Faith Family Farm

Sarah's Book Reviews

Go over to Sarah's blog where she has written some great book reviews.  I hope you will want to read a book you hadn't thought about before, or if it has been on your "to read" list you will go ahead and read it now.

Becoming a Woman of Excellence  is a great Bible study and Sarah has a wonderful review for you...check it out or do it as a study with some friends, always a great way to read and study.  
You will learn the definition of excellence, discretion, and look at what it means to have a "gentle and quiet spirit."  You will read about Ruth, the Proverbs 31 woman, Esther and Mary, the mother of Jesus, great examples of excellent women.

 Another superb book and review is Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot.
Learn about the disciplines of the: 
body 
mind 
place (honoring others) 
time 
possessions 
work 
feelings

"When discipline becomes a glad surrender, 'Every day, we experience something of the death of Jesus, so that we may also know the power of the life of Jesus in these bodies of ours.'" (Cor. 4:10)

The Beauty of Modesty, there is so much in this book, you will definitely want this on your reading list if you have daughters, or know any girls.  Modesty isn't just for girls, our ladies and women do not know how to dress in this modern age.  

Mothers are not being examples, and Fathers seem to not care about what their daughters wear, or he just doesn't want her to be upset with him, all for the sake of "fashion," or "keeping the peace."   So sad when fathers allow their daughters to, in some instances, wear what prostitutes would wear.  

What do they wear indeed?  Tight clothing, too short shorts, skirts, and dresses, see-through clothing, clothes hanging off shoulders, or one-shouldered, shirts which show all kinds of cleavage, whether when you are standing or leaning over.  Then, ohmigoodness, bikinis!  Would you allow your daughters to wear their underwear to the pool or the beach?  Most underwear has more coverage than bikinis, something to think about...

We wonder why rapes are up, why infidelity is at a high, even within the church, and "cougars," that is, older women trying to look like their daughters, are prevalent everywhere you look.  There will always be evil people out there and no, we can't prevent everything with our dress, but it is a problem.  We must protect ourselves, and we can do that, to some degree, with our dress, as well as protect those around us, all men, other women's husbands, and yes, even young boys.  

Another great book to understanding modesty is Secret Keeper: The Delicate Power of Modesty by Dannah Gresh.  A great resource.

These were my added comments on modesty, not what was in the book.  God has showed and revealed much to my girls and myself in the past years, and I am so thankful He has, because I did not always understand the importance of modesty as I do now.  It is a condition of the heart, a heart attitude; what we wear internally is what people see externally.

Let me know you jumped on over, and share a comment with Sarah as well.  We LOVE to hear from you, have I already said that? :)  Pass on to others who would benefit from these wonderful books.

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hello my dear friends and readers!

I am NOT a computer techie person, and am struggling with changes I am making at the present time.  My dear daughter, Sarah, is trying to help me.

The way I understand it, Google Reader is going away in July and if you are following blogs through your Google account, come July, those blogs will disappear -- unless you have a Bloglovin account, which allows you to follow through their site.

If you still wish to follow me, and I would LOVE for you to, then click the above follow link, at the top, and...that's it.  I hope!

I didn't want to leave you with a boring post, so here are a few pics after the storm...love to see the lightning and hear the thunders roll, and the rain as it pounds on the windows and porches, but the beauty displayed after is unfathomable at times. 

                                   Enjoy God's beauty in the skies.




"He spread a cloud for a covering..."
Psalm 105:39a

"Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, 
and a voice came out of the cloud, 
This is My beloved Son,
 listen to Him!"
Mark 9:7

"And after He had said these things,
He was lifted up while they were looking on,
and a cloud received Him out of their sight."
Acts 1:9

If you have any other input or help for this dear non-techie, please leave me a comment.  I will welcome any and all help.  I'm still trying to figure out how to put a "pin it" button on the posts so they can be pinned. 

Thanks for all your patience as this world continues to change, requiring some extra learning on my part.

Don't forget, I LOVE, love, love comments, and help, in sending my blog to others, who would benefit from what God has given me to say, and our daily farm life.  

Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Is Anything Sacred Anymore?

In a world of trouble and turmoil, there is peace, a peace that comes from God Himself.  

Where it seems like nothing is sacred anymore, in the midst, there is peace.  

From the abortionists to the bombers, from sending a family back to their homeland to be persecuted, in reality, because they are Christian, to the many rights of Christians being stripped from our honorable military forces, from the renaming of what marriage is, 
                            and how do you rename something God put a name to? 
                   Can you call an orange an apple or a cat a dog?  

How dare we claim to have enough power in ourselves to say something should now be something else just to suit our selfish and power hungry selves?                        How does that happen?  
                           
