Joyful Help Meet At Home

Lordwilling, around the beginning of the year, I will consolidate all my blogs on in one location. This will include photos too. My stuff is so strewn about it is extremely difficult to keep all the usernames and passwords straight. I plan to keep the email group going, but plan to add an interactive blog/forum, just not sure what exactly will be the easiest to use, and navigate.

In the past few years our family has gone through alot. As a result, I have been hesitant to write much of anything. One reason was because I was afraid that being in an emotional state I would say things I'd later regret. Another reason was because I honestly felt that I had nothing left to give. Ever hear the expression, you can't get blood from a turnip? That was me. I was the turnip.Besides running on fumes, I didn't want to run off at the mouth and hurt someone else like I had been hurt.  One thing that all this has taught me is the importance of looking at yourself. Instead of pointing a finger at someone else, which is easy to do, and often is a ploy to detract attention from oneself (speaking from experience), we need to stand in front of the mirror and take a long, hard, honest look at ourselves FIRST, and then if we pass God's test, we might be ok to point out a flaw, fault, or sin in someone elses life.  During the course we've run, it has been extremely difficult not to become bitter. Bitterness will destroy you. I think it's sister is pride.

Now I am trying to regain my strength so that I can not only meet my responsibilities and obligations to my husband and children at home, to our church and church family, but also, I pray that I will be able to reach out and bless, encourage, and aid Sisters in Christ in their womanhood-at whatever season of their life they are in, with or through the situation and circumstance in which they find themselves.Widowhood, and divorce sometimes occurs without any warning. Life as it was known is forever changed. An empty or emptying nest, even knowing when the baby bird will spread their wings and fly, even if the reason for leaving is godly, or right, one is not prepared for the void that bird leaves in it's stead. By God's grace I will endeavor to be here, even if I am of little help, to listen and pray and be a friend.

Yesterday I succeeded in moving everything I wanted from my geocities site. Bear with me please as I endeavor to update links, and other things such as prices and email addresses on the pages. I may have to reformat it all, which is ok, but takes a bit of time. I will also be adding several other sites of my own to accomodate the many things which I hope to put out there for the benefit of Christian women everywhere. Much of what I have yet to write was borne from a series of difficult situations that were unpleasant to endure, and yet have yielded a peaceable fruit in my heart and mind. It took these trials to teach me to truly believe Romans 8:28. But isn't that the way it goes. It is easy to say you believe but when that faith is tested, and your put to it, as my husband likes to say, that what you are made of comes out-good or bad. What remains is either joy, peace, longsuffering meekness and all the fruit of the spirit or bitterness, wrath, malice, hate. Please stop by again soon. Until I get my "house in order" here, I won't be publishing the link anywhere on line except among personal friends.  If you like what you see, don't hesitate to invite your friends to come and take a look around. 

Geocities announced a few months ago that they are closing. My old site hosted by them has to be moved. I am endeavoring to save it all and tranfer it here; or find another free host (for now) to move it all in one swoop.  I hope to get this done asap, since Oct. 26th is the deadline given.

There is sunshine in my soul today, more glorious and bright, than shines in any earthly way, for JESUS IS MY LIGHT!!!!

Do you know the song?

Often in my little church, our pastor would lead the singing. He would shout-- "Sing it like you mean it?"  I'm not sure how anyone else took that, but to me it was an admonition to search my heart. How hypocritical did I dare to be? In those tender years, I still had a bit of fear that God would send lightning bolts to strike me down; or worse, that He would kill my parents if I was bad. This feeling came upon whenever it was time for the Lord's Supper. Even though I begged forgiveness before partaking of the bread and grape juice, in the back of my mind there was always this nagging feeling that if I didn't repent enough, God would kill me.

Thus, much of my childhood, teen years, and into my adulthood, have been fraught with fear. Somewhere I had this mental picture of God sitting on His throne, and as I crawled up to the pinacle near Him, He'd wait til I had almost reached the top, and with great fingers he'd flick me (anyone really) down to the bottom, forcing me to climb up again, wondering if this time he would be merciful.

