A Big Day

A Big Day has arrived. In just a few hours our son and his bride will be leaving - first stop planned is Michigan, then South Dakota with a destination planned for Idaho.

It seems that son will be able to get employment there. For a new couple that should be good.

My emotions are somewhat mixed. I wish some of the circumstances could have been a bit less stressful, but on the other hand, sometimes that is what gets people moving.

If that were all that is happening I suppose I might have been able to keep focused better.
That, however, is only one event that has been tugging for attention. Keeps life interesting.

It is getting late as I write this. They have been packing. They can't take everything right now but what they are having to leave here is going to be put in a locked area. While we were recently absent (took a quik trip to Florida to attend a funeral and a few other reasons) some of their things were 'tampered' with so they feel an even greater urge to get on their own as well as trying to protect what they can't take right at this time.

I can't blame them for feeling uneasy. I was pretty upset - yes even angry - when I found out what happened. But I also admire the way they handled it when they returned - and I told them of my affirmation.

Well, soon they will be on their way. I have confidence, however, that they are not going alone.
God has promised that HE will contend with those who are contending with me and HE will save our children - Praise the Lord.

God has also told me not to weep, for our children will come again from the land of the enemy - not so much human, but otherwise.

I was very happy that they came to church this past weekend. The church here had given them a very nice wedding 'shower' so I was glad that this last Sabbath they were in church.

There are many other things going on, but for now, this is front and center stage so to speak.

Many of you know far more about this kind of day than we do. Some don't yet.

But as I look ahead, I am encouraged that the same God who has begun a good work will complete it. We have dedicated our son to the Lord and we are giving God the full responsibility for our son and his bride as they begin this new chapter of their lives together.

Thanks for any of your prayers for them as well.

Father in Heaven, thank you for our son and his wife. Thank you for the JOY they have brought to us. Thank you also for accepting the responsibility of their lives. You love them far more than we ever will. We rededicate them to You. Pour out Your complete love on them. Fill them with Your JOY and Your PEACE. We love you. In Jesus' lovely Name we pray. Amen

Bringer of Peace

Peace or Pieces

The past two weeks or so have made 'as the world turns' seem a bit tame (according to me anyway). I don't really have much to do with 'soap operas' but who needs them with what has been going on in our daily lives.

Due to some rather interesting changes in our plans, our son, his wife and I went to Florida. A member of my father's uncle's family had died and my brother from out west decided to come. He was much closer to that part of our family than most of the rest of us. He and my sister offered to help pay for some of our gas if we would come so at about the last minute we decided to 'go for it'.

From retrospect that trip was one that God had planned. Not that everything went smoothly -(sometimes wondered about 'pieces') but time after time God arranged or rearranged events and in my mind I could see why.

My brother wanted to go see a dear friend, while he was here on the east coast - who lived in North Carolina. We all decided that I should go with him to help him drive. That gave our son and his new wife a little more time to spend in Florida. She had never been there before.

Most of you have heard that Florida has not been exactly what you would call warm, so water activities were not included on the agenda but the couple did drive down to the keys, which I hope they enjoyed, while I was in North Carolina.

Sadly, there are a few differences of opinion between some members of our family. I doubt that anything I did or said changed the situation but I sure have some insights I didn't have before.

We got back home just before noon this past Friday. I have got a lot to catch up on, but am thankful for safety during the miles of driving (or riding).

It definitely put a 'big dent' in our pocketbook but it was such a blessing for me to have the time with my older brother. It is probably the longest time I have ever spent with him in my whole life. I really feel like I am beginning to know him better than before and I hope it was a blessing for him as well.

I didn't get quite as much time with my sister, but she has stopped by more than once where we live in Virginia, so our times together hasn't been so distant.

I arrived home with several major decisions awaiting my attention. Since it was so close to Sabbath as special praise time with our wonderful Lord I decided to just lay aside such 'mundane' activities as making critical and possibly life changing decisions and focus on our precious God. As I was preparing for church I was talking to the Lord about some things that were on my mind. I was trying to quickly wash my hair but it seemed that almost as fast as the shower was spraying me with water so quickly was the Lord showering me with thoughts and ideas and filling in 'blanks' in relation to a lot of things that have been going on the past few days. That experience was awesome and I thank the Lord for it.

I was not ready for my children's class at church but we did it anyway. I had not had a class for three weeks. (Two weeks the church got closed down because of inclement weather and last week I ended up in Florida.) but the children seemed to enjoy what I did have for them.

God's form of Judgment includes 'revealing' in ways that enable correct decisions to be made.

God has been revealing to me things about me that need changing through many of the experiences of the past few days. I believe He also wants to 'reveal' what He is like as well through all who are willing to let His love flow through them to others in His time and way.

It is getting late so I must go.

May God's kind of peace be in your heart, but not the pieces that are the result of 'any other way' than God's way and will for you.

Yours in Peace,

Maiden, Bringer of Peace

'09 Blizzard update from Virginia

I had hoped to import a couple of pictures about the recent snowstorm which has been dubbed the blizzard of '09. The higher snow near the door of the smaller house is covering a 'cold frame' we had made for some greens. The 'fence' was around a strawberry bed.

For now, we are thankful that it wasn't more than about 24 inches. It is raining this evening. Depending on various factors we may or may not go to church - if it ices we probably won't go, but if it just melts the snow away we should be able to get there - a little more than a 1/4 of a mile away. Time will tell.

We had a nice Christmas dinner with the family here. Our son, Carl, and his new bride, Krista, were somewhat the focal point it seemed anyway. (I liked that, of course).

After opening gifts we helped Carl and Krista get some plastic on their windows. There still a few more windows to cover but we are slowly getting winterized.

Hope your day was nice as well.

Bye for now,

Maiden, Bringer of Peace

The 'wise' will know what is happening

This morning while we were having worship my hubby read Daniel 12:10. We began discussing what the word 'tried' meant, especially in the context. That got me looking at the whole text. Following is my 'paraphrase'. I found it very helpful to put it in my own words after studying what each word meant from the Hebrew (Blue Letter Bible on line is what I use right now.)

Great numbers of people will re-form to God’s will, they will get rid of anything that doesn’t agree with God and they will become pure, in complete agreement with God; but those who are opposed to God and hostile to His will and way will stand apart and not distinguish what is happening. But those who are looking at God and have become intelligent in regard to His ways and are experiencing His love will know what is happening.


The word 'purify' in KJV might more accurately be described as re-form or searched out, separated. 'Made white' has the connotation of cleansed - removal of anything that is not correct, good, or right. 'Tried' is examined, tested, purified.

Those who have taken whatever time is needed to accept - and experience - that God really, truly does love them, individually, will understand what is happening. One thing that is happening with me is God is permitting circumstances to take place to reveal where I am not yet in full agreement with Him. Even though this situations may be tough, or whatever word you might wish to insert, so long as I keep in mind that God knows me yet loves me still very much, and I am learning to know Him, then each experience can draw me closer to becoming 'like Him'. Thank the Lord.

The more I trust in my loving heavenly Father, the more peace I can experience inside of me.

May that kind of peace be in your life too.

Bringer of Peace

What God says

One way I study God's word is to look up what the original 'meaning' of words are and then ask God to guide me into putting the passage I have studied into more 'current' verbage while keeping the meaning God intended from when it was written in the first place. (For anyone interested in reading more click on 'paraphrases' link at the side.)

I have been studying Psalm 71 for a little while recently. This morning I reread what I had written. As I went over my paraphrase I couldn't help 'relate' it very much to what has just been happening in my life. All of Psalm 71 paraphrase has been posted at the link but here are a few verses that have meant a lot to me at this time.

1 Lord, I choose to trust in You completely, so please don’t disappoint me.
. . .
Your plans are to make me victorious since You are my refuge and defense. 4 Bring me into a secure place, O Mighty God, away from the violence of those who are hostile to You and take me out from under the authority of unjust, bitter and oppressive people. 5 God, I reverently expect You to do what is best for me, like a child trusting a loving parent.

. . .
14 – 16 But as for me, God, I choose to keep trusting You, singing about You and telling others of Your right ways. I don’t know how much longer I’ll live but as long as You keep me alive, I will live close to You and remind others how right Your ways are.

