I have Baby Rose this morning. So I need to rock and roll like a hound dog before baby gets here. I try to have the house cleaned up and a meal for lunch started by the time she gets here at about 9:00 this morning. I will make potato soup for lunch.

Anyway, Tiff on our group asked me to write about living with an unsaved husband. Well, the Lord calls us to peace and to make the best home we can for our children. And if our husbands are adamant about us going to work, then that is the final word.

I have never had to work outside the home except when I was first married for a while. I would hate it if I had to go to work. I am glad I don’t have to. But if my husband was unsaved and I had children at home, I would do all I could to keep peace with my husband.

The children know if a mother’s heart is home or not. I think a mother can explain to her children that she hates going to work and leaving them at home. Children know the truth when it is told to them. Also, I would pray for a precious handmaiden from the Lord to help me with babysitting and raising my children. I treat Baby Rose as if she were my own baby. And if you pray, the Lord could send you a sitter that is a Christian, and one that would be like your own arm extended.

In countries like China, the mothers are forced to work and many are Christian mothers. The ideal is for a Mother to be home, but it don’t always work out like that.

And what is the sense in divorcing a man who wants you to work? Without your husband, you will have to work more, plus you will be without a father for the children. Men are very important items to have around the house — when you have children, especially.

The Bible explains how to live with an unsaved husband. 1 Peter explains that Jesus died upon the cross for the unsaved sinner. When he was cursed, He didn’t curse back. He willingly gave His life upon the cross, not for the righteous, but for the sinner. He was spit on and accused falsely. He was beaten to death and lied about. But, as he obeyed God, He broke the back of satan. 1 Peter 2 says, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they will without the word be won by the conversation (actions) of the wives.” There it is in a nutshell, how we deal with an unsaved husband. Our main aim is to keep the family together in peace.

Also, the word says that Jesus on the cross committed Himself to God who judges righteously. And when we are grieved at times with our husbands, this is what we have to do. We have to commit ourselves to God who judges righteously. You have to look away from your man at times and just look at Jesus. And this is your salvation. God has called you unto Himself, and in Him you will find your victory.

We do submit to our husbands day to day. But when that is somehow impossible then we must lay down our lives and our flesh unto our earthly lord and this translates us to our heavenly Lord who judges righteously. Our submission to Husband is our fast of the flesh. We lay our promise down as Abraham laid Isaac down. This takes true faith and the Father sees us and rewards our faith.

We Christian wives and mothers long after Jesus to please Him in our places as keepers at home. And it takes a lot of faith to lay down this dream of a Christian home and submit to an earthly husband. It looks wrong to us. We cry out to God, “What must we do, Lord, to please You?”

And He says, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” We must obey Him in the hard times and commit our lives and our children’s lives to Him.

We lay down upon His alter and say to Him, “Not my will but thine be done.” And if this means you have to work and take your children to a sitter, then so be it. Bring peace and rest to your home and be right with your husband, at all cost. Commit yourself to God who sees your heart.

Good Morning! Well, today Baby Rose will come to visit us.

Last Friday, when Baby had first gotten here in the morning, I had promised to take her for a walk. Then, in the middle of my idea, I decided we would go to a few antique shops up town rather than just walk about the neighborhood as usual. Anyway, I was dressed for around home? I didn’t have time to change. So I was wearing a sort of plaid long dress and a blue and white polka dot bandanna on my head. Now, normally, I wouldn’t go anywhere looking quite this down home? But ya know how a Baby is — they get excited to go some place and they don’t want you to change your clothes? So I went as is. (more…)

I am up in the night writing. I don’t have anything on my heart to say. Just up as the Lord has called me to get up and write.

We had a big storm last night. As I laid peacefully in my bed, I could hear out my window the air raid thing warning goin’ off. And a man with a big loud speaker is yelling, “This is it … take cover, etc.” Well, I guess they have to do that. As I laid in my bed, I thought, “Now, ain’t that just like the world? Here it’s late and everyone is in bed, and they have to try to scare ya to death.”

I thought of myself as being in the boat with Jesus … and how he woke up and rebuked the winds and told them to be still. And I saw Wisdom telling me to just look at Jesus and not at the world. I saw her and Jesus outside my house protecting it. She was walking around my house and she was saying, “NO, you will not have this house. NO, Satan you will not have this house.”

And I could see her talkin’ to me and telling me in so many words, “Connie, don’t look to the east or to the west, to the north or to the south, but look at Jesus for your answers. Keep your mind upon the Lord. Don’t look at the world, as they will try to make you fear and try to make you want to give up. Don’t give up — look unto the Lord.”

And she said “Be stout hearted, hard to tame, hard for the world to get along with. Be a homemaker with an attitude. Have courage and a spine of steel. You take the world down … don’t let it have ya.”

