I love the look of both modern and vintage design, so I’ve come up with a thrifty way to get both in my home! A good friend of mine was doing some rearranging with her furniture and was getting rid of a dresser, so I scooped it up! It’s a narrow dresser and a perfect fit in my house. I just wanted to liven it up a bit, so I decided to paint it a bright color and gather some new knobs to finish the design. All in all, I got a great new piece for my house and with a little elbow grease and $30 in supplies, this is an original that I can look lovingly on—being made by moi!

What you’ll need:

• An old (or new) piece of furniture that you would like to make your own
• A hand sander
• Primer
• Paint (I chose to paint-match a gloss paint to a spray paint color that I loved.)
• Replacement knobs for drawers, if applicable
• Mod Podge (I chose glossy.)
• Lining paper for drawers

I broke this up into a several-day process to allow ample time for drying and work. Feel free to work out your own time schedule.

Day 1

First, ladies, I’m asking you to put some elbow grease in it and sand down the existing finish or paint on your piece of furniture. Then brush off all the dust and the loose pieces of paint and put a good coat of primer on.

Day 2

Now break out your fun paint color and get to it! I used the gloss paint for the body of my dresser and the spray paint for the drawers because of the design of the wood. I felt this would give me better coverage, but the choice is yours. This is better done in two, even three, coats depending on the shade of paint you chose. Once your desired shade is met, let your furniture dry completely!

Day 3

Time to line those drawers! I chose an old Bible that was literally coming apart at the seams, and felt a great way to preserve it would be in the lining of my little girls’ dresser. Now every time they look in their drawers they can look at God’s Word! Choose your own paper—handwritten notes or postcards would be unique. Any pretty paper can line these drawers. The beauty of Mod Podge is it turns any paper into a watertight sealed liner. So paint a thin layer of Mod Podge in your drawers, then line with paper. The paper can overlap and, once dry, you wont even notice. Then paint a top layer of Mod Podge. Press out any air bubbles and let dry thoroughly!

Day 4

Replace old worn knobs with new pretty knobs and put your drawers back in place! Move your new piece of furniture to your desired spot and enjoy your new look!

My daughter has been waiting for some exciting news! Every day she gets up and prays and then waits.

As we were driving to coffee together, she sat so quietly. I looked at her and said, “You’re making me nervous by not talking.”

Her mouth dropped open and she said, “Ahhhh. Mom, I’m just so excited! It’s so hard to wait.” I knew exactly what she was describing. I felt the same way for her. I shared with her some verses to pray about waiting patiently on the Lord. We both agreed and prayed them together.

Our patience seemed to increase as we prayed and trusted God. A few hours later at home, she burst out of her room. She was glowing with excitement as she told me, “Mom, I just listened to this sermon on waiting for a promise. I got it, Mom. I got it.”

Something told me to stop and listen, that this was going to be a good one. I dropped everything I was doing and I’m glad I did.

She lit up and shared, “This is why God has us wait for promises:

1. To strengthen our patience.
2. To perfect the promise.
3. To teach us the language of eternity—faith!”

She repeated #2 to me several times and said, “To perfect the promise! That means the longer I wait, the more perfect God can perfect it all…Bring on the waiting! He has a plan!”

I swelled up with tears at her faith—simple, undisturbed, and trusting in her Lord.

As God ministered to her, she ministered to me. Her faith was contagious. That’s the language of eternity she shared with me.

Mark 11:22: “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God’” (NKJV).

Ecclesiastes 7:8: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (ESV).

It was late and dark when I heard the soft, but not quite silent, padding of small steps approaching on the carpet. I felt the small presence paused at my side of the bed. “Namma,” she whispered, “I had a bad dream.” It was not a request, just short statement, a fact, and I knew what was needed. I threw back the covers and Rylie’s night-gowned form slipped in. She snuggled closely and draped her slender arm around my waist. Sweet, I thought, that she could come, without hesitation, like a little lamb, and find immediate comfort just being in my bed.

