Singing Praises To The Lord

I love to sing praises to the Lord. I Love to hear others singing the Lord's praises. There is just something about listening to or singing songs of praise and gospel songs for the Lord that truly blesses me.

Friday night, my brother Jim called Elizabeth to let her know that he would be spending the weekend with us as he had a singing to attend and perform at on Saturday night. On Saturday afternoon my cousin, Mary Helen, came for a visit and to attend the singing with us. We had a very nice visit before hand and I fixed dinner for us all. We left and went to the singing around 5:30 PM. The singing itself began at 6:00 PM. There was not a lot of people there but the ones who attended enjoyed it.

I was blest as soon as I walked in the doors because a dear brother and sister in Christ and their family were attending the singing and were there to sing. I love to hear them sing. Their daughter, was my friend and I loved her very much. She died from leukemia this past Spring and when they were up front singing I could hear Gala singing with them. Even though she is Home with the Lord I could hear her singing, especially on one song," Going Home On The Morning Train ". That blest my heart. I Love Sister Ann and Brother Bernard. They are good people and I am blest to know them. Ann's brothers, Maurice and Charles and the rest of their family bless my heart for they are truly loving people who try to serve the Lord.

My cousin and I were sitting in the bleachers when one of my distant relatives that grew up with my Dad started talking with me. She said to me, " Nancy, where are all the people? " Because, as I said it was mainly just the singing groups that were in attendance. I said , " Dolly, it is that people just do not have their hearts where they need to be. They would rather be out in the world doing worldly things instead of attending a Gospel singing." She agreed. It is nice to visit with family and friends and to fellowship in the Lord.

My brother sang with the group he sings with. Little Jonathon, he is 4 years old, got to sing. It is truly a blessing to see the little ones singing the Lord's praises. Depresto, a long time family friend, our magistrate and leader of the group my brother sings with, asked if anyone else would like to sing. Sister Ann and her family said " Yes , we have another singer here. Sister Nancy, we want her to sing." Depresto said, " I would not forget to let Nancy sing." So they had me come up front to sing. I sang harmony on two songs while my brother, Jim, sang lead. We sang," Precious Memories" and " When I Lay My Burdens Down ". I was blest. The Lord was present . His spirit could be felt and we all sang praises to the Lord. After we sang all the singers got on stage and we sang " Amazing Grace " together. I just had chills from the Holy Spirit at the beauty of the sound of all those voices raised in praise to and for the Lord. It was truly beautiful and a blessing to be a part of this.

In two weeks the group my brother plays with will be singing at the Church I attend. I am praying a lot of people will show up. I enjoy fellowshipping with others in the Lord. I am looking forward to the singing. We had an awesome service at Church this morning. Brother Johnny and his family attended. They have not been there in awhile so it was good to see them. I hope they will be able to come to the singing. I know that several of my neighbors and friends will be attending for they have been asking me about it. I am praying for the Lord to do some powerful work that night as well as each and every day and night throughout the year.

This world needs to come to the Lord. They need the Lord in their lives and they truly need to honestly and openly serve Him. Without God , the Lord Jesus Christ in one's life there awaits death, hell and the lake of fire. With the Lord in your life and with one living their life for the Lord in truth, then we have eternal life in glory with the Lord to look forward to. Where and with whom are you investing your future in ? I am choosing to live my life for the Lord because I know that life is not worth living without Him. Don't walk down the road alone, choose to have Jesus by your side as your guide.

Happenings

Well, Samantha and Rochu's little egg hatched. But, sadly, we do not have the little chick. Only the Lord truly knows what transpired and the cause of it. The egg disappeared, which had Rochu and Samantha very upset as well as the children, understandably upset. We do not know what happened to the egg for it was gone. There was no little chick or egg shells in their pen anywhere because we thoroughly searched the pen and Samantha and Rochu were visibly upset, clucking and searching in their pen. We came back in the house to get their feed to feed them. When we returned to their pen, we could not have been gone no more than 10 minutes, there was the baby chick lying dead within the pen. It had not been in the pen before. In fact it was still warm so it had not been dead long. Something very strange had gone on in this situation, for certain.This broke the children's hearts and Samatha and Rochu were besides themselves. They were frantic. We buried the little chick in our flower bed as the children wanted it to be near the pretty flowers.

The baby chick was a beauty though. It was white, not yellow or ecru but pure white with a black spot of color on it's back. The children thought it was a pretty little thing. We decided that this spring when Samantha sets again we will keep her in a coop by herself and keep vigilant watch over her and the eggs. We do not want a repeat of this incident. The one thing I can say is that the children thanked the Lord for letting them get to see the baby chick. Now they know what they have to look forward to what Samantha hatches her next set of eggs. They know that the Lord will bless them with some beautiful baby chicks. I was thankful that even in the midst of their hurting, my children saw the blessing of the Lord within it all, in them being able to know and look forward to the beautiful little chicks that they will have in the future.


