Taste and see that the Lord is good

Let me first start by saying that I just ate the most delicious arugula salad. I do not know that I have ever had an arugula salad before! But today my friend, Julia, called to let me know that the produce co-op that several of my Sunday School friends have organized, had extra produce this week, and they wanted to bless us with the extra. She said in her message, that she delivered something on my porch, from the group, and to make sure I put it in the fridge when I got home from work. I was fully expecting to find a pineapple or something - but what I discovered instead was a whole box of wonderful fruits and vegetables! I wish I had taken a picture - it was so beautiful! There were 2 heads of red leaf lettuce, one head of bib lettuce, 4 ear of corn, 6 peaches, 6 nectarines, a bag of grapes, a container of blueberries, a mango, a red onion, 5 Roma tomatoes, and ARUGULA! I could not believe it! I had no idea what the arugula was, so I had to call Julia and ask her - and she taught me how to make a salad with that arugula and one of those tomatoes - and it was so delicious. I just wanted to share with you all how God continues to encourage me and bless me through my friends. I am just overwhelmed with their thoughtfulness. All of these fruits and veggies would have been gobbled up in their own homes - but they gave them to us instead. Enjoying the wonderful "fruits" of God's creation, while being blessed by the "fruits of His righteousness" displayed in the lives of my friends. Now, that is really something.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:7

On another note, I took Madeleine to the pool this evening (Emma didn't want to go, so stayed home with Billy) - and this is what we saw in our living room when we got home.

Billy had dug an old tent of ours out of the garage, and put it up in the family room for Emma. After they had a bath, he decided it was movie night, popped some popcorn for them, and they sat in the tent and watched a movie.



When the movie was over, they convinced him to let them sleep in the thing, so he drug it into the playroom - and that is where they are sleeping now! Is that the best? Oh, how I love summer! More time with my girls - and more time for silly things like staying up late, and not getting a great night sleep because we are on the floor in the playroom! But, there is no school tomorrow - so who cares! These are the most joyous days of my life - I am convinced. And I will not allow Satan to steal them away from me with worry! love you all!

The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior

Welllllllllll, it has been a while since I blogged! OK, so we have air conditioning ~ a major plus when it is 105. Thank you for your prayers ~ we were able to get cool for a mere 2K, instead of the originally quoted 6K. So, we are grateful!!!
Now - on to this awesome scripture that I have been wanting to share with you from the book of Judges chapter 6. Here, we meet Gideon. And when we meet him, the Israelites had been up to some major evil for about 7 years - so the Lord decides to do some disciplining - and hands them over to the Midianites. Now, the Midianites were so oppresive that the Israelites have been chased up into the mountains to live. They have lost their crops, their land, their animals and they are literally hiding in caves by the time they cry out to the Lord for help. And in the Lord's goodness and mercy - he sends Gideon as a judge. Gideon, who comes from the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh, and he is the LEAST in his family. (a theme we see often in the Bible - the Lord calling the unlikely) And when we meet Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress. Typically, you would thresh wheat out in a field where the wind can blow away the chaff and just leave the grain. However, Gideon would have been a target for bands of raiders who were over running the land - so he was hiding from the Midianites, threshing wheat in a winepress. A sorry situation...
When along comes an angel of the Lord and says
"The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior" Judges 6:12. I mean that makes me giggle. He is hiding in a winepress, so afraid he can not even thresh wheat out in a field - and this angel calls him, "Mighty Warrior". But, then - isn't that awesome??? The Lord did not see who Gideon was at that moment - he saw who Gideon would be, and that was a mighty warrior indeed! Read on through Judges - and Gideon TAKES CARE of the Midianites - that is for sure! How many of us are hiding in a winepress pit feeling like our situation is so oppresive that we struggle with basic functions of living. Everything seems harder because of these circumstances. And God meets us there, and says to us, "The Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior." He is not concerned with your low rank, your incompetancy, your pitiful situation. See because further on, in Judges 6:34 - it says, "Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon..." Well, there you go - that's all that was needed. You and I - we are mighty warriors, because we have the Spirit of Lord upon us through the gift of the Holy Spirit - by way of Jesus Christ our Savior. There is no telling what God will accomplish through us, even when we find ourselves oppressed and hiding out. God is greater ~ and the Lord is with YOU, mighty warrior!

Do not be dismayed

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:10
If ever there was a time in this process that I might become a bit "dismayed" - this could be it! We have had a doozie of a week! I mean, it has just been one VERY frustrating and inconvenient thing after another, and I just can not remember a time in the past year and a half that so much has happened all at once. Just to give you a very dim idea, I am blogging from my parent's house because our air conditioner has now gone out - at midnight, on the Fourth of July. Now, what are the odds of that? Or the odds of the Fourth of July being on a Sunday this year, keeping businesses closed on Monday - so that we sit in the heat for one extra day. I mean, really? Not to mention, this is the LAST thing we need to be spending money on... And I will not go into details as to the other delightful events that prefaced this several thousand dollar problem - but this truly is the icing on our miserable cake! I assure you, this is not a slice of cake that would tempt ANYONE to break their diet!!!!
Oh, but isn't God faithful in giving me this scripture tonight?
I am with you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you - with what? Oh yeah, His VICTORIOUS right hand. That's right, Satan can try to discourage and defeat, but victory belongs to the Lord, and I am held up by His hand. Amazing.
God keeps reminding me that without these trying situations, I would just not get to fully experience the peace and joy of knowing that He is with me. I feel certain that I would allow our circumstances to hold me up and calm my fears, instead of the Only One who really can! I do not want a false peace, a false sense of security, a false joy, that comes from trusting in our surroundings. I want Jesus. I want victory. And after the week we have had of discouragement from Satan, I just know that God is about to do something awesome. Get ready for God to move mountains in our lives! There are spiritual battles being waged over our peace, joy and relationship with Jesus. But as for me, I will not be dismayed tonight!
Pray that the AC gets fixed as quickly and inexpensively as possible! love ya'll!