This is the time of year that was chosen to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As the song goes, “born is the king of Israel.” God chose to send us His only son, giving us the gift of eternal life. I think that satan uses everything in his power to cloud that, and to take the focus away from it.

We cling to traditions, both secular and religious. We get hung up on what presents we’re going to give and receive. For some, Christmas might have just lost its luster. Maybe that’s because we hear the same songs and we see the same shows on TV year after year.

Others might say that Christmas has been commercialized or that the time of year that we celebrate the birth of our savior isn’t when He was actually born. Both of these are valid claims, but if we’re not careful we can unintentionally take away from the awe of this gift.

Please don’t misunderstand, traditions are important, the receiving of and giving gifts is not a bad thing. But they can and do take over as the reason for the celebrating. I was guilty of this for many years. Then I went to the other extreme, being frustrated that people refused to say “Merry Christmas” and said “Happy Holidays” instead. I wasn’t a total bahumbugger, but gave scrooge a run for his money.

Now I try not to take on how others deal with Christmas. It is between them and God. If they say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, that’s ok. But I’m also not going to worry if they’re offended by my wishing them a “Merry Christmas”.

There were some traditions over the years that caused stress, so I stopped doing them. I realize that some traditions are incredibly important to some people but Christmas is supposed to be joyful! If there are some traditions that cause stress and ruin the spirit of the celebration, pray about and consider stopping them.

I treat Christmas like I do Veterans Day. I am thankful for the men and women who have served our country every day. I often thank vets for their service throughout the year, but on Veterans Day I make it a point to tell vets “Thank you!” Likewise, I am grateful for the gift of Christ every day. I praise Him throughout the year, giving thanks for all of my blessings every day. On Christmas, I make a point to thank God for Immanuel, God with us!

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as one of the top prepper sites. Thank you!
If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

I’ve covered Scripture Related To Preparedness already, but I have decided to take a deeper look at some of them. Today I want take a deeper look at Noah. Starting in Genesis 6:8, we’re told that Noah found favor with God, that he was the only blameless person on earth. God would spare Noah and his family, but would destroy every other living creature except for those that would be on the Arc.

A reader once told me she believed that God was calling us Prepared Christians to be many Noah’s going out to the world; and I believe that to be truth. I know God called me to prepare, as I believe He has called many of you and many others who are unaware of this blog to prepare as well.
 
 
Build the Arc

In Genesis 6:14 God gave Noah a task:

(14)“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. (15) Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. (16) Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.”

So Noah has to find suitable lumber, fell it, mill it, haul it to the build site and then build this huge arc that was 1.5 football fields long. That’s about half as long as a modern day aircraft carrier!
 
 
Gather the Animals

Genesis 6:19 tells us:

“19 Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. (20) Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive”

At least he didn’t have to round them all up! Can you imagine lions, bears, snakes and all of the other dangerous animals you have lived your life fearing showing up? Can you imagine the noise and the smell? Do you think God tamed them so they were not predator nor prey while they waited for the Arc to be built and for the water to recede after the flood?
 
 
Gather the Food

Genesis 6:21 we’re told:

“And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

Imagine that! Noah had to store enough food for a minimum of eight people; Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives (it doesn’t say if any of Noah’s sons had more than one wife so it could have been more than eight) and all of the animals, for an unknown amount of time! We’re told that it took ten and a half months for the flood waters to mostly dry but Noah didn’t know that. This food storage is all without a Costco, freeze drying, canning or any other modern method of food storage! They had to grow it, hunt it, gather it, and preserve it all by themselves! Oh, and they still had to build the arc and tend the animals.
 
 
Noah’s Shoes

Let’s not forget that Noah was also 600 years old! Have you ever thought about being in Noah’s shoes? I wonder what he did for a living. Knowing God’s sense of humor, Noah was probably a shepherd who had never ridden in a boat or built anything in his life. I wonder if Noah ever felt overwhelmed. I wonder if his family supported him. I wonder if there were days he felt like keeping his 600 year old back in bed.

All the while Noah knew God’s plan to wipe out the majority of the human race. Everyone Noah had ever laid eyes on, except for his family, would perish. Do you think that grieved him? Yes they brought it upon themselves, but to know their fate and to listen to their begging day after day as the rain rose had to take its toll on Noah.
 
 
What Can We Learn?

I don’t know about you, but when I break down each of the tasks given to Noah, it sounds near impossible. God has a history of asking unlikely people to do big things, and then working through them to complete the task.