I thank God that the children can see the blessing disguised with the hurts and heartaches in this life. More of us, me included, need to look for and find the blessings that lie hidden amongst the trails and tribulations in our lives. The blessings are there, the Lord is just waiting for us to discover the hidden blessings and meanings. The bible tells us to praise the Lord in all things. We are to praise Him, even in the midst of the trials, testing and tribulations. Don't only praise Him in the good times, praise Him in the bad times. Because like the song " God On The Mountain " states " For the God of the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God of the night." How many times when we are down in the valley do we forget that the Lord is right beside us, sometimes carrying us, through those times. He is always present. We just have to reach out for He is waiting with open arms to take us in, to lift us up, and most of to forgive us of our short comings and sins. Our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful. He is worthy to be praised in all times and for all times.

I do, I thank God for my children. They are a blessing to me. I thank God for friends and family. I thank God for hearing and answering prayers. I thank God for the test, trials, and tribulations for within and through them He is working me into whom He would have me to be. There is no better place to be except within the hands of the Master, for He is daily working this vessel into something that He can use for his service. One day I pray I will be that refined silver that shines back His reflection.

Dear Lord Jesus Father God in Heaven, mode me daily into whom You would have me to be. Use me for Your service, help me to put self out of the way and except Your Divine Will for my life. I am nothing without You and I have nothing without You. You are my All Lord. Thank You for forgiveness, for Love, for All. Thank You for my children, my family, my friends. Thank You for Your many blessings, thank You for the testing, the trials and the tribulations. Guide me daily in what I should do and keep me upon the path that You have set me upon. Thank You for all. In Jesus Christ's precious holy name, Amen and Amen.

Chickens And All God's Creatures

My children talked me into allowing them to have a pair of Bantam chickens. They are Old English ones. We got them back in the spring as chicks. They have matured into beautiful little creatures by God's design. The hen is named Samantha and the rooster is named Rochu (pronounced Row coo) ,sorry if I misspelled his name Zak.


These two little creations of the Lord are quite smart . I have seen some fowl that are not smart, to say the least. But Rochu and Samantha are smart. I have Rochu trained to where he will eat grass and clover from my hand. I hold the grass and clover between my fingers and Rochu gently takes it from me without pecking me. He accidentally pecked me the first time he took the grass from me but has never did so since. I saw the look that he gave me when he did peck me accidentally and I knew this was one intelligent chicken. He is protective too.


Samantha had been laying an egg almost everyday. Then she went to every other day and I knew that soon she would be deciding to set. So since it is fall and winter will be close on it's heels I have been gathering the eggs daily . But Samantha bested me. She laid her last egg and went to setting. I did not have the heart to take it from her. Yes I could have took it from her but when I saw her all fluffed up so protectively over that one egg it pulled at my heart's cords. She looked me in the eye and she knew what I was feeling for she just started clucking to me in a soft sweet voice. I said to her," Samantha , it is going to be getting cold soon. I would that you rather had not started setting right now but since you have I will let you set on this one egg. If it hatches Momma( that is me, yes I call myself Momma to all my animals) will help you take care of it and put a heat lamp up for you as soon as it hatches." Samantha fluffed herself, clucked softly then fell asleep sitting upon her little treasure.


Now every time I go to feed her and Rochu or check on them, Samantha stays on her egg and clucks softly. Rochu jumps on their house roof so he can eat the grass and clover from my hands. Yes, I do have him spoilt. The children tell me this. It has also made Elizabeth a little afraid of him as anytime he sees someones hand near he thinks they have food for him. Elizabeth thinks he is trying to peck her. I have explained why Rochu pays attentions to peoples hands, that it is due to me feeding him from my hand. She understands but is still a little bit leery of him.

Rochu takes his job seriously. He is the protector of Samantha and even though he is small he can be intimidating if he chooses to be to those he does not know, other than Zak, Elizabeth and I. Especially since Samantha is setting on her egg. When Samantha gets up to feed or get water Rochu stations himself in front of their little houses door and marches back and forth in front of it, guarding the egg until Samantha returns to set upon the egg once more. It is really neat to watch Rochu as he sticks out his little Banty chest and struts. He is proud that soon, hopefully, he will have a little chick to help feed and protect. It will be tiny as Bantam eggs are small. They are about the size of the doughnut holes that are in the deli. So we are patiently waiting to see if the egg hatches. ( The picture in the upper left corner is not of Rochu it is of Zak's other rooster Daffodil. Daffodil is a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Rock. Daffodils weighs about 12 pounds so he is a good sized rooster. But a still young as he is only 6 months old. He is a big baby. )