As the years fly by, we mothers and grandmothers will remember and treasure the times when small troubles are so easily fixed—when little lambs run to us for safety and comfort. We are privileged to shepherd our little ones, leading them ultimately to our Great Shepherd.

Children are a lot like sheep. While every other animal under God’s heaven can fend for itself—even a domesticated animal when released into the wild will discover survival instincts long forgotten—sheep can’t. They can’t hunt to find food, they can’t fight to protect themselves, and they lack any homing sense to direct them to home and safety.

Your little flock needs to be watched, observed carefully, to receive the love and attention needed to thrive. You can’t ignore or postpone their cries to a more convenient hour of the day, for mothering (or shepherding, for that matter) isn’t the kind of job where you can clock in and out. You are on duty at all times, day and night, to care for your precious lambs.

What mothering requires is not only vigilance, but transparency. Kids can see right through the “do as I say, not as I do” lifestyle. If you hate vegetables and make sour faces every time you taste something green, do you honestly think your child will love to eat theirs? By your daily life, you show them what God is like, even as you tell them about God, His Word, and His world.

This is big, ladies…way big. It is the most important job you have. But don’t feel alone in this role; we can find daily, moment-by-moment encouragement in God’s promises…not in our own perfection. We need to know the Great Shepherd ourselves, and the task—simply defined—is to lead our little ones to Him.

So when the scary times come, the storms loom, or the wolves and bears threaten, we can trust them to the Best Shepherd. When tempted to fret or be discouraged, or take loving concern and turn it into unproductive fear (“What if…!”), we need to pray, “Lord, shepherd my flock! I will feed and tend and teach as You command me to, but please, I am depending on You to do what only you can. Bring each one safely to Your home, for I know You care for them even more than I do.”

Like other shepherds

help me keep

watch o’er my flock by night;

mindful of each need,

each hurt, which might

lead one to stray—

each weakness

and each ill—

while others sleep

teach me to pray.

At night wolves and leopards,

hungry and clever, prowl

in search of strays

and wounded; when they howl,

Lord, still

my anxious heart to calm delight—

for the Great Shepherd watches with me

over my flock

by night.

by Ruth Bell Graham

This dish is so delicious that no one can believe how easy it is! My family and friends all love this recipe. It has quickly become one of the Hurley family favorites! It’s great for potlucks or large get-togethers.

All you need is:

• 1 3–4 pound pork tenderloin roast or pork shoulder
• 1 large sweet onion
• Olive oil
• 16 ounces of your favorite green salsa
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 heavy 6–8 quart pan with lid

What you do is:

1. On stovetop over medium heat, sauté sliced onions in about 4 tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown, and then remove. Add a little more oil and brown all sides of the roast, seasoning with salt and pepper.
2. Add onions back in and pour your salsa over the top.
3. Place pot with lid into 300 degree oven and cook until it falls apart (approximately 4 hours).
4. Shred into small pieces.
5. Serve with tropical salsa on a grilled flour tortilla with diced green onions, cilantro, and an avocado slice and enjoy!

Hint: you can also prepare this dish using chicken or beef. (I like to use a red salsa with the chicken.)

These delicious and easy puff pastries are just the right size for appetizers or to serve alongside a soup or salad. I use store-bought puff pastry to make the rounds. These are great served warm from the oven or at room temperature (if they last that long!)

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed and cut into six 4 1/2-inch rounds
• 3/4 cup shredded white cheddar (3 ounces)
• 1 small apple, cored and very thinly sliced
• 1 small beet, scrubbed, peeled, and very thinly sliced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut thawed pastry puffs into six 4 1/2-inch rounds.
3. Place pastry rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick all over with a fork.
4. Sprinkle half of the cheese on the pastry rounds.
5. Top each with 2 to 3 apple slices.
6. Tuck 2 to 3 beet slices with the apple slices.
7. Top with remaining cheese.
8. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with thyme.
9. Bake until pastry is golden brown and slightly puffed (about 13 to 15 minutes).

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A fabric organizer can add a decorative touch to any room. Choose a fabric that complements your space.

