From the Valley of Weeping

by Mrs. Denise Brass

I’ve been realizing how much time I can spend here[at my blog] or face book that really takes away from my boys. So I’ve been spending way less time on things non-eternal and trying to direct my time towards things that are going to matter for eternity and not just burn when they are put through God’s fire. 1 Cor 3:13-15.

13 But each one’s work will be shown for what it is; the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire – the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If the work someone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward; 15 if it is burned up, he will have to bear the loss: he will still escape with his life, but it will be like escaping through a fire.
~CJB by David Stern

I was talking with my sister tonight about just that, about giving an account for what we did with our time, our life, and I said that God’s going to want to know what we did with our families- our children. Contrary to what most congregations will say while they are trying to get you to serve in a multitude of their “ministries”, our first ministry is our husbands and then our children and we should never be so busy serving in a building or even our community that our own family suffers or is lacking our quality time.

No matter how good it looks, God’s going to have some words with us if we put serving outside our family above serving our family. Our home is our number 1 mission field, it should be our top priority and is our training ground. That’s where we learn to deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Messiah. Yes visiting the sick and bringing a meal to someone feels way better than the daily grind of our family life but lets be honest, is that really denying yourself and carrying our cross??? I don’t think so. Some of you may know this story but some time ago while I was changing a really bad poopy diaper, having a complaining attitude, I was talking to the Lord and asking Him how He was going to use me where would I be serving… I’m thinking leading people to Him, laying hands on the sick etc.. He said to me- what if this is what I want you to do? Meaning change the poopy diaper and raise up these kids. You know my answer was- I’m not really gonna like that! Just being honest.

It’s not easy to stay at home loving your husband and raising your children, not to mention the world sees no value in it and it certainly doesn’t feel as good as those other things BUT God says to do it. So that’s what iv been working on and not just doing it but doing it with joy. Having joy is a choice and I’m trying to delight in my crazy boys and sincerely listen to them (they can tell when your acting), rub their backs, kiss their heads and be together in life with them, see them as a blessing like God says and not an imposition on my life. And I make it a point throughout the day to tell them I love them and build them up with some encouraging words. That’s not always easy especially when they’re acting up and driving me crazy but you know, someday I will be gone and all they’ll have left is memories of how I was with them, how I treated them, did I have time for them or was I always putting them off. And you know, they’re going to treat their children like we have treated them which also puts a different perspective on things. But I want to make sweet simple memories with them of cuddling in the bed telling stories, playing board games- even video games, making brownies with me on the counter. I want them to know to the core of their soul that I love them. The things we do now- all those little things- matter.

I’ve noticed with 2 of my boys lately that they will have moments of almost frantically needing to do a specific thing that they use to do with their dad because it makes them feel connected to him. For Ben it was that he needed to see pictures of him with his dad. For Isaiah it’s been needing to see a certain video that they use to watch together in George’s truck when he would take them places. Little every day things that you don’t even realize, mean so much. Choose joy, delight in their little faces, delight in your husbands face as well, make sweet memories, love love love them!

PS. I miss him!!!

Mrs. Brass

Mrs. Denise Brass is the loving wife of George, who passed on to eternity in November 2009, leaving her and their four boys missing him and longing to meet with him again. As a widow, Mrs. Brass appreciates your support both on her blog and through Gleaning the Harvest. You can read her bio on Gleaning the Harvest and her heart at her blog, Passing Through the Valley of Weeping.

July ChipIns Posted

The July widgets are up on the sidebar.  We have challenged our FaceBook fans to donate(at least) $2 to each family. It can be done.  $8 a month – or even a week – is such a small amount to most of us. Let’s work together to meet the needs of these families.

We already have a praise this month. Mrs. Brass needed a repair to some of her appliances, so we added that to her ChipIn. Well, it is just a few days into the new ChipIns, and the appliances are already repaired! The Father knows our needs and takes care of us.

If you are unable to see the chipin widgets, you will find links to each page here: Give to the Families Here

May we be faithful and walk in his ways. Thank you, Father, for your lovingkindness and care.

You can follow us on FB too:

Gleaning the Harvest

Dixon Family Ministries

Thank you for fulfilling the Father’s plan with us! Deuteronomy 24 and James 1:27

Shalom and be blessed!

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Mrs. Lirette

You may have noticed that we have moved Mrs. Lirette’s icon to the “Continuing to Pray For” section in the sidebar. We have done this at her request. We will continue to pray for and support our dear friend, but she has asked to be removed from the GTH site.

If you are friends with her on FaceBook, then you already are privy to her reasons. If you are not, then look her up. Let her know you support her and love her and are praying for her. We will leave the info she shares up to her. If she decides to post something here, we will be happy to do so for her.

We know the Father has her in his hands, and we trust in him to care for her.

Love you Mrs. L!!

Be sure to give a few dollars to the remaining families on the sidebar while you are here~

Shalom~

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Mrs. Brass and Family

My name is Denise Brass.
I am a widow.
My husbands name was George Brass IV.
My Boys are Isaac 9, Isaiah 7, Benjamin 4 and Simeon 2
Fave Scripture: Psalm 143:7-8
I do not work outside the home.

MY STORY

In July of 09 my husband started have some diarrhea. Of course he had never been sick a day in his life so he just figured that’s all it was. It went on for about 2 months, and when it became pretty painful we went into the ER. It was there they told us he had a tumor in his rectum and they could also see from the cat scan some lesions on his liver. They admitted him on October 9, 09. They ran a world of tests, and on Oct. 13 we met with the team of Dr.s that had been assigned to him. Of course it was my absolute worse nightmare come true. And even as I write this I want to just scream at the top of my voice, and honestly I still cant believe that he is gone!

