Decisions and God's Provision

Decisions and God's Provision, that rhymes. 

 I decided I should to do a blog post about some of my thoughts on my decision to work part-time or from home over the last few years, because I can get pretty wordy when I share what wise women have taught me and what I've seen the Lord work out for our family. I want to be an encouragement.

I have to say that there are times I feel very insecure when I hear of women making big paychecks and I have a job that would never support me if something happened to my husband. Also, I just recently gave up my photography business that brought in a little extra. But, I stand by my decision to work part time or from home over these last years. I can always second guess myself, but when I remember what we prayed about in the past and how God has provided and given me peace about those times, I know we've done what was best when we prayerfully made those choices. And I can't second guess what God has done. :) Life has never been perfectly calm and trouble free, but He didn't promise that. He pours His word into my scardy-cat heart with a sweetness I cannot deny. He watches over me with a precious Father's love that humbles and surprises me. I'm not worthy...but maybe I am! I'm a daughter of the King, after all.

I do not look down on women who work. I've been there. I know about those hard choices. I also understand about different seasons in our lives. I know there are women who feel they have no other options, or have no other options and must work. I have peeled my children off my legs and stuffed them though a doorway, both of us crying, so that I could make my escape to my job. I have finished college homework with a toddler hanging on my neck begging for my attention. I have worked full-time, I have worked part-time, stayed at home and babysat, sent children to public school and homeschooled one of my children. I have lived in a foreign country, I have lived in a trailer house with the floor falling in. I have shopped for groceries with so little cash in hand I didn't know how we'd feed the kids that week. Then I have had plenty. I have a home that was built with our own hands from the ground up. All that to say, I know what it's like to sacrifice a little so you can spend more time with your family and not be stretched to the limits of sanity with so much busy-ness. I wouldn't trade that for all the money in the world. 

Moms often just want a little peace, peace of mind. A shred of encouragement to keep going. So here's mine: I will never look back and say "Gee, I wish I'd seen less of my kids."  Or, "I'd give anything, even my relationship with my kids, if we'd had a better house earlier."
We all sacrifice something. What are we sacrificing? For us, it is/was income.

I also remind myself that there are seasons in our lives. Seasons that each have a different focus. Now I am trying to be more available to spend time my aging momma, and to be ready to spend time with grandbabies, and to encourage others who are in the shoes I've worn. 

Who know what the next season of my life will bring? 

Whatever it is, I know I can trust Him to bring me though it.

• "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Phil 4:19 (I don't have to fear the future, or worry about money.)
  
• "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." -John 16:33 (When family problems arise, or the world is looking scary, He is still in control, and I CAN trust Him.)
• "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."    -Proverbs 16:3 (When I second-guess our decision to homeschool or for me to mostly stay at home, I go back in my mind to where we started the journey and I have peace.)
• "It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way."  -Psalm 18:32-36 (As parents and spouses we are doing battle every day. He prepares, sustains, and strengthens me.)
• "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." -2 Timothy 1:7 (Who doles out the fear? You know. The father of lies.)
  
• "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10
• "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose". -Romans 8:28  (Even when we feel like failures in the world's eyes)
• "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."  -Ephesians 3:20-21

Pioneer Woman!!

I started looking at Pioneer Woman's Blog way back at her beginnings. I think we were even a part of the same online homeschool support group. I was so excited to finally MEET HER!

Her wonderful chicken spaghetti!

She was very personable and sweet. I told her that I also am a photographer and homeschooled my son. She said we had a lot in common. I totally forgot to tell her I'm an Okie too!

Told her all about my precious daughter, living in Germany who would have loved to meet her.

LOOK! It's the Ree Drummond Groupies!

I love her normalcy, her humor and her cowboy boots!

People Can Disappoint

People can disappoint me, they can disappoint you.

I recently thought I was okay with a "something" that happened, or actually failed to happen, in spite of my lofty expectations. The Lord has lead me to realize this week that I need to overcome idol worship in many forms. No, I don't have any golden idols that I burn incense for and bow down in front of, but I have idols nonetheless. You probably have a few that need tearing down too. I think I'll share a series of my thoughts on various idols I've struggled with, and some I continue to haul around with me. These idols sit on my back and weigh me down. I'm ready to chop them to bits and have done with them, but I suspect I'll be just like the Israelites and keep struggling with honoring and fretting over things and people that were never meant to be God to me. A wise woman will realize that only with God's help can we be free of those things which drag us down, and eventually make slaves of us.

So first is PEOPLE as idols. My pastor says "Folks are just folks."  What he means is that people are flawed. They aren't prefect. They WILL hurt and disappoint us. Even the best people in our lives cannot be perfect. They can't fix everything, can't be there for us always....the list goes on. We expect so MUCH from people. Humans were never meant to be God to us. Our children, our husbands, our parents, our teachers, our pastors are not God, but we often treat them as if they should be. We either expect perfection and holiness or a relationship that was never meant to be filled by anyone other than God.  Or WE can set ourselves up as a god. Not THE God, but a god, because we demand perfection of others without mercy. We want adoration as the only one whose agenda matters, and we forget Who the true Lord of the Universe is. (We chuckle at that, but you know it's true)

We can be seriously hurt...both our pride and feelings if we set ourselves or others in God's place, AND it is a form of idolatry.

"Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."  -Deuteronomy 4:39

Honk If You Love Anti-Christian Bumper Stickers

Honk If You Love Anti-Christian Bumper Stickers

Is a GREAT post by Russell Moore on his blog Moore To The Point. It's a must read for all Christians. Who of us hasn't let ourselves be angered by those kinds of statements from people, either in person or stuck on a vehicle we're forced to follow for miles. I once saw a car so covered with a weird assortment of stickers I thought, "They have a serious problem with almost everything." Instead of praying for that person, or engaging them in meaningful conversation, we just shut down. Oh, the wiles ways of Satan. Wise women and men, read Mr. Moore's article here.

What if there were a video camera?

Lights, camera, action!

What if there were a video camera recording your words, tone of voice and facial expression when you are speaking to the people you love most? I ask this question because I recently said I needed to record a family member's speech when they think they are sounding perfectly nice, and they aren't. Then I started thinking about my own speech. Hmm, convicting.

What if there were an constant audio visual presentation of what comes out of my mouth and the way in which it spews? Unfortunately God sees and hears. Sometimes it's not even what we say, but the way we say it that is offensive. More than offensive to our family, it's offensive to a Holy God whom we say we honor and love. To be a wise woman I need to backtrack, ask God and my family's forgiveness and start over with words that are more pleasant to hear, even if they are a reprimand for a child. If we want respect, it has to start with us.

"My lips will not speak wickedness..." Job 27:4a

^"Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things. " Proverbs 23:16

"A time to keep silence, And a time to speak" Ecclesiastes 3:7

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment." Matthew 12:36

"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34b

Family Roots-Spiritual Roots

Family roots are wonderful to explore, but what are our spiritual roots?

This is a photo of my step-grandmother's family. She was just a baby in 1910 when this photo was taken. She was already being raised in a Christian home. I never thought of her as a step-grandma. I was very close to her, she was just "Grandma" to me. She was a godly, soft spoken woman. She opened her mouth with wisdom....she was a wise woman who loved her Lord. I want to grow up to be like her.



God speaks about the good roots of the person who trusts in the Lord. Not a perfect person, but a person who trusts in the Lord:

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit." -Jeremiah 17:7-8

"All have sinned" Romans says. Christians are sinners. They haven't "arrived" at perfection. They are only different from other sinners in that they listened to the tug on their hearts that there is a God, He loves them and provided a way out of their hopeless situation. They realize their failings, their brokenness, their total inability to do good, to be good in their actions, or in their hearts, and they have thrown themselves on the mercy of the only righteous judge. A judge who took off His holy robe, stepped down into time and our world to die for our sin so that we don't have to suffer eternal death. The judge paid our fine for us. How cool is that?!

You might have been away from church for a long time, or never set foot in one. Maybe you think you know too many hypocrites in the church. There's always room for one more hypocrite! Come on in! We are all spiritually broken people looking for a hospital.

Speaking of hypocrites, there's a parable Jesus tells about the wheat and the weeds (tares) which is very interesting:

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus gives the meaning in Matthew 13:36-43

That was a dirty trick, sowing weeds that look like wheat into the fields. They can't be removed without harming the wheat, uprooting it. Satan is the evil sower, so what is he sowing? His sons, which are everyone from the most awful unrepentant sinner to the false Christian. When I realized there could be tares in the church itself, it freed me from a lot of bitterness. That may sound strange, but the knowledge gave me relief to know that when Christian people are mean, they might not be Christians at all! It also caused me to look at my own life, stop pointing my finger at everyone else, and examine my own heart...."Am I a tare, or could I appear to be one to others?"
"Do I need to remove the beam from my own eye?"

We should "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" :

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. -Philippians 2:1-16



"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled..." Hebrews 12:14-15

A Good Belly Laugh

"A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones." -Proverbs 17:22

"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." -Proverbs 15:13

There's nothing as uplifting as hearing my good friend, or my sister laugh uproariously. Both ladies know how to bring the cheer out of the depths of their hearts and let it spill out in side-holding, tear-inducing, I'm-gonna-wet-my-pants laughter. Just let my sister tell you the story of the time the Texas wind blew her nativity set away...."Mary was rolling across the lawn, Joseph was hitting the side of the house, and baby Jesus was no where to be found!"

I love being around cheerful people. God says a merry heart is good medicine and makes a cheerful countenance. What's a countenance? Technically it's your face, but it's also your demeanor, behavior toward others, expression, composure, your bearing. So I think that means what's on the inside comes out in our faces and actions, kind of like the other thing God said about what's in our hearts comes out of our mouths. (See: Luke 6:45, Proverbs 27:19, and Proverbs 4:23.)

