The Snyders in Germany

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

wow it's been awhile.. but there's a reason why! we had visitors in town, then, we moved, which included packing moving unpacking (and we're still unpacking :)  ) but oh it feels amazing to be pretty much moved in! it was pretty sad to say goodbye to our apartment though.. i mean it was our first real home, and it's where we brought baby p home to, so that was a little sad to move away from but we are really loving our new home! our great friends (reesie and mr. t) bought a sweet house so we are renting two rooms from them :) good times.

WOW! it's finally happened, D began working at LAX, the job we had prayed for, the work we had prayed to come, and in abundance. quite a transition from spending a lot of time together to about 2 hours a day.. even Baby P has noticed his absence. when he came home from day one (sat) he went in to shower and she crawled after him, and hit the door crying! so sad, yet cute at same, time, anyways i stood in there and he talked to her over shower (cuz he's nice and tall and can look over hehe) but ya it's just crazy and amazing to think, its over. being unemployed is over with. into a new season, a busy one, a fruitful one. and so amazing too because our first instinct has been, how can we be a blessing! it was harder before, yet possible, but harder because of a real lack of financial resources, but now it's like a world of opportunity. woohooo and exhilarating yet! it has been quite nice to have the time around the home though, it was weird while he was out of work, because it kind of felt like i was too. even though, my job (homemaker) was still very needed etc it was like my motivation was gone and i didn't really know how to fulfill my role while he was around, but the moment he works, its like i go into workin mode and the house gets clean, good food gets made. its a good feeling! by the way i feel like i shouldn't have been so unmotivated i wish i would've stayed the same, but for some reason it didn't happen. like an epidemic! even if he had a day of work, it would happen. weird but that was my experience. the provision God provided over those past 6 months was purely glorious! i dont believe it was chance, or coincidence, but God. His word declares He will supply all of our needs, that He feeds the sparrow and clothes the lily and we need not worry for we are of far greater value than they. matthew6:33 declares, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things (food clothes needs etc) will be added unto you." and i believed it for my life as a single, i believed it for my wedding planning, and we believed it as a family! and the Lord does not lie, we never lacked a single thing! we had everything we needed when we needed it. men may place dead lines or set time for things but Gods timing is perfect. I once heard, "God is rarely early, but never late." it's a beautiful thing to take Gods word at face value and tell Him, Lord your word says_____________ex: you will provide. so Lord, I am going to give you the first fruits (the best and not leftovers) of all i have! my time, talent and treasure. and Lord, I trust you will provide for all my needs.

See that He does not respond when this is done with a pure heart! He loves His children more than we could ever fathom. it is written

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

i say amen. it is true. the most valuable precious thing God could have ever given us was His Son Jesus. why would he withhold anything else?

have you had any personal experiences with this! please share your favorite story!


-with a thankful heart,
      mrs. s

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

-proverbs 15:17

how you should interact with a fellow believer?
- love one another, submit to one another, esteem others higher than yourself.

"but they aren't a believer!"

okay, let's be more general, how should you deal with your neighbor?
- love your neighbor as yourself. (mark 12:31)

"but, you don't understand, they are more like an enemy than my neighbor!"

well then, how are we instructed to deal with our enemies?
- love your enemies and do good to them which hate you. (luke 6:27)

end of story. love. i know it can be hard, but it's what's commanded. Jesus spoke about loving those who are easy to love and how basically anybody can do that, even those who don't know God, but true love is loving those who are hard to love, those who may not "deserve" the love. being gracious, giving them what they don't deserve > loving somebody who actually deserves punishment. it is in situations like this we learn to be like Christ; who is gracious, merciful, and unconditionally loving. it's what we all want. we would give everything to obtain it. there's no question, love is better.

with love,
mrs. s

"count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." [james 1:2-4]
i have read this verse so many times, yet when i faced trials, it seemed hard to have joy. i had the revelation the other day though that how Christians respond to trial is something that totally sets us apart from nonbelievers. it is so typical for the enemy to try to steal our joy, because it can be a way to disarm us, or discourage us, but james encourages by saying no! count it joy! even though things may be hard God will use it to do great things! we are encouraged and given a reason to be joyful.

