Monday, October 31, 2011

Angels Guarding Over Us


Psalms 91:11 “For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways."

    Classes were delayed again this semester because of, you guessed it, another strange illness. We discovered there were rats in the roof and the odor of their droppings made me sick as I treaded the dreaded treadmill. I am again healthy and ready for classes. We are studying angels for a few weeks and the girls are learning about one of God’s mysterious creations called angels. If you study God’s Word about them you soon find out they aren’t as mysterious as you may think but one of God’s blessings in our world. Yesterday I was blessed by angels in my presence.

     After beginning my day in a tither yesterday, then finding peace through a bird (read yesterday’s blog) I had a very productive day. The day was anything but routine. I was determined to work on this blog and cleared the dining room table and sat down to work, skipping lunch and working into the late afternoon. I am never at my dining room table in the afternoon. Usually I am in class, my office or off doing other ministry errands or visits, but yesterday God had me right where I needed to be, and not necessarily to write this blog.

     At around 4pm I heard a beeping noise but ignored it, then I heard screams, which I also ignored because we have a tribe of neighborhood kids playing outside everyday.  Let me reiterate that I am never in this place at this time and I never have the blinds in the front part of the room opened in the afternoon because of the sun. So there I was, where I never sit at that time, with the blinds opened and the electricity off. I heard screams again, looked towards the window and saw flames reaching as high as our second story directly across our road.

    What to do first, panic would be my natural reaction but calmly I went to the phone to call Chuck, no electricity, no phone. Next I went for my cell phone, which by the way is never charged unless we are leaving for town, a blessing incase we are separated doing different errands; it had battery power, which it never does. Chuck had no idea what was happening and along with the neighbors ran to the scene, all the while the flames were spreading wildly.

   Hoses got hooked up from our house because our neighbors don’t have hoses or water tanks as we do. We live in the boonies with people who are just thankful to have water trickling from one faucet outside their houses. Nothing came out of the hoses because there was no electricity to run our pump so we hooked the hoses to the water coming from the street pipes but there was not much pressure. The flames continued blazing out of control until finally the water began to smother their roar. When the fire was under control we stood back and accessed the damage.


     Our neighbor’s field and trees were damaged and the flames caught one of our big trees that hangs over the road. But thank the Lord we got the flames out, just in time, before they caught the rest of the trees which surely would have spread quickly to our house. No one was hurt nor houses damaged but we all knew it was close to that point and just a matter of minutes till Rumi Rancho and our four neighbors’ houses would have been up in smoke. 

     Were there angels all around? I am sure they were guarding and sent by God to warn and help us. Was it God nudging me by way of His angels, causing me to look out the window and see the flames?  I am sure of that also. Have you had angels close lately? It’s no coincidence when we are rescued from danger; God sends his angels to guard and protect us in all our ways.

      Thank you Lord for your protection and perfect timing. You orchestrated my day so I was at the right place at just the right time, with angels at my side, sent by You. I can almost hear the flutter of their wings.

     Maybe you’d like to try my angel cookies so here’s the recipe.

Vanilla Angel Pillow Cookies

     1 1/2 cup flour
     1/2 cup powdered sugar
     1/4 cup cornstarch
     1/4 teaspoon salt
     1 cup cold butter
     1 teaspoon vanilla
     1/4 cup white sugar for dipping warm cookies after baking
    
     Mix together flour, sugar, cornstarch and salt

     add butter and vanilla and form dough into one inch balls

     place on ungreased cookie sheet

     bake 350 degrees for 12 minutes

     cool five minutes and roll in sugar then enjoy!

     Warning: too many cookies may cause spreading, see spreading angel photo above.
  

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Welcome to My World



2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
 old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

      It’s a sunny day here in Bolivia but the mountains outside my window are topped with snow glistening in the sunshine, a perfect day. We are just going into Spring and all things are beginning to spring up new; new flowers, grass, and even new girls sprung up in my classes.  What better day than this to begin my new blog springing up from Rumi Rancho, our home and ministry base. My hope is this blog will give you insight into God’s work here, informing you of prayer requests and everyday happenings; especially the wonderful things God is doing in the mountains and valleys of Bolivia. Hopefully along the way you will also laugh and be blessed.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go and,
when he is old,he will not depart from it."