Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Did you have a blessed 2022? Mine was the best ever! Here are a couple highlights.

January-March: I enrolled in an online American history/government class entitled “A Republic if You Can Keep It!” David Barton of Wallbuilders teaches American history/government from the original documents of our founding fathers, which means from a Christian world view. If in a couple words I were to sum up our constitutional republic it would be “God’s Miracle.” I highly recommend that every citizen of the United States take this class. Because it is an online course, you can take it at your own leisure. Here’s a link if you’re interested:  https://www.patriotacademy.com/store/product/31

January-February: I also hosted a six-week Constitution class through Patriot Academy in my home. We shared meals and learned so much about how God designed our Constitution…and how far we’ve strayed from it. It’s time to go back to the Constitution!

February: I said goodbye to Sunrise, my nearly 14-year-old golden retriever. For a while Willow, my German shepherd, and I wandered around our hollow house, missing the old gal.

Spring/Summer: As soon as the weather warmed up, I recruited the neighbor with his excavator to dig holes for six more trees, some which will bear fruit for me and some will support honey bees. Daily I thanked God for my tractor, which I used to dig trenches for irrigation water lines to the trees. I also carved out and fenced off new garden spots. It was so fun to sit on the porch eating watermelon and having the juice run down my face!

Summer/Fall: I harvested a nice hay crop then pastured cows into the fall. For fun I tackled some landscaping by building short walls with rocks. Many rocks were so big they didn’t fit in my tractor bucket, so my tractor pushed them in place. Then I filled in with dirt and planted trees, bushes and flowers in my rock walled gardens. The David Austin climbing roses I planted on the arbor last year topped seven feet tall and bloomed nearly all spring, summer and fall. It’s heavenly to walk through my gate, stand under the arbor and breathe deeply of the old rose scent.

Winter: I still enjoy brokering lumber for my regular day-job and on the writing front, once again, I’ve been invited to write stories for Walking In Grace, a Guideposts publication. In my spare time I’m tinkering with ideas for another book.

A couple days ago I reclined in front of the crackling fire and wondered what in the world I did this past year. Then I laughed. I’m sure 2023 will be filled with adventures and I’m not planning on slowing down at all.

Christmas/New Year: The Christmas family gathering will be at my home. I’m looking forward to taking some time off from work while family is here. After all, celebrating Christ’s birth with family makes it the most special time of the year!

Wishing you a 2023 filled with faith in God’s love and with His miracles!              

Rebecca    

P.S. This is AMAZING Hot Chocolate!

Amazing Hot Chocolate Recipe

Campfires!

It’s summertime and time to enjoy some campfires! As a child I remember sitting spellbound, listening to tall tales of adventures and roasting s’mores over the crackling fire. Little did I know that all the years I worked in the wilderness, I would sit around campfires nearly every morning and evening.

The campfire was the place where we figured out life. Where we cut our teeth on how to live the code of the West: where a man’s word was his bond and where courage and integrity meant more than money. A life of honor was to be esteemed.

Honor… It’s something seems to be missing from modern-day society. We lost it bit by bit as we removed God from our culture. Can we get it back? I believe we can, but I also believe that it’s going to take each one of us working together as a team to get it done.  How? Now, more than ever it’s time to be an example and to mentor people, not condemning them, but instead guiding them with love towards God’s moral law, which is summed up in the Ten Commandments.

First, it starts with honoring the Lord with our lives. This month I’ll be posting thought provoking Morning Ponderings about #Honor on my author Facebook page. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaOndovAuthor/ I’ll be meditating on those quotes myself and asking myself, how can I change my heart so that I display honor in my life?

What small thing could you do this week to strengthen the value honor in your life? Would you like to be a part of the team to bring honor back into our everyday lives?

Happy New Year 2022!

Have you noticed that, as every year rolls by, the times are becoming more exciting! I’ve always hated “normal,” so last year was amazing. Some days I woke up and wondered if I was living in the book of Revelations. LOL.

Rebecca & Sunrise

Here’s a snapshot of my highlights:

Winter ’21: a German shepherd puppy wiggled her way into my heart and Sunrise, my golden retriever, and I started training her.

Spring ’21: I learned how to memorize whole chapters of the Bible by following the book “An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture” by Andrew M. Davis. I’ve never been one who could do memorization—so this was huge for me!

     As the weather warmed up, I built a rose arbor archway over the entry to my sidewalk and planted the climbing roses (from my sister Julie and her husband Mike) on either side. They bloomed profusely all summer and one stem is already 7’ tall!

Summer ’21: Landscaping! I shoveled—by hand—over 12 yards of dirt and four yards of rock into a portion of the yard I couldn’t get to with the tractor. It’ll take a couple years to complete landscaping, but at least I’ll be on the tractor for the rest.

Fall ’21: Some friends and I drove over to our state capitol in Helena, Montana and testified before a committee hearing about some upcoming legislation. Wow! Talk about stretching myself—but it’s something “We the People” need to be doing. And we also got a private tour of the Montana State House of Representatives and Senate Chambers. I discovered that outside our capitol building stands a semi-circle of flags: the United States flag, the Montana flag, and flags of the sovereign nations of the Native Peoples of Montana. I searched through them for the flags of a dear friend and texted pictures to her. Honoring people and history is important.

    Later in the fall I hosted a Biblical Citizenship in Modern America class through Patriot Academy. All of us came away with awe and wonder of the miracles God performed to create the United States. I highly recommend every Christian to go through this to help understand our responsibilities as Biblical citizens. Did you know that the average constitution for a nation lasts only 17 years? But God gave us this Constitutional Republic, a one of a kind government where “We the People” are the rulers, and it’s worked for 246 years! I believe that our purpose is to share the gospel with the rest of the world.  And that purpose hasn’t changed. It’s time for “We the People” to roll up our sleeves and turn this nation back to God!!! Here’s a preview: https://coach.patriotacademy.com/biblicalcitizenship/  

Christmas ’21: My sister and brother-in-law from Minnesota flew in to celebrate with my brother, sister-in-law, and me. It was the first time in two years we’d been together. Special!