All day yesterday, I was thinkin’ of the cooking shows I have watched on TV. They have kinda put a pebble in my shoe spiritually. Those women are good with a can opener, I will tell ya.

But it is like I could hear wisdom speaking last night, sayin’ “Connie, cook from scratch and get deep into your homemaking.”

And lately the Lord has spoken to my heart AGAIN about how submitting to our husbands is submitting to all things concerning our roles as keepers at home.

We must press deeply into our roles as keepers at home. Our greatest battle is not to listen to the voice of the world, but to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Ya know, the more I write and obey the Lord, the more He secludes me from the world. I feel like I have a veil over my heart and soul. As the world shouts and screams “FEAR” … the Lord’s voice is the voice of peace and anointing.

Oh, God calls the foolish to confound the wise. Can’t ya just see me tellin’ a feminist that she would feel better if she would just go home and stay there?

The Lord calls us mothers to bake our bread and to know the state of our pantries.

He calls us to deep homemaking.

He calls us to a committed spirit of homemaking.

He calls us to hang our clothes on the line and to make our own soap.

He calls us to cook from scratch and to be very leery of store bought mixes. We should be buying things like flour and sugar and shortening to make cookies and cakes and pies for our families. I really think that so many of these mysterious illnesses are coming from chemicals in our foods. I know we can’t escape all of the bad stuff in the air and around us. But I think we should try to, and we should pray over all of our food. Our society seems to ingest anything these days. It’s not to be like that in a Christ centered home. The Mother is to keep the HOME and not the GROCERY store.

The Lord says in His word that we are the keepers at home. As much as it is possible for us, we should be making everything from scratch. That soap idea that Wendy sent in was sure a good idea. I, of all people, know there is only so much time in a day. But we should do as much cooking, etc. from scratch. Wisdom really spoke to my heart, too, about planting as much as I can this year in my garden so I can harvest a lot in the fall and do more canning.

But, ya know, the world will try to scare ya to death, but don’t let ‘em. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Submit to God by submitting to your homemaking.

Oh, the wisdom of God is so precious. The word says that wisdom is the stability of the times. With all the confusion around us, and the fear and instability of the families about us … it’s hard to not get caught up in it. But we as Mothers and keepers at home must lay brick upon brick in our homes, as we keep our eyes upon the Savior. As the world tries to take our families down, we must keep on building our temples in the wilderness.

We are wise women who build up our homes, and not the foolish who take it down with her own hands. We are to be line upon line and precept upon precept. We build a spiritual home with virtue and power. We gird our loins about with truth and we strengthen our arms. We as women of God are not to submit to this world, but to exploit it by our good works. The law of truth is upon our tongues. Our good works are to praise us in the gates.

Well, I should go back to bed. But before I go, I wanted to tell you all a salad I made yesterday using my leaf lettuce from my garden and my herbs. I just cooked up some pasta. Then I went out to my yard and picked a lot of dill. I don’t use my dill when it gets dry and has heads. I use it when it is young. I also added garlic, chives, onions, fresh basil, and black pepper. And I cut up my fresh garden lettuce and put this in, too. I just cut my stuff up with scissors. My tomatoes aren’t ready yet. So I put in a can of diced tomatoes and some Italian vinegar and oil dressing. Now, Papa wouldn’t eat this if ya paid him a million bucks. But it is fresh and good, and I will eat it myself with cottage cheese. When the kids come over, they will eat it too. I fixed Jim what he would call a regular supper?

But, dear keepers at home, learn to plant your herbs and use them fresh for the summer.

Also, yesterday, I picked two lovely bunches of flowers and herbs for my table. One bunch was the purple yarrow and yellow, too, mixed in with a blue flowered catnip … and long sprigs of mint. Another bunch was the yellow columbine mixed with bleeding hearts and the ferny herb camphor. I love the looks of the flowers mixed with herbs for my table. All of the flowers and herbs I just mentioned come up every year.

We need flowers and herbs in our lives. They are so lovely to look at, and the smell of the herbs is so refreshing to our hearts and spirits. As I look out the window as I write, I see that my Seven Sister Roses are about to bloom. They give me such joy each June. They are so faithful to come back each year to gladden Mama’s heart.

In closing, I want to say, “Dear Mothers of wisdom, let’s look to our gardens and our homes to find peace and purpose. Let’s be content at home. Today let’s again regroup and decide to submit to our husbands as never before. Let’s vow again to raise our children for the Lord … and to not give up or be discouraged. Let’s submit to God and resist the world and the fear in the world."

We are Sarah’s daughters, as long as we don’t fear with any amazement. This is the Day the Lord has made. Let’s rejoice and be Glad in it.

