I want you to go away with a sense of your own weakness, and yet a belief in your own safety. I want you to know that you cannot stand a minute, that you will be damned within another second unless grace keep you out of hell, and yet I want you to feel that since you are in the hand of Christ you cannot perish, neither can any pluck you out thence. And, poor sinners, my heart's desire is that you may be put into the hand of Christ tonight, that you may have done with trusting yourselves. You can run, but you cannot save yourselves. "Oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help found."

Christ alone can save you, oh look out of self to Christ; trust yourselves in his hands; he is "able to keep you from falling" Jude 24. You cannot even stand upright yourselves, and if he should set you upright you cannot keep so for a minute without his protecting care. If saints need to be kept, how much more need have you to seek the shelter of the Saviour's wounded side: flee thither as the dove to the cleft of the rock. If holy men of God cry daily for pardon, and profess to have no right of themselves to heaven, how much more urgent is your case.

You must perish if you die as you are. You can never make yourself faultless, but Christ can. He wants to do it: he has opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness: wash and be clean. Again, I say, look to Jesus. Away with self and cling to Christ, down with self-confidence and up with simple faith in Christ Jesus. I shall not let you go, dear friends, without singing one verse, which I think will express the feeling of each one of us:

"Let me among thy saints he found,
Whene'er the Archangel's trump shall sound,
To see thy smiling face;
Then loudest of the crowd I'll sing

(from Spurgeon's Sermons, Christians Kept in Time and Glorified in Eternity - Jude 1:24,25)

Prayer Answered by Crosses
By John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow 

In faith and love and every grace, 

Might more of his salvation know, 

And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray; 

And he, I trust, has answered prayer; 

But it has been in such a way 

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that, in some favoured hour, 

At once he’d answer my request, 

And by his love’s constraining power 

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel 

The hidden evils of my heart, 

And let the angry powers of hell 

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe, 

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried; 

Wilt thou pursue this worm to death? 

This is the way, the Lord replied
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I now employ 

From self and pride to set thee free,
And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 

That thou may’st seek thy all in me.

 Feeding my dogs on an extremely tight budget has been an area I've been thinking about lately. So my interest was sparked when I began reading about making your own dog food.  (I'm also looking for ways to fight fleas without spending so much on commercial flea products. Anyone have any ideas?)

This week I made a pot of chicken broth. I had been saving leftover carrot peels, onions and celery in the freezer for a few months. I also used a cooked chicken carcass plus a few pieces of raw chicken.  When the broth had finished simmering for a few hours I started to throw out the veggies and meat pieces when I suddenly remember the article on making dog food. It dawned on me that I could reuse the carrots, celery and chicken pieces.

The recipe I had my eye on called for 2 cups of cooked pasta, 2 cups of cooked rice, vegetables and a tablespoon of peanut butter boiled in a large pot of water. I had some beef broth that I also stirred into the mixture. 

I ended up with 5 meals for 2 dogs. It's not a huge amount but every little bit helps these days to stretch my budget. And the great thing is that most of the food was going to be thrown away. I'll still leave dry dog food out in a bowl in case they get hungry during the day.

I thought this would also be a great way to use leftovers that normally go to waste. I forgot to mention that I went through my fridge and found some leftover vegetables and a small amount of Chorizo that was outdated that I put in this batch of dog food. Unfortunately, I do have leftovers that go to waste if I don't get them frozen quick enough. No more. From now on I'll use them in future batches of dog food.

I know some dogs may have sensitive stomachs but we've been giving our dogs small amounts of scraps from the table since they were young. I just make sure I don't give them onions or Chinese food and I watch the portion size.  I also try to be careful about the amount of fat I give them and I don't give them chicken or fish bones. We've never had any problems and I think we'll be fine as long as we keep the food simple. 

I'm thankful to find another way to stretch our budget for this coming year.

My God IS Jehovah Jireh.. my Provider! He has proved Himself to be the best provider anyone could hope for over these past few years. I'm at rest knowing He will provide for all of our needs in the coming year while we wait for an answer from Social Security on my husband's disability. Teaching me how to stretch our food is only one of many ways He is doing so. 

 Our homeschooling days ended over 10 years ago. My children are now in their early thirties with children of their own.  I guess it's this particular season of life that has me looking at young parents and realizing that those days are forever gone. Thank you Lord for grandchildren!

What I loved about homeschooling my children...

- The first hour of every school day was spent reading the bible, missionary stories, character building stories and memorizing Scripture.  This was the most important subject of our day and the most loved!

- I loved that my husband and I were the final authority in how our children spent their days.

- We loved being able to choose godly curriculum to fill their school hours. We chose to train our children FIRST in the Lord and second in academics. I knew there was a good chance that they might have teachers that knew more than we did academically. But, I KNEW that no one would care about their souls the way their father and I did.

- History was a favorite subject next to the bible. During our family reading time we delved into the lives of godly men and women who had impacted their world for Christ.  They were taught to see history as "HIS STORY" and not a series of dates and names with no connection to God. I learned as much if not more than they did.

- No one knew these children as well as their father and I did. If we saw them struggling in one area then we could change the lesson plans/curriculum to accommodate a weakness. If we saw them struggling with a particular sin then we could pull in Scriptures to address the problem and character building missionary stories to encourage them towards Christ. We had the entire day to saturate them in God's Word. What a high privilege we were given to train our children in the things of the Lord daily.

- They were taught what God's Word said in each of their school subjects.

- Our children learned how to work hard.

- Our parenting flaws were in front of us daily which means we couldn't escape them 6 hours a day. Ultimately, we had to face those flaws and seek to overcome them if we wanted peace in our home as a result of well-behaved children. We did not do this perfectly but we tried our best.

- They were not pressured to own brand name clothes and were content with what they had.

- Fridays were 'ministry day'. We visited widows, retirement homes and helped those in need once our school work was finished.

- Unit studies were a favorite. I still remember a unit study we did on engines... so do my boys.

- We had awesome field trips!

- They enjoyed archery classes, PE classes, bowling, shooting range, art classes, piano lessons, ministry opportunities, skating and on the list goes.

- We loved knowing who their friends were.

- Curriculum fairs were so much fun!

- I loved being with my children.

 We didn't 'produce' perfect children and they sure didn't have perfect parents but I count homeschooling as one of the greatest treasures during the years my children were home.  

 Homeschooling was a huge commitment (10 plus years) but one of the times in our lives that we 'knew that we knew that we knew' that we were smack dab in the center of God's will for our family. I still believe that and so does my husband!

 One of my favorite quotes .... "Homeschooling is the fastest road to sanctification... for the PARENTS!"

(Re:Picture used with permission from Allposters.com)

In theme with a summer that has been filled with harvesting any free food that comes our way  I decided to see what I could do with a ton of grapes that were beginning to go to waste on the vine. The other day when I walked by the vines it was starting to smell like a winery so I figured it was now or never to take advantage of these beauties. There were several varities growing next to each other and very few Concord so I wasn't sure how the juice would taste.

This is the first time I've ever harvested grapes. The process is indeed labor intensive (I won't even go into the description of a gazillion spiders that surfaced once we began cleaning them!). After cleaning the grapes I put them in the tallest pan I own and filled it with water just barely covering the grapes. I brought the water to a boil and kept it there for 15-20 minutes until the skins broke open.

I didn't have any cheesecloth but I had read you could use a pillowcase instead. I didn't have any extra pillowcases so I used a cloth napkin which I placed inside a small  handheld collander which I balanced on the rim of a tall pot. I then used my hand held blender to break up the grapes. The juice flowed through pretty easy at first but then the pulp created a layer that made it more difficult for the juice to drain. At that point I would gather up the ends of the napking and start squeezing the juice through.

I ended up with a TON of juice.  We are using some of it as just plain fruit juice over ice. The rest I'm using to make grape jelly. So far I've made 8 jars to give away as Christmas gifts.  The color is not as red as it turned out in this picture but not as dark purple as the brand you'd find in the stores. It's kind of a medium color of purple. Very nice.

