Snow, again...

Hubby is feeling better, although this cold has lingered for him and that's pretty unusual. Dd's infection is clearing up, but she can't get into see the oral surgeon until March 1.

I've been fighting headaches and cold symptoms for a few days. The headache is gone now, but I'm all stuffy! I was able to get all my tatted hearts done and start a simple pillow-something to be working on when I don't (or can't) concentrate.

We watched the Amazing Race finale last night. Wow! I could never do anything like that. My favorite team came in second-Kris and Jon. She is a local girl and I really appreciated their kindness to each other and most everyone they came in contact with. I feel sorry for many of those couples, they don't handle stress very well! I was impressed with a few of them, they seemed to grow as people, hopefully it will play out in their everyday lives.

It snowed here yesterday, so we canceled Bible study for this morning (to many new babies and pregnant moms to risk coming out for an hour or so), so I need to get back to my laundry, take a shower and then I can work on my pillow. I'd like to have it done before Friday so I can take it into the market.

The market is a year-round (hopefully) farmer's market/craft fair that my husbands family and ours take part in. We've been doing "pioneer craft recreations" for a couple of years now, going to schools, fairs, etc., to pass on the crafts of our forebearers and at an art fair last summer we were approached about doing this market. My mother-in-law was thrilled, we could set up semi-permanently and have something to do over the winter, so we decided to try it. It's actually going very well. My father-in-law canes chairs, my mother-in-law weaves rugs, crochets, sews, and knits. I knit a variety of things and tat. My daughter knits. My sister-in-law makes baskets. My grandmother-in-law quilts. My son and nephew make fun little things, as do a couple of my nieces. It seems to be going really well. I've made more money doing this and have felt more motivated about it than any other craft show I've ever done. So, I try to have a couple of projects going for the market all the time. I'm branching out though, the owner has asked me to come in a teach knitting a couple of Saturdays in March. I'm looking forward to that. My mother-in-law was also approached about going to Grinnell College to teach rug weaving. Who knows where all of this will lead? Of course, God does, so we just trust Him!

I am so thankful that I have the Lord who gives me strength, comfort, provision, and all manner of blessing! I'm so tired of government and politics. I'm tired of Christians trying to legislate morality. Jesus didn't come and head straight for the government-no, He went to the people. He taught them about the Kingdom of God, He taught them about repentance, He taught them about mercy, then He told them to share it, make disciples, preach the good news. As people turn their lives over to Him, society changes. We can't change society before their is a heart change. It's like dealing with a rebellious child-the more you tell someone that they have to do something, they more they kick against the goads. There has to be a heart change.

Does that mean I don't think we should stand up for what we believe in, by all means, NO!! Of course we need to point out what is sinful, we need to remind people of God's laws and commands, but without the heart change, we can't expect them to change their ways. And, what would be the point, you can be moral and still be going to hell. Without Jesus Christ, all the morality and law-keeping in the world will not save you.

Is abortion wrong? Absolutely. Is euthanasia wrong? Absolutely. Is homosexuality wrong? Absolutely. Lying? Stealing? Adultery? Sex outside of marriage? Pornography? Drugs? etc., etc., etc.? Of course, but until Jesus Christ fills someones heart, they have no power against these things.

Rom. 6:1 through Rom. 6:23 (NIV)
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,£ that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.