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

December 11, 2024

LIFE IN THE FOLD

This morning when I woke up, I just felt very blessed and very thankful. It's not any one big happening that occurred to make me feel this way, but just an accumulation of many. I think sometimes we forget to give God thanks or to feel grateful for our every day blessings. We go through our routines and busyness of life and fail to acknowledge the good things that God does for us.

Today, as I'm writing this, it is my husband's birthday. I'm so incredibly thankful for Jon! I'm grateful that God placed us together and that we get to do life together. Jon is smart and kind and has a punny sense of humor. He's a hard worker and wonderful provider for our little family of two. He loves the Lord with all of his heart and I love it that we are at ease praying together.

I'm so incredibly thankful for my health. Other than taking a low-dose cholesterol pill every day, I'm healthy and hearty and feel good. Neither Jon nor I rarely have gotten sick throughout our marriage. Throughout all that year or so when covid hit and so many family and friends were getting it, we both stayed healthy and neither of us ever got sick.

For the past 15 years I've babysat for my niece and nephews. I've taken care of many little ones when they were sick -- throwing up, coughing, and sneezing all over me, feverish -- and overall, I've rarely have ever gotten sick from holding them and caring for them while their parents worked. Out of all the years of babysitting and getting kids on the bus, I've never had to miss a day due to illness (that I can think of). I give God thanks for His protection and for Him taking care of me so that I've been able to care for the kids and stay with them and their parents haven't had to miss work, due to me being sick.

I'm so thankful for family. Both of my parents have passed away, but I'm so blessed with having four sisters and numerous nieces and nephews and their kids. I have many, many cousins. I see people who have no family and are alone and it makes my heart sad. I don't ever want to take for granted the gift of having family; and not just family, but family whom I'm close to and love.

Being out of debt is something else that I'm very grateful for. Jon and I worked very hard to accomplish that, and it feels good to have met our goals.

You may be thinking, "You're a week late writing about thankfulness!" "You've already written about being thankful." But I believe that the feeling of thankfulness shouldn't just be felt or written about around the Thanksgiving holiday, but should be something we think about year round.

There are many Psalms that speak about being thankful. Other scriptures throughout the Word of God, also, speak of thankfulness.

Psalms 107:1 says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever."

Of all the people and things that I have to be thankful for, the One whom I'm most thankful for is the Lord. He truly is good! And boy am I ever thankful for his faithful love that endures forever; even when I don't deserve it. I'm thankful that His mercies are new every morning!

Psalms 103:8-12 says, "The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west."

Now that is something that we all should be incredibly thankful for!!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

A topic has been on my mind for awhile, now. And it slightly relates, so I'll share it. It's about the difference between "made perfect" and "perfectly made".

God is perfect, so we can expect everything He does to be done perfectly. That includes creating us. I've heard an argument that if God made us perfect, then everything we do must also be perfect. But that starts by confusing "perfectly made" with "made perfect." God perfectly made us all. But He hasn't necessarily made us perfect, yet.

That is probably confusing, so I'll try to explain. God has made us. He did a perfect job of it. But He didn't make us as statues, or even as robots. He made us capable of choosing to behave perfectly, or flawed. We can choose which path we take many times each day.

Jesus summarized all the law of all the Old Testament as: 1) Love the Lord (with all your mind, heart, etc.); 2) Love others (as yourself). So, fundamentally, we are created to follow these two laws (if we choose to). We are perfectly created to be capable of following them both perfectly. But we are also perfectly created with the ability to do otherwise. The first time each of us have done otherwise, we gave up our perfection. (Actually, Adam and Eve gave up that perfection before we were even born.)

Fortunately, "The God of all grace...will Himself perfect [or restore], confirm, strengthen, and establish you." (I Peter 5:10, NAS). Even though we spend our entire lives imperfect, if we are willing, He will forgive our sins and make us perfect in the next life.

For that, we can all be thanful.

ON THE MENEWE:

Hidden Valley Ranch Oyster Crackers

Whisk together oil, dry dressing mix, and spices. Put crackers in a large bowl and pour mixture over the top; stir gently to evenly coat. Place crackers in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 275 for 15-20 minutes. Store in ziplock bag or airtight container.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

I love looking back and finding stories that I posted about my nieces and nephews and their kids. This memory is from 2015:

This past Sunday my sister's two grandkids came to church with her. Abigail is 7 and Owen is 3. They sat with me and Jon during the time between Sunday School and Children's Church. Abigail had given Owen a piece of gum, which resulted in this conversation:

Me: Owen, don't swallow your gum. When you finish chewing it, give it to me to throw away.

Owen: I don't want to throw it away! I will just swallow it!

Abigail: Owen, if you swallow your gum then when you fart, a big bubble will come out of your bottom and it will shoot you into space!

Jon: I don't think it would shoot him that far!

Abigail: Well maybe not that high, but it would shoot him pretty high into the air! Then when the bubble popped, Owen would fall to the ground and could get hurt!!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

God doesn't always still the storm around you,

but He will still the storm raging inside you. - TobyMac

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org