Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Lord is my helper

"Let brotherly love continue.
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--
since you yourselves are in the body also...
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.  For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.;
So we may boldly say:
'The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.  What can man do to me?'"  Hebrews 13:1-3, 5-6 NKJV

During the Christmas season, I start thinking about those that do not have family to celebrate with.  My husband use to work on an ambulance and I am a nurse, so we have seen the lonely geriatric population that reside in nursing homes.  As a child he and his family use to dress up and all go to nursing homes and jails to sing while his parents played the piano.  When we first were married we went to a local nursing home and he sang (I ran the CD player).  Life has gotten busy lately and we have gotten away from activities that are independent from church.  This season has been filled with illness, so I will look for another holiday that we may be able to serve them.  There are so many that do not have family to take them home for the holidays throughout the year.  They just stay in the facility with the few left behind.  There are lots of ways that entire families can show love to those without families.  Children can make snacks, crafts, or simple holiday tokens can be purchased from the local dollar store.  Whenever cooking for a large population, remember that many are on special diets, such as sugar-free, low sodium, and dysphagia (difficulty chewing or swallowing).  While some may love cookies, others may need pudding. 
I love to entertain guests.  We presently do not have much room, but it is a joy for me to host someone a place to stay overnight, especially when the kids are out of school on break and everyone gets to interact.  Also, we have a large dog and 3 cats.  We have not finished our chicken coop, so we do not have our chickens yet.  I hope we can finish the run soon and open it up for our future tenants. 
We love our animal family and we try to include them in all of our celebrating.  It can get expensive to treat them medically, so we try to save money any way we can.  I made my dog some cookies last week and she loved them.  It was a simple recipe of wheat flour, bacon drippings, eggs, and salt.  You can make them in fun shapes with cookie cutters (bone-shaped), but I just rolled them in a ball and flattened them.   I found the recipe at http://www.homemadedogtreats.net/  I made a half recipe and I am glad that I did, because they started going bad in about a week.  So next time, I will freeze most of them and only get out about 3 days worth at a time.  Next time, I want to try the chicken liver treats.
We have treats in their stocking and a big bone that will not quite fit. 
This Christmas season, I hope you find a special way to include those extra people/pets in your celebrations.  The gift of a giving heart always returns multiplied.  There was one time that I was feeling kinda needy and lonely and the Lord told me that if I wanted something, to give away.  I was needing a hug and fellowship at that time in my life, so I did just what He said...I stepped out of my shy shell and I gave others hugs and fellowshipped with them.  I no longer felt alone and sad, the Lord filled me with love when I was willing to step out and not think about my needs, but look toward other people's needs.  The Lord is my helper.
Merry Christmas and God Bless,
Marla B.

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