Life at the end of the dirt road

29/09/2024

Money saving tip…hang out your laundry, it’s free!! Line dried sheets smell so good too!

31/07/2024

Initiate Your Blessing
Matthew 7:7

You must initiate your blessing. Go to God with the facts of your situation and lay them out in a systematic order, not with wild wailings and flailing. Never allow
the enemy to use your emotions against you!
If you never ask for anything, you will never receive anything. Many people are so passive that they hang around life as limp as old rag dolls and never stand up to circumstances or enforce change. At the other extreme are the people who argue about everything. They are bitter and mean, priding themselves on being overbearing and outspoken.
Neither is effective. Overbearing women isolate themselves because men find them so obnoxious that they had rather hide from them than confront them. Passive women are taken for granted and abused because they feel powerless to provoke change. God wants women who will speak up without ranting and raving. The trick is to balance the two extremes.
However, even God will not release blessings to someone who will not speak up. He teaches emphatically the necessity of being an initiator. If you don't initiate it, nothing significant will ever occur in your life. It is totally up to you. If there is no asking, seeking, and knocking, there will be no giving, finding, and opening. Can you see why many women are living in frustration? They are filled with wonderful memories and fantasies, but their reality may not be what they desire.
Too many people sit around and wish something would happen. This will make you stagnant and miserable. If you have dreams and aspirations, move toward those goals with vigor and precision. Most Christians feel that God will do it all. That's not true. If Hannah had not prayed in the spirit for a child (faith) and then slept with Elkanah (works), there would have never been a Samuel (fruit). You can find this story in 1 Samuel 1:20.
You have to make your actions line up with your convictions, or you will live a fruitless life. What is even worse is the fact that in your old age, you will have to eat the fruit of what you did in your youth. Be careful what you cook! Initiate your blessing.

24/06/2024

Oh my goodness this is how I have been feeling lately.

Me: Hey God.
God: Hello.....
Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I would rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you aren't a puzzle.
Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?
God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.
Me: You don't understand! I'm breaking down!
God: No - you don't understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling are just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You aren't falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don't need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don't fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?
God: Only the very best pieces of you.
Me: I'm scared of changing.
God: I keep telling you - YOU AREN'T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don't change! ... Become! Become! Become who I made you to be. I'm going to keep telling you this until you remember it.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yep. Let it be.
Me: So ... I'm not broken?
God: Of course Not! - but you are breaking like the dawn. It's a new day

John Roedel

19/06/2024

19/06/2024

Amazing Facts Daily Devotional

THE HUMAN TOUCH

In 1915, Dr. Henry D. Chapin reported that in infant-care homes throughout the U.S. nearly every child under two years died. The mortality rate was almost 100 percent. Knowing the babies were given adequate nourishment and cleanliness, he wondered what the problem was. He then discovered the policy at the time was “no coddling of the babies was allowed.” The babies died from lack of touch. During WWII, an orphanage in London was a warehouse for a wave of unwanted babies. Children there were only given essential care like clothing, food, and shelter.

It was all they could do just to attend to the many physical needs that were obvious. At this particular orphanage, the mortality rate was high. Fifty percent of all babies that came in died within a year and a half of their arrival. They simply did not know then, what we know today, about the importance of human touch and the role it plays in the physical, as well as emotional, well-being of babies.

Someone came up with the idea of touching the babies more, not just when they were fed or clothed. All workers, from the janitor to the director, were ordered to reach down and stroke or gently touch every baby they passed in the course of their day. They were not required to pick them up or spend any significant amount of time being physical. They just had to touch. The results of this new mandate were astonishing. Within two years, the mortality rate of infants brought to the orphanage dropped from 50 percent to 15 percent.

The 13th-century historian Salimbene described an experiment made by the German emperor Frederick II, who wanted to know what language children would speak if raised without hearing any words at all. Babies were taken from their mothers and raised in isolation. The result was that they all died. Salimbene wrote in 1248, “They could not live without caressing.” Nor can anyone else. Human babies definitely need tender loving care to survive. Untouched adults may not die physically, but they will experience emotional and social atrophy.

Could this be why everywhere Jesus went He touched people? Whether He was blessing children or healing a l***r, Jesus made it a point to reach out and lovingly touch people. Who will you bless today with your touch of Christian love?

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
"And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean."
Mark 1:41

04/06/2024

Oh my raw milk I have been craving you so…
I have been out for too long but I got some today. Yes!

