First Things First

It's interesting, but also perplexing to me how psychologists and brain scientists attempt to explain why as we age time appears to move at a faster rate. Of course, time is not actually speeding up, but as we grow older, because we are not experiencing things for the first time as much, like we did as a young child, our brains perceive time to be moving at a quicker pace. 

Kids can't believe Christmas is taking so long to arrive while we adults know that if we're not mindful another year will sneak right past us.  

The Farmer and I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but we do reflect on the passing year while regrouping for the next. So as we looked back over the past year, curiosity about the research had me wondering how many, if any, "firsts" I experienced in 2022: 

For starters, we both joyfully welcomed our first, consistently operating, internet server here to the farm. (A big shout out over our heads to Starlink) Also to my delight, I began raising my first paddling of ducks and my first gaggle of geese. I drove the tractor for the first time, not far, but I did actually push the gas pedal and move it back and forth. Who knows, I may get adventurous and continue tractors-ed into 2023. I cooked my first sirloin tip, ate quail for the first time, and took my first teeny bite of reaper-ghost pepper sauce. That "first" was at the Farmer's coercion, to which I'm pretty sure I consumed my first whole loaf of bread at one sitting. I also enrolled in my first online class. 

Sweetest of all, I had my first granddaughter born. I was also slapped with my first speeding ticket as I traveled to visit my first granddaughter. 

So, yeah, I did experience a few "firsts" in 2022, however; scientific jargon aside, the year still seemed to speed by, literally. 

And furthermore, no matter our ages, we all are about to face 2023 for the first time. 

I look up often here, at the nighttime sky, away from the city lights, at the vastness of it all. 

I can't grasp let alone explain the concept of how our brains perceive and transmit first experiences, but I can understand that a God greater than me created our brains with the ability to remember and reflect in stillness, and in fact, commanded us to do so. 

"Be still and know that I am God." ( Psalm 46:10 ) 

God knows in order for the human brain to fathom even a sliver of his greatness, we first need to be still. 

This is a favorite and familiar verse for many, but are we obeying it? 

Second, we must "know." And whichever way this side of Paradise one deciphers the commandment, it's still going to require every braincell we can mobilize to even scratch the surface of such a divine order. Forming the habit of meditation into our daily routine brings us into the secret place of the Most High. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Often. 

There are at least 50 verses referencing meditation in Scripture. Meditation is defined as focusing on one object, mulling something over in our minds, thinking on it, pondering it, and speaking the truth down into our hearts. For Christians our meditations are not about us or on us, but should be rested wholly on God's Word, on his greatness, his attributes, his redemption. In other words, the Christian's meditating object is God. It's not about emptying our minds, it's about filling them up with God's Word and beholding the Holy Spirit as he begins to kick all of the garbage straight out to the curb.  

When I began to get a handle on meditation, I began to see sins and struggles slowly fade out of sight because I wasn't focused on them so much, but on Him. 

"The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and to meditate on it. Thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warmed, reproved, and instructed." George Muller 

"Oh," you might think, "that's easy for you to say. You have a farm and can walk around reflecting and rejoicing all day long in the fresh country air." That's simply not true. When I take walks, I begin to see the mud, the mess, and the unfinished projects. I stop to pick up trash, tree limbs, and the Farmer's tools. I get nudged to pet dogs and cats and furry cow heads, to speak with neighbors that happen to drive by or our delivery folks who stop with a package. Good stuff, but it's not meditating. Like everyone, I have to find a quiet place and make myself be still and focus. 

Our culture does not in anyway that I've found nurture the practice of meditation apart from joining a yoga class or something of that nature. I'm not dismissing stretching, that part is healthy, and crucial, especially for aging farmers. However, technology blares at us from all directions, in many diverse forms, even in the country on our fancy pants internet servers. It's the world we live in, and it takes extra effort to find a place of stillness alone, to close our eyes and block out the noise of life, so we can focus on our Maker. 

Our spiritual health depends on it, and no amount of ministry work can take its place. 