I grew up on a diversified livestock family farm. We raised chickens as well as pigs, cattle and horses. We also grew our own corn, hay, tobacco, vegetables, fruits, berries and kept bees for honey. I grew very blest by the Lord to learn how to farm the land and can and do so many other things that only one learns from living off the land. Which I thank God for. I have and am still teaching my children all of this. But back to the chickens. We raised chickens from baby chicks and on up. We sold eggs to customers as well as home churned butter. I raised one baby chick in particular that I recall. His name was Peeper Chee Chee. He grew into a handsome Game rooster. His mom did not want him. She pushed him out of the nest and would not take him back in. So I talked my Dad into letting me bring Peeper Chee Chee into our home. I made him a little pen and daily tended to his needs. I kept his pen clean and dry. Kept him fed and watered. From the time he was just a wee little thing I started placing him on my shoulder. Soon he grew used to this and would ride around on my shoulder where ever I went. Even as a big Game rooster he still rode around on my shoulder. He never tried to peck me, never went the bathroom on me and never did anything odd that one might think a chicken would do. Of course I had to teach him to be a chicken as he thought he was people. It is something as I had to teach him how to scratch the ground as chickens do. I pulled worms up and gave them to him but he did not like the worms that well. What Peeper Chee Chee really liked was grasshoppers. So once I had taught him how to be a chicken he became an outdoor chicken , no longer allowed to stay inside except for the occasional visit.

Some chickens are highly intelligent and easily trainable. And yes, chickens as well as all God's creatures do have feelings the same as we , mankind, do. And it is not true what some scientist say about animals only being able to see in shades of gray. Animals can and do see in color. Some things that scientist have tried to prove over the years have truly made me laugh. Since I grew up raising and working with animals, all my life, I can truly say that I know that some scientist are wrong in a lot of assumptions, theories, hypothesis, or whatever name one chooses to call it, that they have placed upon or said about animals. Animals, fowls, all God's creations are a lot smarter then we, as mankind, give them credit for. And yes animals can understand what we are saying to them and if one truly knows animals they can speak to them. A gift from God is what I call it. One of the special talents that God gives people. God has also used animals in His work to get a message across to someone, Balaam's Ass in the Bible is only one example of the Lord using an animal to open someones eyes up to something they need to know.

Numbers 22:1-41

I thank God for all His creations. The earth is full of the wonders that God has created yet daily so many seek to destroy/kill God's creations. God knows what He is doing but mankind sure does not know what they are doing. I always think about the scriptures that Jesus/God speaks of making those who think they know to be confounded by the weak things, so to speak.

1 Corinthians 1:19-21 19)For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.


1 Corinthians 1:25-31

25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29) That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

I Corinthians 3:18-20 18) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20) And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Galatians 6:3 3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Psalms 94:11 11) The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Isaiah 5:21
21)Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

I know that some of these scriptures speak of those who think they know what the Bible says and are prideful in thier knowledge which they think they have. But also some of these scriptures speak of people who are wise in their own eyes and that what they think is knowledge or wisdom is follishness to God/Jesus. God created all of us, mankind, His creatures, the earth and that is within it of nature. We know nothing of god's creations or creatures for His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. When one thinks they know of something , yet there our others who know that what one thinks one knows is wrong , that one then is proven wrong to those who know the truth. The reason being is, that one can know the truth even when someone else is trying to say that what they know is true, even though what they profess to know as truth , in reality, is false.

The thing we all need to admit is that each of us at soemtime in our life thought we were right, when in truth we were wrong. It happens. But we are not to be wise in our own eyes. And we definitely are not supposed to try to make ourself look wise in the eyes of others. It does not matter what others think of you as it is God whom each one of us should be worrying about. It is god who knows us as no one else does. He knows our thoughts, our hearts, our minds and all things about each one of us. He knows the truth in it all.

The passage of scripture below is one of my favorites. It speaks a lot in just three verses.

Proverbs 3:5-7 5) Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7) Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

So the next time we start to think that we know what we are talking baout, stop, take a moment and pray to the Lord. Ask God to open your eyes up to see and know what He would have you to see and know. For in truth , God's turth is the truth.

Family, Friends and Fellowship

My daughter, Elizabeth, had two wisdom teeth surgically removed, on her right side, this past Monday morning. She will also have to have the other two removed in about month or so. The Lord watched over Elizabeth during the surgery and in her recovery. I requested prayer for Elizabeth with family and friends and the Lord heard those prayers on Elizabeth's behalf . I truly thank the Lord for hearing and answering those prayers and I thank each one of you who prayed . May God richly bless each of you in return for your kindness, love and concern. God is good.

