~
There's JOY in the Kitchen ~
~When we realize that ~
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others
without getting a few drops on yourself. * * *
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A little of this and a little of that for you
this week!!!
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HEY!!! I CAN HEAR GOD TOO!!!
By Dove7Mom
I was sitting in Bible Study last night when
the Lord spoke to me concerning a discussion the
group had a while back.I hope you will feel free
to share it in your newsletter.
We were talking about what to do when we feel
God is leading us in one direction and our
husbands believe God is leading in another. I
think we all agree that God can & does speak
to both man & wife but there will be times in
our marriage when we may "hear"
differently if it has not already happened to us.
I was reading about Abraham In Genesis
13:14-17
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted
from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you
are and look north and south, east and west.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you
and your offspring forever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of
the earth, so that if anyone could count the
dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the
land, for I am giving it to you." (NIV)
Abraham was promised much in this covenant.
One thing most incredible was that Abraham would
have many descendents. Now Abraham nor Sarah
doubted God's promise at first but they did have
different ideas on how this promise would come to
be. Sarah, bless her heart, got a little
impatient. But then who of us wouldn't if we were
in our 90s & still didn't have a child.
Remember what she did? Look in Gen.16:1-4
1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no
children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant
named Hagar;
2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept
me from having children. Go, sleep with my
maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through
her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten
years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian
maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to
be his wife.
4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
(When she knew she was pregnant, she began to
despise her mistress.) (NIV)
Here is an example where the wife
"heard" one answer; the husband
"heard" another. Keep in mind that in
those days Sarah's idea was totally acceptable to
society. But it wasn't God's plan. Evenso, she
insisted & Abraham listened to her. Read in
Genesis 16-17 about the problems that incurred
because Abraham listened to Sarah instead of the
Lord.
But God had a different plan for them :
Gen 17:15-16
15 God also said to Abraham, "As for
Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her
Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
16 I will bless her and will surely give you a
son by her. I will bless her so that she will be
the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come
from her." (NIV)
Gen 17:21
21 But my covenant I will establish with
Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time
next year." (NIV)
God spoke from the beginning to Abraham, His
covenant was with Abraham. Yes, Sarah would share
in the blessing, but God spoke (this time) to
Abraham. We as wives can learn from this example
that, though we may not agree OR understand the
direction God is taking our husbands, God has
ordained him as head of our homes and in our
cases, head of the church. We may not be able to
see God's direction but must trust God and yes,
trust our husbands.
I have to wonder that if we as Pastor's wives
are not able to follow our husbands, how will the
church ever follow them. Please hear me. I am not
saying a woman cannot hear God nor am I saying
that we shouldn't talk with our husbands about
things that concern us. But in the case when
spouses believe they are both hearing from God
& are hearing different things, I encourage
you to trust God's word. He had a reason for
making the husband the head of our homes. It
wasn't to control us but to bestow order
"just as Christ is the Head of the
church".
Being a "PW" can be such a hard
thing. We don't want to see our husbands fail.
But remember, neither does God. Let's covenant
with each other to pray for our husbands that's
God's Will shall be crystal clear to our husbands
and we will be the best encouragers we can be for
them--in victory AND in failure.
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It is vain for you to rise up early, to
sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so
He giveth His beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2
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The best bridge between hope and
despair is often a good night's sleep.
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Total Trust
Submitted by Christina Weimer
I'm an American English teacher living in
Japan. Last Tuesday I opened some of the windows
to try to get a breeze to come through the hot
room. Well, during one of the children's'
classes, one of the students, suddenly got
distracted by something and started screaming in
Japanese. He had noticed that a little bird had
flown into the classroom!
The children went wild....they jumped out of
their chairs and ran towards the poor bird. The
bird, of course, flew away from them and ran into
the walls and the windows several times. It took
me a minute to get the students back in control.
I had them all stay away from the bird and told
them to be quiet. The bird had landed on the
floor on the other side of the room. I carefully
approached the bird, but when it saw me it took
off again, flying wildly around the classroom. Of
course, this got the students excited again and
they started screaming and jumping up and down.