This is the often difficult, but completely satisfying application of spiritual discipline that should be present in a Christian's life for growth, along with reading and studying our Bibles, prayer, and fellowship and worship with other believers. The Holy Spirit alone saves us, but when it comes to our sanctification process, even though He does this part too, He isn't going to do it without us. 

Meditate on that truth, it's amazingly beautiful and comforting. We get to be a part of our Father's business. 

God understands the human brain best; he created it. He knows messages evaporate just as soon as they arrive, and in order for the truth of his Word to sink from the surface and into our core being, something must drive them down deep into the recesses of our heart, causing the truth to stick, resulting in growth and transformation. And that transport system is meditation on the Scriptures and the principles there in, preaching them to our souls. 

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." ( Psalm 42:11 ) 

For years I knew God on a surface level only; I never took the time to meditate on His attributes, on any of the core doctrines, or on what Christ sacrificially did in coming to us. Now I walk in from my farm chores and the Farmer says, "I saw you talking to yourself out there." I say, "I wasn't talking; I was preaching." 

Like prayer, meditation on God and his Word may not change our situation, but it most definitely changes us. We gain a perspective of not only who God is, but who we are as well in relationship to him. In this way, meditation launches us into praise and worship, thanksgiving, and prayer. 

Look, I am a late bloomer in the glorious garden of God's kingdom, but that's okay. Better late than never is a gross understatement. The workers that showed up to work at the vineyard the last hour before they closed up shop got paid as much as the first to arrive. ( Matthew 20 1-16  ) The last into the Kingdom, were also the first. Think about the thief on the cross beside Jesus. His Christian life was only hours or minutes long, and yet, that very day Jesus said that he would be with him in Paradise. 

As long as you're breathing, you can enter in for the first time, or maybe you need a spiritual awakening in your walk with Him. Either way, today, if you hear the voice of Jesus calling you, if you feel the conviction and repentance of sin in your heart and the desire to know him, then surrender yourself to him. What are you waiting for? 

I can't promise that it will always be easy or comfortable, but I can promise you this:

It is the path of life, traveling in God's eternal purpose, and when you enter through the narrow gate, you will be made a son or daughter in your Father's kingdom as all the angels in heaven rejoice. Your Father will never leave you alone on the journey, and miraculously, he will use all of your brokenness to make you whole.  

I happen to know this first hand. 

When I was a teenager back in the 70s there was this saying, before memes and social media newsfeeds, that many of us had tacked on our bedroom walls in the form of a poster with a serene beach or mountain wildflower backdrop. 

It simply read: "Today is the first day of the rest or your life." 

So, come to Jesus and make your first your best. 💜 

Happy New Year 🎉

See you next year. 

A New Year's Prayer

As another year draws to a close and we reflect and contemplate, I'm guessing a common goal or hope, or even prayer, for the new year is, "God help me pray more; God please resuscitate my anemic prayer life." 

If so, that's a good thing. In this narrow, seemingly precarious, albeit joyful path of life in the Christian walk, God prompts and prods us by His Spirit with these desires, not to overwhelm us, but as part of our transformation process into the image of His Son. So, don't beat yourself up, look at it this way: Thank God we have these regrets and longings. It's a sign that we are in Him. We long to please our Father, but also we know we fall short, encouraging us to pray for his forgiveness and to seek His help. See, you're already on the right track. 

In my blog this morning, I want to share a couple of prayerful insights from Kevin DeYoung's "The Good News We Almost Forgot - Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism." 

"Catechism? That's sounds like a dusty, old book on Dumbledore's shelf at Hogwarts." 

Those of us who grew up in a reform tradition church remember the rudimentary discipline of being "catechised" as children. Catechisms are great tools for learning and reinforcing biblical theology and the core doctrines of the Christian faith straight out of the Bible in a question and answer format. I was twelve years old when I memorized the text in my Sunday school class at the Presbyterian church my family attended. Although, it would be years before I came to faith in Christ, I believe having these Truth seeds embedded in my young heart paved the way. 

So, why pray? 

First and foremost, because God commands us to pray in the Scriptures, and Jesus taught us how.

"Why, if God is sovereign and knows everything anyway, should I still pray?" 

See the above sentence, and Pastor DeYoung, take it away:

Commentary on Lord's Day 45, on prayer, questions 116-119, Heidelberg Catechism 

"We pray out of gratitude. We talk to God to praise him for all the good He has done for us. We talk to him because we are privileged to belong to Him. 

We also pray because God has ordained means to accomplish His ends. He gives more grace to those who petition Him for it. He grants more of His Spirit to those who long for Him. Sure, God could accomplish His purposes without prayer, but when we pray, we are reminded of our dependence on God. If we ask not, we will have not. If we rely on ourselves, God will leave us to ourselves. 

God doesn't need prayer, but He uses prayer just like he uses other means. He uses rain to grow crops, sun to warm the earth, and food to strengthen the body. So why can't God choose our prayers to do His sovereign will?" 

I know, isn't that so good? Here's more:

"God is glorified in prayer by the expression of our dependence on Him...... He is glorified when we learn to recognize that every good gift comes down from our Father of lights. 

"Tell Him about your hurts. Tell Him about your joys. Ask Him where the car keys are. Ask Him for the conversion of your children. Ask Him for health. Ask Him for holiness. He is a loving Father. Ask Him. 

Don't get me wrong; God is not a cosmic vending machine. He isn't jolly St. Nick looking to give us all the toys and presents we want. That's why we must pray for everything 'as embraced in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.' 

God wants us to pray sincerely, humbly, and confidently. He wants prayer from the heart. Not vain prayer. Not perfunctory prayer. He wants honest prayer to the one true God. Come broken. Come confused. Come hiding nothing and acknowledging everything. Put aside hypocrisy, pretense, and self-reliance, and just come.

The irony is the more humble our hearts, the more confident we should be.

The Lord's prayer teaches us what we really need.

Get down into the Scripture, God's holy Word, and your prayers will start to fly." 

Many verses are referenced above, but here's a good start: ( Matthew 6:9-13 ) ( James 1:17 ) ( Mathew 6:6 ) ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ) ( Philippians 4:6-7 ) ( 1 John 5:14 ) ( James 5:13-18 ) ( Luke 5:15-16 ) ( Mark 11: 22-26 ) ( Romans 8: 26-27 ) ( Colossians 4:2 ) ( Genesis 4:26 ) ( Exodus 2:23-25 ) 

There are prayers of all kinds throughout the Bible. The Psalter is a Book of Prayer, and I love just opening it and praying straight out of it some mornings. 

Happy Praying! 

 

A few of my fine feathered friends

The Good Shepherd

When I tell people that I have a farm with sheep and livestock guardian dogs, I usually hear the same response: "That's a lot of work! but really cool." 

Since the fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, farming has certainly proven to be "a lot of work," but down through the ages, being a keeper of sheep has not always been considered "cool." After studying shepherding in the Bible, I also don't think the vocation was as unclean and demeaning as some have claimed. 

Now sheep are not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree. This I can confirm in my personal experience. 

I have this one group of sheep that get out everyday and wander up into the front cow field. Then at the end of the day, they stand by the back field gate as I make my way to the barn baaing for me to let them through. 

"What?" I say to them, "You figured out how to get into trouble, but now you can't find your way back out of the trouble?" 

No wonder God refers to his people as sheep. This is not a spiritual complement. It's a painful, raw reality. Who is going to come and rescue these naughty, rebellious, sheep?

The Good Shepherd. 

Then I look into their big sheepy eyes, and I melt with compassion. I open the gate and let them through. Tomorrow I'll do the same. 

Except one day last week, they weren't there. Kisha and Skipper looked at me sideways when I asked them about the missing creatures. 

"We're livestock guardian dogs, not herd dogs, remember?" 

"Yes, I know, it's not your fault." 

