Hymn Appreciation: It Is Well With My Soul

Horatio G. Spafford was an attorney in Chicago during 1870's and he was a devout Christian. Many of his friends were men like D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey. Mr. Spafford and his wife Anna learned what it meant to completely trust God in every situation. Through one of these heartbreaking situations came the beautiful words It is Well with My Soul.

It is Well with My Soul

The first situation for the Spaffords to rely on God was when their precious son died. Then in 1871 most of their personal property was destroyed in the great Chicago fire. But their greatest testing came in 1874. Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters boarded a ship on their way to England. But just off the coast of Ireland the ship collided with another ship and sank with 226 people losing their lives. When Horatio finally received a cable sent by his wife it read "saved alone", their four precious daughters had drowned.

While on board the ship traveling to be with his wife, Mr. Spafford was called by the captain where he was told they were in the area where the ship had sunk. It is here where the words to the hymn It Is Well with My Soul were written.

Horatio and Anna believed God to give them the strength they needed and that All things work together for good to them that love the Lord. Romans 8:28

It Is Well with My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul."

Though Satan should buffet, tho' trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin - oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin - not in part, but the whole,I
s nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

And, Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
"Even so" - it is well with my soul.

Chorus:

It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Through Jesus We are Protected {Thankful Thursdays}

Parents go to great lengths to keep their children safe. Think about how you protect your children. Many of us cushioned corners, locked cabinet doors and even put a lock on the oven door when our children were toddling around. When they are old enough to understand the stranger danger talk, we give it. There are many lessons we teach our children for safety and protection sake. Why? Because we want them to be protected as much as possible. As a Christian, we have protection also - through Jesus, we are protected.

We are Protected

I knew my son was never going to not get boo- boos. I felt the life drain out of me when my precious two-year old fell and hit his mouth on the lower inside rocker panel of my car after running around my parent’s front yard. The moment he opened his mouth and all the blood that came pouring out caused me to lose it. In the emergency room, I stopped counting at 40 stitches along the inside of his mouth. I would have gladly taken my son’s place that day. I even blamed myself for having the door open while he was coming to the car. No matter how I looked at it, that incident was something I could not keep from happening.

As parents, we would put our life on the line for our children. Children don't even understand what parents do to keep them protected. What about you? Have you thought about what God has done to protect you?

When Jesus was praying before His crucifixion, He prayed that God would keep us protected. (John 17:15) Jesus gave His life for us and He wanted us to be protected. The Bible even tells us in Ephesians 6:10-18 we need to daily be prepared with our armour and necessary equipment for attacks that will come. Just because we have a heavenly protection, doesn't mean we can be willy nilly in our everyday life. We need to pray a hedge of protection around our family on a daily basis.

Through Jesus I am protected.

Reusing Old Baking Soda from the Frig and Freezer

I don’t know about you, but I really hate to throw out old things if they can still be used. BAKING SODA is one of those things. We all have those little boxes in our refrigerators and freezers - hopefully, you don’t throw them away when you change them out, but if you do, don’t because you can still use them.

Reusing Old Baking Soda

Four things I use old baking soda (from the frig/freezer) on around the house.

• Drains – Baking soda, vinegar, and a boiling water flush help keep the drain in the kitchen and bathroom sinks clean and fresh.


• Pots and Pans – I use baking soda to clean the bottoms of my stainless steel pots and pans. Make a paste with baking soda, liquid dish detergent, and vinegar – let it sit for a little while and give it a good scrubbing.


• Oven – I make a paste from this post and coat the inside of my oven at night and the next morning all I have to do is wipe it out. Depending on the mess, I have to use a little elbow grease to get stubborn areas clean.


•  Bathroom – Old baking soda works well cleaning the sink, tub, and toilet. No need to buy a powder abrasive cleaner, old baking soda is a money saver.

Just like a new box of baking soda, an old box works just as well on cleaning around the house. Since the old boxes from the refrigerator and the freezer have been used to absorb odors, it is not recommended to reuse it in cooking and baking, but I recommend using it in cleaning.

Do you throw out the boxes, or do you use the old baking soda and on what?

Hymn Appreciation: There Is A Fountain

"There is a Fountain" was written by William Cowper in 1772. He was a poet and hymnist who suffered from emotional problems all of his life. His father was a rector and a chaplain for King George II, his mother Ann died in childbirth with his younger brother when William was six years old; her death deeply affected William’s life. He lived a life with many emotional problems. William grew to love reading and his love for Latin was put to use in writing and translating, both lifelong skills.

There is a Fountain

William was pressed to study law while growing up, but he never really applied himself for the public life. Several times, William was institutionalized because of depression and insanity. It wasn’t until after spending time healing, under the watchful eye of John Newton (Amazing Grace), when William read Zechariah 13:1 and made his peace with the Lord and penned "There is a Fountain" shortly thereafter.

There Is A Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away,
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its pow'r,
Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more:
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing Thy pow'r to save,
When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue lies silent in the grave:
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue lies silent in the grave.

An Unexpected Help {Thankful Thursdays}

Most of us have been on both sides of An Unexpected Help. Whether we are the giver or the receiver an unexpected help is a blessing, although, sometimes it is hard to accept if you are the unknowingly giver. I’ll never forget the day four years ago after spending a morning running errands. I began to go over the receipts for my shopping and counting the money that was left, everything seemed okay, nothing out of the ordinary. But as the day wore on and I was helping children in VBS paint cars, I remembered there should have been more money left over. Sometimes, I normally tuck change in a side pocket or drop it down into my zipper bag in the bottom of my purse, so I didn’t give it another thought.

 

AN UNEXPECTED HELP

When I got home, I talked with my husband about what all I spent along with the amount of money that I started out with and what I had left over. After doing some math calculations, we realized that I was $40 short. Yes, FORTY DOLLARS! To some that is chump change, but to those who might be living on a tight budget with one income, that's a lot of money!

After talking about the money - me, mostly fussing about it. I continued on with my rant about how we really needed that money for some things that we needed. My easy-going husband (I love him; we are opposites) said, "Someone that needed that money probably found it, for me not to worry about." My selfishness piped up with, "I hope whoever found it REALLY DESERVES it because we need that money!" My husband lying on the sofa at that time sat up and said, "What do we really need? What are we doing without?” After giving him a list of things he asked, "Do we really need any of that?" I sat down and thought about what he said. No, we really didn't need those things. We've lived without them for several months and could continue to do so.

While I swept the kitchen floor one last time for the night, I was still thinking and stewing about the money. The next thing I knew the Lord brought to my remembrance the $10 my husband found in the grocery store parking lot the week before, the $20 my Mom found in the JC Penney's parking lot and handed to me several months earlier, and the $10 Jamie and I found on the road, while taking an afternoon stroll; all of which totaled $40. The Lord also showed me that someone else lost that money so my family could be blessed. When I told my husband about it, he also reminded me of the $100 that he found under his delivery truck in the parking lot of a store. That was a total of $140 that we were blessed with and someone else more than likely had to lose.

Sometimes unexpected help is hard to accept 

when you are the unknowingly giver.

The Lord uses people and situations that are not comfortable to bless someone else in need. I've learned a valuable lesson about this: money is not even ours, it all belongs to the Lord. While I thought we needed the money, there was someone in worse financial shape than we were. If the Lord wants to use His money He gave us to bless someone else, it really is okay with me. I pray that whoever found the money will know that the Lord allowed it to happen, not me.

Gettin' It Done Cleaning & Organizing One Room at a Time

This is my first Gettin’ It Done week for this school year and I’m excited about it. I think some of the excitement is being able to go back to sleep for about an hour after my husband leaves for work every morning. Extra sleep = a happy Momma. You can read more about why I deep clean one room every six weeks.

Gettin’ It Done by Cleaning & Organizing

I’m curious to see how this week goes, because of my new job. Although, I only work in the afternoons three days a week, I’m sure the days I work are not going to be as productive as I want.
Organizing for school: I’ll be working on the lesson plans for the upcoming six weeks and filing away the previous work. A list will be made of the chemicals along with odd and end items we’ll need for Chemistry later on. I hate finding out I need something AFTER my trip to Miles City and end up spending more on the item at the feed store. ~ I really don’t like that!

Organizing for the kitchen and pantry: This week is my grocery shopping week, a list has to be made along with the meal plans for the next two weeks. I seriously need an Aldi’s and a Publix; grocery and meal planning almost puts me in tears when I know what I have to work with regarding stores. I’ll be deep cleaning everything in the kitchen. For the pantry, let’s just say, I’ll be spending most of my time in there. With hunting season opening this week, the grinder and all of the needed equipment for packaging meat will be moved over for easier access. All of the bulk items will be reorganized and a list will be made for our big shopping trip at the end of September.

Y’all, my quilt squares are all finished being pieced together, all I have to do is square them, so I’ll be ordering a square this week. I'll also be trying to choose a fabric for the sashing and the backing of the quilt. Hopefully, it won't take me two months like it did earlier this year. That sweater I mentioned before has become an afghan. My amazing husband made me a pair of large needles; while my yarn is not the correct weight for a warm afghan with these needles, it will be draped over my rocking chair.

Check out those needles.

Now that you know what I’ll be busy working on, what are your plans for the week?

Hymn Appreciation: Jesus Loves Me

The words to the sweet children's song that most of us grew up singing, Jesus Loves Me were written as a poem by Anna Warner in 1860. Anna wrote the poem for the book Say and Seal written by her older sister Susan. It was not until William Bradbury read the book and was moved by the poem that he wrote the music and chorus.

Jesus Loves Me This I Know

Anna Bartlett Warner (1827-1915) was the second daughter of Henry Whiting and Anna Bartlett Warner. Anna was raised by her aunt after the passing of her mother. Anna spent most of her childhood in New York City. The family would often visit an uncle serving as Chaplain at West Point and Mr. Warner became interested in purchasing Constitution Island across the river. During the 1837 depression Mr. Warner suffered financial losses, but he was able to hang on to Constitution Island and move his family to live on the island. Anna and Susan helped to bring in money by writing books.

While living on the island, Anna and Susan were able to lead Bible lessons with the cadets at West Point. The cadets were eager to become one of “Miss Warner’s boys” because the passes to Constitution Island were a privilege. Even after Susan passed away, Anna continued the weekly lessons. She corresponded with each of her boys and continued lessons until her death in 1915. Anna and Susan Warner are the only civilians buried at West Point.

Jesus Loves Me

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong—
They are weak, but He is strong.

Jesus loves me He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Jesus loves me loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill;
From His shining throne on high
Comes to watch me where I lie.

Jesus loves me—He will stay
Close beside me all the way,
Then His little child will take
Up to Heaven for His dear sake.

Chorus
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Recent Lessons I Have Learned

Yesterday was the end of our seventh week of school. I’m amazed at how fast these past weeks went by, but I’m even more amazed that September will be here next week; time is marching right along. Did you know that there are 117 more days until Christmas? Yeah, I don’t like to be reminded of it either, but just in case, I laid it out there for ya. With all that is going on, here are some LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED the past few weeks.

Lessons I Have Learned

For several weeks now, we have had to deal with the smoke from the fires in western Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The last two summers we had a little smoke, but I’m thinking this summer has been the worst since we’ve been here. I’ve learned that fire smoke is just as bad as the smog back home in Atlanta and it wreaks havoc on my sinuses.

This past Monday, I learned that starting a part time job wears you out very quickly after being at home full-time for over ten years. Being on my feet for 4 ½ hours caused me to forget everything when I got home until the next morning. I was told there was a snore festival going on in the living and they hated to wake me to get in bed. So, I slept on the sofa and never slept so good. 

Over the past seven weeks, I learned while scratching my head learning Chemistry and WORRYING over not being able to help my son that he was doing just fine the whole time. He is whizzing right along after watching videos from VHG and Ck-12.

Living in the day of technology can be a little daunting for me. With the need of a scientific calculator for Chemistry, I quickly learned you need a Ph.D. in Technology to see, read, and understand the microscopic font found in the book that came with said calculator. But let the 15-year-old pick up the calculator for the first time and all equations he enters comes out correctly. Just how did he do that without even looking at the book?

This past week, I learned the makers of Dawn dishwashing liquid need to forget about scents like the Fuji Cherry Blossom. I usually like a cherry scent in certain products, but for some reason, this one doesn’t do it for me. I can see the two bottles I bought becoming an artesian well of never ending detergent for the next 5 years. ;)

I never thought I would learn to love having an indoor dog, but I have since our sweet Mikey came to us last November. Up until two weeks ago, he has rarely barked except for his one bark to come back in the house from being outside. One morning, I noticed more barking coming from him and I was surprised. It wasn't until I looked out the window and saw Mikey looking towards the neighbor's house, that was when I and saw and heard the neighbor’s little yapper teaching Mikey to bark back at him. I’ve learned while I don’t like yapping dogs, being the owner of a yapper is worse than dealing with a neighboring yapper, but I love him anyway.

Are there lessons you have learned recently?