As awful as sorrow is, God can use even sadness for our good. We can mourn over our sin. Bad situations can bring us back to God. There are situations were sorrow is better than laughter.

"Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better."-Ecclesiastes 7:3

"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

Bless Beth Moore!

I'm studying Esther with the Beth Moore study on Esther. I really like her people studies. I loved the Daniel study also. You could sink your teeth into that one!

Why do I especially want to say, "Bless Beth" today? Because in the last video lecture I watched she spoke about women who dress provocatively. I can't tell you everything she said, but she passed on a conversation she'd had with the mother of young men. The other mom had asked, "Why do young women dress that way? Don't they know what they're doing to these young men?" (and older ones, I'd say) Beth replied, "Yes, they know exactly what they're doing, and that's why they're doing it." She said women can dress cute without being revealing. When you show off what you have, you take away your dignity and your mystery as a woman.

She went on to say that no one dresses accidentally. Boy, is that ever true? We women do know exactly what we're doing when we dress a certain way. We shouldn't dress to cause another to stumble, neither should our daughters. We know instinctively that guys are sight-triggered, it is our responsibility to dress modestly, young and old women, little girls and teens.

1Peter 3:3-4
" Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."

Return of the Daughters

I have to give a huge thumbs up to The Return of the Daughters. What’s a young woman to do with her single years? This DVD can help you think about that issue.

What a wonderful documentary to share with your teens! If you are interested in godly daughters, or courtship, this is a must see video. Yes, I forced a boy to watch it, but he was glad he did. :) There are extras on the DVD and you must watch the section on courtship.

Cherry New Year !

My favorite cherry recipe was always made by my favorite aunt. She was a great cook and a wonderful example of godly womanhood. I miss her. More about Aunt Dorothy later. First her recipe:

Yummy Cherry Stuff

Some people call it dump cake because you dump everything in a baking dish. We just call it that "Yummy Cherry Stuff That Aunt Dorothy Made". There are versions using crushed pineapple or fresh blueberries. Once again: This Is Not A Healthy Recipe! That's why I only make it once a year. I was going to post a picture, but it was attacked and mostly eaten before I remembered.

Butter or spray a 9 x 13 baking dish. Dump the following ingredients in order listed and spread out in the pan. Don't mix together.

1. 2 cans cherry pie filling
2. 1 DRY white or yellow cake mix (yes, just the dry stuff)
3. 2 sticks butter (melted or just cut up and placed on top)
4. 1 cup coconut
5. 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional, but yummy)

Bake at 350 until top is browned. About 30 minutes.


Aunt Dorothy was diagnosed with a brain tumor when I was young. The doctors didn't expect her to live past the year. She had 2 surgeries to remove parts of the tumor, but in the 70's there just wasn't much hope even with chemo. I was just a kid at the time, but I knew it was serious and scary. She was sick from headaches and chemo, but she clung to the Lord in such a way that it made a lasting impression on me. I'd never known anyone who talked to God like He was standing right there, a Friend and a Father, a Comforter and Confidant. I'd never seen anything like it. I wanted to be like her. I still do.

I really got to know and love her when I started traveling with her and Momma to Saint Francis to the cancer treatment specialists. It was a serious thing, of course, but it was a lot of fun in the beginning because she and Momma were so much fun. We stopped and bought peaches on the way home once because she wanted a peach. Momma told her we didn't have any way to wash them, and not even a paper towel to use for a napkin. Of course Momma did stop and buy peaches, took a pillowcase off a pillow, and rubbed the fuzz off a juicy, perfectly huge peach and gave it to her. Dorothy pronounced it, "The best peach I ever ate!"

I remember squeezing into the cab of a pick-up truck with Momma, Aunt Dorothy, Grandma, and my sister-in-law. I was the only skinny one, because I was still young. This was no F-150. I sat on the edge of the seat the 30+ miles to "town" and back. We laughed the whole trip. No one is as fun as a bunch of Christian women who love each other,
and I wanted to be smack dab in the middle of them!

She took me with her to buy Tex-Mex when we were in Odessa.
Tex-Mex was something we didn't have much of around home. She asked me if I wanted refried beans. When I replied I didn't even know what a refried bean was, she exclaimed, "Well honey, you have to have some then! You'll love 'em!"
I think of her every time I eat refried beans. What a tribute, huh? Somehow I don't think she'd mind.

I went with her to her church. First time I'd ever set my bashful foot inside a Pentecostal church. I wasn't afraid with her there. It was wonderful to kneel beside my favorite aunt and listen to her offering up prayers to God. I hung on her every word. It was like the Spirit of the Lord just hung around her like a garment.

Did I mention she lived much longer than the doctors expected? YEARS longer.
I know that whatever pain and sickness she endured was not in vain. If for nobody else, the Lord let her live longer for my sake. For my sake, yes.
Thank you Lord. Let me be like my grandmother and Aunt Dorothy.