Given to Hospitality - A Prayer

LORD,
Thank You for having given Yourself in intimate,
inexplicable hospitality.
You have been the Host to all creation.

Without a dwelling, You have contained the
whole world and habited Yourself in the winds,
the corners, and the depths, inviting us to be
at home with You. Beneath the shadow of Your
wing You bid us hide, and in the depths of Your
being You shelter and refuge us.

Without meat You have nourished us.
Without beverage You have refreshed us.
By Your every Word came sustenance.
On bread and water without price have we been fed.
You have been manna in the wilderness of our lives.

Without a table You have banqueted us,
inviting us, yea, to be married unto You.
Over our heads flies the banner of Your love.
We are entertained with the mysteries of faith,
the songs of the Spirit, holy laughter.
You have garmented us in festal righteousness.
As we wandered in wastelands,
You sought us before we called.

You extended eager welcome
though we had scarcely knocked.
You embraced us when we were filthy
and oppressed and undeserving.
you are the Samaritan Who passes not by,
Who finds lodging for us in the warm inns by the way.
You bake fish over coals, waiting for us,
though we have forgotten to wait for You.
With broken hands You break the loaf of blessing.
Those same wounds caress our leprous spirits.
You do not fear to openly accept the intimate worship of our
harlot hearts.
You are the Host of all mankind.
Lifted up, suffering, without breath, You yet
extend greeting to all the masses,
"Come unto Me...
come...
come..."

You give us the mystery of Your presence in this supper of the
ages, this remembrance of Your ultimate hospitality.
O Lord,
Make my hospitality as unto Yours.
Be forever my archetype of endeavor,
my firstfruit of harvested goodness:
Love for the battered, misused child,
Grace to bind running ulcers of flesh and soul,
Eagerness for the wealthy without servility,
And for the poor without superiority.

Through eternity You have been and will be
utterly hospitable.
help me,
poor, faltering, unfeeling me,
to be like You,
with breath-beat and soul-heart
poured out
emptied
opened.
Help me
to be given to hospitality.

--Karen Mains, from her book,
Open Heart, Open Home

Southern Hospitality

We periodically receive a newsletter from the Mount family who lives in Georgia, and who provides hospitality for the missionaries who are coming and going with Operation Mobilization. This dear family is truly gifted in the ministry of hospitality. Please visit their blog, Mount Heaven, and please keep them in your prayers as they serve the Lord and encourage others in their service on the mission field.






Jeni included a couple of recipes with their last newsletter that I want to share with you...

Southern Sweet Tea *****************************************

*In a medium saucepan, boil 10-12 cups of water

*Drop in 10-12 teabags and let steep for 5 minutes

*Remove teabags and stir in 2 cups of sugar until dissolved...(Marty Hynson says you must add at least 2 cups of sugar! When I tried it with only 1 cup, I was told it wasn't "sweet tea" at all!)

*Pour hot tea into a large pitcher full of ice and add water until full

*Drink outside on the porch with a dear one and watch the lightning bugs...if you have them where you live!

******************************************

Sally's Sunburst Lemon Bars

1. Beat the following ingredients only until flaky crumbs form:
2 Cups flour
3/4 Cup powdered sugar
1 - 1/2 Cups butter (3 cubes)

2. Press the crumb mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan and place in 350 degree oven for 20 - 30 minutes.


3. Mix the following ingredients and pour over the warm crust when it comes out of the oven:
4 eggs
1/4 Cup flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Cup lemon juice

4. Place the pan back in the overn for 25 -30 minutes and cook until light brown.

5. Mix the following ingredients and drizzle over the warm lemon bars when they come out ot the oven:
1 Cup powdered sugar
About 4 Tablespoons lemon juice

6. Serve these chilled, on a hot, sunny afternoon, to your cheery friends!

New Friends

We attended the CHOIS (Christian Homeschoolers of Idaho State) Conference last weekend, for the first time as exhibitors with Refreshed Hearts. What a delight and privilege to receive such a welcome by the convention leadership and attendees! We loved meeting so many dear folks who share our hearts for the ministry of hospitality, for loving God and sharing His love with their families and communities. What an encouragement! We are thankful for our new friends and their support, and look forward to ongoing mutual encouragement in the Lord, and in His pattern of hospitality. (By the way, the Plum White Scripture Tea was a favorite!)

Our Space

Three of our SweetHearts

Some of our "Feed on the Word" Products

Scripture Tea Samples...Very Popular!

The "Family and Children" Collection

The Youngest stayed to help sample tea at the booth
while the others attended the "Teen Workshop"

Our New Banner

"Feed on the Word" Scripture Dinnerware...Welcome to Our Table

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Has it Really Been a Month Already???

Life has been so full this past month, and I am not very good at multi-tasking (apparently) or I would have kept up with my blog and kept you abreast of the goings-on here. At the end of April, we had a sweet memorial service for Grandpa-Dad, with lovely memories and important life-lessons shared. Then came birthday after birthday after birthday, with an anniversary to boot (on one of those said birthdays)...all these the first eight days of May. And one of those birthdays was a Half-Century celebration...not for me, in case you are wondering ;)... Then there was Mother's Day, and just last weekend, our daughter's Home School high school graduation and backyard picnic afterward. In the meantime, our oldest daughter returned home from college, both girls started work at a local nursery, we participated in Rene's "Miss Gracie's and Friends" sale, and the boys performed "Who's On First", an Abbott and Costello skit, for an end-of-school year talent show. Below are some pics of these special times in our lives...a sort of "month-in-review", I guess. I get weary just typing about it!!! We are truly thankful, and the celebration of God's faithfulness and goodness in our lives goes on!!!

