Everyday Battles~Week 2 CSA

Everyday battles are in our lives for a reason...

Week #2

Colvin Family Farm CSA

Your share contains:

Kohlrabi

Arugula

Swiss Chard

Radish

Romaine Lettuce

Red Russian Kale

Bok Choi

Howdy Everyone from the critters on Colvin Family

Farm! We've been enjoying sunshine since our bath last week...and it's been downright cold in the morning. Our lil' friends the new chicks were spoiled with their heat lamp for a few nights...Me? Well, I live in the woods and eat the vegetable scraps the Farmer's Wife sends my way along with NON-GMO feed the Farmer brings me each

morning. I've been a naughty pig this week! I sneak out with my roommate and our piglets to visit the Farmer's Wife down at the house. She thinks the piglets are cute, but calls me names! I don't understand her. One day she was babying the chicks (again) and I met her at the brooder door when she came out. She didn't have a snack for me and the kids...harummmmfff!

We're the egg layers that rule the roost around

here! No lil' chick is going to run us out!

We're the broilers...the farm boys are whispering

about a day next week we get to go for a ride!

Then they say we can go to your market!

This is our home. The Farmer and the  boys move us to fresh grass

each morning. We love the bugs and grass along with our NON-GMO

feed and water!

There's always a lot to do on the farm...a quiet moment is always exciting! In the farmhouse this week we made 238 more half-pints of strawberry jam. It's probably the last of this year's crop. With well over 1,000 jars made we're delighted with what the Lord has provided!

 Between the jam simmering on the stove and the bread baking in the ovens, we're thinking of ways to "bottle" the smells of the farmhouse to sell!

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking on how to do battle...Do battle you say? I'm a farmer's wife, not a warrior. But as a Christian farmer's wife I am in battles every day.

One example God showed me as I searched Scripture was of David. I'm sure there were basic lessons in using a slingshot and sword before the first large animal or giant suddenly appeared. David was found faithful in these lessons of self/flock defense, before he faced the lion and bear and overcame them. With these successes David could be found faithful to take on Goliath, then whole armies! One lesson built on the last one...

Even though I've been saved for 44 years, I feel I have entered into the battle phase of my growth. The battles I face now are not "linear" but multifaceted. ..they rage within, as well as without. There are more than one or two people are involved, and my only recourse is to run to my High Tower, Christ Jesus!

In today's church there is teaching that if/when you come to Christ you will be

happier, healthier, wealthier, and even "carefree". They don't know my God. In the depths of my God's heart there are many lessons I need to learn before I can understand true happiness... long months of bedrest and instability before I will be healthier, many years of doing without before I have money in "abundance", and a lifetime of cares before I see Him, and can "sit down and rest a little while", as the hymn writer wrote. All these "battles" are in my life for a reason, and the number one reason is to know God more fully.

One thing I crave is to abide in Christ. This truth I grasp for is not something I can touch or handle...for me, a concrete learner, these abstract (yet very real to me) principles sometimes trip me up. I want it; even crave it, but I avoid the battles He sends me in fear. But it's those very battles that will draw me into this abiding relationship with Him. "Battles are firsthand opportunities to experience God."

So I'm learning to thank Him for the lessons that are drawing me closer to His side. I know I can't fight the battles in my weakness, so I am learning to ask Him to fight for me. That means I am to be still and quiet...and LISTEN for directions IF He wants to use me in the battle.

So as we go about our week, let's be on the lookout for the "battles" He sends to "turn our eyes" to Him. Hush the complaints and thank Him for drawing us close to Him! Only then will we be more concerned about the lessons than our deliverance from the battles!

"Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy living kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies; I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble."

Psalm 143: 1-11

Abundance Blessings,

The Farmer's Wife

Val

Big Val & "Lil' Val