I was thinking while picking the grapes how much I've enjoyed my garden work this summer. The Lord brings many lessons from Scripture to mind as I'm weeding or dead heading plants. As I was pruning back the dead vines I thought of these verses...     

I've nearly finished Noel Piper's book called "Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God".  I've enjoyed it so much that I just had to share it with someone!

Noel retells the story of five Christian women who trusted in their extraordinary God to live a life so unfamiliar to most of us in America's churches today. I had previously read the account of most of these women by other authors so I wasn't sure how I would respond to hearing their stories told again.  I wasn't bored in the least. Noel has a gift of being able to weave you right into the midst of these women's lives. My imagination was swept away to foreign places and I asked myself more than once how I would respond if placed in a similar situation.

One of the many things I like about the book is that Noel ends each missionary's story with an application to our own lives. Esther Ahn Kim's story brought the most conviction and exhortation but the other testimonies were powerful, too. Several of Esther's 'preparations for suffering' will hopefully stay with me forever.

She practiced living an impoverished life in preparation for her evident imprisonment for standing against the government's demand to bow to false Gods instead of the true, living God.  Because she knew she would be facing imprisonment for her denial to bow she prepared herself by living a life close to what she pictured the horrors of prison to be. She chose the worst looking food at the market and ate the smallest portions. She also slept on the floor with no blanket. She memorized huge portions of Scriptures (over 100 chapters) which she relied on for her substance when she finally was imprisoned and had no access to the Bible.

Esther embraced those whom others rejected. Their prison cell rooms were freezing so the women in Esther's cell huddled together for warmth. They could hear a woman in the cell next to theirs screaming continually day and night. She had no one to keep her warm.  Esther begged the guards until they finally brought her into their cell.  The other women in Esther's cell wouldn't come near this other woman because she was so filthy and smelled so bad. But, Esther held her all that night to keep her warm. After a few hours she settled down to sleep. As she slept Esther embraced her feet that were caked with feces to her breast to keep them warm. Her love for this women eventually led her to Christ.

The testimony of Esther's mother stood out the most to me.  Her mother never encouraged her to take an easy path away from suffering but helped her prepare for her eventual imprisonment. I tried to put myself in the mother's place more than once during the story and saw my knees buckle at the thought of one of my children being imprisoned where I knew they would be tortured and lack the nourishment to keep them healthy. Yet, this mother's eyes were set on the soul of her daughter and the souls of others. She did not shrink back but encouraged her to follow Christ even if it meant death. 

Esther once said, "I always felt strengthened when I talked with Mother about God and His love. I began to think that life might be worth living in this time of persecution.  It might even be a truer picture of the believer to agonize, to suffer, to be hated, and tortured and even to be killed in obeying God's words rather than to live an ordinary, uneventful life."

A Korean senior officer said, "I have never seen anything like this before. The daughter is great. The mother is greater."  The mother's example challenged me to look critically at areas of my mothering to examine whether my approach has been God-centered with my children or 'Americanized' to avoid hardship.   I will carry many of the things she said to her daughter in my heart for years to come.

I like to keep a missionary story in the car to read in places like doctor's offices or at the pharmacy where I'm waiting in line. I was tempted more than once to bring this book into the house just so I could finish it sooner.

These five women would also make wonderful companions to your daughters in book form. Their examples will help shake the Americanized view of Christianity and give them a biblical, living picture of what it really means to follow Jesus Christ.

If you think this book is one you'd like to own we would greatly appreciate your generosity by ordering it from our bookstore. If you click on the link for the title in the first paragraph it will take you to our bookstore. Thank you for your kindness.

My husband and I have placed our request before the Lord for nearly a year. We knew what we hoped would happen. We prayed for the outcome we hoped to receive. But, Saturday we received news that the answer for now is a resounding "NO". My husband was denied Social Security benefits for the second time in a year.  Our lawyer will appeal the decision. It will take nine months to receive a date to go before an administrative judge, then another 2 months for the appointment and a possible 2 more months to hear a decision. His state disability paycheck will end October 29.. less than a month away..  and we will then start living off of our savings which we pray will get us through until he goes before the judge in a year. (Thanks be to God He has provided a savings through the sale of our home and business equipment!)

