin to shop. Go to the big city. (Now that we live in Joplin, we think we need to somewhere bigger to shop!).

I was born and raised in Missouri, (near Lamar) and we were married in Lamar. We married in March before the year that I attended OCC was over and Larry was in his 2^nd year. Don’t tell your kids, but we had only known each other from September till we were married in March. What can I say; we celebrated our 51^st anniversary this past March.

When school was out in May we moved to northern Iowa where our 1^st son was born, then we moved to southeast Iowa and number 2 and 3 sons were born. From there we moved to Decatur, IL and were there for 16 years and then the big move to HOUSTON. We lived in Houston for nearly 23 years and in November of 2004 we moved to Joplin. I really like Texas and I still get homesick for it.

In October of 2004 we were headed to Lamar for my 50^th high school class reunion. The night before we left on vacation, the Chronicle offered early buyouts to several employees. Larry had to make an immediate decision that night and took it. The early buyout gave us 6 months wages. So when we came up for the Class Reunion we stayed a few extra days, sought out a realtor and met with her, did some scouting around, went back home and put our house up for sale the next day in what “they said” was an impossible market. Larry found out that the buyout actually took effect while he was on the week of vacation. He was already finished with work before it was time to go back to work. How sweet is that? Fast forward to Joplin by December 1! (Two years later on a visit to Houston, we found out if Larry hadn’t taken the buyout he wouldn’t have still had a job. Does God watch your back or what?).

Our house in Texas hit a snag and was set to close the morning we were to leave Texas, but yet another snag and it didn’t close. We had already started loading the U-Haul with the crew from church and it was too late to turn back. We literally headed to Joplin with no place to stay as we couldn’t close on our house here without the cash from our Texas house. Another miracle of God was in store for us. This was really a faith walk for us. By this time, I am really beginning to groan—“Not another water-walking’ experience. Lord, I don’t really want to get out of the boat.” But again, God had our back. You know what, we haven’t sunk yet—up to the knees a few times, maybe even up to our necks sometimes. No matter what you are going through, if you remain faithful and keep trusting God, He will keep your head above water. You might have to tread water for awhile, but you won’t sink! I know that for a fact.

We had cash from the sale of some inherited farmland in IL and with the profit of the house in Texas we were going to be able to pay cash for our house in Joplin. (Yea! No house payments). We were unemployed and we hadn’t yet applied for social security. Our records were in the back of a U-Haul truck no telling where. We began to go to banks and the 3^rd one gave us the loan we needed to close on the house here in Joplin. A couple weeks later our house in Texas closed and we paid of the loan. The bank let me use their computer to pull up our 401K account and decided we were good for the loan. Talk about “walking on the water”. “Lord, isn’t there another way besides having to do this ‘water-walking’ experience again. When I look back at the facts about that house closing, I realize how much God had our back. There is no way in the natural about that house closing that it should have happened. The lady who bought it had to get more signatures to secure her loan. I’m not sure how many she ended up with. I can only say that God performed a miracle on our behalf.

In looking through some old notes this past week, I found something I wrote in a notebook in 2006 that I would like to share with you.

Have Expectations:

·         I have always believed that retirement benefits would take care of us. They are.

·         I believed my husband would find a better job when he was laid off. He did.

·         I believed when we retired and moved to Joplin and located a new church that we would be used in a greater capacity of ministry than ever before—that we would finish what we began in our earlier days—that has happened.

·         When the Lord instructed us to leave VLCC I knew we would find a church—we did. It was get out of the boat, water-walkin’ time.

·         NOW—I believe that the death of the past and what Satan has stolen from us by applying the struggles and pressures of life will be resurrected. It has been prophesied over us that our latter days will be better than earlier—I believe it!

I just have to tell you one more thing. We have 4 wonderful grandchildren ranging in ages from 3 ½ to 18. Oh, yes we have 3 sons and 3 daughters-in-love. Our youngest grandchild is our miracle baby, weighing 1 lb. 13 oz. when she was born 3 months early. The 3 living here in Joplin, range in ages from 14 to 18. Mae Lin, the miracle baby lives in Portland, OR. We only get to see her once a year. That is really sad, but our son is very good with videos and pictures.

I would admonish you young parents out there to keep your parents informed about the children’s activities. It means so much!

God Bless all of you for listening to my rambles and I pray you find some small encouragement from them.

Dorothy Platt, Joplin Missouri

~Note from Ronda~

Dorothy,

You are always a source of encouragement to those around you.  You are always ready with a smile and engage people with your warm personality.  You are easy to love, and a joy to know!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write out your testimony.  It means so much considering all you have on your plate right now.

~Dorothy created and manages the church webpage at Abundant Life Christian Center as well as volunteering extensively since the tornado to the WE CARE, food pantry we have on our church "campus" as we are calling it these days.  They give, give, give, give, and they always have a smile, always have a friendly hello, always have a good attitude and it is a pleasure to know them.

xoxo,

Ronda

Playing the part ~By Nick Whitten

I didn’t grow up in a Christian home or Church at all, in fact far from it. My mom battled a substance addiction and got in trouble (legally) and had to go away for about a year. My stepdad liked to try different types of whips (extension cords, cutting boards, and something called Chinese torture). I didn’t meet my biological father in person till I was 10.  He seemed to be the most normal one of the bunch.

Where we lived there wasn’t a lot to do, so the kids my age got involved with drugs, drinking, etc... I thought that life would be better living with my biological father. So I packed my bags and decided to try life away from Kentucky.

Now let me say this I didn’t know who God really was. I was the one that just went with the flow.  I had a friend that said that he was a Christian, he indulged in drugs and drinking… the sad truth is he was only 13, how he got it I will never know; but it is out there.

I moved to Joplin… my stepmom, at the time, was attending a church but I didn’t know what to think. I went. I met a lot of nice people and I wanted to know more about God. I wanted to see and be touched, but I didn’t want to be looked at weird cause I was the new kid. So I just played the part (Lip service).  Then I heard something about this thing called church camp, so I thought to myself that if God was going to be a part of my life I would see it then. I started to get excited but something happened. In my free time I rollerbladed on ramps. I had dropped in on one of the ramps and came off of the ramps sideways and fell from about 5 feet in the air on my hip. Later at the ER I found out that I had chipped off a piece of my pelvic bone about the size of a half dollar. This was about 1 week before Church Camp. The doctor came into the room and told me that I would be in bed for 3 weeks and then on crutches for another 6 weeks after that. I spoke to my youth pastor and she said that we just need to hook up in agreement, and that if God wants you at this church camp you will just have a healing like you have never seen.

That night at church I thought a prayer wouldn’t hurt, so I asked for prayer (that was Wednesday, camp was Monday). I didn’t know what God was going to do, or if he could even heal me.  By Saturday I was off my crutches and by Sunday I could walk with no pain or limp. I went to church camp still just ‘playing the part’, but a part of me was hoping that there was more to God than what I knew; part of me was hoping that he even wanted me.

On the way there the Church van broke down and we had to get another ride there. At this point I was thinking, “Ok God doesn’t want us to go so let’s just go home.” But we finally make it to camp, about an hour or two late.  Once we got to the first service it seemed like nothing else mattered… I had finally realized who God was, and at that service I asked Jesus to come into my life.

I finally saw that it was not God that was trying to keep me from getting to camp… He knew that I was stubborn and that it would take a lot for me to believe. But I will tell you, it didn’t take much after I saw his love and grace. While I was at that camp I saw things that I didn’t understand like people get healed from injuries, and people dancing…I thought that was weird. When I got back to my room, (and by the way, I got paired up with a Councilor where everyone else was paired with a friend, God again), I asked about what I had seen and he brought me to the scripture where David had Danced before God in his underwear!  Then it kind of made sense; it was an act of worship.

When I came back from camp I was changed. Now don’t get me wrong, I still have struggles, but now I have a power that is bigger than me to help me through it.

God is waiting for you.  JUMP in feet first.

Nick and his beautiful (inside and out) wife Sarah and their two children, Alex and Alyssa, live in Joplin, Missouri and are cherished members of Abundant Life Christian Center.  Nick plays lead guitar and rhythm guitar on the praise team and he and his wife Sarah also help in the nursery.

~Note from Ronda~

Dear Nick,

I am so grateful for you and your love for God.  It is so awesome to get to praise God with you on Sunday mornings.  You always have a good attitude and are happy to help in anyway you can.  You and Sarah both volunteer a tremendous amount of your time to the music and children's ministry and storing up treasures in Heaven for yourselves.  I know that is not your goal, but it is his promise for your faithfulness.  You are such a blessing to so many, including me.  Thank you for putting up with my occasional whining (gasp, me...a whiner?  no!) up front.  God is working with me to have an attitude that is pleasing 100% of the time.  And to you and Sarah for watching our kids in the nursery. THANK YOU!

