Taming the Tongue

I've been reading a lot of verses in my quiet time with the Lord that talks about taming the tongue, using kind words etc.
Ephesians 4:29- Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it might minister grace unto the hearers.

Proverbs 25:11- A word fitly spoken is like apple of gold in pictures of silver.

Psalm 34:13 - Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking vile.

James 1:26 -If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not this tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

And let's not forget the other verses in James.
James 3:8- But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
vs 9-Therewith bless we God,even the Father and therewith curse we men, which made after the similitude of God.
vs 10- Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so be.

And there are a lot more verses about the tongue. I confess sometimes I have a hard time with my tongue.  I can get very defensive if I feel I've been wronged. Case in point someone said something negative about an idea I had. When I first read the comment, I wanted to write back and say something sarcastic. Then I thought about just letting it go,  but as I was chopping vegetables this evening  the Lord reminded me of the verses I've been reading. Ouch!
So I've decided I'm going to thank her for her lovely idea and kindly explain why I did things the way I did and leave it at that.

So my friends, how do you handle conflict?

Update on Us

Well we have been doing well with trying to eat healthier meals.  The cookbooks I have been using are great. I sometimes will substitute ingredients like if the recipe calls for sour cream, I use the light version or I reduce the amount of salt called for in a recipe. We also are losing a little weight. Yay!!

I highly recommend  the cookbook Healthy Choices available from Carlise Press the publishers of Keepers at Home.  As a mentioned in an earlier post this cookbook uses no sugar, white flour or artificial ingredients. When the idea for this cookbook came out a few years ago, I thought how yucky! I had envisioned cardboard tasting food. Boy was I wrong! The recipes are so good!
The number  to order one is 1-800-852-4482. And while you are there get a subscription for KAH. One year for four issues is $14.00.
I don't get paid for the recommendation. I just want to offer these two great resources.
I will try to post a couple of recipes we tried in a later post.
Blessings to you all!

Thank You Ladies!

Thank you all for your sweet comments and prayers regarding my husband's heart attack. They are so very much appreciated and you all are treasures to me. Hugs to you all!

Tim's Heart Attack

I shared last week my husband had a heart attack and since then I find my faith has been shaken. My mind is full of what ifs. What if Tim had died? What if he has another heart attack?
I know the Lord is watching over us. I know it was the prayers of family and friends who got him through this.

Needless to say, his heart attack has changed our lives forever. It has caused us to reevaluate our eating habits. Now this is not going to be easy. I bought a couple of Christian healthy cookbooks from the company that publishes Keepers at Home magazine. One is called  Healthy Choices which is full of recipes from Keepers at Home subscribers and the other one is Good and Healthy Cooking by Amanda and Marie Stoltzfus. Both cookbooks have recipes with no sugar, white flour and no artificial ingredients.
So begins my quest for a healthier family.

Comparing Ourselves to Others

I've recently started a new hobby.  I've joined  the League of adults who like to color. In other words I like adult coloring books.My husband also has gotten into coloring books too.
I've been enjoying adult coloring books and it's very relaxing.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
My post that I started on Wednesday evening was interrupted by a medical emergency. My husband was having chest pains which turned out to be a mild heart attack. That's very scary because he has never had heart problems. He had an angiogram last evening  which showed some blockage so a stent was put in. We are so grateful because it could have been much worse.
He came home today and he is doing well. He's a bit tired but he is happy to be home. He's on medications for his heart and blood pressure and it is recommened he change his diet. I've been thinking about making healthier meals for my family anyway.

We eat a lot of unhealthy foods so I need to change that. Even small changes like reducing salt intake, less fast food and switching to whole wheat flour.  So if you think of it please pray I can come up with healthy meals for my family.  Please also  pray for Tim that his heart will fully recover  and no problems with the stent.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Now back to my original post I mentioned that Tim and I have gotten into adult coloring books. Tim has been encouraging me not to focus on trying to to be like everyone else when it comes to this new hobby. I really am trying but I made the mistake of going on YouTube to search for ideas on coloring books. I found myself looking at various videos and thinking, I can never make my coloring pages look like that! I was getting somewhat discouraged but I realized the Lord doesn't want me or any of us comparing ourselves with others. Each of us is unique with different talents and abilities. So while I may get some great ideas on shading and choosing colors, I shouldn't be worried my pictures aren't "perfect" by YouTube artists standards. I want to just have fun! I'm applying the same idea to my crocheting projects which reminds me I need to get back to the baby booties I started a few days ago.

Daddy and Kitty

Here is Kirstie enjoying being held in Tim's loving arms.

Spiritual Check Up My Answers Part 2

So I want to share my answers to the last five questions I posted a few days ago. But before I do that I want to go back to question 1 about worshiping well with others. Our pastor reminded us today that worship is not just about the music. It's about spending time with the Lord giving Him complete reverence. An active response to God. I'm not sure where we got the idea that worship is about the music only. Perhaps it could be because we call those who lead us into song "worship leaders" or "worship teams"?   Maybe they should be simply known as "song leaders" or "music directors". I don't know. I guess I'm just rambling.

Okay, getting back to the topic here are my last 5 answers.
6. How much joy do you have? I gave myself an 8 though I could have given myself an 9. I like to consider myself a joyful person but let's face it. There are times when I just don't feel joy. When things are going badly I want to crawl under the covers and wait for things to get better. Then there are people who are joy suckers. You know who they are. The ones who are always negative and never have anything good to say. I'm part of a online community who have such people. There will be a sweet picture of a child doing whatever kids do and someone will say something negative like  "That child shouldn't____"" Or why is he/she doing ______?" I've come to the conclusion these people are just negative and honestly don't have any joy in their lives.

7. Are you a loving person? I scored 8.  I would have loved to say 10. I hate to admit it but there have been people in my life and in churches I just don't like. There are celebrities I just don't like. That's no excuse though for not loving them. I think the people we don't like are the ones who may need our prayers the most.

8. Do you have peace in your life? I said 9. I have more peace now thanks to devoting myself more to prayer and God's Word.

9. Are you a patient person? I'm extremely embarrassed about this one. I gave myself a 3. I get impatient waiting on the Lord for answer. I get very impatient with people who want to argue the validity of the Bible. Truth be told, I have wanted to tell them how stupid they sound. But there was a time before I became a Christian, I was "ignorant" of the scriptures and well, I said stupid things.

10.   Are you kind towards others? I scored 8. Over the years that I have been saved, I realize I want to treat others the way, I want to be treated. So I try to be kind. Even when they are driving me crazy and I've lost my patience with them, I want to be kind. I really want to try better to be "Jesus with skin on."

So that's my check-up for this year. There are areas from this check-up I need to improve and grow in. Lord willing, next January, I hope to be doing better.