I Did, and "I Do"

(taken at the restaurant where we had dinner today)

Can it really have been thirty-seven years ago today that I said "I do" when the preacher asked me if I would love, obey, take for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part the tall young man standing beside me at the front of the little church?

I really had no idea where this road of marriage would take me. I didn't know that I would be living out in the middle of nowhere with no phone or even a television for the first few years of our marriage. I didn't know how tired I would be after working all day in a garden for I'd never done that before living in town. I didn't know how exhausted I would get when I had three children under four years of age. I didn't know that I would have to be the one who taught our children to read, write, and do arithmetic or continue to be their teacher until they graduated high school. I didn't know that I would have to face snakes, rats, racoons, coyotes and various other varmits out here on the farm.

I also didn't know then that my husband would never hit me or curse me. I didn't know that he would never leave me for another woman. I didn't know that he would go to work in good weather and in the worst of weather to make a living for his family. I didn't know that I would be loved and cherished and respected by him for all these years. I just said "I do" and stepped out on faith.

A lot of things I didn't know then. If I could go back thirty-seven years would I still say "I do"? Yes. I would. It has certainly not been a perfect marriage but it's been a good marriage. It's been a committed marriage through good time and bad times. It's been held together by the glue of God uniting our hearts together.

I can't remember how many people have come to me in the past two weeks to tell me that either their child, or sister, or themselves are facing a failing marriage. Satan wants nothing better than to break up good marriages. None of us are immune. Whether we are young or old we must stay on our guard and not let the devil get the best of our marriages.

Thanks to all who have sent their best wishes to us today.

"But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6: 14

Marilyn

Time, Where Do You Go?

(view outside my kitchen window.....busy hubby!)

I stay so frustrated lately! I don't seem to have enough time to write a decent blog post any more! I make myself come and get my Sunday school lesson together and make out a study guide for the ladies to go with it but then I feel guilty if I stay and try to write a blog! I miss writing!

Things are pretty hectic around the house these past weeks as we are doing some remodeling. For any of you who have remodeled while living in the house at the same time I'm sure you can identify. Even though the remodeling work is all on the outside, somehow it pushes its way inside the house too! Tools, scraps of lumber and insulation, sawdust, all kinds of this and that. Just everything out of the ordinary lately it seems!



Am I such a creature of habit that I can not function when my days are not ordinary anymore? Instead of shrinking from change I wish I could more readily reach out and embrace it! I know that when the finished product comes to light I will be glad. Until then, I will just be waiting!



I must keep thinking of the verse I'm "meditating" on the last two weeks of the month of May. It's from Ephesians 4: 23: "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." I want to have the "mind of Christ" but I seriously doubt that I do right now!



As for the present, I must just continue to put one foot in front of the other and walk in the way that I know is right. Better days are around the corner. I just know it!



Marilyn

Righteous Friends

(Some of my "righteous friends" who met for the National Day of Prayer)

My husband and I use a daily devotional booklet called "Days of Praise" which is published by the Institute for Creation Research. As I read last Thursday's devotion I thought about all my Christian friends around the world and what all of you mean to me! So, today I wanted to share this devotion from "Days of Praise" with you.

May it bless you as much as it did me!

Righteous Friends
by Henry Morris III, D.Min.

"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4)

The phrase "a man is known by the company he keeps" has been used in English-speaking countries since the 1500s.
Not only is the saying biblically based, but it is easily observable in everyday life.

Friends Shape Friends: "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). In our text above, James notes that the world's friendship so contrasts with the heart and mind of God that such a friendship turns our relationship with God into enmity. The apostle John gives the clear reason: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16).

Friends Love Each Other: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you…. I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you…. These things I command you, that ye love one another" (John 15:14-17). This is pretty simple. If I love the Lord Jesus, and you love the Lord Jesus, then we will love each other—because we have a common friend!

Friends Stick Together: Because of our common love for the Lord Jesus, we do not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25). Neither do we follow the "counsel of the ungodly," or hang around "in the way of sinners," or feel at home with "the scornful" (Psalm 1:1), because there is no fellowship in "righteousness with unrighteousness" (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Godly people will have godly friends.

May God bless you my FRIENDS!

Marilyn

Springtime on the Farm

It seems like words have not been coming to me easily lately so thought you might like to see some pictures of some things here on our 80 acres. Here's our dog Blackie sitting up for Benny.

Here's a BIG bowl of strawberries fresh from the garden. Doesn't look like it but there was over a gallon of them.

One of my three roses.

Here's Rose with her friend Iris.

