Praising the God of the Harvest

       Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him and praise His name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations."   ~Psalm 103 

        All around are sights and smells of fall.  Pumpkin patches, tractors in the corn fields, trucks making numerous trips back and forth on the roads, pot lucks with dishes made from fresh picked produce!  All these things bring feelings of joy, family, and celebration!  One little 2 yr. old boy after the service here was dragging his mother out the door because he'd been promised he could ride with Dad in the combine!  We are excited to be here at harvest time and celebrate the bounty of the farmers here!
        In a way we find ourselves in a time much like they are.  In a harvest time.  They have planned and planted, tended and waited, and are now working and gathering the fruit of their labor.  They depend on this harvest to support and supply them for the coming winter and through to the next year.  In the same way we are celebrating our support and provision that was planned in advance, waited on with prayer, and now has come in, allowing us to draw from it for the coming work and the coming year.   We are thankful for God's faithful hand in our lives and the support team He has raised, surrounding us with gifts, prayer, and encouragement.  We are also reaping a harvest of seeds not sown by us but rather by those before us.   To have come here and been so welcomed by the people, so blessed with all the work they have put into the parsonage, and to have their hearts so open for the teaching of God's Word is because of God's work in people's hearts and the many Village Missionaries before us.  For that we are thankful!

          There truly has been a lot of work put into the parsonage with new paint, new central air heating and cooling, new water heater, and still more improvements!  We are feel really blessed!  I enjoy the signatures of an old house - the old windows that you have to prop open with a stick, the old door handles, with the wide and designed wood trim.  I appreciate the root cellar that brings back memories of gardens with my family and jars and jars of home canned produce, and the new paint that matches so much of my decor!  The Lord even added a sweet touch by remembering my delight in all the roses on Plum Street in Cotopaxi, and allowed the little pink rosebush here to still be blooming outside.  I also take delight in the dirt street we live on and all the pick-ups and farm trucks going back and forth, giving me a feeling of being right at home! 
         Daniel has been able to settle into his office and realize that all those books many of you helped us move, doesn't look like very many when compared to the many empty shelves at the church!  He has plans to continue building his library!
         Hannah's smile has begun to build a reputation for her as we've met people on walks around town and at a gathering at the library on Fridays for coffee and conversation.  She's amazing at socializing!  She's also been a great joy to have laughing and playing on the floor and who makes meal times so much more entertaining now that she's eating solid foods with us!

          Below are some pictures of Hannah, our house, and the church.

 

                                               
   What a privilege it is for us to be serving at this little church!  Please pray for us as we make adjustments, get to know people, and seek God's will.

Thank-you for your time & God Bless!                                                                                              

Turning the Page

This chapter of our story is coming to a close.  Just as a book gives you signs and little hints of wrapping up one segment and yet giving headway and hints into the new and upcoming intrigue of the next chapter, so it is with us.  Daniel was able to preach on our final Sunday here at Cotopaxi Community Church and I was able to see how much the people love him and how much this church played in developing him into the man he is now.  The preacher and becoming pastor that he is now.

We are two weeks away from moving to our first mission field.  We are changing from the Mountains to the Meadows as far as physical location.  Only God knows the changes He wants to bring about in our hearts and minds. We look forward with anticipation and strong confidence as a player in an orchestra looks ahead to each measure of written music.  They trust the writer in having it all correct to sound it's best.  They trust the conductor to keep them in time and in unity with all the other pieces to be able have harmony.  And as they approach the end of a page and prepare to turn the next, there is no stress and worry about whether the next page is in order or whether it will sound right.  Whether they need to proofread it first.  They just turn the page and continue on with only a fresh breath as their concern.  In that same way are we.  Trusting our Author and Conductor and ready to turn the page with a fresh breath to take on the next measure and then the next and then the next.  One step at a time, one day at a time, to follow into something orchestrated beyond just us and fit in to the work as a whole.  May God be praised for it all!

Undivided Heart

                I came across a sticky note I had stuck in my Bible, specifically in the Book of Psalms.  On it was a short list of passages and I had scrawled “Study Out”.  I remember writing the note because I was in the midst of writing several papers my Sr. year of Bible college and knew that I didn’t have the time to put the research and thought into these passages that I wanted to.  So I had made a note for when I was through with school and would have the time.  Almost a year and a half later, being married and with a 4 ½ month old daughter, here I am looking at this sticky note.   The first passage on it was Psalm 86:11 and I started there.