Winter ’22: I will be hosting a Constitution Alive! class through Patriot Academy. It’s a game changer! Find out more about constitution classes at PatriotAcademy.com.  And at the same time I’ll be taking an American history class through Wallbuilders & Patriot Academy.

Rebecca & Willow

     I’m still working my job brokering lumber, am under contract to write for a Guideposts publication entitled “Walking in Grace,” and am tinkering on some other book ideas. The word “bored” is not in my vocabulary for 2022!

May your 2022 be filled with excitement & adventures!

Blessings,

Rebecca Ondov

Never Ever Give Up!

For such a time as this?

This picture hung on my parents refrigerator for decades. Hundreds of folks graced Mom’s kitchen at one time or another. The funny cartoon of the frog strangling the bird and refusing to be swallowed–against all odds–was the talk of many conversations. NEVER GIVE UP!

This sign summed up their mission in life. They lived it well and shared the sentiment with others. Both born into the depression era and poverty, they didn’t wallow in their misfortune. Instead they rose above it by hard work, prayer, and never giving up.

I don’t remember them complaining about hard times. Instead I remember them cherishing the memories of winning struggles and helping friends.

After Mom died, Dad matter-of-factly cleaned out. But he left this hang on the refrigerator. When he sold his home to move into an apartment, he hung it on his new refrigerator. At 90 years old he courageously chose to embark on a new adventure. When He moved from his beloved state of Minnesota, in order to start a new life in Montana with us kids, he packed this picture along and hung it on his new refrigerator.

A couple days after he moved to heaven, I carefully took this down and packed it away. Then for some reason, yesterday I happened to open the box. Perhaps God had me open the box yesterday for such a time as this?

Now is not the time to shrink back and be discouraged. It’s time to engage in life like you never have before. Engage in prayer, in reading your Bible, in helping each other, in building our communities and our nation to turn them back to God.

Most of all, you, my fellow Christians and Patriots, pray that God will shake this nation right-side up.

And remember–NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

I love you all,

Rebecca

Prayer for the Nation Today

Today is an epic day for our nation. Prayer is no longer optional–but instead essential.

I tapped into this link first thing this morning with the goal in mind of praying in unity with the intercessors God has called for such a time as this. When you get a chance, please watch this and pray with us.

Never, never, never give up on what God is doing here in the U.S.A–One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for All.

Have a blessed day,

Rebecca

Will You Pray with Me?

I led this prayer in our church today. Will you also pray this with me?

Lord,

At this critical juncture in the history of the United States, we appeal to You.

We ask that You extend Your mercy to our nation. For in the next few weeks we will be facing the culmination of the fruits from the decades of our apathy, which has caused the United States to depart from her divine destiny. Her destiny of sending the gospel throughout the world and to disciple the nations on how to live.

Lord, we are asking that You rock the church with Your Glory. Shake us from our apathy and fruitless lives. Instill in us a thirst for Your righteousness and justice, a hunger for us to plant Your words in our hearts so that our minds are transformed.

Shake us from hiding our faith within the church walls and convict us to go into the world where we can be market place ministers. Show us the destiny that you have for each of us by having us be involved in all walks of life, from sweeping floors to politics, knowing that every job for You is a vital part of the body of Christ—not one more important than the other.

Let the way we choose to lead our lives speak the testimony of our relationship with You—perhaps without a word being said.

Give us the courage to call evil—evil, and good—good. Show us how to stand for Your righteousness.

Lead us in how to live a life of repentance. One in which we don’t merely say I’m sorry, but that our heart’s desire is to please you so much that we are constantly correcting our actions to match our heart’s love for You. Let us be changed from today going forward.

Raise us up to be a courageous and mighty army for You.

We plead the blood of Jesus over our nation and ask that Your purge the wickedness from our nation. We are asking for You to shake up our government, our churches, and our lives so that they are tipped right-side up.

Steer the United States of America back to her course—of spreading the gospel to all the world and to disciple all nations.

Lord, we need Your hand to move on our behalf,

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen

It’s 2021!

A Great Morning Pondering: “If we live, it’s to honor the Lord.” Rom 14:8 (NLT)

Happy New Year 2021!

Happy New Year from my Home to Yours

Wow! What a ride this past year has been. My goal in life has been to NEVER be “normal.” Normal is boring with no adventures, so that makes 2020 one of my best years ever.

It’s been like living in a John Gresham novel (Revelations), being so emotionally sucked into it that you want to turn the pages quickly, but don’t know if you dare. Each day has been filled with suspense, espionage, intrigue, and heart-pounding unexpected double-crossings! I’m so honored that God chose me to live now—in such an exciting time—so that I can pray and lead others to Him.

My greatest highlight that I gleaned from 2020 was gaining a deeper understanding of Corrie Ten Boom’s quote, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” I’ve been building my faith by reading the Bible hour after hour to overcome the fear of that unknown future. Why did I think I knew what the future would hold? I never would have guessed a media-driven pandemic. Only God knows what lies ahead. Those of us who seek Him are His favorite kids, so why be afraid? Why not make this crazy life an adventure?

For 2021, I’m praying that God’s Presence invades your hearts and homes. May His Glory shine so brightly that everything in the world around you grows dim.

Blessings, Rebecca

Morning Pondering

“There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.” Garth Stein

Morning Pondering

“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” Socrates