Just a little note today

Good morning Y'all!!!!!!       Ok, don't go in shock, please!!      I have just about shocked myself this morning.      I instinctively came to my blog to make a post.      Wow!!!!!       It will be short and sweet for now and I may add to it before the day is over.      Who knows???       hahahaha

Anyway, I love to be quiet in the early morning and 9:15am is early for me.     hahahaha       I love to listen to morning sounds.       Especially this time of year when there are no leaves to muffle the sounds coming from across the way.      I hear the train roll thru and he toots his horn as he does so.     Little red caboose, Little red caboose, Little red caboose behind the train.........that's what runs thru my mind when I hear it.  We used to sing that in 1st grade.      I'm amazed I can still remember that much of the song.    hahahaha       Every once in a while a bird will sit in one of the trees right out side just by my chair and it's as if that bird is talking to me.      Sometimes, in warmer weather, there will be a little tree frog that will do the same thing.      He will sit there and make his noise and it makes me happy.     One day back in the summer, I met one of my little tree frogs.      I was walking, and just glanced out of the corner of my eye and seen something yellow stuck to the side of gray sided house.     Upon closer inspection, it was one of those tiny little frogs, smaller than a quarter in over all spread out size.     He or she was a cute little thing and left it be so it could talk to me some more.       Sometime, I also hear dogs bark in the distance and wonder what stirred them up.       Maybe they spotted a deer or a wild turkey or some other critter that we see out here, or maybe it was just someone taking their daily walk and the dogs was just saying "good morning".      If we let ourselves, we can hear all kinds of sounds.      I have to tell you that in the days past, I have taken those sounds for granted.      But as I lose more of my hearing, I value the every day sounds even more.      I hope you will listen to the sounds in your world today and enjoy them a little more.

Do you ever have a thought that gets in your noggin and won't leave until you write it down?       I do and this is one of those times.       I really don't know why this came to be, but it did, just this morning and that's the real reason for making this post this morning.      I wanted to journal it and then come back to it ever so often to see what the Lord reveals to me about.        I'm calling it "thought for the day".  Here it is:  

Thought for the day:  We are only as good as the lessons we learned from our last mistake.

I make mistakes every day, that's nothing unusual.     But I guess the question for me is, do I learn from my mistakes?       Do I take away anything valuable from the mistakes I made?       Can I do the task again, or what ever it is, without making the same mistake, because I learned what I done wrong and make efforts to correct it the next time?       Or, do I just float along and not learn and continue to make the same mistakes time after time after time?       

We either grow or we grow stagnate.        That is the 2 options we have.      I have mentioned a lot on here about choices.       Again, this boils down to choices.      I pray that I move forward in my day and in my life and that I can learn lessons and grow.       I have already been stagnate.      If you know anything about that word, then apply that to a body of water.      A body of water that has constant movement from an outside source, such as a stream or a spring will not grow stagnate.       It will remain a healthy body of water and good things will grow and thrive in it.      It will be a healthy source of life giving sustenance to what ever needs to drink from that water source or what ever lives in it.  That is truly what Jesus is to us, a healthy stream or river of life giving water and movement.    There is no stagnation in Jesus!!!

On the other had, if it's a pond or a body of water without a fresh source of any kind, it will grow stagnate.      The water takes on a foul smell and color and what ever lives in it is not healthy or useful.  It's usually moldy and stinks to high heaven and has green or brown rotten stuff in it.    The only source of movement would be from the air blowing across it.      

If you had the 2 bodies of water I just mentioned side by side, you would more than likely see that the animals in the woods and fields that came to drink, would make the choice to drink from the fresh water that looks refreshing.      If the stagnate water was the only choice, they would drink that.      But if there is fresh water, that's what most will go to.

I don't want to be a stagnate source of water for myself or anyone else.       I want to be a nourishing and flourishing pool of water for whom ever needs to refresh themselves.      We live in a day and time where there is a lot of unrest and discomfort.      A lot of mistakes have been made.      Most are not learning from the mistakes they have made.       They are refusing to learn.      But there are some of us who are trying hard to learn from our mistakes.      I am trying to be one of those few.      I pray that God will teach me and help me learn from my mistakes.      I guess the greatest lesson I can ever learn is to trust Him to meet my needs.      And ask Him to teach me what I need to learn.       People are trying to teach us a lot right now, but it's not what we need to be consuming as learners.       Pray and ask God for wisdom and discernment.      Discernment is one of the best spiritual gifts that you can have.      If you have discernment, you won't be blown about by every thought that others have and you will know instantly if what they are saying is something you need to be listening.      Discernment is a great teacher.      When you practice it daily, your discernment will get sharper and sharper.      You won't be victim of a lot a false information.      You will know the truth when you hear it.

