The following is a synopsis of Monday night’s Bible study of Loving God with All Your Mind, by Elizabeth George

Enduring difficult times

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Here are The ABC’s of handling difficulty:

Acknowledge God in all your circumstances.

What we think about God is vital when we enter a difficult time.  Nothing random ever happens to a child of God. He takes full responsibility over His children. Even when we can’t understand what’s happening, we must acknowledge Him. This takes care of blaming. Why would we blame people? The economy? Circumstances? He takes responsibility. “Look to me. I am doing this.” He is good. He is a stronghold in the day of trouble. Rom 12:2…what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Bloom where you are planted.

Jer. 29:4 –Jeremiah told these people who were in captivity – “build houses and live. Plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Get married and have sons and daughters. If you’re going to be here for 70 years, make it count.” Practice your priorities. Bear fruit in the land of your affliction. Don’t wait for things to get better.

Ask yourself: “What can I do to make a difference?”

Concentrate on the promises of God.

His promises will clear your thinking and renew your confidence in God. Concentrate even when you can’t see the light. II Cor 12:9 – My grace is sufficient. Concentrating on the promises will get you through.

Do something useful.

Again, Jeremiah tells the people to get busy. Be useful as a wife. We are on assignment from God to help our husband.  Nurture and raise your children. It’s something that counts; to give the world a family who loves God and walks with Him is amazing. Regardless of marital status, we are to be useful to the Body of Christ. God desires our usefulness, no matter what. People change. Places may change. Seasons change. Conditions change, but God always wants us to be doing something useful.

Expect to become a masterpiece. Someone saw Michael Angelo hammering away at a piece of marble and begged him to stop. Michael said, “ I see an angel in there and I’ve got to get him out!” It’s a painful process, but it’s then that a masterpiece can be created. You are a masterpiece because you are in Christ!

What great advice for us in hard times! Follow the simplicity of these steps, with the Lord’s help, and become what He wants you to be during this hard period in your life. God bless you as you desire to bring glory to Him!

With love,

Good ol’ Ingles pulled through for me again with some great deals on meat.  They have such good sales and mark-downs!  (By the way, any plug I give for a store or product is completely my unsolicited opinion! No one is paying me to endorse them, as some blogs do.)  I needed a pork tenderloin for a recipe I wanted to try, but figured unless I could find one on sale, I’d probably have to change my menu.   Ingles had turkey tenderloins on sale buy-one-get-one (meaning half price, because you can buy only one if you’d like.) So, I got a nearly 2 pound turkey tenderloin for only $5!

My recipe came from my Cooking Light Cookbook.  The tenderloin is encrusted with an almond/herb mixture before it’s put into the oven.  It is served with a dried cranberry-apple Conserve.  Yum!  My menu for yesterday was:

I baked the tenderloin in the oven 30 minutes at 425 degrees before leaving for Sunday school, then backed up the temperature a great deal to finish cooking while we were at church.  The potatoes were put in the oven on Time Bake so they’d be piping hot.  The broccoli is a quick fix, so I made it once we got home from  church.

What a blessing!  We don’t have to struggle in our Christian life alone.  As believers in this Church Age, we have other Christians to encourage us, pray with us, share their testimonies of God’s goodness, fellowship with, and bear our burdens.  Why then do so many go it alone?  In other words…why are there so many Lone Ranger Christians?  Even the real Lone Ranger had Tonto! What does a Long Ranger Christian look like?  They don’t wear the black mask and ride a horse instead they…

•  keep their burdens to themselves, instead of letting someone pray with and for them.  There are times that we need to just run to the Lord with a matter that no one else can be made aware of, but those times are the exception, not the norm.  
•  avoid fellowship, choosing to isolate themselves from the very thing that would encourage their discouraged hearts. 
• aren’t faithful to services – they come a little here, a little there.
• become critical of other Christians and excuse themselves from being a part of the church because of “them!  Who needs that?”
• have little joy in their Christian life.  The Acts 2 passage says that they ate their meal together with gladness!  “A burden shared is a burden halved.”  Sometimes just sharing a burden is enough to relieve the stress of it!  Even better when you can pray with someone and be encouraged with a Scripture passage!  No wonder they had joy, and no wonder Lone Ranger Christians have little!

If any of what I’ve shared is stinging to you, see it as the Holy Spirit drawing you to Truth.  He is the One who created the church.  Are you taking full advantage of the blessings of being a part of a good one   It’s much easier to live the Christian life in the church with other believers than to go it alone!  “Hi-yo, Silver!  Away…to church!

