“The RoseBouquet”

Begotten way back in eternity’s beginning-less start.
That’s before this world began - before this earth
existed, or any oceans waved, He was given birth;
In fact, He was there all along in the Father’s heart.

Together they agreed and spoke the creating Word;
Lo, their Spirit moved upon a great empty void,
the light and dark separated, the sun was upward buoyed,
methodically the planets into space they hurled.

Like an engrossed child, the perfectly cooperative Son,
worked with His Father to speak forth birds and fishes,
delighting in creatures that obeyed all their wishes.
Making animals with special features was sheer fun!

Together with the Holy Spirit they consulted and agreed,
they’d like a creature, a whole race that could choose;
one who could deliberate - will I obey God - or lose?
Those choosing rightly would be adopted and freed.

Yes, adopted into this holy family so creative and pure!
But the first Adam and his descendants chose to bite,
and sinning became their constant habit, their delight.
Even when they tried to be good, it was sin too, for sure.

Ah, but that perfect, holy and creative Family above
was not out of solutions - They had the most awesome plan!
The Son would go down to join the race, be one of the clan,
starting as a baby, entrusting Himself to His parents’ love.

But babies do grow and mature; this Saviour would too.
The Son and very God Himself, would walk among us,
teaching by example, parables, and His miraculous touch,
then take our sins to the cross, and give us LIFE brand new.

Jesus is speaking. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wine skin will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved.” (NIV)

People experienced with sewing or wine-making, will have chuckled at the notion of patching old with new, or filling an old wineskin with new wine. They knew it had been tried.

I’ve done enough mending to know that, yes, putting a brand new patch on an old tear doesn’t work well. It tends to make it worse.

I’ve no experience with wine-making, but have heard new wine wants to breath and grow as it ferments. An old wine-skin (a bottle made from goat hide) would become brittle and hardened, so it would not expand in keeping with the wine. It would easily burst.

How does this apply to our lives spiritually, though? What does it have to do with your or me today?

Jesus used these vivid images to say that we have to start over. We can’t just patch a mistake in our lives and expect it to hold. Nor can we pour a new Holy Spirit into an old and brittle life. It means starting with a totally new creation. How do we do that?

It means coming to Jesus, and saying in effect, “I’m sick and tired of running my own life. I only keep on sinning. I can’t patch and improve it bit by bit. Since You died for me on the cross, let’s consider the old me dead. The life I shall life from now on is Your resurrected life in all Your power and glory.”

PRAYER: Lord, I’m dead spiritually to all my past, and I want to live Your borrowed life through my body and being. You died for me, now live for me, dear Holy Spirit. I will be like a new wine skin, breathing, expanding, as Your Spirit works in and through me with a heavenly power and might! Hallelujah!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. You will love Ruthe’s Secret Roses if you like;
* walking and talking intimately with God
* stories of compassion and dramatic conversion
* have a bleeding, caring heart of your own
* are a caregiving older sister
* love designing clothes and make-overs
* love giving gifts and surprises
* are a mentor or counseling kind of friend.

ohn the Baptist taught repentance for sins to get ready for the Saviour. So his disciples were getting used to mourning for what sinners they were, and telling God about this honestly. Fasting must have been a natural expression of this awareness of their sin.

Jesus was going about healing the sick, and giving away His joy and peace. He was teaching the masses how to be blessed, and miraculously feeding large crowds on small lunches.

John’s disciples noticed this contrast. They asked Jesus, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus’ answer reveals some things never heard of before that time. He answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

Jesus compared Himself to a bridegroom, and indicated that He would leave for a time, during which His followers would certainly fast and mourn. From other passages in the New Testament, we know that all those who have trusted Christ as Saviour are referred to as the Bride of Christ, and that He is coming back to take His Bride to His Father’s home for a great wedding feast.

At the time of this incident no one had heard of the Church yet. But they did understand the Jewish custom that a bridegroom would come to negotiate a contract with his Bride’s family, then go back to his father’s home to prepare a place for her. He would return suddenly and unannounced for his bride, but by that time they were all to be ready to follow him, even if at night, if they wanted to be part of the wedding feast - which generally lasted seven days.

PRAYER: Yes, Lord. Right now we long and mourn for Your presence, (and at times for our sin), but oh-oh-h are we going to celebrate with You when we get to that wedding feast! Hallelujah! I look forward to that!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Ruthe is afraid to tell her family back home for reasons of her own, and this leads her to live a double life. The pressures build. Sooner or later she has to take some of the advice she gives others, for she’s getting into serious trouble! Ruthe’s Secret Roses.