Over the weekend I was blest. I had the opportunity to attend our local community fair. The children and I attended with two of my nieces, Tabitha and Rebecca, on Saturday as well as with my brother, Jim. The night before, Friday night, my brother, Jim, had come down to stay the weekend with us and had went to sing at a singing in the Gospel group he sings and plays with.Well it was getting close to 8:30 PM CDT when I heard a car pull up and thought it was Jim coming in from the singing but I was surprised as it was my three nieces, my great niece and nephew as well. My niece , Sarah, who recently found out she is expecting her first child, I say first child although she had a miscarriage about the same time I miscarried a little over 3 years ago. We are all keeping Sarah in our prayers for a healthy pregnancy and delivery of this little one she is carrying. This was a blessing to see all of the girls and my great niece and nephew at once. When my brother arrived he was really surprised and tickled to see all three of his daughters here. This blest his heart and was a much needed blessing for and to him. I thank God for this.

We sat up playing cards and talking and visiting for quite awhile . We just enjoyed being together and sharing each others company. The girls left around 1:00 AM .Jim has been having trouble sleeping because, as a dad, he worries about his girls. But he slept pretty well that night he said when I got up in the morning. I am thankful to God for this. I know that it helped him and brought him some measure of peace to have his three girls all with him and to spend that time with them as a family. This, sadly, does not happen all that much anymore. Because as any parent knows when children grow up, they go on with their own lives and tend to drift away a little. I am just thankful that they had the opportunity to spend some time together because it also did my heart good to see this and I knew this is what Jim needed. The Lord knows the needs we each have as no one else does. Elizabeth even knew and said to me," Mom that is what Uncle Jim needed, to be with his girls and spend time with them." So girls if you read this,thank you for spending some time with your daddy. It meant a lot. I love you girls and I thank God for each of you and you are each very special and dear to me as you each know. I Love you all. Thank you for what you did.

So on Saturday while I was feeding our dogs, cats and chickens Rebecca and Tabitha drove up. So we all went to the fair together. We had a good time. I enjoyed listening to the Gospel music and got the opportunity to sing with my brother again. I enjoy singing and was blest that my brother invited me on stage to come up and sing with him. I enjoy singing for the Lord and I love to harmonize. I like to sing to lead but there is just something about singing harmony that blesses me. Elizabeth and Zak enjoyed the singing. Tabitha and Rebecca seemed to enjoy it as well. I was just thankful that the girls came to spend time with us and enjoyed being together.

Last weekend the children and I visited my parents, my brothers Bill and Jim. We attended a tent revival that Brother Mack Sosh held. It was a good service. I thank God that He gave my Dad the breath to sing with us. It touched my heart. I love singing with my Dad and miss that we do not get to sing together much as he has very bad asthma but God blest Dad that night we attended the revival. He opened Dad's lungs and we sung 3 songs together with instrument and we sang one song acapella. I was truly blest in this as well a s the preaching message brought my Brother mack. I love Brother Mack's wife , Sister Anna May. She is such a blessing to me. She glows and she is so sweet and such a dear precious Sister in the Lord. Our family is blest to know Brother Mack and Sister Anna May. Thank You Lord for all Your many blessings.

Oh yeah, we had a visitor several times this week that was very unexpected. Zak, my 9 year old son, called to me and Elizabeth as we were in the living room and he was in his sister's bedroom playing a game. he said," Momma and Elizabeth there is a deer outside the window." I was like yeah right, but we went back to see and sure enough there was a doe outside the window. She was looking at our little bantam chickens we have in a pen there. The doe was smelling of the waterer in their pen.( The picture, that is above on the left of this post, is of the doe) I told the kids that she must need water since it has been so dry, almost drought conditions , here. Of course the lake is only about a mile through he woods from us but the doe for some reason did not go to the lake. So I told the kiddo's that we would keep some 5 gallon buckets filled with water for the deer to drink from. So we have been blest this week with the doe staying close to our property. As we saw here on Thursday and again yesterday. When we came home from the fair she was standing by the church. Then she walked across the road in front of us onto our property and ran down onto the neighbors field. She is staying close because of the water. But it is a blessing to see her. We also have wild turkeys who stay in the filed out in front of our home. They feed morning and evening . It is a pleasure to watch them as they feed and play together. Yes, turkeys play as do all of god's creatures. Our cats watch the turkeys form the safety of our front yard, although a couple of our cats, Hermeown and Corky, have ventured closer to the turkeys to get a better view of them. I just enjoy living in the center of the country. It is a blessing as we daily are blest with seeing the Lord's creatures. It is so peaceful here. I thank God for the blessings and opportunities He daily gives us.