I don't know what all else God will show me about learning lessons from my mistakes, but I'm sure He will help me learn.     One thing that I do know for sure, it's better to have a few flourishing and growing people in your life who strive for learning and wisdom each day also, than to have a bunch of stagnate people in your life that is growing more foul with each day.     I have a small handful of ladies in my life that help me be a better person each day thru their own growth and lessons learned.     They too, have had some stagnate days and they have learned from them.      These ladies are very important to me and I count them as sisters in Christ.      If you have people like that in your life, consider yourself blessed and favored.      I sure do.      I am pretty outspoken, but I try to filter what I speak thru the change that Jesus has made in my life.      I try to speak truth in love when I can, but I will always speak truth.      Sometimes truth is harsh.      Sometimes harsh is all someone will hear.      But I will always try, with the help of the Lord, speak truth.      I trust the Lord to show me when I'm wrong and I will correct it.     Then I will consider that "a good lesson learned from the last mistake I made".   

I hope you can make some sense from this and that you can relate to what I just wrote.     

Well, on with my day.      Misfits Market Box will come today and I will get all my produce processed, cleaned and in the fridge.       When my box gets here, I will try to remember to take a picture and put it on here to show you what I get in my box.      I am going to make another batch of my cornbread swirls/rolls from yesterdays post.      I'm going to get my dehydrator going with some pears and some kombucha fruit and maybe a couple cans of pineapple tidbits.   

This is my delicious box of Misfits.      It came about 5 minutes after I got this blog post up.       It is a spectacular box and I already have most of it in the fridge.      I'm going to dehydrate the kale, seranno peppers, mushrooms and possibly some of the citrus.        I already have some pears in the fridge that I'm going to make pear chips out of by dehydrating  and some more lettuces that I want to get dehydrated.       It's a great way to preserve produce and then store it in small containers after it's been crushed or powdered.       You can easily add nutrition to just about anything using the powders and most of the time, the flavors will be unnoticed.       Green powders is great to add to a lot of different things, soups, meatloaf, sauces, even some breads.  

This is my washed produce.     Some of it is already in the fridge.      I love staying stocked up on potatoes, carrots and onions.      I haven't had to buy any of those from the store since starting having this delivered to my home each week.       It's well worth the value for organic produce and most of it is heirloom also.     Sometimes my lettuces will come with rootballs and I pick the lettuce off and plant the rootballs and grow more lettuce.      Last summer I kept several of those all summer long and I have some in my greenhouse right now.      If you get a chance to try Misfits Market, I suggest you do.       It's an awesome way to have nourishing produce in the house year round.    The produce also varies as the seasons vary.      I run a sink full of cold water with a splash of vinegar and soak everything in it for a bit and then drain it.      This picture, everything has been washed and draining waiting for the fridge.      Hope you enjoyed seeing this.

As you go thru your day, notice the sounds around you, whether near of far away.     See if you tell what the sounds are and while you are at it, thank God for the gift of hearing.      Think about some of the lessons you have learned and how you learned those lessons and maybe share them with someone you know and love.      As you get on with the busyness of today, thank God for allowing you to be a part of this fine day.     Remember in all you do that God loves you and wants to be in right relationship with you.    I love ya too!!   hugs, love and blessing in abundance be your today, patty

Recipes and a Snow Day

Good evening Y'all!!!      Is it cold where you are?      It is where I am.      Oh, it's not cold as it is other places, but it feels colder than it really is.       We had a pretty good little snow flurry last night and we still have white stuff around.      When we got up this morning, we couldn't wait to see what it looked out side.      It wasn't much, but my sweet husband said, "Snow day!!!"     So we had a snow day today.  hahahaha    There wasn't anyone to tell us we couldn't have a snow day, so we enjoyed it.     Not that we done anything, but still, it was a snow day.     hahahaha

So, for this snow day I was in the kitchen.     I made a pot of Electric Pressure Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili.      It is delicious!!!!!       I made some cornbread swirls, they were delicious and the recipe is below.       Then after lunch, I made a pot of "hamburger helper noodles and sauce".      It is delicious too.    I like to have at least a couple of good pots of good stuff in the fridge to eat on during the week and these 2 dishes meet the needs.   

Tomorrow, I will be getting my Misfits Market box and will be making room in my fridge to put it in and I'll get my dehydrator going and get some items dehydrated for long term storage and then to use in my cooking.      I love dehydrating and I love to use my goods in dishes.

So,  today was the day that I got my cornbread swirls made and I might say, they are delicious.      yay!!  They are a copy of the cornbread swirls you can buy in a can at the store and peel out like a canned biscuit.    When not on sale, they are about $2 a can.      They are good, but I can't pay that much for them.       So, I set out to figure out how to make them.     Guess what, I did.

This is the recipe for the cornbread swirls:

This is a bread machine recipe.      For those of you who know how to make yeast bread, just do what you know and knead it and let it rest and knead it and let it rest over and over for about 30 minutes.

