The Fruit of the Spirit is...PEACE

A toddler and a dog - they could bring peace or chaos I suppose.
We are happy to have both of them in our lives. :-) And though there
is sometimes some physical chaos that doesn't need to change our peace that is on the inside.

  Peace.... the Greek word "eirene" means prosperity, one, peace, quietness, rest, set at one again. I think this is something that we all crave but something many in this world are missing. I believe that the peace that God gives by His Spirit inside us could be one of the biggest attractions of Christianity. We live in a world full of anxiety and strife and we have a God who offers us peace. This peace doesn't mean we won't face hard times or angry people or other troubling circumstances but it does allow us to have inner peace in the midst of the struggles.

    One of my biggest prayers for the people in Ukraine this past year has been that they would find peace. I would love for the peace to be obvious to the world by the fighting to stop but I have also been praying that they would find the inner peace that comes from Jesus Christ even in the midst of their war torn country. It has been so very exciting to me to hear many stories of just that happening - of so many turning their lives over to Jesus Christ. God is at work in Ukraine and that is so very exciting to me.

   Anyway, I want to share some verses that I have been meditating on for the month of March....

"Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:14

We know that peace is a fruit of the Spirit - it is also something that we should pursue. How do we do that? I think part of it is mentally making the choice to be someone who is not easily angered or offended. Also to daily (hourly!)make the choice to trust God with everything that is going on in our life. 

This song reminds me to do that in a beautiful way.

Romans 5:1-11 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

The only peace that truly matters in life is having peace with God. We gain access to that through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

This scripture explains it more...

Eph 2:11-22 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
   For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

How thankful I am to Jesus Christ who has given us peace with God and peace with others!

Here is one of my favorite verses on the subject of peace. I challenge you to follow this to the 
very best of your ability and see how God will transform your life. I have experienced this sort of peace in my life and I am incredibly grateful!

Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

 Romans 8:5 & 6 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.

  I find that it needs to be a daily effort to keep my mind focused on the Spirit. Some practical things that help with that is to spend time in God's word (by reading, meditating, memorizing), Pray through your day, pray with others, be intentionally grateful and spend time listening to (and singing) songs of worship to God. 

 I included this picture that I took a week or so ago after I had shoveled out the front walks following a snowstorm. It hasn't changed a lot since - we have gotten a little more snow but some has also melted. It is a very peaceful sort of setting but most people don't find it so when it is Spring and they are really hoping for some grass instead of snow. People can get a little testy up here when another snowstorm gets predicted at this time of year. I think weather is one of the easiest ways for me to sit back and realize that God has this all in control. There isn't anything that I can do to change it anyway - I might as well enjoy whatever comes and live in peace. That area is easy for me to pursue peace in but I do have my own struggles. This picture also shows some ice dams that our roof has collected this winter. I have had a few anxious thoughts about those and the potential damage that they could do to our house. I have taken it to God though and researched things to do to solve the problem and I have been working at getting them to melt in a good way and I do have peace in this situation. It isn't solved completely yet but I know God is with me in it. 

I just had to share also this picture of my pretty baby sister and her newest baby (along with the 2nd youngest). Juliette came out into the world to join our big family in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. We are so happy that she is here!

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Healthy Living (without spending a lot of money)

 Taking care of our health is so important. Why? Our bodies are a gift from God that He blessed us with to use to glorify Him. We can't control everything that happens to our bodies (not by a long shot!) nor do I think we should be so paranoid that living healthy consumes our thoughts in a big way and we don't do or eat anything that we think might possibly be dangerous for our body. We need to have balance. If we gradually develop healthy habits however we can live a pretty healthy lifestyle and it will just be easy and normal for us rather than all consuming. 

 Health has been on my mind lately because a friend invited to join her (and others) in a 12 week challenge to live more healthfully. Here is what we are working on:

THE CHALLENGE

Each item is worth 1 point, with a possible 10 points per day

1. 7 hrs. of sleep (not necessarily consecutive - naps count too!)

2. 48 oz. of water

3. 30 minutes of exercise (not necessarily consecutive)

4. 2 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit

5. No soda, beer, wine, unhealthy snacks (ex: potato chips), or bad fast food (anything fried!)

6. No sweets. (Desserts, pastries, sugary snacks & cereals) * Sugar-Free alternatives are OK. (But be careful with sugar free!! Moderation...)

