strawberry farm

I dressed my clan in red.

And took them to.....

a lovely strawberry farm for berry picking!  

 My friend "Sally", with whom I taught first grade in California, was visiting Ohio for a cousins' reunion (we see her once a year, because she has family near us).  We were blessed to have her meet us at the farm with her sister and brother-in-law.  She now lives in Washington state and travels to Africa for short-term mission trips to orphanages, where she teaches reading.  She is in the States until August.  Regular readers might remember that she brought me to the Lord fourteen years ago--answering all my questions and leading me into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  She continued to answer my questions and study the Bible with me, and mentor me, for two years.

She has had many hardships in her life, including infertility (she adopted two newborns), the suicide death of her husband, the death of her first grandchild from meningitis, wayward children, ovarian cancer, and widowhood for going on twenty-something years.  And yet, she has the joy of the Lord!  An incredibly inspiring person.  I asked her spiritual questions because I saw in her something I wanted......peace, joy, contentment.  Praise the Lord for people like my friend!

My only wish is that I had a prayer warrior in my midst, holding me accountable all these years. How the Body of Christ needs that!  If we could pair everyone in the Church with an accountability partner, how fast we could defeat Satan!  Most of the time, I really think he wins, sadly.  If someone would simply be bold enough to say, "How is the study and prayer going?" we would all work harder to have a good answer, the next time they ask (which would hopefully be often).  The Christian walk goes nowhere without a life-long study and prayer habit....one that doesn't have fits and starts, but is truly consistent.

We saw many Amish farms, Amish buggies, Amish clothing hanging on clotheslines.  This strawberry farm is not owned by the Amish, but it does partner with them, selling their vegetables in their farmer's market, and employing many young Amish people.

As I drove through the area, contemplating the simplicity with which the Amish live, I wanted to be Amish.  But that feeling died fast when I saw many Amish girls in the fields, picking strawberries in the humidity with their polyester dresses and thick stalkings on.  Oh, my!  I wilt fast in heat, which commonly happens to those of us with fairer skin.  We need more water, more shade, and can feel sick quickly when temps climb.  God protects our skin by having us react more strongly to the sun, IMHO. ( It's not that we're wimps!)

There was a petting barn at the farm also.

My little ones were troopers, picking lots of strawberries, and enjoying the whole experience.

I wish I could say we came home with seventeen dollars worth of delicious berries.  But, well....no.  Most are quite sour.  :(      We'll have to mix them with sugar, I'm afraid.  But the experience, the fellowship...all that was wonderful!


For a U-pick farm near you, check this website:    

praying for mothers

Yesterday, for Father's Day, I offered my husband/father prayer list.

It might have occurred to you (it did to me)....but what about the mothers.....the women?  Don't they deserve prayer from the Body of Christ?

Yes!

But I wasn't far enough along in my prayer warrior journey around Mother's Day to write a prayer list befitting the Christian mother.  Having prayed for wisdom, I now have a list to help me pray more specifically for all the mothers in my life--family and friends and acquaintances...and you, dear reader.  May it encourage you to write your own, so you can strengthen the Body of Christ.

In a group of 70 Christians, there may only be a few prayer warriors.

Won't you be one of the few?

How is the prayer going, friend?


Our Father, I pray these things for my mother friend _______________:


- That she will be saved, if that is not yet a reality.


- That she will develop a consistent prayer habit.


- That she will go to you for wisdom, for comfort, for strength, and not be swayed by the world.


- That she will lead her children in devotions, when her husband can't (or won't?).


- That she will guard her tongue.


- That she will serve her family with grace and gladness and thanksgiving.


- That she will submit to her husband's leadership, being thankful for what he provides.


- That she will pray for her husband and children daily.


- That she will be content in her circumstances.


- That she will have at least one godly woman encouraging her in the ways of the Lord, holding her accountable for a prayer life, for Bible study, for keeping her marriage bed pure.