With todays advanced technology, our modern tools, 24/7 stores and a large budget, the tasks set before Noah would still be near impossible. I can’t imagine how much harder they were when Noah built the Arc. The only explanation is God.

I mentioned above that I believed some of you reading this were called by God to prepare. Some of you have been doing so for many years and others have just started. Some have a support network in your families and some of you are the only one in your families, who may or may not be against you.

Some days you might feel overwhelmed with everything you have left to do, so much left to prepare for. God knows what you have left to do. He knows exactly what is coming and if He has called you to prepare, He may just work through you as well! To be clear, the story of Noah can be a life lesson as well. Whenever life has you feeling overwhelmed, just remember to share His yoke.

Mathew 19:26: Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 
 
If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

Since starting the blog my goal has been to bring a Christian worldview to preparedness, to show Christians that preparedness isn’t a sin and is, in fact, it’s very biblical.

Most articles are about preparedness. I wouldn’t say this means faith took a backseat. This is mainly because I have covered all of the areas of the Bible that I know of that pertain to preparedness. Today the tables turn, and preparedness, while still involved, IS going to take a back seat to faith.

I’ve put in a lot of road time over the last month, some of which was spent in prayer and some enjoying God’s creation. I also spent some of that time listening to audio books, one of which some of you have recommended; The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. I’m not done with the Harbinger, so this isn’t a review. In truth, it is only part of the reason for me writing this article. Before I go any further, I want to say that this isn’t Chris on his high horse judging anyone. What I have to say in this article goes just as much for me as anyone else.

I’m not a prophet, just a watchman on the wall. That being said I am not trying to be alarmist either, but I am concerned that something is on the horizon that will require us to be anchored in Christ. I am reminded of the parable of the sower. Jesus tells of a farmer who spread seed. Much of the seed perished for various reasons and only the seed that fell on fertile soil flourished.

Anyone who knows anything about gardening knows that you have to pamper soil to ensure it stays fertile, adding compost and mulch, as well as making sure it’s watered. My point is, just because you were in fertile soil when you took the seed of faith and you grew in Christ, that doesn’t mean you can rest. No, you must tend the soil, feed it and protect it. If you don’t, the weeds can come back in and choke out any growth or pests can damage it.

 

Training

Professional athletes spend a good portion of their lives training for a season that is a few short months long, in a sport they’ll only be able to compete professionally in for a limited amount of years. Some pro-boxers train for months for one night. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!
All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.”

Are you living to win the race? I hate to admit it, but I’m not. My walk with Christ is stronger than it was in my past. I am in the word daily, I pray, but I still stumble far more than I care to admit. Let’s face it, if a pro athlete had to be in training all year, year after year, I don’t think we would have as many sports teams.

I think that modern day Christians in America and other developed nations might have a harder time with their walk than early Christians. Sure early Christians in the first church were persecuted but they wore it as a badge of honor. Modern day Christians are surrounded by temptation on the internet, TV, Radio, not to mention every-day life. The first church consisted of people who lived with Christ for three years and people who grew to know those eleven. We’re some 2,000 years removed and we only have what we read in the texts, published throughout those 2,000 years. What we all have in common is the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Like I mentioned above, we must tend the soil to keep it fertile, lest we let the thistle in and it choke out the growth. When that happens, we allow the quieting of that still small voice and the indwelling of Christ is muted.

Make no mistake, this doesn’t mean we get an easy out. On the contrary, this means we have to be more aggressive at tending the soil, at keeping our walk with Christ as close to Him as we can. I have heard many people say that there is nothing we can do, Christ has done it all. This is not completely true; He made it possible for us to be redeemed to the Father, but we still have to, as Paul said, “run to win”.

 

The Danger

As I mentioned above, I feel like there is something on the horizon that will require us to be anchored in Christ. There are a couple of reasons why I think this is important. First if we are firmly affixed to something we are not likely to be shaken from it. I have witnessed people who, when faced with something terrible, lose faith and turn from God. I had a friend who, at one time, was planted in fertile soil. His wife left him and he started to lose faith. He quit tending the soil. He then was diagnosed with colon cancer and the thistle took over. In the end, he blamed God and was bitter, not wanting to talk at all about faith.

Persecution is also something that may drive others from the faith. We in America are very lucky, as persecution only rarely happens. The following is a story from the ADF, the Alliance Defending Freedom. The article is called “The Longest Night”.. It is a story of modern day persecution of a pro-life Christian group that was unlawfully arrested and subjected to “strip searches” all because they held anti-abortion signs along public freeways. The ADF was able to get the following accomplished.