I had so hoped we would not have to take this path. I prayed fervently asking the Lord if we could bypass this trial of no fixed income for the next year and the uncertainty if he will even be accepted by S.S.. Yet, tagged onto the end of each prayer has been the defining phrase.. 'not my will but thine be done'! We've prayed.. we had our hopes concerning how we desired this next year to play out.. but ultimately.. bottom line.. we want God glorified.. we want His will to be done in our lives.. no matter what the cost!

I laid down for a Sunday nap today (old women like Sunday naps! ) and picked up one of the books laying on my nightstand called, A Theology of Christian Counseling by Jay Adams. I was so delighted I did for the timing was perfect. Look what my eyes feasted on...

"God does what He wants to do.  He does it when and how and where it pleases Him to do so.  Our prayers do not instruct Him, they do not order Him, they do not manipulate Him.  We are ordered to ask, but we are told that we will receive.  All is of grace, and what we receive will be the answer that He is pleased to give.  It may be yes, partially yes, no, wait or something else.  It is our responsibilty to conform to His answer not God's responsibility to conform to the desire behind our request.  What we think is right is not always what is best."

.. "it is our responsibility to CONFORM to HIS ANSWER"!

 I love knowing God is in absolute control of every intimate detail of my life. It's the secure feeling of a child under the strong protection of a wise parent who they cannot manipulate by their whining or crying. 

Will you please pray for my husband and I in the coming months that God will be magnified in our lives? I want God to be more accurately known by the way we respond to this trial.  I want others to look at our situation this next year and say.. "WOW! Look how awesome their God is! Look how wonderfully He takes care of them!" We are weak and in ourselves I know we will fail. How thankful I am that He promises His strength and power to the weak!

I pray that we will kiss His feet with our lives!

By night when others soundly slept,
And had at once both ease and rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought Him whom my soul did love,
With tears I sought Him earnestly;
He bowed His ear down from above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry soul He filled with good,
He in His bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washed in His blood,
And banished thence my doubts and fears.

What to my Savior shall I give,
Who freely hath done this for me?
I’ll serve Him here whilst I shall live
And love to Him to eternity.

-Anne Bradstreet-

Our income is getting ready to drop again at the end of October when my husbands state disability will end. Our monthly income will then be 1/3 of what we have lived on in the past before the 'Great Recession/Depression'.  We've made a LOT of changes in our monthly budget over the past 3 years but we're gearing up to make a few more in the next few months. I'm still working on dropping my monthly grocery budget hopefully lower. I've tried to keep it below $200.00 a month but I haven't been meeting that goal consistently. It's tough even with help from our church food pantry.  I've included supplements, toiletries and pet products into that number also. Our summer garden has really helped to lower my food budget this summer and will help us into the winter months to come. 

I was very surprised how much food our little garden yielded this summer. I was so pleased that I've started picking up seeds and plants for a winter garden. I planted napa cabbage, cauliflower, head cabbage plants yesterday evening and spinach and lettuce seeds tonight. Our weather has been 100 degrees the past two days. It was still so hot this evening that I dreaded being outside but I was concerned that the plants would die if I didn't get them in the ground. I added some steer manure to each hole I dug for the plants. I'm hoping it will help build up the soil.

Next year we hope to plant more of a variety. We ended up with too many peppers and tomatoes. I've loved making homemade tomato sauce but a girl can only use so much! Today I roasted, skinned and de-seeded peppers for Chile Rellenos. I minced the rest of them and then divided them into an ice cube tray and froze them. When they are frozen I'll put the squares of roasted peppers into a marked bag. Roasted chile peppers are so expensive and I do use them in several recipes along with stews and soups so this will save me some money this winter.  I also made another batch if jalapeno pepper jelly for Christmas gifts.

We invested about $50.00 in summer plants and seeds. At the time I thought that was too much to spend on plants and seeds.  I wish I had tracked what our little garden yielded but I can safely say that it gave back much more than our investment.  I'm hooked!

Is anyone else planting a winter garden this year?