When Life Hands You Lemons

 A few weeks ago, Carrie worked for someone who has a greenhouse in which they grow lemons!

Lemons were running out their ears, so they shared some with Carrie, who in turn shared them with our family! 

When someone gives us lemons, there is just one thing to do! Make lemonade! 

We took lemonade to Jonathan's dad in town one evening when we took in supper.

We also took in peanut butter pizza fixings. 

Because when you have peanut butter, you make peanut butter pizza. 

But back to the lemons.

Lemons aren't exactly a favorite food of many people.

Because they are sour, and they take work to juice and turn into something tasty.

Nothing like doughnuts which you can pick up at the store for a couple dollars when they are marked down.

 

But life doesn't always hand us doughnuts. 

Often it hands us lemons in the form of trials and tribulations which are downright sour and painful.

But Jesus had something to say about that.

I just read it today in my devotions.

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me, you may have peace. 

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer,

I have overcome the world!" 

I'll be honest. I haven't been able to get past this verse which I've read every day for three days.

Jesus promises three things:

peace in Him;

tribulations in the world;

victory in Him!

Lemons were promised right along with the doughnuts.

Tribulations are just as surely promised as peace. 

But victory and cheer are promised as well.

So let us be of good cheer!

The Blessing of the Ordinary and Routine

 In the middle of headlines about war and rumors of war, 

in the middle of news of one funeral after another,

ordinary life goes on,

complete with many colors of veggies for pizza toppings!

Saturday morning, Crystal (in the sky blue jacket above) attended Rev. Bob Thompson's funeral, in a gymnasium that was packed out. Bro. Thompson had spoken every week for chapel at Mt. Zion school where Crystal is supervisor at the lower learning center, and she and the students will miss him. 

The same day as the funeral, the mother of the upper learning center supervisor passed away as well! 

That will be the fourth funeral Crystal will attend already this school year. 

Crystal sat with Linda Lee Goodwin and enjoyed seeing Tonya Sickler Poe and Bud there after Bro. Thompson's funeral, and then traveled to Salem to help relatives and friends prepare about 60 Mom-n-Baby kits for Lifeline Gifts. 

 

Even my mother was able to take part that day, as they packed diapers, baby clothes, things for the mother, and a toy inside quilts that my sister-in-law Anita has sewed. Here is the website, if you'd like to learn more about Lifeline Gifts.

Lifeline Gifts | www.lifelinegifts.com

A happy thing to happen after a sad service. 

Then we learned that a family friend, Bro. Raymond Zeigler, went home to be with the Lord last weekend as well. My brother Gabriel plans to attend his funeral tomorrow near Tyrone, PA.

 And Jonathan and I choose not to watch typical news about Ukraine because they capitalize on the atrocious and horrible and don't say anything about the special miracles that God is doing,

like providing milk and bread and produce for villagers

and causing a wind to blow Rus si an paratroopers back to Russ ia instead of landing in Ukraine as was the plan! 

 We read of one pastor or ordinary person after another choosing to drive to neighboring countries and take humanitarian aid across the border to Ukraine.

Our pastor friend sent a little video clip of tables surrounded by people having supper, probably many of them refugees. 

 

While I put on a crockpot of our own meat for Sunday dinner, along with potatoes and carrots and green beans. 

Feeling thankful for the blessing of ordinary tasks like peeling carrots and planning a Sunday meal. 

But then a need hits me, too, when I discover that my outdoor work boots that I've had for I don't know how many years, are suddenly coming completely apart!

Jonathan and I stopped at Walmart a few days ago, and to my delight, I found boots marked down to $9! I got two pairs.

Lord, You provide not just for the refugees from Ukraine, but for a country mom out on the prairies of Colorado! Thank You! 

(Photo sent by my sister Dorcas of a spring tulip at her place back east.)

Over and over, as I am hit with bad news and sad news, I am grateful for the blessing of just being able to chop vegetables for borsch, or put clothes into the washer and take them out warm from the dryer on cold or snowy days.

Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of days full of the ordinary and routine. 

Vase of Daffodils for Stormy Days

Last week on Wednesday on my way to run errands and take lunch in to Jonathan's dad, I hoped the city streets would not be as busy at midday as they are in the evening. 

But it was the day before a storm, and traffic was heavy and stores were busy.

At Safeway, I couldn't help myself.

I went over to the corner of flowers and looked at the daffodils.

Discovering a bunch of still-in-bud daffodils for just $2.99, I went ahead and picked up a bunch. 

They started to bloom the very next day after I had put them into a vase on the kitchen table.

Meanwhile, snow came down most of the night and covered everything. 

 

There were drifts that had to be shoveled through to get into the barn gate.

 

Icicles hung from the bottom of the propane tank a day later. 

It was a wonderfully wet, heavy snow which we so desperately needed.

More icicles hung by the next day on the chicken coop--slanted from the wind.  

Someone shoveled a path to the chicken coop. 

Birds just flew over the snow and landed in snowy branches.

Black grackles in the white snow, like sin ruining everything beautiful that God ever made.

And so it snowed, and grackles sat in it, along with the juncos and finches and sparrows.

And daffodils, unconcerned and unfretted by the war in Ukraine, the massacres of Christians in Yemen, the power-grabbing of politicians in our own country and state, and all the many atrocities all over the world. 

Daffodils, not at all worried about Pastor Bob Thompson's heart attack and death at Mt. Zion Saturday, where Crystal teaches. 

He speaks for chapel each Monday, and now he is gone at just 72 years old.

 

It's no wonder I wanted to buy some daffodils. 

The snow falls, the daffodils bloom, the dogs cuddle up near the fire, and we Christians learn to lay down our heartaches at the feet of Jesus Who cares for each one of His children. We read of God supplying many loaves of bread for a Christian missionary family in Ukraine to distribute to villagers; of another Ukrainian pastor who is visiting someone in the hospital, bringing humanitarian aid to his village, and leading a service Wednesday evening in which someone repents! Yes, there are still flowers pushing up through the snow! Daffodils still bloom even in the storm!

Skiing--and Singing

The young people who had spent several long days with the Mission Helps team working or serving up in South Dakota afterward spent a day skiing in the Colorado mountains. 

Carrie has managed to find some skis and ski boots on Craigs list, so everyone was outfitted without having to put out the expense of renting skis, etc.

 And this was one time Jonathan went along, too. 

My sweetheart!

 Even the boys helped put food together for the day of skiing.

Ezra determined that what he was doing was really "grating" on him! 

(These cousins have the biggest time making puns, especially Rose, who is also good at deciding which puns are good or bad, depending on her mood that day).

I wasn't able to take the bitter cold or go skiing, so I enjoyed a quiet day at home with extra time to pray, even if I did have a HUGE stack of dishes to do and lots of cleanup around the house, plus a big supper to make for us all. 

After a very late supper, we decided to simply choose a favorite verse of Scripture instead of reading a whole chapter, and poor tired Ezra decided that verse would be "I laid me down and slept."

Then I had one request of the tired skiers. 

Would they sing me one song with the cousins here? 

I think Ezra picked that one, too. 

"Day is Dying in the West"

I told the family how I had read today about four pastors in a country where extremists had attacked in their villages, and all four pastors had experienced losses in their families. Some of the pastors didn't know what had become of their wife or other family member as they had been separated while fleeing. 

Yet after the pastors had shared their heart-breaking stories with the American contact, 

one of them began to sing.

I told my family how right in the middle of their terrible heartbreaks, these pastors began to sing a song of worship. At the end of a long day when we were stiff and tired and when Ezra even had a twisted knee and Carrie had a twisted neck from falling splat in the snow,

the story of our persecuted brothers in Christ put our discomfort and weariness in perspective.

They sang in the middle of the worst kind of loss.

And so with that and them in mind, we sang.

 

"Lord of life, beneath the dome

Of the universe, Thy home,

Gather us, who seek Thy face, 

To the fold of Thy embrace,

For Thou art nigh

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God of hosts! Heav'n and earth are full of Thee,

Heav'n and earth are praising Thee, O Lord most high!

 

When forever from our sight

Pass the stars, the day, the night,

Lord of angels, on our eyes

Let eternal morning rise, 

And shadows end!   