The Farmer and I searched two days for those unruly sheep. We walked through hundreds of acres of woods surrounding the farm and also hiked the mountain that borders our land. Our neighbors who live on the other side of that wooded area had seen my social media post and were on the look out. They spotted the little, lost flock across the creek from their home and called us immediately, excited they had counted all fourteen. Wonderful, sweet neighbors. Thank you. 

I knew they had to be somewhere in the spread of open acres or thick underbrush, along with bear and coyote. It's nothing short of a Christmas miracle that they all survived without a dog. 

Once the sheep were home in their field, the Farmer secured the fencing, but in his joy that they were found, forgot to shut the barn gate. The next morning the sheep were all there, but Kisha and Skipper were gone. This has happened before, and is not a real cause for alarm. The girls run through that same wooded area, often times chasing away predators and securing the property. Skipper returned later on, but without Kisha. 

Kisha will be eight next month, so she's older and a bit slower, but in excellent health. I didn't worry. By night time, she still wasn't back, but our same neighbors, watching out for us again, had spotted the dogs earlier. We knew Kisha was in there, possibly she found a bone to chew on. "She'll come home when she's ready," the Farmer said. It's the nature of the breed, ever hearing, never listening. You don't tell Pyrenees; they tell you. 

The next morning when Kisha still wasn't back at the barn, I knew something was wrong. She would not stay out there on her own for that long. The Farmer was still sleeping, so I hooked a leash on Shasta. "Let's go find her." Shasta protects the ducks and geese at the front of the property, and usually stays with me as I work. I wouldn't go out in the woods alone without her or Aslan. She's more experienced, so for now, she's my man.  

We walked a mile along the creek, through tall broom sage and through patches of pine trees, stepping across blankets of their soft needles. All of a sudden, Shasta about yanked my arm out of the socket and took off running, dragging me behind her. I heard it too, whimpering. But I didn't see anything up on the hillside where Shasta stopped. Following the crying sound, I looked up and finally over.

"Oh my word, Kisha! What the heck?" Her big head was peering out of a second story, broken window of an old, abandoned house in the middle of this grassy terrain. I would have never suspected that scenario. Great Pyrenees do not like anything out of the ordinary. Even on their own property, if the Farmer parks an odd piece of equipment or tractor implement out in the sheep field, the dogs surround it and bark like it's an alien invasion from deep space come to suck their brains out. 

Pyrenees have this trademark smile, but Kisha was clearly frowning in that moment, letting me know her sorrow. Bless her large breed heart. 

Shasta and I made our way into the house, carefully over a dilapidated porch with busted glass and rotten planks, and I was praying we wouldn't fall through the warped, flimsy floor boards inside the house. It was a bit tense, but Kisha wouldn't come down the rickety old stairs without my help. Apparently sheep aren't the only creatures getting into predicaments unable to find their way back home again. Fortunately, all three of us made it out unscathed.     

Once in the open air, the two dogs sprinted like nobody's business, well as fast as Pyrenees generally run, which is more like a horse's gallop, all the way home, stopping to refresh themselves out of the creek and leaving me to fend for myself in the broom sage. 

Shepherding, hard work, not always cool, but certainly, painfully, undeniably, a humble labor. 

And that's exactly the image that comes to my mind when I think of the "shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." ( Luke 2:8 ) Although I can't imagine any of them having to rescue their dogs out of haunted houses.   

The shepherds were not celebrities or nobility, the intelligentsia or prestigious. 

In fact, these shepherds were in the same area of another young, humble shepherd boy who years earlier tended his father's sheep. A shepherd boy who would not even have remotely been considered as a candidate for kingship, and yet he was the very one God wanted. 

David was the youngest of Jesse's eight sons, but the one God instructed Samuel to anoint, not only as the next king of Israel, but as the first king in the lineage of Christ our true King. 

I believe God chose to first reveal the birth of his Son to shepherds because being of a lowly state they represent the needy, the desperate, the poor in spirit, the ones who are at the end of themselves and know they need a Savior. 

The rich, wise men bearing gifts took a bit longer to find their way, but once they discovered Jesus two years after his birth, the well-dressed, elite astrologers found themselves bowing to a toddler. 