                    Then, I remember the thoughts I had, the temptations that lay before me, how my mind, my "old nature," just hangs around the corner waiting for any opportunity to rear its ugly head, and how so often, too often, I allow my mind to stay there, to wander. I am disgusted by how I cannot stay in complete control of all things going on in and around me, 
                                           and I seek Him.  
                         Yes, the One who gave me a "new nature," and still I am troubled.

As I sit and listen and read, I am appalled and torn, I want to cover my head, hide because of what I hear, I want to jump through the screen and say, "listen to what God says, listen to the many accounts of obedient hearts when following the paths He has chosen for us," oh, to be able to make them see, and then, I read Romans...      
                         "He gave them over..."  


I see this beauty around me, everywhere I go, new eggs in a little nest hidden away in a tree, which we just happened upon, oh, the small joys of our Creator. The colors, blue, green, brown and gray, so amazing is our God that He would care for this, for me, for even me.


A precious rabbit hanging around our house, under the trampoline, God brought the animals to Adam "to see what he would call them, and whatever the man, (Adam) called a living creature, that was its name." Gen. 2:19


God's promises, as shown in the afternoon sky, a covenant between He and us, between the Living God, the Creator of all things, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and us, of me,
                                 who fail Him daily.
                   Thank You for Your great promises, and a reminder of Your love for us.




"Then they will see The Son Of Man Coming In Clouds with 
great power and glory." 
 Mark 13:26  Luke 21:27




Gathering fresh eggs is such a delight, even more so when my father-in-law passed on to us his mother's egg basket.  How can one get pleasure from going out to gather eggs, to be content with what God gives, to be satisfied, bowing down on bended knee and be grateful, simply grateful for all things, in all things, to have a eucharisteo heart.
                             To have a repentant heart, a truly, fall-down prostrate, on your face before the High King of Kings, and worship, and ask for forgiveness we so desperately need, so need.every.single.day.


And I read Romans...
Romans 1:16-32

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Unbelief and Its Consequences

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 

Do you see the Truth trying to be suppressed every day?  The media? 
Government leaders?

19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 

"God has sovereignly planted evidence of His existence in the very nature of man by reason and moral law. (1:20, 21, 28, 32; 2:15) (John MacArthur)

20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 

"God holds all men responsible for their refusal to acknowledge what He has shown them of Himself in His creation." (John MacArthur) 
Through God's nature and creation, people have a deep sense of right and wrong, they are without excuse, they "have suppressed it," as MacArthur says. 

21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Oh, what a heart of eucharisteo can do to a soul, giving thanks in ALL things, or we can choose to allow our souls to be darkened by not honoring the One who gives ALL things.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 

23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Man will find something to worship, this is "the inward cause of their idolatry. They are therefore without excuse, in that they did know God, and from what they knew might easily infer that it was their duty to worship Him, and Him only.  Though some have greater light and means of knowledge than others, yet all have enough to leave them inexcusable." (Matthew Henry)

24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 

"Those who dishonored God were given over to dishonor themselves.  A man cannot be delivered up to a greater slavery than to be given up to his own lusts." (Matthew Henry)

25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

We see people wanting to worship everything and anything except the One true God, Jesus Christ.  They do not want to admit that He truly is the One who has the answers to the questions we seek.  
Everywhere we look, we see people exchanging the Truth to anything except Christianity, and the ONLY exception is Christianity.  And once again, God gave them over...consequences for disobedience.

26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 

"Paul mentions women first to show the extent of debauchery under the wrath of abandonment, because in most cultures women are the last to be affected by moral collapse." (John MacArthur)

27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Homosexuality abounds.  The 12th state in our once great country of America has just legalized gay marriage; we are now calling apples oranges, and much more is the LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, (it hurts me to even type that out) culture who God has given over to their degrading passions, and they do not look at the ensuing consequences and the penalties of their errors as they have abandoned the natural functions God has given them.
AIDS is only one evidence of the penalty and consequence of their error.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 

They do NOT "acknowledge God any longer," just read the news...they are attempting to take Him from courthouses, have already succeeded with the public schools, are in the process of taking Him out of our military; can you imagine how unprotected our men will be if God is not there to protect, cover, and shield them?  This is our great country, America.  As we see with Israel, countries, even great countries do not last when the people rebel; God will show His mighty hand. 

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 

Greed?  Envy?  Deceit?  Gossips???  It is easy to see the evil, the murder and malice around us, but how guilty am I of greed, envying others, being deceitful or a gossip.  How guilty I am...

30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 

Listen to the news; we are sending a family back to Germany to be persecuted because they love their God, by those in power, haters of God; they slander, are insolent, arrogant and boastful to the things of God.                        
                              Oh.Forgive.Us.Lord.  
These have been given over to do those things which are not proper...read the list...again...arrogant, boastful, yes, even, disobedient to parents.  "When duty fails on one side, it commonly fails on the other." (Matthew Henry)  Parents, so much responsibility relies on us, will we step up, will we take up the charge and lead?

31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 

They are without...