For bread machine set on "dough":

1/2 cup luke warm milk

1 egg

1 box of jiffy corn muffin mix (recipe below to make this mix)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 tbls melted butter

1/4 cup cornmeal-optional

Put first 5 ingredients in bread machine in order as listed.      Run dough cycle on machine.       (It will knead the dough and rest many times during the 1.5 hours of time.       I don't keep it in there that long.  I take it out after about 45 minutes.)        Remove the dough and roll to about 15 x 8 inch triangle.    Once you get it rolled out flat and thin, turn the long side towards you and roll the rectangle into a log.  Shape it pretty good and then slice it in about 1 inch slices and reshape as you put on parchment lined baking sheet.       Brush with melted butter and sprinkle extra cornmeal on them, if you want to.      Let rise for at least 30 minutes.      Preheat oven to 375* during the last few minutes of rise time.        Bake for 12-15 minutes.      Enjoy!!

While the jiffy corn muffin mix is relatively inexpensive, you can make even that mix yourself for actually pennies.

Cornbread Muffin Mix:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal, yellow if you prefer

1/3 cup of sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 T oil

Mix the first 5 ingredients well.       Wisk in oil till smooth and no clumps.      Use this as you would the cornmeal muffin mix in a box.  

The good thing about this mix is that you can pronounce everything in it.      It's also a bit healthier than the stuff you can't pronounce.

To make muffins: add 1 egg and 1/3 cup milk.

To make cornbread swirls with this mix: use the mix just like it was a cornbread muffin mix in a box and then add all the ingredients from the Cornbread Swirls recipe.

The muffin mix can be made in big batches.        Just don't add the oil.        If it isn't used in a timely fashion, the oil can go rancid.       So, when you use it from a big batch, for every 8 oz of muffin mix, add 2 T of oil and wisk it till is blended well and no clumps.      Then proceed with the cornbread swirls or regular muffins.

These are really good recipes and I hope y'all can use them and bake lots of cornbread swirls.

This is a couple of pictures of my cornbread rolls and they are as good as they look.        I was kinda proud of them and love that I can make them any time I want to and with recipes, y'all can too.     I hope you do enjoy them.

That's about all I have this evening.       I pray that as you wind your day down and get ready for a night of rest that you will talk to God sometime and thank Him for this beautiful day that you got to be a part of.      Remember those around us who are sick, healing from surgery, suffering from a broken heart because of the death of a loved one.       There are so many who are hurting tonight and I lift those precious people to our Lord to comfort as only He can.       I pray that He will mend the hearts of the people of this nation and all across the world tonight.      We are in a season of unrest, but we as Christians know that our rest is from the Lord and we can rest when we know Him.       Tell someone tonight that Jesus loves them.        Sometimes we forget that He really does.      So, let me tell y'all, Jesus loves each and every one of you.     He wants to be in your life.      He wants you to want Him in your life.       He loved us enough to die on the cross in our place.         That's love.      I pray as you fall asleep tonight, you know that you know that you know, you belong to Him and nothing can change that.   Good night y'all!!!!!   Jesus loves ya and so do I.    hugs, love and blessings beyond measure, patty

First blog post of 2021

Good afternoon y'all.       I hope and pray that wherever y'all are, you are having a great day and a great start to 2021.       Already a week in, just 51 more weeks to go.       hahaha        2020 left most of us with a sour taste in our mouths so to speak and we are praying for better days ahead.       The pandemic is still going full force, but the vaccines are coming out, slowly but surely.      Just praying that they work and keep us healthy when we get them.    

I have ignored my blog for a while.      I sure haven't meant to, but I guess it has become my place to share my feelings about things and get them off my chest and then come back to it and see how God has helped me work thru those feelings.      It really can be an amazing thing to see how He can help us make sense of what we see, feel and do.       With that said, I'll jump in here.

I hope and pray that everyone who checks out my blog from time to time has a Bible and reads it.     If so, then you can easily find the story that I'm gonna talk about for a minute or three.     In the scriptures we read of the assignation of our Lord and Savior.     We can read the full story of what happened.      There was a mob scene in the midst of all the goings on.       Pilate had washed his hands of the whole situation, letting them know that what happened next would be on their shoulders.      That didn't relieve him of his part in the whole scene though, he still has to stand before God on judgement day.      But the crowd was given a choice.      There are always choices in life.       Always.      More than we can count in one days time.       Choices to do this or do that; go to work or stay home, what we wear, what we eat, who we chose to hang out with, what we read, what we let into our brain, what we watch, what we let into our heart, what we let influence us, what store we shop at, cash or credit, what bank we use, where we buy gas at, what vehicle we drive and a multitude of many other choices in just one day.  The thing is, we don't think about them as being choices because we've done them for so long and they are almost like a reflexive instinct instead of a choice.       But, when we look at it like this, we can definitely see that they are choices that we make.       The way we live our life that God has given us is definitely a choice.

So, with the choice that the crowd was given that day came a big decision.     Set Jesus the innocent one free or set Barabbas free.      Barabbas deserved the death penalty, Jesus didn't.     In the big picture, the grand scheme of things, we know that Jesus' sole purpose was to be God in flesh and our means of salvation, to be in right relationship with His Father, Our Father.      So, the events had to take place, no matter how evil and heinous the events were.       What has always been so hard for me to grasp is the fact that there are always people ready and willing, at the drop of a hat, to do the devils work.      It goes back to the choices we make, reflexive and unthinking.      It goes back to the influences, places we go, what we let in our hearts and minds.      

