May 17, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Lately the distractions keep coming at me, keeping me from my quiet time with God. I get texts from friends who are struggling with life issues, phone calls to help a person sort out her life situations. Sunday mornings I am no longer able to be up, into the Word before I get ready for church, so I study two days on Monday. The general lesson I am learning is keep going back to the Word of God until I am able to read the day's Word in its entirety. Some day's it is later that night, other days I make up a day I lost. I worry sometimes that the hour is late, I need to start the day, get some work done. Then God reminds me again, time spent with Him is not wasted, the work gets done later, still it gets done. Another lesson I am learning a bit late in my life is we are to tell our children of the things God has done in our lives. I see again the huge example of Dad's polio, Mom blamed most of the family problems on the disease, not Dad's life of abuse or how hard it was for her to step up to the plate and become the bread winner in the family. As I look back I understand that God had His hand on my Dad, my family. Looking back I see where God protected me from the hand of my husband, sent help many times only I did not recognize the help I received. Today, I find being thankful for the smallest things in my life teaches me when God is working in my life to protect me from the evils of this world. In being thankful I see talents God has given me, areas where He wants me to work for the spreading of  the Good News. I was never able to connect fully with God until I started reading the Bible daily, for me I read the Bible in a year, each year. The more I read, the more I am able to absorb the lessons, the direction God wants me to go in. I am able to pray and hear when God answers me with His Word. For the third year my dehydrator broke after one years use, even the better quality dehydrator. I had a load of strawberries to dry and I was praying how to save this batch of berries when God placed on my mind to dry them outside in the sun. Next I looked online for solar dehydrating products. I discovered a hanging tier of shelves covered in screen and cloth. This year I am learning to use the sun to dehydrate food for the winter. I also will use the freezer and God had me researching root cellars without digging in the ground. We have a house built on a mountain where we have what I call an underneath. We have 2 small freezers ( apartment sized) that we are not using and God showed me to use those underneath the house as a root cellar along with a plastic cooler . God has been teaching me to depend more on Him, less on man processed, chemical filled foods so we are attempting our first container garden. Since we live in a rural area we can get home grown food, fresh meat from the source to put up for winter. As we get more proficient we will be able to grow and put up our food needs. I love this new to me lifestyle change, that God is teaching me how to do so, then using me to tell others how I am able to take care of our needs and rely less on the government, others for our needs. Slowly our nation has been teaching us to rely more on man than on God. God has provided the land, the bounty of food crops and animals for our needs. He wants us to rely more on Him than on man. We are also to tell how God helps us, sustains us and to reach out to others. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet