Interruptions

Sheep or Goat

1-28-18 Sermon

Meek and Quiet Spirit

1 Peter 3:3-4

3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

God calls women to have a "meek and quiet spirit." As a teenager heavily influenced by feminism, I had anything but.

When I look back at my teen years and early twenties, I was loud, boisterous, angry and oftentimes rude. I thought acting that way showed I was a strong and intelligent woman and was proud to show my "obvious" knowledge. How I cringe now when I look back at my behavior!

I now desire to strive for that "meek and quiet spirit." I struggle with this because I still tend to fall back to my old ways in times of stress and tiredness. While I am closer to a meek and quiet spirit, I still have a way to go.

Will you join me in prayer that we, as women, can grow to have meek and quiet spirits?

That the Wicked May Turn

Ezekiel 33:11

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

When I tell people about the plan of salvation, I have had some reply that God isn't very loving if He sends people to hell. I usually have a difficult time convincing them that they send themselves by not accepting the free gift.

I should have (and hopefully now will) share this verse with them in addition to the others on the same topic.

God does not take pleasure in the wicked dying in their wickedness and going to hell; it isn't what He desires. However, He rejoices when they turn from the wickedness and accept eternal life!

God desires to see everyone to come to Him and have eternal life. He desires for all of us to dwell with Him.

If you have yet to admit you are a sinner and accept Christ's shed blood for your sins, do so today! God desires for you to join Him!

Don't Keep Silent!

Ezekiel 33:1-10

1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; 4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. 7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

I have heard many Christians say we should be tolerant of those who live in sin, and that we should just keep our mouths shut. However, scripture says otherwise.

Here in Ezekiel, we are told that if we do not warn others of the wickedness of their ways, then the deaths of their souls are on us. However, if we warn them and try to help them turn from their wickedness, we save ourselves even if they choose not to turn from their ways.

We are not to keep silent! Of course, that does not mean we can go and beat it over their heads. Christ tells us to do all things with love and that includes warning others of their wickedness.

Pray and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit on how to warn someone about the judgement that will come upon them and their wickedness. Then, go out and demonstrate your love by warning them.

Full of Power

Micah 3:8a

But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD,

I've been struggling with an issue lately. I've been praying about it, but haven't really heard God give me an answer. I have been looking at different options for trying to "fix" the issue and wondering what the best approach would be.

Today, God gave me my answer!

Often I will ask God to lead me to the scripture I need and then I will just open my Bible and read. I haven't done that for a few weeks, but did it again today.

The very first verse my eyes fell on was Micah 3:8.

But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD,

God answered my prayer about the issue by reminding me that His power is in me. I can do what is needed by His power, not my own. Also, I don't just have a little bit of His power, but I am full of His power!

Are you struggling with something today? Remember you are full of His power, too, if you are His child.

Mama Pads

I have written before about using mama pads (i.e. cloth menstrual pads). You can look back at those posts here and here. I have had lots of questions lately about the cheapest and best way to go about cloth pads. I thought I would share here as well so if others have questions, they can find the answers here.

We use cloth pads for two reasons. 1. To save money. 2. No chemicals, therefore, better for our bodies.

I know some women who go all out when making their cloth pads. They will spend up to $30 for the decorative top layer of fabric and about the same on PUL for the backing material and then spend even more for the inner layers and specialty snaps as well. While, this is still cheaper than purchasing disposables and still healthier, I don't see the need in all of that.

First, I created my own template for pads using a few other patterns and a purchased cloth pad for ideas. When I first created this template, I would also make "wings" and then add velcro for the closure, but have since come up with and even easier, quicker, and more comfortable option-the bottom of onesies. I have a large supply of onesies that were stained at the top, but the snaps were just fine. I use all scrap fabric for each layer as well. I have a bin where I will put left over pieces of fabric from sewing projects to use for these. I will coordinate the colors as best as possible, but in all honesty, that isn't a need if you just want to be frugal.

Recently, I spent about an hour cutting out the layers for a dozen pads. I then was able to put together a pad in about 10 minutes of sewing time and I would just do one or two as I had time during the next week.

This is the template I created. I made it on an old Shutterly envelope so it is sturdy and I can fold it in half for storage.

