Keep on Keeping on

Matthew 27:51 "The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."

 That is the scripture that my friend Peggysue picked for this week at Stampin'Sisters in Christ Challenge. I thought about this verse all week. To me the great significance of the veil being torn is the fact that I don't have to go to someone to have them go to God on my behalf, I can pray to him directly. I love the thought of having that direct line to God. Two weeks ago our senior pastor was asking the congregation how many people remember the old southern gospel song "Jesus on the Mainline." Mostly white haired people raised their hands. The exceptions were my kids and me. Not a song that most teenagers know. With all the trials of this life, I am glad my kids know where to turn. If you are unfamiliar with Jesus on the Mainline here it is:

The scripture on my card for this week says...

 "Consider it all JOY when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." James 1:2 (One of our sponsor's images)

This week really has put this to the test. My family and I are in our second week of dealing with the fleas in our home problem, and no air conditioning. We didn't really want to use poison on the fleas, but felt we had to. It was very discouraging that after doing the poison route, they were worse than before. My husband finally decided to call a professional. After talking on the phone with the professional, we went home to bag up any clothing or bedding that we had. Now I'll admit that I'm a hoarder when it comes to clothes. I have the clothes that are too small, but I really liked when I was skinnier and maybe I'll wear again if I loose like 80 pounds. I have the clothes I wear now, and the clothes that I need when I gain the weight. Now take my habits and multiply them by the 5 other members of my family and we have a lot of clothes. We also have a lot of bedding because in Iowa, in the winter, you never know when you might need a lot of blankets. We stood Thursday evening, short tempered because of lack of sleep, in sweltering heat bagging the clothing and bedding. The fleas were biting us even though we had sprayed ourselves with OFF bug spray. . It was a very low moment. I felt very discouraged. I didn't really feel like being JOYFUL. I'ld almost reached the point of saying fine, the fleas win, we'll just move out and leave everything.  My boys and I were getting our cots and air mattress out at work where we have been sleeping. They started to complain about not having our comfortable beds. I realized how my attitude was affecting them. I decided to thank God that he had provided what we needed, even if it wasn't what I wanted. That was a turning point for me. I started having a happier spirit. I praise God that the next day I found out that fleas stayed off of us when we rubbed our legs with vaporub. I also found out that this species of fleas really likes water. So we set bowls of water around a light with a little bit of Dawn dish soap. When we checked the bowls this morning, we had captured quite a few of the little monsters. I also found out that you can use salt  on your carpet. They don't like it and will leave. (Add that use to the list of uses for salt that I shared a couple of weeks ago. )  I still have a daunting task ahead of me. I still have no air conditioning, and when we decided to go to the laundry mat to wash all the clothing and bedding at one time, we found out that the laundry mat is closed indefinitely because the owner was found dead in his home this week. I am able to find some humor in the irony of this situation. If I look at all I have to do I start to feel overwhelmed, but I keep reminding myself that I can't worry about the big picture, I can only look at what I have to do this moment and keep on keeping on. That is where the ENDURANCE comes in. I was especially blessed by our sister blog Word Art Wednesday's post this week. I have read it several times.

Peggysue's challenge this week is: use torn paper technique (just tear paper with your fingers and use it somehow on your card, but it must be torn, not cut)

I might have gotten a little carried away with the tearing, but I really like how it turned out.

Our sponsor this week is Inspired Stamps. Make sure you check them out.


Check out what my Stampin’ Sisters in Christ have created to share with you.
Candace
Diane
Helen
Jerusha
Kris
Linda
Michelle
Miesje
Peggysue
Sandie
Traci

When I thought about the trials of life, I thought of this song. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.