Good day my Titus 2 sisters!
First of all, I hope you are strong in the Lord and the power of His might.
Today I have a post where I share a few various pictures of things around here from the last week or so. Maybe it can encourage some of you who have the same kind of jobs to do as a godly woman.
Some dinners I've cooked...
And I've been putting them to work...like tonight.
A spicy cheesy taco pasta dish.
Which was this old recipe...
But of course I replaced the apples with pear:-) And it looks like this.
And then the other night I made this...
Here's a portion of the recipe (you can find it online if any of you want to make it).
And yesterday I was cooking a dessert and one after the other after the other was good on the outside but rotten at the core literally.
So of course that can be how it is with those who claim to be believers. You could have someone who appears to be obedient in many of their ways. Yes I'm sure you're thinking of the Pharisees from Jesus' day right now as I am. But yes there are Pharisees of today too.
Have you ever seen anything like this? Almost black dried apricots? Well I hadn't until relatively recently. They're just regular dried apricots without the sulphur or whatever they normally add when drying them. They're interesting and they do taste different too. They come from Costco.
And just my keeper at home dishes pic:-)
And speaking of which, yesterday my mother turned up with this nice soft mat to stand on while doing dishes:-) It's from Costco too. It's a blessing especially if you have a lot of dishes to wash.
I've been working with pears for two weeks; mostly preserving them in jars but making more pear butter and desserts too.
Today it was even cozy inside to do my work with all the blinds and curtains drawn and the air conditioning blasting cool as it was hot outside. It was peaceful and quiet...good for pondering everything...as we godly women should:-)
These pears look perfectly good on the outside don't they? And most of them are thankfully, but...
...looks can be deceiving sometimes. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this:-) Yeah, to people and hearts.
I wanted to get a picture of a good pear too. I don't like pictures of rotten fruit...and I am sure you don't either:-)
And back to my keeper at home things...
It makes me ponder some things. We know God knows everyone's hearts perfectly now even though we don't.
Reminds me of this one...
And there's this one..."For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."Hebrews 4:12-13
And this one..."And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,"Acts 1:24
"And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever."1 Chronicles 28:9
So beware of those claiming good works without a transformed heart by the new birth. They could be like those pears. Test all things sisters...and we can judge by fruit. God's Word is our standard.
I'm reminded of this...
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."Matthew 23:27-28
And this...in terms of that only God can give us a new heart. But we can get that!
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."2 Corinthians 5:17
Praise God for that!
This is mostly all pears (and a few plums)...
And more...
And more cooling...
And more to go...
All from one faithful pear tree bearing much fruit.
I was thinking if the world goes crazy panic buying anytime soon then we could live for a couple months just on pears:-) And we'd have milk and eggs and the vegetables in the garden and water. We are richly blessed to have all this from God.
I do know about terrible times ahead in the tribulation when it says you won't be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. So what a blessing we have now to be able to have things but we have to be prepared to go through tough times and even death, sisters.
I also thought of this scripture. My pictures of the fruit on the shelves reminded me of it. (It's a bad kind of selfish storing up though, without considering the most important part of the soul.).
"And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."Luke 12:15-21
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"Mark 8:36
I'll call that, "lessons from pears"!😊. And yes it's good and wise to lay up simple necessary provisions for the future...but so few think about the soul and prepare to meet God. It's sad. (I did a post on preparing to meet God here.)
Be strong in Him.
Today I saw this pretty green moth on the back door when I was going about my work.
I'm blessed to be able to work with my hands and put to use and store up the blessings we have been provided with.
My oldest brother's work boss makes hundreds of these scripture wall hangings and offers them for free at various events around the state here. The interesting thing is he isn't allowed to set up in one particular big event and sets up in the street instead yet they allow "church groups" which probably sell the things of God in. Very interesting really...and sad. I guess the Word of God not diluted with false religious talk is too much for some people.
Be encouraged sisters!
And finally a flower for my sisters in the Lord...
Love to you, in Christ,