Adequate Protection

Anybody else besides me having problems with wasps? I think they are on the warpath because of the change in the weather. They know winter is coming and are looking for a way inside! There are lots of them flying around outside my windows and the eves of my house. Oh, how I hate those mean things! Especially these extra-large sized orange/red ones we have around our place.

One of them stung me a couple of months ago while I was out walking in our driveway. It left a huge red whelp on my skin about the size of a softball (yes! you read that right!) for almost two weeks. So you can see why I am very leary of being stung again!

I have declared war on them! I try to keep my distance from them but if they insist on trying to come in the house and live with me I have to fight back! A little while ago I looked over and saw one of the pesky rascals sitting on the window blinds. I quickly went and put on a pair of my husbands thick leather work gloves. I normally would never, never, ever reach out and touch one of these orange/red beasties but that's what I did....just reached out and squished him with my fingers. Of course the only reason I could do that was because I had Adequate Protection on my hands! He could not sting me through the thick leather gloves! He is now safely disposed of in the kitchen waste basket!

We have a much greater enemy who is constantly on the loose trying to hurt us though! Satan. He wants to hurt, kill and destroy every single one of us! We can't fight him with our bare hands just the same as I can't squish a wasp with my bare hands. We need Adequate Protection to fight Satan. As Christians we most likely know where to find it but it never hurts to brush up on our personal defense methods! We find the instructions here: (Ephesians 3: 10-18 KJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

If we follow God's instructions on how to prepare for war against the devil, his "stinger" can not reach us....just as the stinger of the huge red wasp could not reach my hand when I had on the thick leather glove!

May God bless and protect you is my prayer!

Marilyn

And the Truth Shall Make You Free

Remember the old saying, "We don't appreciate what we have until we lose it" ? Whoever penned that line was probably speaking from experience. Many times we have to experience the loss of a possession or a loved one before we really appreciate what we had.

Could it be that we as Americans might not fully appreciate and recognize what a great thing freedom is until we lose it someday? On November 4 we have the privilege as Americans, to go to the polls and cast our vote for the next President of the USA. Pray about who God would have you vote for! Look at what each candidate stands for. Look at his values. Then go out and do your part by voting. After that, we have to leave our future in God's hands.

As wonderful as "freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc." is in our lives, there is a freedom we can have that is far superior to any of these. That is the freedom the Bible speaks about in John 8: 31-32....".....If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The Jews who were talking to Jesus said to Him, "What do you mean we shall be free? We are not now in bondage to any man!" To this Jesus replied, "Verily, verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." We can never fully understand what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us except we "continue in His WORD", the Holy Bible. If we want to be free in the truest sense of the word, then we need to take advantage of having God's Word available to us in written form and read it every chance we get.

A few years ago in a meeting at church, I heard a preacher quote a poem about "the Book". It stirred my heart so that I later asked him to write it down for me. I have it written on one of the empty pages in the front of my Bible. I later found out that the name of the poem is actually "The Precious Book", written by Bernice Peyman. Here are the first few verses of the poem. To read the poem in its entirety, click HERE.

"The Precious Book"

(By Bernice Peyman)

'Though the cover is worn

and the pages are torn

'Though places bear traces of tears

Still more precious than gold

is this Book, worn and old

That can shatter and scatter my fears.

This old Book is my guide

'Tis a friend by my side

It will lighten and brighten my way

And each promise I find

Soothes and gladdens my mind

As I read it and heed it each day.

May God help us to do just that….READ and HEED God's Word each day! What a difference that will make in our lives!

God bless you!

Marilyn

On the Outside Looking In

The other night I went out on the deck to retrieve a pan off the patio table. It was drizzling rain and already dark. As I quickly turned to go back in the house before the drizzle soaked through my clothes, I first glanced through the lighted kitchen window. The rain was sticking to the screen outside the window. I felt as though I were a stranger to my own house.....as if I were there on the outside looking in at someone else's house. Someone else's life. Strange how that sight affected me. I went inside and finished washing the dishes and other chores of the night but could not get the melancholy thoughts of the rainy window off my mind.

It's a lonely thing to be on the outside looking in. We all want to be in the inside loop.....the inner circle....where all the excitement and good times are. None of us want to be excluded and be out in the dark.