This is my big ,old-fashioned, great smelling red rose that my sweet stepmother rooted and gave to me several years ago. She could work magic with any kind of flowers!

The Iris Sisters....blondes both of them!

The coral rose......before Duke.

The coral rose....after Duke !! He was digging for a mole!

My mole-digging 14-year-old Duke!

Thanks for taking the tour!

Marilyn

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Image Building

(Mr. Bluebird visits Mr. Redbird)

A couple of years ago my friend Terri gave me a little stone bird to put on my back porch. (I told about it in this post, "Update on Illusions") Being out in the weather all the time caused the poor little thing to get all rusty and old looking. I didn't really know what it needed so my husband suggested painting it. I wanted it to be red because I love redbirds a lot. One day I came home from grocery shopping and found he had painted Mr. Bird for me.

Last week I looked out my kitchen window and saw a beautiful, real live blue bird perched on a sand rock beside Mr. Redbird. Mr. Bluebird seemed to be wondering if Mr. Redbird was just a little stiff and formal or maybe just shy. I guess he finally figured out that although he was pretty and red and had the shape of a real bird, he in truth, was a fake! So off into the breeze flew Mr. Bluebird.

As I taught from Daniel in my Ladies Sunday School class Sunday morning, I could not help but think about Mr. Redbird and Mr. Bluebird. Our Scripture was from Daniel 3 where Nebuchadnezzar built the ninety foot tall golden "image" for the people to bow down and worship. Using some of the thoughts from Beth Moore's Daniel study, we talked about "Image Building". None of us had been bowing to images of stone or metal or wood. But how often do we build images of ourselves? Beth Moore said image building "can be any way we intentionally make ourselves seem different...and usually better...than we really are. It may begin with what is actually true but builds up that truth bigger than life until it is fake. It really just comes down to this: if we are different inside than what people see outside...we're image builders!"

Now I know that we can not be totally transparent to others. I'm not meaning that. But when we purposefully try to make others think we are different than we really are, we're building an image for them to see instead of what we really are. Often it's feelings of insecurity that trigger putting up this false front. Sometimes all it takes is comparing ourselves with another who has better hair, better clothes, is more intelligent, has a better, bigger, (cleaner!) house, nicer car, more well behaved children, etc. The list could go on and on!

What's the remedy? We need to remember that God loves us just like we are! He made us! I don't mean that we shouldn't try to be the best He wants us to be. But when we do our best for Him, that's all He requires!

Mr. Bluebird didn't find a friend in Mr. Redbird after all. Because Mr. Redbird was just a fake! I pray that I will be real and that in being real I will be able to become a friend to people who need the friendship.

"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Ephesians 4: 24

Blessings.......

Marilyn

There Was Never A Women Like Her.......

"There never was a woman like her.

She was gentle as a dove and brave as a lioness...

The memory of my mother and her teachings were after all

the only capital I had to start life with,

and on that capital I have made my way."

~Andrew Jackson~

With Andrew Jackson I agree. There was never ...in my heart and life....a woman like my Mama!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!

Marilyn

After the Storm Passed By

(about 9:00 Sunday morning in front of Dollar General in Ripley)

"I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest."

(Psalm 55: 8)

Still praising God for giving us a refuge in the storms of the past two weekends! He has been so good. He doesn't owe me a thing! In fact, I'm sure if the storms were sent according to who deserved them most I would have been hit before some of the others who were! A verse from Matthew 5: 45 b came to my mind: "he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." What an awesome power of the elements we have seen as we looked at the devastation left after the storms passed by. Many lost some things. Some lost many things. A few lost everything, including their lives. So this week I am trying to be conscious of all the blessings, great and small, that God has given me. I don't want to be found taking anything for granted anymore.

Here are several pictures. The ones with a lot of water in them were taken early Sunday morning on our way to church.

These next pictures were taken as we came home a different route. This is where the tornado did some of the worst damage not many miles from where we live.

Mobile home where a young couple in their 20's was killed.

Two story house. Lost the roof. People inside were o.k.

This house lost the roof and everything inside. Only the shell of brick walls remained.

These next pictures taken were taken on Wednesday when the sun was shining. They are mostly of the timber that was torn up in the Holly Springs National Forest that joins the backside of our farm.

You can see where the tornado just twisted these trees off. They look small in the picture but they weren't.

Many huge trees were uprooted. I should have gotten out and had my picture taken standing beside them so you could have seen just how large they were.

Many, many thanks to all you praying friends all over the country ! I appreciate your love and concern so very much!

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah."

Psalm 46: 1-3

May God bless you every one!

Marilyn