Contentment?

A fellow blogger has raised the subject of contentment, so I have been pondering it some. I 'm going to throw out my thoughts and you'll have to "scrapbook" with them. (A friend 's term I have adopted, as it is quite frequently fitting when you have many thoughts and haven't yet compiled them cohesively)
Paul said (in Phil.4:11-) "I have learned... to be content... through Christ who strengthens me." There's food for thought...
It seems we have a choice (1 Tim. 6:6-) with vastly different consequences.
Hebrews 13:5 says ...be content...for He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." That's a lot to content ourselves with, if we are truly experiencing Him with us!! It's not like we are settling for something small!
If we walk in delighting ourselves in the Lord, we know true contentment. We learn it. Years ago when I was single, I ran across a book that was titled "Single and Satisfied". I never did read the whole thing, because even the title was enough to stir my thoughts sufficiently. The gist of it was that you will never find satisfaction/fulfilment in anything outside of "Christ in you". If you aren't satisfied single, then you won't be, married, or with children, or the new job, etc. Boy, do we find that out!!!! It's a life lesson we do well to learn early!
For those who don't know me well, you'll notice my blog is full of pictures of my new house, still a work in progress. You can think... it's easy for her to be content!
Well, I lived in a 14'x70' mobile home for almost 13 years, and I can honestly say I was content and even cried when the mobile home left our yard. God sheltered us through so much in those walls... the births of our 5 daughters... the death of one...
There have been days already in my new home when I have felt utterly discontent and you know when it was?!? When I was feeling alienated from God, in a dark day... I can promise you the contentment we can walk in has nothing to do with what's outside of us, but what is inside. (or should I say, what's not inside!)
The truth is, when we desire Him and delight in Him, He delights in filling and fulfilling us, in our heart of hearts! We are also told we "must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The title of my blog is sort of the story of my life! It seems every time I dare to believe God further, to give over yet more to Him, to count myself nothing and Him everything, He responds in ways that astonish me! God want us to truly believe He is who He says He is, even if what we experience makes no sense at times. He wants to be able to safely pour Himself out on us and in us and He can't do that until we can say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."
This last weekend we had a friend here to visit. A single mother with two children that has gone through so much and continues to let God go deeper in her heart and life. I was humbled to experience what God did here amongst us. Father, YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!
Someone once said to us: We have as much of God as we want!
Part of me wanted to argue with that but somehow I couldn't...
May we say with John the Baptist: "HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE!"
God bless us everyone in that endeavor!
Psalm 139:24

HARK!

HARK! What mean those holy voices sweetly sounding through the skies? Out of the empty place over the Judean hills appeared the angel of the Lord, radiating glory as only the majesty of highest calling has acquainted itself. What has happened to the message of the angel?
"Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying; 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." Luke 2 KJV
Perhaps to our generation the message has been, more often than not, a voice over the speaker system, a carol that slipped over the tongue of the singer, or a quote from the scripture on Christmas morning by the pastor from the local assembly.
The message to the men of that day (and God willing our day) was an announcement of the coming of a saviour. Appearing first as a child, then as a saviour, he was to save men from this present world, delivering us out of the captivity of the infirmity and oppression of the powers of this world.
One does not have to look far to see many held captive; slaves to alcohol, drugs, lust, power, love of money, station, and many also suffering from physical sickness and disabilities such as the blind, deaf, dumb, paraplegic, crippled, cancer, aids, and a host of other diseases. Many go to bed hungry at night, rising each day to great want. Countless others are held captive to authority of state and government based upon the principles of the base (or) elementary world. (The system of men who rule by force.)
We have not yet touched on another great captivity... the confusion of false religions, great systems of religiosity with much profession but little power, if any, to the deliverance of the captives.
Was this message just a traditional Christmas story or was it, after all, a salvation message to a world caught in the clutches of great apostasy? (a falling away from God) The fact of the matter is, that the generation that heard the message saw the eyes of the blind opened, the deaf heard, the crippled were made whole, the dead were raised, false religion was exposed, the rich man gloried in his humiliation, and the poor man rejoiced in his riches. Social status and walls crumbled as men left their tax tables and fish nets for the greatest cause of all time. Finally the heart of the matter had been reached, the matter of the heart! The sanctuary of the heart was cleansed and men were set free from the bondage of "the old man". Jesus Christ led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The kingdom of God was not in word, but in power.

