Blessed Assurance

Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels, descending, bring from above

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,

I in my Savior am happy and blest,

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Faith and Love

This morning I received some very sad news. My friend who has been battling brain cancer for quite sometime has now found out that there is a new inoperable tumor in the center of his brain. There is also a new very aggressive tumor in the temple area. The doctor said an operation is not a good option and they have decided that trying another kind of chemo to try and slow it down is the best option. There is only a 10% chance that this will work. If it does not work he will slip into a coma in approximately two weeks and as his wife has said he will be celebrating Christmas with the King of Kings. My heart breaks for this couple. They are still so young.

They have been an amazing encouragement to all that know them as their faith and love are so strong you can feel it. Through all this trial their faith hasn't wavered and their love has only grown stronger. They have been such a blessing to me.

They posted this on their blog....

"This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life". John 9:3

Your prayers would be most appreciated.

Blessings,

Liisa

Works For Me Wednesday

This is my first time participating in Works-For-Me Wednesday but I wanted to share what works for me at lunch time. I have four little ones to feed each day. One of them is only 9 months old so I need to feed him myself and he is often in a REALLY big hurry to eat. It can be a little stressful trying to get the others lunch while he is letting me know (loudly) that he is ready to eat. What I do now is to make lunches in the morning before we go out for our walk. I can get this done while the little one naps and the girls are doing their craft. Then when we come home it is all ready and all I have to do is set it out for them. If it is a hot dish I just microwave it for 30 seconds and we are ready to eat. This really works for me. For more ideas visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Blessings,
Liisa

Peer Pressure

It isn't always easy to do what is right. I was just downstairs with my son and his friends and they were trying to get him to sing for them. He is very good but very shy about singing in front of people. Anyway, he jokingly says to them he is not one to give into peer pressure so he won't sing.

This just got me to thinking about a comment my friend made to me today. She was saying that even other Christian women sometimes make it hard to do what is right. She had made the choice to step out of some ministries so that she could devote more time to her husband and her family. I think this is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately not everyone feels this way. She has had other well meaning ladies trying to pull her in another direction. It is much like peer pressure. It is hard to stand firm in our decision to devote more time to home and family when you have other women encouraging you to do the opposite. They mean well and some may say it is a shame to waste your gifts but they may not realize that our homes are our primary mission field! We have little ones and husbands not to mention other family members that need us. When the time is right there is nothing wrong with volunteering for church activities and ministries but it is important that your priorities are in order.

It is so important to encourage each other to do what is right. By doing that we can build strong marriages and families that serve the Lord together.

Blessings,
Liisa

Snowballs

These are my favorite Christmas cookie but are wonderful all year....

Snowballs

1 cup dates

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

Cook until thick.

Cool.

Add:

2 cups Rice Krispies

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Roll into balls and roll in coconut.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Liisa

Cookie Day!

Yesterday was "cookie day" at my friend Nancy's house. She invited several of us to her home in the country to bake a variety of cookies. This was a wonderful way to get to know some of the younger ladies as well as encourage them in their baking skills.

We made sugar cookies, macaroons, chocolate no bake cookies, snowballs, peanut butter marshmallow squares and graham wafer delights. My men were quite please with what I brought home and I have half a plate of cookies left out of three plates! ~smile~

It was so much fun and I just hope that we can perhaps make this an annual event. We were thinking about having cooking days perhaps once a month as well.

Here are a few pictures from Cookie Day!

One of the favors.

Kitchen all set up for us.

Ashley, Jessica, Nancy and Lynda getting started.

Tidy up time.

The cookies being packaged up.

Blessings,

Liisa

Busy Day

Yesterday I had to go a city about 45 minutes away for some tests with a specialist. I had to be there at 7:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. appointment. This wouldn't have been any problem except that we got what the weather people were calling "the first winter storm of the year". It started with freezing rain, then ice pellets, and then snow. The roads were VERY icy. I am just so grateful that my wonderful hubby had taken the day off to drive me there. He is an amazing driver and isn't bothered by bad weather conditions. There was much prayer going on as we slid around quite a bit on the ice. However God is faithful and answers prayers and we made it -on time even! However the result of the testing was that I didn't feel up to do doing much for the rest of the day so today has been a busy day of catch up.

The mother of one of my friends from church passed away yesterday. She was 1 day past her 100th birthday. She is now home with the Lord. What a comfort to family and friends left behind to have that assurance.

I was so glad that I had gone crazy in the fall and made way too many cabbage rolls for the freezer. This enabled me to take some out and take them over to my friend so that she and her husband will have a quick meal ready for lunch or dinner today and not have to worry about what to have or what to cook. It is a blessing to have foods that are quick to make on hand or prepared foods in the freezer for when someone is ill or there is a death in the family. I often have cooked chicken cut up in the freezer and other ingredients on hand so I can make a chicken pot pie quickly for someone. Or I make a ground beef pie by browning ground beef adding a can of mushrooms and gravy I saved in the freezer from past roasts. I mix it all together and put it in a pie crust and bake until the crust is golden. Quick and easy but welcome. One of my friends has lasagnas ready in her freezer. If she has surprise company, or someone needs a meal she is ready.

Today I have beef stew going for dinner and have caught up on many of the neglected chores from yesterday. My little monkeys are all down for a nap thank goodness! It has been a bit of a trying morning with them.

Tonight I need to cut my hubby's hair and iron clothes for tomorrow night when we go to his Christmas party at work. We get to dress up, have a wonderful meal and perhaps I'll even get in a slow dance or two with my husband. ~smile~

I better get back to my busy day!


Blessings,

Liisa