Category Archives: Reflections

God Will Not Give You More Than You Can Handle – I Beg To Differ

God, Reflections

I don’t often blog about my Christian faith. My blog is mostly about farming, soap making and living what we think of as a “simple” life. The reality is that I have a personal relationship with God – The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. God is involved in our daily lives and we seek his guidance often. I talk to God and He listens. God talks to me and I try to listen. Sometimes I am not sure exactly what His messages are telling me and other times they come through loud and clear. Today I am going to share with you my most recent message from God.

Yesterday while I was outside cleaning garlic I was also thinking about some of the challenges that we are going through right now. “God won’t give us more than we can handle” I thought. This is a phrase that we Christians use often to comfort each other and ourselves when we are struggling. As soon as this thought entered my head I knew it was wrong. It was like God grabbed me and shouted “NO! I GOT THIS!” and it was then that I realized the truth – that God will never give us more than He can handle.

As I pondered this I realized that it wouldn’t even make sense for God to limit the events in our life to those that we, as mere mortals, have the ability to cope with. If He did we would really have no need for God. It is, in fact, during the hard times, when we trust God and learn to count on him, that our faith and our relationship with Him are strengthened.

It seems to me that with the good intentions of offering comfort to others we (humans)have messed things up – again. God never intended for us to go it alone. He is always there to guide and protect us, to provide wisdom and give us strength. We only need to seek it. Thus the message – God will never give you more than He can handle offers comfort in reminding us the we need to turn to God instead of trying to go it alone. Won’t you join me is spreading this message.

Thanks for reading.

 

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Matthew 11:28-30 New International Version (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Welcome

Reflections

I have gained a lot of new readers since I first posted this in January, so if you haven’t already, I invite you to spend a little time getting to know me at our farm.

ruthsoaper's avatarDon't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

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Welcome Friends!

I have to start with a huge THANK YOU to everyone reading this. When I first started writing this blog, about two and a half years ago, I never imagined it would be what it has become. I figured I might have a few people who would read it regularly – friends and family that know and love me. For quite a while that was the case. Occasionally I would look at my stats and see that no one had viewed my blog for several days and I wondered if it was worth writing, then a friend or family member would mention how much they enjoyed reading it. That was all I needed to inspire me to keep writing.

Today I am amazed as I look at my blog stats and see that people from all over the world, 67 countries at last count, have visited my little piece of…

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Where To Buy Our Garlic – 2018 Update

garlic, Reflections

As of yesterday our fresh garlic is now being sold at four local retail locations. In addition to Neiman’s and Water To Go which I mentioned in this post , it is also available at Pure Michigan Country Market http://www.puremichigancountrymarket.com/ on 10th Avenue in Port Huron, Michigan and Fronney’s Foods http://www.fronneysfoods.com/ in Capac, Michigan.

We are very appreciative to be working with all of these retailers again this year. We have learned in working with them in past years that all of these businesses’ are eager to work with other local, small,  businesses in order to support the local economy and bring quality products to their customers.

While this post is about where to find  our garlic I would be remiss if I did not mention that if you stop into Pure Michigan Country Market or Water To Go you can also pick up a bar of my handcrafted “Don’t Eat It!” Soap.

Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

Garlic (Kitchen) Tools – Pros and Cons

Reflections

While we are on the topic of garlic (if you saw my last post) I wanted to share with you this post from 2015. It is a review of some garlic kitchen tools that I own.
Before you read it I need to let you know that I have tried my homemade coffee soap to remove the smell of garlic from my hands (as I mentioned I would) and yes, it does work.
Thanks for reading.

ruthsoaper's avatarDon't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

As you can imagine, as garlic growers we use a lot of fresh garlic at our house. Now I’ll be the first to admit that peeling and cutting, chopping or mincing fresh garlic is not the easiest way to go, but in my opinion fresh garlic is far superior to using garlic powder or even the store bought jars of minced garlic. Therefore I’m always open to easier ways of preparing fresh garlic.

I have a few tools or gadgets that are designed for use on garlic and I thought I’d share what I see as the pros and cons of each.

The first tool that I used is a simple paring knife.

IMG_0555 Paring Knife

I often use a paring knife if I am only peeling and slicing one or two cloves of garlic. I simply cut off the root end of the clove and slip the knife under the skin and once…

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Where To Buy Our Garlic – 2018

garlic, Reflections

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We are pleased to tell you that our 2018 garlic crop is now available at a couple of local retailers.

As of today you can find our garlic at Neiman’s Family Market in Saint Clair, Michigan as well as Purified Water To Go, in Richmond, Michigan. If you shop at these local retailers please be sure to let them know how much you appreciate them supporting local farmers by offering locally grown produce.

I do expect to be adding two more locations to this list later this week so be sure to follow this blog for updates.