When the Supreme Court is not Supreme

This week we faced some disappointing and outrageous decisions by the Supreme Court,

leaving the White House wreathed in rainbow colors

and Christians wreathed in deep humiliation before God over the legalization of more sin and corruption.

Having been trying to practice giving thanks in everything, I went to my room and simply said something outrageous to God,

"Thank You that this happened."

Not for the evil, but for His providence that has allowed this in His perfect plan and under His complete control.

And what happened after that was amazing.

I found that I was filled with calmness, courage, peace and even joy.

Because the Supreme Court is not supreme.

God is. 

And His sun is still shining, and His creation is still blooming, and His love is blooming in the hearts of His people.

There on my desk lay an envelope that had come in the mail--God continuing to provide for Crystal's trip to Africa to spread His Word and the gospel.

And while the White House celebrates with a gay parade, 

God's creation parades its beauty all over the Colorado countryside for all believers to enjoy--

His simple creation adorned with every color.

And an email arrives with an answer to prayer that God has provided another missionary family with adequate and affordable housing in South Africa so they can teach in a Christian school there. 

One Supreme Court justice too many sided with legalization of wrong--

but that does not void God, or nullify His laws, or change the laws of nature.

It would be just so much fluff and stupidity were it not for the millions who will take advantage of this ruling.  Every last one of us will respond with personal responsibility in the matter regardless what one, two, three, four or five justices say about the matter.

The Supreme Court can say what they want, but it is the duty of each person in these United States to live in such a way as to uphold truth and purity and to repudiate what happened there in that courtroom this week.

All on the same day that those headlines came out, two Christian moms (married to Christian husbands who are both manly men, beards and all) were getting together with their children out in the country--purposely choosing to spend some hours having wholesome activities for Carrie's violin teacher's children who must spend their lives in the city. 

How they loved going to our barn to gather eggs!

They played and played with our baby bunnies.

A lap full of them!

Then the children brought out our new baby pigs.

None of them had ever seen baby piglets before.

Here they were in the pen the children got ready for them.

And some of the children took them down to look for, well, polliwogs, I suppose.

Then Timmy dressed up in his bee keeper's outfit and showed them his beehive.

He wanted to let them see how the bees were making honey.

Some of the honeycombs were capped off, all full of honey.

Then inside, I encouraged Carrie to let the 5-year-olds "help" her with making cornmeal muffins.

They LOVED dipping the batter and pouring it into muffin cups.

And we moms did up the dishes after a supper of delicious lasagna.

And the children flew a kite that Timmy had bought. If you can see him, he's on the trampoline flying his kite.

And so the "day of infamy" as one called it, ended with a beautiful time of families getting together to celebrate life in wholesome ways.
And all the rainbow-colored flowers are still blooming, tokens of God's creative genius,
and I will keep the rainbow picture on top of my blog just a bit longer,
because it is God's rainbow, and not man's,
and under it are one man and one woman, which was God's plan from the beginning.
And our church was filled with songs and voices of praise this morning as we remembered that while
the winds of hell have blown and the world its hate hath shown,
yet the Cross is not overthrown.
Hallelujah for the cross!

Discerning the Voices

 Recently I was facing some battles, and I pulled out my old KJV Bible that has a little stash of clippings I've saved through the years.

Precious little thoughts that have meant something to me over and over.

I found a letter to me from a Christian friend years ago that I would like to share because it was such a help to me at that time and it comforted and directed me even now. If there is anyone reading my blog who may be perplexed, burdened, or confused, I hope this may be a help. What follows is a condensation of parts of actually two letters which she wrote me:

"Often when I knelt to pray, I would hear these thoughts in my mind:
1. God won't hear you until you've taken care of this matter.
2. God is angry with you because of this.   
3. Perhaps you've lost out because of this....                           
4. If you were really all right with God, you'd be able to sense His presence.
5. If you were really all right with God you would not still be struggling...
6. God no longer speaks to you.
7. There must be something you've done to turn Him away.
8. You've grieved His Spirit.
And on and on the horrible suggestions, all of them leading to the same dreadful feeling that I had somehow lost God or angered Him or spurned Him or grieved Him.