The people in the mob scene made the choice to be there that day.      Even the women.      It always goes back to the choices we make.       When asked who they wanted to be released, Barabbas who deserved death or Jesus who was innocent, the mob chose Barabbas.        "BARABBAS, BARABBAS, BARABBAS!!!!"        

If you had been in that mob that day, whom would you have wanted to be released?        A common criminal or an innocent man?       I hope and I pray that, had I been in that scene, I would have been screaming for Jesus to be set free!!!!!        This has always been troubling to me.       I don't know what side I would have been on.       I just don't.      I just pray that I would have been one of those who loved Jesus as deeply as the other women that we read about in scripture.       But, again, I don't know what side I would have been on.       Do you?

It's easy for us to be here some 2000 + years later and say, "oh, I would never have done that!!!!!"       I have even said that myself.       But at one point and time in my life I was the devils helper.       I didn't mean to be.        You see, I was lost and in my state of lostness, I didn't realize I was lost and needed help that I couldn't provide for myself.       Even in my state of lostness, Holy Spirit was doing a work on me to help see that I needed something.       His job is conviction and He was doing a great job convicting me.     I didn't know what I needed, I just knew I needed something.       And when you cry out to God, even in anger, He knows your heart and He knows your need.       He knows the source of your anger.      He knows if you are truly searching for something and He also knows if you are truly seeking Him and just don't know that you are seeking Him.       I hope this makes even just a little sense to someone.       So when I found what I was searching for and knowing it was God, thru the shed blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, a change took place in my heart immediately.       It took a while for the head to follow suit, but it did.       My life changed.       My words changed.        My thoughts changed.         My actions changed.       All because the Holy Spirit now resided in me and helped me to be better than I could be on my own.       Jesus became real to me.    The mob scene became even more real to me.       Before accepting Christ as my savior, I could easily see myself as one of the mob.      But now, I can see myself as one of the women who loved Jesus and would be with the other women, sobbing as they witnessed what was happening to the best friend they ever had.      I can feel some of the emotions from that day.  

I'm not perfect.     Far from it.       People that know me in person would never mistake me for someone that is perfect.      Oh, if they had a grudge against me, they may say something smart like I think I'm miss perfect, but that is so far from the truth.      Every day, I have thoughts, actions, deeds and words that are not becoming of a follower of Christ.       I'm still in the flesh, so I have to to still wrestle with the flesh.    I have to make choices each day that either represent the influence of my Lord and Savior in my life or choices that represent the flesh side of life.

A lot of people in that place that day made choices to be there.        I'm sure there were some who seen what was happening and left.      I hope so anyway.        It's plain to see that mobs are not a good place to be UNLESS you are looking for trouble.       Today, that's what people still do.      My philosophy on that is "those looking for trouble will find it, and those who can't find trouble will make it".        Just watch, that's the way it is.       Those words are true.        2020 proved that in a big way.       I'm sorry, but I don't have any respect for people, especially people who call themselves Christians, Christ Followers, Followers of The Way, who will put themselves in a mob setting and do the things we have seen done  and even if they are not there, they support what they have seen done.      Sorry, those are the devils choices and they have to live with and accept later consequences of those choices.      Don't tell me you're a Christian, don't try to act like your a Christian.       Show me you're a Christian by grieving over the state of evil behavior which is nothing but choices made by the people involved.       If you support the behavior and actions we seen in 2020 and in the first 7 days of 2021, than your credibility as a Christian just went to -0- that fast.      When we let our emotions control our choices, then we see what we have seen over the last year.       A lot of people think they are saved.       A lot of people are sadly mistaken.        

The Bible tells us that things will start happening in the last days.       Guess what, they're happening.    The thing that we need to make sure of on a personal basis, "is my heart right with God, is my life in order?"        If you are a rabble rouser, then you need to ask yourself these questions.        If you use your social media platform to be disrespectful to decent human beings, then you need to ask yourself those questions.

I think that has been my biggest disappointment of 2020.       Seeing people that I had once respected making mean, hurtful and hateful choices.       These are people that I know personally.         These are people that I know from social media.         These are people that I know from blogs and you tube videos.       These are people that you build relationships with and form a community bond with.    These are also people that I no longer have any respect for.      

When people let bad choices dictate their behavior and never admit their fault and apologize for their behavior, then I make no apologies,  I have no respect for them anymore.      It is a disgusting state of affairs when we act like criminals and expect that to be ok.   

BARABBAS, BARABBAS, BARABBAS!!!!!!!!         This is what the mob always screams!!!!!!    Because they don't want their own sins brought to light.    They don't even realize they have just turned the spotlight on their own sins.  

