Proverbs 3:24

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

Healthy Minute- Cod Liver Oil

I know you probably just wrinkled up your nose, but cod liver oil is an amazing powerhouse! It contains omega fatty acids along with Vitamins A and D. These three things are seriously lacking in American diets. We can't safely get all the Vitamin D our bodies need from sunlight alone! And many people are deficient in Vitamin D without knowing it. Vitamin A is so good for our eyes and our skin, and omega fatty acids help our brains. Sounds like an anti-anging potion!
There are many different sources out there, but the best ones are fermented. The fermenting process exracts the nutrients without the use of heat- so you get more of the nutrients. Plus, it makes it easier for our bodies to digest and absorb.
Personally, I use Green Pastures Fermented Cod Liver Oil and Butter Oil. The Butter Oil adds a whole new host of nutrients for your body.
The price looks mighty steep, but you only take 1/4 tsp a day! The jar lasts forever! And they come in these flavors- cinnamon is my favorite.

You can click here for just the Cod Liver Oil, or click here if you want to look at the Cod Liver Oil/ Butter Oil blend.

Funny Happenings- The Cord

I was babysitting a friend's baby that is 3 weeks old yesterday. His umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet and he had a poopy diaper and I was changing it. My son was walking around with his hands over his eyes.
When I got done, I asked him what he was doing. "I'm covering my eyes because you're changing his diaper." he replied.
I told him I was done and he uncovered his eyes and said, "Good! I didn't want to see his extension cord!"

A Tiny Little Soul (poem)

Happiness fills a little room
And cuts thru previous pain,
A little baby's just been born;
A parent's fruitful gain.
The little soul comes forth and
Through the air, a piercing cry.
God looks down from heaven above-
Another soul is born to die.
A lifetime of choices lay ahead,
And the child must choose well;
Some options lead to God above,
Some to everlasting hell.
Parents with tears of happiness,
Be cautious and be wise.
Inside this precious little child,
Is an eternal soul in disguise.

-JCT

Before You Meet Prince Charming (book review)

Do you have teenagers? I have one, with another close behind. What do you tell them when you go to a small church and they wonder where they're going to meet their spouse? How do you convey to them that waiting for God is something they should do? It's so hard to get them to understand that God already has the best person in mind for their lives. It's a challenge to encourage them to work for the Lord and allow Him to decide when they're ready.

If you're in this position, there's a wonderful book out there for you! It's called Before You Meet Prince Charming by Sarah Mally. It's a story of a princess who wants to find her prince charming. She realizes that there are many available knights out there, and even some that are very interested in her, but that they may not be exactly what they seem to be.

This ficticious story will help to encourage your daughter to serve the Lord, guard their hearts from emotional attachments, and wait for God's choice of "Prince Charming" in their lives.

You can buy this book here for $10.

Beef Stew recipe

2 lbs chopped stew meat
1 diced onion
4 - 5 cloves minced garlic
1 can tomato paste or tomato puree
1/4 cup steak sauce
1/4 cup Dale's or Moore's Seasoning
1 TBS liquid smoke
1 TBS Worchestershire sauce
3 cups beef stock
Your choice of veggies

Mix everything in a pot. Add more water if necessary to cover the ingredients. I like to use potatoes, carrots, peas, and mushrooms in my stew, but whatever you want to use will work. Cook until the veggies are done. The meat can be cooked to any degree you like (medium to well done). If you want the meat more done and the veggies are good, just cook a little longer.
I've also done this recipe in a crock pot and a pressure cooker. Turns out really good both ways!
In a crock pot, about 10 hours on low or 5 hours on high.
In a pressure cooker, about 15 to 20 minutes after the top starts rocking.

Stand Still (song)

Christians don't have much patience. We want God to work in our lives and solve our problems, and yet we don't want to wait and serve while He moves behind the scenes. Many a mistake has been made by "helping God" and, in so doing, we actually inhibit or limit God from what He is trying to do in our lives. We need to learn to be quiet and allow God to bless us in His time, without our fingerprints all over it! Let go, Christian, and let God.

 

Believer's Heritage- Robert Moffat

Robert Moffat was a missionary to Africa for 50 years. He arrived in South Africa in 1817 and began to tell the heathen tribes about the Lord Jesus Christ. His love, Mary Smith, wasn't given her parents permission to marry him because he wouldn't stay in England. He left a single man to do the work of the Lord and to trust God with his future. God worked in the hearts of Mary's parents and three years later she became his wife, helping him on the mission field and in the work of the Lord. Learning to trust God with his wife gave him the ability to trust God with every aspect of his life.

