Mocha

One of the hardest things we have to tell our children is about the death of a beloved pet. Zak and Elizabeth went with their Dad for the weekend to share a belated Christmas with him as the children and I spent Christmas with my parents at my brother, Bill's, home. Then Christmas evening we spent with my ex-in-laws at their home since my ex-husband does not visit with them it fell to me to bring the children over for Christmas for their other grandparents. Which I am glad we went to see them as they needed us to visit them, which we need to do more often.

Back to telling our children of something we would rather not have to tell them of. All our cats were here when I returned from Church this morning. We have quite a few cats, all of which we love dearly. They are each so individualistic that it is a joy to be around them. Well Mocha is,or was,my daughter,Elizabeth's,tom cat. He was about 2 years old. A beautiful black camera ham, is what he was. He would talk when you picked him up. He had quite a personality to him, all which I contribute to him as having been half Siamese.

I called my Mom as I do every Sunday after Church and spoke with her for about an hour. Then I prepared all the food for the animals, our cats, dogs and chickens for their feeding time. I went out and fed them and checked the eggs. I realized that I had not seen Mocha when I fed the cats. This is highly unusual for Mocha not to be here. He is a stay at home, front yard tom cat. I placed the empty food containers on the front steps and turned around to go look for Mocha and saw him lying beside the road. He was dead. He had been run over. It had not been too long before I went out to feed them. I knew this from the warmth that was still present within Mocha's crumpled body. His beautiful yellow-green eyes that once glowed with warmth, light and mischievousness would see no more. He would talk no more to us as we petted him or played with him. Our little miniature black panther. I dug him a grave and buried him in our pet cemetery so the children would be able to place flowers on his grave anytime they choose to. I said a prayer over him and asked the Lord to help me break the news gently to the children. The children love their animals as a family member, for they are a part of our family. We love them. They are precious and dear to us. I pray that the Lord will give me the right words to say to help ease the sorrow and grief they will feel from Mocha's death.

As the Bible says there is a season to be born and a season to die. This applies to all living things. We love, we hurt, we lose those we love. It is all a part of the cycle of our lives. Even though this is how it is, to be born and to die, it still hurts when we lose someone or a dear pet that we loved so well. The picture is of Mocha. God bless his little soul which has returned back to the earth.

Fellowship

Yesterday I attended an appreciation singing. In all 12 Gospel singing groups showed up and there were also several individual singers who sang. The singing started at 3:00 PM and did not get over until close to 11:00 PM. Around 5:00 PM we had a break for the chili supper so all in attendance could eat and fellowship together with the singers and each other. I can not recall all the groups that sang but a few of them were "3:16","New Image","Old Kentucky Sound","Jesus First", "Redeemed","Set Free","The Long Branch Singers","The Quisenberry's" and more. I sang with my brother,Jim. Several of my extended family members were also at the singing.In fact some of them have their own groups that sang yesterday.

I was blest as I got to visit with quite a few people. It is wonderful to fellowship with others in the Lord. We had a great time in Jesus. This gathering gave me a chance to catch up with family, friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord. I received so many hugs and well wishes that my heart was overflowing with the love that was given freely from all who attended yesterday.

I got to hold a little baby that was only six weeks old. She was so precious. Her mom,dad and extended family are so blest with this gift from the Lord. She is the granddaughter of my magistrate and long time family friend and leader of the gospel group my brother plays with. This family does so much for the Lord. They are the ones ,Depresto,JoAnn and family, who sponsored and setup the whole appreciation singing. They work so hard to spread the Lord's word and I really appreciate all they do for the Lord, especially JoAnn who is often the one keeping it all together behind the scenes, may God continue to shine His many blessings upon you all. I thank God for the group "3:16" and for them allowing all the other Gospel singers to use their sound equipment. That was an awesome blessing and may God doubly bless this group for their unselfish giving. Sister Lavern and Brother Walt for helping out and for staying true to the Lord. Brother Walt makes an awesome Potato Soup by the way. It was just a blessing to fellowship and share in the joy of the Lord with all these dear people.

