Very Prophetic-of course it's from Isaiah

I was reading in Isaiah a few weeks back while we were camping. I love the Prophets. I was just enjoying reading not necessarily studying when I felt that the LORD showed me something I had not thought of before.
Please read all of Isaiah 49...I will start at verse 18 though..."Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does. Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land-surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears; the place is too narrow for me to dwell in. Then you will say in your heart: "Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come from?" Thus says the LORD GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders."

All of a sudden, I felt sure that the LORD spoke to me that this is what is happening right now with the many adoptions that we are seeing, the many people and organizations who are helping the poor, the orphans, the refugees...
do you see it?
Zion is as a bereaved and barren woman...and all these children are asking for more room to dwell in. She,in her aloneness, is asking where all these children came from? The LORD answers in verse 22 that He has lifted his hand to the nations, and raised His signal to the peoples.
The LORD told me that WE are bringing Zion her sons and her daughters...we are a very important part of the future restoration of Israel!
And then if you read further, there are so many promises..."those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.".

This next part is amazing..."Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children."
It is our children (especially I believe our children coming home through adoption) who are the prey and the captives.
What a spiritual battle, yet it is the LORD who has raised the signal for us to bring our children home and we are promised that He is the one that will contend with the tyrant and the mighty who try to keep them from us.

In the book ADOPTED FOR LIFE (which is a really good book), Russell D. Moore says "The demonic powers hate babies because they hate Jesus. When they destroy "the least of these" (Matt 25:40, 45), the most vulnerable among us, they"re destroying a picture of Jesus himself, of the child delivered by the woman who crushes their head (Gen 3:15). They know the human race is saved-and they're vanquished-by a woman giving birth (Gal. 4:4; 1Tim 2:15). They are grinding apart Jesus' brothers and sisters (Matt. 25:40). They are also destroying the very picture of newness of life and of dependent trust that characterizes life in the kingdom of Christ (Matt. 18:4). Children also mean blessing-a perfect target for those who seek only to kill and destroy (John 10:10).
Later he writes, "The protection of children isn't charity. It isn't part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps. It's spiritual warfare."
And one last quote from this book; "When we adopt-and when we encourage a culture of adoption in our churches and communities-we're picturing something that's true about our God. We, like Jesus, see what our Father is doing and do likewise (John 5:19). And what our Father is doing, it turns out, is fighting for orphans, making them sons and daughters."

That is what He did for us through Jesus...this is evangelism...the Good News...that we belong to His family now, and He has others that He wants us to bring home.
Obviously, some will not be led by the LORD to adopt, however, I wonder what the world would say if we Lived our Father's Love in our churches by supporting and helping each other more to care for the least of these...in our cities, states, countries, and worldwide.
I am continuing some things that are heavy on my heart in the next few posts...
May be the beans and rice are making me sensitive...LOL
No...I pray that are hearts break for the things that break the heart of God.

I Love Faces

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is Contemtplative: thoughtful observation; full or deep consideration; dreamily or wistfully thoughtful: a pensive mood; expressing or revealing thoughtfulness;

I love this picture of my sweet friend out in the field by our house.
Be sure to visit I Love Faces for other wonderful entries!

Trauma, Drama

This doesn't even show how bad is was!





Life really doesn't let you know what is coming next...
Steve was reading a story to all of us and I was thinking how much I appreciated this, since now more than half of our family is sick with a bad chest cold.
We had started the self cleaning on the oven with my pizza stone which I had scrubbed for the cleaning. What I missed was how much oil had absorbed into the stone, so that even though I had washed it before hand, the oil in the stone caught fire.
We quickly opened every window, brought up fans to take the smoke out, and all of the fire alarms begin to go off. Of course, my sick children began to cough so bad that they couldn't breath, so I was herding them out to the cold Colorado night air for relief.
Our whole house is filled with smoke that makes us all cough, it is late and time for bed...the offending stone is outside after it cooled down enough for Steve to get it out. My house stinks and since I have been feeling "down" this really doesn't help...
(Linny, I am so thinking of your family!!!).
So, every window is open, it is getting cold, children are coughing, and I am not feeling so good myself!
Dumb moment, yea, yet life happens. I kept apologizing to Steve, yet I thought I had prepared for this not to happen by washing the stone before hand...I have never had this happen...
Please pray that Corbin, who is prone to asthma, doesn't get sicker than he is.....
Caresse is coughing more now, and I feel horrible for this happening...so my fault....
so here is a real moment with us.

My Father-By Kalyn

My Father

My Father, my Father who lives on high
Who is everything pure and right and just

Before You do I sink to my knees for I must
It is not in my soul to turn away from You

My Father, my Father to You I cry
In the dead of night when the light is far beyond me
How can I turn away from You and flee
Where shall I go? To where shall I find refuge?

Shall I turn to people with all our sins?
Shall I search for comfort in money?
Shall I travel the world and become just another face in many?
Shall I collect all rare and beautiful things and still be empty?

How can I turn away from Your love?
My Father, my Father for that is who You are
Never let me leave Your arms or wander afar
For who shall I be without You?

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes
That is what I am without Your presence in me
Let me not walk in darkness without You near, let it not be!
How can I survive alone in this world?

Though the world darkens and my sight fades
I know that You are near
Your behind and before, to the right and the left, so I need not fear
Though the world come to an end, it shall not be so for me

For I have found true life in You
What is eternity if spent alone?
But with love it becomes something grand
Something to look forward to throughout the land.

Melancholy

I was feeling so melancholy this morning ...
and then I read that this young man had been found dead in the Colorado mountains. We had been praying for him and his family for the last few days.
So very sad!


I have been feeling kinda "low" the last few days, so I am really looking forward to this slow day to spend time reading the Bible and praying.



Signs of Autumn...course this WAS at over 12,000 feet!

Grateful/Thankful Thursday-Confessions and Beans

SOOOO, I have kept our beans and rice meals pretty simple, but I thought I would make the above recipe to change up things a little. (It is a great recipe...if you can't read it, let me know and I will send it to you.)

While looking through my recipe book, I saw this...meatballs, mmmm. So here is my confession...I am missing my beef! It's true, I am really missing it, in all forms! So our special diet this month showed me an ugly side that I have kept hidden...I like to eat what I want, when I want it. As I was struggling through this nasty revelation, Kalyn plopped down at the kitchen counter and said, "Know what I'm hungry for? Potatoes and green beans and roast and gravy!"
I was telling her what I am missing when Caresse started walking out of the room, covering her ears saying "Enough, hush, no more, I can't stand it." (Ha-ha).

So, back to the rice above cooking, the black beans in the pressure cooker, and I am grateful (and I really do mean that), for the salad that was ready to eat in Caresse's garden!

Soar Throat, by Caresse

Yesterday I got a soar throat, so I have been doing some things to help with my soar throat. Here are some things I do: get boiling water and mix 100% lemon juice and honey into it and drink this when it starts hurting and it will make it feel better. Also you can do dried Echinacea with dried lemon balm, lemon grass, or lemony mint, make a tea from it and drink up!!!!!=) the best place to get the dried herbs is http://www.bulkherbstore.com

No, me and David are not grinding one of the herbs that I mentioned but it is the only herb pic I could find. We are grinding mullein. Mullein is good for respiratory problems, allergy and hay fever, asthma and loosens mucus. It is high in iron, magnesium, potassium, and sulfur. Great herb to use with children. Combines well with Chamomile for a tea.