Here are my pieces. On the left is the bottom of an onesie. The next are layers of flannel for the inner core. I sometimes use knit or a combination of knit and flannel. The pink is fleece which I use as my backer. I have never had one leak through the fleece. The top layer is cotton.

My first step is to "quilt" the core to the topper. This time I just used straight stitches, but sometimes I have fun and use a decorative stitch.

Here is what it looks like on the underside.

Then I layer the pieces like this. Fleece right side up, onesie bottom, and topper wrong side up.

Sew around the edges leaving a section open for turning.

I use a chopstick to make sure all the edges are completely turned.

Then I topstitch around which will close the opening as well as help the pad to lay flat.

We have been using cloth pads for about five years. I still have the pads that are pictured in my post from two years ago. They are starting to show wear, but still in use.

I do make another style that one of my girls prefer and a friend of mine has used and prefers them as well. Maybe I'll take pictures and do another tutorial of that style the next time I make more of them.

As far as the practical application, we have a small bucket in the bathroom with a pail liner. We keep the used pads in there until we wash them. We wash them with the cloth diapers and/or towels. I know some people who wash with their regular clothing, but we always have cloth diapers to wash so we just combine them.

What are your thoughts on cloth pads? Do you use them? Would you like another tutorial on another style? Share your comments below.

National Hugging Day

Milestone Giveaway!

I reached a milestone earlier this week! I have 200 likes on the blog's facebook page!

I had said before that when I reached 200 likes, I would have a giveaway, so here it is.

The winner will have her (or his) choice of books (Family Driven Faith, The Love Dare, or Radical) and will also receive a bookmark and four faith magnets. The books are used, but in excellent condition. Family Driven Faith is a former library copy and the other two look like new.

These are all books that I have read and greatly enjoyed and changed my life in some way. Bookmarks are a must for me because I don't like dog-earing pages. The magnets are just fun to brighten up your day.

I want to say thank you to every one of you for taking the time to read my blog. If you have any suggestions on things you would like to see more of on here, let me know!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Word for 2018

For the past couple of years, I have felt God giving me a word to focus on during the year. Last year it was 'serve'. This year I kind of figured it would be rest, still, or quiet, but God, as He usually does, surprised me and has different plans for me.

I spent a lot of time praying about my word for the year during the last week of December. In my mind, I just needed a verse to verify which of the words I thought He was telling me, but I was wrong.

One day, during my prayer time, God impressed on my heart that I needed to learn contentment. I argued back that I had learned contentment already, but He showed me that I truly hadn't done so.

After finding my focus word, I needed to find a focus scripture. He led me to Hebrews 13:5a:

 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have:

I like to have a coloring page that I can color and hang in my room as a reminder. I looked for one already made in my adult coloring books and on pinterest, but didn't find one. I asked one of my daughters to make me one, but she kept putting it off saying that she wasn't sure she could do it (she does the pictures for our church bulletin every week). I wanted to have my reminder hanging in my room and be able to write this post, so I designed one myself on the computer. In all truth, I started coloring one I designed and learned I wasn't content with it so I designed another--I guess I DO really need to learn to be content!

If you enjoy adult coloring and/or would like a reminder to be content, feel free to save the image below, print it, and color it yourself.

Do you choose a word to focus on for the year? If you do, I would love for you to share what your word is and your plans to focus on it during the year. If not, why don't you? Maybe you have never thought about it before. If that is the case, then maybe you should give it a shot. I have found that when I have a decision to make, I think about my word and scripture and it helps me come to a decision and have peace about that decision.

Fellow Labourers

1-7-18 Sermon

Ministering

"And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose,and ministered unto them." ~ Matthew 8:15

This verse was part of our family devotions one night. We discussed how she would have "ministered" to them. She would have fed them and provided for their needs. What a great reminder that when we take care of our family--feed, clothe, clean, etc.--we are ministering to them. We can also minister to others by doing the same.

Faith is Obedience to God

"Faith is obedience to God, even if we don't understand why. It is choosing to act upon His command against our own reasoning, logic, or fleshly desires." ~ unknown

The Heavens Declare

12/31/17

The Smallest Step