02/06/2024

SLEEPLESSNESS

An Amazing Fact: It can be difficult to determine if someone is actually awake by mere surface appearances. Many people can take a catnap with their eyes wide open and not even know it!

Did you know that the first recorded instance of sleep in history is when God “anesthetized” Adam? Actually, it was a very creative sleep: When Adam awoke he was refreshed, revived … and married! A whole-new life and, ultimately, the future of humanity can be traced back to that first nap.

Sleep is much more than a passive experience for your body. Although we might be resting, our body is engaged in another type of activity, a process that will bring restoration to frazzled organs, nerves, and body tissues. Sleep is a rejuvenating cycle we all need. Sleep deprivation can actually be damaging to our bodies and minds. For instance, a lack of sleep impairs our immune system.

One of the longest documented records for a human going without sleep, without using stimulants, is held by Randy Gardner. In 1964, the 17-year-old student stayed awake for 264 hours. (That’s 11 days!) Randy reported hallucinations, nausea, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech, and memory and concentration lapses. Interestingly, even missing one hour of sleep has been shown to increase the likelihood of a traffic accident by eight percent.

There are lots of tips on getting a good night’s rest. Here are just a few: First, wake up with the sun. Sunlight helps to increase levels of alertness, enhancing hormones such as serotonin. Next, eat a balanced diet rich in plant-based complex carbohydrates and tryptophan, which is a building block for hormones like melatonin. Make sure to find time for moderate exercise each day, and avoid sleep-depriving substances like alcohol, caffeine, and ni****ne.

But one of the greatest roadblocks to good sleep is worry. Studies show that emotional stress can cause poor-quality sleep. According to Proverbs 3, when we seek God’s wisdom and knowledge, our lives will be more relaxed. We are not driven by fear or worry. We will discover that seeking to obey the Lord puts our minds at rest and will actually enhance our sleep. Yes, embracing faith in God like a little child is one of the wisest things you can do to rest easier.

Dear Jesus, tonight as I lay down to sleep, I choose to trust my life with you. I place all my worries into your compassionate hands and will rest in your care.

Additional reading: Proverbs 3:19–35

KEY BIBLE TEXTS
"When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet."
Proverbs 3:24

12/05/2024

God is a restorer. That is to say, as you sit sipping coffee or whatever, rehearsing your own thoughts, playing old reruns from the scenes in your life…some things He will explain and others He will heal.

04/05/2024

The Dawning
Psalm 59:16

You are a woman of excellence. You are strong and powerful in your own right. Occasionally, if God so
wills, He sends to an excellent woman an excellent
husband who has the grace to be a lover and the anointing to be a friend.
Occasionally, He will send someone to sing the songs your heart longs to hear. Occasionally, He will send a strong arm to wrap around a weary body and give you a moment of rest and tranquillity. But none of these experiences will ever take the place of the ultimate experience. For the greatest morning you will ever know is the dawning of faith in Jesus, your Lord.
No matter what sorrow life has brought you, don't stop until you see morning, because morning does come. It is at the end of every tragic divorce, but it does come. It is at the end of setbacks, betrayals, delays and denials, but when they're all over, morning does come. I challenge you, my sister and my friend, hold out for the morning. It does come.
Do not allow the tragedies of life to so depress you that you lose your hope. Do not allow the bitter disappointments and losses you face to rob your expectations of daybreak. Wake up singing hallelujah in the morning.
Breathe in the fresh air, expel the stale air of your past, and say,"I can feel the breaking of day" And it will come. Overcome obstacles with confi-dence. Rise above trauma with triumph. Feel solace through sorrow. Know comfort in the midst of crisis. The morning does come!
Some years ago, John Newton penned these words during a crisis in his life. They are words to a hymn that strengthens the heart and rekindles the will to survive. He wrote:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Isn't that what morning is all about? Stepping out of blindness into see-ing? It is my prayer that the darkness will roll back from every issue in your
Life, like clouds being pushed across the sky by a strong wind. The Lord can do that for you. He will bring you grace. He will help you see. He will Watch over you through the night. Morning is dawning!

03/05/2024

Dance your way into the weekend with the YMCA on May 25th at Willis Park! Line dancing, Pound, Zumba, Yoga - so many fun classes to join! 💃

21/04/2024

It’s starting to smell like vinegar.

13/04/2024

Yep