“Harford County and the state troopers formally acknowledged that the officers’ behavior was unconstitutional, and agreed to train officers about First Amendment and free-speech issues.”

We are told that persecution will increase. Is your faith strong enough to see you through mocking, verbal abuse, being called a hater or a bigot, beatings, arrest or more? It is easy to say “yes” from the privacy of a keyboard, but when put to the test, with threat of violence or death, is your faith strong enough to stand for Christ? Might you falter as Peter did?

Completely falling from Christ isn’t the only danger. Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:15-16

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 3:16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”

I’ve never attended seminary, so maybe there is another meaning to this verse. To me, any time I have ever spit anything from my mouth is was because it disgusted me. If I breakdown the above verse to me “hot” would be of God, and “cold” of the world. If you are neither, maybe you are a mix of both.

For many years I walked with both feet in the world, then one foot in each. I have whittled away many of the things that cause me to sin. There are still so many areas that trip me up. It is a good thing we have a graceful and loving God!

Revelation 3:19-20 “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”

If you have areas of your life that cause you to be “lukewarm”, with one foot in the world, be it Internet sites you shouldn’t visit, TV you shouldn’t watch, magazines you shouldn’t be reading or relationships that are not biblical, it might be time to repent and press into the Lord. Let Him correct you and open the door for Him!

While we are individually responsible for our walk, we do not walk alone. One of the things that I am grateful to God for is how this community has formed. We share, encourage and pray for one another. If you have a verse that brings you encouragement or strength, feel free to post it. Do the same for any prayer requests.

 

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

During my daily devotional, a verse jumped off the page at me like it never has before. In Mathew 4:6 we see that Jesus is being tempted by the original Mr. Dirtbag; satan.

“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Christ’s rebuttal is what I saw in a new light, He tells Satan: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

When it comes to preparedness, how many times have you heard someone say “I have faith that the Lord will provide”? From now on, I think my response will be “if God’s own son wouldn’t put the Lord to the test, why would you?”

Jesus could have jumped off of the building and, I am sure satan was right, there would have been a swarm of angles to keep Christ from reaching the earth. But Jesus took personal responsibility and did not put the Lord thy God to the test.

Yes it is true that after doing spiritual warfare with satan, the angles came to attend to Jesus. But I think the message still stands; we are not to put God on the spot.

This same rebuttal could be used when it comes to self-defense, for those who say they’ll just look to God to protect them and will not use a firearm for self-defense.
 
 
The second pearl comes from “Bluebird” in a recent comment on the article “Christianity and the Bibles Case for Self-Defense”.

“Please don’t forget the story about the seven wise virgins, who prepared ahead of time in case the wait for the bridegroom was a long one. Even though they were prepared, they did not share with the virgins who did not prepare. They told them if they shared, neither of them would have enough. When Jesus told this story, there was no reprimand to the wise virgins for refusing to share with the foolish ones.”

I really like this point! I made a similar point in the article “Christian Hospitality and Preparedness”. I think that we are called to be hospitable and to give when the Lord calls us to. We are not, however, required to be a food bank to everyone who didn’t use their ears to hear or their eyes to see. There are many verses where the punishments are defined for not following the Word. In Proverbs 27:12 we’re told that those who do not prepare for danger will suffer for it. It is not our job to keep them from suffering. We are, however, called to be hospitable and called to be the hands and feet of our God when He asks us to be. We must pray for discernment to know the difference!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

During a recent radio interview on The 21st Century Homekeeper Radio Program, a few of Sylvia’s listeners said they would like to know where a Christian should stand on providing for others when things have gone bad.  This is something I have touched on before, so I was familiar with the scriptures, and gave an answer based on my understanding of them.  After the interview something was gnawing at me about the questions and my answer, so I did a bit more digging and realized what I had failed to do.  I failed to take the scriptures into the context of the time and culture in which they were written. I’ve said before that context is king.  It can completely change the meaning of any ancient text.

I don’t know that I would say my answer in the interview was wrong, but maybe just not as good as it should have been.   In researching the context to get a better understanding of the scriptures, I had my mind changed, if only slightly, so I thought I would share with you my discovery.

 

Hospitality

The word hospitality in modern times, to me at least, makes one think of someone who welcomes you to their home and puts on a nice meal, then thanks you for coming as you leave that evening.  But in ancient times people had a different understanding of the word.  I found a book called “Entertaining Angels: Early Christian Hospitality in its Mediterranean Setting”.  I didn’t read the book, but was able to find large sections available on the university website where the author teaches,  as well as some critiques of it.

