Saturday/November 20, 2010

This mornings prayer meeting was wonderful! Such a sweet presence of the Lord was there. I am especially grateful because, last evening, Dominic had text me and said that he would not be able to be there, and asked if I would lead. I agreed, but was thinking, "Oh my, what am I going to speak on, I have nothing." I really had kind of a helpless, desperate feeling of having nothing to give and feeling rather dry. Then, as I asked the Lord what to share, I remembered a scripture that He had spoke to me last Saturday on the way to prayer meeting. I had been feeling frustrated about some things and some people, and the scripture Ephesians 6:12 came to me, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...". As I sat listened to the speaker last week, I jotted down the notes on what the Lord had spoke to me in my car earlier. So, as this came back to my mind last night, I went and found the notes I already had and spent the rest of the evening, praying and building a message on what I already had. I would trust the Lord to anoint it and hopefully it would minister to the others as it had me. Well, on my way to the church this morning, I happened to think about a prayer that God had answered for me concerning my son. I suddenly felt so grateful and wanted to share this testimony of answered prayer with the others. The scripture "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving..." came to my mind so I decided we would do just that and let everyone share a praise with the group to get started. As we all acknowledged answers to prayer and blessings of God, we went right into a time of praising Him and worshiping Him. Gods presence filled the room in such a beautiful way and we did not want to stop. As we lingered in His presence, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the importance of His presence in our lives, and how important it is to wait on God until we are full of His spirit. Just as the disciples waited in the upper room in the book of Acts, for the Holy Spirit, we must realizing the importance of spending time with God and waiting for His presence to fill us, and direct and guide us. Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." We live in such a busy, microwave world, and it's not easy to lay everything aside and just wait on God. I can remember as a younger person, going to the altar feeling like I must have a fresh touch from God, and determining that I was not going to get up from that altar until I had an answer. God always came through and blessed me there. Going back to the scripture, Ephesians 6:12, we are fighting a spiritual battle, and we can't fight it in our own strength. It takes being full of the Spirit and walking with Him to be able to fight these battles. It takes using the weapons that He has given us: prayer, the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus to fight against the enemy of our souls and for others. It takes spending time with God.

Another scripture the Lord brought to my mind at this time was Lam. 3:21-26.

Aug. 1 - 7, 2010

Sunday - A young couple from church, Mitchell and Ashley, came over after church and brought the main course, chicken enchiladas. My daughter and I threw together a salad and a dish of corn (with lots of butter), some chips and salsa. It was a nice treat not having to cook the whole meal and still having company. We have them over to eat most every Sunday since they don't have family around, so she decided to treat us today. Very much appreciated!

Monday - I went and helped out at a friend of mine at her in home preschool from 8:30-1:30, so she could have some time off to run errands (I agreed to help a few days this week).
After I left, I went by Faye's (an older lady from church) to pick up some rabbits she had for me that she had butchered a couple of days ago. She's never in a hurry when I go over there, and we sat and talked for quiet a while before she got up and got them for me. I had to tell myself that I was in no hurry, that anything I needed to do could wait a while, while we visited. She lives in town, but has lived there long enough to be able to have chickens, and rabbits and doves in her back yard that she raises to eat. She shared with me ways that she preserves food, and cooks on very little. Since people know that she does this, they are always bringing her their excess fruit, vegetables, and somestimes a deer or hog. When she has a lot of meat, like a deer or hog, or a lot of rabbits that she's butchered at once, she cooks it all and cans it. She said this way, when she has company come unexpectedly, she can have a complete meal on the table in 30 min or less. Another tip she gave me when I said that I didn't like to fry chicken because it was too messy. She said she keeps a tub of dry mixture of pancake mix, cornbread mix, and a little instant potatoes, seasoned with salt & pepper, in her refrigerator and anytime she wants to fry something, she just wets it, rolls it in there, and fries it. When her dry mixture gets low, she just adds to it. I love getting these kind of tips from other people, and I really appreciate that she had the time to sit and share her time and wisdom. It makes me want to do the same for others.
Annnd, while I was there I happened to mention that I needed a deep freeze so that I would have room to put back more food in the freezer. She said that she had a friend who had one that was moving, and she would call and see if she had got rid of it yet. She called me later that evening and said her husband was supposed to meet the lady with his pick up to get it and bring it to my house. I sent my son-in-law over to help him (he is in his 80's) and now I have a deep freeze!
Tuesday - This morning after hubby left, I got caught up on my blogging. Then, I went to the nursing home for our Tuesday morning ministry there. Then to Wal-Mart for a potty chair for Nolan, my grandson and a new water sprinkler for the grass we're trying to get growing in our front yard. In the afternoon, I sliced and breaded okra for freezing, and peeled, seeded and cubed cucumbers and put them in some salt water to soak in the fridge overnight for canning tomorrow. Leftovers for supper, yeah! I ran to the library after supper for a book on canning that I wanted a recipe out of for cinnamon cucumber pickles. I've been searching the ones on the internet this evening, but they all look too complicated. I tried the one in the book before and it was really easy, but had too much vinegar and not enough cinnamon. So, tomorrow I'm going to try it again, but modify it and see if I can get it the way I like them.

