Staying Busy
So much has happened over the past few months. We are steadily growing our farm. In just a few days we will be putting up a high tunnel (greenhouse). This will help us to extend our growing season, and thereby, grow food to provide for our family’s needs all year long. Vernon has been busy refurbishing our neighbor’s kitchen table. He is doing such a beautiful job. It has taken him months to finish the table, but he is nearing the end of the project.
I have been dealing with severe back problems. I found out I have arthritis in my spine, and my spine is very twisted which has caused my ribs to twist and push my collar bone up and out of its socket. So needless to say I have been in much pain. But God is good. I am seeing a chiropractor once a week and I can feel the difference already.
Our Ministry has kept us busy, as well, Zoom-ing around the world, connecting with ministries and churches in India, Japan, the Philippines, and here in the States. We have been so blessed to see how God works through our small ministry to reach so many hearts that are hurting. If there are those among your church family who are suffering with guilt, or lack a sense of forgiveness for past sins, or are struggling to know God personally, invite us to come share our message. We would love to come.
Out of love for family, I took on a very BIG project this past October and I will finish it this week. You may be surprised to know that I have been building a 3 story brownstone doll house for my granddaughter Mariah: 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, dressing room, laundry room, play room, living room with a working fireplace, and an eat in kitchen. It has working doors, lights and lots of windows and a carport with a balcony. It also has a front and side yard with grass, a fire pit, swing set for the children, a front porch and a sidewalk that leads from the front door to the carport. I have had so much fun building this doll house with my granddaughter! It brought back so many memories of me and my daughters playing with dolls. However she has informed me, we are not finished. We have to make a Grocery Store, a Day care, and a church, of course. Looks like I am going to be very busy Chomo.
The weather has been very interesting this year and very confusing on our mountain. I couldn’t tell if it was winter, spring or sometimes summer. We have had lots of precipitation in the form of rain and snow. For the whole month of January into the first two weeks of February it snowed every weekend. According to our neighbors who have lived on this mountain their whole lives, this was the most snow they seen in many years. I’m hoping and praying that the worst is over. It’s time to put my vegetable starts in the ground!
Have you sensed, as I do, that time is really speeding by? Ellen White tells us that “Prophecy is rapidly fulfilling. We have no time—not a moment—to lose. Let us not be found sleeping on guard. The nations are in unrest. Times of perplexity are upon us. Men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth” (Maranatha 106). We see this happening right now, don’t we? The pandemic is still raging; the weather patterns are ominously changing; the food shortages threaten to cause mass starvation around the globe; gas, lumber, and the prices of everything we need to survive is rising out of reach of many people. But, yet, God’s people seem to be sleeping. I have heard so many of God’s people say, “I can’t wait until things get back to normal”. In light of our understanding of prophecy, I am not sure what they are really saying. Are they saying they love their lives here on earth so much that heaven is not really in their thoughts? In Counsels for the Churches, page 41, Ellen White states, “I saw that we should not put off the coming of the Lord. Said the angel: ‘Prepare, prepare, for what is coming upon the earth. Let your works correspond with your faith.’ I saw that the mind must be stayed upon God, and that our influence should tell for God and His truth. We cannot honor the Lord when we are careless and indifferent. We cannot glorify Him when we are desponding. We must be in earnest to secure our own soul’s salvation, and to save others. All importance should be attached to this, and everything besides should come in secondary.”
If you are waiting for things to go back to normal, you may miss out in preparing for what’s about to happen. To prepare for the coming of the Lord, we need to watch and pray and get our houses in order. There are many events in the world today which indicate that the great day of the Lord is drawing near when the Redeemer will again appear.
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We are not ready to meet God until changes in our lives have taken place, until some preparation has been made. Before Jesus went away, he said, "I go to prepare a place for you." Heaven is a real, prepared place. But, it is for a real, prepared people.
Here are 7 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR JESUS’ RETURN (Mark 13:24-37)
1. Live in the light of His first coming (His life of ministry; His death of atonement; His resurrection for our hope; His ascension for our acceptance).
2. Understand what He is doing now as our High Priest as He prepares for His second coming (the necessary work of cleansing His people).
3. Understand my responsibility and privilege in cooperating with His spirit in preparing me to be received of Him when He returns, covered in His righteousness alone.
4. Don't lose hope – look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.
5. Encourage one another – look to the needs of others.
6. Live as if today was THE day – give all you’ve got to serve God and man: time, talent, treasure, temple.
7. Keep on doing the work Jesus left us to do (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:7, 8; Matthew 24:14).
As you read through Mark 13, I urge you to look for the words—watch out, be on guard, stay awake! Note especially the final verse and the final word of the chapter in verse 37, where Jesus said this: “And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch!”.
