That I Might Know

" I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by name, am the God of Israel." Isaiah 45:2 & 3

The crooked places, the gates, the bars and the darkness in our lives are all used by God that we might know Him, really know Him. He wants to deepen our relationship with Himself. It is personal. He calls us by name.
When we walk the path that is crooked and steep, a path that makes no sense at all, we can turn to God. He will make it straight. Make it into good in our lives. (Romans 8:28) A bent nail is of no use until it is straightened, a bent curtain rod doesn't do the job. These items can be straightened and used. Used to hang a beautiful picture or put up a lovely curtain. So it is with our life that is crooked and senseless. God can make something beautiful out of the crooked places in our lives as we surrender to Him.
The gates that are too big for us to maneuver through, the bars of circumstances that seem to crush us under the weight, so that it seems we can go no farther, can be conquered with the strength God has to give to us.
It is in these darkest of circumstances that we can obtain treasure from Him. Riches that will surround and strenghen our soul. These treasures will bring us closer to God and let us KNOW that He is truly God in spite of the circumstances. He longs for us to know Him, to draw up closer to Him. In doing so, we will find Him to be sufficient.
Some of the treasures that God has made dearer to my heart than ever before are:

--God is in Charge
--God is Trustworthy
--God is working in my life and the lives of my family even when I can't see Him
--God can take the worst of things and turn it around for good in my life
--God will not fail, even when all looks bleak; He has not let the situation or me slip through His
fingers.

These treasures have helped me to know that He is God and this God knows my name and will go before me all the way.

My son

Early last week, Joshua said to me one morning, "Mom, don't look out the window till I tell you. I forgot about what he said, and went about fixing breakfast for the girls. Soon he was back and says, "Did you look out the window?" No, I hadn't. So he blindfolded me and led me outside and down into the woods. When he took the blindfold off we were in front of this bench he had built for me. He had put a "plaque" on the bench which said, "In loving memory of Francis Weingard." It brought tears to my eyes for his thoughtfulness and tears for missing my Dad.

Husband's Handiwork

I have been wanting one of these archways. The white vinyl kind didn't fit our budget nor our rustic country setting. So my husband built this out of saplings he had cleared off of our land. I love it. By the end of summer, hopefully it will be full of flowers.

Two T-shirts and 2 yards of Material

I am not a seamstress like my sister. You realize this when I had to call her to find out which way I was supposed to cut the material. I think the term is cutting it on the bias or something of the sort. Anyhow, I managed to make dresses for my girls, and scrunchies to match, out of a T-shirt and matching material. They turned out really cute and comfortable for spring and summer playwear. Thanks Mom, for teaching me the simple rudiments of sewing. Of course, you could have taught me a lot more along the sewing line if I had had more patience back then.

A picture of my living room and a portion of my kitchen. It looks much better than when we moved in. These pics were taken some time ago. Since then we have put in new flooring in the kitchen. It was just old chipboard until this past January. The Lord supplied the money to put in ceramic tile. It is wonderful. I enjoy mopping floors. In the past I couldn't mop or it would rot the"flooring." So when I feel like complaining about all the work involved in keeping it clean I remind myself of the dirty kitchen floor that wasn't able to be mopped.

Update on the house and my life

Well, it has been over a year since I have blogged anything. Internet was out of the question for some time. At this time we have internet on trial for a month. So I'll try to post a few updates now and then.
Here is a picture what a house looked like when we bought it. The second picture was taken this past fall. We have been slowly working on it. Mostly, those non-expensive issues that just take a little work.