Many people have take that view of God, including numerous Born-Again christians.

I believe this is a tool of the devil to keep us from fulfilling our call to be a witness for Jesus.

Along the road of life, we start to see every "bad thing" that happens to us as punishment for some unknown wrong we've committed and failed to confess and forsake.

Instead of seeing God as the Loving Father who gives good gifts to His children, we look at the stones, and serpents, as if they are all from God too.

Yes, God allows harshness into our lives. No, it is not pleasant or fun. I speak, again, from experience.

The fruit tree, must be pruned to bring forth good fruit.

Gold must be heated to purge the dross and be purified.

The stones and serpents and scorpions that we get; the cutting of our branches; the purging of dross; it is to bring forth something better than before. It is to conform us more into the image of The LORD JESUS Christ.

All we endure in this life, is working in us a far more exceeding and abundant weight of glory in the life to come, eternal life in a perfect environment with a perfectly Holy God and Saviour-Jesus Christ.

Rather than kick at the hard times, which I know I am guilty of doing; we must strive to see what dead branch or dross is being removed from us,so we can be a vessel fit for the Master to use, that will bring forth fruit abundantly.

Good Morning Girls!

The sun is shining and the birds as singing here. A nice break from the damp, rainy days of last week. Not that I am complaining, we are thankful, ALWAYS, for the rain, snow, sleet, because they all fill our spring and well. Plus in the summer, the garden thrives on rain.

My plans for today are to continue sorting files, books, and all sorts of accumulated stuff, so I can prepare for school, and get to many projects that I have put off for the past 2 yrs.

There were many hard trials and tests that our family went through in short amount of time. These nearly destroyed our family unit, and us as individuals. We went through months of "the blame game"-totally non-productive and very hurtful and harmful to those you love. During this time, I had a spiritual breakthrough, or awakening, if you please, that I wish could have occurred years ago. But God's ways and times are not ours. The LORD knew I needed to endure the trials, tribulations and tests to reach the point where I was teachable or ready to set aside my will for His.

I've testified several times about this, but I want to be very clear, and give God ALL the glory and praise for His patience, love, tenderness, mercy, longsuffering, gentleness, which He extended to me, and my loved ones.

It was only when I reached the point of letting go of my hopes, dreams, desires, wants, wishes, wonderings, and preconcieved ideas of what is supposed to be, that the lesson could be learned. At best, I probably received only a D- but that is still a passing grade, right?

What did I learn?

At times when we were going through a rough patch, or sorrow, or what-have-you, Christian friends and family were quick to quote Rom. 8:28 to us. Too often it was like a dart to our heart. The intended comfort poured salt into my wounds.

As you know, there are situations and circumstances that we must trod through in this world, that with our earthy eyes appears to be useless for any good at all. You are in so much agony at the moment, it is impossible, in our flesh and emotions, and human spirit, to fathom the minutest possibility that any positive thing could come from it.

"Time heals all wounds" is not entirely true. Not all wounds heal, nor are they intended to do so.

Time is a bridge from one event in life to the next. And as you cross each one going away from specific painful places, you get reprieves from the sorrow, grief, and hurt.

The bridge is Rom. 8:28. We can't quite cross the bridge without paying the toll. The toll is some happening in life that appears totally disastrous. To pay that toll requires us (me) to trust the LORD and the Holy Ghost with HOW this (current) THING will work for good, believing that God said it would and that is that. Again, I understand how hard that can be.

Within our human heart and mind, there is the desire to do it ourselves-fix it, figure it out, prevent it.... Any doubt about? Watch a baby. As soon as a child can do anything for himself, or he thinks he can, he attempts to do it. He will fight anyone who tries to do it for him.

