Post 118

Emma. Don't you just love that one? She's a keeper.








Beware of the tickle Bear





Cherity and I


Brother Zack


Gotta slip some fun in here somewhere.


Here's Rachel and the little ones. The Lord recently showed Rachel and Cherity a great picture of how He has victory over fear. E-mail me, and I'll see if I can send you a copy of their testimony.





We all went to the venyard and picked grapes. Mmmmm Yum, they were good. Jeriah also made a bunch of grape jam, with them.



I would like to share another way the Lord used to teach me how to conquer discouragement. I am used to always having the joy of the Lord; But on Tuesday last week I was battling discouragement. I couldn't pin down what caused it. There were no circumstances that I was going through, or any unconfessed sin that I could think of that brought it on. So I tried praising the Lord. I had to force it, it was not natural. I prayed, worshiping the Lord, I spoke His word, and sang to Him. I did this because this has brought me joy in times of discouragement in the past. I tried rebuking Satan and told him to leave me alone, and asked God to fill me. But though I smiled for the Lord, I could not find peace. So I thought maybe I needed to try helping others, because that has brought me God's joy in the past. So I blessed a delivery man. I then asked my dad for prayer, and we prayed about it. But I was still just as discouraged. So I thought I would try encouraging others some more. I talked with a 95 year old lady customer of ours, I spoke of what blessings the Lord has done in our family, she worshiped the Lord also. I don't know if this lady has been born again yet (John 3, in the Bible), although she is a religious lady, so I witnessed to her. I asked her what the difference between one who knows a lot about God but it doesn't mean anything to them, and one who knows God and it means a whole lot to them. I wanted to get her to thinking. It was really hard for me, because I usually like to talk about the Lord with people, but this discouragement over me made it really difficult. I was hoping that helping another would bring me some peace, but I was still just as discouraged. I told my mother of my battle, and she gave me a hug and prayed for me. Although this has really encouraged me in the past, it didn't seem to work this time. I just couldn't seem to shake that discouragement, so finally I wept before the Lord. I wept bitterly "Lord please help me. I don't want to be a hindrance to you. I don't want to be worthless to you. Please use me. Fill me with Your Spirit. Fill me with Your love, Your joy, Your peace..." That seemed to bring hope. I found myself smiling without having to force it. Little by little, the joy of the Lord started coming back to me. Through weeping I found joy. I know it's strange. It's not something I've found before to bring back peace, at least I haven't in a long time. But it did bring back the joy to me. It reminds me of the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears. Here the song on that here. I think crying can help things. I know it did for me. So, I thought I would share this with you all, just in case it can help any of you. Another one of the many ways to come into the presence of the Lord.


Then the next day Wednesday was what I am very glad to call a normal day for me. I was filled with praise to God, rearing and ready to spread the Light. Work was very slow, nothing was happening, so I did something that I never do. I biked down to the park in the middle of the day. I brought along my guitar and sang my heart out to the Lord for about 2 hours. WITH A LOUD NOISE! Shoutin' out lound and clear the message of Jesus! That was fun, fun, fun! It was so much easier than the day before. I had such a good time there I had my camera take this picture of it. Praise the Lord!