I would ask us all to examine our choices a little closer as we move further into 2021.       I know that God has convicted me already of some of the sins that I need to repent of and get rid of in my life.       I ask Him to help me, because I am sinful and I can't do it on my own.      He tells us in His word to "be holy as I am holy".        There is one thing that I know, God doesn't ask us to do anything that we are not capable of doing.       No, I can't be holy on my own, but with the blood of Christ, I can do anything that God asks me to do.         You can to.        We all can.        One of two choices, be holy or not.       As a Christ Follower, which choice will you make.

Something for us all to think about as we move into the unknown future.        Make no mistake, God is already there and He is willing and waiting to help us make right choices.

Hugs, love and blessing to all.    God loves you and so do I.  Be blessed this day!!    patty

Hello Y'all Happy December

Good evening Y'all.     Seems like it has been forever since I have been here to visit for a minute.      To say the least, it's been a long year.      We've all learned a lot.    I'm sure most of us wouldn't want to admit some of the things that we have learned about ourselves and others.    On the up side of that statement, I've learned that I'm a much better cook than I have given myself credit for being.    hahahaha      I think that's a good thing.    I learned that I really LOVE to bake bread from scratch.     In all honesty, I do use a bread machine, because my hands are not what they once were.      I can no longer knead the dough like it needs to be kneaded.       So my bread machine does that for me.       I can either bake the bread in the machine or take it out and make rolls and buns or just bake a big loaf in the oven.     I have started experimenting with the liquids in my breads and am loving the effects!!!!    One of my experiments is swapping out the water in most of my breads with pure pineapple juice, no sugar added, from canned pineapple.     It is absolutely delicious!!!!     And it uses something that might otherwise find itself down the drain.     I dehydrate canned pineapple to use in my kombucha.    That is a tea started from a scoby and starter tea.     I guess you could say that it is fermented.      The word "scoby" means "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".     It is actually brewed for several days and then you can flavor it and let it brew for a few more days and then put it in the fridge.   If you do it right, it's fizzy like a soda and it's really good and it's also good for you because it is loaded with gut friendly bacteria.    It's good for your body.

I also started doing fermented veggies.     Those too, are really good for your gut health.      The ones I've done so far have been in a salt water brine.     I have fermented gingered carrots,  garlic asparagus (which I hated  hahaha), red onions and I recently started a jar of cabbage to make real sauerkraut.    That will be good.     The ginger carrots are delicious and the red onions will be too. 

On top of that, I have been dehydrating lots of veggies and fruits.     I'm going to start powdering a lot of my dehydrated veggies to put in other foods as an enhancer.     For the powdered veggies, 1 tablespoon equals 1 serving.     That is pretty awesome.     I can put it in all different things.     I can't wait to get  most of it ground up and then start using it.   

I will also be able to make some of my own seasoning mixes.     That will be fun to experiment with.    I have always been a bit adventurous when cooking and try this and try that.     Some things have been huge successes and some things have been flops.      I have always looked at flops as being a learning experience.      If I can learn from a flop, then it was a success.     So, I welcome all experiences.     Any experience can be used as a stepping tool.     Learn from a flop and push yourself even further when you have successes.     You just can't rest on your last best effort.    And you can't beat yourself up over your last worst flop.   Every day has got to be a day to stretch yourself to be better than your last worst flop and your last best effort.    

And just to share some insight on working with tweaking a recipe of any kind.   Keep good notes.    Work on only  one change at a time.     That way you can track what is a success and you will know exactly what you done.     If you go into a recipe and change 4 things at one time, you won't have any idea of what actually worked or what didn't work.     So keep meticulous records when experimenting with recipes or creating recipes.

Off of cooking now and on to something else.     As much as I enjoy SOME social media, I loathe and detest most of it anymore.     People have lost all respect for humanity and would invest more time and effort in a sick animal than they would in a human being.     If you don't believe that, just go to some of your social media and read.    It won't take you 25 seconds to find someone cutting someone else down, especially if they are cutting someone down for being a Christian.     I've got to where I pick my battles and if I see someone being cut down for being a Christian, I get involved.     I'm pretty thick skinned and I have been called everything in the book and a lot of things that even aren't in the book yet, so I'm ok with it.     I let them know that "I have been called worse things by people who thought they were much better than you" and that usually causes a whiplash.    But I will definitely stick up for a Christain being cut down by a bunch of heathen and I'll call them out on it.     And you know what, it works!!!  Bullies can't stand it when someone stands up to them.     Just this afternoon on one of the facebook groups I'm in, a lady got chewed up and spit out for posting an encouraging thought for the day.    People was saying that this is a weight loss group and if I wanted to hear about God, I would join a group about God.     I just spoke up and said that with each and every ounce I lose, I praise God!!!!     And I also said that it's ok for some to post and share all the evil  and immoral and amoral junk that they share and that I will start opposing that because it's very offensive and that I if I deny Christ, He will deny me.     And I also said that if you really want to get people riled up just mention the name of Jesus and that at the name of Jesus demons flee and lives are changed forever.     And you know what, that wasn't received well.   One person with a cartoon head even called me whack and that's when I told her that I had been called worse by people who thought they were better then you.     Her little sense and sensibilities didn't even know how to take that.