The message of the Gospel is clear: We must go down before we can go up, before we can enter in. 

Jesus himself stepped into human flesh in the humblest of circumstances. 

Every detail of the Christmas story, and the entirety of the Scriptures, sings this truth to us over and over, if we will have ears to hear the voice of pleading and the song of lamenting, the message of exhortation, hope, and joy: 

God opposes the proud, but, Praise the Lord! He gives grace to the humble. ( James 4:6 )  ( Proverbs 3:34 ) 

And by that grace, through faith, in Christ alone, we are saved. ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) 

Are you hungry, lonely, hurting, hopeless? Are you confused, frustrated, lost, weak? Then you are blessed, my friend. Cry out to the Good Shepherd and enter in. 💜

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." ( Luke 12:32 ) 

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." ( Luke 2:14 )

 

Every Story

Two weeks ago I received my copy of "The Jesus Storybook Bible." It had been recommended to me for my grandchildren by numerous friends, but also for me to read as well. Now I see why. And there's just enough time before Christmas to order one for yourself and the children in your life. Many use it as a family devotional. 

What makes this children's Bible so special? 

Although reading scripture and the memorization of it is vital for us and our children in order to "hide God's Word in our hearts that we do not sin against him," ( Psalm 119:11 ) this Bible doesn't just toss out all of the Old Testament narratives nilly-willy in separate small bedtime stories, but it shows how the Bible is one dramatic, but glorious cohesive story - God's story of redemption for his people. 

From the covenant God first made with Adam and Eve after the fall, when he could have justifiably walked away from us, but didn't. In our sin and guilt and shame, God was writing a story to rescue us in Jesus. Every "hero" and every chapter we encounter in Scripture is God fulfilling his covenant. Through the pages of the Bible God unfolds his redemptive plan through Jesus, and "every story whispers his name." 

And when the time was fulfilled, as God promised, Jesus was born, "to save his people from their sins." ( Matthew 1:21 ) 

Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. If you don't believe in him, you are condemned already he said. We all are born in sin, born to die, but God sent Jesus to rescue us and bring us back to God.  ( John 3:16 -18 ) 

Our children must be taught the whole truth of the Bible in words and phrases their ears can bear and their hearts can understand. 

When they hear the Truth, it will not crush them. The Holy Spirit will produce humility and faith in their spirits to believe, a surrender and repentance towards God, and a desire to serve and obey him. It will bring freedom and rejoicing and a love for God himself and not for what he can give them. ( Romans 10:17 )  ( Philippians 1:6 ) 

The truth changes everything: That even though we are sinners, God is pursuing us, wanting us, loving us.( Romans 5:8 ) ( 1 John 4:19 ) 

I know this is a funny, human example, but I remember when I was a bratty, snooty teenager and I met the Farmer. He chased me relentlessly. He told me that I was beautiful, and that he wanted me to be his girlfriend. He never let up. 

Over forty years later, this truth still thrills my heart to think about because he wanted me to be his wife. He chose me and pursued me continuously. And this is what we all want. We desire for someone to know every horrible thing about us, all of our sin, all of our failures, and still love us to the core. And that's what God does, since time immemorial, to the point of giving up his only Son. 

Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you...." ( John 15:16 ) 

And this is the Bible narrative - God's story of redemption for his people. 

For us and for our children. 

We need the truth. 💜

'Tis not that I did choose Thee,

For Lord, that could not be;

This heart would still refuse Thee,

Hadst Thou not chosen me.....

My heart owns none before Thee,

For Thy rich grace I thirst;

This knowing, if I love Thee,

Thou must have loved me first." 

Josiah Conder 1836 

Joy Boot

This morning as I walked with the dogs down through the front pasture, the mountains that surrounded the farm were veiled in the pale blue mist. I could see my neighbor's silo standing at attention, straight and tall through the haze, as the swirls of smoke from their farmhouse chimney joined ranks with the mountain clouds in the festive, wintery atmosphere. 

