Be Ye Separate

Daily Devotion 286

October 13

What’s the Message of Your Countenance?

Iron sharpeneth iron: so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Proverbs 27:17

Have you ever wondered about the message your facial expressions send? As a youngster, I noticed the ministers’ faces as they sat facing the congregation Sunday after Sunday. They looked very sober and heavyhearted! I wondered where the joy of the Lord was. The face of another man I knew was always twisted with anxiety as he drove down the road. As he leaned over the wheel, his face was drawn into wrinkles and frowns. Was there fear in his heart? Stress? A severe struggle?

We dare not evaluate others on the basis of their facial expressions, but David mentions twice, “the health of the countenance.” Facial expressions may be friendly, serious, fickle, sad, or joyful. A Belizean brother Mark Meighn told me that during Hurricane Mitch people looked as though they did not believe that God is in control.

What is the remedy for an unhealthy countenance? David relates it to trust! “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Shouldn’t hope in God bring a healthy countenance? A heart that is neither fickle nor gloomy, but stable because it trusts in God will bring a healthy countenance. With that enhancement in the heart, how can we help but have a healthy countenance?

Elmer Schrock, Stuarts Draft, VA

A spiritually healthy heart eliminates the need for a pasted-on countenance.

Bible Reading: Psalm 42

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Colossians 4

Isaiah 48, 49

Daily Devotion 285

October 12

Response or Reaction?

And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.

Job 42:10a

How do we cope with the trials and afflictions of life? Some trials may be the result of our own doings. We then need to confess, accept God’s forgiveness, and go on our way rejoicing. At other times, trials may be the results of that over which we have no control, such as an illness, an accident, or a death. In such circumstances, we can accept them as something the Lord has allowed for our good, or for the good of those around us. We may react, act in opposition to—which will result in a miserable life. Or we may humbly accept our lot and profit, learn, and grow thereby.

Unless we are motivated by the divine nature, the root of which is love, it is almost impossible to respond to trials in a way that is pleasing to God and brings satisfaction in life.

Job is a good example of a man who stood the test of loss and affliction. He had many questions. He lost everything but his trust in God. Faith in God was enough to see him through.

There is still unlimited grace and strength for those who thank and praise the Lord when it is the hardest to do so (Isaiah 50:10). Why not praise the Lord?

Kore Yoder, Belleville, PA

God is still on the throne, and He will remember His own.

Bible Reading: Job 1, 2:9, 10

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Colossians 3

Isaiah 45—47

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA  22803

Phone:  877-488-0901

E-Mail:  [cs@vision-publishers.com]

Fall is in the air!

Blessings!

   As I said...Fall is in the air!

   For the last few days we've had...well...what you would call, gully washers! It has poured for three days now and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Lord willing we'll have a little reprieve in the next couple days as our landlords are intending to be here to fix the pump and pumphouse.

   The weather tells us that this probably won't happen. It says that we are to have heavy rains for the next week before it clears up for about a week and then our fall begins and those rains will be with us day in and day out for the next several months:)

   I love the rain but not when I have to be out in it for hours at a time several days in a row. Although it does make coming inside for some hot cocoa and cider that much more appreciated:)

   I have been praying that we get a little break from it while the landlords are here so that the job can be done quickly and easily. I have emailed them to let them know that our weather is not cooperating at this time so we'll see what they decide to do. I would just hate to see them come all this way (they live out of state) to be slowed down by all this icky weather. If they DO come anyway, we'll do our best to help as efficiently as possible and get it done and out of the way:)

   I must say that I am very ready for fall and winter to be here. The girls and I have been talking about Christmas already:) We love the decorations and lights, the wonderful foods and family time:) I am looking forward to the inside projects like sewing, mending, crafting and general family time that seems to come with being sequestered for the cold months:) And, as always, we are hoping for a white Christmas:)

   Our cleaning projects are coming together finally. The last two projects we really have now are the kitchen and the mudroom. With canning and other such activities, the kitchen sure takes a beating around this time of year. We pull in boxes of jars, containers of other items necessary for this project. Counters never seem to be cleared off, the table seems to be forever buried and the floor is a constant issue with all the spills and drips that happen. We wipe quickly with a sponge or paper towel but never really get it all up until your feet begin to feel a little sticky:P The mop gets pulled out, floor gets a lick and a promise and on we go with the project. Once we are finished with our putting up of all our harvest, we'll clear the room out and get on our hands and knees and scrub, scrub, scrub:)

   The mudroom always seems to need cleaning and mopping. With that being the outside door to the farmyard, the floor is forever dirty. Sweeping, usually does the trick until it begins to rain, then there's mud. Mud needs mopping and by the time the mop is barely dry it needs it again. The mudroom also tends to become the catch-all during harvest time. We place excess boxes on the drying and freezer tops, the shelves become messy, any flat surface seems to be used up with clutter.

   I can rest in the fact that once we are finished, all of it will be cleaned up. Spit and polished for winter. Back to normal and easy access once again. The larder will be full, the house kempt, and slower days to enjoy together:)

   I pray that you too are experiencing the coming Fall season with eagerness and joy.

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Love That Pearbutter:P

Blessings!