The little bird eventually landed on a shelf, and
again I carefully approached. But once again, the
frightened creature flew away, banging against
the walls and windows. After a few seconds, the
little bird landed on the floor again. This time,
as I walked toward the bird, it didn't move. At
first, I thought that maybe it was dead....but
then I saw it's head turn to look at me. But it
didn't fly away. The poor thing must have been
too frightened and exhausted to try to fly again.
I reached out and picked up the bird in my hand.
I expected it to try to get away or to try to
bite me, but it didn't move at all. I brought it
toward the open window. I gently tossed the bird
out of the window, half afraid that it would just
fall to the ground like a rock. But fortunately
it flew off into the distance, free at last!
Looking back on this now, I think that we are
often a lot like that little bird. When we
"fly into a classroom" we tend to do
everything we can to get out. We try to solve our
problems by flying around and banging into walls
and windows, injuring and exhausting ourselves in
the process. God approaches us, and gently holds
out His hand to help us. But we don't trust Him.
We would rather do things our own way. But, God
IS trustworthy. He doesn't want to hurt us. When
I had that little bird in my hand, I could have
easily killed it. But I didn't want to do that! I
wanted to help it, and to set it free. God wants
to do the same with us. But we need to stop
flying around, and stop banging into walls and
windows. Sometimes we need to just sit still and
let God take us into His hand. He will not hurt
us. He will set us free!
by: S. Martin
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1 Cor 1:12-13 Now I say this, that each
of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I
am of Apollos," or "I am of
Cephas," or "I am of Christ."Is
Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or
were you baptized in the name of Paul? Praise God
for leaders and their wives with a vision for
unity in the body, rather than division! Thank
you all for being so willing to love each other
because of Christ, and not because of what
denomination we belong to!!!
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REQUEST FOR INPUT YOKED CHURCHES
Yoked churches are
churches too small to afford a full time pastor.
Thus they link up with another similar church.
Each church has their own buildings,
congregation, cemeteries, etc. So on Sunday, my
husband preaches at 9:30 at one church and 11:00
at the next church. Each church has Sunday school
while the other church is having worship. Thus, I
can't participate in both worship services and be
involved with our children in Sunday school. Our
churches are close together (8 mi.), but very
different in a lot of ways. They have no interest
in merging and have been yoked for 40 years.
Some interesting issues that I've got
questions about are:
1. What should I do with my church membership?
2. How do I get to know the less active
families in the church I don't worship in? Those
people who just come to Sunday worship.
3. What are some problems or issues I'll face
with starting some shared programs between the
churches? For example, starting a Wed night
contemporary service for both churches.
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POT LUCK!
SQUASH CASSEROLE
(I don't know about you, but we are swimming in
squash! LOL)
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. biscuit mix (dry)
1 (4oz.) can chopped green chili peppers with
juice
1 med. onion, chopped (about 1/2 c.)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. grated Cheddar cheese, divided
4 c. coarsely chopped summer squash or zucchini
DIRECTIONS: combine eggs, oil and biscuit mix.
Stir in chili peppers, onion, garlic and half the
cheese. Stir in squash. Pour into greased 13 x 9
x 2 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40
minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cheese and bake 5
minutes more. Serves 8 - 10
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COME AGAIN???
Some men were discussing the Bible. They were
wondering how many apples Adam and Eve ate in the
Garden of Eden.
First Man: I think there was only one apple in
the Garden.
Second Man:I think there were ten apples. Adam 8
and Eve ate 2.
Third Man: I think there were sixteen apples. Eve
ate and Adam 8 also.
Fourth Man: I think all three of you are wrong.
If Eve 8 and Adam 82, that would be a total of 90
apples.
Fifth Man: You guys don't know how to add at all.
According to history, Eve 81 and Adam 82. That
would make a total of 163 apples.
Sixth Man: Wait a minute! If Eve 81 and Adam 812,
that would make a total of 893 apples.
Seventh Man: None of you guys understand the
problem. According to my figuring, if Eve 814
Adam and Adam 8124 Eve, that would be a total of
8,938 apples. At that point all the men gave up.
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