In this world we can't always achieve everything we want. We can't always be on the inside. It's inevitable that some of us will be on the outside looking in. But the same is not true in the spiritual world. Everyone who accepts the light that Christ offers will never, ever be left in the dark. As a Christian the "Light of the World"....Jesus Christ.....lives in our heart. It will never be dark. We will always be in Christ. We will never be outside Christ looking in.

1 John 1: 5 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Marilyn

How Do I Love Thee?

HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

If I sat down and made a list of the ways and times I love people, might it look something like this?

I love you when you make me feel good. I love you when you give me my way. I love you only when you live your life within my values and standards. I love you when you take time to listen to me. I love you when you make me proud to be your friend. I love you when you make the most of the God-given talents you have. I love you when you keep your temper in check. I love you when you resist temptations and sins. I love you when you smell fresh and your face is clean. I love you when you wipe your feet before walking across the clean floor. I love you when you don't argue with me. I love you when you have the same political agenda as I do. I love you when you thank me for the food I have cooked and served when you are in my home. I love you when you make me feel important to you. I love you when you call or email to see how things are going. I love you when you treat me as an equal.

But is this REALLY what it means to love people? Can I love you when you insist you are right and I am wrong and make me feel miserable? Can I love you when you won't embrace the values I so strongly cherish? Can I love you when you do things that make me embarrassed to be seen with you? Can I love you when I see you ignoring and wasting the many talents you have? Can I love you when you scream and yell? Can I love you when you give your flesh control over your mind? Can I love you when you are homeless and dirty and smelly? Can I love you when you treat my home as if it were a hunting camp in the middle of the woods? Can I love you when you insist that I am politically incorrect? Can I love you when you take the gifts I have painstakingly made for you and trample them under your feet? Can I love you when you make me feel as if you could care less if you never saw me again? Can I love you when you ignore me? Can I love you when you look down on me as being inferior to yourself? Jesus comments on this kind of love in Matthew 5:46, "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?"

Just this past week I had a rude awakening to how I view people and just how self-righteous I can be. Because a certain person I know has had many people praying for him and God has answered prayers concerning him, I had him on my mind. I was thinking to myself that because God had been so good to him, he owed it to these people to live the rest of his life in a manner pleasing to God….and thus honoring their prayers at the same time. That was a good thought and partly true I suppose. Then my thoughts turned inward and I looked at myself…..my self-righteous self….and I thought , Oh How much more do I need to live the rest of MY life in a manner pleasing to God because I owe it to Him for saving my sin-sick soul. God didn't wait until I cleaned up my life before He loved me…He loved me as I was. ("We love him, because he first loved us." I John 4:19)

I want to be able to look at myself first and see how gracious our Lord is to love me in the sad condition I am in, even at my very best, and then I want to love my family and friends with just a part of that Godly love He has given to me. ("And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3: 19)

May we let God fill us with His love so that we can love others!

Marilyn

(P.S. Deb also has this post running on the KJV Blog Directory today at http://kjvblogs.blogspot.com/ )

People Are As Different As the Seasons!

My hubby's favorite season...fall.....is pretty much in full swing now. As you can see in the picture of some of the trees in front of our house. The leaves are slowly turning to red, gold, orange and all the hues in between. They're also falling to the ground once the beautiful colors lose some of their brightness and turn a dullish brown. To B. it signals that it's drawing close to time to go out in the woods and hunt squirrels, or turkey, or deer ....whatever the hunting season may be. Or just a time to walk in the woods on a cool day with the leaves crunching under his feet. Or sit under a tree looking through the woods watching the squirrels hurry home with an acorn in their mouth.

But to me fall is a whole different picture. It means more darkness and less daylight. It's depressing to me to see the leaves falling and leaving bare branches. I'm not sure why but it makes me just want to get a book and a cup of hot chocolate and curl up and read.....for days! It seems like a lonesome time to me. Cloudy. Cool. Sometimes rainy. But I know that it's a necessary time. A time for the trees to rest. To be dormant.

So I did a little research on what happens to trees in the fall. It seems that the trees need to get rid of their delicate, fluid filled leaves before the approach of winter weather. The leaves use up all the chlorophyll (that's the "green" in the leaves) they have made during the summer and then the base of the leaf dries up and the leaf falls off. Thus all the openings of the tree are sealed off for the cold winter weather. And those leaves that fall....are they just in the way? Something to just be raked up and burned? Well, maybe so if they happen to be in your yard but out in the woods the fallen leaves are a useful thing. The leaves rot eventually and then make up the part of the soil that helps to hold the moisture so the trees can grow.

