Author Archives: Matthew, Karen, and God

Protection Isaiah 41:10

Starting to raise honey bees is a challenging task. Keeping them alive from different diseases and insecticides can be difficult. I have prayed so many times for God to help me grow this business and for the bees to be protected, and He has blessed them abundantly. The other day I was out with a friend checking his bees and he ended up losing half of them to mites. I started to worry since I hadn’t treated my bees for mites yet. So a couple days later I went with a friend of mine to pick up all my boxes and realized that God had been protecting them. All the boxes were full of honey and larva. Praise God for that! Heavenly father thank you for always answering my prayers. Thank you for the protection you have given my bees and for helping them flourish.

The greatest commandment!

www.bible.com/116/mat.22.37-39.nlt

The greatest commandment given seems so simple, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. The second commandment is just as important as the first, Love your neighbor as yourself. No matter how hard we try to master the second commandment, if we haven’t fallen head over hills in love with our Lord and Savior, it’s too no avail. God says to love him with all of our heart and desires, all of our soul and spiritual being, including our entire mind, thoughts, and prayers, then the LOVE OF JESUS will pour out of us to others.

Brothers & sisters continue to spread the Love of God!

Waiting for forgiveness

My daughter and I have had a strained relationship for about six months. I had apologized for something that I had done years ago and she needed time to process her thoughts and to forgive me. I hadn’t heard from her for those six months, but I patiently waited for her to come around. I am not a patient person by any means, but over these last couple of years, God has been rebuilding this part of my life. My daughter needed that time to mend her broken heart, and I had to give that to God. Patience did finally pay off however as I received a call from her yesterday. I broke down in tears as I saw her number on my phone. As we were talking about this in our W.H.A.T. group yesterday afternoon someone brought up that they too have a strained relationship with one of their children. This child had stolen some money and the father was waiting for him to pay the money back. They had barely spoken to each other over the last two years because of it. There are times when we need to wait for forgiveness to come to us. That waiting period could take an hour, or it could take years. When it comes to us forgiving others as a Christian however, we need to forgive quickly. Is what we quarrel over really worth losing a loved one? The Bible states that no one is perfect, no not one. We may think we are at times but are gravely mistaken. We expect God to forgive us at the snap of a finger, and He does. As humans we don’t tend to forgive as easily, we want to use it as leverage, telling others that we will forgive them so long as they do something for us. Read Colossians 3:13. That is not what God wants us to do. He wants us to forgive as he forgives. “Lord, help us to find forgiveness in our hearts today. Help us to put away petty arguments and stubbornness and forgive as you forgive. Open our hearts to new growth in our walk with you. In Jesus’s name, we pray amen.

Example of Humility and Love!

I was a little sad on the Sabbath because I had no students for my class. I didn’t say a word about my disappointment I just went into Rogers adult class. After we prayed I felt something under the table. I looked and there was precious Lily taking off my high heels. As my feet slipped out of them, I thought Lily wants to play dress up in my shoes 👠. I was wrong! Lily started giving me a foot massage. I was so touched by her act of love and humility it put a smile on my face and tears of joy in my eyes. Thank you, Jesus, you knew just what I needed that Sabbath morning. I pray that my life can be a foot massage to someone. Dear Lord, let me never forget to wash the feet of others by serving them in love.🙏

1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us. All throughout the Bible, Jesus showed love to everyone, even the people who hated him. Some people view this as a weakness. Helping others isn’t always easy especially for a prideful person. Some of us like to judge others, wondering if they are deserving of our kindness. Think about that for a second, were we deserving when Jesus loved us so much that he died for every one of our sins? Most certainly not! Would you lay down your life for someone else? The more I do for others regardless if I feel as though they deserve it, I believe the answer is yes. We are building ourselves stronger in the Lord. A while back a woman from church who is widowed and broke called me to do a series of projects on her home. She was calling me so much in fact that I started to believe that she was taking advantage. I was always extremely busy anyways so the excuse of not coming over to help made it easier. After a couple of months the phone calls had stopped and I felt terrible. I prayed that I could have the opportunity to work with her again and I would do better and that God would massage my hardened heart. God answered another prayer! Yesterday I was approached by this friend to help her with a project and I jumped all over it. God is good. Heavenly Father in heaven thank you for massaging our hearts. Help us to go out of our way today to love like you love. To put others needs before ours. In Jesus name we pray amen!

Walk in love!

www.bible.com/111/mat.5.48.niv

God commands us to love others as ourselves. What is love? Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it’s own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1Corinthians 13:4.

(The picture is at the one-year anniversary celebration of the Oakdale Rescue Mission. )