True FREEDOM through Jesus Christ

Happening near the end 

of the book of Acts .... 

are the things written in 

Galatians.  

I am amazed at how soon

 the pure doctrine 

of the apostles was 

confused and distorted.  

The apostle Paul states the problem,

"I am amazed that you 

are so quickly deserting 

Him who called you 

by the grace of Christ, 

for a different gospel; 

which is really not 

another; only there are 

some who are disturbing you, 

and want to distort the gospel of Christ".

Galatians 1:6-7

Wow!  The heart of the gospel, 

which was so precious to Paul,

was being undermined 

by false teaching and

false teachers!

Judaizers ... those who were 

falsely teaching that to be

a Christian ~ Gentiles 

must become like Jews 

and that Christians must 

obey the Mosaic laws, 

regulations and ceremonies in 

order to be/become a Christian.

These men were going into

the infant churches that

were established by Paul and teaching a FALSE gospel.

So, the theme of Galatians is

TRUE FREEDOM THROUGH JESUS CHRIST  ~  ALONE

Even today some would say there are things we must DO

to be saved or to 'keep' being saved.

This distorts (changes) the Gospel.

Yes, a life saved by grace IS a changed life.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit 

we are day by day changed ... 

becoming more like Him,

but our salvation rests securely in Him

and Him alone.  

By Grace Alone

Not by law, not by works of righteousness, 

not by reform

not by legalistic bondage 

but by Jesus Christ. 

What peace, what joy, what AMAZING GRACE!

Rhubarb and Strawberries

My dad gave me some rhubarb

plants from one of his rental houses.

They had to be dug up 

and transplanted so today

I took Chloe and went to 

get the plants.

If you look closely in our box of

rhubarb plants you can see some

strawberry plants.  

I dug them up too ....

telling Chloe I would ask 

forgiveness later if my dad 

had plans for them.

Ended up going back a 

second time with Lois ...

and getting around 

70 strawberry plants 

which had to be planted 

in the garden right away.  

Ugh ... I am sore tonight ... 

and wonder how I'll

manage to get up and going tomorrow ! ! !

          So here are the rather wilted, 

transplanted rhubarb plants.

That sweet tiller in the background

was purchased by Jeremy.

When he bought it --

he definitely was speaking

his wife's 'love language'!

And here are three rows

of the transplanted strawberry plants.

My neighbor and I 

are thinking about 

composting 

but that will be another blog!

Just think of what

wonderfully rich

soil we can make!!

(Lois, that container looks just

like those things Jeremy

cut off in your yard ?!?!)

My FAVORITE Sewing Project

I simply  l o v e  sewing on these

AWANA patches.

With each stitch I take, I pray that Cody will

continue to hide God's Word in his heart ...

 that the Word of God

will be precious to him ...

and that he will always

want to obey it!!

"All Scripture is breathed out by God

and profitable for teaching, 

for reproof, for correction, and for

training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be competent, 

equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16

Keep up the good work, Cody!

I love you!

An Enslaved Lady

from Acts 16 ....


As Paul and his fellow travelers 
were again going to the 
place of prayer

they encountered an attempt 
by satan to infiltrate and 
crush the infant church.

Seems satan has never given up ...

he's still at it today ...

working hard to destroy the church.

This time the travelers encountered

a slave girl with a spirit of divination.

(which, today,  would be like a medium who 
contacts evil spirits)

She was profitable to her masters.

She was following after Paul ... and crying out.

The words she was saying were true.

Satan, the father of lies, 
often speaks some truth 
as he tries to infiltrate 

the church with his lies.

After many days, Paul became "greatly annoyed".

He commanded the evil spirit 
to come out of her

and it had no choice 
but to obey Paul.

It led to Paul's being put in prison, 

which led to the furtherance 
of the Gospel.


So once again we see that 
what satan meant for evil
God used for good!!

Lydia and this slave girl represent all of mankind.
We are all either liberated from our sin as Lydia was
or we are enslaved by satan as the slave girl was.

The Lydian Lady ... Liberated

... from Acts chapter 16 

Paul's missionary travels took him, 

Silas, Timothy and Luke

to Europe where we see the first convert

to Christianity at Philippi.

She may have been known as

'the Lydian Lady'. 

Her home city of Thyatira was located

in the Roman province of Lydia.

This city was known for its manufacture of purple dye and dyed goods.

Lydia was a seller of purple fabrics.

Purple garments were worn by

royalty and the wealthy which made

Lydia's business a very profitable one.

In our language .... Lydia was likely one wealthy lady!

Lydia was with a group of women who had assembled to read the 

Old Testament law and to pray.  

She was a worshiper of God ...

she had turned from her pagan ways ... 

her heart was 'prepared'

to find the true God.

Lydia listened to Paul proclaim the Gospel and 

the LORD opened her heart and she believed.

Her life was forever changed.

She was baptized as an outward sign of her

identification with Jesus Christ.

Soon others would come to know the Savior and a 

church would be born.

Here is a picture of my

favorite Lydia!

I pray that she will follow in the steps

of the "Lydian Lady" ... 

... that God would open her heart

and draw her unto Himself.

One, Two, Three ...

Four ....

we are thrilled for Andrew, JoAnna, Elly, Anna and Selah!


"Behold children are a heritage
from the LORD.
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies 
in the gate."


Psalm 127:3-5