He is Our Present Help in Times of Trouble!

I was just so desperate this morning, gasping for breath, after crying for over a half an hour, I opened my Bible and said God I can't do this alone! Lord give me your strength to get through this trial! He spoke through His WORD as He always does each time I open His Book. Praise the Lord that He gives strength to the needy, even me!

Psalm 46
"God is our refuge and our strength,
a very present help in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
There is a river whose streams make me glad
the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High!
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter,
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
"Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!"
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress."

God I am poor and needy, but you comfort me, you are my very present help in times of trouble. Ladies he is not just our help in times of trouble, He is our very present help in times of trouble!!! He is very present! He is not just present, he is very present and real and living. He is Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords and the father to the orphans and widows and to His sons and daughters. I am His daughter! He holds me in his hands and I drink from His cup. He is the God of the nations! The only living and true God. Give your troubles and worries up to Him! I did and He has given me great joy today! He is my King and my Father and my friend! He is my redeemer and rescuer from sin! He rescued me today twice! Satan may try to make me feel defeated, but I am not because Christ lives in me! He reigns in my being, he reigns! Not death nor life nor anything in all creation can seperate me from the lover of my soul! Praise the Lord!

Give your worries and burdens to Him today ladies! He will give you peace that surpasses all understanding. I am just so in awe of the answers to prayer and the life He is giving me. He is helping me to keep breathing when I thought I would not be able to.
In my God forever,
Rebecca

All I Need Is Something Outside of me

Pies, pies and more pies plus bread

 Dear readers, I realize I have not been posting as much, but I have good reason. :) First of all I am spending less time on the computer and more time with the Lord and my family and last of all more time baking. :) I am starting my own home bakery! Its so exciting! So here are some photos I have taken for the brochures that a friend of mine is making for me to start my business.

 The pie above is a gluten free pumpkin pie, which I love love love! I can eat gluten, but I even loved it. My sister needs to eat lesson gluten so I am trying out lots of gluten free recipes.

 This pie above is a whole wheat pumpkin pie, which is the recipe I have used since I was 12 and I made my first pumpkin pie. To tell you the truth I did not make it correctly the first time. :) I put in a whole cup of salt instead of sugar and a teaspoon of sugar instead of a teaspoon of salt. Ooosp! :) But thank goodness I had time to make another one before thanksgiving dinner that day. ;)

 Whole wheat bread rolls, which are just so yummy! Even if we make them not for holidays we use them as sandwhich rolls or just to grab and go for a quick snack. Yum!

 Whole wheat apple pie I believe is my favorite! I just love it! This one has honey instead of all the sugar and I could not really tell the difference, did not miss the sugar. So yes I am doing sugar free options as well as gluten free options for my customers. Lord willing my business will be off to a good start this week for thanksgiving customers. If you get a chance please pray that the Lord would be the center of my business and that I would not get discouraged if I do not get much interest at first. thanks!

In Christ,

Rebecca

Homemade Pretzels

 Back in October readers I was very very busy baking and I still am! I am starting my own in home baking business. So you will be seeing lots of photos of things I have made. So keep your eyes peeled. I will be posting recipes as well from the best baking blog-heavenly homemakers.

 This mouth watering recipe was so so good that my sister and I were eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner literally! Lots of butter and salt and you got a yummy nutricious for us snack or meal. :)

 They did not turn out too pretty compared to the ones over at Heavenly Homemakers, but they sure did taste so good! I had trouble doing the pretzel twist method, this was my first time making pretzels, so I made some in heart shapes as well. I got tired of doing the twist. ;)

The pictures are not the best, but I thought it was about time I shared them. I am still trying to get back into the swing of things with the time change and having been gone from home for 9 days straight. I can't believe its November!

In Christ,
Rebecca

Our Mighty God

I have seen the awesome deeds of the Lord God over and over again in the past months in my life. I have seen Him over and over again not just come through for friend and family but be there every step of the way answering prayers and needs. He is working and He is working faithfully. I have seen a pattern in my Bible study and experiences and prayers that has kept leading me to 3 attributes of the Lord the past few months; He is faithful, He is steadfast in love, and He performs mightly deeds(answers prayers and works miracles).

I believe this song really speaks about these 3 attributes, whenever we speak His name mountains move! Whenever we pray to our God, do good for our God, or are faithful to our God He is working! This is such an encouragement to me. As the verse below states he has heard my prayer over and over again and answered me in his saving faithfulness and steadfast love. Its because of these three attributes, faithfulness, steadfast love, and mighty deeds I can see more and more He is worthy of my praise and trust and will never waver in loving me.

" But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
  At an acceptable time, O God,
  in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness."
(Psalm 69:13 ESV)

These verses below tell of His faithfulness because whenever we see His mighty deeds, the miracles and wonders he does in our lives, we have a clear and sure promise that He is faithful. This afirms His faithfulness reaches to the clouds by His over and over again watching out for us and moving in our lives. How can God hearing our prayers and doing wondrous works not prove that he is faithful?

Psalm 77

"I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

When I remember God, I moan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I consider the days of old,

the years long ago.

I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

let me meditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

“Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?

Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

(Psalm 77:1-15 ESV)

You may be asking what has he been doing in your life Rebecca?

Well first I would say he has reminded me over and over again that this life is so short and that we need to use the time to the best we can for His glory. I have found that by serving others and really digging deep into the Word and praying daily I find fulfillment in Christ even in this short life. There has been many a time where I did not say the right thing in a conversation or take the initiative to start a conversation to share the Gospel of Christ these past months; but God has been gracious and I have seen my family and friendship relationships growing in the Lord. I have seen that many times I feel as though I have to rush through my Bible study and then God says slow down I am always here! Over the weekend, I spent a long time just pouring over the Psalms and was not sorry I did not get some other things done so I could spend more time in Gods love letter to His bride.