And I was quickly reminded that in this broken, fallen world I journal so much about there is also beauty. I have to preach this to myself as my boots keep time in the small puddles bespattering the field, joy and suffering, joy and suffering, they splash. 

The dogs are used to my musings and meditations as we round the corner to start the trek back up to the house, and I stop to get the mail I forgot to get yesterday. The cows are perfectly still as they nurse their young inside of the low lying clouds. The belted kingfishers rattle and fly above the water in search of their breakfast. The creek bank is lined with stark, unclothed sycamore trees decorated in dangling pods like Christmas ornaments. 

I begin to feel joy and peace, but must first give permission to my soul to delight and take pleasure in my environment. I guard my heart. I understand that the suffering God has allowed into my life has created my strength of character, but I've studied the concept of suffering so much in the Scriptures and through various writers and life events that I must determinedly remind myself that it's okay to feel joy as well as pain. I walk with a limp, dragging my clumsy joy boot behind the other one marked for distress.

I remind myself and begin to preach it as I hear the Farmer's diesel engine fire up, and the cows begin to hurry alongside of us for their feed:

"Do not be haughty or hope in the uncertainty of riches, but put your hope in God who richly provides you everything to enjoy." ( 1 Timothy 6:17 ) 

"Rebecca, God has given you this moment to enjoy and to see his provision, so honor him and rejoice in his love. Don't squeeze the life out of it, creating this good thing into an idol, just embrace the wonder for what it is in this moment, a gift from your Father. Allow yourself to feel joy. And for the love of all that is beautiful in this world, stop analyzing everything to death." 

With each step up the hillside, my boots begin to synchronize better with the other, joy and suffering, joy and suffering. 

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning." ( A Psalm of David 30:5b ) 💙

Staircase to Heaven

 "One day, everyone was talking and they came up with an idea: 'Lets build ourselves a beautiful city to live in! It can be our home. And we'll be safe forever and ever.' Then they had another idea: 'And let's build a really tall tower to reach up to heaven!'" 

"'Yes!' they said. 'We'll say, 'Look at us up here!' 'And everyone will look up at us.....'"

"It was like a giant staircase to heaven." 

"They were trying to live without him, but God knew that wouldn't make them happy or safe or anything. If they kept on like this, they would only destroy themselves, and God loved them too much to let that happen. So he stopped their plans...." 

"After that people scattered all over the world ( which is how we ended up with so many different languages to this day ). " 

"You see, God knew, however high they reached, however hard they tried, people could never get back to heaven by themselves. People didn't need a staircase; they needed a Rescuer. Because the way back to heaven wasn't a staircase; it was a Person."

"People could never reach up to Heaven, so Heaven would have to come down to them." 

"And one day, it would." 

Quoted from "The Jesus Storybook Bible, Every Story Whispers His Name"

Some may think, "Oh, that's just a bunch of folk lore and myth, written just like all of the ancient cultures and pagan religions of the day. People were always attempting to appease their angry gods by sacrificing themselves and their loved ones for redemption, to make things right, to get rid of their sins." 

True, people know deep down we're sinful, guilty, and full of messiness that we can't seem to rid ourselves of no matter how hard we try or how high we build. 

What makes Christianity different from all of those false beliefs and religions is this: God provides the human sacrifice himself. 💜

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." ( Galatians 4 - 7 ) 

Happy Advent! 

'Tis Always the Season

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." ( James 1: 26-27 ) 

As another calendar year slowly comes to an end, we're reminded that Christmas is the season of giving, from the heartfelt tugs on Giving Tuesday to the sound of a ringing bell during our shopping expeditions to inboxes and snail mail boxes full of charity requests.  

But for a Christian, giving is not something we only participate in at Christmas. No. 

Giving becomes our new nature. It is who we are in Christ Jesus. 

And giving isn't just financial. It permeates into every part of our new life in Christ. Our eyes become open to the needs around us as they've never been before.  

Scripture shows us that we are blessed financially for one reason: To be a blessing. To give to the Kingdom of God. Not to store up riches for ourselves or live extravagantly. Not to build bigger barns. Our wealth is to be stored up in Heaven. ( Matthew 6:19 ) ( Luke 12:20 ) 

Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 8 when he commends the Macedonians for giving out of their extreme poverty, in a test of affliction. They gave joyfully, actually begging for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. 

