Verses

Today I have spent the entire morning in God's Word.  Should I be doing laundry and cleaning the house? You bet! However, I think my morning was still profitable without getting the daily chores done.  I have plenty of time this afternoon.

Here are a few verses that stood out to me while I was doing some reading:

Psalm 28:7  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped; therefore my heart exults and with my song I shall thank Him.

Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

I had to narrow down a bunch of verses and write just a few down.  In these few verses, you can see so much of God's character.  In these verses He is:

faithful
loving
kind
trustworthy
our strength
our shield
our guide
our warrior
our peace
our God

What else does a girl need?

The Es are doing well.  We have begun working on the garden again.  Mr. E has tilled it all and prepped it with fertilizer and compost, ready for the seedlings that we have growing in our house.  Now we just need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit so we can plant them.

Later this week, I turn another year older.  How quickly this past year went!  It will be interesting to see what God has planned this next year for me, you know there is never a dull moment in my (our) life!

Little did I know.....

how much I would need to remember the post I wrote last week.  Last week was a difficult week for me.  I've had very little sleep, waking up in the middle of the night and just laying there, wondering why I couldn't sleep.  My husband reminded me after the second night last week of something I told him that my dad always told us to do.  Dad used to tell us, if God wakes you up in the middle of the night, either pray or read your Bible, because there is a reason you are awake.  I began to take dad's advice.  It didn't help my exhaustion, but it did help knowing that I wasn't awake for naught.  I was doing something in those dark hours.  I'm still struggling with the "issue" that was the main prayer of mine, but there is nothing I can do about it.  I have to trust that God has everything under control and He will work it all out.

Our pastor's sermon this past Sunday was a good reminder of what has been going through my mind. 

Here were some verses that he based the sermon on, they are probably familiar, but so good:

Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near. 
 Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 
 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 46:8-10
“Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors. 
 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’

Psalm 115:1-3
Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. 
Why should the nations say,
“Where, now, is their God?”
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.

I need to remember that God isn't running the "Beth show", He is running HIS show.  He sees everything that is going on and nothing takes Him by surprise.  Everything that He does is for His purpose and His purpose alone, to show His power, to exalt His name and to bring Himself glory. (Exodus 9:13-16) I serve an amazing God!

Prayer

Prayer is something that I've always kinda struggled with.  I'm good that the little prayers throughout the day when I think of something or have to confess my sins, but I'm not good at sitting down and consistently praying.  I have a great example of that in my husband, who prays all the time.  Maybe he's rubbing off on me, but lately I find myself praying a lot more and seeking His will.  Today,  I was reading in 1 Samuel, chapter 2 about Hannah's prayer about God and all that He does for us.  I love her prayer and the prayer of Mary in the New testament, God used women in mightily in the Bible.  One of the verses that stuck out to me today was verse 2, "There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides you, there is no rock like our God." I've had some things weighing on my mind, especially this past week.  It must seem like I always I'm burdened, but it isn't always the case, I just like to keep track of the things that God lays on my heart.  That verse reminded me about prayer, He alone is my rock, I can take anything to Him in prayer.  God laid on my heart last week to email someone who needed some encouragement.  After praying about it, I did write, I don't know if it helped, but I didn't want to ignore Him either.  About a month ago, He put something else on my mind to pray for and He keeps bringing it to my mind, so I must continue in that also.  I've also been thinking a lot about something else, I'm just not sure if it is something that I want to do, or something that He is calling me to do.  'Tis a dilemma, but I will continue to seek the Lord and listen for the answer.  The other verse that struck a cord was the first half of verse 9, "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones...."  How amazing is that?!  I know that I'm not always faithful to Him, in fact I fail miserably sometimes, but He will still guard my feet because I am His child.  If I pray, seeking His will and the path that He wants me to go, He will guard my steps, He will lead me.  Prayer is so important in our walk with Christ.  I pray that I learn to pray more consistently, also trusting Him whether I like the answer He gives or not! :)

The old hymns say it best!

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge,
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.

Words by Joseph Scriven

My Family

Yesterday, I was thinking about family, particularly my family.  For the most part, we are a close knit family.  If something interesting happens in our life, other family members will more than likely get a text or a phone call so that they can share in the happening.  We are open, always sharing in each others lives.  I credit my parents for the way we are.

I have the best parents in the entire world.  My parents began to teach us at an early age about the Lord, His saving grace and the wonders that He has done (Psalm 78:4).  They chose to teach us at home, giving us an education that showed us God throughout our studies.  We were given a great example of Christ through their lives, in the way they love us and how they love each other.  Their marriage is a great example to us on how it should be.  We always groaned when they showed affection to one another in front of us, but secretly, we didn't mind it too much.  Dad is a great spiritual leader in the family, standing steadfast in the Scripture, seeking God in decisions that he made.  Mom is a Proverbs 31 woman if I ever saw one.....one of these days I hope to be like her.  I love how well she has shown us girls how to be submissive wives.  I couldn't have ask for better parents, they love us all so much!