"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." [Hebrews 12:2 ESV]
even JESUS, the Son of God, had to look to what lie ahead and not dwell on the momentary affliction. He is our perfect example, He did not let the enemy of men's soul steal His joy and lead Him into disobedience, no He pressed on for He knew the joy which lie ahead. and we shall do likewise. like job, we shall bless the name of the Lord no matter what the season. yes He gives and takes away. shall we only bless Him when its in our favor?! no of course not. so i encourage you all, when you face trials, when things seem hard, when life is stressful, call on Jesus, get into Gods word, cause we can do it alone. we must be filled with the Spirit, for JOY is a fruit of the Spirit. we should be able to have joy in every situation, paul is right, because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and we know that the suffering we experience now cannot even be compared to the glory that is to be revealed!! don't let your joy be taken from you, no but persevere in prayer, and be filled with joy from our great Father in heaven!

[feel free to share what difficult circumstances God has given you to be joyful through and to strengthen your faith through, that we'll lack in nothing. ]

with much joy thanks to Jesus,
the mrs. :)

I realize its been way too long since I wrote... in fact, I've only written one other time, but I figured I'd start sharing here what amazing things the Lord does in our life rather than in my personal journals. So I will do a quick catch up from last July to now so bear with me and enjoy! {stories shall be placed in brackets}

July 2011- we came back to the usa from germany. moved to cali with mrs. s' parents [see previous blog for explanation of that]

August 2011- mr. s began roofing for webco, moved into our first apartment together as a family!

Sept 2011- amy began taking 3 unit class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement

Oct 2011- still adjusting to life in ca, ended month with baby shower


Dec 2011 Baby Number one is born!

Jan 2012- grandma joy comes to visit us and baby p for the first time!

Feb 2012- first family trip to ohio,  mr. s turns 24, becomes unofficially unemployed. job hunt begins. start learning how faithful God really is...


Mar 2012- celebrate 1 year anniversary, continue trusting the Lord

Apr 2012- busy being parents continual work search, mister s received one week of work with the carpenters union, woohoo!

May 2012- jp and vero come to visit at end of the month, we had so much fun with them both. we went to santa barbara, l.a., did some museum exploring, some coffee shop discovering, stayed in a yurt in the sb mountains... it was a great time. 

June 2012- GODS PROVIDES just in the knick of time!

{so, we were running out of our savings, due to rent and other needs over the past almost 5 months, and we knew God either needed to provide work to make money, or provide money to pay our upcoming bills because after submitting our rent check we were pretty much out. it was pretty awesome as well, because a month earlier we had felt God encouraging us to give to some brothers and sisters in central asia, the amount was $100. then last month calvary nexus decided to do an experiment so to say, by giving away $10,000 to 100 people with the hopes to further Gods kingdom and to teach people to be good stewards of Gods money. (really teaching, all is Gods money. be a good steward of all you have!) so we wanted to participate and we took our $100 and matched the $100 from calvary in hopes to send $200! so cool. it took longer than hoped to figure out how to get the money to our friends, but we finally sent it out, completely in faith too because that was literally our last $100... leaving us with about $30 or so in our account..scary! but we knew God would come through! we just knew it! amy celebrated her 23 birthday and received some money during that time which was helpful indeed, but not enough to really cover the bills, but it was encouraging. and then it happened, we received the news that we were very loved and a check would be coming to us in the mail because somebody had given us some money. when we got home that day, indeed there was a check in the mailbox, anonymously given, for $3000!!!!! i share the specifics so that God may be glorified and magnified! can we just take a moment to glorify and praise Him!?

selah

so this is written to share that God knows our every need. He knows when to provide. see, we didn't need money for next months rent, because, well, it wasn't due yet. we didn't need money for tomorrow, because tomorrow wasn't here yet and we had/have everything we needed for today. it was once said, the Lord is rarely early but never late. and in these past months, we have not lacked one good thing.