My Apologies

I am terribly sorry I haven't been able to post. I don't have access to a computer with the internet. But where there's a will there's a way and God willing I will be back to posting soon!

I am not great.

My daughter and I have been reading through Genesis for our Bible time. We recently just finished reading about Joseph, Jacob's son who was sold to the Egyptians. I was familiar with this story having seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat many times as a child. But reading it left me with a completely different message. One of realizing that the things that I am capable of doing are not on my own merit. That everything I do is possible because of God.

*Genesis 41:15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.*

How humble of Joseph to admit that although you hear the words coming out of my mouth its not me. I am not great, but God is! It reminded me just how wonderful our God is. To send me that message at the exact right time so that I am able to teach it to my daughter. To instill in her from early on, that even though she is the one physically doing something, it would be IMPOSSIBLE with out God. How important of a lesson for me, and how HUGE of a blessing, that I am able to learn it to teach my daughter. So many of us walk around believing in only ourselves. Thinking that we can do anything. But really we can do nothing! I strive to be as humble as Joseph that when someone asks me to do something they think I'm great at to remind them that it is not me; It's GOD!

Obedience

Many times in the Bible God is referred to as "father" and us as His children.

*Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:*

Now if we are His adopted children, why do we assume that we, as Christians, have such a drastically different relationship with our Father than the rest of His children, the Jews? Are adopted children any less than biological children in the eyes of a parent? Are they held to seperate standards? Yes maybe the parent may have a "soft spot" for the adopted child but they will always want the best for all children and they will be held to the same standard. This is true of almost any parent. So how much more true and pure is that love from God who knows us intimately and waits for us to choose Him! If we can believe that God loves us, shouldn't we believe He loves us enough to want the best for us? Isn't that what parents always want? The best for their children. Just as parents have set rules in order to protect their children and bring out the best in them. So does our Father; God. If we, as sinful creatures, know to set boundaries in order to protect how much more would God set boundaries? We are to model our relationship with our children after God's relationship with us! We as parents are to love unconditionally and protect by setting rules. God's rules can be found in the Old Testament. He allows us to know what He wants and it is up to us to follow. Following God's commandments does not save us, but rather gives us an opportunity to grow closer to Him. When we listen and allow Him to shape us and guide us, how much more do we get to receive His blessings?

*Romans 8:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.*

For me its simple. I will obey God because I love and trust Him. I am not perfect, and I will fall short. But with His help I can make it!

Striving to be everything that He has made me to be.
Miss T

A new hobby?

We got the apartment! I'm so very excited. S/O is moving in now and I will after we get married but of course I will be spending a lot of time over there. As well as doing a ton of cooking. So I decided to make an apron.



That's the apron! But while doing this I stumbled upon something else that I didn't know I would enjoy doing. EMBROIDERY! I've never done it before, never even really thought about doing it; until today. I love it! I see how it could be relaxing and a tension reliever. Tonight I was in a bit of a hurry because I want to finish the apron but if I just work on an embroidery project I'll know to give myself time so I don't have to rush!

Here is a close up of what I did:



This was my first time ever so I'm pretty pleased with the turn out! I can't wait to start a new project.

Until next time...
Miss T

Under the weather..

I've been feeling a bit under the weather, but, I don't like to take medicine. I just don't like putting too many unnatural things in my body. After all it is my temple! I've been trying to get rest, which proves to be difficult with a very active 15 month old! I've been getting by though with the help of:



Homemade vegetarian chicken soup!

&



Cough drops

&


Delicious tea!




I stummbled across the cough drops and the tea while at a local grocery store searching for relief. To my delight they have both helped TREMENDOUSLY! Now if I could only stop sneezing!!!

Building for GOD'S GLORY!

This is the story of Laura and Caleb. They have been married for eight and a half years and have four children; Noah-7, Kayla-5, Lela-4, and Anna-7 months. With deputation starting in 2008 and mission work starting in 2009 this blessed family has been working hard to spread God's word and to build churches, right here in the sates! Although we often think of mission work as going to some third world country, there are lots of people right here in the U.S. that have either never heard the Gospel or just haven't heard it in a way that has touch their hearts. But God has a plan for those people too and someone must bring the message to them!

Laura's journey to the Lord began while at a church camp. Although she didn't know it at the time God was putting all the pieces together for her life.