POWER TO THE DELIVERANCE OF THE CAPTIVE!

HARK! What means that voice today? The whole creation is groaning and travailing, awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God. Jesus has shown us the way through, by way of the cross. The power is in His life. That is the mystery. His life was exemplary. Every victory is first won in the heart. It was through love that He conquered, as a leader with noblest character.

All of mankind loves the true hero, one who overcomes tremendous odds to pursue an unlikely cause and come out a victor, overwhelmingly conquering the impossible. Jesus Christ, the greatest leader of all ages is again calling for a volunteer army of MEN who will follow all the way through the death of the self life to the resurrection power of the overcoming life, revealing the nature of Jesus in his "sons", confirmed by a powerful deliverance after the original pattern.

We have heard the words, BUT HAVE WE HEARD THE MESSAGE?!

by Gary Isaac

I like to reread this always, this time of year...please God, may we have ears to hear and hearts to obey!!!

Abigail's 2nd Birthday!

Abigail is 2 years old now! Dec.11 at 11:27 a.m. !Here's a pic of her opening a present.

She was quite impressed! She, like all her sisters before her, always pulls out anything I put in her hair. This is her usual look!

She has a 100 watt smile! We lit the candles a couple times to prolong the fun...

Here she is ready for bed and we were watching an episode of Tales from Avonlea. Daddy had given her a shower and she wanted a bow in her hair. She wanted it out again shortly after! Hey, it was good while it lasted! She's a real sweetie and quite a corker!

The Girl's Bathroom

This is the girls bathroom. It's quite small. The length of the tub, with the sink opposite. There's a nice amount of storage in these cupboards. They are pretty empty now, but wait a few years!!... The plumber made a mistake in here and had the pipe for the toilet too far out from the wall. It was all in cement with the tubing in it for heating, so we couldn't bust it up. So... they made a little wall in front of the wall and it made it so the cabinet above could be much deeper!

The door with the towel bar on it goes into a utility closet. There's the propane furnace, hot water heater and pressure tank. It's a little bathroom, but very do-able. There's a nice space between the tub and the rest.

For you who have visited us in our mobile home, I found this pic that shows the placing of the house in relation to the cabin etc.

Here's a picture of my brother Dalen and his wife Miriam and their two girls. Lexia is 4 and Amber is 2. This was taken in August before Dalen's hunting trip to Idaho. Dalen will have his 30th birthday this month!

The Girl's Rooms

Hadassah and Chloe share this room. I thought it was going to be the most "basement" feeling room in the house and was in for a delightful surprise! The window is glass block and quite small, but when the sun shines in, in the morning, it throws beautiful light patterns on the floor. You can see it a little in this picture. Sometimes it's kind or "rainbowy" and sometimes it throws its cheer out into the hall and all the way into Damaris' room! This floor is usually decorated with dolls, beanie babies, play food, dishes, ponies etc. After all, they are 4 &6!

Hadassah has the top bunk and Chloe has the bottom. They have a nice "step-in" closet on the left /back wall.

This is the window from the outside now. We managed to have a stone that would bridge the window like a header.

This is Damaris' room. She did the arranging. The window cranks out and the ground is right beneath it. There is a "step-in" closet to the right, the door just this side of the pink doll bed. At first she kept it immaculate but the newness is wearing off and it's takes some effort to keep it nice. She's quite the one for having a routine. Each night she carefully closes her curtain around her bed. We haven't done anything on the walls in here yet. They are painted off-white. We have a large mirror that goes on the wall opposite the window to reflect more light. I want Abe to trim it with the same trim as the window. Hopefully that gets done this winter... I'd like to put up a wallpaper border or wallies or something, but I'm waiting for that "just right" thing!

