Progress With the New Flooring

Father's Day Card by Susan Rios

This card is a free gift from Susan. You can use it.

There is a lot of work still to be done around here after a 20 year old carpet was replaced with vinyl flooring. It is worse than unpacking after a move. At least when relocating, the things are in boxes with labels . While I was gone one day, the men moved everything and jumbled it up with a giant spoon like a huge salad, and now I am sorting through it.

You can see the darker flooring which had been discontinued, and the lighter flooring next too it, but with the furniture and rugs, it is not noticeable. In an old house that was actually going to be torn down years ago, I am not going to get too particular about having everything perfect.

The difference in the two floors can hardly be seen unless someone is looking critically.

The living room is the only thing camera-worthy right now, and I have a lot of things to do to get the giant salad in order.

I am getting ready to host a morning tea-luncheon tomorrow, and a ladies Bible class, so I will open the tent windows and take more pictures tomorrow when I have everything set up.

The tent needs some adjusting, as the wind is playing around with it right now, but this is what it looks like inside, so far.

It is perhaps appropriate that our study tomorrow is about the faith of Abraham, because he was a tent-dweller and we are having our lesson in a tent. Each week we also read the great faith chapter in Hebrews 11, which includes the people who lived by faith, even though they had never seen what they were promised.

Noah had never seen rain or a flood or a boat, and yet he built one and entered into it for safety. The New Testament refers to the ark as a type of salvation.

Abraham was called by God to go out of his own country and away from his own kin, and away from his father's house to go to another land. I know people who have to move from their beloved homes, and sometimes it is bewildering and discomforting. They miss their homes and their kindred and they find it difficult to adjust.

When I was only 16 I was uprooted from a home I loved, as our family went to another country to live there permanently. We were strangers in a foreign land and the adjustment was difficult. My father read the faith chapter, Hebrews 11. Hebrews seems to be written to Christians who wanted to go back to their childhood religion, just like we wanted to go back to our familial home, to remind them of the faith of their fathers who were looking for a home provided by God.

Being so very young, the changes seemed bewildering. It would have helped if someone had taught me the benefits of gratefulness and contentment. I believe these two qualities chase away mental anguish and mental instability. Happily, there were several people who took an interest in me and offered comforts that took the edge off the sudden changes. On top of the drastic relocation we made, one of the children died in an accident in our new country (my oldest brother) which added an undercurrent of sadness to our existence.

Whatever your circumstances, like Abraham, who had to move continuously, and like Noah who lost his known world, you can bring your knowledge and your wisdom and talents with you to make a home. One day your children will think you are were very confident and brave, and of course, whatever we do is for The Lord, anyway.

If you have moved across the country or across the world, I would suggest you ease into social situations slowly and cautiously. If you attend a church, be aware that the people there have already established the way they work together and the way they conduct their Bible studies and their worship services. Do not walk in as a newcomer and start wanting changes.

Never tell your hostess that you hate the new state you live in or that you hate the country you live in. Just tell them you are having difficulty adjusting and that you miss your old home but never insult people who are hosting you by saying you hate their state or city or country. It will not endear you to them, and they will not be inclined to show warmth to you, and it will make it even harder to like the place and to adjust.

A Christian lady has to remember that she is still a pilgrim traveling through a foreign land, because she has a mission of teaching, by her life and her conversation, the refinement and contentment the New Testament teaches. In such circumstances of painful relocation, she can get her mind off herself and extend gracious understanding and generosity to her hostess and be a ray of sunshine and optimism.

In a sense, you represent the place you came from. Would you want your new acquaintances to think that everyone from your area was a complainer or a malcontent? Such a trial can be a great time to work on character qualities found in Philippians 4:8 and Galations 5:22-23.

Jas 5:11    Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

If you are relocating or suffering from grief, or any trial, you can still use it for good. I think The letter to the Christians in Rome shows what our focus should be on. Use this chapter as your guide to getting along in the church, whether you are relocating or not:
Rom 12:1    I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2    And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3    For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4    For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5    So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Rom 12:6    Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7    Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom 12:8    Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rom 12:9    Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Rom 12:10    Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Rom 12:11    Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Rom 12:12    Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Rom 12:13    Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
Rom 12:14    Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Rom 12:15    Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Rom 12:16    Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Rom 12:17    Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:18    If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19    Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20    Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21    Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

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