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God of hosts! Heav'n and earth are full of Thee,

Heav'n and earth are praising Thee, O Lord most high!

 

Acoustic Panels for Church Walls--and How God's Love Quiets Us

At the church at St. Francis, SD, one of the things needing to be done was to hang acoustic panels on the back walls of the church to absorb sound, especially since the new pastor has a booming voice.

Jonathan is always good at making things look nice, even acoustic panel arrangements. 

He wanted those panels to look nice and not distract the pastor who sat up front and would be seeing those panels the whole time if they didn't look nice!

Instead of just putting those panels up in squares, he arranged them diagonally, first arranging them on the floor. He had to measure and figure a lot because the door in the back of the church is not exactly in the middle between the restroom and sound room. 

To make matters more complicated, the exit sign was not centered over the door, either. So he had a lot of figuring to do to try to get the panels arranged to look nice.

These panels will help tone down the noise from either dozens of noisy Sunday School kids or the distracting echoes from a big, booming preacher's voice.   

 

Acoustic panels--to absorb sound in a pre-fab concrete church (built so to protect against arson). 

Just like our quiet times with God--devotional moments or hours spent before Him,

when the noise 

and din

 and distractions

 and worries 

and fears

can stop clanging around in our mind

and instead be absorbed by the place and time and quiet of our coming to Christ.

Yes, even in the middle of the din

(and being in the middle of a very busy Mission Helps trip means a lot of extra work, extra noise, less quiet time)

we can have those "acoustic panels" of quiet moments when as an individual, as a couple, as a group, or as a church

we allow our problems and needs to be absorbed into God's strength and care.

We rest all the wounds and worry and wars in His arms,

for He cares for us.

"He will quiet you with His love." (Zeph. 3:17)

Thank You, Lord, for how Your love becomes our acoustic panels!

Frigid Doorways, Backwards Water Lines, and Silly Squeaks!

 Last week when we were working at St. Francis Holiness Church which is part of the Society of Indian Missions, Jonathan and the girls and I stayed overnights at Judy Sherman's little house in town. Whoever put the sink into that house had the water lines in backwards so that the spigot gave us cold water when we wanted hot, and vice versa.

Jonathan is not the kind of person who does only what he is asked to do. He also likes to take care of a few extra things, and the backwards water lines bugged him. So there he squeezed, underneath the sink to fix the problem. It was done in less than ten minutes!

Now if only the squeak under the church platform had been that easy to fix! 

That one took some figuring and working! Jonathan had to carefully peel carpet back, saw away part of the platform frame, and place another supporting board or two in the area of the squeak. 

But afterward, even when at least three people stood on the platform and jiggled and oomphed over the squeak, it was quiet.

The squeak had finally been fixed.

But then there was the door jamb at Judy Sherman's home which had been broken into a couple weeks earlier. Not only was the jamb broken, the whole mess was letting in a lot of cold air! Sis. Judy was having to hang a huge robe over the door to try to keep out the cold. 

Jonathan measured and figured and told nephew David how to make our own door jamb since lumber stores were so far away. 

 The guys made the jamb, and then Jonathan and Danny installed it, working in frigid weather. It had been down around zero one or two days, if not colder. 

Just before we left Thursday mid-morning, Jonathan tried to fix the dryer for Tasbah Lavery.

It had been taking two hours to dry a load of laundry.

Jonathan found some sort of stiff wire and poked it down and around inside the lint cavity, pulling all sorts of lint out, as well as running the dryer for a few seconds at a time to blow out as much as possible after he had poked around in the lint.

Outside he made sure there wasn't any lint ball stuffed up inside.  

I like when people do a little extra and go beyond. 

And my hubby is that kind of guy.

He was standing on a piece of property in South Dakota the day before.

Wondering if this might be the one for us.

We've contacted the realtor.

Deer bounded by as we were there, and Danny discovered grouse in the trees down in the draws. 

We ask for Your guidance, Lord.

Show us Your will and Your way.

 Jonathan and Danny wrestled to get the tight gate to close up again. 

And Lord, we need You to open the right door in Your timing.