Wine grapes…

Part of the valley I live in is used for growing wine grapes…this year there is a concern because the lack of rain and snow, that the canals to water the grapes will be shut off early, about the time the grapes need water the most…it may be problematic for the grower’s livelihood if the grapes don’t reach maturity for wine making….but, even with this threat ahead, they, the pruners, are still pruning, caring for the grapes in hopes that the growing crops will reach maturity….

Isn’t that what we need to do…grow..even in times of drought or hard times ahead….not letting the “what ifs” rule…the great Gardener, God has our back…we need to remain in Him…

“In the Old Testament, grapes symbolized Israel’s fruitfulness in doing God’s work on the earth….In the Passover meal, the fruit of the vine, symbolized God’s goodness to His People”. Bible study notes…

Isaiah 5:7a The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Thank YOU…

You are the vine…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=301PlhiRNx8&list=RD301PlhiRNx8&start_radio=1&pp=ygUpeW91IGFyZSB0aGUgdmluZSB3ZSBhcmUgdGhlIGJyYW5jaGVzIHNvbmegBwE%3D

 Road trip 2…

I haven’t written and need to catch up….

I am on road trip 2…back to the state where my husband and I spent most of our married life, Nevada….all of our children were born here…my husband’s vocation shined here as a geologist in the gold stare…

We have long time friends here from church, the community, school, and his work, my work….we covered a lot of ground, exploring the mountains and valleys for the elusive mineral treasures.

It is fun to see how the landscape has changed with men literally moving mountains 390 tons in one truckload at a time at various mines…

But, the treasure for me personally is the people we met and visited with…friends who have gone on with life as I have, met various challenges, joys and sorrows…watching families grow up, change…

My husband’s best friend took time to regale one of my grandsons with adventures and tales of spending  time with my husband over the years working in geology, hunting , friendship….that was a precious  time as my grandson was born after my husband’s passing and never knew him…what a gift…

We took time to visit our favorite mountains, the Rubys, hiking and picnicking with friends….catching up on life…what a gift …

Then on the “biggest little city”, Reno, for an event at the University of Nevada…I haven’t been back there for years. ..new buildings…, etc….good food, good speakers…fellowship…my husband and I both graduated from this college years ago, lived there for a short while after graduation…….

When we going to college, we could buy a prime rib dinner for $2.99 and watch amazing musicals. We didn’t get into gambling…

When my husband  was undergoing cancer treatment, we spent months there as well going back and forth for daily radiation treatments….wonderful church services…

Some would say, it s hard going back to old “stomping grounds “…and it is for some things, but this time it was good….

We endured some hard stuff  in the past  at these places, but the good over powered those….we learned a lot more about God and His  faithfulness, His love, His giving nature, His comfort and so much more….

Thank YOU, 

My Help…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXJJ3d1pG4U&list=RDtXJJ3d1pG4U&start_radio=1

 

Full extent…

 John 13:1 Now before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that His hour had come [and it was time] for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. Having [greatly] loved His own who were in the world, He loved them [and continuously loves them with His perfect love] to the end (eternally).AMP

13:1It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.( he now showed them the full extent of his love, loving them to the end)….NIV..

Reading this one verse, it brought to mind others in the Word who lives were recorded to the end, Jacob blessed his sons…

David advised Solomon,

1Kings2:1 I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

Jesus washed his disciples feet…serve others…God coming as a man, washing feet like a lowly servant….loving them…to the full extent…

Thank YOU…

The servant song…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMCaPGozu90

 Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 “Junior Geologist”…

One of my grandsons is signed up for a junior geologist group, which meets once a month…there was so much interest in the group that they opened it up to ages 10 to 110 instead of just youth…

There was one of the meetings yesterday at the Murphy museum in Murphy, Idaho.(one of the best historical museums in the area, well worth the drive, several buildings filled with history, well displayed, and a nice park next door).

