For His Sake

For His Sake

Even Jesus...

For such a time as this...

I'm reminded that EVEN JESUS experienced the fear of what was to come. He asked God the Father that if it was possible, he might remove the cup from him. I'm encouraged...that EVEN JESUS...

"On the night before He was crucified, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The thought of what would take place in the next 24 hours caused Jesus to be deeply troubled; "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Mark 14:34).

Being fully God, Jesus knew exactly what was about to take place and exactly why it had to occur. But being fully Man, the foreknowledge of the rejection, physical pain, and spiritual separation from the Father was nearly unbearable.

Mark 14:36
"'Abba, Father,' He said, 'everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.'"

Jesus cried out and asked for the plan to be changed; and yet, His greater desire was for the Father's will to be done. Earlier in His ministry, Jesus taught us this same principle; "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven'" (Matthew 6:9-10). Even with an absolute understanding of what He must endure, Jesus' sole desire was to glorify the Father by walking the path placed before Him; "I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do" (John 17:4).

This is the example we ought to follow all through our life; we should present ourselves to the Father, fully prepared to serve, and be completely emptied of our own desires. When we have allowed Him to be the only possessor of our heart, He will fill us with His Spirit and accomplish His perfect will through our life. When our life is ordered and directed only by His will, we will receive blessings from above which bring far greater joy than the fulfillment of ANY flesh-directed desire.

This is one of the mysterious "secrets" of the Christian walk. We were created to be in fellowship with God - to glorify Him and enjoy His presence for all eternity. We may spend a lifetime chasing what we believe will bring us a sense of fulfillment, but we will never be truly content until we rest in His arms and submit to His ways.

What cup have we been given to drink? What seemingly unbearable burden have we been given to carry? Have we been asking, even demanding, that the burdens be taken from us, or are we yielding to the Father's will and being determined to glorify Him in all we do? Let's come to His table ready and willing to serve; but let's also come with complete submission to His perfect plan. Only in this can we fulfill the purpose for which we were created. Heavenly Father, we give our life fully into Your hands; let it unfold, not by our plans, goals or desires, but according to Your will."

Have a Christ Centered Day!

Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries

Grunging candles for that prim look at a fraction of the cost!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Tim and Patti's! This little "tornado" would barely slow down for a quick snap with her Poppie and Grammy, but Poppie caught her and held her down for just one snappie! And yes, she is a "cheese doodle"! ; )

I didn't go "black Friday" shopping, but the day after that, I went to Big. Lot's to pick up some tealites! You know...these kind. The picture below is one I snagged off of The Dollar. Tree website. I think these end up being cheaper b/c you get 3/ $1.00 there. Mine came out to be about .60 each from big. lots.

But mine had these to go with them...so I guess I actually did SAVE money. I think these types of batteries can be expensive! When we got ready to put the batteries in them after we dipped them, we found they already had batteries in them and these along the side were "extras"! YEA!!

I picked up a "brown" candle from HobLob...on the 90% off after Thanksgiving sale. It had been battered...poor thing. BUT..I didn't care b/c I was cutting it chunks anyhow. Did you know this is what the inside of a candle looks like? Or maybe this is just "cheap candle" guts? I dunno...I don't think I've ever cut up a candle before! Ha!! Anyhow...you can use white, off white, brown, gold, whatever color you want b/c you can color it w/ spices and instant coffee!

I made a "well" of sorts, w/ aluminum foil, found a heatproof bowl that I was going to put in a garage sale and nestled it in the middle of the foil. Sat it all down inside my crockpot, put on the lid and set it on high. Within and hour, the wax had all melted into a puddle! That is when I added some cheap allspice, an individual packet of instant coffee and some real coffee grounds. This picture is after I did my dippin' and the wax and begun to set up again.

Some instructions say to "paint" the wax on w/ an old art brush, then roll your candle in ground cinnamon. I didn't do that however. This was my first experiment. I am going to try this gal's idea soon though b/c /I want some bigger candles that are battery operated. Check out her blog before you do this b/c it'll give you better visuals than mine does! It is better to let your wax cool a bit b/c it doesn't want to adhear to plastic if it's piping hot. You can experiment as you go.

I just held onto the plastic "battery protector" and dipped those babies right down in the hot wax. Lifted them out and held them there for 30 sec. or so until the wax had set up, then turned them over and sat them on a piece of waxed paper to cool. See that brush? I used that to get the sides right down by the bottom...where I didn't get it completely dipped. I think this would be a must if you did tapers...since there isn't a bowl deep enough to dip it upside down in. I'm getting ready to experiment with those tomorrow. I found 4 battery operated tapers at the thrift store for .50 each! Oh..this is going to be fun!

This is the final product! I was so excited to see how easy this is! And how cheap! I had paid $4.00 for 2 of these little jewels at a local Prim shop just a few weeks ago!

And here's the "night version".

Now, I'm hoping my "thrift store" tapers will come out like this one that I paid $7.00 for in Lincoln!

Now get busy prim friends...make your own candles and smile about how much money you saved!