                “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth:  give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.”

                The Hebrew word for heart is also used for consider, mind, and understanding and its definition is “most interior organ”.    Our definition of the word heart today is the seat of the affections or sensibilities; the source of life and motion in any organization.   However insight from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary shed light on what the word meant in the day of this Psalm.  “Heart – the Hebrew language had no word for conscience, so the word heart was often used to express this concept.  ~Job 27:6, I Samuel 25:31,/ I John 3:19-21”                “The heart is the root of the problem, this is the place where God does his work in an individual.” Ez. 11:19 “The heart is the dwelling place of God”.

                So saying the verse by adding the additional meanings would read something like this:
Join my will, my understanding, my mind, my source of tenderness and thoughts, my inmost organ, the center of me to fear, to dread, to make afraid, to reverence Your name, Your renown, Your character, Your position.

Put this way it reminds me of Rom. 7:21-25a:    So “I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
I in and of myself cannot walk in truth, cannot follow God’s way, cannot be good.  Only by Him teaching me, helping me, and changing me can I accomplish this.  It gives me relief because I do want to do good, I want to live my life in a way that honors the God who took the Cross for me!
Gal. 5:16-18 “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  The Bible says my heart can be deceived, we see evidence of that in the first sin in the Garden of Eden.  My heart is desperately wicked and is the root of problems.  I cannot trust my own heart, how then should I follow it?  Rather I need to follow the Holy Spirit of God.

                What does Psalm 86:11 mean to me?  Lord, take my heart.  Put all of its aspects together & cause is to do only one thing.  Fear thy name.  Teach me Your way, Unite my heart that I will be able to walk in your Truth and Fear thy name. 
Rather than . . . walk in my own way, in others’ way, in Satan’s way and be behind all kinds of wicked and hurt and trouble.  Let me not fear or come to revere anything or anyone more than You.  I, in myself am faulty and will fall – but if You have my heart Lord – there will be good.  There will be glory, for You, good works for You, honor for You!  May people not see me or my way but You and Your way and may they give You their hearts, their fear, honor, and glory! Amen!

New Years Resolutions

    I've been thinking lately about New Years Resolutions.  What are they and why do people make them?  How do people succeed in keeping them? What are the reasons for why some people don't? Is there anything in the Bible that can be applied to them?

A resolution by definition is: A promise to ones self to do something good or to stop doing something bad.
It is very much a "me" oriented ambition and sets its achievement on ones own willpower and drive.  It is common knowledge that people who make New Years Resolutions have high hopes in the beginning but by the end of the year, most people have failed to keep them.  Statistics show 92% of all resolutions end in failure. After doing some research on the web I discovered 3 main reasons why resolutions fail.*
1. People make unrealistic resolutions.
2. People don't equip themselves with the mental ammunition to fight off doubt and continue with their goals
3. Using guilt and fear as motivation or resolving to stop doing something
On the positive side, there are consistent reasons behind the people who do succeed in keeping their resolutions.  Such as setting small, attainable goals rather than ones that are large and overwhelming, setting a plan and having specific actions to carrying it out, sharing with others and gaining accountability, and believing in yourself and your willpower to persevere.*

     I would like to bring out three Biblical applications that we should be remembering when Resolution-ing.  Remembering our position in Christ.  Remembering the Lord's Sovereignty.  Remembering the strength of the Lord.
   The Bible reminds believers that we are not our own, Christ's sacrifice has given us freedom from slavery to sin and we live lives in Him after placing our faith in Him. I Cor. 6:20 says "You were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."  So in making any goals for ourselves, we can apply this Biblical concept and make sure that our goals in some way will bring honor to Christ.  It is He who made it possible for us to live the lives that we have and we owe him our lives.  When considering a goal, we should consider whether the object is to attain something for ourselves - or for Him. And if we keep that objective in mind - it will change the way we perform in carrying out our goal and our dedication to seeing it through.  This perspective of seeking to glorify God first will also keep us from being pressed into a goal by peers and then being driven to keep it because of their pressure as well. Col. 3:23 says  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,".
   The Bible also reminds us of God's Sovereignty and our lack of control or power over anything in our lives.  He is all knowing of you and of the future, and would be the best person to give you guidance in what would be best for you. James 4:13-15 says  "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." Once you have established a goal and set about making a plan for how to carry it out - God's Sovereignty is there for you again.  Prov. 16:9 says "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."  God is in the business of details.  We don't know what is going to happen in the next second let alone the next few days.  We have no idea the details of our lives - but God does!  He knows about the unexpected and unforeseen events in our lives, they are no surprise to Him. Seeking the wisdom of God is our best foundation for reaching success in our New Years Resolutions!
   Our next best support is remembering the strength of God.   A worldly mindset holds with believing in yourself and your own willpower.  But as Christians we have an entirely different confidence.  I do not believe in myself - I know that I am weak! I know that I can become discouraged, frustrated, and give up!  But instead I choose to accept the strength Christ offers us through His word and through prayer.  Phil. 4:13 says "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  The Lord wants to be involved in your life,  but He doesn't force His way on anyone.  He has given us freewill and choice to allow Him in.  He offers us help, peace, strength, comfort, and hope for life.  But we have to receive it.  It is a gift - just like at Christmas time.  We are given gifts - but they are not ours to have unless we take them.  So it is with the gift of God.  He offers eternal life, redemption from sin, and His personal touch in our lives - but we have to take it to have it.  "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."  John 5:24

    I hope these Biblical insights will help you in your New Years Resolutions and encourage you in your faith!   *www.bulletproofexec.com & www.forbes.com

The Story behind the Blog

   I called my Blog "Meadows and Mountains" because it speaks of the background of both my husband and I and also our personalities.  My name Kimberly, means From the Royal Meadow and I grew up for the most part in Nebraska.  The area called the Sandhills is very dear to my heart and growing up in those meadows was a great treasure.  I loved living on ranches and being out in the wide open and being able to get to the top of a hill and seeing for miles and miles.  Admiring the rolling hills dotted with black cows and watching the wind make waves in the grasses of the valleys in between each range of hills.  Every once in a while you'd top a hill where you could see a neighbors house in the distance and there were several abandoned homesteads with root cellars to poke around in and random metal objects in the sand to find.  It was full of history and culture and the inspiring presence of pioneers who had been there before.  I loved it because you could seemingly live history.  You could see the same things on horseback that they did coming over a horseback and with covered wagons.  I see how my admiration of that country reflects me personality.  I am a people person.  I love being open with people and having them talk to me and tell me what's going on in their lives.  So like being able to get on a hill and see the neighbors' houses, I like having a perspective into their lives.  I like having the familiarity of the same group of people and developing relationships that grow deeper and deeper.  In that area, living so far away from a town, you had good relationships with your neighbors and looked out for each other.  The roots in that country went deep with families who had homesteaded and worked the same land for years, so I like ministering to the same people for the long haul.  I am a history buff as well so I thrive on the stories that the old timers tell and working along side the older women as they made a meal for a crew of men who came together to work with each other on their ranches.  I loved the comradeship and fellowship and support of one to another.  That is my personality.  I am very relational and thrive off of companionship.
   The presence of the Lord always seemed closer to me when I was outside in those hills where I could see so far and know that God saw so much more!  I learned so many valuable things in those hills and at the country church there, I first felt the call of the Lord to full time ministry in my life.  The meadows of my life are a monument and encouragement to me still today.
   My husband however, grew up for the most part in the mountains of Colorado.  He enjoys the solitude of being hidden away from civilization.  He likes the height, the ruggedness, and the challenge of the terrain.  That also reflects his personality.  He is more withdrawn and private.  He enjoys tackling projects that he can learn new things and take him to greater heights of knowledge and skill.  He thrives off of challenge and pushing himself, as one does with climbing a steep precipice.
    So it fascinates me at how God put the two of us together.  We each have strengths that support and compliment the others weakness.  Now, we are still learning the balance of how to make them work together, but we can see how they do go together!  It's such a beautiful and "wonder" full thing!  So I am excited for the journey of life with God and the man He gave me to travel with.  And here I hope to share with you some of those exciting experiences, lessons learned, and blessings God gives along the way!