Laundry Area

Right in the middle of the downstairs, completely central to the bedrooms and bathrooms is my quaint little laundry area. We got a new washer and dryer that is super efficient. It's by Fisher and Paykel. Anyway... it's tucked in here with a custom cabinet above for the neccesaties.

The floors in the basement, whatever is not carpeted, is marble! Another of God's goodnesses to us. I never would have dreamt! We bought a pallet of it at an auction to make our shower in the master bath, and ended up with enough to use in the hall here and in the girls bathroom and also in front of the exterior doors. When we bought it I liked it, just seeing a few tiles. I had no idea, it being completely natural, that there would be so much varieation! Of course I have some favorite tiles... there is some green and pink in it even and some flecks of mica... Like wood has beautiful grain, this is natural stone and it too reflects it's Maker! At the end of this hall is the girls bathroom, between their two bedrooms. Hadassah and Chloe's room is on the right and Damaris is on the left.

This pic is taken standing in Dassie and Chloe's room... you can see a tiny bit of the washer to get your bearings. We hang the bath towels here in the hall where there is better air circulation, after all, this is a basement. Damaris' room is straight ahead.

Going Downstairs...

All the cabinets and trim downstairs is in cherry. I discovered real quick that it shows the dust very quickly! The cherry trees came from our property where we cut trees down for the house sight and also from Julie's farm. Abe is responsible to take care of whatever goes down in storms etc. We used a light carpet going down the stairs. I guard it somewhat... but amazingly enough it seems to clean very well. Of course it has already been initiated! The girls like to slide down the stair rail backward... and they have discovered going "bumpety" down the stairs. Chloe and Abi particularly like to wear sleeper pj's for that. They even call them their "bumpety jammies"!

This is the family room... It is all I thought it would be! We watch movies and have snacks on this very practical berber carpet. Fuffy, our now full grown kitty, begs at the door to not be left out. Sometimes we give in until I start to sneeze...

The laundry area is under the stairs so I fold the laundry on the couch... the ironing board folds down on the wall so I iron here... the hair combing supplies are in a basket on top of the tv... so... I pop in a movie... and it all gets done while being entertained,etc. With 4 girls to comb, it take a while, and they hold still better, with something to watch.

At the bottom of the stairs on the right is our bedroom door.

Office Pictures

This is what Abe and Marion Yoder (our cabinet making friend ) came up with for this room. The wood is hickory, again from the tree that went down in the ice storm. We wanted to do the kitchen in hickory but it had too much character! Not enough solid wood. So we used it here and for the seat in the entry. God knows better than I what I like! I'm so glad it turned out this way. We used soft maple in the kitchen and I love the color. It's less yellow, more warm... This room is in constant use (another way of saying "a mess")! For some reason the girls never do stuff at the table... there is usually crayons and paper ( not just whole sheets, they
are adept with a scissors!) all over the floor. I will leave it to your imagination!!!

In the summer (when this picture was taken) it is so green out the windows that the opposite wall takes on a green tint. That's what I love about all our windows and light! The decor is alive! and changes hourly! It is actually painted a tan color. Some of the walls are sponged over with a cream color. (Above the border) I used a plastic bag scrunched up to blot it on, then blended it a bit with a damp rag before it was quite dry. You can't really see it here.

This shows how the garage goes off from the house if you look out this window. There is a lovely deep closet that has no shelves in it yet. It is to be continued... I have a little changing station in here so I don't have to go downstairs for that. It's handy!

As you can see there are some bare walls that have yet to be decorated...
I'm taking my time and letting it "happen". (This wall on the left is the powder room on the other side.)