 By Peggy Potter-Balaun
Gary and I just love to go for drives at this time of year! How beautiful is this fall season! For Gary and I it is a true occasion to praise and worship the artistry and majesty of our marvelous Creator! I truly believe that the beauty of all seasons is just further evidence of His wondrous Love that He made this Earth to be our home and blessed it with incredible beauty ! (Genesis 1:31 God saw all He have made and it was very good !) My own life and how Jesus remade it and me in His perfect understanding of me is my own best testimony to His greatness. Provision, wisdom and Love and that is true for all of us! Nobody loves, understands or cares for every one of us better than our Heavenly Father who made us and sent His Own Son Jesus to shed His precious lifeblood for all our sakes! I accepted Him as my Savior and Lord as a young wife and mother back in February 1978. My three sons were reared on His Word The Bible and all three turned out well! Jesus saw me through the failure of my first marriage by providing me with a support system and a new career which He knew was right for me. He eventually brought me to Vermont where He united me with a wonderful Godly man, Gary, as my new husband. Things have not always gone perfectly in my life and I am far from a perfect person! I need my Savior Jesus and am so very grateful for all He has done to and for me! Having Holy Spirit within me, being washed in Jesus' Blood and learning everyday how to live & be more like Him is so very precious & essential ! I love Jesus, because He first loved me ! Psalm 139:1 & 17 Oh Lord You have searched me & known me ... How precious are Your thoughts toward me, oh God ! How great are the sum of them ! 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you !  By Kaydeen Edwards Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4 Embracing grief and experiencing it is so important to the healing process. Many of us run from grief, loss, pain, suffering, sadness, and mourning. When the thing that we are going through is hard and heavy, we turn to God. However sometimes God hears us but he doesn’t answer right away. Sometimes he makes us wait. But waiting in emotional distress is hard. If we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus remaining in his word, remembering his faithfulness and holding on to his promise can result in running to other sources to find fulfillment. Yet these places are empty. It is hard to say in the pain and suffering that is heavy. Yet, if we look to the lord for what we need and wait recalling his past faithfulness, our faith gets the opportunity to grow stronger. When our faith grows stronger we will see the grief and suffering as a tool that God can use to heal and grow our faith. And all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes. All things even grief, pain and suffering. So as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for he is with me. He’s always with us. Psalm 139 8-10 says If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. What I know is God is holding us.  By Joyce Pelletier
Proverbs 3:3-6 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. Another translation says, ‘and He will direct your paths… I spent a lot of my summer preparing and making a quilt for my bed for the cold months ahead. As many times as I laid out the quilt was as many times that I made changes. I admit, I am one to take short cuts in the middle of the project, but this time I had a more direct approach. I had to prepare well over 200 six-inch squares to piece together around the center of the top of the quilt. A few friends donated many pieces of scrap pieces as well as many, many pieces of used denim. I was so happy to find use for the denim. I love to upcycle as it makes for less used material that gets thrown out and unused. I laid out this quilt many times. Each time it meant, I needed to add not just 10 more pieces but 20-40- new pieces. To be used for this quest. Each time, I’d think, I’ll never make it. I’ve run out of denim. Yet weeks later and I sewed the last row of the quilt, I had about 15-20 pieces left over. In preparing the design with the guidance of a good friend with multi ideas for the design, I’d clean up the squares, placing them in a specific order so the next time I’d take it out, it’d be easier to lay it out and continue the pattern. Well, that never happened. Each time, I’d need to make more squares. This went on for some time. Each time I’d take it out, I’d lay out the squares in another order. Each time I felt better about the design. Maurice said, “Give it up! It’s not worth all that work” I’m not a quitter. When I set my mind to do something. I push myself to the limit. The last day of sewing, Both Maurice and I worked together in making sure it would get sewn. Each change was a big transition, but I talked to God about getting it done the way it was meant to be. Phew, it is sewn. I have one more task to put on the final binding. I won’t be able to do it for a couple of weeks. But I had to see it on my bed and when I did, I cried. It was a lot of work, but every step of the way, I was not alone. God was with me with the changes he wanted. I’m thankful for that. Spending time with Maurice gave me a special deep sense of gratitude for his presence and there is no way I could have gotten that sewn without his loving hand lifting those heavy pieces. God is so good and he wants us to succeed in all we do, all we have to do is trust Him, listen for his guidance and He will direct your path. He’s there to rework the details and then in the end I rejoiced in the design he helped me to make it. Then I knew he’s the designer to be grateful for.  By Rebecca Vickery