Our County Judge Executive was in attendance also. He made a speech about the singers and appreciating all we do to share the Lord with the community. He did not know I was there until he looked out and saw me and he acknowledged my being there. When he got through with his speech he came around and gave me a big hug and asked how everything was going and about my family. I asked about his family.He is a good man that I have known since I was young. Last year when we had the big snow he came out and personally plowed our road to check on me, Zak and Elizabeth. He pulled up in front of my home and said to me," Nancy I got to thinking about you and the children being out here all alone and I wanted to check and see how you all were doing and if you needed anything." That blest my heart. To know that , even with his own family, being home with his wife and children, he still thought about others and went out of his way to help out. Lord please bless my friend and Brother is Christ, the Judge, and his family with your wonderful blessings.

We all must do our part to share the Lord with others and to help each other out. The Lord Jesus tells us that if we know someone who is in need and if we do nothing about it, when we are able to help them, then we are sinning.Proverbs 3:27-28 speaks a little on this,Matthew 7:9-12 also speaks upon this, there are several other places within the Bible that speak about treating others the way that you would like to be treated and helping others. So many people turn a blind eye and heart to what the Lord tells us to do within the pages of His Word, the Holy Bible. They think they can pick and choose only what they want to apply to their life and throw the rest of God/Jesus' teachings out. That is not how it works. The Bible, God's Word, is to be taken as a whole. It is our road map, our instruction book to living life as God/Jesus wants and asks us to. It is not pick and choose it is all within it applies to everyone.

I thank God that He is an ever present part of my life. If it were not for the Lord I would not be here today. If it were not for the Lord I would not be able to sing His praises and share Him in fellowship with others. I thank God that He has placed so many people within my life to share Him with and that will share God with me. I made some serious promises to God and all my friends, family, brothers and sisters in Christ know that I abide by my word. The Bible teaches us that a person's word is that person's name. If one does not keep their word what does that tell another person about that other one ? That is something every person who makes a promise to others and to God and does not keep that promise needs to realize that they are saying they are not trustworthy. Don't make a promise if you can not keep it. If you make a promise you had better keep it.

I am looking forward to the Watch Night service we are having at the Church I attend. My friends and fellow Gospel singers" Jesus First " will be singing that night. We are going to sing, pray, fellowship and have something to eat together. We are going to fellowship in the Lord. There is nothing more wonderful than fellowshipping and sharing the Lord with others. God is to be praised. He deserves to be praised. If it were not for God/Jesus none of us would exist. We would not be allowed to enter into Glory with Him if Jesus had not died on the Cross at Calvary. To think about the great sacrifice that our Lord made for us I can't help but thank my Jesus for all He has done. Even doing my best for Him, in His service, falls short of all He did and gave for me, His very life's blood. Thank You so much Jesus for loving such a lowly creature like me that You died for me. Oh Jesus, You are so precious to my heart and soul that I do not want to live without You in my life. I am home within You and I will never leave. For nothing nor no one can give me what You have and do for Your Holy Spirit fills me in a way nothing else nor no one else ever can or will. I desire no man , nor no thing for they can not compare to You, My Lord. What You give and have to offer can not be given or come from anyone or anything else and that is what makes it so special is that it comes from You alone. I Love You Lord Jesus. Thank You for all.

The Light

Dawn turns to daylight
Daylight turns to twilight,
Twilight turns to dusk,
Dusk turns into the darkness of night.
Yet even within the cloak of night's darkness,
There is light.
Light given by the moon and stars.
Even in the midst of a night sky darkened with storm clouds,
A faint light can be seen.
It is never completely, totally, dark.

Life begins the moment we are conceived,
Within the darkness of our mother's womb,
Yet there is a warm glow of light that we can see,
Though we know not where it comes from,
Least not at the time we are safely cocooned,
Within our mother's womb,
The light is there to start us on our journey,
To lead us to the next phase into the unknown.

We are born into a world of light,
So much light that we cannot fathom,
The depths of why it is so light at this time of our birth.
We know that this light was with us in the womb,
Yet it is so bright upon our arrival into this world.
As time goes by, we grow, we learn,
The light starts to diminish as we become older.
Why is this? Why has the light diminished from what it once was ?
It seems to have become hazy, even clouded at times.

We journey from our young years into adulthood.
For some the light is truly bright, and it stays that way.
While, for others, the light gets clouded out or even lost along the way.
What happened ? Where did the light go?
Why do some keep the light while others lose the light and their way ?
Without the light to guide us it is so easy to lose sight.
Have you noticed that when the light is not in your life,
There is something missing, a part of you is lost ?
Do you go searching for the light,
Trying to find something, anything, that will bring the light back.