32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

They "know," therefore, it is "not ignorance, but blatant rebellion." (John MacArthur)
Other religions give approval for the sins committed and celebrate those who have committed some atrocities, as martyrs.  As such is the rebellion against the God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved and died and rose again for ALL.  We should be in much prayer and petition for the way our country is heading.  God will not linger with such outward and blatant defiance.

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. (John Bradshaw)

"See what wickedness there is in the nature of man.  How abominable and filthy is man!
                                                Lord, what is man?  says David;
                    what a vile creature is he when left to himself!
How much are we beholden to the restraining grace of God for the preserving any thing of the honor and decency of the human nature!
                          For, were it not for this, man, who was made but little lower than the angels, would make himself a great deal lower than the devils."  (Matthew Henry)

In this world of trouble and turmoil, with sin so blatant and exposed and celebrated, are you willing to stay true to the Truth, the real Truth?  Can you find peace?  A peace that passes all understanding?  Are you willing to stand for Truth, to stand for Jesus, to stand for all He reveals in His Holy Word, and teach your children so they will teach their children, until He comes again?
                             "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"
                                                                                               Rev. 1:20

He is our hope!
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13

In His Grace,
Jody

Happy Mother's Day!!!

God made mothers, beautiful, tired, dependent on Him, with humble hearts, a listening ear, a loving hand, a firm hand, sometimes harsh words, repentant hearts, forgiving hearts, messy days, laundry overflows, and sinks too, dirt on the floors, but a smile as she watches her children. 

God made mothers, and through Him He has redeemed us, and yes, through the mess we are beautiful once again. 











God Made a Mother 
(by Ann Voskamp)
God looking down on the Farmer loving His land and God needed someone to love the least and the little, into real whole people, and He knew that to love is to suffer so God made a mother.
That God had made technicians and programmers and supervisors and salesmen and God had said –
I need someone to get up at midnight and scoop the most fragile of humanity close to her warmth and rock though she can hardly stand and nourish though she’s mostly sleep-starved and change the diaper and the sheets and the leaked on, leaked through, and leaked down clothes though she’ll have to change them in the morning and next week and that won’t change for years.
So God made a Mother.
That God had said I need somebody with a strong heart.
Strong enough for toddler tantrums and teenage testing, yet broken enough to fall on her knees and pray, pray, pray.
Someone who knows that in every hard place is exactly where you extend grace, who looks a hopeful child in the eye and says yes, even though she knows every yes means a mess but this is how you bless, who has the courage to keep letting go because she’s holding on to Me.
So God made a mother.
God said I need somebody who can shape a soul and find shoes on Sunday mornings and get grass stains out of Levis.
And make dinner out of nothing and do it again 79, 678 times, and keep kids off the road and out of the toilet and in clean underwear and mainly alive though she’s mainly losing her mind and will put in an 80 hour week by Wednesday night and just do one more load of laundry.
And one more sink of crusted burnt pots.
And keep on going another eighty hours because raising generations matters and weaving families matters and tying heart strings matters and these people here matter.
So God made a mother…
It had to be somebody who could comb back pigtails and tie up skates just-right tight.
Who could pretend she remembered algebra and how to get home from here and that really, she was just fine, that it must just be the silly onions.
Somebody who would run for the catch, jump on a trampoline and play one fierce game of soccer and not give a thought to all those labors and her weak pelvic floor. Somebody who’d stay up late with a science project that never ends, who’d get up early for the game in the rain, somebody who’d wave at the door until the taillights were out of sight and still be smiling brave.
So God made a mother.
It had to be somebody willing to keep loving when it made no sense because that’s what love does.
Somebody who knew that patience is a willingness to suffer.
That joy is always possible because there is always, always something to be thankful for.
And that life is not an emergency but a gift — so just. slow. down. There are children at play here and we don’t want anyone to get hurt and the hurry makes us hurt.
Somebody willing to feed and lead, lay down her life and pick up her cross, give of her time because they have her heart. Someone who knows that we all blow it — and what matters is what we then do after.
Someone who could humble herself into the tender sorry that covers a multitude of sins.
And who’d bow her head at night over the girl asleep with the doll in the crook of her arm — and thank her Father for this hidden life that’s the turning gear for the whole spinning world.
So God made a mother.
And when the Farmer rolled over in sleep, there was this deep settling in — I could feel it — of not getting out of here, but of the grace that we *get* to be here.
That there was soil to till and numbed, hard places to break up, and there were seeds to be planted in the dark and the hope.
And grace to be cultivated everywhere.
That it was same down every back road and every side street and we aren’t very different, the Farmer and the mother and all-the-faithful-that-God-made-everywhere.
All of us people known to just Farmer on.
(Ann Voskamp)

Happy Mother's Day to my Mother!!!

How are you celebrating your Mother's Day?

What did you do for your mother?

In His Grace,
Jody