I am up in the night writing on faith. I was supposed to have written this a few nights ago but thought I was too tired. But if the Lord calls ya to write on faith, and you tell Him you can’t, you are too tired, then things don’t go well with ya the next day. Anyway, I don’t really like to write on faith, but here it goes.

Ya know, what a lot of folks call faith ain’t? They think faith is not an action word but a stand still lookin’ in the sky word. But faith is an action word. Faith is a “Now” word. If you say, “Well I am just believin’ the Lord that some day my family will walk with the Lord.” No … you are hopin’ and this is not faith.

Faith is now. Faith believes now that all is well. That our bodies are healed and our situations are changed “Now.” And then we walk out our faith. We walk out our faith with a positive confession.

Annie and I were on the phone yesterday, and I told her the worst person I had to get to believe for was myself. It’s hard for me to see myself as the virtuous woman. But the Lord told me, as I prayed yesterday morning, “Connie, take on the cloak of the virtuous woman and wear it, and confess that all of your children are taught of the Lord and great is their peace. Confess that you are a godly mother and that you are a woman of strength and dignity.” And I did that and now I have to practice seeing myself by faith and that I am a woman of power and anointing.

Now Satan will come along and tell me that I am not and that all of my kids are going to hell in a hand basket. But I have to tell the devil in prayer, “No, I have prayed and all of my children are taught of the Lord, and I am the virtuous mother, and the Lord is perfecting us.”We have to plug into faith and not let go. And this is where the fight of faith comes in.

Your fight is to hold onto your confession that all is well. That God heard you and is working. We must then come into a rest. Instead of fighting the devil all the time, we have to learn to put God’s word over us and keep it there. Like Jen is doing … she has prayed and told Richard that he is healed and they are waiting to see the healing come forth in the flesh realm. Jen knows that, because she prayed, Richard is healed in the now — right now. The manifestation of the healing isn’t here yet because Richard still can’t walk. But the reality of Christ is stronger than what we see.

Everything has to happen in the spirit realm first and then it takes shape in the physical realm. When I was in my impossible situations, Jen? I had to walk by faith, too. All of Jim’s and my conversations on the phone from the prison were listened to by a prison guard. Jim was to be in at the rock for a while. But on the phone, I would speak to Jim as though all was well. And I would tell him, “Well, I will see you home on Saturday.” Well, the guard thought we were planning an escape. It got Jim in all kinds of trouble as I would speak the word to him and to the whole prison, really. “What does your wife mean she will see you home on Saturday?” Jim didn’t know how to explain me, but said, “Aw, that’s just how she believes.” Well, I looked like a nut then, but not now. I kept on believing God in an impossible situation.

And I could tell you many stories of faith. But I don’t want to drag up the past. All of my life since I was saved has been a walk of faith.

We somehow learn to walk out our faith in a pattern of good works. We have to make up our minds that we are going to make it in our families. And then we walk it out. We must refuse to come off our confession of faith. Bible faith is believing and then seeing. You can’t see heaven but you know you are goin’ there because you received Jesus into your heart. He is your ticket to eternal life. And you believe it because it has been preached to you many times. You believe and some day will see Him face to face.

Ok, I am not just saying all of this because I heard a faith preacher say it. No, I am standing here tonight writing because I walked out my faith in an impossible situation. I have lived by faith for many years. Faith is a way of life for me. And I fail many times in my walk of faith. I get discouraged and want to give up. And I do give up, too. But I get back up and go at it again and again.

We have to love ourselves and know that we all make mistakes. But each time we get back up, we get stronger. And we keep flexing our spiritual muscles until we become developed in our faith. Some areas of my faith are more developed than others. I had years of learning, in my prayer closet, how to believe for an unsaved husband. So I am pretty good at it now. And I can believe for all of your husbands and it don’t wear me out at all.

But like this evening, when Tiff came to pick Baby Rose up to take her home, Tiff says, “Dan and his girlfriend got matching tattoos last week.”

I said, “Where?” Hoping it wasn’t straight across their stupid foreheads. She said on their forearms. I mean, isn’t life hilarious? And I am writing on faith? See why it is hard for me to see myself as the virtuous mother? I mean it is hard for me. My kids are walking billboards that say, “My mother was a stupid idiot.” But I have to walk by faith and not by sight. If I was to walk by sight, I would just go ahead and die. But I don’t have to go ahead and die. Jesus is bigger than all of this. And it ain’t like Dan has never had a tattoo before. But I thought that he was done with ‘em by now.

And Jesus tells me that I am like St. Monica whose son was Augustine. He was a rascal, too, but Monica kept on prayin’ for her son. And God delivered Augustine and his writings have been some the foundations of the Christian faith. Monica never gave up, and I have to confess that I am like her. And I said to the Lord after He tells me that I am the virtuous woman, “Does this mean I have to give up my humor?”

