Wow...

I ran across this and after reading it felt compelled to copy it here...for you to read. It's an absolutely jarring thing to read and hopefully stirs a hunger for true Christianity in the hearts of those who are called to hear. Wow, is all I can say. Enlightening. I just might have to read some of Spurgeon and Ryle's writings. The woman who wrote the below blog is Bev @ Christian Homekeeping.

2009-09-21
Satan's Best Allies - So Called Christians

I am still thinking on this morning's message that Pastor Kinson preached "The Right Choices" or "You Know Brass isn't Gold!" 2 Chronicles 12:9-12 It really did something for me and I'm not going to go into great detail but it drove me to a firmer, bolder stand for God! I was reading a lot tonight - a hunger for righteousness and a disgust for worldliness in the church. The whole message was basically about counterfeits and guarding your treasures that God has given you and the church! I dare to fight and stand to keep worldliness and ungodliness out of my church........I know several others who will also. Will you dare to stand? Or are you busy polishing your brass behind the curtain?

They who design and endeavor to win others . . . must religiously avoid that which is the greatest obstruction of all, the profligate and atrocious lives of some that call themselves Christians. If men were prompted and employed by the devil himself, they could not be more effective in making the Gospel to be abhorred, than by living as some Christians do. How can it be expected, that the poor, ignorant heathen should have any reverence for the great and sacred name of God, when they hear those who pretend that they have a deep veneration for Him, reproach and blaspheme Him? . . . Can any man convince them, that the saints are such excellent creatures, when they see those who call themselves so, live like brutes or devils? - George Hammond

I now see more good and more evil in men than I did before. . . . I once thought that anyone who could pray eloquently and fluently, and talk well of religion, had to be saints. But experience has revealed to me that low crimes can co-exist with high professions. - Richard Baxter 1615 – 1691

There is a widely-spread desire to make things pleasant in religion – to saw off the corners and edges of the cross, and to avoid, as far as possible, self-denial. On every side we hear professing Christians declaring loudly that we must not be “narrow and exclusive” and that there is no harm in many things which the holiest of saints of old thought bad for their souls.

That we may go anywhere, and do anything, and spend our time in anything, and read anything, and keep any company, and plunge into anything, and all the while may be very good Christians – this is the maxim of thousands. In a day like this I think it good to raise a warning voice, and invite attention to the teaching of God’s Word. It is written in that Word, ‘Come out and be separate. - J.C. Ryle

I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are at all aware of. Such men are among Satan’s best allies. They pull down by their lives what ministers build up with their lips. . . . I fear that Christ’s name is too often blasphemed because of the lives of Christians.- J. C. Ryle

Our Lord’s strong language about the false teachers of the Jews ends here. Those who think that unsound ministers ought never to be exposed and held up to notice, and men ought never to be warned against them, would do well to study this passage. No class of character throughout our Lord’s ministry seems to call forth such severe denunciation as that of false pastors. The reason is obvious. Other men ruin themselves alone: false pastors ruin their flocks as well as themselves. To flatter all ordained men, and say they never should be called unsound and dangerous guides, is the surest way to injure the Church and offend Christ.- J.C. Ryle 1816 – 1900

Many a church has fallen into a condition of indifference, and when it does so it generally becomes the haunt of worldly professors, a refuge for people who want an easy religion, which enables them to enjoy the pleasures of sin and the honours of piety at the same time; where things are free and easy, where you are not expected to do much, or give much, or pray much, or to be very religious; where the minister is not so precise as the old school divines, a more liberal people, of broad views, free-thinking and free-acting, where there is full tolerance for sin, and no demand for vital godliness. Such churches applaud cleverness in a preacher. As for his doctrine, that is of small consequence, and his love to Christ and zeal for souls is very secondary. He is a clever fellow, and can speak well, and that suffices. This style of things is all too common, yet we are expected to hold our tongue, for the people are very respectable. The Lord grant that we may be kept clear of such respectability! -Charles Spurgeon (“An Earnest Warning about Lukewarmness”)1834-1892

10 reasons I want to be.....

Amish?

I don't know what exactly it was that sparked this love affair with the Amish...not a particular Amish person...:) but the idea of "AMISH".

It all started about a year ago when we went to Pennsylvania 17+ hours away...on a "family trip" to connect with my husband's family (none of them living in Pennsylvania - ironic. The idea of connecting with family that far away seems luxurious at best and a ficade at worst. Not that I didn't love being out there and we didn't take tons of great pictures and make fun memories in the 6 or so days we were there, but it was more of a getting to know you again camp that ended too soon, and left most of us longing to be closer so we could really get to know one another. I absolutely love my husband's family, and I feel very blessed that I get along with all of them so well...maybe it's more that they tolerate me;), but I dislike the technology that has allowed people to travel far from home living hundreds of miles away. (we have family in WI, WA, TN, CA, LA, Arkansas, MN, AZ, CO, and luckily some now in Nebraska - besides my folks)

So, maybe my interest in the Plain People are for selfish reasons, either for myself or my family, but it's a romantic thought nevertheless, even with the outhouses and barn-telephones.

Many of the notions that people have of the Amish and Mennonites are not accurate as I've been finding out. They are much more like me than I thought!

So...without further ado, I just may surprise you in a couple years by posting about our adventure of "being Amish". If you are interested in one family's journey out of the culture and into "Plain" life, you can read about them here. I'm hooked!(The following ideas are what I've gathered from various sources, different sects believe these things in varying degrees)

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1. The lack of materialism allows more time to focus on Yah-Weh and His will and direction in our lives.
2. The church is built of believers that are held accountable.
3. Men and women are just that. Everyone has their place according to the Bible and nothing else.
4. I love the simplicity of everything! I love it. Less bondage to fashion, to culture, to ourselves! Freedom.
5. Responsibilities are given to a child at an early age and each person is expected to pull their weight. Children are a blessing not a dreaded burden.
6. Extended families don't generally leave in pursuit of more money or careers. They stay where their family is and build and contribute to the future generations.
7. There are rules which lend safety to those following them. What our culture has is a dangerous facade, a counterfeit, thinking that it's better to do what we want, when, and how. That in itself though caters to not only our selfishness, but also sets us up to think we are safe (especially women)when we aren't.
8. Their sense of community is priceless to me in that they have close support for their members.
9. Their clothes are awesome! ;)I hate to pick something to match another and find that it just doesn't go anyway. I don't like the time that it takes to make sure I look fashionably presentable, which just lends in more vanity and not loving myself the way I'm made. Have you ever thought about the time we spend on our appearances contributes to the selfishness in us and our pride? I know I have major issues if I have a bad "hair day", or can't find something that fits me perfectly so that I can appear attractive...to who? I don't think I'll be jumping off a cliff and looking repulsive to my hubby, nor do I want to appear a turn off, but I've noticed that I still dress to appear attractive...which generally attracts people to "me" and not to the Lord...to whom people need to be attracted. I'm rambling, but I really appreciate their "plain" dress.
10. I love the animals and horse and buggy of the bygone era.

Now, to just convince Chris that he's in love with the Amish too! hee-hee

Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day...I've gotta funny feeling...

We'll be moving away!

We are in the last stages of finalizing the inspections, appraisals etc. We should know this week the final story on the appraisal. Other than that, we just have to paint our house and we'll be moving! Closing is still Oct. 14th and we just can't wait until it's here!

We've been camping lately and enjoying the summer weather, of course that's around working on the house, Chris working, and ....yeah, that's about it. It seems like that's our life. That's ok right now, because once we move in we'll have nothing to do! Just kidding. We are excited to have a place to put animals, and know that we really don't plan on moving for a long time.

It's funny how that everything works in God's time. The couple that are in the process of buying our home are young, and have 3 small children. She just had their third in July. It's so nice to look back and see God's hand in your life. While we are going through a period of struggle it's impossible to see that even though you have faith that He's working, but it's incredibly encouraging to see that His hand is and was working, after all. Praise the Lord in the Good times and the bad...for He above knows all, see all, regardless of the situation.

Nerves, butterflies, and deep breaths!

We relisted our house with another realtor about a week and a half ago. 3 days later a young couple looked at the house, then 2 days later put in an offer. We accepted as it was very reasonable and agreeable. So, this weekend and today we've been enduring the inspection process. I thought I would be so happy to just get an offer and accept it and start the moving/selling process. However, now that it's here and our house is being picked apart to the worst degree, I feel even more nervous than before when we were hoping someone would be interested. Whew.

So, even though I'm excited to get this process over, and claim my sanity ;) again, I know that the next step is not always going to be easier. We still will take it a day at a time and hopefully this is the family that will be the new owners, but if not, it will be ok...breathe...

It's interesting how that so much of our lives may consist of "if we can just through to the next step, decision, place in our lives", yet in doing so, we may be stepping into a more difficult position that we would have had to grow through the previous one to endure....does that make sense? Each thing that happens in our lives literally can break us, or make us. That is so true. And the more we choose to breath, rely on the Lord's leading, and hold fast to patience and surrendering it to the Lord, the more that we'll be refined and allow ourselves to become more holy.
Just as He said "Be ye perfect as I am perfect." I think He does expect that from us. Unfortunately, the hard part is the perfecting. ouch does it hurt sometimes. But...if we had everything our way, there'd be nothing but stale, empty, heartless Christians out there that can't help or sympathize with anyone but themselves...