The fabric I found inspired me to create pockets since the pattern repeats itself and it only seemed natural to create a seam between the two prints. I have two of these in my house. One we use for bills, and the other in the bathroom for ribbons, barrettes, and bows. You decide where it fits best in your house. It makes for a great gift too.

You’ll need:

• 1 dowel (I used a support rod from an old orchid)
• 2′ of a sturdy trim
• 12″ x  8″ of fabric for the front of your organizer
• 12″ x 9 1/2 ” of fabric for the back of your organizer
• 12″ x  8″ of the same fabric you are using on the back of your organizer (I used a strong linen fabric for my backing.)

Directions:

1. Press both fabrics to begin. Once pressed, pin your trim face down along the front fabric. Add and pin down your lining to the trim and front fabric piece.
2. This lining will reinforce the front fabric from sagging. Sew together all 3 pieces, leaving a corner open to pull the fabric through. Pull through your front piece and then sew the hole closed. Now you should have the front piece of your organizer ready to go.
3. For your back piece, make sure you choose a fabric that is supportive. Fold over the top seam wide enough to slip your dowel through. I made my fold-over 1″ wide. Press and then sew your seam down.
4. Pin your front and back pieces together, inside out, and sew the edges and bottom together, leaving the top open. Turn your organizer inside out. Almost finished!
5. Mark a middle point in the organizer to sew a straight line down that will separate your organizer into two pockets. Be sure to reinforce the top and bottom of the stitch for extra support. Slide your dowel through.
6. Tie your trim onto each side of your dowel, creating the handle that it will hang from.

My husband, Greg, has often said, “Your loved ones may escape your preaching, but they can never escape your prayers.”

For a number of years, my devout mother prayed for my sisters and me. She often sat us down on her bed and tried her best to reach our hearts with words that, honestly, went in one ear and out the other. This proved to be a great test of her faith. Time after time, I mechanically nodded in outward agreement while staring blankly out the window, wishing it would end. I learned not to disagree or raise an objection, only because it would have prolonged the torture.

I was utterly disinterested in what she was saying.

Then one day, it dawned on me: my mother had quit her daily lectures. It was a relief; no more lengthy discussions at the dinner table or in her bedroom. “Whew!” I had escaped her incessant pleading!

I had escaped her pleading with me, but not her pleading with God. It was much later, after I had come to faith, that she revealed how she had determined to quit talking and instead to diligently pray that her daughters would be saved.

I share this with you today and pray it will serve as an encouragement to you moms who have children that seem disinterested, even hostile to your faith. I know it may look hopeless at times, and you may be tempted to doubt that your prayers are being heard. But we need to know that when we pray for that lost child, our prayers are according to the will of God. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Keep asking!

I often think of St. Augustine’s mother, Monica. As a young man, Augustine cast off his once childlike faith, but he could never cast off her prayers and her stubborn love. They followed him from their small town to the big city of Carthage, where things in his life went from bad to worse. There, Augustine’s life would be marked by what he later admitted were his “wicked ways” and “carnal corruption.”

At 29, despite Monica’s incessant pleading with him not to go, Augustine determined to set sail for Rome. Her prayer was that God would somehow prevent her son from making the journey. Despite her specific prayer that Augustine not leave, he did, and she wept and wailed in sorrow. But though God didn’t answer that specific request, He had heard the main point of her prayers. And He was at work in ways she couldn’t see. In God’s perfect plan and timing, so different from her own, the place she feared would be her son’s undoing was the place he would finally surrender to God’s will.

So may I challenge you who are weary and about to give up, don’t! Though it may be a long wait, and it may seem like God is not at work, know that He is—in ways you can’t always see.

There is a heartfelt poem written by Ruth Graham for her once prodigal son, Franklin. I pray that it will inspire you to not lose heart when it comes to your children. I pray you will trust God for their salvation, their very lives, and for God’s timing, not your own. And remember, they may escape your preaching but they can never escape your prayers.

“Lord,

Based on Genesis 32:24–31

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Each month in 2012, we will highlight one of the “I AM” statements of our Lord to better understand who God says He is, and what it means to each of us personally.