Thank you for sharing this testimony of what God has brought you through and how he continues to grow you.  Lord bless you brother!

Your Sister in Christ,

Ronda

Bakin' and Breakin' Bread

Snapdizzle, it is HOT!  It is 104 degrees out right now.

Sizzling!  My favorite time of the day is when the sun dips below the horizon and the bugs begin to chirp and their songs get louder and louder, and the lightening bugs flash as they zip about.  The air is thick, most people don’t like this, but me…I LOVE it!  So cozy and comforting.  I sit outside most evenings on my steal of a deal craigslist super find $35 porch glider and read my Bible.

You know what else I love right now?  The kind people over at King Arthur Flour who sent me a BUNCH of flour to try out for my blog!  In one of my posts I made a lemon cake that was a recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website, but I could never find any of their flour in Walmart or Dillon’s (RIP Dillon’s).  So King Arthur sent me 4 bags of flour and a box of cake flour to try out.  Whooo Hooo!  Yippie!  I like getting fun big boxes like that.

I used their bread flour and baked two loaves of bread with it.  It was stellar and made even better by the fact that the flour was a gift.  If the flour was not awesome I would have just sent them a Thank You card and never mentioned it here…but it was really good.

I guess if I were honest I have never really used bad flour, so I have nothing to really gauge good or bad flour by.  But the bread it baked was very, very good and as soon as Sam is done with his week of drinking nothing but fresh juiced veggies and fruit I will bake him some bread.  He is trying to drink nothing but freshly juiced veggies and fruit for a week, a WHOLE WEEK!  That is HUGE for him.  He is my Mountain Dew boy, and has been for years.

Here is the bread that I made and enjoyed with friends…the best way to enjoy homemade bread.  YUM!

Don’t you love the smell of bread as it bakes?  If you don’t, there may be something wrong with you, and you should probably get that checked out. "Just sayin" (famous Joplers phrase).

Tomorrow we dive back into a Time of Testimony.  God just keeps bringing me back to it, and I can tell you I am truly so grateful for the testimonies that have been shared and that will be shared, and that are currently being written in lives.  Such a blessing!

Now use this dough rising heat to your advantage and bake some bread!

Amish White Bread By Peg

2 cups warm water (roughly 110 degrees)

2/3 cup white sugar

1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

6 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in the yeast.  Allow it to proof (prove to you that your yeast isn’t dead as a doornail) until the yeast resembles a creamy foam.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast.  Mix in flour one cup at a time.  Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.  Place in a well oiled bowl, then turn dough to coat.  Cover with a damp cloth, or oiled saran wrap.  Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough.  Knead for a few minutes, divide in half.  Shape into loaves, and place into well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans.  Allow to rise in pans for 30 more minutes.  Dough should be about 1 inch above the pan.  Bake in a preheated oven set at 350 F degrees for 30 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!  Let me tell you, your house will smell amazing, your family will sing your praises, and you will feel so accomplished that you baked bread!  Super easy, super yummy, and fun to make and eat.

Xoxo

Ronda

Big thank you to KAF for sharing your flour with me.  That was very cool.

The beauty of simplicity

Oh Jesus, I long for your embrace.  I will close my eyes and imagine the comfort of your hug.  I feel more at peace already.

Those of you who know me or have been following this blog know that I am not usually short on words. Today, I will let my words be few.  God is God, and I am not.

There are so many things I don’t understand.  Last night I sat outside with the bugs (prevalent and deafening in Missouri summers) reading Gods word.  I set my heart to soak and my heart drank it up.

When you are thirsty he satisfies.  When you are hungry he feeds you.  Ya hungry?

Break it out and dust if off…Gods word is life and health to those who find them (Proverbs 4:22).





God show me what you desire for me.  Keep me on track.  Keep me on point.  Don’t let me get distracted.  Lead me, guide me, prove me, show me, teach me, love me, minister to me…I praise you with my mouth.  I lift my hands and worship you!

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.  Jeremiah 15:16

xoxo

Ronda

picture taken by my Dad, Ron Sallee

You've got mail!