In all honesty, I was gonna go back and copy all I had posted just to have record of it and when I went to check it out, the whole message had been deleted.     I guess a moderator finally couldn't stand hearing the truth so the truth got deleted.   On the up side, the whole message thread got deleted and I'm ok with that.    I said I have learned to pick my battles and when someone is being picked on, YES, I will step in to stop it.    And you know what, I'm pretty sure that some of my comments helped get the whole message deleted and I'm good with that.    Just wish I had been quick to get a copy of my own words of testimony.   

But even at my age, it blows my mind that people don't care that they are going to hell.     While I will stand up to people that purposefully hurt others, I will still pray for God to make Himself real in the lives of those people before it's too late.    Just like all the madness surrounding this year with covid and next year.     People are showing just how little they actually care for their fellow human beings.    You know what, I don't like wearing masks.     I have anxiety and a couple other issues, BUT and I'll say it again BUT when I am out, I wear my mask!!!!!!      I don't care who you are, there is no reason to NOT wear a mask when anxiety is touted as the reason why some don't.     I'll bet if they was going to a ball game and had to wear a mask to get into the stadium or a concert or something of the like that THEY WANT to do, they would have their masks on quicker than a flash.     People don't want to be told what to do.     People have no respect for themselves, so they have no respect for any kind of authority.    What people have left out of the equation is that this is  HEALTH matter, not a political matter.     I do believe that the people of today are the most selfish, most evil minded, most ignorant of any generation that this planet has ever witnessed.     I used to say that there was hope.      This year has shown me there is no hope for humanity, only Jesus and most don't want to hear about to Him.     But then again, a lot of the people that claim to be a Christian are the very ones that are beating their chests and screaming about their rights.     There in is the conundrum for me.      I don't get it.     If you are a Christian, where is your love God and others.    That is what Jesus said the two commandments were.  To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself.     If you love God and if you love your neighbor you'll do as the government is asking us to do.   Loving God means doing as the government as us to do for the health and safety of others BECAUSE even the most corrupt government on earth is ordained by God.     God created government and He told His people to live at peace and to honor the government, it's in scripture, read it and find out.     No, I don't like that bars and casinos have their doors open when the churches have been shut.     But on the other hand, churches should have closed their doors on their own volition and not be ordered by the government to close their doors.    Understand, these are MY opinions and I stand by them just as much as the crazies out rioting and burning towns and murdering people and beating their chests about their rights.   It's my right to speak some truth over the lies that have been told and still being told.

If the people that didn't want to wear the masks were the ones getting sick and dying, there might not be much of a loss, but it's people that have tried to do the right thing for all that is getting sick and dying.     I guess that doesn't sound real good for me to say something like that, but I guess it's just the fact that my husband and I have been doing all we can to stay safe and not make others sick and it's just getting to me a little.     I love my mother and I want to see as often as we can, so we don't go anywhere and have any contact with others so we can see her and know that we aren't taking the disease to her.    So, that's why we do what we do.     That's our motivation.      I would love to know the motivation behind all the hate that's going on out there.      Until someone can give me some firm answers, I will stick to the early conclusions that I have drawn.      People have evil hearts with evil intentions doing evil things.      That's what it boils down to.

The best I can say is that we will all answer for our deeds of commission and deeds of omission.     I can't answer for you and you can't answer for me.      But I can say that I tried to warn others and I tried to share the love of Christ with others.    I stood up and spoke truth when I had the opportunity.     I tried to share the gospel and lead others to Christ.     As of late, I've almost had a Jonah-Nineveh complex.  Jonah didn't want to tell the people of Nineveh about God, he wanted them to go to hell.      I don't want anyone to go to hell, but I can't make anyone want Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.    People stand up and thumb their noses at God and curse Him, and live like hellions and heathens and do all kinds of evil acts and evil deeds and then want to blame others for their behaviors!!!!      Or better yet, they say I was born this way.     It makes no difference what we say, we all have to answer for our sin.     And there are a lot of people who have heard about Christ and turned their back on Him.     It is clear then that they have sent themselves to an eternity in hell, God didn't do it, they did.

I feel like I live in a world of 2 year olds that all they want to do is cry kick and scream till someone pats them on the head and gives them a participation award.     It's time for real Christians to start acting like real Christians and even better than that, we can all act, we need to be living like real Christians and setting real examples and calling sin out for what it is, sin.     We don't want to this for fear of exposing our own sin.      We need to bring the darkness to light and get our lives straightened out with the help of Jesus, so we help point others to the light of freedom and forgiveness and life.     If you are a Christian and you have hidden sin, I challenge you to get that taken care of, bring it to light.     When we as Christians take it seriously then we can make a difference.     But if we are living with hidden sin and fear of exposure, then the world is going to stay like it is and get worse.     We either make a difference or we don't.      I want to make a difference.   What about you?    