He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer which had spread to his liver. He also had some blot clots in his legs and one of them had gone up into his lung. There was really nothing they could do. They couldn’t put him on blood thinners for the clot because that could have caused him to bleed to death. They had reluctantly considered doing a colostomy but were afraid more clots would released or his other one would travel, and the same with chemo- they were afraid of bleeding out from the tumor. I felt like every door was just slammed shut, and I spent a lot of my days on my face on the floor in the hospital bathrooms pretty much begging my Father for the life of my husband, the father of our boys.

We came home after about a week of being there and his pain was not being managed so we ended back in the ER a week later and when they did another cat scan they said the cancer had also spread to his stomach and lungs. UH!!! So he asked me what i wanted to do and I said I wanted him home with me- not in the hospital- until God either healed Him or took him home. So thats what we did; we left him in God’s hands. ( that was around Oct. 27) So i spent the next days just loving him. He was pretty medicated on morphine so he would sleep a lot. I would just wake him and tell him what a great man he is and have him tell me that he loved me. I would lay my head in his neck and just smell him and just try be as close to him as I could.

He woke a few days later and his eyes were yellow and I just knew it wouldn’t be long. But still I was hanging on to Jesus, fervently praying for my husband’s life. I can see now looking back how God wrapped his life up. Everyone in his family and all those who loved him had come to visit him, sing praises to the Lord with him, pray with him and tell him they loved him. Who gets that? He went home to heaven Nov. 6, 09 at 11:20 pm. He died in my arms with me loving on him until there wasn’t a breath left in his body. I miss him greatly- we all do. Sometimes he would have a really “awake” moment even though he was on so much morphine. One time i was losing it and he called me over to him because he said he wanted to help me.

He hugged me and told me “Honey, you have to remember Jesus. You need to include him in to the situation. He is here to help us, don’t forget to include Him.”

And that’s what I do every day now and He has been faithful to help!

Contribute to Denise Brass and Family

Please support Mrs. Brass and her little guys as much as you are able. Even a few dollars helps. Every dollar helps. You can read about her journey and life at Passing Through the Valley of Weeping and join the FaceBook page in support of her family at: Can we find 100,000 people to help a widow and her 4 boys save their home??

You can share the love and promote the Brass family on your blog or website by wearing their icon, linked to this site. Just copy the code and put it into a post or on your sidebar.

<a href="http://gleaningtheharvest.com/?p=1414" target="_blank"><img src="http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww91/GleaningtheHarvest/BrassFam/brassfam.png" border="0" alt="Brass Family Icon" /></a>

GIVING TO THE FAMILIES

Support-donation widgets are located on the sidebars. Please give any amount you are able to. Even a few dollars are a big deal to the families. No amount is too small.

You can get your own ChipIn widget to support Mrs. Brass and her Boys by clicking on the COPY button on the widget. If you would like to use the widget – located in the sidebar, you may copy the code to use on your site. If you would like to design a different size or color of widget, then when it changes, you will click on the “More Options”. This will take you to a page you can customize your widget if you would like to.  You can customize the widget for your website or blog.

*please let us know if you experience problems using this ChipIn*

All Rights Reserved © Gleaning the Harvest 2008-10

Prayer and Giving for the Families

Thanks to all who have faithfully given to these moms and children for the past several months. We watch the ChipIn widgets with anticipation to see just how Yahveh is going to meet the needs of these families each month. This is always on my heart.

One thing you need to know is that this site is not just about find-raising for these families. These moms need prayer. Their children need prayer. They have lost their Daddy, either through tragedy, divorce or incarceration. The means is not the issue, the hole in the heart is. They need provision. their Mommas need to be lifted up and prayed for to give their children what they need to give them and to stay strong as they walk these paths.

In case you haven’t met the sweet moms on Gleaning the Harvest, we have a widow who is still struggling to pull things together after living for so many years with the love of her life. She now has to do things and make decisions that were for him to do out of his love for her. She has to live life without the plans they made for their future. She has to place all her trust in her God that he does know what is best, even when it just hurts so bad.

Another mom is struggling with her husband being released from prison, but still not being able to be home with her and her son. She is constantly walking a tightrope as a wife and mom and really needs the prayers of moms who understand the loneliness in a marriage of separation. Yahveh is faithful to her and has provided in so many ways, but she still needs to be encouraged and lifted up in this time until her husband can join them and provide for their family.

The other two moms are new to GTH and are relying completely on the Father’s provision. They are at home, training their sons and daughters, living out the Scriptures, walking through pain and suffering that always comes with divorce. They are balancing the emotions and struggles in themselves and their children. they are financially being ruined, except for the grace of a mighty Elohim-God. I pray you will lift them up and love them in that way and through any giving you can do.

Any and every amount helps these moms and children. We have had donations of $100’s of dollars to just a couple. Even $5 is appreciated and put to good use. The people of Yahveh have been so faithful in the past few months to give above the needs of these moms. I pray you will pray that their needs will be met this month and each month.

Be blessed as you seek how you can lift up these families and fulfill the commandment to care for the widows and the fatherless.

You will find their donation ChipIns on the sidebar. I know that you will be blessed and drawn closer to Yahveh as you walk in his ways and give to his people.

In HIM~

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