Matthew tells this story in the third person, on himself. Jesus met him at the tax collector’s booth, and invited him to follow Him. Matthew got up and followed Jesus. Simple as that.

Matthew happened to be rich, and he threw a supper for Jesus and all His disciples. We each adapt what we know in how we follow Jesus too, don’t we?

I’ve read, in that culture, when the rich threw a party it was a fairly public event. The poor folks - and apparently Pharisees too - would come stand around the table and lounging mats to watch and listen.

In this case, Matthew had invited his friends and neighbours, who were also tax collectors and sinners as guests, so if the Pharisees came in along with the even lower street life to watch, it must’ve been quite something. They even asked the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard and pointed out that it was not the healthy who needed a doctor, but the sick. He said; “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Jesus added that He had not come to call the righteous, but sinners. This must have embarrassed the Pharisees, and caused the rest of the guests to whoop with laughter.

How do you and I feel about this news? Do you count yourself among the sinners who need Jesus, or those Pharisees, hung up on their regulations?

Spiritually, I’m one of the sick who need Jesus as a doctor. What a spiritual Doctor He is too! When we trust His finished work on the cross, we are rid of all our shame and guilt for our sins. That’s the root of any other problem we have. There may be habits and false beliefs lurking, but we can ask Jesus for help to be rid of those too.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I do trust You as Saviour. Come live in me by Your Holy Spirit. I need righteousness and holiness and peace and joy and strength for daily life. Now that makes for a very thorough doctor!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Just graduating from high school in a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada, Ruthe commutes to the city of Saskatoon as a telephone operator. BUT in her off hours, she gets involved in the lives of the abused, bereaved, dying and spiritually hungry. Read Ruthe’s Story

Here’s a healing story with an unhappy reaction. When Jesus had stepped into a boat and gone back to His own hometown, a paralyzed man lying on a mat was brought to Him. When He saw their faith - note the plural - He said, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Immediately the teachers of the law were muttering to themselves about witnessing blasphemy.

Jesus knew their thoughts and addressed them. He asked whether it is easier to forgive sins or to heal and say, “get up and walk”? Before they could answer Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”

The man obeyed right away.

This awed the crowd, who praised God for giving such authority or power to humans, or mankind.

It’s exactly this last part that catches my attention today. The crowd attributed the miracle to the power of God, which is correct. Attributing it to Satan would have been true blasphemy. But do you notice that they said God had given this authority, which is ultimately only God’s, to men? That’s to us people.

They may not have realized it, but Jesus did, in other instances, delegate this authority to forgive sins and to heal others to His followers. That still applies to us today. If we are truly following Jesus, and seeking to obey all his commands, Jesus is delegating authority in His name that we may use to forgive sins and to heal those who are immobilized by sin or sickness. (And sickness often comes from sin). If you are wholly committed to following Jesus, have you also used this authority delegated to you?

PRAYER: Lord, I confess that though I’ve been aware of this power available to me, I haven’t really exercised it as I should have. I keep forgetting! Help me now to appropriate it, and to use it as You prompt and guide me, please!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. “God, give ME a Friend!” Is that your heart’s cry? If you feel friendless, you will be thrilled to meet Ruthe and her BEST Friend, whom she loves to share! Get the book; Ruthe’s Secret Roses.

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake after that violent storm He told to be still, two very violent men that no one else dared pass met Him and cried out, “What do You want with us, Son of God?” They shouted, “Have You come to torture us before our appointed time?”

These demon possessed men reveal some startling truths. The demons knew Jesus was the Son of God. They knew God had promised long ago that they would one day be put away in hell for torture, and they knew Jesus had power to send them there.

The demons feared their destiny so much they begged to be sent into a bunch of pigs. Jesus complied, knowing the pigs would run off madly and end up in the lake. Jewish people were not to eat pork or ham, so that wasn’t going to be such a bad thing.

Those tending the pigs ran off to the village or town to report this crazy thing they had witnessed. Soon the towns people came out in a mob to meet Jesus. But not to welcome Him. They begged Jesus to leave their region; they wanted things back the way they were.

Can you believe that? They would rather have those demon possessed men running around with sharp rocks, scaring the daylights out of them, - and their pork, than to have Jesus do miracles in their midst.

Do you recognize Jesus’ power as the Son of God to change your life, but you would rather not? Do you really love your present lifestyle more than you would love to be healed and transformed into a person of peace and a clear, sensible mind?

PRAYER: Lord, the best choice seems so clear and obvious. It would be far better to have You living with me, and changing everything for the better. However, as I consider this, I realize there are times when I seem blind to that option and I’d rather stick with the troubles I’m familiar with and the sins I’ve learned to like. But now I want to choose You - and accept Your changes.

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. Wish You had One Loyal Friend?

The secret is to BE one first. Discover how by watching Ruthe in this book! (You could gain her BEST Friend too).

How much effort do you put into preparing and sending out Christmas cards and letters?

For over 14 years I had what I referred to as my PenPal club. I wrote a long newsy letter to them each month, making the 15th my goal, and at Christmas, since I couldn’t afford to buy them gifts, or even the postage to send them all my home-made craft gifts, I took to going to extra effort with my Christmas cards and letters. It got to be a big production.

Since starting my online business, I’ve cut back considerably. This weekly RoseBouquet has replaced the monthly penpal letter, but I still want to keep in touch with my large circle of relatives and friends, so in December I whip up my Christmas story as a gift, and my long letter, and a card. Then I dash off personal notes in each one, and wrap them up in paper to make an envelope. The fact that I can put these online and just email friends with instructions to pick them up is a huge help.

BUT… there are still a goodly number of people who don’t have computers, or who hate email, and so I still prepare my “Christmas mail” and it still eats up time that is harder and harder to find.

Last weekend my brother Tom was in Emergency so we sat there all Saturday afternoon. In the evening I got the printer to cooperate again, and started printing cards and pages. Sunday had it’s own interruptions, and because I fell asleep at one job, I had to give up part of last night to do that over.

Today I am determined to sneak in all the minutes I can spare to get more of these printed and addressed, ready to mail as soon as the postage money miracle arrives. It always does, so I get ready as I can.

Because the mail going out some distance needs to be off very shortly to arrive before Christmas, I press harder on that first. When that’s done, I’ll start sending out the PDF version for my online friends with email.

Fortunately Dad and I don’t need a lot of decorations, or baking to make it “Christmas” for us. What little I do, I can put off until after the mailing deadlines.

All that talk about Christmas mail? Well, to a large degree it has to take second place to clients and email catchup. My hours for personal business efforts have been sacrificed lately, but I’m looking forward to my spiritual retreat time between Christmas and New Year’s when I will prayerfully, carefully go over my daily and weekly schedules to see what has to go to make room for new projects.

I’ll feel better when I can point to a project and say, “When project one and project two get done on Thursday nights, then it’ll be your turn in that block of time.”

We’ll see what happens when the Lord and I take time to talk all these details over more thoroughly.

I have yet another client lined up this week for web hosting, but that should be a very easy one to set up and maintain.

There’s one more in the wings!

I had thought of declaring one of these busy weeks before Christmas a vacation, just so I could get caught up on some projects, and push for a few hours on my neglected sequel novel. But right now with new clients coming out of the woodwork, I better just ease up on my own business hours, and give some of them up.

It also looks like 2007 may be a year of training and interning others. Two new friends have expressed an interest to learn some of the skills I have. One in conjunction with one of the new sites. Another person is a good possibility too. My thoughts the last few weeks have been strongly on my dreams for training interns, but it looked like I wouldn’t be able to start as long as I am Dad’s caregiver. Maybe, if i just wait and see, God will show me that there are more than one way to attain that goal.

How about you? Have you ever been convinced there was only one way something could happen; then to discover that it can be accomplished in a few other ways too? That’s an embarrassing, yet encouraging spot to be in, isn’t it?

If your experience with email has been limited to just your Outlook on your computer, connected to your ISP provider’s email service, or to a Hotmail or yahoo webmail address, you might not realize that there are loads of other options.

When you get a registered domain (from $4.99 to 9.99) and hosting for your domain ($12/year from me) you can make up all the email addresses you like from within your hosting admin area.

With each domain email address you can have an array of options. You can set up your Outlook or Netscape email program to fetch and show you your emails and also to send from each and every one of your addresses. Or, you can go online to a URL connected to your domain, and there choose from three different web mail programs to handle your email right there online. My domains come with your choice of Horde, Squirrel, and RoundCube. (If you know how to install these, you can set them up on some other hosting service too - IF you have access to the admin area, and can ftp, as most are free).

Now it’s up to you whether you just use the domain/hosting for email or also put up a web site. But if all that is still way over your head, here are some other options.

You can download some free email programs to screen and handle all your emails right there on your computer at home. I loved Pegasus Mail (also known as PMail) when I used a Windows 98 platform. Now I use KMail, but it’s for Linux platforms only. Thunderbird by Mozilla is considered a great one by some. It works on either Windows or Linux.

Then yesterday, while checking into this for a friend, I remembered that Opera is a free browser for either Windows or Linux and it comes with an email program built in. www.Opera.com I use it occasionally to see how a web page looks in something other than Firefox, my preferred browser, but this Opera is not hard to get to like.

This morning I was thinking about this friend who wanted a way to access her ISP email from another site. Ah-ha. Yes, my Excite account. I use that when signing up for something that I fear is going to give me a lot of unwanted mail, and I only check it occasionally. (It gives me 125 MB of space on my free account). I went to look and sure enough. Excite allows you to set up other POP3 accounts so that you can receive and deal with your email right there. www.excite.com (I think I like it better than Yahoo).

(c)2006 Ruth Marlene FriesenDo you find that just as Christmas holidays, (or other holidays) come closer you come down with some sort of health problem? It can be headaches, digestive disturbances, flu symptoms, or a fierce and unrelenting cough. Whatever it is, this problem gets in the way of the enjoyment you had hoped for over the holidays.

My big bout with pneumonia and pleurisy last December really messed things up for me. I got so little done of my Christmas preparations, while I hacked away with a cough fit to bring up my toenails! I tried various herbal remedies as well as the over-the-counter medications, and nothing seemed to fully lick the problem, until I discovered that I had the remedy in my bathroom cabinet.

We need to recognize that as Christmas draws closer, we are often at social functions at which we eat rich foods which may not agree with our digestive system, but while we’re laughing and talking with people, we slip them into our mouths anyway without thinking.

We may also have conflicts with family members about how, and where we will celebrate Christmas, and these depress our souls and our spirit, making them more susceptible to spiritual attacks, which become evident through physical ailments.

Thirdly, we get so busy with all our extra projects such as shopping, gift making, decorating, and extra contacts with people that we slack off on our rest and our private devotional lives with God. This takes a toll on our bodies too.

In at least three ways we are open game for trouble - the kind that will hurt and hinder us right in the midst of the season of joy.

Here are three ways to deal with these problems. Individually they may or may not show immediate results, but if you take them together, and make an effort to carry out all three, you should be well for the holidays.

One. Cleanse your gut, your digestive tract with high fibre (i.e. bran, raw veggies) and even natural laxatives, and drink lots and LOTS of water!. Purify your blood by drinking some hot water with a teaspoon of molasses in it. When your blood platelets are healthy they can deal with unwanted germs better. Enchinecea is another good guard. Herbal teas with dried leaves of plantain, comfrey, and or nettle, are one of my favourites too.

When I get alarmed that things are not clearing up as quickly as I’d like, I resort to a bitter-tasting, but powerful remedy - drops of Oil of Oregano under my tongue. That is a strong killer of infections, and that’s what turned the tide on my super-duper cough and pleurlsy infection last year.

Don’t forget to get some rest. Give up some things you meant to do, to get in some hours devoted to sleep and rest. Our bodies do their best healing work when we are asleep.

Two. From a spiritual perspective, I notice that I’m more susceptible to physical attacks when I’ve let up on quality time with the Lord. So the best answer is to give some hours over to talking very frankly with Him about the bad habits and faults that I’ve allowed to creep into my life. I confess them as sins, and ask Him to cleanse me of them, and to help me overcome them with positive habits. Especially when it comes to resisting all kinds of sweets and treat foods that I don’t normally allow myself - I need spiritual strength to leave them alone, or say with a smile, “No, thanks.”

Perhaps it is fretting about other’s attitudes towards you, and the things they have said or implied. These too, must be brought to the Lord, and turned over to Him for grace to forgive and cover with love.

Third. When you have done all these things, and the perspective of how Christmas will turn out still worries you, then it is time to confess that worry as sin, and to deliberately, and with your voice aloud, turn the whole matter over to the Lord. Resolve, make up your mind to trust Him, and rejoice. Because He is able and willing. Stand ready to see some miracles!

Your miracle may not impress others, but if you have a headache and it goes away, and if you can cheerfully chat with difficult people, or if you can ignore the sugary sweets, and sip water or tea, and feel content through it all, you can call that a miracle. I do - often!

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Ruth Marlene Friesen, makes friends everywhere, just like her alter ego,
the heroine of her novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses. Discover the secrets of
intentional friendship that transforms lives at http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com.
There’s over 600 pages to read! Look for the blog links too
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