Tag Archives: god is a god

Create Great!!

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I’m a procrastinator (it’s genetic)!! I make plans for all these wonderful things that “I am going to do tomorrow”.. My goal this winter and spring is to drought proof some of my yard. I’m not gonna lie with a new baby and starting a new business I can’t afford to water this huge yard and keep it green. But, I refuse to let it just be another plain dead lawn in town. I love outdoors and I love plants. This was my Grandparents yard. When they were still capable it was one of the prettiest yards in town.

My first summer here I was determined to help get this yard back in order I mowed I started working in one of the smaller gardens in the yard. I hand tilled the entire area, added fresh soil, and planted Hostas (one of my favorite plants). I can grow Hostas I have done it multiple times, no problem.. People told me they were hard to grow in this soil but I had FAITH, even if I had to replant them every year that space was going to be Hostas.. My Hostas started growing beautifully.. I was however still fighting back weeds. I checked on them daily, sometimes multiple times a day. They were growing..

I’m not sure where I was that day, but I came home and a family that has been friends of our family for many years had come and mowed the lawn being the sweet, loving family they are.. I was so grateful they had done it. While I was looking at the beautiful job they had done I looked over at my newly growing Hostas only to notice, what had been a masterpiece to me, looked like no more than weeds to them.. My poor little Hostas had been whacked.. :(

I must admit I pouted a little.. Oh how hard I had worked to get them going.. So for a few days I walked around thinking how much I had wasted my time.. I was so grateful to these people for helping, but so sad to see my work destroyed. I like to torture myself sometimes so I gave in and walked back out to the garden a couple days later only to find my Hostas were still fighting to survive.. I guess their faith was better than mine. So I picked up my chin and started caring for those plants again. I watered them, I fed them, and  I weeded around them. They were thriving again.. They still weren’t huge and beautiful but they were surviving.. My faith grew.. I just new that by fall I would big beautiful Hostas in my little garden.

Now I never said anything to the family that had so kindly cleaned up the yard. I didn’t want them to feel bad because they were definitely doing me a huge favor.. They new I had a lot on my plate and were merely being good friends.. (to be honest I kinda hope they never read this post. LOL!!)

Just a few weeks later I came home to find them working diligently in the yard again.. My first thought was oh no!! Not my Hostas.. So I wandered over to say hello (really to check on my plants) and yet again they were gone.. I was heart broken. Again, I said nothing to them because I knew they were only lending a helping hand and it was kinda my fault for not saying anything the first time..

I will admit I lost all faith in growing those Hostas in that garden.. I lost all faith in the front yard at all.. I quickly began focusing on cleaning up the back yard..

I have been in and out of this house now for almost 3 yrs. I have managed to kill every plant I have planted. (I’m not from West Texas so I’m still working on my niche) This year I find myself determined to fix this yard up. Not only to make it require less water, but to put my touch on what is now mine and my sons home. I have plans for walkways, and structures for a rock garden, and many other DIY projects..

My faith has been renewed by a single plant I threw in a pot 2 summers ago. I have many favorite breeds of plants. Hostas (which I may never attempt to grow again), Orchids, (which I need an extremely good green house for.. Working on that but it will be a year or so), and Succulents (hens and chicks, Sedums Cactus, things of that nature). This plant that has renewed my faith just happens to be a Hen and Chick I picked up for I believe $1.50 2 yrs or so ago.. It is the only plant I have managed to keep alive and make flourish since I got here.

This year I have faith that I can build a rock garden and plant succulents and sedums and play away. I know the risks of them not making it through the winter. But I have faith that I can make my garden grow. With a little bit of faith and a little bit of work I will build my garden. Just you wait and see..

Part of the reason I am telling you this story is because I am a procrastinator!! If I tell the world I will do it I don’t have a choice.. LOL!!