He said, “Just take on the cloak of the virtuous woman and we will take care of your humor later.” But as I stand here in Saul’s armor, and I am just a little David with a slingshot, I have to confess that I am the virtuous woman. That I am a woman of dignity and a mother who never gave up. Because God has a purpose for me and my children.

I had always said, for years, that I had children not to be a part of the problems of the world but to be the answers. Then I have Christian Joy who designs clothes in NYC for the punk rockers. I named her Christian Joy because the Lord told me that she would bring me joy. I mean talk about feelin’ forsaken? But I have to confess over Christian that the Lord is teaching her. He is teaching her in the “NOW” … and He is teaching all of my children in the NOW.

NOW Faith is the only faith that pleases or moves God. I could say, “Well, someday all of my kids will wake up. I hope it isn’t too late for them. I will just keep on waiting on God.” Well, we aren’t waiting on God. We must receive the answers to our prayers NOW. This is the faith that moves mountains. God waits on us to receive the faith to do what He has called us to do. Jesus can’t move mountains unless He has a vessel to move through. He wants to use us mothers to do great and mighty works in His name. And we have no idea how to do mighty works and that is good. We are not supernatural. But God is and He is the one who has the power. And we have to plug into His power. And His power is the NOW Faith.

We are called blessed in the word of God if we believe and then receive. We must put our confidence in the miracle working power of Christ. “We” cannot produce a miracle. But He can. So we must plug into Christ with NOW Faith. If it isn’t NOW, it will be NEVER. We have to believe now to see His glory. The fight of our faith is to hold our confession until we see it happen in the flesh.

STAY PLUGGED IN

Some of you are trying every day to give God the half Nelson to make Him change your husband. Darlin’, you don’t have to fight God to get your husband saved. It’s the devil that holds your husband in bondage. God is on your side.

Our faith is like electricity that makes things move. Take an electric fan. It’s not going to move unless you plug it into the power. Like God, electricity has been here on the earth forever. It didn’t just come into being when Edison discovered the lightbulb. But Edison discovered how to harness electricity.

You harness the mountain moving faith by your fight of faith. It’s easy to get faith, but it isn’t easy to hold onto it until it produces fruit. You can plug in a fan and, in a second, unplug it — and do that a 100 times … on and off and on and off. But ya won’t get any action and cool the air until you leave the fan plugged in and let it work. And some of you can’t even get the fan plugged in. You think you are just a-waitin’ on God (electricity). No, you don’t have to wait on electricity … just plug the fan in. Or you sit there and look at the fan and cry and carry on all night. And then, when the fan won’t go on, you say “Well, God doesn’t love me.” Well, no, God loves you, but you have to plug the fan into the power.

You have to plug yourself into the power Jesus Christ. And you do this by agreeing with Him and His promises. This is the connection of God and His word acted out … your act of faith and His power. His word says that it isn’t His will that any perish, but that all come to the knowledge of Christ. So we know that it is His will that our families are all saved.

So we plug into the power and we stay plugged in until we get some holy winds goin’ and we don’t give up.

And we keep those holy winds blowin’ strong and steady, producing a pattern of good works.

And we live in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus, high above powers of wickedness.

And we protect our faith and we keep on the firin’ line.

And we don’t give up when satan assures us that we have lost the battle … we just keep on letting that power of God flow through us.

And we don’t give up, and we see dead bones come together and walk in the name of Jesus … we stand and, having done all to stand, we stand.

And when the devil shows us over and over that we have lost the battle, we stand.

And we blow heavenly powerful winds upon satan’s evil plans.

And the holy winds blow and set righteousness into place.

And we build our temples in the wilderness with holy winds of power and anointing. Oh, it is not our power. It is the power of Christ. We stand as holy lamp lights to a lost and dying world.

And we swing back and forth and back and forth by the power of God.

And our lights give direction to the lost and dying out on the troubled sea. We keep swingin’ that light and swingin’ that light until the lost see us and can get back home.

And we keep that light in the window … calling our children home. Mother is faithful and each night, she lights her windows with prayer and interceding.

And she never stops until she hears her son say, “Mom, forgive me. I want your God to be my God.”

And she doesn’t give up until she hears her husband say, “What must I do to be saved?”

And Papa often gives the testimony, “Had it not been for my wife’s prayers, I would have been dead a long time ago.” I plugged into Christ and didn’t give up, and I lived to see my husband saved and walking out the power I had prayed for. I had suffered so. But one day … a power came over my husband. And he took his place at the head of the supper table and became the priest of our home. Folks would stop at our house at supper time and see Jim sitting there. And they knew that he had been healed by the mighty power of Jesus Christ. And, like Mary L says, “When Jim prays at the table, you know you have been prayed over.”

And Papa starts out every prayer with “Lord, bless and keep my precious wife.”