God blesses us with all these creatures of His. He blesses us with all His creations. We should daily take the time to stop and enjoy , appreciate, and give him praise for all these blessing of His creations. I can definitely say that there is no beauty that can compare to the beauty that has and is daily created by the hand of the Master Artist, which is the Lord. God/Jesus is the Master Artist. His creations are so beautiful from the tiny bugs to the largest tree, the clouds are even awesome in their array of shapes, sizes and types. Right now, Autumn is here. The leaves are so pretty in their Fall foliage. My two favorite seasons are Spring and Autumn.

I just want to thank the Lord for this weekend of family, friends, and fellowship. It has blest my heart. Thank You Lord. Amen.

What Is Your Dream ?

Do you have a dream ? What is the one dream that you hold onto no matter what ? What one dream stands out more then any other dream you have? By this I mean your hope, the dream you have for something in the future. Something you have set your sights upon. What is that one hope/dream that stands out above all the others, the one you will not let go but hold onto dearly no matter what happens in your life ?

For me it is owning a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse or mare or even a foal that is a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner. I do not want just any Gypsy Cobb it has to be a black and white one or a tri-colored one. They are absolutely beautiful. The steeds/stallions are so gorgeous in their lines and form. They are a proud breed of horse flesh. " The Lion King " was one of the most well known Gypsy Cobb/Vanner's that I have had the pleasure of viewing, via the Internet ,God rest his soul. He passed away on March 15, 2008. He was a remarkable specimen of his kind. The Gypsy Cobb has such beautiful feathering on it's legs and their manes flow gloriously as does their tale when they are in motion. God is the Master Artist in all things. All of His creations are beautiful in their own way.

My children and I have a love for horses. I do because I grew up raising them. We owned Quarter horses, Leopard Appaloosa, American Saddle bred/Arabian cross and my dear " Old Nell" God rest her soul, she was half Tennessee Walker and American Quarter Horse. Nell was special. She was a big 18 hands tall, a beautiful brownish red and white pinto. She was awesome. From the day we got her when I was 10 years old and she was 5 years old, we became instant friends. She was my constant companion. I rode her everyday, mostly bareback. She would stand and let me pull myself up on her for a ride. My Dad often said to me, " Nancy Jean that old mare would let you do anything and she would do anything for you." This was true. I could crawl under her. I could lay down and she would never step on me. I could fall asleep on her back and she would never let me fall. I used to have a rock garden that was my spot when I was young. It was in Nell's pen down in the woods. I would sit there and watch the wildlife and just enjoy being in the nature God had created. One thing all my family knew was that " Old Nell" and my dog,Sam, were always with me in my rock garden. They stayed with me as long as I stayed in the rock garden. I would sing sometimes aloud or just sit quietly. Sometimes I whistled back to the birds as they were nearby chirping. Yes, I can do many bird calls as I did practice doing so. I had many opportunities , growing up on a 600 acre farm, to practice my animal calls. Which to this day I still enjoy making noises and doing animal sounds.

This is something that has carried over into my children, especially my son. He is also an imitator of animal and bird calls. He enjoys making sounds just as I did when I was growing up. He is as hyperactive as I ever was also. Sometimes it annoys his sister when he makes the sounds but I tell her to let him make the noises because it is fun to him. It is one way that he releases stress, I know this from my own experiences growing up. Plus it is just fun to be able to make all these neat bird calls, animal calls and sounds from just yourself, not using any other device except the voice that God has given one to use.

My daughter, Elizabeth, can make sounds also but she does not do it often unless she is in the mood to do so. She likes mainly to do voices of people in different accents and some animal or bird sounds. While Zak and I are a bit more wild and untamed in our repertoire of noises, sounds and calls. We do get exuberant sometimes.

Thankfully our neighbors do not mind as they are used to it, especially after living here for 35 years they are used to me and my ways. I am a very emotional person and everyone here knows this. We all look out for each other. In fact that is one of the things my neighbor boy, who recently got married to another neighbors daughter, said to me. He said," I like it her, Nancy, because we can shout if we fell like it or just be loud and no one thinks anything about it. Because we are all used to being able to praise the Lord aloud , make joyful noises, sing and just be oneself. We do not have to worry about what others think of us." That is awesome to be able to have the relationship with friends and neighbors that we understand each other and know that no one here things odd about the others as we are too closely the same in the aspect that we can holler aloud if we want to and no one things anything about it. It is nice to know that if you feel like praising the Lord at the top of your lungs you are free to do so without infringing on someone else.

I got side tracked when I started talking about sounds. It is so easy to go off on a different tangent from where one first starts as things just crop up along the way that can take us on another course away from what we started upon. Now back to dreams/hopes.