7. No eating after dinner/8pm

8. 15 min. of scripture reading (or spiritual text if you don't do scripture)

9. One journal entry (any length)

10. Express sincere appreciation, love or praise to your spouse (if single, to another person)

Note: You have one free point, PER CATEGORY, PER WEEK. One free point for exercise, one free point for soda/fast food/unhealthy snacks, one free point for sweets, etc. You do not have 10 free points to use however you choose -they are NOT interchangeable and if you choose not to use a free point in a category, it is gone at weeks end. You could also just choose to have one "free" day where all points are free (which is less confusing), but we are allowing for flexibility and success!

Exceptions: **You are excused from the sweet rule on YOUR BIRTHDAY. **You are allowed three sick days where you are excused (only) from exercising and eating veg/fruit/water [if you can’t eat/drink] This is ONLY to be used if you are indeed sick.

Many of the items are pretty easy for me as they were already habits (such as the water, Bible reading, prayer journaling, saying "I love you"/praise and getting enough sleep) which was good because 10 new habits would be pretty insane to try to start all at once. 

  The 30 minutes of exercise has been the most challenging but I have (mostly!) found it pretty fun too. I did have a habit of trying to stretch/exercise at least 5 days a week but if I stretched for 1 minute, did 10 sit-ups and 25 to 50 jumping jacks all of which I could easily get done in less than 5 minutes then I felt like I was good to go. I'm not saying that idea is wrong but it has been fun to stretch myself to do more and to do it at least 6 days a week. My exercise routine has been pretty eclectic and I haven't found a certain time in the day that always works to do it. Often I will be pushing in some time of it at the very last bit of the day before bed. Things I have been doing for exercise are: Walking, jumping jacks, planking, sit-ups, very vigorous cleaning (running up and down the stairs putting stuff away, sweeping or mopping fast - I only use this for minutes if I am getting my heart rate up), shoveling, hauling in wood and following various exercise videos on Youtube such as figure eight and this one below that I have really enjoyed:

I have also been using several that really promote pelvic floor health. Some of these are much easier so if I am really tired after a busy day of work I will do one of these that aren't so exhausting:

Another item that has been a bit of a challenge for me that I didn't expect was making sure that I was eating 4 servings of fruits and veggies. I have had to make a conscious effort to eat more fruit but I am really enjoying that.

 For the most part number 5 is no big deal as most of those I don't use ever and none were daily habits but avoiding junk food when it is easily available such as at a potluck (and we have been having 2 of those a week lately) can be a challenge for me.

No sweets was the second biggest challenge after the exercising. It hasn't been as hard as I thought (even with the 2 potlucks a week) but it is still something I crave from time to time. I did already have practice using honey instead of sugar some and I don't make or buy a lot of sweets so it wasn't a daily habit to have them anyway but I would pretty much always eat dessert (and sometimes several) if it was offered so that is something I have had to change.

Not eating after 8 pm is also a change for me as I tend to be a snacker but that hasn't been very hard so I am thankful. 

6 weeks in, I haven't noticed any great changes in my body but it has been fun. I am curious how much of the changes I will keep up with after the 12 weeks are over.

Some other healthy habits that I practice are....

1. Spending time in prayer (by myself and with others) and giving my troubles and worries to God.

2. Oil Pulling every morning. Here is an article that shows reasons why and how to do it. 

3. Drinking warm water with Raw Apple Cider Vinegar in it each morning. Here is an interesting article about that.

4. Eating primarily whole grains.

5. Growing as much of our own food as possible.

6. I do take vitamin D and C, Magnesium and Iron every day (though sometimes D and C only in the winter)

A couple of new ones that I have been working to start are:

1. Dry brushing (Here is a video that explains it )

2. Here is another video that I ran across that I thought looked like a good idea so I have been doing this lately as well.

None of these things are expensive to do and most of them are free. I would love to hear what things you do to try to stay healthy.

Also I did think this would be an appropriate place to share about Medical insurance. Once Ken left the home and I was having to finance things on my own paying for normal medical insurance was very cost prohibitive and I didn't want to deal with all the paperwork of using state medical assistance. So instead we use Samaritan Ministries. It is much cheaper than the state subsidized insurance we had before, it has a much lower deductible and it is super simple. I love getting to send a check and letter and pray for the people that we get to help each month. It is health cost sharing instead of insurance. I have not had to use it to get money for myself yet (Thanks be to God!) but a friend has and she said it worked quite smoothly. If you sign up please tell them that Abbi Cobb referred you (I think I may be benefited by that a little). Anyway - I have been thankful for this option and just thought that I would share it with you too.