Well, it's almost bed time and my fingers are worn to nub.   I hope you all have a wonderful night of refreshing rest and that you can share the love of Christ with someone you know.     I hope that December is the best month of your life to this point and that blessing abound.   And if you know Christ, blessing will abound for you.     Remember that  God loves you all and He made a way for you to be in a relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus at the foot of the Cross.    I love y'all too, hugs and blessing be to each one of you.   Goodnight!!!!

Are you lost or are you a Hypocrite????

Good morning Y'all!!!     It's been a while again, but I've been busy here lately.    Trying to stay busy is more like it, and I have been succeeding in that endeavor.     I think of my blog often, but feel I don't have much to share anymore.      Mostly I have started using it to write my feelings down for me and then I share it with y'all.     It seems my heart is full of mixed emotions and aches and longs to see our fellow beings, being a little more caring and compassionate.     More on that in a minute.

I hope and pray that wherever Y'all are that you are enjoying this beautiful day.  It is an amazing day to be alive.      This is a unique day in the life of this world.      Up to this particular day in history, there has never been another day quite like this one.      And tomorrow will be uniquely different from today.     So, while it is today, enjoy this day.     

The sun is shining in my neck of the woods, but it's still a wee bit chilly.      I don't remember how much I have said on here about my little greenhouse sitting on my deck, but it got way down below freezing this past weekend and a couple nights early in the week and it took out my pot of tomatoes and my pot of peppers which had blooms.      I would have had tiny peppers by now, but they are gone.      All I had to do was take them to the garage, but I really didn't think it would get cold enough to hurt them.     Was I ever wrong!!!!!      Well, I know that I can grow them, so I will start them early next year and get my starts ready to transplant as soon as the weather permits.      I have some fresno and shishito pepper seeds that I really to hope to be able to grow.      I love them both and will try to have both of them.   

I have been baking lots of bread this year.      Dehydrating lots of veggies and fruit also.      If you haven't done any dehydrating, I would encourage you to try it.     It is a wonderful way to preserve food, even for long term storage.     I have just started my hand in fermented foods.     I am loving that too.   I make kombucha on a weekly basis.    I also make my own yogurt.     I make fire cider every 3 or 4 months.      I also make elderberry syrup, which is so good to have on hand this time of year.    So, all of this keeps me busy and I am loving it.     I would encourage y'all to try any or all of these methods of food preservation or making some of your own foods, and also some of your own medicines.     You would be surprised how simple and easy some of it really is.  As I type this, I have lemons, mango, papaya, and pineapple in the dehydrator right now.      The lemons are good to put in hot teas.    I also use them in the making of my fire cider.     There is a lot to learn and a lot to do.     I look forward to adding more skill and knowledge to my skill sets.     Learning is a good thing no matter what age you are.      I am also trying to eat better and lose a little weight.     Story of my life.    So, there's that.    hahaha      We'll see how it goes.

There is something that has been on my mind as of late.     Look back at the title of this post.     Are you lost or are you a hypocrite???      Strange question I guess.      But it's one that needs to be addressed and I figured it was as good a time as any to pose my question here and then deal with it.     I know I'm not lost.    I got that settled over 40 years ago.     Jesus died on the cross for me, He rose again in 3 days, and He sits by the Father even now, continually covering me with love, mercy and grace.      I feel like I need to keep reminding myself that I belong to Him and NO ONE can change that fact, because this world is in a mess.     It is!!!!!    And we can't deny that anymore.      I'm not gonna quote scripture here today.     I just want to get something that I know for sure out there.      And this is it:   Jesus loved and loves the lost or as scripture puts it, "sinners", but He hated and hates hypocrites.     

So, who are the lost, or "sinners"?      They are those people who have not trusted in Christ as their Savior and Lord.     They have not accepted Him into their hearts and lives yet.    They maybe don't even know they need Him.     They are not necessarily "bad" people, just people without the influence of Jesus in their lives.     These are the people that Jesus has always loved.     Praise God for that!!!!!      Jesus dined with the "sinners" in the Bible.      Jesus loves them!!!   Again I say, Praise God for that, because He loves me!!!!       How can I say that?????      I can say that because I have accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.     That doesn't make me perfect.      It makes me a saved sinner.     As long as I'm in this bag of bones and flesh, I will still sin.     I know that, because I know me.      But with each sin, Jesus loves me thru it while I find my way back to the foot of the Cross.      You see, as long as I'm in this earth suit, I still have the ability to sin, even though I wish I didn't, but I do.     I struggle with my sin on a daily basis.     I struggle thru each day, realizing that I've let my Savior down again and again.    It truly breaks my heart, that I keep sinning.     But I'm so thankful and appreciative that Jesus keeps forgiving and covering  me with His love and mercy and grace each day.   And each day is another opportunity to praise Him and ask Him again, to help me be better today than I was yesterday.      If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you know all about my struggle.