The girls playing @ Grandpa Dad's funeral

Refreshed Heart's display at Miss Gracie's sale

My Birthday Cake (made by Gracy)!

Gracy and me @ her graduation ceremony

Gracy's display at her graduation party

His Hospitable Pattern: Loving and Giving

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." - 1 John 3:16

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20

"Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." - Ephesians 5:1,2

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work." - 2 Thessalonians 2:16,17

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her..." - Ephesians 5:25

In His Presence...Fullness of Joy!!!

Our dear Grandpa-Dad (see previous post) has gone home, truly Home, by the grace and tender mercies of our God.
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.
Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?'
Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.' "

In the above photo, my daughters are playing a piano/violin duet for Grandpa-Dad at his home, two weeks prior to his Home-going. His favorite song was "In the Garden", and he always requested that they play this piece for him. I can only imagine his joyful countenance as he now beholds the glory of our blessed Lord Jesus, and walks and talks with Him face to face...

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear;
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain
And He walks with me,
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there;
None other has ever known.

He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain
And He walks with me,
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there;
None other has ever known.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
'Tho the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain
And He walks with me,
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there;
None other has ever known.

Words and music by Charles Austin Miles - 1913

Grandpa-Dad and Grandma-Mom

Our Grandpa and Great Grandpa (affectionately known as Grandpa-Dad) is 96, and as hospitable as ever, even though he has congestive heart failure, is on oxygen 24/7, and recently had a fall that left him battered and bruised. The more company he has, the brighter the twinkle in his eyes and the bigger his smile. His love for friends and family bubbles over continuously…an evidence of the Holy Spirit Who fills his heart and soul, and Who blesses the heart of every visitor, stranger and familiar, alike. In fact, he characterizes the New Testament definition of hospitality, “loving strangers”, beautifully.

Grandpa-Dad and Grandma-Mom have always been best known for their LOVE, and their gracious, open hearts and open home. They regularly invited other families to their home for dinner after church and often hosted visiting missionaries and pastors. They kept the guest room ready! Since Grandma-Mom went to be with the Lord, Grandpa-Dad has carried on faithfully, and has continued to welcome “folks” into his life at every turn. He shared Saturday that the nurses at the hospital he visits for blood transfusions have said they look forward to his “words of wisdom” every week. He quotes poetry and Bible verses from memory, and loves to share stories about family history and the “olden days”. What a treasure he is to us all. It is evident that his Treasure is in heaven, and this Treasure he gives away generously through his gift of hospitality.

This is a legacy of hospitality we thank God for…

Homelessly Hospitable

A certain scribe came and said to Jesus, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."
And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, "Follow Me."

This account, recorded in both Matthew 8 and Luke 9, tells me that Jesus had no earthly home where He could invite His followers to come and learn of Him and be refreshed. And yet He is the Hospitable One, our pattern for all of life. He invites us: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

I get so caught up in the externals of life. So distracted. The house, the table, the menu, the candles, the coffee, and it goes on...

The Lord Jesus shows me that hospitality is a lifestyle, not an event. It is a matter of the heart, and can be offered anywhere at anytime, because refreshing the heart of another is not necessarily confined to a particular place or time. I can share the love of Christ and allow His Spirit to meet someone's particular need through me however, whenever, wherever God provides the opportunity...hospitality is about Jesus.



Dear Lord and Father of Mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind;
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease.
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess,
The beauty of Thy peace.
-John Greenleaf Whittier

Resurrection Sunday

We celebrated Christ's Resurrection with our extended family yesterday (21 of us!). We enjoyed a hearty brunch at the lovely home of my dear parents-by-marriage.

Easter Egg Hunt

This is one of those hospitable homes that has been a continual refreshment in our lives over these 22 years. My husband's folks are gracious hearts, always loving, giving, supporting, praying, blessing the hearts of family and friends.

Yummy Desserts

MotherH continues to teach me through her hospitable example. I look forward to sharing more about her with you as we visit together...

MotherH's Tablescape

Given to Hospitality

"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;
distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality." -Romans 12:10-13

Welcome! We are overjoyed to have you visit us and to be writing our first entry for our new blog. I say "we" and "our" because this is a combined family effort. My husband and daughters are definitely the brains behind the blog...I am just the visionary. I wish I could have the vision come out the ends of my fingers and on to the computer screen the way they do!
Our Resurrection Celebration is a perfect way to begin, I think. Our family has a heritage of hospitable homes and hearts to learn from...but our supreme example of hospitality is, and always will be, God Himself. God our Father invites us to dwell in continual fellowship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Risen and Reigning Savior! He calls us to shelter under the blood of Jesus, to abide in the safety and joy of His presence. He is our eternal Home. And He is the pattern and the power for practicing the hospitality He commands us to "be given to". He is our Glorious, Gracious, Loving Host for all eternity! Praise be to our mighty, mighty Savior!!!