And Paul goes on to say that they gave themselves first to the Lord. 

God doesn't need our money, but he invites us into his story as givers to be a part of the Kingdom work. This is the greatest joy!  

No one has taught this principle to me more than a special group of widows and former orphans. 

Although our record keeping is confidential at Heritage Home, I think it is okay for me to say that, although I appreciate every single donation we receive, I am humbled to my core by the financial gifts giving to Heritage Home by widows. 

They give their money out of fixed incomes and out of generous, willing hearts. Honestly, I don't want to take it, but they give with such delight and with such love and concern for the children. 

My mother-in-law Ida has been a widow for almost thirty years, and her life has been one of tremendous giving. She gives of her talents, time, resources, love, and homemade, edible goodness mixed together in her savory-smelling kitchen. She gives countless hours of prayer for her many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, family, and friends, praying on the spot for any request brought to her. I can never remember a time when she has been prideful or put her needs above others. 

Before I was saved, I was so self-centered and blind, and I couldn't see the beauty and grace she or other godly women possessed around me. Now, I want to be just like her. 

The widow's mites, they were more precious to Jesus than all of the rich people's money put together. He watched as the rich contributed out of their abundance that day into the offering box, but the widow out of her poverty put in everything she had to live on. In this way, Jesus said she actually gave more.

Rich people are absolutely welcomed into the Kingdom of God. God is no respecter of persons. It's just harder for them it seems to find the way. When you think you're self-sufficient, you don't understand your need. But when they do, look out, because God will use their wealth to do great things for the Kingdom. Think Zacchaeus, the wee little rich tax collector. It's such a great story of a wealthy, corrupt person totally getting the Gospel of Grace and using his funds to advance the Kingdom and not himself. ( Luke 19 ) 

So God loves all of his children, but it is absolutely clear in Scripture that God has a special care for widows. He watches over his faithful daughters. ( Luke 12:41 ) 

When God brought Lisda, our Indonesian daughter to us who was fatherless, and when he called a group of orphans from all over their country to us and brought them to Heritage Home to live, they became our children. John and I never refer to the kids at Heritage Home as "orphans." Why would we? They have a mom now in Lisda who raises and loves them. And they have a couple of old farmers, dad and mom, parents across the world who cherish them. They have givers who consider themselves "mom" and "dad" and "grandma" and "grandpa" to them. Our children are blessed. They are loved. 

Our children were once orphans, but we were all orphans until God gave the greatest gift in the terrible history of mankind to rescue us and bring us back to him, our Father, through Jesus Christ, his Son. 

Our children share their testimonies all over their community that is approximately 10% Christian. They are not ashamed of the Gospel. They perform Christmas and Easter concerts in the middle of their neighborhood. Our oldest has graduated and is now a nurse. Yesterday three more graduated from college. Do you see how we are all partners together like in the Macedonian church? People give generously, and orphans become children and then evangelists, bringing light into a dark world. 

And this is our motivation for giving: Like the Macedonians, it springs out of a thankful heart, a heart that first was given to God.  

Unstained, this is the beautiful rhythm and indescribable gift of our daily walk with Jesus. 

Thank you, Lisda, for loving your children and guiding them everyday in all of the ways of Jesus. Thank you for your endless patience and endurance in joy for the Kingdom of God. Thank you for giving yourself and all that you have been given back to Jesus. Great is your reward in Heaven. 

Thank you to Pastor Atkins and Harvest Ministries, our church family. One of God's greatest gifts is that he has placed us in his family with brothers and sisters who support, encourage, and love one another. We are beyond blessed. 

Thank you to all of our givers! We simply could not do this wonderful work of God without any of you! Thank you for your prayers for the children and for Lisda and for us. Your generosity in all areas has advanced the Kingdom of our Lord! 💜 

Godsheritagehome.com

Mama Ida with her man children