Here is an example: after a bath, it was customary for our children to have a snack. With a 1 yr.old, in clean "jammies", feeding herself was NOT an option. She would stay "I FEED" when you tried to spoon ice cream or cookie pieces into her mouth. She'd clamp her lips shut. Only after giving up on feeding her, would she willingly accept the food being fed to her.

Isn't that what we do with God? We say "I FIX."

God lets us try doesn't He? Then after we figure out we can't do it, and we FINALLY give up, our last resort is to say, ok God you do it. Really believing Rom. 8:28 is the opposite of all this. It is the life preserver to keep us afloat when the waves go over our heads, and we want to sink in the murky waters of the deep, and give up on life.

Rather than splashing around helplessly ignoring the lifesaver, Rom. 8:28, right before me, I am learning to look for it, and grab it as quickly as I can, and hang on for dear life, waiting for my rescuer-Jesus-to get me out of the waters in His time.

"And we know that all things work together for the good, to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose."

Do you KNOW?

Mrs. Bob L. Leib (Terry) (c)2009

I have been very bad about keeping up with much of anything in the last 2-3 yrs. So much has gone on to occupy my time that I feel utterly overwhelmed.

Nearly 10 yrs ago when we wrote letters to missionaries as part of an english/geography project for homeschool, little did we realize the impact our brief letters of encouragement could have. Each was written with complete understanding that an answer would probably never be received even if the letter made it to the person it was intended to reach. The note I am talking about now is one that took nearly a year to get to the family, and was forwarded to them 3-4 times. They were on furlough in the states, changed mission boards, and returned to Sicily before our letter made it to them.

Out of the blue they replied. Shortly after that, I responded and we began to correspond every few months via air mail. Gradually our children began writing notes to one another and our letters grew to parcels, with the culmination of our meeting in person 2 yrs. ago, for the first time. Things were tense and went badly. There were misunderstandings and we felt judged/misjudged, without any chance to defend ourselves or answer any charges or allegations against us. Prior to seeing us, they'd been all across the USA and asked at each stop if anyone knew us. Some of the places they asked this I can only imagine what may have been said, how their thinking of us was colored, or made us to look badly. Then to top it off, when they arrived, Bob was the sickest he'd ever been since we were married, and had a houseful of children running in and out.... to say he was edgy was an understatement. Just the week before they were to return to Sicily, things went very bad.

After months of prayer and lamentation we were able to gradually mend the brokenness between us. it was extremely difficult for all the children since they'd bonded so much during the previous 11 mos. by phone and the years of writing before that.

When Bro. Sal emailed us in Feb. or March to ask if Joshua could come help with the tent meeting, we were surprised and felt honored. Joshua, who had been praying for a chance to get out somewhere and do some mission work, was ready to go. He got his passport promptly, booked his flights, and waited.

It was no surprise to us when during one of our calls with him while he was in Sicily that he indicated to us that he and Bro. S. daughter were interested in each other. During their visit I saw the connection and "KNEW" then, but she was only 15 at the time, and Joshua was still in school himself. Her testimony regarding Joshua is astounding. His testimony regarding her is amazing too.

Joshua is praying about a return trip to Sicily, but is now laid up with his knee needing to heal from surgery last week. He can't work and has no income. He is going bonkers, as you can imagine. But it is giving him time to study, read, pray.

David's wedding is less than 45 days away. We are looking forward to that, and I still need a dress.

Back at the end of March a young man was interested in Charity. We gave them permission to talk, and be "friends". Neither one of us felt he was "the one". (We do have that with DAvid and Naomi, and Joshua and Prisca) Charity didn't tell us how she wrestled with it until after she'd decided that going further was not the will of God for her. When she chose to end the friendship, relief was all over her face. She was in bondage during the 2 mos. they "talked". So she is still a maiden waiting on Mr. God's Choice to walk in and make himself known.

Now that I have officially updated you, though I'd love to tell so much more, this is what has been going on is ourlives.

How about you? What is happening in your family, church, ministry, etc?????

