Family Life - January-February 2025

January and February could be summarized in 1 word: "winter storms". Well, technically, that was 2 words, but who is counting? =) Our first storm blew in the first full week of January, and it felt like after that storm followed storm, complete with freezing rain, wet ground, frigid temperatures, cold winter winds, ice, and snow. It was a true Kentucky winter! We were able to put the cattle with the highest needs in our renovated poultry buildings for shelter, for which I am so grateful. Though winter storms are hard, they cultivate some of the greatest memories and sibling bonds, another blessing for which I am thankful. 

In early February, Dad came down with singles, and a few weeks later, Olivia and Hope broke out with chicken pox. Not too long after, the rest of the kids followed suit, but that is moving ahead into March. Mom would say when we were little that if we knew of someone who had chicken pox, we would go visit so we would catch it and get them over with. This never happened, though, and although it was a very challenging season of illness and itching, the Lord provided, and it was a blessing that the kids got them relatively close together, and it was not prolonged any more than it was.  

For the other details of January and February, I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story....

There are some winter days when we wake up and do not understand
how the cattle made it through the night alive, only by God's mercy.

I had this "picture-esque" idea of doing a gingerbread house with the kids, 
and when I found one for a decent deal, I got it during the holiday season. 
However, December passed, and it never happened, so one evening in January, 
we broke it open for a sibling project. It turned out to be quite a house, and we 
discovered that none of us will be professional bakery decorators! =)

One Saturday, we sisters took off for town to do some shopping and 
drop into the local coffee shop!

January 20th - thankful for the sovereignty and mercy of God on our country.

Hope and Joel braving the winter weather

Mom and I drove out to visit Grandma at the end of January.

One of the decent days...

For my birthday, back in the fall, Joel gifted me with dinner out with him,
but by mid-February, we had yet to have our "date". So the night before
Valentine's Day, we went out for dinner (we tried Blaze Pizza for the first
time...highly recommend) and got a bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes
and ate it on the way home after doing some shopping. Joel has such a 
sensitive heart toward us girls, and along with Dad, spoils us on 
Valentine's Day.

The quality of this picture is not good, but there is nothing like witnessing
a new life emerge and begin in the world. It is beautiful every time, 
and it is a privilege to watch God-given instinct in nature.

Though we do not have house dogs, when the girls had chicken pox, we would
bring Peaches in to make visits and cheer up the sick ones.

"And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wonderously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed." 

Joel 2:26-27

Resting in the Shadow

I do not know for all of you, but I believe that I can rather confidently say that the book of the Song of Solomon is not the go-to devotion spot for us single gals. No single word in the Bible is without Spirit inspiration and practical application, yet for those of us who are in the waiting period for the Lord to manifest our romance stories to us, the Song of Solomon can be a book of the Bible perhaps visited less than other parts of scripture. There are, though, several lovely passages of the Song of Solomon that can be taken and beautifully applied to our relationships with Christ. One of the precious verses that has blessed my heart over and over is Song of Solomon 2:6, "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me." What a heart-pattering picture of me being safe in the arms of Christ, His hand pressing my head against Himself and His right hand encircling me in love, acceptance, and protection. 

    

    Another passage from this book that I studied last week, after it arrested my attention from The Daily Light on the Daily Path devotional (again, very highly recommend), is from Song of Solomon 2:1-4, 

"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." 

    Verse 3 caught my attention, "I sat down under his shadow with great delight..." What is the purpose of and the help that we receive from a shadow? Shadows are used as places of coolness on an intensely warm day, they are a place to rest from the oppressive heat during or after exertion, they can be a place to comfortably commune with a friend without expereinces the uncomfortability of the sun's heat, and a darkened shadow can be a place of refuge from being seen by an enemy. They are a place of protection, rest, cooling, help, and comfort. Little help can be received from a shadow unless one steps into it and personally experiences its benefits. 

    Below is an excerpt from a commentary I read while mulling over this passage and its application.

"When a poor soul is parched with convictions of sin and the terrors of the law, as David (Ps. 32:4), when fatigued with the troubles of this world, as Elijah when he sat down under a juniper tree (1 Ki. 9:14), they find that in Christ, in His name, His graces, His comforts, and His undertaking for poor sinners, which revives them and keeps them from fainting; those that are weary and heavily laden may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it (here will I dwell, for I have desired it); and we shall find it not like Jonah's gourd, that soon withered, and left him in a heat, both inward and outward, but like the tree of life, the leaves whereof were not only for shelter, but for the healing of the nations. We must sit down under this shadow with delight, must put an entire confidence in the protection of it (as Judges 9:15), and take an entire complacency in the refreshment of it."

    

   So that is my new name for Christ, "My Shadow". His love overspreads me, and I partake of the cooling and comfortable fellowship with Him. My Shadow never shifts, never shortens with time, never loses its ability to rest me, but is ever present and always comforting. Full confidence must be placed in the Shadow, for there alone is full fulfillment. This week, ladies, take rest in The Shadow. Take a moment each morning to picture yourself sitting down there and pray to the Father to hold you there during the day's stresses, needs, frustrations, or pain. The Shadow is enough for you.

"For Thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." 

Isaiah 25:4

"And a Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isaiah 32:2

The Righteous Hand of God

I am making my way through the Psalms and I was recently reading Psalm 48 when verse 10 caught my attention.

"According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness." Psalm 48:10

Passages that speak of the arms and hands of God have a special interest for me, and since finding cross-reference passages is fun, that is where my studies held me on this particular morning. I found many passages, mostly neighbor verses in the Psalms on the right hand of the Lord, which from the verse above, we know is full of righteousness, so that promise can be inserted into the passages regarding His right hand.

Psalm 18:35 came to mind first,

"Thou has also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness (humility, meekness) hath made me great." 

• The right hand of the righteousness of the Lord holds me up and gives me security.

"Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy." Exodus 15:6

• The righteous hand of God sets the wicked at naught and makes Satan flee.

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy: at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11

• There is a full, complete, and joyful rest in the righteousness of our Savior's right hand.

"For they got the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them." Psalm 44:3 

• The righteousness right hand of the Lord goes before me as a shining light of hope and direction.

"My soul followeth hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me." Psalm 63:8

• I fall upon the righteous right hand of God to sustain me through this life. Though I fall, the righteousness of the Lord is my stay and all my hope.  

"Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." Psalm 139:10

• I am held in the righteous right hand of Jesus Christ, by His sacrifice, for eternity.