Change Your Mindset to Truly Live Frugally

I decided to try out Vlogging. I would love to hear your ideas on how you can have a mindset that helps you with frugal living.

The Fruit of the Spirit is.... Joy!

I just thought I would include this picture of my siblings and I. Being with them gives me a lot of joy

 Joy has been an important characteristic to me. I grew up understanding that my name, Abbigail, meant "Source of Joy". I realize now that I will never be the source of Joy - that duty belongs to God. I think a more accurate meaning for my name is "She brings joy to her Father" and that I hope is true. Both to my earthly father and to my heavenly Father.

What is the definition of joy? Here is a combination of different ones that I found:  a feeling of extreme gladness, delight, or exultation of the spirit arising from a sense of well-being or satisfaction. a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; that excitement of pleasurable feelings which is caused by success, good fortune, the gratification of desire or some good possessed, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exultation; exhilaration of spirits.

This year I am talking about the fruits of the Spirit - in other words characteristics that come because the Spirit is working in our lives. I find this passage in John 15 to be very fitting. We need to abide in Christ. He is the vine that we are growing off of. We need to be completely connected to Him - getting our nourishment from Him. This will lead us to a joyful life.

John 15:1-11“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

One of the very interesting things about Joy that comes from God (in my opinion) is that it doesn't depend on us being in a good situation or getting the things we want. Consider these passages....

James 1:2-4 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

2 Corinthians 7:4 "Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction."

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 "Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God."

Isn't that one above convicting? I pray that they Holy Spirit will work in me to help me have that kind of joy and generosity and devotion to Jesus Christ! Here is another convicting one...

Hebrews 10:32-34 "But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one."

The beatitudes touch on joy as well...

Matthew 5:11 & 12 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of My. Rejoice and by glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I think this passage really helps us to understand why we can have joy even in the midst of persecution or other hard times. By the help of the Holy Spirit we understand that this life is not our focus - heaven is. So we can have that happiness, that exultation of spirit, that sense of well-being, that expectation of good - all a part of joy - because we are looking beyond just what we see any feel in this life.

 I was so inspired reading these different accounts in scripture about joy in the midst of troubles. I want to share one more of those with you...

Acts 5:40-42 "They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way form the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5:40-42

This is my prayer for you....

Romans 15:13 "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Colossians 1:9-12 "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light."

That last passage hits on another important aspect of living a joy filled life. Be thankful!!! There is nothing quite like Thankfulness (in my opinion) to turn our attitude to one of joy.

Another picture that brings me joy. An old one of enjoying music with my buddy boy.

 

Cleaning and Decluttering - A Fun Saturday Activity

   I was blessed to get to stay home all day today! A friend came over for a little while this morning which was really fun but after that I had nothing scheduled for the day. I really enjoy having days like that once in a while. It doesn't mean that I don't have plenty to do but I am not on a tight time frame and I enjoy that luxury to kind of randomly work through my to-do list as I feel motivated. Today's main project was to work on going through, cleaning and organizing our storage room. It had gotten a bit disheveled and cluttered. Also there were boxes that I wasn't exactly sure what was in them. I was able to get a handle on exactly what was in there and I am really happy about that. I was also able to get rid of quite a few things that we didn't need and that always makes me happy. 

 We no longer have anything sitting in the middle of things. We have extra space on the shelves, things are grouped together better according to how I use them (Ice skating, my wedding business, camping, skiing, etc) and we were able to clean out another cupboard in the main room where we are going to only put things that we are fine with our AirBnB guests using. 

All in all it was a very satisfying Saturday project.

  One of my life goals is to only have things that we find beautiful or useful and to be aware of what we do have so that we can use it or give it to others to use. Things just left in storage somewhere do not generally improve with storage. The majority of them decay in some way over time. I think if God has blessed us in some way with things we should do our best to use them well or give them to others. Being aware of what you do have can really help in preventing of buying new things and henceforth wasting money.

 Obviously looking at my storage room you can tell that I am not a minimalist but I really like a lot of the concepts that they talk about. I firmly believe that having too much stuff will cause you to waste money - between buying it in the first place and then having so much that you can't find what you do have when you need it and then you just buy it (or something like it) again.

   When I clean out a place like this the other take-away I have is to feel extremely grateful. God has blessed us with so very, very much which is evidenced by all the things in my storage room. Not only do I have enough things for me but I have enough to share with others. 

  How do you like to use a Saturday at home?
 

More Wintertime Fun

I feel so abundantly blessed to get to live the life I do. We live in a beautiful area surrounded by family and friends and many other beautiful people that I haven't even met yet. God provides for us so abundantly and I have work that I truly enjoy. There are opportunities to serve God and use the different talents He has given me and I truly am grateful. 

Here are just a few of the beautiful times from my life lately....

In January a bunch of us from church got together to go skating. It was a fun time! Keren and Lilly stood on the edge and watched. Keren has a baby due in April and didn't think skating would be good right now.

But Martha and I had fun skating.

And Gracie and Heidi (dressed as something... I don't remember what) did.

Ephraim and some of the other younger ones tried pushing a chair to help stand up.

Beatrix found it easier to just ride on the chair while Bella pushed.

Hold on to Dad if you are feeling unsteady!!

Miss Megan!

Aaron enjoyed practicing his hockey skills.

This was an arrangement that I had fun creating recently at the flower shop. The couple that ordered this arrangement for a funeral had requested something very colorful and with some unique flowers and butterflies to go to a young woman's funeral. I guess she had a fun and colorful personality so they wanted something to match that. I love getting to work with flowers all the time and I enjoy the interaction with customers and created just want they want as well.

Two weeks ago Megan and I took a trip to Des Moines, Iowa to visit some friends. The weather was warm down there that weekend (in the 40's) which was so lovely but we also were able to visit the botanical garden there and that was so much fun. It felt like summer or visiting the tropics. I loved seeing all the different plants and just basking in the warmth and sunshine.

I really enjoyed getting to spend time with my friend (from babyhood) Jessica and her husband, James. I am so grateful for good friends. It was so fun to be able to catch up and to visit about spiritual things and share testimonies of how God has been working in our lives. 

We walked around a sculpture garden on that lovely day.

On our way back from Des Moines we stayed with my sister and her family in the cities. It was fun to catch up with them as well. 

This past Wednesday night we had a pancakes supper where the kids did the cooking, decorating, serving and entertaining for the adults. (A couple of other adults worked with me to help that happen). I didn't get any good pictures but it was a fun (and slightly chaotic) evening.

My niece Molly (who is nearly 20) headed up the cooking of the food. I had made pancake mixes ahead of time but they had to mix things up the rest of the way and fry them, fry sausages, prepared beverages, prepare toppings and fruit. 

We also had a decorating and serving group. This is a portion of them. It was an eager and excited group of kids. My voice was gone by the end of the night as I had been giving them instructions all evening. They did a great job and I am proud of them.

These girls were singing a special number. We had a couple of those and some readings.

This weekend my sister Anna and part of her family came up to visit and so our family all got together at my parents. We had a fun time together. 

Mara was tired today so I brought Malcolm out with me. We had a fun time hanging out. Here he was having fun taking care of a baby doll. I guess he is practicing up for being a big brother.

We went on a long walk which we thoroughly enjoyed for the fresh air and fun companionship. We a;sp were wanting to get some exercise and I think we succeeded.

The kids found the train tracks very interesting.

Grandma's Matryoshka dolls were also enjoyed today. The kids and I also had a great game of hide and seek. By the way it is quite fun to hide and listen to them talk about you as they look for you. They decided I was such a good hider because I had grown up in that house and I knew it really well. I had my 2 year old niece hiding with me and she was remarkably quiet. I love that I have lots of nieces and nephews. God made each one of them so different for the others. He is an amazing Creator!

Anyway, that is just a bit of the fun that I have been having lately. Sometimes I struggle with contentedness as my dream for life was/is to be happily married with a husband to serve God with. But that is not God's plan for me right now and that is okay. He absolutely knows what is best for me and He has placed me in a place where I can serve and love on others and be very fulfilled by the relationships that I have with others and with Him. This time of a little more aloneness (it isn't a lot as I am still blessed to have 2 kids at home and I do have a lot going on with others as well) has prompted me to spend more time just visiting with God as I go about my day. That is so wonderful. I wish I would have made that a bigger part of my life a long, long time ago. God is always there listening. He wants to hear from you about everything - every struggle, every excitement, every sorrow and every joy. He wants our praise and He deserves it. We are blessed with things that we can be thankful for every moment of our day. I highly recommend praying through your day and just really sharing it all with Him!