Endangered by Slavery

Tears of despair trickled down her careworn cheeks as she gazed out the darkened window. Day and night the Evil One is demanding that I let him have the boys. But how can I? They are precious to me! Mentally she looked around her bleak surroundings, and groaned deeply. Now that my husband Lawe, has died, I have nothing to offer to keep them out of the creditors clutches. I have no talents, not charm, no money"—

                        “Nothing?” The barely audible voice stilled her troubled soul.

Does God Care About the Little Things?

He sure does, and I have the cutest little doll to remind me. When we went to Africa I left part of my heart there and had wanted to bring back an African baby doll wrapped on its mother’s back as a symbolic memory of the place.  Would you believe there I couldn’t find any that really looked authentic? 

I did find a painting done by a native artist of that scene which was truly beautiful though.

Now, this is the neat part. The first time, the very first time I strolled into Value Village after our trip I found a super authentic looking African baby doll just sitting there waiting for me to take home. Now, this is the bonus. Never once have I seen one that looks anywhere nearly as authentic, not before or after! Does Jesus care about the little things? You bet. 

Are there some ‘little things’ causing anxiety or frustration right at this moment?  Share them with Jesus; He can give you direction and peace!

What Really Matters

I made myself a new friend. Ah me, what a dream, I haven’t even met her! Let’s start again; I wish I could have her for a dear friend. Everyone applauds her for her sewing ability and no doubt, it was wonderful, but I don’t think that is the reason people cried when she suddenly passed away. Would you weep just because someone who made you a garment died? I think not. Would you if you were desperately poor, and it was the only decent thing you had to wear? I doubt it, after all, a brand new, possibly heavy, homespun garment would last quite a while, and even if it didn’t, that isn’t what you would remember her by.

               Really? So what would it be then? Dorcas was one special woman. Her heart was overflowing with love. These were poverty-stricken widows and others to whom she ministered. Widows, get that? Wives’ and mothers whose husbands’, the fathers to their children, had died, possibly drowned at sea because Joppa was a seacoast town. They were heartbroken, lonesome and she cared.

Sure, they showed anyone interested the tangible evidence of how kind she was to them, but that wasn’t the most important part.

Here was someone that loved them, shared their suffering and when she died they couldn’t bear to let her go.

               I guess Peter couldn’t either, because when he was summoned from a nearby town, he dropped everything he was doing, and came.

               It was a tremendous miracle when Dorcas rose from the dead and many became Christians because of it, but let’s not remember her for doing acts of mercy, but for showing compassion.

               Hey, Dorcas, may I get to know you in Heaven and be your friend, there?

You'll find this start in the last part of Acts 9.

Don't Forget the Bread

The Light Around Us

I’m going to tell you about this man; I'll call him Cham and the touch he felt from God. It's pretty remarkable, AND it's true. O.K, it started out this way; his wife needed to get to work and she asked him to pick up a loaf of bread and some other

things. Pretty basic, eh?

 

Only problem is he got distracted, and ended up in the beer parlor and the money ended up in the wrong cash register. Needless to say, the wife was pretty disappointed, but a week later the same thing happened again, or rather was about to happen. He was pretty busy having a good time with his friends, same time, same location, sort of thing, when he needed to visit the restroom. Now things got pretty interesting: when he walked out he looked out and lo and behold a light was shining all around him. I don't think he paid too much attention to it at first but went to join his companions, and they were gone! He asked the waitress about them, and all she could say was that they had upped and left. Well, he decided to go searching, but couldn't find them, but he did notice that the light was still surrounding him so decided to let it lead him. Cham followed the light in that otherwise dark night, and it lead him up to a narrow river which he decided to cross although it came up to his waist, then later across another river until it eventually lead him back home.

I believe this experience left a deep impression on Cham. He didn't always follow the Light, (God's light) as closely as He should, but he tried and God was able to bring him out of his ignorance and darkness to a closer walk with Him. He can do the same for you. Just follow the little light you have, pray and He will lead you, us one step at a time. When we look back, we will often recognise how He lead us better than we can at the moment.

Free For Now

For those of you who would like to read the 'diary' of Mary the mother of Jesus but feel you can't afford it, I just want to let you know it will be available for free on Amazon for a few days starting the first of June. (Kindle form)

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Healing Prayer

Can eight weeks of suffering disappear in one night? Nay, make that eight years, or even two-thirds of a lifetime.

Physically I was never like 'other girls' I was weaker, frailer, and had less stamina. This showed up even as a child, but it wasn't until I was in my twenties, I believe, before the dizzy spells really kicked in. I'm telling you our family doctor tried, he really tried to find the solution for many years but nothing helped.

But the years sped on with migraines, sinus headaches, and the nausea and vertigo that increased intolerably under the slightest stress.

Was I miserable? Yes: and no. God was there. And anywhere with God is a haven of comfort.

My husband had seen me suffering all these years and it became so severe that social settings were becoming intolerable. He got the idea to ask one of the pastor's in our local congregation if they could have a healing prayer for me.  They were open to the idea.

Saturday evening, April 23 has become a holy day in my heart and memories. We are a large congregation so there are two ministers (pastors) and two deacons. We met for a time of Bible reading, fellowship and praying. It was a time of sweet communion as we shared our hearts, confessing our faults one to another. Although the discomfort in my head was so bad at this time, I was willing to go through with it, to see what God could or would do.

We knelt beside our chairs with my dear friend; one of the pastor's wife's, supporting me while her husband anointed my head with oil, and prayed.

Immediately I felt a burning, but not uncomfortable feeling in the center of my forehead which lasted for about a half an hour. Was the dizziness gone? Yes. Was I able to do things what 'normal' people do after that? Absolutely.

I felt like I was treading on Holy Ground, and today which is Tuesday, the wonder, the hallowed feeling is still with me. He Touched Me. The loving Heavenly Father deemed me worthy of a gentle touch of healing and I feel like tiptoeing in His Presence, He was/ is so close.

Can You Believe This?

(Not exactly as illustrated)

Oh well, don’t feel bad. I wouldn't have believed it either if it hadn't happened to me.
“Has anyone seen my container of embroidery cotton?” I could feel my stress level soaring as I searched frantically for all those lovely strands of colour and the box they were stored in. In my mind I was measuring the amount of days until the guest room would be needed with how much work still to be done on the Flower Basket Quilt I was embroidering for the bed.
No one knew, and more frustrating yet, no one seemed to care …at that point. After searching every plausible and many not so plausible places for the not so tiny missing item I sank into the recliner and allowed the cat to crawl into my lap. He is jokingly called Dr. Jones for a reason. He seems to know when I am not feeling well. I tried to pray and calm my nerves…
My eyes grew wide then wider

A Peek into my Private Diary

http://www.authorsden.com/marilynffriesen

Today I am going to let you have a peek into my own private journal. The thing is, something so special, so thrilling, happened that I want to share it with the world.

Maybe you have heard by now that we are planning on taking a big trip. BIG: as in a trip of a lifetime for poor folks like us.

Okay; blessing number one: someone offered to pay for half of the trip. Can you imagine that?! We are traveling clear to the other side of the globe to see our son who is doing volinteer work in Mozambique, and these folks really wanted to go, themselves, but they thought we should go rather!!
That decision happened a long time ago, but since then, something else incredible, or at least very special, happened.

Our son had informed us that, sure, the workers would do our laundry, but we should bring four or five extra sets along, anyway. Well, this ole Canadian girl doesn't have a closetful of lightweight cotton dresses for galavating across the world. I had purchased some material earlier to sew up, but had decided to wander into Value Village, a good second hand store, to see if I could find some suitable dresses. Generally it is highly unlikely that I would find something that is modest and becoming according to our conservative Mennonite standards, so I rarely even look.

This is significant enough to consider as a new paragraph. I started browsing, just casually browsing, and lo and behold I found a very cheerful garment that would match my complexion and aurburn hair just perfectly. (Oh, yes, and it was a great fit.) I continued searching and another home-sewn Mennonite style dress showed up, and then another! (All in my colors and size!) I took them all because they were all so lovely and looked like new, but quit looking. If there were any more, let someone else have the joy of finding them.

I was so overwhelmed and thankful, and could hardly get over it! Boy, does God ever like to spring neat surprises on his children!

P.S. I also found a nice pair of walking shoes as an economical price.
P.P.S. I'm almost reluctant to add this because you'll think it's too good to be true. This all happened on Tuesday which is 30% off day for Seniours. (No, I could hardly believe it, either!)

Invasion In Primo

Have you ever heard of the wonderful land, the glorious land, the warm and happy land of Primo? It is not so very far away, but is in a dim and mysterious country where strange and incredible things happen every day.

Trusting Your Son

     Remember the story in the Bible about the wedding where Mary, so calmly, so matter-of-factly, told her Son that they had no wine? Hey, if you were at a wedding as a mere wedding guest, would you march up to your son and announce that they were out of wine? Seems to me, if you did, he would give you a quizzical look and say, “What’s that to me, Mom? That’s not my problem.” I mean, really, Jesus hadn’t done any miracles yet, so what was she expecting of him, anyways?

   I got to thinking about that lately, and let me paint you a word picture of what might have preceded those words. See that little tyke manfully struggling with a pail of goat’s milk that’s nearly scrapping the ground?

         

“I’m helping you, Mama,” Jesus announced gleefully, heedless of all the milk sloshing out of the pail and on to his tunic.