He was noted for saying that he came to Africa not to seek gold, but souls. During his time there he translated the Bible and The Pilgrim's Progress into Sechwana and also gave the natives a hymn-book. He wrote two missionary books on South Africa: Labors and Scenes in South Africa and Rivers of Water in a Dry Place. He survived lion attacks, harsh cold nights and hot days. God's grace gave him the courage to stand up and preached to murderous natives and tribal warriors. He led many to the knowledge of the Lord. It was said that in that wild country sprang up a church composed of men and women with black faces, but with hearts made white in the blood of the Lamb.

His heart was so burdened for lost souls, and he was able to pass this on to his children. His oldest son spent some time as a missionary to the Africans and two of his daughters married missionaries to Africa (David Livingston and Roger Price); another daughter married a French missionary (Jean Fredoux). After he left Africa, he spent his last days travelling all over England petitioning Christians to accept the Lord's calling to tell lost souls about the Savior.

"My album is the savage breast,
Where darkness reigns and tempests wrest.
To write the name of Jesus there
And point to worlds both bright and fair,
And see the savage bow in prayer
Is my supreme delight."
—Moffat.

For more on his life, read here.

Don't Get Off The Wheel (video sermon)

As long as the clay will be moulded to the potter, God will work in our lives to help us become more like Christ. It's when we harden our hearts and stiffen our necks that God has to break us. This sermon gives you the encouragement you need in the face of different situations in your life to remain pliable to God's moulding.

 

Job's Wife

Job is known as an upright man that eschewed evil. There's a whole book that tells about his trial from the Lord. But, I find only 2 verses that deal with Job's wife, and 2 where Job mentions her.

Job 2:9-10- Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Job would pray for his children, offer sacrifices, live to the best of his ability to please God. But, the Bible never mentions his wife doing any of these things with him. The only time she is mentioned is when she's tired of going thru the trial and is used by the devil to give Job an "out".

Now, the devil coaxing his wife to say this to him is speculation. The Bible never says that the devil persuaded her. However, the speculation is not anti-biblical. The devil told God that Job would turn against him, and God put everything that Job had into the devil's hands. Satan took his wealth, his possessions, and his children, but left his wife. Why? I believe for the very purpose above.

Job 19:17- My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

Job is in a bad place in his life. He needs comfort; he needs compassion; he needs encouragement. He needs his wife to be a help meet to him! But, this verse gives us the idea that she was the opposite of all those things. She only cared for her desires, her needs, her wants. She didn't want a husband who had nothing. "Curse God and die!" she said, then she could find another man who could supply her needs. Was this her reasoning behind it?

As wives, we women have the unique ability to encourage our man in the works of the Lord or to discourage him from ever reaching his full potential as a Christian. There was a reason we chose to marry the man that we did- there are probably very few of us who were forced to marry a man we didn't choose. So, why do we then become consumed with controlling, manipulating, and changing him? Because we, like Job's wife, are being coaxed by the devil.

I Kings 21:25- But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

Why was Ahab so evil? Jezebel encouraged it! Did you realize that Jezebel was indirectly responsible for the death of 4 kings, and 2 royal seeds? Ahab and Jehoram were killed by Jeru and he wiped out their seed- including Jezebel! But, Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, and he aligned himself with Ahab. Guess who his son married! Joram married Ahab's daughter- Athaliah (2 Kings 8:18). When Joram dies, his son, Ahaziah, took the throne. Well, Jehu also killed Ahaziah. Ahab's daughter then killed off all her grandkids who could take the throne (except one which God allowed to be spared) and she reigned for 6 years!

How could someone be so cruel?!?! Well, she learned from her mother!

Job 1:5- And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

Is it possible, that Job sacrificed for his kids just in case they cursed God in their hearts because his wife did? How did she influence her children? Did she raise them to feast and party? Was this something that she taught them? The Bible never says what kind of a mother she was, but it does say that Job feared it was possible that his kids sinned during this time.

We, wives, have the ability to be a blessing or a curse to our husbands. We can be a Titus 2 woman or Job's wife. We have the choice to submit ourselves to God and our husbands or listen to the devil and have our desires.

Proverbs 12:4- A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

We have the ability to be wonderful mothers who shape the next generation to stand for God orwho teach them to curse God and die! What kind of wife do you want to be? What kind of mother would you like to be?

Proverbs 14:1- Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

It is a rare thing to find a woman who loves the Lord and wants to encourage her husband and children to do right and follow God no matter the cost. Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines and he said,

Ecclesiastes 7:28- Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

Just because Solomon couldn't find one, doesn't mean that it's impossible to be one. If we submit to God and allow him to work in our hearts and lives, we can be that rare jewel in our husband's heart. We can be that precious stone in our children's lives.

Proverbs 31:10- Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

Are you willing to swallow your pride and humble yourself? Are you willing to be used of God in your family? Can you submit and obey God by letting your husband rule your home? Are you a rare and precious treasure? Or are you just like Job's wife?