A Light in our Dwelling....

When you are right in the middle of a "darkness," it is very hard to have a right perspective. At almost 18 months of being separated from Joel, in some ways there is a sense of emerging and being able to "see." I read a scripture this morning that spoke to me as what was happening when the darkness was ever before us. Ex.10:21&23, And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. The darkness was and I am sure at moments to come can be so heavy that it is literally felt so deeply within our hearts, yet as I did not see it at the time but the Lord was in our dwelling with His light, his presence, his comfort, his truth. So as I look "back" I can say he was there even when I did not feel or know it, and that just proves who he is.....Faithful!! Now as for the days ahead I must meditate upon what he has done in the past and know through his faithfulness he will continue to be here in our dwelling with his light!! He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people, Ex 13:22. I thought it was interesting that the fire is the light in the night and so it is that when we have a darkness or a trial, it may very well be a time of refining and that comes by a fire. Either way, we have the promise that he will be with us whether by cloud or fire.

As I was reading this morning I found several things to pray for, I really like praying scripture as it will bring forth a groaning to the Lord that is not mingled with my thoughts and ideas but his. Gen 49:25, Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. Really I have already been blessed with all these things; Joel in heaven above, the children that are here that lieth under, and blessings of the womb, yet I turned that verse into a prayer and asked the Lord if he was willing to bless us again with a fruitful womb. And then in Ex. 15:17, Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Through this verse I was asking the Lord to grant generations of faith through the loins of every child until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, that our sons would be valiant for the truth, have victory over sin, the flesh and the devil, that our daughters would be women that live the truth as well, that seek womanhood, motherhood and become the help meet to her husband and that they would be fruitful with thousands in Israel, this is a prayer I pray often, desiring the Lord to do a mighty work in each!!

This morning we had to go to the feed store and get Josiah and Hosie work gloves, their dear dad is getting all the little ones these work gloves......maybe he is thinking that he will get some work out of them. They do work pretty hard around here so I think it was more of a reward then anything.

Lets see whats on the agenda for the Morris crew......right now the girls are making some preparations for tomorrow as we are going on a visit to the Burnetts Saturday, to a Peach Festival and then having dinner at their home and then going to the Peach festival rodeo, so we will not be here much as to prepare for church on Sunday. Terry and Hosanna are going to do the Farmer's Market in the morning and then we will head out! Farm news....mostly just maintenance, although Bethany has been doing vet work here in pulling blood samples from her goats for testing!!!! Anna is trying to find a bull to breed her heifer to in the next three weeks, and before you know it it will be time to order our chickens again, the first of August. The garden is still giving fruit, lots of squash, zucchini and tomatoes, okra and peppers. I made and canned spaghetti sauce yesterday and it tastes so fresh! Anna has several pumpkins, but one of them is absolutely so HUGE, we are guessing it might weigh 70 -80 pounds, I tried to pick it up and could barely move it so it might weigh 100 pounds! What do you think it weighs?? And does anyone know when it should be picked? Maybe we should have a contest for fun and have people guess after she has harvested it, stay tuned. So tonight we are gonna have dinner and guess what ......play volley ball!!! The teams are really working together now and the Gellenbeck's or some of them might join us. Thats about it around here.....

May the Lord bless your families this weekend as you spend time together!

Cindy