- That she will use her resources wisely and unselfishly, being a good steward, so she can bless her church and the less fortunate. 

Pray for our men!

I thought it a good time, on this Father's Day, to unveil a prayer burden God has put on my heart.

Friend, I am praying for your husband, and mine...faithfully.

If there are seventy readers out there, there must be seventy husbands, give or take.  I know something about only three of the husbands:  one lives in Ohio and works in corporate management.....one lives in Canada and works in the computer field...one lives in Michigan and teaches. That's it.  That's what I know, primarily because this is a Mommy/Faith blog, and the few of you that blog also cover motherhood.  Dads just don't come up much.

If I know you by name, I pray specifically for your husband.  If I don't know you by name, I pray for your husband under a readership husbands label.


I'm sure you pray for your own husband, but do you pray for the husbands of friends and family? How much stronger the Body of Christ would be, if we women would pray for the men!  Just imagine it.

Here is what God has put on my heart to pray.  I encourage you to form your own prayer list for husbands--for your own, and for those around you.

Our Father, I pray these things for _________ husband:

- That he be saved, if this is not yet a reality.

- That he will develop a consistent prayer habit.

- That he will look to the Lord for daily wisdom, daily strength, and not follow the world.

- That he will be a strong but patient leader in his home.

- That he will have at least one godly man in his life, holding him accountable for studying and obeying the Word, and for staying sexually pure--no sexual immorality and no emotional attachments to other women.

- That he will lead his family in devotions, as often as his schedule allows--making time for this above pleasures.

- That he will pray for his wife and his children, daily.

- That he will humble himself before the Lord, confessing daily.

- That he will be a leader concerning the household money, tempering wants, and giving to his church and to those less fortunate.

Who needs toys when.....

there are Colorado potato bugs in your midst?

My gratitude List:

I'm thankful for...

...an abandoned robin nest getting new tenants.

...new tenants giving life successfully.

....learning to use the macro button.  Now if I could just focus some of these better.

...Colorado potato bugs on seven-year-old toes.

....a lawn mower from the "lawn mower fairy" (aka my Uncle David).  We couldn't fix ours.

....a $10 ladder from a garage sale.  We've needed one for six years. 

....the first night of firefly magic.

....Miss Beth's legs wrapped around me.

...kids engrossed with mirrors and the sun (science learning in action).

...little girls engrossed with magnets and steel balls.

- the way the boys reacted upon looking out the window and finding fireflies.  Palpable glee.  They've never donned shoes so fast, nor been so willing to give up storytime (which they hold sacred).  For the first time ever, I let them catch fireflies for as long as they wanted.  They went to bed at 10:00 PM and then watched the fireflies in a jar in their room until 10:20. So far, no emotional fits today.  They are growing up, these boys.  

....this little arm, looking so kissable (at least when it's bugless)

....carpenter ants to remind me that even if the house gets eaten from the inside out by these awful creatures, we still have an eternal asset called salvation.  And it's portable.  You can take it anywhere.  Even to a tent in your backyard if your house gets eaten. Okay....maybe I'm exaggerating.  There aren't that many.  But we are thinking about an exterminator, since the neighbor told us the previous owners had to replace the dining-room roof after carpenter ants damaged it.  Yikes. 

....the garage-sale resident saying I had a beautiful family.

....sneakers on sale at Walmart for $5.  I think flip flops cause athlete's foot. I've surmised this after two years' experience. They need a pair of sneakers for play and a pair for going places.  Then they have to change their socks promptly, upon feeling any moisture.  I love laundry...and summer.   Or not.

....ice cream...because it's too hot to bake dessert...and because Walmart sells a generic version of Breyer's all natural ice cream.

...Miss Beth and Miss Mary planting radish seeds.....here and there and everywhere.  We're seventeen days late, but we have tomato plants, pepper plants, strawberry plants, squash seeds, radish seeds, corn seeds, sugar snap pea seeds (because Curious George said they were good), and bean seeds....all finally in the ground.  We should be okay, harvesting the latest things in late August.  The morning glory plants are growing well.  We planted those from seed a few weeks ago.  Those we started indoors in March died.