The passing of the seasons are fascinating in and of themselves. Some like fall. Some like winter. Some like spring (ME!) Some like Summer. But every season has it reason and its usefulness. It sometimes makes me smile to think of what a huge imagination God must have! What an artist He is! When you look at a colorful tree this fall, think of the One who gave it that beautiful color!

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8: 22 KJV

I think maybe I'm beginning to look forward to fall this year after all, ya'll. :o)

Marilyn

The Light of the World

"Come to the Light, 'tis shining for thee! Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me;

Once I was blind, but now I can see—The Light of the world is Jesus."

--Taken from the song by Philip P. Bliss--

One night recently I walked into the bathroom to put some freshly laundered and folded towels on the shelf. Since I was only going to be in there for just a minute and knew exactly where I was headed, I didn't bother to turn on the overhead light, instead relying on the small nightlight. As I passed the mirror, I noticed my reflection and smiled as I thought that I sure did look younger in that dim light. And my....the room sure did look a lot cleaner with the lights dim.

I started thinking then about how I sometimes tend to look at my life…my faults and failures….in the world's light. I can compare my mistakes to those of others and it seems then that mine are not quite so bad. But what good can it do me to examine my life in the dim light the world would have me use? (Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. Job 18: 5-6). Yet this is just what most of us want to do. We don't want to have the brilliant Light of God's Word searching our hearts. The reason is because we like sweeping the dirt in our life "under the rug", so to speak, and a bright light shows up the dirt. (And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3: 19)

But if we have a relationship with the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, then we are compelled to examine our lives in the light of His Word. There our evil thoughts and deeds are illuminated and can then be dealt with. (But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:21)

We don't have to ever grope around in the "darkness" of this world unless that is our choice. Jesus Christ is always providing a light for us if we will just accept it. (Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8: 12)

May you let your light shine for Him today!

MARILYN

Article Published in JournEzine Magazine

Just a short post to let you know that an article of mine called The Seasons of Life has been published this month in an online Christian magazine called "Journezine"

Click HERE to read the article.

May God bless you all with His bounty!

Marilyn

"Tater-Punkin Pie"

I promise I'm not trying to turn this into a food/cooking blog but wanted to share one of my favorite recipes with you. It's "Tater-Punkin Pie".....at least that's what it's called in the hills of north Mississippi. :)

I had never heard of a Potato-Pumpkin until I got married. (It's actually a Striped Cushaw) My mother-in-law would cut the thick fleshy neck part into cubes about the size of a hen egg or maybe a little smaller and put them in a pan, cover with real farm fresh butter and some sugar and then bake in the oven until they were candied. Mmm, mmm good! I made some of that yesterday too. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Hubby grew several of these "Punkins" this year and yesterday peeled and cut one of them up for me. They are very hard to peel so I was glad he took pity on me and helped me out. As I said, I candied a pan full of it to have for supper tonight. I also made a pie. My step mother makes the best Tater-Punkin Pie I've ever tasted so I use her recipe. To make the pie boil some of the chunks of pumpkin until very tender. Drain and mash.

Maw Maw's Tater Punkin Pie

4 cups cooked, drained, and mashed pumpkin

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 stick butter or margarine, melted

Cook and prepare pumpkin and measure out 4 cups. Melt butter and mix with sugar. Then add eggs and flour. Finally, add the milk and pumpkin. Mix well. Pour into two unbaked pie shells. Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes OR until middle is firmly set. (This can also be made with regular pumpkins)

We just finished having a couple of pieces for our dessert tonight. Hubby had his with ice cream and I had whipped cream on mine. Yummy!

Just had to share!

God bless you!

Marilyn

Fresh From the Field

Thought I'd share pictures of some of my hubby's produce that he brought up fresh from the field! Wonder if fresh produce like this is what prompted the Isralites to say this while wandering through the desert.......
"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:" Numbers 11: 5

The cut watermelon in the picture is a Black Diamond variety and, boy, was it ever good! Isn't it just awesome all the good things God made for us to eat!

Sorry this is so short today but did want to take a minute to share these melons and 'punkins with you in pictures! Fall has arrived!

God bless you !

Marilyn