      "One day I came to the lowest point of this horrible depression. I had been praying a lot for my dad , and it occurred to me that if he got saved, he would have to go through these same kind of battles. I told my husband, 'I'm afraid for my father to ever get saved, because he could never deal with this kind of pressure on his mind.' (My dad has struggled with chronic depression for much of his life, she wrote.)
           "When I made that statement, it seemed to snap my mind to attention. If this is so horrible that I am afraid for someone to even get saved, then this CANNOT be from God...Suddenly and immediately and absolutely I saw it all for what it was. Every bit of it was from the enemy. My entire struggle was over a restitution...Satan took advantage of my tender conscience and my hungry desire to be completely right in God's eyes, and he ran me around in circles for months!

Here is how I got out of it. First I took it to Jesus...and laid it at His feet. Then each time I knelt to pray, and those horrible suggestions started again, I would say, "NO! I have given that to Jesus. I no longer have to carry that burden." Then I would repeat a Bible verse about God's love...

Then I would continue on with the rest of my prayer time..After several days my mind began to clear up. Instead of seeing all the "woes' in the Bible, I began to once again feed on and cherish the promises. After a very short time, I once again had a mind that was clear and sharp and COMPLETELY CONVINCED that ALL was well with my soul. (And I never had to do anything more or say anything further about that restitution. It was over." It was all just noise and confusion from the enemy, and it kept me from praying, really praying–because I was so tied up in knots over it. That’s one of Satan’s greatest tactics.

       One day, after my mind was clear again, I was thinking about all the ways the enemy had "tortured" my thoughts. I sat down and wrote out a list of adjectives that described the way he had assaulted my mind. Then I wrote a list of phrases that described how I ended up feeling...
         Here is the list. See if it does not show you how the enemy's plan is to keep us from trusting in God's love, and to keep us from bearing fruit through a productive prayer life.

 The Holy Spirit’s voice:   The enemy’s voice
persuasive                            relentless
pleading                               accusing
convicting                            condemning
quiet                                    raucous
loving                                  painful                     
uplifting                              belittling
restoring                             destroying

Inward results of        Inward results of
heeding the Spirit        heeding the enemy
hope                              despair
peace                             turmoil
clarity                             confusions
a sound mind                 indecisiveness
deep,abiding love for    fear and mistrust in God
                                
Outward results of             Outward results of 
heeding the Spirit                heeding the enemy
wisdom of action                foolishness of action
fruit that remains                fruitlessness
committed prayer life         frustrated prayer life
ability to help others           preoccupation with self

When I listened to the voice that was relentless and condemning and accusing, I ended up in despair, turmoil and confusion. Before long, I was wondering if God really did love me after all. My prayer life was frustrated, because all I could do was pray to “get clear.” Everything else seemed for naught if I could not KNOW I was clear.
Now when a voice comes to my mind and tells me to do anything or seems to be expecting me to change something, I listen carefully. Do I feel condemned? Accused? Is the voice relentless? If so, I immediately toss it out and refuse to listen any further. God NEVER speaks like that.
Satan does not care how he messes up our prayer lives, he just wants us to be so preoccupied with something–anything-so that we cannot REALLY pray.
Satan is the father of lies, and he is continually telling God’s people these three lies:
1. You are not really saved, Or, you’ve lost your salvation.
2. You are not really committed, consecrated, sanctified. Or, you’ve lost it.
3. God has abandoned you. Or, God is angry with you. Or, God won’t hear you because...(and he will always come up with a legitimate reason that has you wondering.)
This paper [Discerning the Voices] has helped me so often when I have had a difficult time trying to decide where the thoughts are coming from. I have learned to KNOW when God is speaking to me, and when the enemy is sending his hurtful darts and trying to disguise himself as “the angel of light.”

This letter from a long time ago helped me again in something I was facing.

Satan knows that prayer is our biggest weapon, and He trembles when he sees

the weakest saint upon His knees.

But what to do when the weakest saint can't even kneel for sheer distraction?

Does the heavenly Father understands wordless prayers?

Thank God, He does!

 The above song in our Methodist hymnal is one I often sit down and play softly to myself at the piano. I never get tired of it.

"I look to Thee in every need, and never look in vain.

I feel Thy strong and tender love and all is well again; 

The thought of Thee is mightier far

Than sin and pain and sorrow are.

Discouraged in the work of life, disheartened by its load,

Shamed by its failures or its fears, I sink beside the road.

But let me only think of Thee 

And then new heart springs up in me.

 Thy calmness bends serene above, my restlessness to still; 

Around me flows Thy quickening life to nerve my faltering will;

Thy presence fills my solitude;

Thy providence turns all to good.

Embosomed deep in Thy dear love, Held in Thy law I stand;

Thy hand in all things I behold, and all things in Thy hand.

Thou leadest me by unsought ways

And turn'st my mourning into praise!

Crystal Soon Leaving for Africa

In a week, our daughter Crystal will be flying to Africa. She asked me to take a few fresh pictures of her in that park Sunday.

We will miss her, especially since she'll only be back for a couple weeks the end of August again before starting into college at Penn View, Lord willing. 

She's 19 1/2.

And her mom is a bit petrified about how well (or poorly) I've prepared her for college and life in general.

But the best foundation is a trust in Christ, and that she has.

And the best security against heading a wrong direction is an obedient spirit, and that she has. 

And--thankfully, she does know how to read and write!

And cook.

Rose made this delightful salad one evening with radish rosettes.

 

Recently I discovered this lovely sofa at a goodwill for just $69, and since our old ones were so dingy and tearing apart at the seams, I bought it.

We loved the oak trim which matched so well with the western wall decor we've put up.

 There went the old couch and loveseat on the trailer full of trash. But first the children hauled the loveseat around on the wheelbarrow, giving each other rides!

  And I purchased this lovely decoration at the estate sale for $1.

FAITH-"With God all things are possible."

 And this one, too.

 Here the children's little gardens were being watered or tended or harvested a bit, so I snapped a few pictures.

 We ate a lettuce and radish salad from our own garden! We even threw in a few tender radish leaves. Did you know radish leaves are edible?

 Here's a little beet patch.

 And here's the little garden by the bee hive.

 Carrie has been getting so good at decorating our piano seasonally. She sewed these tiny doll dresses.

Helping with an Estate Sale by the Wild Roses

Last weekend we helped three different days with an estate sale for a friend who had passed away.

We helped with making signs to post at the ends of streets.

Our Rose working on her sign by the roses.

It was so much fun working on a carpet of lush, green grass, under a big shade tree, and by these beautiful rose bushes.

We taped the signs onto stakes and pounded them into the ground at street corners.

Here is one beautiful flower garden we walked past after putting up a sign.

These fragrant roses brought back happy memories of my favorite home place in Pennsylvania where some kind of perennial flower was blooming at all times of the spring, summer and fall.

We had so many of these rose bushes there.

It was such a blessing to this Pennsylvania heart that is starved for flowers and roses and shade trees.

It took hours to set out a lot of stuff, and of course, some was just left in the house for people to roam around.

We made aisles of boxes of stuff from the garage and house.

Crystal got most of these pictures for me on Saturday because on Friday I was too busy to take many pictures.

 Timmy and Danny were tickled to help with the cashier work so Sis. Naomi could sort and organize.

 I just drank in these roses the day I was there.

A three-legged dog ambled by, but you wouldn't know it only had three legs when it spied a black squirrel.
The black squirrel was just about toast.

On Father's Day Jonathan was still ill with his terrible congestion and cough and headache and had to stay home, so when all the rest of the dads were called up front to get their gift bag of home made cookies and get clapped for, 

one handsome, bearded, smiling face was not there.

Needless to say I missed my handsome prince up there!

We hurried back home to eat dinner with our dear daddy who was drinking hot broth and water, breathing in colloidal silver steam mixed with essential oils in the infuser, and resting.

We had some little gifts for Daddy.

These were the cookies from church.

Carrie had come up with a cute little basket titled, "To the best POP in the world!"

It had pop, popcorn, pop-its, a lollipop, and a baggie of mix called Peanuts Or Pretzels (POP). 

Our steer kept getting out that day, too.