Hay - 2014

It's hay season again!  Dad had already put up a field across from our house, and he and I mowed the field in front of his house, then the girls had all been tedding and raking for him.  This 1st pic we were having to wait while Dad went to help Julia with the rake in another field, sooooo, to pass the time we visit and read the newpaper!  How funny!

Fast forward to now, we are all finished with the 1st cutting of all the hay on the farm, and with this wonderful rain we have had recently, we should get another good  2nd cutting at some point. 

Our cousin C wanted to come and help haul hay, so here are some pics of him working in the Big Field with us.  

If you do not know how we put up hay, square bales or round bales, go here to part 1 of hay season and check it out.

Great job all!  It's much more fun working together!  Training younger men and ladies will prepare them for the many years ahead.  That's what generational faithfulness is about, though only one part of it.  Great job Cousin C!!!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Fellowship with Friends

We were invited to some friends' home recently and had the most wonderful time of friendship, fellowship, and worship through song.  They are so wonderful, and we are ever grateful for their kindness.

The left side of the table must have been fitting for the "prayer" stance :) but I think Sammy is actually eating one of Sarah's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Jenny and Jamin took it on as well.  *grin* Those cookies disappeared very quickly with all the littles hands, who kept coming back and back, til they were all gone.  

This wonderful family has been blessed with 7 wonderful children, but no pics of the littles, sorry.  Thanks Parris family, for a great time!

"Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being."

Psalm 146:1-2

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

I Will Follow

You are the source of life
I can't be left behind
No one else will do
I will take hold of You

I need You Jesus, I need You Jesus

My heart is Yours for life
I need Your hand in mine
No one else will do
I put my trust in You

I need You Jesus to come to my rescue
Where else can I go?
There's no other Name by which I am saved
Capture me with grace
I will follow You

My heart is Yours for life
I need Your hand in mine
No one else will do
I put my trust in You

This world has nothing for me

This world has nothing for me

This world has nothing for me
This world has nothing for me
                                                 I will follow You

Do I put my trust in Him?  Can I really say, this world has nothing for me?  My desire is to SEEK Him with all that I have, to be able to lift my hands in praise to the God who saves, and say, this world has nothing for me.  

Yes, capture me with grace, because no one else will do, 'cause I need You Jesus!  Yes.Just.Jesus.  I can say it, but do I live it?  Does my life say, He is all I need?  

Paul says in 2 Timothy, "Now you followed my teaching (doctrine), conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings...continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."  (2 Tim. 10-11a, 14-15)  

As hard as I try, I fail.  As diligent as I have been to instill God's teachings to my children, our next generation, I fail, and then that's when "capture me with grace" reaches out to touch me.  Is my conduct, my purpose, my faith, all it can be?  What about my patience, and love, and perseverance?  Christ is the source of this life, my life, my husband's life, my children's lives, and I need Your hand in mine, because I am putting my trust in You, Jesus.  

This world can throw what it can my way, but in Christ, and by His grace, I can say "this world has nothing for me."  I could have followed this world and it's culture of love of money, and things, and work, and giving my children away to others, and I did some of that for awhile.  Then, God showed me that His ways are higher than ours, His ways are best, His ways are true, and right, and good, and He has our best on His mind, and will use it to bring ultimate glory to His Name, the name of Jesus.  God had a plan in the beginning and it is when we try and deviate from that original plan that things go awry.  

We may take a principle from His Word, or maybe two, but life doesn't work until we take ALL the principles lined up in Scripture and apply them to our lives.  Some say, go into all the world, we are to all be missionaries, but it's when you look at who God created you to be that you may see, to GO was not what He intended, at least at this season of your life.  For Paul, God designed him to be single, with no other responsibilities except to go in His name, but for many others God designed us to be wives, husbands, mothers and fathers, and when He did this, we must look at the whole Word of God to get our instructions.  Sometimes, our sufferings, or persecutions, come at the hand of those we are closest to, those we come into contact with on a daily or a weekly basis.  We must not let that become a distraction to what God has called us, individually, as a couple, or as a family, to do.

I must first see how God designed me as a woman, then look at what He has for me as a wife, and next what His plans are for mothers, and finally, I look at His entire Word for the principles HE laid out for me, as a woman, a wife, and a mother, and what His instructions and commands are in their entirety.  If men are husbands and fathers, they are to be the providers for their families, they are to be leaders and the heads of their households, teaching as they go, Deut 6.  Women, if God made you wives and mothers, your priorities, at this season of your life, are your husbands and your children, teaching where God put you, in the home, to teach, train, raise, discipline, and disciple those God gave you, and then to teach the "younger women" to do likewise.  "Teaching them to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible (discreet), pure (chaste), workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, SO THAT the word of God will not be dishonored (blasphemed or reviled)."  Titus 2:4-5

The Great Commission for some will be to go, if they have families, to go as a unit, for others, their mission field is in their backyard, their home, and most likely Wal-Mart :)  wherever God places you.  Wherever that is, you must look to God's Word to see His plan.  We can actually know His plans just by reading, searching and studying the Scriptures.  He has the guidelines to our lives laid out before us, we just have to look to see what those are.

Our pastor's sermon this past Sunday gave me a renewed vigor for what I am to do, and as Paul told Timothy, by following his teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions and sufferings, I am to continue in the things I have learned and, become convinced of, and have known the sacred writings which are able to give me the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  

ALL Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; SO THAT the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

I pray as Paul prayed for Ephesus, that you may know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.  Ephesians 3:19-21

                        I will follow You...

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody