Sunday, July 27, 2014

Walking in Wellness

This last week, I've had a few reminders that I'm no kid anymore.  There's a bit of sadness, in that I apparently missed noticing my "right of passage" but that's okay, because I have noticed something else that is absolutely wonderful!  There have been a few injuries along the way, like a couple of broken ankles, not at the same time, thankfully, my arm broken twice in one year, and the spring the horse stepped on my leg which resulted in several very interesting lessons, but . . .  Since I walked away from mainstream medicine, completely, I had only one bout of being too sick to get out of bed, and I'm sure that was a specifically spiritual because I'd left mainstream medicine.  For three days, I laid in bed with a very high fever, of 104°.  I'd not eaten or drank anything but sips of water through that time.  I could not even drink juice, I felt so bad, when the account of Peter's mother-in-law came to my fever weary spirit.
  
And when Y'hshuwah was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.  And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.  Matthew 8:14-15  I asked Y'hshuwah to touch me, I remember reaching out my hand . . . and the fever left.  I got up and entered into this ministry of healing without sorcery.  I knew I was being led this way, but that day, I also knew if I ever compromised, it would be putting my hand to the plow and turning back.  And Y'hshuwah said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of G-d.  Luke 9:62


There has not been a single day homesteading that I was too sick to do chores!  After leaving mainstream medicine, not a day in which I have been too sick to operate.  There have, as I mentioned a few days in which major injuries were a hurdle, but I still got up, prayed, opened chicken houses, and herded goats.  I will admit, at the onset of a major injury, I didn't separate the kids from the mothers, so I got a few days reprieve from milking, but even with broken bones, I was able to get to the barn and milk after three days.

And as for the written portion of the ministry . . . I've had an injury propped or iced on occasion, but I've always managed to function on the keyboard.   I met a wonderful friend in a discussion about where believers draw the line of going to doctors.  She made the statement, if she had a broken bone . . . I was at that moment able to share, I had just suffered multiple fractures in my arm, earlier in the week and YHWH had gotten me through it.

Recovery from an injury is uncomfortable, regardless, but I know I've been spared surgical repair and pharmaceutical side effects by trusting our Heavenly Father for healing, and as I previously stated, aside from a few injuries, I haven't had a "sick day" in long over a decade!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Fearsome . . . or . . . Fearless

This week has been illuminating, to say the least.  As doors are opening and closing, other facts are surrounding my awareness, as well.  A few months ago, I had a dream in which I was driving home from town and as I was just about home, saw several black bears laying along side the lane to my house.  My dog, Hank, was poised and appeared quite diligently aware of the situation.  When I awoke, I felt it was significant, but wasn't really sure that it represented spiritual symbolism.  I mentioned it to someone, and they responded immediately with what bears meant in dreams, and dogs, etc . . . That seemed too vague for the specifics of the dream.  I tend to shy away from thinking everything is prophetic symbolism.  I realize that is possible, but usually my dreams that are specific are more literal than symbolic.  To consider bears as literal on the place was not an idea I wanted to entertain, so I decided to not think about it.


Interestingly, not long after the dream, not one, but two men mentioned that the Department of Conservation had chipped and released bears in the area and a neighbor of one of the gentlemen had seen one on his back deck getting into his trash can.  Naturally, the dream popped back in to my mind, but again, I just didn't want to think about it!  Besides, the bears in my dream were either dead, lazy, or intimidated by Hank.  

Fast forward to about a month ago, when my mother called.  Now, I can just about always count on my mother to provide the negative confirmation or at least a spontaneous ominous perspective to things I've been shown.  She called because she'd been watching a news report that said there were about 300 black bears in southern Missouri.  Again, the memory of the dream came to mind.  Since this was now the third unsolicited mention of bears since my dream, I decided it was time to put on my big girl panties and do a bit of research.  Sure enough, black bears are on the increase in the area, and protected by the Department of Conservation.  Arkansas did a reintroduction of black bears, that appear to prefer Missouri, so we now actually have what is called the Missouri Black Bear Project.  According to the research I've done, there have been quite a few sightings near my "neck o' the woods."

I have to admit, the thought of a side arm for blackberry picking did cross my mind . . . especially the way Hank scouted the lane every time I went to pick.  He acted like he knew about my dream.  I had several visitors that first week of blackberry picking, and there were no bear sightings.  The next week, I went back to where my grandson and I had picked and as Hank scouted the timber, I came across a swarm of honey bees.  I wrote about that in last week's edition, and once again had to push the thought of bears out of my mind.  Bears like honey, and that is one of the main topics in the pages I had researched.  

Something happened earlier this week that has not happened since Hank and Babe arrived on the place in 2011.  I lost a goat to a varmint.  This was no small goat and evidence from the scene, indicated it was no small varmint.  Hank and Babe have kept coyotes at bay, I've seen Hank take off after them, after foxes, but this was different.  I could tell the animal had been driven away by the way the carcass of the goat appeared, but this animal had clearly caught my guardian dogs, off guard.  Later when I went back to pick more blackberries I thought of David dealing with wild animals in his shepherding days.  I knew whatever that critter was, I was being kept safe by my Heavenly Father.  I also knew, this was another sign of the end of days, regarding beasts of the field mentioned in the Revelation 6.

To date, I haven't yet seen this critter, but the other day, I heard a commotion and ran out the door.  Babe was barking like I'd never heard her, and Hank leaped and climbed fences and ran like I've never seen him do.  He then ran up the north lane toward Babe's barking.  I saw his white tail going east into the timber, barking ferociously, and then within minutes came sauntering back, appearing to convey, "mission accomplished."  When he got back to the middle of the place, he then took the pose he'd had in my dream.  Y'hshuwah said, "Fear not."  I will not feed the fears!



Sunday, July 13, 2014

Busy, Overload

This princess is pooped!  I don't remember beginning the canning season this tired, before.  I don't think I've suddenly become a sluggard or a slacker, but I even overslept this morning.  The poor rooster must of gone hoarse and gave up.  As I read the prophet portion that accompanies this week's Torah reading, I compared myself to Elisha . . . Twelve yoke of oxen!  By the time you got that much all teamed up and ready, it would be just about time to start unhitching . . .  Twelve yoke of oxen is 24 critters weighing about a ton apiece!  I have no idea how long it would take to get them ready to BEGIN working the field, but even under perfect circumstances and amazing cooperation, I'm guessing to begin working the field by dawn, you'd have to start the night before.

Now fast forward to this peculiar busy person and I think, perhaps I'd get a lot more done with one team yoked for morning, let them rest at noon and take a fresh yoked team for afternoon.  I've literally been so busy and exhausted, I've feared the coming of Messiah a couple of times.  Would he find me sleeping?  I think of those virgins, both wise and foolish.  Do I get so busy, that I'm not even sure where my lamp is? Much less my oil?  So far, I've reeled in and stopped, but it's been close enough to the cliff of the chasm, I don't want to do this next week.  I felt so accomplished getting rid of dust bunnies and organizing, a few weeks ago.  Now, I'm looking at all the summer goodness from Abba, and I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed.  As promised in Deuteronomy 28, I want to enjoy His blessing overtaking me!

Many of us are sensing the changes coming, big changes that are happening.  Although not officially declared, Israel is under attack and basically at war to defend her existence.  Our country is being invaded and overtaken by foreign children.  Who would have seen that one coming?  What a way to invade a country?  It's the ultimate of a war tactic.  Here I was thinking China could just call in the note without firing a shot, but Mexico and South American countries can just send kids; sick, hungry kids . . . Things are changing and I know it's my call to stand in the gap on behalf of the land.  I'm covering as much of this ten acres as I can, and I do know, others will be arriving soon.

I'm laying down the feeling of overload, it's exhausting; to simply do the task at hand.  Rather than have 12 or 24 projects to start each morning, I'll have one or two an hour and a couple that I can multi-task, but I'm the kind of girl that needs to see the project accomplished.  Incompletion wears me out!  So many things have been a blessing these last two weeks, and so many more are unfolding.  I don't want to be too worn out to enjoy them.   I want to know where my lamp is at all times, and have it filled with oil.  I can't pray Come quickly, Messiah, and be too busy or tired to greet Him!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

A Blackberry Summer

When my former mother-in-law, the late Ms Geneva, referred to the weather in 1993 as a blackberry summer, I had no idea what she meant.  I was still living in town, not yet following Messiah, and agricultural cycles made no impact on my life at the time.  Oh we planted a few tomato and pepper plants, but our food supply came from the local super market.  Now, as I've "heard" her comment repeatedly this spring, as I watched the rain fall and the blackberries develop, and considering the math, I'm wondering if a blackberry summer doesn't have to do with an abundant harvest in preparation for Shemitah.

This week, I could call myself the Purple Princess, as I've been on the lane picking blackberries nearly every day but Shabbat.  Monday, I picked enough to enjoy some in a salad and the next morning on cereal, but they were still a bit sparse.  Tuesday was better picking, but I didn't get all the way up the lane before I had to get back for chores.  The next day, as my grandson and I were picking, I told him I didn't have time to get the whole lane picked as I had to get home to take a shower before chores.  I told him I was just too dirty and itchy to do chores without getting cleaned up!  We laughed as we shared the observation that it was quite a rare occasion to need to get cleaned up to do farm work outdoors!

The reality is, picking blackberries is itchy, sweaty work, but oh so worth it!  My grandson is being raised to believe that money is the standard for value and worth, so he's rather materialistic.  As we picked berries, he told me that he and his dad would make a cobbler with the berries we were picking.  My mother then entered the conversation to share with us how expensive blackberries were in the store.  She explained to him that the berries he and I had picked would cost over $25.00 at the store.  I was able to share with him that G-d provided those wonderful berries and all we have to do is pick them.

The week before the official picking begins, there are just a few ripening, so that's just a snack while I walk.  So far this summer, the first week of official blackberry picking has yielded about five gallons of berries, gracing five households.  Blackberry buckle has been served all week to various guests and next week, YHWH willing, I'll be picking for preserving.  The fullness of the berry harvest, although a bit later this year, appears to be abundant.  In one month, they've gone from the small green "beads" on the vine to gallons of beautiful and delicious berries.
 June 4, just small and green.  By June 26th, snacks for walk.  Creator's trail mix . . .





By July 4th, buckets of beautiful bounty!