 We live in a world filled with minerals and gems…I live in the Gem State of Idaho, “there are 280 mineral species known to occur in Idaho, 72 varieties of precious stones, and nearly every county in the state bears an abundance of materials…”Oakrock.net

We use minerals and gems everyday of our lives…our bodies depend on them to survive…whenever I go in for blood tests, they check my iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium levels. Our very structure is made of Calcium …

We use them in our everyday life, toothpaste, paints, computers, chair foam, windows, floors, walls, cooking utensils, driveways, …even our  writing paper can have “rocks” in it…to name a few…

“There are several thousand minerals in nature (with estimates ranging from 2,000-7000), but fewer than a hundred are considered gem minerals. Of these, only about a dozen or so are actually valuable enough to,be important gemstones on the world market”. Encyclopedia.com

When I think of the creativeness of God, to create stones for value, color, beauty, etc…for building, to use in our bodies, to keep the soils right for growing… for so very much, it is amazing…just the amount of them, it boggles the mind and that is just one piece of his creation…

Thank YOU…

Genesis1:10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

Job 38-39

Job 28 :1There is a mine for silver
    and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
    and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Mortals put an end to the darkness;
    they search out the farthest recesses
    for ore in the blackest darkness.
4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,
    in places untouched by human feet;
    far from other people they dangle and sway.
5 The earth, from which food comes,
    is transformed below as by fire;
6 lapis lazuli comes from its rocks,
    and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
    no falcon’s eye has seen it.
8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it,
    and no lion prowls there.
9 People assault the flinty rock with their hands
    and lay bare the roots of the mountains.
10 They tunnel through the rock;
    their eyes see all its treasures.
11 They search the sources of the rivers
    and bring hidden things to light.

https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/mine.html

Rock of ages…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PScfs1T6H28

Martha…

 

Martha….

Definition of her name…

• 1.
a woman who keeps herself very busy with domestic affairs.

I was reading a book recently about a woman named Martha. She hated her name and upon leaving home, gave herself a nickname…

She was always doing things for people and wanted to have more “freedom” and thought that having a new name would free her up to other things and not be soooo responsible…

After several months went by, she felt so unhappy…she wasn’t doing the things she was meant to do…God had gifted her with service and she found joy in that gift, changed her name back Martha…

I am not saying we are all named for our gifting, but fulfilling our  gift that He has given us does brings us joy…being obedient brings us joy….we may not like it all the time,but…

John 12:2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Luke 10: 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

We know that believed in Jesus…she showed it in a different way than her sister Mary just by her actions…

John 11:17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Thank YOU…

God is always working things out…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO8jgLbKvBM

Nard…

 Nard… 

I never really knew what nard was, except as described in the Word….expensive, fragrant, used infrequently…I have always imagined that Jesus still smelled of nard at his death and burial…that he carried that scent through all the events from this time forward…

Do we carry the “scent” of Jesus?

John 12: 12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 

3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

The following references were interesting, so included them…make your own conclusions…

What is nard?

https://bibledictionarytoday.com/words/nard/

*****

Practical Ministry Lessons

1. Costly Obedience: Genuine discipleship is measured not by minimal compliance but by lavish surrender. 
2. Fragrance of Christ: Saints are called to spread “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). The believer’s life, like spikenard, must be broken to release its scent. 
3. Undivided Affection: Just as nard was kept for a single, climactic use, our primary devotion belongs to the Lord; lesser loyalties find their place only after Him (Matthew 6:33).

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5373.htm

*****

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spikenard

AI summary…

Nard, also known as spikenard, is primarily used as an essential oil and not typically prepared as a food recipe. However, it can be incorporated into various wellness practices and DIY recipes. Here are some ideas for using spikenard essential oil:

1. Relaxing Bath Soak

• Ingredients:

• 1 cup Epsom salt

• 10 drops spikenard essential oil

• Instructions:

• Mix the Epsom salt with the essential oil.

• Add to warm bath water and soak for relaxation.

2. Calming Diffuser Blend

• Ingredients:

• 5 drops spikenard essential oil

• 5 drops lavender essential oil

• Instructions:

• Add the oils to a diffuser with water and enjoy the calming aroma.

3. DIY Massage Oil

• Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons carrier oil (like coconut or jojoba)

• 5 drops spikenard essential oil

• Instructions:

• Mix the oils together and use for a soothing massage.

•

Spikenard is known for its calming properties and can be a wonderful addition to self-care routines

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=spikenard+essential+oil&crid=3G5168N6FQWSN&sprefix=Spikenard%2Caps%2C1446&ref=nb_sb_ss_saint-nlq-prefix_ci_hl-bn-left_1_9

Thank YOU….

At the feet of Jesus…

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=at+the+feet+of+jesus+steven+curtis+chapman