You see we come from the light,
As we are born and then age,
The things we encounter in our life tend to overshadow the light,
Only because we allow it to be overshadowed or darkened.
We do not stay true to the light for so many things get in the way of the light.
Our cares, our worries,our very lives get in the way of the light.
Our sin is what truly darkens the light,causing us to drift away from the light,
Yet that light is still there,waiting to be found again and restored


There is only One thing, One person, One absolute means to find the light.
There is only the One true way,
To be found within the presence of the light again.
That true way to the light is Jesus Christ.
He is always with us from before conception, even unto death.
He is waiting for us to return to Him for forgiveness.
Once we are forgiven, we know and see the light again.
The light is God, the light is Jesus.
In finding the Light of the Lord, renewed again, we are welcomed home into the Light.

Given to me this day, December 26,2008, by the Lord God.
Nancy J. Troini

The Lord blest me with this writing, here this evening, as I sat at the computer pondering. It has been quite awhile since the Lord has blest me with a writing as such. I have let my life become too busy, at times, to receive the blessing that God is trying to give me. This is something that we all do, we become too busy and do not do as God told us to do, " Be still and know that I am God". Sometimes we need to just be still and listen for and to God for He will speak to us if we allow Him to. Some people say that God does not speak to people anymore, well God is speaking, it is we who are not listening,people. He is right there waiting for each one of us to be still and know that He is God.

Psalms 46:10
10) Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

John 1:1-14
1)In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2)The same was in the beginning with God.

3)All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4)In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5)And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6)There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7)The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8)He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9)That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10)He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11)He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12)But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13)Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14)And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Pumpkin Bread and Tidbits

This week has been a week of baking and preparing. On Monday I taught the children how to prepare pureed pumpkin from fresh pumpkins and taught them how to bake Pumpkin Bread. We started out by cutting up the two pumpkins I got them for Halloween, cutting out and discarding the stem. We seeded the pumpkins also. I saved some of the seeds to dry out for us to use in the garden next growing season. After we cut the pumpkins up I showed the children how to place part of the pumpkins in a shallow baking dish , add a little water and then baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 30 minutes until they were done. In the mean time I also showed them how much time is saved by cooking the pumpkins in the microwave. In other words we experimented. All a part of our home schooling. The time for the pumpkin we cooked in the microwave was about 15 minutes per each 1/4 of a pumpkin. When it was cooked we scraped the flesh of the pumpkin off the rind and placed it in my blender and blended it on the puree setting. I used to do this with a potato masher, so the blender made the work a lot less and we got done in a shorter time period. So in the time it took to bake the pumpkin in the oven we had all the other pumpkin cooked, pureed and put up in the freezer.

Then we made Pumpkin Nut Bread. Some of the loaves I did not put nuts in as I am allergic to certain types of nuts. The bread turned out quite well. The children truly enjoyed learning, helping and baking the bread. We give the bread away as Christmas gifts to family and friends for Christmas gifts.

On Tuesday we made Coconut Cherry Bread as I had several hints for it as gifts this year. I made it to give as gifts a couple of years ago and the people I gave it to commented on how well they liked it. So this year I got some hints to give it as a gift again this year. Saturday morning I made a new recipe of bread to give as gifts. It is Banana Berry Nut bread. I did not know how it would turn out but it tastes very good, even if I do say so myself. The good thing about bread is that you can bake it in advance and freeze it up to three months before it has to be used. So since I will be making and baking cookies and candies this upcoming week I made the bread ahead so I would not be so rushed. The children are a big help to me. I thank God for them and for allowing me to share some of what I know with them that may help them sometime in their life.

Zak and Elizabeth are both going to be in the Christmas play at the church where my parents attend. Sister Joyce is the one who is writing and organizing the play, as she has the past few years now. Sister Joyce is an inspiration to me. She is one of these lovely ladies that shine with the light of the Lord within her, I mean she truly shines. She has this glow about her. She has had cancer and God healed her of it. Then she got Multiple Sclerosis. She has her good days and her bad days but through it all she still praises the Lord. She is a blessed dear Sister to me and I love her so much. My bother, Bill, is going to sing " The Old Rugged Cross" in the play . Sister Joyce asked him to as she kneels before the cross. I know that a lot of people have sang the song before but to me no one can sing " The Old Rugged Cross" as well as my brother, Bill. It is not because I am related to him or prejudice about it in any way. So many people request for Bill to sing that song because he puts his feelings, his heart, and soul into the song when he sings it and you can feel it. I love singing with my family.

