THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

March 8, 2023

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Since this is close to the anniversary of our very first newsletter, published on March 12, 2007, I decided to share the devotional that I had written for our first edition. As I read back over it, it brought up a lot of memories and has a message that was encouraging to me as I re-read it; and I pray will encourage and bless you, too. Enjoy and be blessed!

Have you ever prayed for something, then find out that the answer was there all the time, only you were looking in the wrong direction?

Jon and I stayed at a cottage in Eureka Springs for our honeymoon. There was a deck on back of the cottage with hummingbird feeders. We would sit outside and watch the hummingbird's flock to those feeders, and became fascinated with them.

Last spring, we decided to hang out a couple of feeders and see if any hummingbirds would start coming to our back yard. We hung the feeders from a redbud tree, and after a couple of weeks we finally saw one. We were so excited and would sit outside on the swing, on our back porch, to watch for it. After coming two or three times, it seemingly left our yard.

We began praying that God would bring the hummingbird back to our feeders so we could see it again. Day after day, we waited and didn't see anything.

We had planted a garden directly behind our home that extended from our porch to just passed the end of the house. On the backside of our garden, we planted some Canna flowers.

One evening we were sitting outside watching for the hummingbird and admiring our garden. This was the first garden we planted together, so we were pretty proud of our handiwork, and would literally check it two or three times a day for growth.

Jon happened to glance over, and saw that a hummingbird was drinking nectar from our Cannas. We had not even thought to check to see if the hummingbird was coming to another spot in our yard, because we had put the feeder up in the redbud tree, especially for them, and thought that was where they should be going. After all, that's where it came before.

Many times when we pray, we figure out ahead of time how we think God is going to answer. It may be that that's how he answered before, so we assume that's what He'll do again. But God may have something totally different planned than what we expect.

By summer's end, we had at least five different hummingbird's that came to our yard. We had to learn to look for them. We moved one of the feeder's from the redbud to our back porch. The hummingbirds came to both feeders, our Cannas, and the honeysuckle we planted on our back fence.

Some may think that praying for something as small as asking for hummingbird's to come to your yard is a waste of God's time. I have learned that if I can't trust God to answer my small request, then I struggle when I have to believe Him for something big. I believe that God is concerned in all things regarding my life.

When Jon and I were dating, his dad gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. He thought that all ladies should own a pearl necklace, and as a special gift just from him, he had bought the other women in the family one in previous years. As a gift from both of Jon's parents, they had also bought me a pair of pearl earrings.

One Sunday evening I had come over to Jon's parents' house after church and when I got ready to leave, Jon noticed that I was missing an earring. I knew that I had it when I had left the house for church. We searched the floor, the furniture, under the cushions, everywhere we could think of to look. That earring was nowhere to be found. I didn't want to tell my future in-laws that I had lost one of the pearl earrings they had given me. I made Jon promise not to tell them that I had lost it.

I desperately prayed that it would be found. The next morning when I got up, there in the middle of my bedroom floor was that earring. I have no idea how it got there. I don't know if it had fallen out and got caught on the sweater I was wearing, if God found it and placed it there, or what happened. Figuring out how it got there is not important. What is important, is that I prayed and believed God that He would answer, and He did.

Whatever you may be praying for, know that God cares about everything that concerns you, whether big or small. Be encouraged in the Lord and know that He truly does love you.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

When someone takes up weightlifting, they don't start off trying to dead lift 350 pounds. Unless they are already very strong, that would be pretty stupid. No, they start off lifting something light. It may only be 40 pounds or so. After they get used to that, they can work up.

There is an old story about a boy who picked up a calf the day it was born. Each day, he lifted the calf again for exercise. After a year, he was able to lift a nearly fully grown bull. His name was Hercules. Silly story, but it makes sense.

We grow in our faith and in seeing God's hand in things around us in the same way. We trust Him in smaller things, and see how much He works in our lives and in us. We can see Him bringing back hummingbirds or other small things. In time, we have the strength and faith to trust Him in our really big needs.

ON THE MENEWE:

Country Chicken and Gravy

Combine soup and water/broth in a 9x13 baking dish.

Place Shake and Bake and Parmesan cheese in a large Ziplock bag

Cut chicken into smaller chunks and toss in mixture, shaking to coat.

Lay coated chicken in soup mixture in a single layer.

Bake at 400 for 40-45 minutes or until tender.

The soup will make a delicious gravy for mashed potatoes or just for the chicken.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Our very first newsletter that we published online was March 12, 2007. That was 16 years ago -- 835 weeks!! How do I know this? Because we have faithfully written and published a newsletter every single week since that very first newsletter; and this is number 835. Even if we were going to be gone on vacation or out of town, we would write and get it ready early, so that Jon could get it published the appropriate week.

I remember how this first got started. I had just quit my job in banking and was making the bed one morning. I had been praying that God would show me what to do, and that particular morning, I clearly heard in my spirit God speak and give me my answer. I knew how to write, but had no idea about how to publish it online or what was entailed. That evening when I shared this with Jon, he thought it was a great idea and knew how to get it set up and how to do the online publishing. We make a great team! I write the majority of the newsletter, then Jon edits and writes his portion, and does the publishing.

How much longer will we continue to do this? We have no idea! When God tells us to stop, we will stop. Until that time, we will continue writing each week. We pray that those who read this will be blessed and encouraged by our devotionals.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Patience is to idle your motor when you feel like stripping the gears. - unknown

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org