Yesterday a crazy thing happened.  Well, it is really not THAT crazy if you believe in God and you believe that he is ALL powerful, ALL knowing, and everywhere, and that he created everything, and that he sent his Holy Spirit to live in you if you asked him…which I do, and I did.  OK, so this story isn’t crazy, but it set me smiling and praising God yesterday for the marvelous way in which he speaks to me.  Through gentle nudges that I could push away, he didn’t give up on me yesterday…he is my Persistent Encourager.

I was writing a card to a friend.  I received two cards last week, out of the blue, and it is an awesome gift.  Just a card with loving words of encouragement gives you such a boost!  And I got TWO!  I was a very blessed lady.  So I set at my desk planning to ‘pay it forward’ and send a card to a friend.

There is something special about writing an actual letter or card to someone.  To me, it means so much more when you buy the card, buy the stamp, write the card, seal the envelope, stick it in the mail…and then you wait, thinking about the smile on your friends face when they get to open their mailbox that is usually filled with bills and ad’s, to find your card with love and encouragement.  Something much more special then clicking the send button on your keyboard, or pressing ‘send text’ on your cell phone.

Don’t you like receiving cards and letters?  You should try and bless someone this week with a card or a letter…you will be blessed, and so will they.  Just a thought.

So picture me…sitting at my desk, finished writing my card, staring at the back of a blank envelope.  I wanted to write a scripture and immediately a scripture flew through my mind.  No, I thought.  Not that scripture.  I can’t remember where in the Bible to find it, and it has been way over worked and has become popular to the point where if I wrote that scripture it will be ‘eh’ instead of ‘ahhhh.’  I wanted an ‘ahhhh, wow, this is a scripture I have never read,’ or ‘wow, this is exactly what I needed right at this moment,’ when she read it. Because without thinking this, I wanted the glory.  I wanted the glory for the card, and I wanted the glory for the word. Transparent Ronda right now, kind of embarrassing, but it is accurate.

So I went huntin’ to find a more obscure scripture, my ‘WOW’ scripture.  I thought to myself, ‘Habakkuk, now that is an obscure book…I will surely find an obscure scripture there.’  Yep!  I sure did!  Lots of them, but not what I was looking for.

Then JEREMIAH flashed through my mind and so I googled ‘Jeremiah’ and up pops a verse, and I smiled.  It was Jeremiah 29:11, the same verse that Fern mentioned is her ‘life verse’ in her testimony, and it is the same verse that a few minutes earlier I had pushed out of my mind as over worked, and cliché. I immediately wrote it on the back of the envelope.

I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit, my Persistent Encourager:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not harm you, to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

God allowed my eyes to see the blank back of the envelope, something I usually overlook, as a clean canvas waiting for His good word.  Then he gave me the verse, but I didn’t know which book it was in, and it was overworked, so I pushed it away and set out on my own.  I came up empty.  Then He gave me the address: Jeremiah…And God brought me to Jeremiah 29:11.

Oh Lord, my Persistent Encourager, my rock, my salvation, how silly I must look to you.  You see my thoughts and know my heart, nothing is hidden from your eyes.  Please keep this in front of me.  Don’t let me embarrass myself before you.  Ideas like “What would Jesus do?” became so popular that they became a joke…You are no joke.  If only I would ask myself that question I would probably save myself a lot of trouble.  Thank you so much for letting me be a work in progress and not casting me off as rubbish, but you cherish me.  Thank you for this beautiful day that you created.  I pray that the little boys will get along and will be obedient.  Help me to be a mom with endless patience, and unreasonable energy.  I give you all the glory, all the praise, all the honor and respect due you.  Please help me.  It has to be you in me.

This week I would encourage you (smile) to write a friend a letter, just out of the blue, for fun, and today I encourage you to read Jeremiah 29: 11-13.  There is something special that happens when you open that book and you read right out of it compared to when you read it like you are reading word here...try it.  Let me know!

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ~Romans 15: 5-7

Over the fourth of July we went and visited Sam's grandparents.  I LOVE visiting Sam's grandparents.  It was only for Sunday and Monday, but it was so peaceful and relaxing, filled with fun and laughter.  Refreshed my soul! 



Caleb (pickin one for Grandma) and Kael

G-ma and G-pa Bowlin



Caleb, 'your head looks like an orange on a tooth pick!'

Fun at the Farm



Grass= a country rose, 'awwww, for me? why thank you!'

Xoxo

Ronda