I also have the best siblings in the world.  They are my best friends now that we are grown up.  They were while we were growing up too, but it is different now that we are adults.  Again, for the most part we are all close, some more than others.  I love that we all have different strengths. I was commenting recently on how nice it is to call different siblings with different problems/questions.  We all have niches that we can help each other with.  I love how we can finish one another's movie quotes and how the in-laws all look at us like we are crazy when we do.  I love it when we are all together laughing at a situation, recalling past events or just laughing at how nuts our family is.  I'm happy that we've had lots of additions to the core group.  Without them, it just wouldn't be the same and we are blessed that they joined us.  One should question their sanity though.....just kidding! :)

There is nothing like family.  Nothing else can replace the group of people that God put you in when you were born.  As crazy as my family can be, I wouldn't trade them for anything!   I miss them a lot but I'm grateful that they are just a phone call away. 

P.S. I'm also happy that I married into another great Godly family, with another great set of parents! I wouldn't trade them for anything either.  The family keeps getting bigger!

Merry Christmas

Here was our 2012 Christmas card......you may be getting one in the mail, you may not be.  That is because this was my first year doing picture Christmas cards and I didn't order enough. Who knew we had so many people to send them to?!  So, I'm doing the next best thing and wishing you Merry Christmas via the web, which is slightly impersonal, sorry!

Next thing.....we (Mr. E did most of the work while I supervised) put up lights on our house, something that I haven't done much of since I left home.  Yes, I've decorated, but not by lighting up the outside like I used to do at my parent's house.  Forgive the bad picture.....phone pics at night just don't turn out very well.

The stocking tradition continues.  This year I got to make one for my husband.  It is exciting to be able say that during the holidays!  I know that may sound like a little thing, but for me, it isn't.  (FYI, he did get his name on the top!)

This last picture I took this morning whilst up at the unearthly hour of 6 am.  (The older I get, the more I realize I'm not a morning person!)

There was such a distinct line in the sky between the light and the darkness.  When I was in school, my mom had us memorize Scripture.  I still can remember all the passages that I learned, including John 3 where it talks about light and darkness in verses 19-21 (KJV).

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

Jesus came as a baby to this world to give it light.  But even though He is the light of the world, there is still darkness.  The darkness only goes away when it is exposed to the light.  Darkness can never overcome the light, the only way that darkness comes is when the light is taken away.  There are so many people in this world who don't like the light, who don't want to know the the truth of who they are shown to them and have their deeds exposed.  Unfortunately, they don't realize the freedom that coming to the Light, Jesus, will bring to their life.   Yes, their sinfulness will be exposed, but God also says earlier in that same passage that,

 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

He didn't come to condemn, He came to save us from our sins and eternal death, showing His glory for all the world to see.  

I hope you remember why we celebrate this time of the year.  Without the Light of World coming to the earth as a baby, we all would be in utter darkness.

Merry Christmas and have a blessed coming year.

Worn out!

I'm such a busy lady! This week is the first week this month that I have time to be at home and get some things done that I have neglected.  I don't have much time to do this however as Christmas is quickly approaching. 

We had a great Thanksgiving, ate great food and enjoyed the company of family and friends.  Last week was also a week of hunting, slaying deer to fill up our freezer.  I got my first buck so that was exciting.  I have the best hunting guide in the world!

God has been showing Mr. E and me His provision in our lives.  It seems like every time I begin to worry about things and how they are going to work out, God just makes an easy pathway for us.  I know that that won't always be the case, trials are a part of life, but I've enjoyed seeing how He has worked out things that in some cases, I didn't even know they needed to be worked out.

 Although I am so excited for Christmas this year, memories are still in the back of my mind.  They were on my brain last week too.  Sometimes those memories make me smile, sometimes they are difficult.  Last week, they were difficult.  I sometimes think that I've come to the point that things are all good, but then I have days like I did last week and I feel knocked down.  I was reading through my Bible study this morning and it talked about God being the healer.  I know He's healed me from lots, but I pray He continues to keep healing me, because I need it!

God's Beauty

This weekend I got to see so much of God's beauty.  There are many times when I'm in God's nature that I don't really notice what is around me.  This weekend was different, I stopped and looked around me.  The sunset on Saturday was gorgeous.  I watched some birds fly, in a perfect V.  I began to contemplate some of the little details, such as the birds flying in a V, that God put into everything that He created.  I was reminded this weekend of the verses in Matthew 6 when it talks about not being anxious about our lives because we are of more value than the birds of the air that God takes care of so well. 

It was a good reminder for me because lately I've been struggling with not being anxious.  I want to take control of my life, wanting things done in my timing.  After this weekend, I'm trying to step back and remind myself that God only is in control of my life.  I know this is something I struggle with daily and I need to start giving this to the Lord, knowing that He will take care of my worries.