Press on and Endure (with Audio)
Good evening to our scattered sister saints!
I made another audio to encourage you, HERE about pressing on and enduring using the parable of the sower and Philippians 3.
If we want more encouragement about enduring read Exodus and how God's people endured through Pharaoh's reign. How about enduring through the desert for 40 years? Read Hebrews 10 with all the encouragement to hold fast lest one fall away. God is so gracious to give us His words to help us press on as our prize awaits those who continue until the end of the race. I want to be able to say words such as these:
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: [8] Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8
One day at a time we press on in the faith, facing the trials ahead of us and overcoming them by the strength of the Lord!
We decided not to travel today because of rain but will, Lord willing, be going down the road tomorrow, not sure where our stop will be but I'll work on that later after I do the most important things here, encouraging my sisters:-)
We usually have late nights, being up to midnight is common and oftentimes 1:00 am or later. Last night right before bed for some reason, both brother Jim and I were super hungry and it was 1:30 am. I offered to make some little tortilla pizzas.
Pizza sauce, cheese and salt on mini tortillas.
Cook and flip.
Just a simple keeper of the home story:-)
Brother Jim made another change on the van the other day.
The water jugs were exposed on the back so he did this...
It's no not only protected from the sun but it looks a bit neater as well. While he was working on that we were in the parking lot of the home goods store and saw this barn house.
We thought it was a pretty good deal considering the prices we've seen of the shed houses and with the loft for sleeping it makes for a lot of room downstairs. A small family could easily live in one.
I share this because there are ways people can live simple but it takes planning and working that plan. Brother Jim and I researched the country to see where living off grid was the best and found Missouri and it worked great for us traveling because it's the center of the country. There are plenty of states in the US that have affordable (and off grid) land that don't have a lot of rules and regulations to it. A shed this big, with the porch was $12,000. I know most people would look at it and say 'Oh, it would cost thousands and thousands of dollars to do the inside.' Well, that all depends on what you want to do with it, you can be simple or as complex as you desire and if you're not in a hurry it won't cost a lot if you use recycled materials. There are tons of options out there or someone can do like we did....found an older camper ($2300) and build a roof over and porch on it. To be honest with you, tiny house living and off grid are certainly something a person has to endure through as it takes a lot of flesh killing and time to get to that point of being able to thrive in it, but worth it. Even if a person cannot move, there are plenty of ways to simplify your life, I was just sharing this because we happened to be parked by it.
I saw that on the bottom of a receipt so I showed brother Jim and I said it was interesting because we didn't see any Christians there. Then I commented on how a person could walk through a large crowd of women and someone could say 'Hey did you see any police in that crowd?' and the person could say 'Nope, I didn't see any.' Yet if a person walked through a large crowd of evangelical women claiming Christ and someone asked 'Hey, did you see any Christian women there?' and you said 'Nope, didn't see any', people would get mad. Why is it we can identify police, doctors, nurses, airline pilots, military, road construction crews, firemen by the way they look but not those who claim Christ? Of course there might be a newborn sheep in the crowd that has not learned yet but in a few months she would be 'working on' transforming her outsides (actions thoughts, looks etc) if her insides were new. (Yes, of course there are some that look biblical on the outside yet are unregenerate on the inside, like the pharisees were.) I'm going to say it and stand on it...the Holy Spirit will NOT leave a new born again believer in sin for year after year. There should be much transformation very quickly to conform to God's Word as a new believer is hungry to study the Word, thirsting after righteousness, aggressively hunting down sin and killing it, examining everything in their life and their sins should be falling away one after the other as she marches forward. We, too often, hear of testimonies where people were 'born again' yet they were in sin for 5 years, 10 years etc before they 'woke up' and began reading the scriptures and obeying. They weren't born again then or they were in outright rebellion against the Word and Holy Spirit and either way is not good. Let us all follow the commands of Paul when he says to examine ourselves lest we be a reprobate. 2 Corinthians 13:5
Praise the Lord for each day, let us strive on and bring honor to our Father, thanking Him for what He as done for us and what's ahead if we endure through to the end.
Love to you all.