The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1Peter4:7-11 Last month in part 1 of The End of All Things is Near, we talked about being soberminded to pray, about loving deeply, and offering hospitality without grumbling. Regardless of how far away the glorious return of Jesus is or isn’t, one thing is certain. We are closer to the end of things now than the disciples were when they were warning about it. As such, we continue with the admonition to use whatever gift you have received to serve others. We need to steward God’s grace in its various forms. How delightful to think that there is grace in various forms and that we should the be the delivery mechanism for that grace. What gifts have you received from God? Do you know? If you don’t know, have you asked some of your close Christian brothers or sisters? What am I gifted in? Once you know the answer to that, how are you using your gifts to serve your friends? Your neighbors? How are you serving in the body of believers? I believe that part of the mathematics of God is that we give and we serve, and he multiplies our gifts and our impact. I think the more we serve, the more he gives us to increase our giftings. Our gifts don’t exhaust us (although saying yes to too many things can do that.) We want to use our yeses to say yes to the best thing. If we say yes to everything, we don’t have the capacity to use our gifts well. Peter goes on to give examples of some of the gifts and the ways in which they may be used. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. What a high calling to which to aspire. Matthew 12:36 says that we will have to give an account for every idle word we speak. I don’t know about you, but as an extrovert (and an external processor) I found that verse somewhat terrifying. Nevertheless, it is good for me to be reminded of (and maybe often.) I need to be thinking through what I say and asking the Holy Spirit to speak through me. Maybe I won’t always get it right, but thankfully, there is grace enough for that. It is my hearts desire that I should glorify God with my words. Words are very important to me, but they are even more important to God. 1 Peter 1:24-25a says, “All men(people) are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands for ever.” And Isaiah 55:10-11 says As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. What these verses all suggest to me is this: God’s words will accomplish more than mine could possibly, and his word is eternal. So when we speak, the more we speak the word of God in love and in deed, the more our words will literally be as if God was speaking. “If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” This goes hand in hand with showing hospitality without grumbling. There are countless opportunities to serve, so when we do it, we ought to make sure that we are doing so joyfully. We can show up to serve and know that God is going to provide the strength for the task at hand. What a beautiful partnership that is to be found in Jesus with these things!! He gives us the strength, the people we serve are blessed by our service, God is blessed by our service, and we are able to be blessed by having been able to use our gifts. God math. He helps us, and everyone involved is blessed by it. And God is praised in the efforts that we expend on his behalf. Colossians 3:23 Do all things as though working for the Lord. Imagine, you have been invited by the King to serve in his courts. What a privilege that would be. It is the same thing to serve here in the Kingdom of God. It is a high honor. Our attitudes and demeanor should reflect that. To Him be the glory and the power, forever and ever. Amen. As we continue to turn our lives over to the Lord, we decrease, and he increases in us. Then those around us will be able to see. The gospel in us causes us to rise up into our good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do. Peter was a common fisherman before he became a follower of Jesus. I was a 16 year old exchange student. We are called from all different backgrounds. And we are each invited to use our gifts in service of the King, that we might glorify him, that we might point others in the right direction. The more of use that do that, the more people will be unable to deny the work of God in his people. And maybe, just maybe, they may join us in praising our Father up in Heaven. Peace to you. |
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