Love,Terry at home in PA

I only have a few minutes to put my thoughts down, but I wanted to ask you to please continue praying fo us and our situation with our neighbor. To explain it all would take a long time, so I'll skip that. Thank you for all who have prayed, who are praying , and who will continue praying. It is really terrible to have a neighbor problem. You feel very intimidated, and that every move you make, is under their scrutiny. We'd love to resolve it all, but seeing that Mr. B is in his late 70's there is little chance of anyone changing him except the LORD JESUS.

Several years ago I read this quote on a magazine ad for Roman Meal Bread.

"You can't change a man, unless he's wearing diapers"

This is so true. I spent alot of time trying to change my husband, or things about him, but I can't. The things I tried to change weren't bad, they just bugged me. When I realized that all I was doing was bugging him about what bugged me about him, and that I was hurting us, and he wasn't going to change for me, a little bell went off. The only way any man is going to change is because he wants to change or God does it, and/or a combination of the two.

The past few weeks have been eye opening in a way. It hurts when people you think love and care about you, outright lie to you, or covertly decieve you. I'm talking about bretheren. Of course, Bob has always said that alot of the bretheren are less kind, gracious, longsuffering... of one another than lost people are of us and each other. Sadly that is true. The saying about people disappointing you is so true.

It has been hard to accept that some people I care about deeply, do not reciprocate those feelings. People I regard as close friends barely acknowledge phone calls, or emails, or letters....

And don't get me started about Pastors! No offense to any of you preachers/pastors and your wives. Any one desiring to be a pastor, preacher, missionary etc should be REQUIRED to take a thorough course in manners and etiquette; it is a sad sad day when the business man has more courtesy and respect for his collegues and customers, than a pastor, preacher et al does for the bretheren, his friends, etc.

I am not talking about true absent-mindedness. In fact, a very dear brother we know makes no bones about his memory problems, which he's had for years. He is truly afflicted, and hates it. But always apologetic and gracious.

In particular older pastors and preachers et al, with huge ministries, who travel world-wide preaching and teaching etc, seem to have mastered the art of responding to correspondence-email or snail mail, phone calls, etc. and we have the letters to prove it. Why is that? What has happened to the more recent generations?

My opinion is that somewhere along the way, we take people and fellowship for granted. The brethren and sisters who read this, who because of where God has called them, find themselves isolated from their family, church home etc....they KNOW what I am talking about. They treasure every second of fellowship they can get. They soak it up like a sponge, for the dry season they know is somewhere ahead, that might be 3 months or 3 years.

We take tomorrow for granted; but tomorrow never seems to come. We put off writing, or calling, so when we have more time, or things are less crazy, we can make a connection.

Aren't we supposed to love one another? Why is it that we write our own version of that, not in words but actions, to read, tolerate one another?

I promised to be short, and I have to get back to my pots and pans, which beckon me to cook some more.

Thanks to those who love us and pray for us.

Just wanted to send a little post here to let you know that I'm still alive!  I'm preparing a lengthy post about last weekend, which I hope you will read and get a blessing from. 

Please pray for our family, and for our friend Brian and his family as they mourn the passing of Brian's Dad.  The timing of his death could have been better, but the LORD has a reason for it. Pray for his sister and brother in law to be saved-they are expecting their first child. I know the state of their souls is a burden to Brian. Pray for his Mom. Pray for God to comfort them as only He is able to do. 

When I noted the actual date for today, the memories of the wedding I planned to have but didnt' came to mind. It's engraved in me, and inside our wedding bands, with scripture references in Song of Solomon.  Bob reminded me last week that we'd written our own vows. Not to replace the traditional ones, but to create a memorable experience, for us.