In one section on hospitality in the times of the New Testament the author says:

“Today we think of hospitality as the custom of feeding family, friends, and neighbors in our homes or hosting these people for a night or two. The writers of the New Testament, however, were working with a significantly different definition of hospitality or xenia. The ancient custom of hospitality revolved around the practice of welcoming strangers or travelers into one’s home while promising to provide them with provisions and protection.  Hospitality in the first century could be a very risky venture, just as taking strangers into one’s home is a dangerous decision in many corners of the world today. Nevertheless, in the books of Luke and Acts we see an appeal for Jesus’ disciples to practice hospitality in their lives and ministries.”

In one critique I read, we are given a better idea of what hospitality looked like in Greco-Roman, Jewish and early Christian cultures.  The other two are worth reading as they did have influence on the early Christian church.  I don’t want to copy and paste it all, so here is the Christian section:

“Because all the first Christians were Jews, and the next round primarily Greeks or Romans, it causes no surprise to see most of the elements surveyed already recurring in early Christianity. Particularly important was the practice of extending hospitality to traveling missionaries– a boon to the recipients in a world without consistently safe, wholesome forms of public lodging but potentially a drain on the church’s resources, especially when itinerants overstayed their welcome. Without this background, it remains harder to understand Paul’s recurring requests for hospitality for himself and his representative or to make sense of Didache’s criterion of length of stay by a visitor for determining if he or she was a true or false prophet! A rereading of John 4 on the assumption that Jesus was asking for hospitality from the Samaritan woman discloses several new insights not regularly rehearsed in the standard expositions. The same may be said on a smaller scale of 2 John, while Matt 10:14 and 42, like Matt 25:31-46, make more sense once it is recognized that “the host’s extension of hospitality to a traveling teacher was an indication that the host accepted or agreed with the teaching of the traveling teacher” (123). By the third century, however, Christian practice underwent a dramatic shift as hospitality was placed under the authority of bishops and hospitality “morphed” into a charitable service performed by entire congregations and supported by treasuries of funds to which they donated.”

Hospitality amongst Christians has always been a way for us to share Christ’s love, but over the centuries, how we show hospitality has changed.  At least in the USA hospitality is often similar to how is was practiced in the third century.  Tithes and offerings are used to launch and support ministries and missionaries abroad.
Scripture

There are far more scriptures on hospitality than I can list and expect you to read this entire article, so I will post a few that I think are relevant.   A point to keep in mind is that these scriptures were meant to be lived by every day.  They aren’t instructions for what is acceptable to Christ when faced with prolonged hardship.

 

1 Peter 4:9

“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

 

Romans 12:13

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

 

Proverbs 31:20

“She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.”

 

Matthew 25:40

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

 

Hebrews 13:2

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.”

 

Hebrews 13:1-2

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it”

 

Luke 11:5-8

“⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”

I must say that I have a lot to learn in terms of hospitality.  If you come yelling and knocking on my door in the middle of the night, you’ll find yourself on the business end of Christopher.  But I digress.  This verse isn’t really about hospitality; Jesus had just delivered the Lord’s Prayer, and is showing the Disciples how to pray and seek our loving Father.  I list it as I think this is one verse where, taken out of context, someone could say we should do whatever is necessary to be hospitable.

One of the resources I used lists many scriptures on hospitality , from both the Old and New Testaments.  I found there are four main types of verses on hospitality; hospitality to complete strangers, hospitality to people in need, hospitality as a character trait and hospitality to brothers and sisters in the faith.  The most common type I found is hospitality toward others in the faith.

 

Preparedness

Does this then mean that we do not need to show generosity or hospitality when times are hard?  No, not at all!  There are, after all, verses on helping those in need.  In my mind that is both for the every day and for when times are hard.

Because the Bible doesn’t speak on how to act in a survival situation we have to look at other scriptures and see if we can draw any conclusions.   Of course the scriptures on how to act every day still apply, but what other wisdom on the subject can we glean from the Word of God?

1 Timothy 5:8 says: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

That verse goes for everyone, so does Proverbs 27:12, which states:

“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

I bring these two verses up because we tend to see one side of the coin.  We see that if we don’t want to be seen as worse than an unbeliever, we must meet our family’s needs.  We see that if we want to be wise, we must prepare to mitigate dangers.  We, however, might not give a lot of thought to those who don’t meet their family’s needs, or who didn’t see danger because they either weren’t looking, or saw it and decided not to do anything.

