This past week has been a weird week of changing clothes daily. At first it is cold and rainy, then it warms up and the clothes you wore this morning are too much. Perhaps this is a sign of the coming spring. Covid is still around here in the Valley - one of the parks is completely locked down as there are 40 cases in that park. Our park is good so far, a few cases, but all seem to be minor with no complications. We continue to pray for God's protection to keep us all safe. We will be checking later this week to see what the status is in the colonias where we serve to determine if we will begin distribution again. We continue to get contributions which we are stock piling so we can have plenty to share. Fred has bagged 390+ bags of dried beans, along with 5 cases of salt packages, and of course, let us not forget all of the Cadbury eggs!!! We look forward to seeing our faithful ladies again, but are going to take every precautions, even if it means not delivering a week or two later than planned. God is on control and we will let Him do the planning. He definitely is in control, but He does not expect us to lean on the shovel and pray for a hole.
We are accomplishing a few things around the house while we have a bit of spare time. I completed 2 UFO's - unfinished sewing projects that have been hanging around for a bit - one of them for 2+ years. I also am thankful for the quiet time I can spend in reading.
Ahinoam #2 was a Jezreelitess who eventually became one of David's 8 wives. She became the mother of David's first son, Amnon, who was murdered for violating his half-sister. Did Amnon inherit his evil trait from his mother who was probably as bad as she was beautiful? Beautiful was David's downfall so many of his children were beautiful on the outside but had no inward beauty. Ahinoam and Abigail were captured by the Amalekites but David attacked them and retrieved his wives.
In Nehemiah 4, there are a lot of references to discouragement. Has any of you been discouraged this past year? If you say no, you probably are not being too truthful. Discouragement sucks the encouragement. It feels that at no time in our own lifetime has we been more energized to rebuild our world. Things have become more complicated as we travel this maze of uncertainty today. the people of Jerusalem were halfway through the rebuilding of the walls when things become complicated as they met with opposition. Satan used their enemies to discourage them. He used every thing he could to get into their brains to use physical and psychological warfare against them. There are many causes of discouragement: 1) fatigue - both emotional and physical. 2) frustration - a person cannot get work done in the face of confusion 3) fear - we can produce fear when we listen to outside influences What are the cures for discouragement: 1) reorganize - do a complete pivot. We need to make changes and focus not on what we can't do but on what we can do. 2). renew our commitment. If you don't have a personal mission statement, create one. If you have one, renew it. Love God, love others, serve others. 3) recognize and serve your church community, either in person or virtually. 4) remember who the Lord is - He is great and awesome. Don't pay attention to those who try to discourage us. He who is with us is greater than who is against us. 5) resist - take a stand - fight for our future generations.
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