"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." ~Luke 14:27
I looked up the word "cross" and it means " exposure to death, that is SELF-DENIAL". I was thinking how I desire to walk in self-denial to my will and live in obedience to Christ. It is so easy to slip into the comfortable and usual patterns of life, but we are called to a hard trek to follow HARD after our Maker and Creator, which reminds me of another verse:
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." ~Hebrews 11:6
Anyways, I just wanted to share that tid bit with you all.
Here are the steps Leah and I took to make our 2 gallons of laundry soap which we got from this website.
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| We gathered our ingredients for the recipe: 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soap and a bar of soap to shred. |
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| Leah and I have done this before, and shredding this specific soap sometimes makes us sneeze, so we remembered the funny times we've had trying to quickly grate it before it got in our noses! :) She did a great job. |
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| It looks like cheese, but honestly it is the bar of soap! :) |
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| Inside 1 gallon of water, heating on the stove (in our junky pot that we only use for soaps or non-food products), we added the shredded soap. |
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| Then you stir until it all melts. |
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| Add 1 cup of both the borax and washing soap... |
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| (without spilling - it's fun to spread it all over in the pot, but I had to remind her it all needed to be in the pan and not on the stove if possible! :) |
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| Stir some more... |
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| ... until it is thick and bubbly. |
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| As the boiling stops, it becomes clear and foamy. |
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| We added the second gallon of water in this bigger bucket so we could stir it in since our pot was not big enough. |
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| We poured it into 2 gallons and the instructions said to use 1/2 cup at a time. :) What a great helper my little Leah was to me. We had a great time. How I want to make the most of these years together - we have opportunities to invest for the good and encourage our siblings or for the bad and sadly squander these precious years. I want to choose to love and invest, by the grace of God! |
Here is something I read from Gary Wilkerson's newsletter a friend shared with me:
""Our victory is not in ourselves, but in Christ.' If we defeat an enemy when the odds are fifty-fifty, we're tempted to think, 'I won the battle.' But when our enemy is nine feet tall - when we've rebuked him but he comes back stronger; when we've exhausted all our resources; when we've thrown up our hands and said, 'I can't do this' that's when God says, 'I have you right where I want you'...
When we're in a spiritual battle, bravery and boldness aren't sufficient. Spiritual victory is never our own; it comes from our Deliverer... God isn't calling any of us to be a hero; instead, he acts as our Hero.
He is our strength and deliverance. He allows our giants for one reason: the greater the enemy, the greater glory God gets with His victory. He wants to prove Himself strong on behalf of His people, and to draw all humankind to Himself as they behold His mighty works."
The LORD bless you all and may you walk in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Joyfully,
~Dani
Oh, how fun! Thank you for posting; it’s always so neat to hear from you and see all of the sweet pictures! By the way, we use basically the same detergent recipe. :)
ReplyDeleteOh yes - self-denial. Wow, how POWERFUL! I think it's helpful sometimes to look at the definitions of words! Sunday was my turn to do a study that I had prepared, on 1 John 5 (we had been going through 1 John), and when I was going over it I came to the last verse. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." Well, if we quickly read this, then we could assume that that means that they were worshiping idols. Done with chapter 5. Well, yes, but if you look at a definition of the word “idol” then you get even a little bit more of a complex perspective: “object of devotion.” Think about it: if we devote so much of our time to doing some passing pleasure that we enjoy, - but that doesn’t REALLY matter, in the great scheme of things - according to that definition, we could say that whatever we’re doing is our idol. I need to evaluate my time, and do those things that I SHOULD be doing!
I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this! :)
That goes along, a little bit, with the verse in Luke – instead of devoting our time to doing “me” things, we should serve OTHERS, give our time over to things that would be profitable and “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Part of Colossians 3:1 and 2).
Thank you so much, Dani, for the encouragement that you share with me! I am so blessed to have you as my friend and sister in Christ! I was so encouraged and refreshed by talking to you several weeks ago. God willing, maybe we could talk again next weekend! :)
May the LORD refresh you, Dani; may He guide you, give you joy; may He make His face to shine on you, be gracious to you, and give you peace.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 15:58.
I love you,
~Martha Joy