Hi everyone,
  What a great day I had yesterday with 5 fantastic sessions in my Bismarck office--praise God!  I am surprised how many people out there were raised by alcoholics--4 of the 5 I worked with yesterday were. 

How it must grieve God's heart that so few people really feel His love for them.  I cannot urge you enough to start digging into Pastor Prince's resources at: josephprince.org if YOU want to start experiencing God's love in a richer and fuller way.

I'd like to share his devotional today as it was just perfect for me--but then it usually is!  You can sign up to get Pastor Prince's daily devotional on the site too.  I've learned that, by filling my mind with his thoughts on grace, I have much more energy to run on.  I suppose it's because I'm not constantly shooting myself in the foot with thoughts of all my past failures. 

Before the devotional, though, I'd like to invite any home schoolers who live in the Fargo, ND area to ponder attending the AppleSeed Shoot which is being held there this weekend.  I just attended my 3rd one last weekend and I qualified at the Sharp Shooter level--AGAIN.  Some day I am going to make Riflewoman.  How do I know?  Because I won't ever quit until I make it and then I won't ever quit shooting as I am really starting to enjoy it.

Did I tell you that one of the guys at the shoot last weekend, who made Rifleman at the January shoot in Minot, saw my AQT.  He said, "Nice groupings!"  Now that's what I'd call inspiration. 

If you can't attend, please join me in praying for nice weather for the event.  Also, Andrew needs continued prayers as he isn't getting much rest this week with pushing to finish seeding by the weekend.  I'm out to spend the day in the tractor, after packing 4 lunches, so I could use some prayers too as that has often been rough on my neck--but now I'm under grace.  ;)

Love to all.  I hope that you'll enjoy Pastor Prince's morning devotional and that you'll get in the daily habit of filling your mind with his encouraging words too.

God bless,

Dawn

Jesus Is Your Sweet Aroma To God

Leviticus 1:13 13… the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

In Old Testament times, when a burnt offering is killed, its head is severed, the fat removed, and the entrails and legs washed. Then, everything is placed on an altar and burnt, and the sacrifice is a sweet aroma to God. All this speaks of the death of Jesus, who has “given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma”. (Ephesians 5:2) The head of the sacrificed animal speaks of the mind of Christ offered as a covering for our minds. This means that although our minds are often clouded with unbelief, worries, foolishness, filth and human reasoning, God treats us as if we have the mind of Christ, without wrong or displeasing thoughts, bringing pleasure to Him like a sweet aroma. The fat of the animal speaks of the riches of Christ, His best, for God equates the fat of something with the best of that entity. (Genesis 45:18) The fat of the burnt sacrifice speaks of Jesus giving us His riches, His best, as our covering. So God does not see us in our lack, but in the riches and excellence of Jesus going up to Him as a sweet aroma. The entrails or intestines speak of Jesus’ motivations, feelings, affections and desires. We often feel fearful, anxious, stressed out or angry (and it affects our stomach and intestines). But God sees only Jesus’ feelings and desires, which are always pure, beautiful and acceptable to Him — a sweet aroma. The legs refer to Jesus’ perfect walk — His power to serve and obey the Father — imputed to our weak and faltering walk. And the fact they are washed shows that even our crooked walk has been cleansed. Beloved, God does not see your foolish mind, weak nature, inadequate feelings or faulty walk. Instead, He sees you in the perfection of His Son, who gave Himself up for you as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to G