Matthew 17: 20

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Mark 9:23

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

John 11:40

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Dear God,

 I come to you for a multitude of reasons this day. Lord my faith is at times weak. Forgive me for forgetting that with the faith of a mustard seed I can too can move mountains. In this case weeds and rocks. Lord I know I am often sloth like, putting off the things I should and want to do. Forgive me for taking tomorrow for granted. Lord I know that often times you speak and I don’t listen. Forgive me for being selfish.. Thank you for using my trials and stories to bring comfort to others. Thank you for showing me that even this Yankee can grow in West Texas, not just in the garden but also in faith and spirit. I guess what I am saying is forgive me of all my trespasses and Thank you for all the blessings you pour upon me each day, each hour, each moment, and each breath.

In your name I pray,

Amen

Random thoughts from the Advent Journey

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As the title says these will be random thoughts:

Have you ever seen how God is able to use the least expected vessels for His mission? An unwed mother, from Nazareth (“Can any good thing come from Nazareth?”), a stable in a small town called Bethlehem not to mention a killer of His people named Saul, later known as the Apostle Paul.

Have you ever noticed that God’s view of people isn’t always ours? Shepherds in the field chosen as the first to receive the news of Christ birth, instead of the priest and kings.

Gentile, wise men, led by a star the first to give Him gifts.Jesus’ willingness to eat with tax collectors and sinners, even His chosen disciples were fishermen and tax collectors not priests or scribes.

Have you ever noticed that where God needs us isn’t always a comfortable place? A mother about to deliver in a stable, taking a young child and running to Egypt to save His life, Paul and Silas in Jail, Jesus on the cross.

Have you noticed that fulfilling God’s will often requires a difficult journey?  Mary and Joseph’s journey of about one hundred miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the wise men’s coming from the east, Paul’s ship wrecked missionary journey, the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land, Jesus’ journey to the cross and our journey of course from sinner to saint.

Now for a confession, every time we sing, one of my favorite Christmas Songs, “Silent Night” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem” I have trouble seeing the place as silent or still. An uncomfortable crowd, forced to travel with no place to stay, there to pay a burdensome tax imposed on them from a foreigner, you know they were talking loudly with each other. Not to mention the family reunions taking place with loud greetings and memories and catching up. It’s no wonder the people in Bethlehem didn’t come running to the stable they were distracted with the every day things of life. My prayer for myself and everyone else is that we may not be distracted this Advent Season but that God will gain our attention and we will see “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” as the shepherds and wise men did.

One last thought, of course He called shepherds He had a very special Lamb to be watched over.

By Rev Bill Rafuse

Pondering on Christmas

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Every house was full with families gathered together, many for the first time in years. Loud discussions could be heard, some about the cost and danger of the journey. Others upset with the politicians and the new taxes they had just imposed. Late comers had trouble finding a place to rest tired bodies. So as evening came many slept,others tossed and turned and still others hurried about town seeking a place to sleep.

Bearded men set at a table,heads covered in a heated debate about how to keep the Lord happy with such difficulty keeping the laws. “Did you see those in stables with unclean animals?” “Yes and not enough water for all to bathe properly!” “Who will minister to them with most of the priest in other towns?” “Counting the number of gentile merchants who have come in for the profit is impossible.” “Nothing good could ever come of this mess, boy am I glad we live right and have nothing to fear.” “Those poor tribes of Ishmael in the East, and the lower class like the shepherds in the fields have no hope of pleasing the Messiah when he comes.” Head coverings straightened, robes hitched tighter, and sandals tied they leave for the comfort of the places their power and wealth afford.

Thirty years later some of those bearded men came together again and questioned the story of this man from Nazareth, something about Bethlehem during the tax, they were there and nothing of importance happened that they knew of.

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them.”(Luke 2:8-9a) You know the rest of the story. “Magi from the east came” (Matthew 2:1) finish the story you know it.

Christmas has a gift for us all, not just the great gift of God’s son, but the assurance that God is a God of His word and even in times of difficulties, even when we are in situations were a blessing from God would seem impossible, and even if we don’t see it at the time, God does, has and always will keep his promises. Galatians 4:4 tells us that “In the fullness of time”, when God decided, “Christ came to earth”.God chooses the time to bless not based on what we see, think or fear but on His Amazing Grace.

By: Rev Bill Rafuse