....Mary being so delighted by amphibians that she'll play with a toad for an hour.  I can trust her now, finally.  She just puts him here and there and watches how he moves.  Miss Beth, however, can't be trusted.  She must be sleeping for anyone to play with a toad.

...Paul going outside with paper and pencil, observing the toad while Mary played with it.  Twenty minutes later he brings me a science report all about toads...how they move, their colors, their bumps, their sounds, their eyes.  I love homeschooling!

....spray bottles of water entertaining little ones for hours.  They water this and that, spray each other, "clean" the windows, give the creatures a drink.

....being able to concentrate better when Miss Beth wakes up during my prayer time.  I can finish it, or do the whole routine in bed now when necessary....without falling asleep.  The falling asleep part is one of Satan's tactics.  I'm convinced of this.  He attacks prayer times aggressively.  

Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrier, Week 4

Previous posts in this Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior series are here: part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5.

A Shifting of Weight...from me, to Him.

Wasted hours...so many wasted hours...spent worrying about my children, my parenting, over the past nine and a half years.  Yes, my oldest is 9.5 now.  How different these years would have been, had I started out as a prayer warrior!

Certainly I covered worrisome issues in prayer, but I spent far more time lamenting.  My ratio of lament to prayer was probably 4 to 1--four times as much lamenting as praying.

By the grace of God, that has changed!  Now approximately 28 days into a daily, disciplined prayer habit, a knee-jerk reaction is born.  A worrisome thought comes to me, and I handle it with prayer--snippets here and there as the thoughts come, and later at night, as part of my structured prayer.

The Spirit has so convinced me that I'm powerless without Him, and so convinced me that my part is to pray and then obey the Spirit's instructions......that I believe with my whole heart, my whole mind, this very important truth:

I'm walking in His will!  I'm an approved worker in Christ!


The future is His.  Today is His.  I'm at peace, because I'm doing my part.

The Power of Confession

Even when I fail, which I still do of course.....I find peace quickly through confession.  Confession--part of a daily prayer habit--is a constant humbling.  

Confession brings immediate forgiveness, an immediate fresh start.  The enemy loves to drag us down over every failure. His way is to bring an hour or a half-day's depression over a two-minute failure.  Can't control your sharp tongue with your children?

You stupid, no good, failure of a parent!  You don't even deserve these children.  You're ruining them.   

These whisperings are not of God. Defeat them, through immediate confession.

Remember that the only thing keeping us from a habit of confession, is a preoccupation with Satan's lies.  Drown his voice out....with Truth!


Choose humility and peace, through confession.


Improve Your Marriage Perk


Do you and your husband spend a lot of time--waste a lot of time--discussing each child's difficulties and failures?  Does it ever help...or just drag you down...drag your relationship down, as you argue over what should be done?

Sadly, we used to do this.  With a special-needs child in our midst, and another entering a heavy whining phase (4.5-year-old Mary), together with an into-everything 2-year-old, and a 7-year-old who suffers from moderate insomnia, perfectionism, and a picky-eating habit.......well, we always had plenty to discuss.

And due to second-shift hours, we have precious little time together...certainly none to waste.

Tense discussions about the kids can kill libidos, too, which is unhealthy on many levels.

Satan attacks marriages in many ways, and instigating arguing--drowning out prayer--is one of his favorite tactics. Don't succumb.

We've defeated this unhealthy cycle by a consistent, three-times weekly husband/wife prayer habit.  We're doing our part.  The answers will come to us, through the Spirit.  We just have to be on alert for His instructions.

Pray....and walk away.

That's my new self-speak.  Pray...and walk away.

A life without consistent prayer stalls you, keeps you spinning....rather than moving forward.

Pray....and walk away.  Walk away from pain, depression, failure, lies.  Walk away from stagnant Christianity.