Let’s think about those people for a minute.  Do you think God is following them around with a pillow to protect them from hitting the hard ground?  I don’t!  I think God makes it perfectly clear that there are rewards and consequences. Those individuals weren’t motivated by prudence for meeting their family’s needs in good and bad times.  The consequences are clear to me.

I think modern American Christianity has gone too far building “our buddy Jesus”, and forgotten that, while He is loving, He is also fierce and to be feared.  There are more examples than I can count in the Bible of God giving people a choice.  When they chose to not follow His way, being turned to a pillar of salt, being forced to wander the desert for another forty years, being conquered by other nations and being led into slavery.

Some might say that all of those are Old Testament references.  While true, they are no less relevant.  Also, before Christ was born human, the only way to have sins redeemed was through human actions; by following God’s Law, and by making sacrifices.  After Jesus dies on the cross, the gift of salvation is available to anyone; choose it and you will be rewarded with eternity in His presence.  If you opt out of salvation, it puts you outside of His presence, paying for your sins for eternity.

When the question is asked if we’ll help those in need after it has hit the fan, I have seen many Prepper’s answer that they would help where they can but that they will not help those who come with their hand out and are not willing to help.  In light of my current research, what do I think about that type of response?  I think for the most part it’s a perfectly fine answer for a Christian to give.

Some might call me selfish for such an answer.  To them I say this: I am prepared to meet the needs of my family and will help where I am led and am able.  To me it sounds more selfish for someone who didn’t prepare to meet the needs of their family showing up uninvited, with their hand out, expecting to be fed, clothed and protected, all for the sheer act of drawing breath.

However, if you are someone who feels you must prepare to take care of others in times of great need, I have a solution!  God only asks we give Him ten percent.  I do not believe He would ask us to give to others more than He asks for Himself.  So set aside ten percent of your preparations for others.  This doesn’t have to be expensive food.  It can be made up of staples; rice, beans, popcorn seeds, sugar and on and on.  This would mean that if you have a year’s food stored for your family, you would either have another (roughly) month and a half stored to give away, or give away a month and a half leaving your family with ten and a half months’ worth of food.

 

Summary

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Christ commanded us to love one another.  Hospitality is one way to do this.  We are also called to be the light of the world, which I covered in Why Should Christians, Specifically, Be Preparing?. We are also to help those in need, to be His hands and feet.  We, however, are not called to be someone’s emergency parachute.  Their lack of planning does not constitute your emergency.

I think this is one area that each of us must ask our loving Father for wisdom and guidance in how to act and how to prepare to be His hands and Feet.

I said I had my mind changed, if only slightly.  Currently Trudee and I support a few different ministries.  We feel blessed that God has allowed us the ability to help others in need; to be His hands and feet.  Before, I would have said that if things “hit the fan”, we would help others if/when we felt led.  After my research on hospitality, I say that if we feel blessed to be His hands and feet now, there will be so many more opportunities when “it hits the fan”.  We will still help if/when we are led, but I see it more of an opportunity to be used by God, than a Christian duty.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like we need to help everyone, especially those who might take advantage.  This goes for friends and family as well as strangers.

God is loving and, at times, meets the needs of someone in an emergency. He also loves us enough to give us free will and to let us face difficult consequences for poor choices, so that we may learn from them.  We should follow His example, as we are made in His image.

 

Closing

I want to close with an excerpt from “Entertaining Angels: Early Christian Hospitality in its Mediterranean Setting”

“These Lukan hospitality texts remain relevant for Christians today. Even more than in the ancient world, we encounter travelers and strangers from vastly different regions and cultures. Some are traveling by choice (e.g., students and immigrants), while others travel by necessity (e.g., evacuees from natural disasters and refugees from war-torn regions). In Luke’s writings, we hear a call to extend hospitality to these strangers in creative ways.

With the early Christians we should take wise steps to guard against those who might abuse generous hosts (Didache 11-12), but we may not neglect the Christian ministry of hospitality. As Jesus’ disciples, we should proactively seek to extend protection and provisions to strangers. As we do this, we may encounter God’s presence in the midst of our hospitality. We may well “entertain angels without knowing it.”

 

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

 

As I mentioned recently I was asked to do a couple radio interviews. The first of which was recorded last Thursday and will air Sat, February 23, 2013 05:00 pm CST. A word of warning for those who might listen, I was incredibly nervous and may have passed out for a second here and there. All kidding aside I think I did OK for my first radio interview, thank you so much to Sylvia The Christian Homekeeper for the opportunity. Also thank you all who prayed for me and had words of encouragement.