So....for all those people that are going through selling a home and all the fun of inspections, and other situations in life...I understand now. But only now.

So, I'll let you know later how all this process has turned out!

A "natural" process....

When adversity strikes (and it will to us all in one way or another...or many ways all at once), our human nature directs us to see the "physical" way we've been affected...anger descends and threatens to extinguish our light of hope and crumble our foundation.
However, if we allow ourselves to give it to the Lord, our hurts, anger, questions, and fear...our eyes will be opened to see that our physical problems are symptoms of the spiritual battles that are going on for souls - maybe our own. There is so much more going on than we "see".

It has been so hard for me to "see" the spiritual side of things, because I am encumbered with the physical problems that seem to drown me. Only until very very recently have I come to this point to be able to see past everything...

The big picture though, is that God works in the good and the bad. He ultimately cares for the souls, and will use the circumstances that come along for that purpose. How often I want things to work in my time, my way, and my results...it just doesn't work like that.

If we are a follower of Christ and want to grow closer to Him, we are stepping further from the devil's grasp. We must expect that he will work harder to gain control of us and try to make us lose our faith.
Regardless of what transpires, we must hold fast to the faith...because it's not about our physical lives...it's about our spiritual ones.

I have found that growth is impossible without pains...just as a seed has to die for a plant to live, so do we have to die daily to grow closer to the Lord.

Cherries, Cherries,.... Fruit and Berries!

The picture of the wild black raspberries (taste just like Georgia blackberries)are from what we discovered on our acreage!!!! whoo-hoo! They cover our woods, but don't seem quite prolific enough.

I finished the cherries for the year! A friend and I picked a great number of them off our one little tree and after she was done helping me, I was compelled to keep picking them. It seemed the tree wouldn't quit producing the wonderful red juicy berries.

They are tart cherries, so best for pies and ice cream, however that does not stop my daughter from eating as many as she can ~WITHOUT SUGAR~. She just loves them.

I was busy at the time that the last bit were ready, so I picked, pitted...pitted...and pitted some more ( all by hand )and froze them. They froze beautifully and this week I finally finished canning them. Here's some lovely pictures of my favorite color and now my favorite pie filling!

Note...I'm a little more excited because it's my first summer to can without my mom and actually remember what I was doing;) What I wish I'd picked up whilst at home!

We ended up with over 30 qts. and 25 pts. of cherry pie filling or just cherries. And whats more....that's one tree and I didn't even get most of them! Geesh!

An update to our lives....Yes, we are still here:)

So you may have thought that I've abandoned the blog, because we were too busy, had no news about the house selling, or our computer's been down... and even though you'd be correct on all 3 accounts, I'm still here. :) We've been to weddings, had company, canning, spent every spare minute working at the farm, made clothes for Bekah (or at least trying to keep up with her!), and keeping up the daily duties of making a home.

As of late, we are still trying to sell our home, our contract is up with our current realtor and we'll be signing on a new one, in hopes that they'll have a better idea of how to work with us on this venture. The current market has been a hurdle, however it's not effected Nebraska nearly as much as other areas of the country. So, we keep believing when the Lord knows we are ready it will all come about. It has been a trying time to which anyone selling a home would agree. However, we count our blessings and continue to trust the Lord (although frustration definitely has been there)and know that eventually it'll all work out.

We are still working on preparing the other place to move. We aren't wanting to leave it there over winter, and so our thoughts are once Chris is done with his projects, I'll get the painting done and hopefully by Oct. 1st. we'll be moving - regardless of what's happened with this house. We'll try to sell and worst case scenario rent it out during the process. We'd of course rather not, but we've changed so much in the last year as to our desires and priorities, that it just seems like the next step.

The pictures above are of course at the farm...my wonderful husband and daughter:), and the other two are of Bekah modeling her bloomers I made her. I've been making bloomers for her to appropriately cover her when she's wearing a skirt or dress. We both wear either dresses or skirts daily and for one her age it's still very hard to 1. remember to keep her legs together and dress/skirt down, and 2. do any of that while playing!
I don't want her to have to worry about when people pick her up, when she's playing, or any other time, so I've been on a mission to fill her drawer with these bloomers so she never has to worry.
What's even better is that she LOVES them! Since they are out of soft cotton blends, they are super comfortable and move as she does. They are elastic banded at the waist and legs, to give her ease of just slipping them on in a hurry. No buttons and zippers to fool with.
I've also learned to do the french seam so all her bloomers are extremely durable so I can pass them on to future children - daughters:), of course.

Anyway...they've kind of caught on in our area and now my friend and I will be making them for customers who value privacy for their daughters, as well.

That's...what's been keeping us busy!

This summer has been a dream, for sure and it's hard to stay at the computer for too long. :)Enjoy your summer, for winter will be here before we know it!