The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish except with apples and pasta

This morning I was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast. We are out of milk so choices were a little limited. I opted to make Apple Oatmeal Muffins as we have a bag of apples that was given to us after helping out at the crop walk (note: I know it takes milk, fortunately dry milk saves practically forever). As I was cooking away, it dawned on me that in the past two week’s several of our meal had come by the grace of God. I’m sure like many of you out there; we are starting to feel a pinch in this economic time and have been downscaling and being careful. One of the few discretionary expenses is food. The question becomes how far can you stretch a dollar.

Lately, especially after my car died this week, I have been feeling very depressed about the situation. I’ll be honest. I was losing hope. This morning though as I was stirring the muffin mix I realized that I was in the middle of my own loaves and fishes story. In the past week and a half or so, God had truly provided. Whenever we have done something for others or for the church, we have been rewarded. DH helped a friend at a Spaghetti dinner. He came home with extra ziti, sauce, apple cider, bread, and parmesan cheese. DH helped with our church auction, he and the kids were fed and we received a very helpful gift which allowed he and DS to get breakfast and lunch. We all partook in the Church pot luck for which DH made Chili using some of the meat sauce that we got from the spaghetti dinner. Then as I said from the crop walk DD and I received a bag of apples which have now served us apple crisp and now apple oatmeal muffins. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes you just need a reality check. As I worry, in my warm house with tv and internet, there are so many in worse shape. I could be serving my children mud pies like in Haiti to quell their hunger.

God, Thank you for all that you provide for me and my family. I am truly grateful. I am sorry for those times that I seem like an ungrateful, selfish child. Please forgive me. Thank you for reminding me of your presence today when I needed it. Please show my family how we can best use our talents to help in your service.
Amen

Devotional - Let All Blessings Flow

Read Psalm 100

“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessings.”
-Ezekiel 35:26 (KJV)

I had hit a dark time. It seemed that I could not escape a sadness that had taken over. I had spent so much of the past months helping with my mother’s care that when she died, I did not know how to go back to my “regular” life. Everything became a chore – something to get done so that I could get to the next thing. I knew I didn’t like being this way, but I could not seem to break the gloom. I decided that I needed to change my perspective, to start seeing God’s blessings again. I started to literally count my blessings. Each night before I went to bed, I listed at least five blessings that had occurred in my day. At first it seemed hard. One and two usually came quickly, but I really had to think of three, four, and five. But then as I continued, I could almost feel the Holy Spirit fill me. He hadn’t left me before. He had carried me or I most surely would have collapsed, but now He took a new role. As I asked for Him to fill me up, he did. As I took one step forward, He took two toward me. It wasn’t long until I could not only list 5 blessings a day, but could often fill full pages. God’s blessings were simple things like the flutter of a butterfly. They were concrete like cuddling with my children. They were spiritual like the feeling when singing hymns in church. I was awake again and in God’s light. It had always been there, but now I could see it.

Prayer: Dear God, You are always with us in dark days and joyous. Thank you for always being there. Please help me to continue to see the many blessings that you pour onto us. Amen

Thought for the Day:
Blessings are all around us, if we would just stop to look.

Moving Under God's Direction

One of the houses that we have been looking at has dropped by 50k. Now you would think that I would be excited about this, instead my heart sunk. Without our house selling, there is no way that we can purchase the house. What does this have to do with faith? DD saw my response and wrote a blog about faith on our joint blog acupofteawithmomandme.blogspot.com about Having faith as it regarded to the home sale. She reminded me of Romans 8:28


"all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

and of Psalm 139. On the other hand, a joke that I once heard came to mind:

There was a man who lived by a river as the rains came. An announcement came over the radio for all residents to move from the area because torrential floods were on there way, but the man said, “I have my Bible and I pray to God. He will protect me. I am going nowhere.”

The rains came and the water rose on his house. He had to move to the second floor to avoid the waters. A boat of rescuers came around, “Come with us, sir. We are evacuating. It is bad now, but the rains are going to continue. Your house may be swept away”
The man responded shaking his Bible out the window, “I have my Bible and I pray to God. He will protect me. I am going nowhere!”

As the rescuers had predicted, the rains continued. The man was forced out on his roof. Fortunately, the rescuers had not forgotten him. They came by in a helicopter. “Sir, you must come now. You have nowhere left to go. More waters are coming. Please come with us.”
“You don’t understand. I have my Bible and I pray to God. He will protect me. I am going nowhere.” He flagged the helicopter away. The rains continued, eventually overtaking his roof. He was washed away and died.

When he reached heaven and standing face to face with God, he asked, “I don’t understand. I believed. I had faith. Why am I dead? I waited for you to save me.”
God replied, “Who do you think made sure that you were warned and sent the rescuers not just once but twice?”

* * * Would you believe while I was writing this a car just drove down my driveway, checked out the house, and drove away. We have a 200 foot driveway and live on a dead end. You don’t drive down our driveway by mistake!

So please join me in a prayer:

Dear God, It seems to me that my family and I are supposed to move. We asked for your guidance and You provided us with a job, when we weren’t sure that there would be one. Not only did you provide us with it, we were truly blessed with it. Thank you for providing. Now we are trying to follow and resettle, but our home has yet to sell. We have taken our steps, but still we are caught between these two places. We know that You have a plan and that we must learn to relax and trust. And so, I ask you to watch over us and help us to continue to have faith. Do not give me what I necessarily wish, but instead what You know is right. Help us to be faithful and understand your bidding. Amen

Life Lessons from the Titanic

Two things struck me as my dd, my father, and I toured the Titanic exhibit today:

-Small Actions Can Make a Difference
-Things that seem bad at the time can be a blessing

Small Action Can Make a Difference. This idea struck me twice during the exhibit. Once, we read about the band playing even as ship sank. Apparently, without concern for their own life they continued to play to comfort and entertain others. This seems so selfless. And I’m sure to people that realized that they were not getting onto those final lifeboats, the music they played offered some kind of consolation. The second small action was a priest that stayed behind and prayed with the passengers that had been consigned to death after the last lifeboat was launched. Compare this action with president and Chairmen of White Star Lines (the manufacturer of the Titanic) J. Brue Ismay, who bore some responsibility for the sinking and yet ensured his own survival by taking one of the few seats available in the life boats, while so many others were set to die.

What use is it,my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:14 (KJV)

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
James 2:20 (KJV)

Things that seem bad at the time can be a blessing. There were so many stories about people not getting aboard because of sprained ankles, colds, a change in plans, or, the most interesting to me, getting kidnapped. Harold Irwin was kidnapped the night before the sailing and forced to labor on a ship heading to Egypt to pay his gambling debt. I’m sure at the time, it seemed that the worst thing possible had occurred in his life. If he was a religious man, he may have prayed to be saved and not realized that God had already answered his prayer. This made me think of the many times that I may pray for specific intercession by God instead of asking for courage to accept HIS will.

Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
~Socrates

Lessons can be found everywhere, if we are open to see them.