July 26 - Aug 1, 2010

Monday evening I received a text asking for prayer for a young lady, Liz, who had just committed suicide and was on life support. I didn't know this girl, but she had just graduated from our churches high school. I started praying and passed the msg. along. Tuesday morning, I went to Nursing Home ministry and then I met with a couple of ladies from church (Kathleen and Lucia) and we went to the hospital to pray for this girl and her family. When we arrived, they told us that the mother was in the bed with her saying her goodbyes, and that they were about to take her off of life support and harvest her organs. The family had all been called in. Kathleen, Lucia and I started praying for Liz. We prayed life into her. We prayed that she would wake up. Well, to be honest I was a little hesitant to pray this, and was praying very quietly so that the family would not hear and think we were crazy. Kathleen and Lucia's faith was a lot stronger than mine, but I continued to agree with them, because I kept remembering the message our pastor had just preached about how believers were supposed to be going about doing good and healing the sick, and then sharing the message of the gospel (Luke 10:9). Kathleen shared some scripture and we prayed with one of the family members in the chapel, who I know is not a believer, so I thank God for this opportunity. We left the hospital, but stayed in the parking lot praying for awhile. (The thought came to me, as we prayed there in the parking lot that if Christians were standing on every street corner of the city praying, the world would not be able to ignore the fact that the Church is in the world and alive and there for them.) I went home and told my family that she had passed away. Wed. night in service a man stood up and said that when they took the life support off of her Tues. morning, she started breathing on her own. Wow, was I surprised! Maybe God did hear and answer our prayers! It was then reported that Wed. afternoon she took a turn for the worse again. Wed evening. a group of teens got together and had a prayer vigil for her. As they prayed, she started getting better again! Well, sadly, Thursday afternoon, she passed away. But it makes me think and wonder. There was obviously a battle going on for her life. And, if the church of God had prayed continuously as seriously as they did during those times of praying together, would she still be alive? Only God knows. But, through this , my faith has increased, because I really feel like God heard our prayers and answered. Maybe, during that time of breathing on her own, she had a chance to cry out to God in repentance and died in peace and not in despair.

Monday/July 26, 2007

So far, my day is going really good. I stayed up pretty late reading my old blog posts, so I had a little bit of a hard time getting up this morning when the alarm went off, but I did manage to get up early enough to get some devotion time in before my hubby woke up. I was so encouraged by reading my blog last night, that I was determined to get up early and get in the Word.
I've been able to get some cleaning done, and go through papers and throw away and origanize and get ready to work on paying bills.
Right now I'm enjoying some crunchy broccoli salad and fresh cucumbers for lunch while I'm having some time to blog. I'm fixin to spend a few minutes looking at an old recipe book, then back to bills.

Sunday/July 25, 2010

Had a great day in the Lord and with friends.
I got up and put a roast in the oven before church, dressed, and went to prayer mtg. Dominic brought a great word from the Lord about the goodness of God...Ps. 100, Acts 10:38 .
We than had a really good service, Pastor preached on loving our neighbor .
Jackie and Carl, Mitchell and Ashley, and Mike Cummings came over for lunch after church.
I then took a really good nap and went to cell mtg at Lloyd and Carol's house.
Just got home and called my husband to see where he is, and he is on a crime scene. Poor man, I'm really concerned about his overworking and being so exhausted.

Saturday/July 24, 2010

Since I just started this blog/journal today, I'll tell you about my week. Okay, maybe not my whole week, I'm getting tired and can't remember back that far. But, I do know that I got some canning done this week...bread and butter pickles, tomato puree, and pickled peppers. Enjoyed time with some friends...Sunday evening we went to Taco Casa with church people and Nick and I and Roy and Brandy ended up staying and talking a long time after everyone else left, Tuesday was Tamale Tuesday, enjoyed visiting with ladies from church at Tamales, ...had a great prayer meeting this morning, Bro. Paul spoke on boldness and the Lord layed on my heart to share the scripture Mark 8:38, "Whoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."...Then I went to Burkes, found a blouse for half price, that's exciting....Last night Nick and I went to new Tuscan restaurant, it was really good. ...Kathleen has started coming over for tea on Thursdays. We always have a good time visiting, praying, swapping recipes and homemaking ideas, and encouraging one another. ...Okay, this post is pretty jumbled up, I better get what needs to be done before going to bed accomplished (still some cleaning and cooking to do before Sunday) and get to bed.