Faith

Faith is a funny thing. At least, faith in God. So many times I think that we attribute faith to ourselves or others, however, I think that we have faith wrong...most of the time. Faith is not something we can choose to do, it is a gift. Faith is a gift from God. We cannot wake up one day and say,"Ahah! Today I shall have faith in God. I will believe in Him and all will be well." We cannot look at someone else and say, in an accusatory manner,"If you ONLY had faith, everything would be fine!" No...it does not work that way. If it did, that would mean that there was something that we had to contribute to make salvation work. It would mean that Christ's sacrifice on the cross, His death and resurrection, were not sufficient. Eph 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. We have no work in our salvation. None. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Wow. What do you think? Obey

Pilgrimage...

My children love to listen to an audio version of "Pilgrim's Progress." It is a story that I have come to love over the last few years. I do not know if you are familiar with the story. It is the story of a man named Christian who flees the coming destruction of his city. He is fleeing to the Celestial City where the Great King waits to offer him peace and life. Christian's journey is not an easy one. He starts off heavily laden with a great burden. The burden is the burden of sin. Christian desperately desires the removal of this great burden. This desire is so great that he takes his eyes off of his goal and is quickly drawn out of the Way. He manages to find his way back but, throughout his journey is beset by many trials and missteps. He fails, he falls, he fails again...he continues. I love the encouragement this story offers because I have often found myself in the shoes of "Christian." I continually fall flat on my face, failing at being a "good Christian." I want to be one, but, I often find myself taking my eyes from my King and Savior and and trying to change my heart and my actions with my own power. Oh, I can change for a short time, but it is never lasting. I always revert back to my same selfish, self centered, self seeking, unforgiving, self righteous, self. The only lasting change that ever happens within my heart  is that which is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit.

I am so thankful that He can change me. I am so thankful that He can (and does) forgive me for my constant blunderings. How forgiving am I when others fail me, disappoint me, wound me, ignore me, turn their back on me, or sin against me? Honestly? I would love to be able to say that I am lowly and humble of heart and that I am that forgiving...but, that would make me a liar. I am proud. Oh, I used to think that I was humble...then I became a Christian and the truth was revealed. I tended to (and still unfortunately, sometimes still do) hold wrongs done to me, close. I would cradle them in my arms and tenderly nurture the unforgiveness until it became a festering, bitter, hateful resentment. The Lord is still working on this in me. Sometimes, I still want to hold onto those things. "See, what so-and-so did to me?! Poor me! Don't you feel bad for me?! Just look what they did!" Why do I do that? Ugh. It is so gross. I hate it in others...why do I seem to think that it is different in me?

Truthfully, I don't. Not really. Sometimes, I just want someone to put the blame on. Isn't that nice? I do not want to blame me...that would mean that I was, like, wrong about something! I would have to admit guilt...about something, anything. My pride does not think that is so cool. Thankfully, my Savior is continuing to chip away at this disgusting part of my nature. Thankfully, He does not give up on me. Thankfully, He forgives me. When I sin, I am rebelling against Him. I am fighting Him and telling Him that He has got it all wrong...that I have a better way. His answer? "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." He is the Way...my way? Not going to fly. Utter Failure.

So, why did I bring this all up? Why would you care? Because, miserable, putrid, wretch that I am, He loves me and He has made me His. He has sealed me, adopted me, made me His own. He is bringing me along patiently. He is guiding my feet every step. Like in the story, I fail. However, He never fails and He never gives up on me no matter how many wrong turns I take. Oh, do not get me wrong...there are consequences for my foolishness. He does chasten me, but, He does so with love and He does so perfectly and in just the way that I need.

I am on Pilgrimage. I am seeking the Holiest Land. I am seeking the King. I am on a journey and it is both terrifying and utterly glorious. Terrifying, because I know that He might ask me to do some really hard things and I am afraid that I will fail Him...utterly glorious, because I know that even though I am afraid, He will provide for me, and teach me, and strengthen me, and guide me through it all and if He wants it done through me...He will make it happen. If He wants it, I cannot fail no matter how afraid I am. Do you know why? Because, nothing is impossible with God.

It is late...I have babbled quite enough. I am sure that I will read this in the morning and it will not make as much sense to me as it does tonight. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Obey

The Great Goat Experience...or...You Would Have Been Laughing Hysterically at Us.

We are now the proud new owners of three lovely goats. They have been dubbed thusly: Princess, Lady, and lil' Shortcake. They are milking goats. We have never had milking goats. We have had chickens. Just a lil' FYI, chickens and goats are nothing alike. We have had horses....the only similarities thus far are, that they are both mammals.

I would like to take the moment to offer a word of advice to any and all who may be looking into a similar venture. The word is: milking-stand. If you get dairy goats and you do not have said milking stand, prepare to feel like an absolute goober. You will quickly find that a goat can climb anything. By that, I mean that a goat can climb you, the bales of hay behind you and then...the barn wall.

We did not have a milking-stand on our first day. I will pause while those of you who are experienced with goats, laugh hysterically at us........
Anywhooo, we did not have the aforementioned necessary piece of dairy goat accessories. In our naivete, we thought to ourselves, 'Surely, we can just tie them whilst we milk them.'

'Ahah!' thought the goats,' Surely not!'

Just to assuage all fears at this moment, the goats are all alive...and so, by the Grace of God, are we.

My poor daughter, who is a romantic to a fault, had her romantic vision of gently and serenely milking these beautiful does, pummeled into the ground along with her toes as these dainty ladies danced the Cha-cha  all over our poor unsuspecting bodies.

Now, you must understand, these lovely ladies are not bad...we were just not very bright and were utterly unprepared.

First of all, no milking-stand. Second, no grain. Third, no brain. Oi.

There we were, with these goats who have never seen us before; excited children dancing around, other excited children riding their bicycles around us (showing off for the goats dontcha know!), some not so thrilled children crying, dogs acting like their brains had been removed and running circles around us, and my daughter and I...looking for all things like we were part of a goat rodeo. We were at a loss...why wasn't this working?! My daughter had to leave to go to work. My heart went out to her. She looked so discouraged and sad.

Through much wrangling, we were able to milk these poor girls enough to, at least, feed the little doeling and relieve them of some...uh...pressure. I was not looking forward to the next morning.

That evening, as I studiously researched "How to Milk a Goat,"  my husband was off leading a Bible study.  One of the ladies, who attends this study, has had dairy goats. In her sweet and forthright way she quickly informed my husband of all that we had done wrong...which was almost everything.

Those poor girls.

But, they are forgiving wee lassies. A fact for which we are extremely grateful.

In the wee hours of the morning, this morning, my husband arose from the cozy warmth of our bed, bundled himself and stepped out into the frosty morn. What a man. He went out to the barn and built my daughter a milking-stand. We were still without grain, however, the morning milking session was much less traumatic than the previous evening, and, this evening (after purchasing some grain) it went even better still!

We are bruised. We are sore. We are getting closer to getting the hang of things. And the goats still like us. Now if we could just keep their feet out of the milk bucket...but, hey, baby steps right?

Praise the Lord!

Oh...and just so you are not worried...no, we aren't drinking their milk yet.