Our precious friend and brother-in-Christ, honorary Uncle, deacon, faithful Soldier of the Cross, zealous soulwinner, Sal D'Andrea went HOME Thurday May 7, 2009. He was 63 years old. His health had been poor for a number of years, and as they say, he was truly living on borrowed time.  Bob and Sal were friends for 27+ years. Bob introduced Sal to the truths which we hold dear. As long as I can remember, Bob made 85%-95% of the phone calls to him, and did that much talking. In person, Sal was the same--quiet, reserved, softspoken, gentle. But get him talking about the LORD, in particular to a lost person, and boldness in Christ came upon him. He was NEVER shy or ashamed of Jesus. Never without tracts in his pockets. He spent probably $100,000 or more, of his own money, personally, to purchase tracts--he loved Chick tracts--and other materials such as books, videos, dvds from Ruckman which he gave away. His treasure has been laid up in heaven.  

If you visit OUR HISTORY , on the slideshow, much of what you see in our little storefront church is because of Sal and his faithfulness in giving, and serving. He did what he could.

Even as I write, David and Bob are in transit to NYC. Sal's  family is arranging a Catholic service for him tomorrow. They had him cremated. Were it not for the faith I have, and the evidence and fruit I saw in Sal's life for all these years, this would tear my heart out. The house of flesh is of little significance when the soul is present with the LORD.  Bro. E gave testimony of being allowed to view Sal prior to cremation. They actually prepare the body and lay it in a simple pine box. The blessing is that Bro. E. stated that Sal had a "glow" about him, and a smile on his face. Bro. E found Sal on Thursday morning.

A few days ago, I wondered what they would put on Sal, because he hated ties, and formality. A suit wouldn't suit him. Well, Bro. E said Sal was wearing a white linen robe. I still tear up thinking of it, and how in all this, the catholic service, and cremation, all against Sal's wishes and convictions, and God gave us such a sweet glimpse of His greatness in allowing Sal to be adorned in a white linen robe, which is only significant to us. Glory to God!

As we spoke to the various bretheren in NYC , and his own brothers, no more than 6 min. total in 3 phone calls, really ;0(  the idea came to mind, praise the LORD, that they should meet up at the time of the service and pass ot tracts in Sal's memory. Now THAT would be Sal's style. He'd be smiling about that. We'd hoped they'd have a viewing, public. Sal was known by many many people in Astoria. He grew up there, and spent most of his adult life there. What an opportunity to make folks think about where they will spend eternity. Maybe the brothers were fearful the all of us born-againer's would make a scene. I don't know.

In memory of our dear brother in Glory, would you hand out same tracts?

I know this is long and scattered thinking but the snowball effect is in play.

The 3 oldest children took Sal's going home hardest, but we are not able to weep as other weep for we have hope that we will meet again, and that he is truly out of pain, and at rest. All of us, our family, and the bretheren from Queens, have such mixed feelings. We weep and cry because we are going to miss our friend, alot. Because for a quiet guy, he was a faithful trusted friend, he'd give the shirt off his back.  So we are torn between weeping for selfish reasons motivated by love, and rejoicing that he has gone to his eternal rest, the land he longed to see for so long. His homesickness began years ago, when we still lived in Queens, and had our little church there.

Now, on Sat. (yesterday), Bob was on the phone with DAvid, and before we knew it David was in the room with us. He'd drove down for Mother's Day. It was a wonderful surprise. The situation last year at this time, and this year, are like day v. night.

During our church service, we had a memorial service for Sal. And somehow David cooked up the idea of going to Queen/NYC to pass tracts at the St. Michael service. David also wanted to take a trip to NYC with Bob last month and it didn't work out. At the end of church, a few calls to arrange a place to stay, and Bob was packing, David was phoning other people to let them know what was going on and, by 5pm David and Bob were on their way to NYC.

I think the trip will be great time of bonding for them.

This is the most unusual mother's day ever for me. My children bought me a dress at a thrift store, and it fits perfectly, and they showered me with numereous tokens of affection.

My heart if full of joy and I am speechless to express the emotions and thankfulness.

There is more to update you about but this is pretty long already.