   Well, it took us two days but we finally finished this batch! I love pearbutter. It's a lot like applebutter but I think tastier:) To me, applebutter just tastes like thick applesauce. Pearbutter, on the otherhand, has a unique taste all it's own:)

   I forgot to get pictures of before we started the pears:( But here's the picturpedia of the event:)

   First thing was to cut the slightly yellowed pears in half and carefully core them. Putting them into a tall pot on the stove. Approximately 10lbs of them for each batch. We added two coffee cupfuls of water and set the heat to medium high until it began to bubble.

Once it begins to bubble we turn it down to low and cover it. It simmers for about 20 minutes. Stirring it occasionally until it looks like lumpy soup.

It is then ladeled into the fruit sieve. Make sure the plunger is at the bottom before adding the fruit or it will cause an icky plug at the bottom and it's harder to clean that out after you are done.

 The bowl catches the fruit pulp while you "churn" the plunger around in circles inside the sieve until it squishes all the pulp into the bowl and leaves you with just the pear skins stuck to it. Once it's full you'll want to scrape that off and start again.Once you are done with the fruit, you'll want to scrape the outside of the sieve to clean off the rest of the pulp before proceeding to the next step.Pour the pulp into your crockpot slowly so as to not splash and burn yourself.

now it's time to measure out your spices...You can add a little sugar if you like. I do to soften the spices a little...Don't forget to add a cup of real orange juice! Unlike apples, pears don't have as much natural ascorbic acid. You can add the orange juice (which I prefer because it adds to the flavor) or you can add a couple teaspoons of ascorbic acid which you can find in your pharmacy section in your local drug store.Mix it all in with your wooden paddle...or spoon whichever you prefer:)Turn your crockpot on low and let it cook overnight. The next day...Your sauce should be cooked down to about half. You can cover it for awhile but be sure that you cock the lid so it's not a real seal to allow the steam to escape. The top one, as you can see, wasn't cooked down to half so I uncovered it and let it cook another two hours.

   Load up the canner with the jars to heat them up.I heat them to boiling before removing them for filling.Place the seals over them.Place the rings on them and tighten them down.Once they are sealed, place them back into the hotbath for another 10-15 minutes before removing. Place them in a cool place where they can sit undisturbed for 24 hours and listen for that pingpingping as they let you know you've succeeded:)Pearbutter is one of our favorites. This year we'll have a larger supply because this year...we have a pear tree! There are still more on the tree and so we'll be repeating this again this week.

Have a very blessed weekend!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

An Apple a Day!

Blessings!

   You've heard that saying, An apple a day keeps the....? Well, unfortunately here at Heavenly Acres Homestead, it doesn't keep the worms away:(

   We've been waiting and waiting for the apples to finally be ready for picking. Literally thousands of apples just waiting to be made into sauces, spreads and pie fillings:) We were so excited.

   Today was the day! We were going to be pulling those lucious, ripe wonderful fruits down and getting them ready to be made into our favorite fruit preserves. We were looking forward to humdreds of quarts of apple sauce, apple butter, pie fillings, chutneys etc.

   Standing below the trees and pointing and calculating getting them down, bagged for quick future use etc. I pulled the first one down. I seem alright and I squeezed it (like you always squeeze a fruite to see it's lovely firmness) and it split wide open! The outside of it about 1/2 an inch of firm fruit but the rest of the inside was literally dark brown and black! It smelled just awful!

   I pulled another. Same thing! Then another and another! We have no idea what is wrong but these apples, every singe one of them, is rotted from the inside while still on the tree looking every bit as pretty as a healthy apple on the outside! Soooo disappointing:(

   Tomorrow I'll be taking a couple of the apples and a small branch and some leaves to the extension office and asking them to identify it for us. Then asking them what we can do about it for next years crop. Because as of right now, we have absolutely NOTHING to can from those trees:(

   We'll be paying attention to the papers in the area though asking for gleaners to come grab what's left on their apple and other fruit trees. It's a common practice here. In fact, once we had used up all the apples we could possile use here we would put an ad in the paper ourselves asking anyone who wanted apples to come get them. It's easier than letting them go to waste and watching them rot.

   We still have plenty of blueberries to can up and we'll be picking blackberries to fill up the missing apples:( I'm so sad about it. I had such plans and it is not to be. Oh well, such is life:) We'll figure out what is wrong and see if it can be fixed with perhaps good pruning, vitamins, pesticides? Whatever it takes to bring those trees back to a healthy state.

   We also discovered that our pear tree is finally producing and the fruit seems very healthy so this is a blessing for sure:) We've pulled several down and though they are not quite ripe we'll ripen them in the paper sack on the table for a few days:) We did cut one open to be sure we weren't looking at the same issue as the apples.

   On the bright side too, we discovered that the apple rake picks up the hazelnuts like a charm:) Those are tough to pick up on  your knees for sure:) We have bags and bags of those:) Not sure what we'll do with them just yet but in the meantime everyone likes cracking them open and eating them:)

   Well, I best get down to writing the ad for the auction on our goats:) It's time to get those babies sent down the road to someone elses greener pastures:) Have a very blessed weekend!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori