Jehova Jireh

Jehova Jireh--God is our Provider

From last weeks Sunday sermon I am still pondering the thoughts of Jehova Jireh, God is our Provider. And as I've pondered this name of God I've seen God meet me in many ways to show me that He is just that.

God has His perfect timing. Always the right time and the right place, never late but it sure seems that He is often not early. He does not work on our timetables but rather there is a testing of our faith as we wait patiently on Him. This helps us to produce fruit.

In order for God to be our provider we must come to Him with our needs. Often we don't think we have any needs because we are so busy providing for ourselves. We have to let go and let God as the saying goes.

Abraham encountered Jehova Jireh on Mount Moriah. (Genesis 22) He was willing to let go of his most prized posession, his son Isaac. I wonder...do I have an Isaac? Is there something in my life or maybe many things in my life that God would call me to lay down? Abraham was willing to praise God in sacrifice before He saw God come through for him in provision. Seeing God as Jehova Jira involves our obedience in faith.

Often in the Bible we see that when God came through for His children they would build an altar of remembrance to remind them of the great thing God had done. That is my purpose in this blog post. I want it to be my altar of remembrance for Jehova Jireh.

This past week I have seen God provide financially for our family. I have seen God provide encouragement at just the right moment of my darkest despair. I have seen God provide prayer and compassion through His people, His Church. I have seen God provide clothing; four sacks of maternity name brand clothing at a thrift store that came in just ten minutes before I walked in asking if they had a maternity section for I was in need of bigger clothes. I have seen God provide educational books and a new baby sling that won't pull on my sore arms and shoulder when the new baby arrives. I have seen God provide a weekly time of prayer to meet with Him in complete silence. I have seen Him provide time with a dear Christian mentor from my childhood till present who I don't see often and was blessed by her encouragement, laughter, and the retelling of old stories. I've seen God provide a weekly Bible study where the goal is not just for me to grow but for me to help others grow in Christ.

I have seen Jehova Jireh this week. God is my provider. I have seen Him provide.

Thoughts of Health

It's scary when the right side of your body goes numb and heavy. When you pant from exhaustion when simply walking from one room to another. When your heart races while even resting.

Slows you down to a tortoise pace.

Helps to sort the trivial from the important.

Fills your mind with the wonderment of 'what's wrong?'

I've always been a healthy person. At 34 years of age I never would have expected to wake up and feel like one hundred. And the question for the last two weeks has been 'what's wrong?'

For sure we know that my Vitamin D was way too low. Prescription strength Vitaman D in large weekly doses will try to bring the level back up. But is that alone what is wrong?

Multiple Sclerosis is a strong suspicion. My mother has this disease and so does a dear cousin of mine. Testing is expensive and often very hard to accurately diagnose at the early stage.

For now we are going to treat these issues as MS related.

What makes a person's immune system turn on its own nervous system? Doctors don't know. There is no cure for MS. However, vitamins and a complete diet over-haul are in the works. It's a great place to start.

And then we wait. We watch over the next few years to see if these problems keep surfacing. And in the mean time I ask you all to pray.

II Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind."

Pray this over me my friends. God has this under His control. Help me to turn this pain into something beautiful that glorifies Him. That is what we live for. It's the most important amongst the trivial.

New Trailer and Pony-- Phllipians 4:19

But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phillipians4:19

How our God can supply!!

Here are two items paid for in hard earned cash that we have been blessed to be stewards of.

Tori was needing a quick pony for goat tying dismount.




Meet Nugget


And the Picton family is so tickled to be moving out of the tent with a newborn to arrive next spring!




Living quarters complete with queen sized bed, fridge, stove, sink, drawers, closet, storage, ac, heat, and fold down table! Plus room for two horses and plenty of tact. Yahoo!!

Waterloo-Last Rodeo of the 2010 Fall Season

After this weekend....it is finished.

The last rodeo of the 2010 fall high school rodeo season completed.

It brings mixed emotions.

Those super- crazy, full of fun, jam -packed weekends are done.

What will we do now?

Rest, sleep in for sure on Saturday mornings. Breathe. Save money...all just to name a few ideas I suppose.

It's been a wild ride and I feel like I've come to semi-understand what God has in mind for us. His presence is not widely seen in this circle of people. Mostly rough, beer drinking men and women, drowning themselves in their sorrows, wanting to win at all costs.

We are a different kind of people within this circle. We carry ourselves with God's standards as our guide. They are not sure what to do with us, though they admit we are very friendly and Cole is teachable.

Ya don't see much of either of those two character traits here often. Not in the rodeo scene.

Tori, Jen and I did the chili cook-off fundraiser to help with the costs associated with all this fun and I have to admit I really wanted to win.





The prizes were amazing.

Just picture Pamered Chef gift baskets filled with hundreds of dollars worth of wonderful goodies. What is not to want about that?

Our chili was entitiled "Bareback Jack Southern -Style Chili" made by "Mom and Sisters for Family Rodeo." Pretty catchy huh? I submitted this info so that my official booth sign could be made.

So can you imagine my embarrassment when I reported to my chili station only to see that the sign for my team read "Mom Picton for Family.'

Okay. Seriously folks. Is this how I am viewed here?

Now picture Cousin Jen all but rolling on the ground in hysterics over this sign. Thanks my friend.

Top this off with a close but no cigar loss in the chili contest......and my spirits were low:(

At the rodeo that evening Cole covered his ride and had quite a cheering section to boot. He rides with a flashy style and is working on developing it even more to define the look. The judges look for this along with riding technique. Your chaps and boots and audience appeal is all part of the bareback riding package.

So that boosted my spirits back up!

I've relaxed a lot since we started this season and now can enjoy his show. He has never been bucked off at the high school level and he had his mind set on leading Iowa's points and being competitive at finals next summer. As determined as he is, I don't doubt him.

Signing off from fall season Iowa High School Rodeo, this is Mom Picton for Family.

Benefit Rodeo Cedar Rapids

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Tori's Practice Run at the Goat Clinic

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Lacie Moore Demonstration Run at the Goat Clinic

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Goat Tying Clinic--with Lacie Moore

Saturday, October 2 was a rodeo day all for Tori. I drove her up to Cedar Rapids to her first goat tying clinic. We haven't purchased a trailer yet so she went to focus on her ground work and we left her new pony at home.

We both were pleasantly surprised with how well she had been taught to flank and tie at Rodeo Bible Camp this past June. She has no bad habits and can tie very quickly and securely. She is tying at her goal speed for her age. Yeah!!

However, she loses time on her horse dismount. I visited with Lacie (a 4 time state champ and 4 time college rodeo qualifier and instructor of this clinic) about this and she said that dismounting off of a full sized horse as Tori was in for sure not as easy as it looks. It is a long way down and she is moving so quickly. Best thing to do is to size her up with a pony to shorten the distance to the ground. Then practice, practice, practice.

The good news... We had just purchased her a very broke 9 year old pony mare named Nugget last weekend. Great to know we were on the right track with our thinking.



The conclusion of the clinic was participation in a benefit rodeo being held at the ranch grounds. The senior girls ran 11.+ seconds while Tori a fifth grader ran a 16 second on a borrowed horse! Very good start for her!! She is so determined to 'find' that extra 5 seconds and knock it out of there.

Her smile was from ear to ear all day long. What a fun and memorable day we were able to spend together, just me and her, doing something that she loves. We took home so many tips and hints from a rodeo pro. Plus Tori felt like she made a new friend in Lacie.

Osceola Sept. 10-11

Words to describe this weekend:

6 Am
Drive
Rain
Mud
3 Am
More Driving
Small Animal Auction
More Mud
Cowboy Church
Attitude ( You choose)
Cold
Wet
Shopping
Testimony
Bargains
Chickens
Tired
Win

Pictures to describe this weekend:

Osceola 9-11-10

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