When did you get saved? "When I was 13 at church camp. I had made a profession when I was 4 or 5 but I don't remember what I said or why, I just remember praying and my mom telling me I was saved. I started having doubts when I was ten, but I didn't get it settled until I was 13."

"After I was saved I was still a 'good' girl, I never got into boy trouble, didn't do drugs or smoke or alcohol. But I was rebellious in my spirit and attitude toward my parents. When I was 17 I surrendered my heart and my life toward the Lord and what He would have for me!"

Her Journey with Caleb started while attending Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City. After meeting in college Caleb interned at Laura's church, it was here that they "became good friends, and it just kind of grew!" A year later in August of 2001 the couple was married! After about seven years of marriage Caleb dropped the bomb, God had some big plans for their family.

How did your husband tell you he wanted to be a missionary? "He had been working as a plumber's apprentice for almost two years. He came home one day really serious, and said we needed to talk. He told me that at lunch he was looking at the huge, grand hotel that his company was building. He said that the Lord spoke to him and said that there were people all over the world working to build things for man's glory and spending millions of dollars, but who was building churches for God's glory? It was then that he started thinking about working with New Testament Church Planters, USA."


Were you shocked or did you expect it? "I wasn't shocked at all. As soon as he said it, I knew it was right. I thought about all of the odd jobs he'd had since we'd been married and even before. It all made sense, the places God had, had us in, and the experiences we had both had."

Was it hard to get used to living some place different? "We are always moving, we never stay at one place for longer than three months. It's exciting to always be in a new place, meet new people, find where the Walmarts and thrift stores are! We get the itch to move every few months!"

What states have you traveled to? Which ones were your favorite? "We've been in the northwest, midwest and southwest. We've built in only Arkansas so far. It's a nice state, very beautiful! I don't know what my favorite state has been, but we had a good time in Arizona, we were in a lot of nice churches."


How did your family react to your husband's decision? "His family accepted it right away and were immediately behind us. My family has been a little bit more slow. Some don't understand what we're doing, some don't really care, and some have been really supportive."


What's your favorite thing about being a missionary or a pastor's wife? "Seeing the Lord work in our lives and providing for us. We got to work on building a parsonage from the ground up, and it was intoxicating, how thrilled the Pastor and his family was to see their new house being built! It's so exciting to see God working and moving, and putting things together. And I love my new family I have with NTCP. We take care of each other; physically, spiritually, and emotionally sometimes."

And lastly I have to ask, what is your favorite Bible verse? " I love the book of James, and I John 4. Thinking about God's love and what He does for us is overwhelming at times!"

I hope this story has touched you all as much as it has touched me. I love to hear about missionaries and others who are following God's command and spreading the Good News! Thank you Laura and Caleb for sharing your story and for "GOING" .

Still learning....

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I like to read about being a godly woman, wife, and mother. Mostly about being a godly woman because I feel if you can get that down then the rest will follow. Unlike the rest of the wonderful young ladies whose blogs I have the pleasure of reading. I don't really have the luxury of being able to practice certain things that involve working on myself (my own fault I know). I am at the point where I must actually DO. I have my daughter who I love to pieces and wouldn't trade for anything, and I must train her "in the way that she should go". But, I don't really know what I'm doing. I have wonderful godly women at my church who help me. But, I need more guidance. I need a mentor. I wish my mom could be my mentor, but, she disagrees with my keeping a biblical life. Although she is active in her church she feels "the Bible is a very old book". That doesn't go very well with what I'm trying to establish for myself and my daughter. I started searching even more for God after my daughter was born. I realized I wasn't prepared to teach her how to be a lady. I knew that something was missing. Well now I know what that something was but now where do I go from here?

I'm the type of person who likes to just get to the end and I have a hard time enjoying the process. So I wonder if I'm just being hard on myself because I'm not progressing as I feel I should. Or if I'm really missing a step. It's hard to worry about it when she grabs my whole head just to kiss me on my cheek. But when she's not listening and it's time for discipline I wonder if I'm doing this whole motherhood thing right. Maybe I'm just being hard on myself tonight but this is just what's on my mind. I know the only thing I can do now is turn to the LORD.

Psalm 31:24 "Be of good courage, and HE shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD."