My husband loves several desserts from our local grocery. Not sure what he will find in our new town but I hope he finds something similar to what he has here. Not only does he love to eat the dessert, I love to have the glass containers that the dessert comes in! Here is what they look like:
First, let me apologize about not posting the Hymn and Scripture Challenge last weekend. I unexpectedly went out of town to look for our new house. It was very hard for my husband to do it on his own, so at the last minute we decided that I needed to fly out there to find our new home. It was a hard, hard 5 days but God was evident in so many ways! And my precious mother stayed here with the kids, and I couldn't have gone without her help, prayers, and love. Thank you Mom! I love and appreciate you SO much!
So, our plan of attack on my trip was to first find the area of the town where we wanted to live. As soon as I arrived at the airport, we began driving and looking at different neighborhoods. Then the next morning, we woke up and spent 3 more hours driving ALL over town looking at more neighborhoods. Then at 2 p.m. that day, we met with our realtor. After spending 5 hours with her, we had a few homes we were interested in. The next morning, my hubby went to work, the realtor picked me up at the apartment, and we began house shopping again. I found another home on that trip that hubby had to see. So, that evening after hubby got off work, we met with the realtor again, and went to the 3 homes we loved so that we could see them again. After viewing those 3 homes again, we truly only had one home we felt we wanted to put a contract on BUT we found out that the physicians that owned the home had another physician renting it from them as he had just moved into town and joined their practice. Their rental agreement was for 90 days. Ugh! We knew we couldn't wait 90 days to move and be together as a family again. God knew that too but that evening we put a contract on it anyway. With God all things are possible, right?
Mark 10:27 "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'"
The next morning it looked like the contract we put on the house would not go through without lots of counter offers or even a refusal. BUT truly the impossible happened because the contract was accepted "as is" and the renters are moving out immediately to make this close happen quickly. We will be closing on our new home on June 26th. I am in awe of all that God did during my trip. There were SO many things. His plans and ways are perfect, and I was just in awe of Him!!
So, now the craziness really begins. We hopefully will find out today the day that the movers come to pack us up. I also have to figure out how we are going to move all 5 animals across the country. It's going to be a fun and exciting time. Because of all of this, I won't be able to post the Hymn and Scripture Challenge again until July. I pray that you will understand. I hate to temporarily stop the challenge but there are too many things here to do. I pray that you will hang in there and wait patiently for me to resume with that again. I am blessed SO much by the words God gives me for the challenges so I know I will be anxious to start up again too!
Before I leave you today, I wanted to share two photos. This first photo is one I took of our new mailbox. I have LOVED mail since I was a little girl. In the home we are in now, the mailbox was in a community center, and I REALLY missed having a real mailbox. Well, God has blessed me with a beautiful new one at the end of our driveway! I am SO excited about it. I know y'all probably think I am crazy but isn't it a pretty mailbox? :) :)
Happy and Blessed Mother's Day to all of you! I pray that God showers you with blessings today! But I also wanted to take this moment to post our RAK winners from last week. They are:
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
20
15
Timestamp: 2012-05-13 21:00:37 UTC
No. 20 belongs to Krystal De Leeuw
Krystal De Leeuw said... bowdonl said...
May! Can you believe it? You all know I am super busy here getting ready for our big move across the country. It's wild, and I feel like I am truly running in circles. So for ODBD's May Challenge, we decided to challenge you to a "sketch challenge with a twist"! Your scrapbook challenge for May is to: create a layout of any size using ODBD stamps and the sketch below with a twist--you must also use circles. Have fun with it! Turn the sketch, add 1-4 photos, add paint splatters for your circles, add a doily, buttons, whatever! There are always lots of fun and different things to do with a sketch and circles! And here is your sketch:
Hello wonderful blog readers! I needed to update you on the Hymn and Scripture Challenge. After our last challenge, my husband was offered a wonderful job opportunity 1,200 miles away from where we live now. We are in a scramble cleaning out and getting ready for the big move. My house and myself are a bit in a disarray. We have been in this home for 14 years so needless to say, there is a lot of cleaning to do! Anyway, I will not be able to post today's challenge. I hope to post one next Sunday! I pray you understand and that you will use this time to catch up if you are behind in our studies.
I also thought I would give away (2) copies of The One Year Great Songs of Faith: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns.
Hymn Challenge #9: I Surrender All
Words Written by: Judson W. Van de Venter
b. Dec. 5, 1855; d. July 17, 1939
Music Written by: Winfield S. Weeden
b. Mar. 29, 1847; d. July 31, 1908
Judson W. Van de Venter was born in Michigan and accepted Jesus as a teenager. He went to college and became an artist, teacher, and musician. He even learned to play 13 different musical instruments. Later in life he felt pulled to ministry but he was torn between his love for art and music and what he thought was God's call to ministry. He struggled with this decision for over 5 years. In 1896 as he was conducting a piece at a church event, he completely surrendered himself to God's will. He then became a full-time evangelist. Mr. Van de Venter was quoted as saying "At last the pivotal hour of my life came and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing." This was the decisive moment when he wrote this hymn.
While Mr. Van de Venter wrote the words to this hymn, it was Windfield S. Weeden that set the words to music. Mr. Weeden loved the words so much that "I Surrender All" was inscribed on his tombstone.
Changes. Changes can be hard. Changes can be exciting. Is God calling you to a new place in life? Maybe a new ministry, an "empty nest," the birth of a child or grandchild, a move, etc. As our girls begin to look at colleges, I find myself realizing that our family is in for a huge change. We have a new season in life ahead of us. Granted it's not for another year but I can see God preparing hearts and making some changes already. It's scary. It's exciting. It's overwhelming.
To be able to move forward as God wants us to, we need to surrender ourselves completely to Him. We should be doing this daily anyway but it seems when the changes are more difficult it becomes all too easy to clam up and push the change aside. Do you just want to avoid the change? Or do you recall what God has done in the past and move forward trusting Him with the outcome? Did you surrender to Him and allow Him to prepare you in the past or did you take matters into your own hands? If He calls (no matter what the call), we cannot be paralyzed by the fear of the unknown. We are to surrender all to Him knowing He has the plan and wants what's best for us! Will you do that? It's what we are called to do. True faith expresses itself in obeying God’s word and surrendering ourselves completely to Him in all things--big or small. We should:
*Start with what we have.
*Surrender it to Jesus.
*Obey what He commands.
*Trust God with the rest.
Will you do that? If you truly want to follow Christ, we must take up our cross daily. Luke 9:23 says "Then He said to them all: 'If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.'" This is not optional; it is necessary! Mr. Van de Venter struggled for 5 years knowing what He should do. Your decisions can always be sure if you surrender it all to Him, and trust Him will the outcome! What we have in Christ far outweighs anything else in this life!
Philippians 3:7-8 "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
Mark 10:28 "Peter said to Him, 'We have left everything to follow You!'"
How will you surrender completely to Christ this week? Or maybe you are not going through a change in your life but I bet you know someone that is. How will you support and encourage them to surrender and follow the will of God?
Below you will find the sheet music to "I Surrender All," and click here to read the words to this hymn. Also, be sure to check out the link I have below for you today.