With love,

I wish so much I could remember details of the past better.  They say the short-term memory is the first to go, so what is this saying about me?  I think I’m in trouble!  =)  I’m so thankful that I kept a journal during the years our girls were home, because it is serving as my memory.  It wasn’t written in daily, but I have highlights of things through the years.
Recently I picked up one of the journals and was reminded about how much our family read together.  My mom instilled a love for books in me and my sisters, and I longed for my girls to love to read too.  I began very early taking them to the library to check out books and attend the story time for their age groups.  We read at the dinner table after our meal was finished.  We read in the car.  We read at bedtime.  We read out in the yard on a blanket.  We read while on vacation.  We read while waiting for appointments.

We read a variety of books.  Some were just for fun books –  Mr. Popper’s Penguins, The Wizard of Oz, many of the Boxcar Children books, as well as Laura Ingles Wilder and Mandy series.  We read the Henry and Ribsy series by Beverly Cleary that were favorites of mine when I was a little girl.  Who wouldn’t love reading about the mischievous boy, Henry and his dog, Ribsy?  What fun we had imagining all the scenes in those stories!

We also read some books of missionaries, such  the story of the five American missionaries who ministered to the Auca Indians and were martyred.  The book telling their story is called, Through Gates of Splendor, by Elizabeth Elliot.  We read The Hiding Place; the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her imprisonment in the Concentration Camp during World War II.  We also read other missionary’s biographies, and also read of some evangelists. 

What a blessing reading together as a family is!  If you aren’t doing this, start small and work up to reading bigger books as your children get older.  Even if, like me, you don’t remember all the titles you read, the blessing of spending that time together and the impact of godly people that loved the Lord will impact your children the rest of their lives.

Above all books is the Book – God’s Word.  Does your family love it and read it together?  It’s the only Book that will hold your lives, your very world together when everything comes unglued. 
Love it. 
Read it. 
Memorize it.
It is the Mind of Christ.  Don’t neglect it…make it the first thing you read each day!

I’m trying, by God’s grace, to read a book a month right now.  So far I’ve read:
Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman 
Disciplines of the Home
(Re-read) The Hiding Place
His Word in My Heart – one more chapter to go!

What are you reading – either for yourself or with your family?  Do you have any recommendations of books to read that would strengthen our walk with God, our marriage or our home?  Why not share the title with us?

With love,

It was a Monday afternoon, and my husband and I were running a bunch of errands.  I made a quick run into the jewelers to have some links removed from my new watch.  It was sliding around on my wrist like my feet would slide around in my husband’s shoes!  While I was there I asked them to clean my rings.  It was during our wait that we began browsing at the men’s rings.  My husband’s wedding band is the original ring I gave him nearly 30 years ago. 

“We really should replace your ring with a new one,” I said, pointing at the case of wedding bands.  The jeweler slid the glass case open and we explained to him that his ring was dulled and not even round anymore.

 “Would you like me to fix that?” he asked, reaching for the used-to-be round ring.

 “Sure.  Do what you can,” my husband answered.  Ten minutes later, the jeweler produced the ring.  Not only was it round again, it was polished and looked brand new due to a spin in the cleaner! 

“I think I just talked you out of a sale, but I’d hate for you to buy a new one.  This is a good ring and is in great shape.  It’s gold and it’s more valuable than what you were looking at.”  We left the store with a watch that now fit and two wedding rings (his and mine) that were both sparkling.

What we did with our wedding rings that day was what every couple must do with their marriage:

• We had to take the time to stop at the jewelers.  If you simply “wear your marriage” every day and never stop to give it attention – never check to see if there’s any damage or things that need work, like our rings, it won’t be what it should be!  We have to stop – go to a retreat, go away for a night, or take time to communicate so we can take a good look at how things are really going.  The stopping also involves daily being in God’s Word so your marriage will look exactly like God intended it to!
• Our rings needed polishing.  Every couple has to take time work on the relationship.  Make the necessary changes as life shifts so you can spend quality time together.  Without this rings – and marriages  get dull!
• Oblong rings need to be straightened out – so do marriages.  Is there a misunderstanding?  Get it straightened out.  Were angry words hurled at your spouse?  Confess your sin to the Lord and to your husband.  Keep things right.  Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.
• After the cleaning was done, we put our rings back on and have enjoyed the new look!  Wear your marriage with a happy heart.  Enjoy being married.  Laugh together.  Do fun things.  Say and do things for your spouse to build him up.  You’re a wife!  Let your husband rejoice with you! 

Like the jeweler told us about my husband’s ring –  marriage is valuable – to us and the Lord.  Treasure it. Don’t throw it out because it’s looking ugly right now.   Stop to care for it.   Shine it up!  Straighten it out!  Wear it proudly!  Take it to the fix-it shop and guard it carefully; it’s a rare treasure!

With love,

P.S. Someone asked the jeweler we used – let me give an unsolicited plug because they are truly the best in the area.  We use  Fine’s Jewelers.  Go.  You’ll be glad you did!