Hearts in Service

“A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”  ~Albert Einstein It's been a slow paced summer here and as I look back over the month of July, I'm finding it hard to remember how the month seemed to have slipped by without me doing much of anything. I'm not really hating that though. I have a tendency to plunge in to one thing after another and the pace does bring about a certain amount of anxiety. I've been trying to live in the moment and just enjoy what's in front of me. I still have meetings and work to do, but I've also been enjoying puttering around my house and getting it in order. Besides cleaning and organizing, I've also been able to do some of the things I enjoy. I prepped some cucumbers and veggies for relish. The plan this afternoon is to can this. I've made the shift to mostly homemade cleaners since most of the commercial cleaners bother my skin. I've been experimenting with different sc...

I Kings 19:1-9 (NIV) ~ Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”  He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too...

Yesterday was one of the best Sundays I've had in a long time.  It was a day full of friends, fellowship and family. We had company over for lunch after church and enjoyed that immensely. Later, Dan and I took the long scenic route to go to dinner with his siblings and their spouses. We spent 2 1/2 hours chatting and laughing while we sat on a deck overlooking the lake.  The clouds were spectacular and we enjoyed the view all the way home.    As I lay my head on my pillow last night, I reflected a bit and realize what made the day so good for me was being able to fellowship with other people. Much of the time I feel pretty isolated so it was nice to feed my soul with being in the presence of others.  I realize that I need to make more of an effort to have people over on a regular basis. I love entertaining and when I do it, I find joy. We came out of the restaurant last night and were standing and talking when the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down f...

Haughty eyes.  Pointing fingers.  Self-righteousness. It's so easy to feel this when others sin. We feel morally superior to others.  When we do feel guilt for our own sin, we justify our own unrighteousness by statements such as, "At least I'm not as bad as those people."  "I messed up, but if you hadn't pushed my buttons..." The reason we do this is because our hearts are broken and damaged with sin.  Our cure is to often slap a band aid on it and ignore the surgery that is needed to extract the sinfulness in our own hearts. I love the story of Job because it points this out so clearly.  Job is afflicted with major disaster - the destruction of his property, the death of his children, and then physical ailments.  It's interesting that God never gives Job any answers to the evil that befell him.  Job and his friends never know why such misfortune is on Job's life.  And yet, his friends are very good at speculating that it m...

Snickerdoodles A friend gave me these little jars and I've used them to store my spices in. Herb-infused kosher salt Lavender Sun tea with lemon and fresh peppermint from the garden Making curtains Whole wheat crackers (next time I'll roll them thinner) Love when a meal plan comes together in less than 20 minutes. This summer has been beautiful - bright sunshine, low humidity and warm temperatures in the 70s or low 80s Fahrenheit. The downside is we are also in a drought. So I am thankful that it rained yesterday and it is supposed to continue through today. The grass is brown so it needs a long drink of water.  I've been thinking about the whole homemaking subject and how things have shifted throughout the years. Years ago, we made the decision for me to stay home and take care of the children. And while I now have adult children, I'm still working at home.  B ecause we are in ministry, I enjoy the freedom that I have to come alongside my husband and work with him. I e...

  I had a not-so-good end to my day yesterday after my wallet was stolen and all our debit and credit cards were racked up before I noticed. I spent the late afternoon and early evening on the phone with the police, banks, and other government agencies trying to get it sorted out and get replacement items. Hopefully, the banks will be kind and reverse all those charges. Anyway, it almost stole my joy in announcing my newest book, "When Your Faith is Put to the Test," is now available for purchase. It's a fitting title for my situation, isn't it? This is an 11 week Bible study on the Epistle of James.  You can find the link on my side bar at the top left of this post which will take you to my Amazon page. If you scroll down my list of books, the newest is at the bottom. This was a long time in coming as well as teaching it three times. It's a challenging study, but a good one. I'd love it if you would share this with those you know. The only way I can get the w...

Psalm 19:1-4 ~ The heavens are telling of the glory of God;   And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech,   And night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words;   Their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth,   And their utterances to the end of the world No other words needed.

Do you remember the nursery rhyme, Monday's Child?  It goes like this. Monday’s child is fair of face Tuesday’s child is full of grace Wednesday’s child is full of woe Thursday’s child has far to go Friday’s child is loving and giving Saturday’s child works hard for his living And the child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. I was born on a Thursday and I had to laugh when I read the line, Thursday's child as far to go, because I often feel like that. While I know it's just a silly rhyme, it does fit my personality. I try my best to do a good job at all I do, but often feel like it's not quite enough or if I'm lacking in some way.  The past few years have been a struggle for me as everything I hold dear has changed. I miss my mother who passed away a year and a half ago. I miss my children being little and having them at home. My ministry role has changed.  I'm feeling very lonely. Everything is different and I've been flo...

I've just spent the past 4 days at our district's family camp in my role as district women's ministry director. It was a great time of fellowship, ministry and praying and chatting with different women. I had a good conversation with a friend about my ministry, writing and blogging and what I could do to bring in some extra money.  I love blogging and the blog posts that seem to get the biggest response are the ones on simple living, frugality and how to make our dollars stretch. The idea that she put in my head is to start a website on those things where I can monetize some of the information in the form of training, cooking and canning classes or downloadable pdfs of tips or recipes, YouTube videos or podcasts.  As I mulled that over, I didn't want to give up the blogs I do where I give words of encouragement or some lessons that the Lord is teaching me because I know that people find those helpful as well.  So I think the place where I've landed is to keep this b...

  “The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.”  ~M.F.K. Fisher I've had a busy week and have spent most of my time getting ready for an upcoming event. However, I did manage to squeeze in time for some preserving of food to try and stretch our food dollars. The price of eggs is skyrocketing and I try to purchase them when I see them at a good price. However, I don't have much room in my refrigerator. So I researched on how to preserve them and settled on freezing them. One thing to keep in mind when freezing is to add either 1/8 tsp. of salt or sugar to the lightly scrambled egg to keep the yolk from turning gelatinous. I'll see how that works. From what I read, these should work great in baked goods. I popped an egg in each cup of a silicone muffin pan. I lightly scrambled each egg and added 1/8 tsp. salt. Then I popped it in the freezer for about 4 hours. I removed the eggs from the ...