On Saturday night we, my brother Jim and I, sang with the group he plays with," Old Kentucky Sounds" at a little country church. We had a very nice service I asked if I could sing a solo and my dear sister in Christ, Lavern, told me I could. The Lord had laid the song" Mary Did You Know " on my heart Saturday morning and I had been singing it all day around the house. I knew that the Lord wanted me to sing this song on Saturday night. I was thankful that I did for I received a wonderful blessing. I love listening to Sister Lavern sing. She has such a wonderful voice. After I sang " Mary Did You Know" Lavern said out loud," that was beautiful." I sang the song because God had laid it on my heart to sing. After the singing was over Lavern came up to me and she said, " Nancy I love that song. All week I have been playing it on the piano and trying to sing it, except I could not hit the high notes. You hit the high notes and it was beautiful." I thanked her as she knows I sing for the Lord. When I sing I close my eyes and I see myself singing to Jesus, the Lord God. That is to whom I sing to when I sing is to the Lord. I feel His presence so strongly when I sing. All I do I do for Him and all praises , honor, and glory are due Him. With Him I have everything, without Him I have nothing.

God gives each of us talents. We are to use our talents for Him as He is the One who blest us with them. How many people do you know that are truly gifted with wondrous talents yet they use them for self gain or for the world or to serve the devil and his ways ? I know a lot of people who do this or ones who have given up and do not use their talents the Lord has given them at all. I see so much gone to waste for the world, the devil and what he is. I wish people would open their eyes and use the gifts/talents that God has given them to serve Him and to spread His Word and Message with others. We can plant the seed of God's Word within someone by these talents/gifts God gives us. That is why we are given these talents/gifts is to serve God with them, to share Him and His message with others.

How have you served the Lord today ? Have you shared God's message , His Word, with someone? Have you spent your time with God today ? Or did you spend your time playing computer or video games ? Did you spend your time out partying with friends, driving around , Christmas shopping, or just wasting time doing nothing ? Did you think to pray ? Did you give God praises ? How did you serve God today or how did you spend time with and for God today ? Did you place other things, other people before God today, The Bible, God's Word, tells us that if we love our children, our spouse , anyone or anything else more than we love God, and if we put any of them before God, then we do not Love God and we are not honoring God by doing so.

Every day we live we have the opportunity to put God first in our life. How often do we truly place God first ? If one does not place God first in their life they are giving God's place to someone or something else. That is not good. We are to honor God above all else. How often do we fail in this displacement of God/Jesus ? Daily for some. I have found few people who truly place God first , each and everyday, in their life. The people who come closest to doing this are the missionaries and all those who are actively out there spreading God's Word and sharing Him with others.

We have come to a time when we, as Christians, are being persecuted for speaking about God and His Holy Word, the Bible. We are at a time when others can say bad hateful things about Christians and have no repercussions for doing so yet if we, as Christians,speak out against those same ones who speak out against us we, the Christian, get in trouble for it. That is discrimination. Yet every day in this world Christians are discriminated against and it is being allowed by those who are in authority of the governments of the world and within the United States of America. Every one else is allowed to have a voice and speak out except the Christian. They say that what we say offends them but they do not care that what they say offends us Christians. They say it is okay to offend us but that we cannot offend them. There is something very wrong with that picture. They say they can discriminate against us but that we can not share God's Word with them as that is discriminating against them. In truth the Word of God is striking as a two edged sword. It hits their heart and soul and it does what it is supposed to do, it is letting them know that what they are doing is sinning, going against God/Jesus and they cannot handle that. They have to cry that it is discrimination, when in truth it is the truth of God's Word hitting their heart and soul. God's Word cuts deeper than any weapon ever forged by the hands of man, that is why people who are sinning want it silenced, because it is hitting the mark it should. I pity all those people who are trying to silence God's Word, as it will never happen. God wins in the end people, it is the people who are the losers. I just wish more people knew this and that their eyes and hearts would be opened to the truth. Yet I know that it will not be, for God tells us of how it will be. Then those who try to say that God is not real will one day, sadly, know the truth. I pray for all those who, for one reason or another, daily reject the Lord and refuse to believe in the One and Only true God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. Prepare to meet the Lord before the Day of Judgment. Prepare to spend eternity with Him in Glory, for the only alternative to spending eternity in Glory with Jesus/God is spending eternity in eternal torment and pain in the Lake of Fire. Prepare for Eternity now before it is too late.