I found that I kept reading about his mighty deeds happening over and over again. I kept reading about how each generation was able to share Gods faithfulness with the next because of the mighty things he had done which proved His faithfulness.

 "Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
  incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
 I will open my mouth in a parable;
  I will utter dark sayings from of old,
 things that we have heard and known,
  that our fathers have told us.
 We will not hide them from their children,
  but tell to the coming generation
 the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
  and the wonders that he has done."
(Psalm 78:1-4 ESV)

I pray that my generation would not hide what the Lord has done from their children! May we all be able to recount the mighty deeds the Lord has done in our lives to the next generation to tell them of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a need! So many do not realize God is real I believe because many of us who follow the Lord are too scared or proud to recount to them what He has done. I am writing this for myself, Rebecca recount the Lords mighty deeds and works to others to share his steadfast love and faithfulness is real.

Then you may go on to read chapter 78 of psalms and you realize when it says that Gods people were not faithful, it says that God was faithful, these verses below prove this truth!

"With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with a skillfull hand!"-psalm 78:72

Many times in the scriptures it talks about Gods people being faithful or not being faithful. I have seen many passages over the past few weeks talking about faith. I read these today that talk about how we are justified by faith as well. God is faithful to forgive us and justify us through faith! What an encouraging truth!

" What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
 “That you may be justified in your words,
  and prevail when you are judged.”
(Romans 3:3-4 ESV)

We see in these verses above that even if we are unfaithful that does not make God unfaithful to us! What a promise and what a relief! Even when we are in sin God will wash us and cleanse us and through faith justify us of our sin.

"Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
(Romans 3:27-28 ESV)

I have also been reminded by the above verse that we also still are to be faithful to God! So when we are not faithful to God we are to repent of our sin and then strive to be faithful! Just because we might fail in being faithful does not mean we should not try, because I have seen that the more I stumble the more I rely on God to help m put my faith and trust in Him alone.

And last but not least, besides His might deeds and works showing me God is real and loves me and his unending and unwavering faithfulness proving me to He is the God of the universe; His steadfast and unwavering love proves He is the true bridegroom and lover of my soul.

I have read many verses over the years, especially from the Psalms that talk about our Gods undieing and unfading love, but here is one passage I will share with you.

" Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,

  for in you my soul takes refuge;

 in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,

  till the storms of destruction pass by.

 I cry out to God Most High,
  to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
 He will send from heaven and save me;
  he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
 God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! My soul is in the midst of lions;

  I lie down amid fiery beasts—

 the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,

  whose tongues are sharp swords.

 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

  Let your glory be over all the earth!

 They set a net for my steps;

  my soul was bowed down.

 They dug a pit in my way,

  but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah

 My heart is steadfast, O God,

  my heart is steadfast!

 I will sing and make melody!

  Awake, my glory!

 Awake, O harp and lyre!

  I will awake the dawn!

 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;

  I will sing praises to you among the nations.

 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
  your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!

  Let your glory be over all the earth!"

(Psalm 57 ESV)

I am so grateful for this Psalm, its really just so encouraging and empowering to me! My God's steadfast love reaches to the heavens and His faithfulness to the clouds. Its never ending! Its never wavering! He will never cease from loving me even though I am a sinful wretch who many a time is ungrateful for His sacrifice on the cross for His bride! So many times I forget all he has done, but in this post I want to focus on Him, not me. God is steadfast in love and never wavers from hearing our prayers and petitions and pleas for His help. Praise God God alone is our Savior and friend.

In Christ,

Rebecca

Ceder Creek Reenactment

Hey everyone!

I know I have not been posting pictures and posts consistantly for the past few weeks. I got a call last Sunday night from a dear family friend and ended up being able to help them take care of their 13 year old daughter and meet their new adopted 2 week old son. We went to the hospital last monday to pick up their son and it was really a miracle that he has gotten into their arms. You can be praying for them, the birth father could show up at anytime. But for now he is theres.

Before all of that happened and I was with them till wednesday helping we went to a reenactment. My sister and I and our friends all went dressed up but we did not camp. Usually our family does camp at events, but my parents could not go, so all of girls went for the day.

 So we were able to watch battle on Saturday for the first time in 3 years for my sister and I! We usually are encamped and have plenty of cooking, teaching, and sewing to do, but we had no encampment to go to so we did all the things spectators usually get to do. It was a wonderful relaxed day.

 The whole group is us watching as the battle got going. It really was a sight, considering it was on the original battlefield! That makes it even more amazing!

 With all the smoke from all the weapons we had to cover our faces in order for our eyes not to hurt. :)

 The one picture I have with me in it. :) I was taking so many photos I was not thinking of getting myself in them. :) Thanks to Hannah I think for the photo. I have a new shawl that is my mothers I wore this event that I quite like with my silk gown. :)

 Taking off their hats in respect for the dead. :) Now of course no one was actually hurt in the depiction of the battle. :)

All of us barely fit in our SUV! All 7 of us were very squished. :) But that is ok because we love each other. All those petticoats barely fit. :)

Then Sunday we got a better earlier start than saturday and went down to a lovely creek and had a picnic together under the old trees.

 It was beautiful and very picturesque! I bet that the trees have been here since the civil war or before that. They were so old!

I have pictures from recipes I have made and pictures of another reenactment we did encamp at 2 weeks ago. Coming soon!

In Christ,
Rebecca