In my Senior autograph book, which my dad signed some 27 years ago, he wrote, Set your goals/dreams/hopes high but not too high that you can not reach them. Always sing your way through life and you will make it. First and foremost from the age of 4 I was trained to be a singer. I love to sing. I only sing for the Lord though. My voice is a blessing, a gift from Him and it is to be used to serve Him and His purpose. I knew this from an early age. My dream then was to become a singer so that I could make a profit to provide a living for me. But that dream was for selfish reasons and it would have taken me from the path God had set my feet upon, so long ago, to follow. I do not use my voice for profit. I use it to sing praises for and to the Lord. Without Him in my life my voice would be worthless for my voice was given to me to praise Him and to share His message and His Love with others. This voice that I have been blest with in singing is truly His voice that has been lent to me to do His work. My Dad,s dream for me was to go into the music field and use my voice. I feel I have let my dad down because I do not do what He wanted me to do with my voice. But I followed the Father God's plan for me in using my voice for Him. It does not profit me in this world but it profits the Lord in reaching His children and those He wants to become his children. I am blest as both my children can sing. God has blest them with beautiful voices and they both sing with me in Church. No you will never hear of our names in the big league or out on the radio or on song tracks, although there is one cassette tape of my family and I singing that was recorded in a studio, but it is not widely spread or known for reasons that God knows of. Profit for us is not to be gain, except to be gained for the Lord's work and given back into his work,in the gifts and talents He blesses us with. It is for His glory, not our own. It is for His profit and gain, not our own. We are nothing without God, people. Give God the praise, the honor, and the glory due Him in all things and in all ways.

My dream that I hold onto is the Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse. But the dream that I am living is in service to the Lord. That is what goal/hope/dream that I set for myself when I read what my Dad wrote in my Senior autograph book, was to serve the Lord and sing for the Lord. And yes, I am living that dream to use my voice to bring honor and glory to and for the Lord, for it is He who has gifted me in the ways He chose to for His service. I am teaching my children of Him and how to use their gifts and talents to serve the Lord. Elizabeth is a very blest artist and Zak is our little botanist. God is wonderful and He is awesome. I know the dreams that my children have now. As they age and grow I wonder how the dreams they have now will change and what dreams/hopes they will realize and bring to fruit along the way. I know that whatever they set in their mind and heart to do, they will accomplish, for with God all things are possible. He will provide the means, the way to bring His work to fruition within us.

The Wonder of Growing Things

How many of you have ever watched a sweet potato vine grow? By this I mean have you ever taken a sweet potato, placed it in a container of water with only the tip of the sweet potato sticking out of the water. No dirt whatsoever within the container but only the sweet potato and the water. It will grow.

I have taken the time to do this, over the years, from time to time. My daughter Elizabeth's Grandma Alice, God rest her soul, one time did this with the sweet potato. She placed the sweet potato in one of those old glass battery cases, the ones that are quite the antique now. Then she filled it with water and placed it in a sunny spot within a dry sink, her husband had made her. That sweet potato grew wonderfully well. It had such glorious vines and leaves upon it. The only nurture that it received was in keeping it watered. Once the water level dropped she always filled it back up. The sweet potato vine prospered.

I had forgotten about the sweet potato vines growing in just water for quite some time . I just put it out of my mind. My Dad grows his sweet potatoes in the ground, of his garden, so they will bear more sweet potatoes whereas if you grow them only in water it is merely for a decorative purpose. I just needed to make that distinction so you would know that sweet potatoes can grow in more than one way.

I home school my children as I have often mentioned before. I had bought some sweet potatoes and had used all except one. This one was starting to sprout as my son , Zak, noticed and brought to my attention. It brought to mind the sweet potato that Elizabeth's Grandma Alice had grown years ago in the water. So I got a mason quart jar, placed the sweet potato in it, then filled the jar with water. The sweet potato is about 2 inches above the top of the jar.

Zak, of course, wanted to know why I was doing this on that day. I explained to him about the sweet potato and that it would grow vines and roots. The roots I explained would grow within the water inside the jar while the vines would grow from the top of the sweet potato and grow down. He was curious as Zak is my little botanist. He has a love for growing plants of any type.

I will share a brief story with you about my son. He is 9 now. When he was smaller we went to the store and into the gardening section of the department store. Zak started to cry. I asked him what was wrong. He said he felt bad for the plants as they were being mistreated at the store. I had him show me what he meant. He took me to the display of potted plants that had caused him the distress he felt. The plants were all jammed in together and some had torn and smashed leaves and stems. Some even had broken branches on them and the flowers were wilted on some. He said to me ," Momma these people are not nice to the plants. They treat them mean. Why do they do that ? God made these plants. I do not like for the plants to be treated so meanly".