Who are the hypocrites???      In short order, hypocrites are church people with a holier than thou attitude.      That my friend is who a hypocrite is.      Just so you know, Jesus despised the hypocrites of His day.     They were the church people of His day and they were jealous of Him to the point that they actually killed Him.    If you don't believe me, get your Bible out and look it up.    It's all there.     The hypocrites were always trying to trick Him or catch Him in a lie and always tried to use Old Testament Laws against Him.     They didn't get it.      They accused Him of all kinds of things.      It's all there, look it up.     Jesus despised the hypocrites.     The hypocrites put more faith in their own words and works than they did in Jesus and who He claimed to be.     Although these people had a form of being religious, they didn't know God.     Their people had long abandoned the word of God and believed that it was more important to wash their hands than to wash their hearts.     Everything that a church person done, was to be seen by everyone and they would make fun of people.     

There was one account where a lady put every thing she had in the coffers, and it didn't even make a sound when it hit the other money already given.   The hypocrites would put in their money so it would jingle and jangle till it landed and then gloat over how much they gave.     Understand, I am paraphrasing and making it simple to understand, but that's what happened.    Jesus told those people that the lady that gave everything gave more than the hypocrites.    She gave all she had which was a few cents, they gave a little of what they should have given and thought they had given much.   Jesus said the lady gave way more than they did, because she gave all and they gave just a pitiful little bit.

Basically, she gave her whole life.     She trusted Jesus with everything she had.      The hypocrites are wolves in sheeps clothing.     They want you to think they are everything and a piece of cake, where as they are actually imposters.     They live make-believe lives.      As the saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.     We can NEVER fool God either.    

How does that fit todays world????     Easy.     If you claim to have Christ in your life, you will not be perfect, but you WILL have some compassion in your heart for others.     You just will.     If you don't have compassion for others, then very doubtful if you have Jesus in your heart.     People don't want to hear that.     They want to go to church, hear a sermon that doesn't apply to them, make fun of their neighbors,  make fun of any situation that would put them in the hot seat for their attitude towards others, plot and scheme of ways to get rid of people that will call them on their hypocrisy and make everyone else out to be the bad guys.     Does any of that sound familiar????     It does to me!!!!      The hypocrites of Jesus's day are the same today.     The church is full of hypocrites!!!      Why?     Because the church is made up of imperfect people.     But there also a lot of imposters that have been allowed to sneak in and gain a foothold.     Those are "wolves in sheep's clothing".     Those are the ones setting snares and traps  and literally tearing the kingdom of God down right before our very eyes.     It's painful to say it, but it's true.

Again, how does this apply to today???     If you have a facebook account or any other account with the various platforms on the internet, you can see people spewing forth all kinds of filth.     Participating in all kinds of filthy acts, immoral and disgusting acts.     There are people making fun of covid 19!!!  Calling it a hoax and every time someone says something about it, what they will say is that it has a 96 to 98 percent survival rate.      That my friend, is a statement right from the pits of hell being made by hypocrites in the church who are wolves in sheep's clothing!!!!!      If you don't have compassion for others, this is how you might feel.      

Another difference between "sinners" and hypocrites is this: most sinners have compassion for others, they just haven't found Jesus yet.    Hypocrites have no compassion for anyone.    Oh, they may act like they do, but in reality, if it doesn't benefit them, they won't have anything to do with it.  

If you want proof of what I'm saying, just watch your face book feed and see who says what.    If you pay close attention, you'll see a lot and it's pretty disgusting. especially when it comes from people that profess to be a christian but obviously having no form of godliness in their lives.     This is to call them out!!!     I have shared a couple of things recently on my face book page about it and you would be surprised at who DOES NOT acknowledge it.    I always have 3 or 4 long distant friends that will acknowledge it, but not the people in my life that I know personally or any of my own family.     So, what does that say?      I know people will look at this and think this is being hypocritical.    Maybe it is.    I just pray that if it is, God shows it to me, and I will do an addendum to this post and share what He will show me.     What I do know is this, I struggle every day when I see people that claim to be Christ followers, sharing what would be considered hurtful, hateful, critical posts on their face book pages.    I don't understand how a true Christian would be inclined to say something like "it only has a 2-4% death rate"!!!!!     It may be easy to say if you haven't lost someone to it.     Praise God, I haven't yet, but I have friends who have, and my heart bleeds a little bit every time I see this.    Because I know my friends will see others saying the same thing and it could not hurt any worse than a dagger to the heart.  People with true compassion and the love of Christ in their lives, could not be party to such heinous and hurtful and hateful words.  

There it is, in a nutshell!    Are you lost or are you a Hypocrite?     Only you can truly answer that, but let me remind us, that our actions show a whole lot more than we may think.     People are always watching.     You either make a good impression or a bad impression.     Remember that.     God loves us all, but He certainly doesn't love the way we act sometimes.     If you have compassion in your heart, please show it.     The world needs to see it.     The world needs to see godly people loving others.

Please forgive any typos in this, I just typed as the words came, and I did very little correction.  

I pray that you have a blessed day and that you will tell someone today that Jesus loves them.     I know He loves us and I love y'all.   hugs, mercy and grace be yours today, patty