. . .

23-24 I will shout out loud for JOY, and I will rejoice in my heart as well as quietly tell others how You have set me free. Those who obnoxiously planned to hurt me (because they were out of control with anger) are astonished, disappointed and dishonored.

God has been not only 'revealing' as mentioned in the previous post, but He has also been mentoring me. He is eager for me to 'grow up' (by His love). I keep praising Him for that. Sometimes I have defined 'peace' as a lack of 'stress' or even a lack of intensity of experience. That is at times nice, but I am coming to also believe that the kind of 'peace' God is speaking about when He says "Great peace have they which love Thy law and nothing shall offend them" can also include the experience of realizing that God loves me so much I can trust Him no matter what is 'happening'.

What happens to me or around me I have, at least at times, considered 'offensive'.

However, according to the above, when I experience God's kind of love flowing into my own life, and I choose to allow God's love to flow through me to others in God's ways, (which is the essence of God's law: love Him supreme and love others as one's self) God gives me GREAT peace. God also enables me to 'let go' of what may have offended me in the past - "nothing shall offend them" - which brings God's kind of peace - the kind that doesn't take offense.

May God's kind of peace be yours

Bringer of Peace

Judgment - revealing

The past 24 hours or so have been extremely revealing. I won't share a lot of details, needless to say, but when people are faced with possible jail or more some feelings can surface that might not have been evidenced previously.

We chose to help someone in need. Due either to a choice or ignorance, information was not shared that should have been and my dear hubby and others were verbally abused with 'threats' of being arrested - for something they really didn't have anything to do with.

I write this 'after the fact', but it has been very interesting 'listening' to how individuals reacted. Apparently I seem to be the 'cause' and as such it appears I have been accorded the responsibility for 'threatening' the peace and prosperity of others.

May be, but on the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, I think that rather than a time of 'judging' - making decisions with incomplete (or even false) information, I have found that, for those who are willing, it may be a time of God's kind of judgment - a time to reveal what is true and right and just as well as or even more so what is truly loving.

I can't stay long on line right now but I do praise the Lord that what appeared to be a very bad situation He has taken in hand and for me I praise Him.

P.S. Much of the problem was based on either incomplete information or 'out and out' lies, which is very common when it comes to 'earthly' situations. When the truth was revealed there wasn't anything for the abuse to 'stand on'.

May your day begin with God - the Prince of Peace - be filled with the JOY of the Lord and finish with His love in your heart.

Bringer of Peace

Thanksgiving Miracle

In the last blog I mentioned the possible variety for our thanksgiving encounter.
Well, it was all and more, much more than I had anticipated. Yet, what really took place, actually before thanksgiving dinner, turned out to be along the line of a miracle.

Wednesday afternoon some folks were going to prepare some of the cranberry dishes and other food preparations that could be done ahead of time. One friend who was with us this year wanted to help but I also realized she would be assistance so both my husband and I were on hand. While we were puttering around in the big house kitchen of course there was conversation. But as time went on criticism began to weave its way in. At first it seemed centered on an event that had happened a few days earlier and there was still a certain amount of tension over. But somehow the tension mounted and some things were said that went straight to my own heart. I realized I was not responding as behoves a christian lady. Finally I left. My new daughter-in-law was over at our place and I asked her to pray with me. That seemed to help momentarily. I returned as I perceived my help was still needed. But with time the situation again deteriorated and got even more intense.

I probably wouldn't even share the above except that the whole situation ended in a miracle of love. Since dear ones are involved I will simply say that God was able to reveal both to others and myself 'lies' that had been long held. And even more wonderful I believe God was able to remove lies and replace in minds His truths of love. The Bible teaches that you will know (experience) the truth and it will set you free. And when the Son (Jesus) makes you free, you are free indeed. That is so true, especially on our farm this Thanksgiving.

I am humbly grateful that thanksgiving dinner was a blessed success. I believe a spirit of thanksgiving was truly present and that everyone here received love.

I pray that your Thanksgiving was also blessed.

Bringer of Peace