I was amazed at the empathy that my little child had towards the plants. It touched me greatly to see how much my son cared. I was raised on a farm, a working farm so I always had a love for plants and animals. To see this in my son truly blest my heart. I explained to him about the plants in the store and why they looked as they did. That they were mass produced for the purpose of selling them for profit. They were packed into trucks and shipped across the country and the conditions in which they are shipped are not always good for the plants. He understood what I was telling him. I always explain to my children, if I am capable of doing so, any question that they bring to me. If I do not know the answer I tell them so and then I will go and do research, with them, to find the answer if I do not know the answer.

Now back to the sweet potato vine. I put the sweet potato in the water about two months ago. It started growing right away. It has prospered. I had to move it from my kitchen counter to a metal bookshelf that I have in my living room. The bookshelf is near an east facing window so the sweet potato vine gets plenty of sunshine. I also have to refill the jar with water every morning as the sweet potato drinks that much water every night. The roots almost fill the inside of the jar with the sweet potato itself. The vines are now close to 6 to 7 feet long, green and leafy. They are trailing and trying to vine around the book shelf. Zak is amazed at how much the sweet potato vines grow each day. Sometimes he will go in the other room after looking at the vines only to return about an hour later to discover that the vines have grown since he left the room. I do not add any fertilizer to the water it is water straight from the tap, yet the vine flourishes. It is a blessing to see the joy that this sweet potato vine brings to my son's face and heart. It is teaching him some of science and the way of growing things. Yet it also teaches him a more valuable lesson.

The sweet potato is much like us. Think about it for a moment. How, you say, can a sweet potato be like us ? This is how. The sweet potato would not have continued to grow without getting the water and nutrients from the water to make it grow just as we, when we give our life to the Lord, can not grow unless we are getting the Word, the message, the Love, the forgiveness of the Lord, the leading of the Lord and His presence in our daily lives. We need the Lord in our life, daily in order to grow in Him. We can not spiritually grow in the Lord without being immersed in His Word just as the sweet potato could not continue to grow without being immersed in the water. Without the water , the sweet potato would eventually rot away, just as we, when we give our life to the Lord, without the continued immersion in His Word and ways we would rot in the corruption of this world. e have to be daily immersed in the Lord in order to grow in and with the Lord.

We have to be fed daily of the Lord in order to grow in the Lord, just as the sweet potato vine needs that daily drink of water to get the nutrients it needs to grow. Think about it. How many times have you stopped reading your Bible daily and things start to go wrong, you feel distanced from the Lord ? You start to wonder why things are going as they are ? You do not have the peace and joy that you once had in the Lord ? You feel somewhat drained, maybe even a bit depressed ? What happened ? You stopped immersing yourself in the Lord and in His Word. You do not have that daily feed to keep you going strong. You need to pick up your Bible, the Word of the Lord, and get immersed in it daily. Feed the hunger that comes from and can only be fed by the Lord. Get immersed in the Lord and watch the growth that can only come from being fed of and by the Lord.

Now do you see how that sweet potato vine and us are so much alike. Without being immersed in the one thing we need we cannot continue to grow. The sweet potato needs the water. We need the Lord.

Quiet Time

Today has been a very quiet day for the most part. My two children are visiting their Dad for the weekend and I am home alone. I say alone meaning by myself although my daughter called me this morning to check on me and my neighbors have called to talk also. It is nice to live in the country as I have some nice neighbors which I do say we all watch out for one another. This is good. It is a blessing from the Lord, for certain.

I did receive one call from a friend and neighbor, today, who asked me for some pictures. They had met someone and needed the pictures I had to see if the person they had recently met was the same person that I had the pictures of. I pray it is not but if it is God will take care of the situation in the long run. As God knows all things and it is best left in His hands as He can do more about the situation than I can. He is far more capable of handling it as I , in being human, tend to go off on my own directive, which is not always a good thing. This time I am leaving it in God's hands.

I will soon be getting some new neighbors. My friend and neighbor, Sid , died last year at the age of 86. He was a dear sweet older gentleman whom I had the pleasure of talking with often, about gardening and the Lord. He was always a gentleman, no wayward words from him in anyway. He tended to like women but with me he treated me as his daughter and friend. He did not treat me like others. He respected me and even asked me for advise which I found to be an honor as he did not ask the advice of ladies often. His other half Genie was a sweetheart. She was in her 70's and when Sid died she moved back to Michigan. She attended Church with me sometimes. Sid's children are down this weekend packing up Sid's place as it sold last week. I have been keeping an eye on the place, for them, since Sid's death last year. It was not hard to do but a blessing to do so for I reaped many benefits in the doing. His children allowed me to get the produce from the fruit trees and berry vines and bushes since I was watching the place plus the fresh asparagus.

I love asparagus. And asparagus is one of the things Sid and I talked about how best to grow them. He stopped by my garden one day about two months before he died and asked me the best way to make asparagus beds. I told him to make the bed base out of horse manure and layer the dirt over it then place the asparagus in before covering the asparagus over. Sid did this and his asparagus has produced so well. This spring and summer it bore so well I have an abundance of it that I froze. Sid did not get to enjoy his asparagus I realized but I got the benefit of it. I have been blest by Sid even after his death. I pray he has found peace with the Lord.

Back to his children. They called me today to let me know they were packing thins up. To let me know that the new family would be moving in. It seems it will be a large family. I am praying they are good neighbors. I have lived here for 35 years, since I was 10. yes I am 45 now. I was raised on the 600 acres around me that used to be my family farm, yet I only live on 1.15 acres of what used to be our farm. it is all that is still in our family as my Dad had to sell out when his health began to fail and my siblings went in the different directions of their own lives and families. I have such fond memories around here. I grew up here. Most of the area has not changed much in these 35 years since we first moved here. Except the selling of our farm and the moving away of my parents and siblings. I stayed.

I was blest by another neighbor two weekends ago when he and his wife came down to spend the weekend at their weekend place. I watch their place while they are gone. They live in another state and come to spend the weekends here but are in the process of moving here permanently. My friend and neighbor and his wife told me that if I ever moved from this place they would sell their place and move away as they enjoyed having me as a neighbor, they said to me you and your children are good people. I felt good about this but it is not me it is the Lord. I try to live my life for the Lord and do as He would have me to do. I try to treat others nicely and help out when I can if I am able. I am nothing without my God for I am only what He allows me to be. If I did not have the Lord in my life I would have nothing. It is not me it is the Lord that others see and know. I am but His humble servant. I am a willing vessel for Him to use to do His work with and through. I love my Lord and Saviour and no one nor no thing is worth losing Him over.

It has cost me people in my life, to stay true to the Lord. I am married but I do not a husband who stands beside me, I have not seen my husband in almost 3 years, God knows of it all and I rest assured in His knowing. The Lord did say that we would suffer persecutions, lose loved ones, and suffer when we chose to serve Him. But it is all worth it to be the Lord's. I would rather lose all of my worldly possessions, which aren't much, than to lose my God, the Lord Jesus Christ. For I know that the Lord is my all and that worldly goods, belongings,
possessions,whatever you want to give them the name of, can not compare to the Lord and what He has to offer each one of us.

Life is to be lived. But what is the quality of life if we spend it serving sin , the world and the devil ? It is nothing for in the next life when one is judged the reward one receives for the wages of sin is death, hell, the eternal lake of fire. Ask yourself is sin, love of the world,money and worldly things worth eternal damnation, eternal separation from the Lord ? For me it is not. I would rather have Jesus than anything or anyone this world could afford today. Jesus, I will choose the best which is Jesus.

I am not perfect. I am far from it. I falter and sometimes I fall. But the Lord is always right there waiting with open arms to lift me from the miry pit into which I fall. He helps me when I despair. It is His arms that hold me to His bosom when no other arms ever will. I rely upon my Lord for He is always with me, He will never leave me nor forsake me just as He will never leave nor forsake anyone. It is we , who walk away from Him, not He who walks away from us. We are the ones at fault. We turn our back on Him. He is just waiting for us to turn around and come home to Him.

I know where my home is. I look forward to going home one day. But while I am still on this earth I know that my Father has work for me to do. Work I shall, til He comes to take me home. I have my children to teach and I have His songs to sing, His praises to proclaim and His Love to share. His Word is within my heart and His name is upon my lips. His praises, His name is sweeter than honey, Jesus. Yahweh,Yeshuah, my Lord and Saviour, my God. In Him is my strength and my fortress, my shield and my buckler, my strong tower, a very present help in time of trouble, the Great I Am.

I am going to do something I have not done in quite some time. I am going to paint again. I am going to draw again and I am going to start doing the gifts the Lord has blest me with again. I have put of for too long the talents and gifts the Lord has blest me with and I must use those gifts, those talents for Him. I sing for Him,as always I have, in the churches He sends me to. I pray for those He sends for me to pray for, as this is the service He has called me to do directly is prayer and singing. But I must do more for my Lord for I have let my sorrow still hold me back. I must release the sorrow and get over my loss, God knows of the loss I speak of, for the Lord wants me. He has work for me to do and I must be about my Father's business.

How about you? Are you tending to the Father's business ? God is each one of our people's Father for He is God. Without Him we would not exist, we would not be. Tend to the Lord's business while yet you still can. Lay up your treasures in heaven for their your heart will be also. My treasure is in Heaven, it is the Lord. Where is your treasure ?