To Prep or Not to Prep?

    I was reading Jeremiah this morning and pondered how like our times the prophesies were. Israel had been listening to false prophets who said everything was going to be okay. America is full of plenty of people who openly choose to ignore our current state of unraveling. It as if the prophesies had been written yesterday. I thought of my own little piece of land that my family is the steward of and wondered if we were righteous would we be able to somehow escape the coming wrath of God.

   Yesterday I wrote how we prayed for angels to perch on even the smallest concerns here. I really do pray that our chickens are kept safe and our borders-as small as they are- are kept secure.

    It is strange living in a land that others cannot see. If you came to my house would you sense the heavenly host standing guard, or would you just consider me to be mildly insane? Jeremiah was spurned, I expect a similar response from anyone who lives outside of the confines of my skull to react no differently. Sometimes the communication is just between God and me. I sit writing about it not expecting a readership.

    Will there be a remnant of believers in America when everything breaks down? Hmm. I have sympathy for doomsday preppers but am not one myself. If God told me to store vast amounts of food and ammunition, medical supplies and the like, I would obey. That has not happened. I think he would warn me somehow but for now that response seems fear related not God commanded.
   

Hitchhicking Angels and Chickens

     in my little corner of the world it is not an uncommon thing for angels to hitchhike on the roof of our little red family car. It is rather common that they hold sentry duty around the house and even down at the chicken shed too. I sometimes wonder if they get a little bored perched up on the corner eaves of our house as yet another bedtime prayer requests their presence as guardians to our humble homestead. Generally they perform the heavy lifting of my prayer world and remain unseen yet felt.    
    Their absence can be unsettling as family discord gets out of hand and I know that we are off track. At least I may be off track. As the family's chief prayer warrior-in addition to homemaker and cook-I look after the things that we can't see. There is no rhyme or reason to it and I do not expect the world at large to understand that I speak in tongues sometimes to make my petitions to the Almighty. These things are not spoken of in polite company and would make most individuals uncomfortable. Who talks to God like that anyway? Not the tongues part, I mean plenty of people do that. I meant the part where he talks to me and we have this thing going where I think I can hear him. Most of the time I can, so I really don't have a problem with envisioning two angels playing a game of Gin rummy while riding on the roof of my car as we zip on down the interstate. I think they also have coffee sometimes, too.
    I can see their wings gently rustling in the breeze like we are only going two miles an hour. Not much concerns them. But they were definitely on duty the day the horse trailer nearly took me and my two kids out when we were driving down the road in Colorado Springs a few years back. I still remember the moment vividly. We saw the trailer literally shoved away from us at the most crucial moment. My heart beats more quickly just thinking about it now.
     When I look at my little silkie rooster I think about what their wings look like. He is puffy and cute, not at all like a big tough angel. I think that only the fluff on their wings might look like him, but still... Maybe it is the little things that God uses to remind us of the giant things that are at our disposal if we would just ask Him for the help or inspiration we need.

Putting Out These Intentions To The Universe

I think it is very important to wish for things. Not just wish, but pray for good things to happen and then keep living, It is not quite goal making and not just wishful thinking either. I make picture books of the things that I want. I go through magazines and clip photos and describe why something in that photo makes me feel good.  I recently came across one that I had made about 3 years ago while I was going through a great trial. I was living in Korea (I'm married to a soldier) and had been through a medical injury that left me bed bound. To give myself something to hang on to, I clipped pictures that described the life I wanted to live. There were pictures of chickens and barns. There was a terrific house and fields with great round hay bales. I showed photos of the pets that I wanted and even cut outs of future grandchildren! I even had a name for the place where the backdrop of my life would take place. I had called it Cardinal Meadows. This would be my farm.

After returning home to my beloved Missouri I lived in a rental home in town for a year and a half while waiting for my soldier husband to come home from Korea too. I had gotten home earlier on special dispensation from the Army to get my medical problems taken care of. In preparation for his arrival I had decided it was time to purchase a home that we would probably retire in. God found me a place that I had been thinking of in my pictures. It is a little cabin tucked away in the woods. It has plenty of land for chickens and gardens and I love the inside of my house too. My home has character, with wood walls and a terrific kitchen. It is not too big and not too small.  I have birds out the back window at my feeders.

Before I had run across the picture book I had made, I had named the place Redbird Hollow. I had forgotten my picture book, So when I found it while going through papers as we were moving in, I was very surprised to see how closely life had mimicked my little dream book. Three years ago, before any of this had happened, I had named my home Cardinal Meadows. It has been a miracle. There are many things that will take years to happen (having grand kids), but most of the book has come true. So I am thinking that more picture books are in order. Hoping for things not yet seen seems to be the way to go. Putting my intentions out to the universe is one way to say it, but I find that prayer to God is the ticket that works better. The pictures just solidify ideas best.

So I want pictures of my ideal business. I want pictures of me being healthy and free from fibromialgia. There will be clippings of beautiful gardens and jars full of blackberry jelly from my own land. I will believe for a great marriage and for both of my children s success. I will be able to sell my art and make a good living from it. I will be prosperous and not be poor, but not also be so well off that I would forsake Jesus. I am a woman of great faith and wisdom will be on my tongue. I am kind and loving. I have common sense and stick up for myself, I am intelligent and will use my God given abilities to bring about good in the world I live in. God's plan for me will come to pass.

So now it is out there.