I apologize for not having this up and ready to go as promised last month!!!
Let's just say life got a little bit stressful.....and I am VERY SORRY regarding the delay!
St. Martha is my patron saint.
She is the patron saint of servants.
Her feast day is July 29th, which is my wedding anniversary date with Jason.
(I was praying a novena for St. Martha's intercession regarding whether I was to get married again or stay single....four days later Jason proposed.....we picked her feast day as our wedding day a year later!)
Before I was even Catholic I lit the candle of service when inducted into the National Honor Society for high school. When I decided to become Catholic I really seriously prayed and discerned about which saint I wanted to model my life after. I wanted a biblical saint and St. Martha really took ahold of my heart.....Nothing gets me more riled up than hearing a homily or reading an essay that bashes Martha as being inferior to her sister Mary.....because she wasn't at all....Martha is mentioned three times in scripture:
1) Jesus' LOVING Rebuke of St. Martha: Luke 10: 38-42
2) Lazarus' death and St. Martha declaring Jesus as the Messiah BEFORE St. Peter did: John 11: 1-53
3) Martha's service: John 12:1-9
I will write a longer essay later regarding these three scripture passages that mention St. Martha.....she is a great saint to model one's life after!!!
So if you haven't guessed it yet, our first giveaway has to do with St. Martha....This past July 29th was mine and Jason's fifth wedding anniversary and our 4th anniversary of living here on The Sweetness of Home Farm.....Jason bought me the following painting of St. Martha painted by Mark Thomason of Thomason Art Group as our fifth anniversary present:
With Mark's permission we are going to give away a digital reprint of this painting that was painted on a piece of distressed wood to one special person!!!
The giveaway will be open from now until Sept. 30th. Ways to win will be as follows:
1) Follow my sweet blog and leave a comment down below. Leave a comment if you already do follow.
5) Spread the word about the give away by posting about it on either your own blog or on facebook. Please leave a link down below in the comments so that I can verify the post.
The contest is open to anyone living in one of the fifty states of the United States of America, any of our oversea military bases, any U.S. territories AND CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND!:) Giveaway ends on Friday, Sept. 30th We will announce the winner on Sunday, October 2nd-so check back then to see who won!! If winner does not contact me via email by October 7th, 2011 with a UPS shipping address then I will select a runner-up winner.
Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this endorsement/giveaway. We bought the painting from Mark and Nicole, but they are very sweet friends!!!!! I wish they still lived here in Ohio instead of way far off in Colorado!!!!
Don't you love this painting showing St. Martha praying in between all her work?!
A life of true service for God has to be anchored with an active prayer life.
Wishing all of you the sweetness of peace as most of us start a new school year and are busy harvesting our homesteads!!
Always,
Stephanie
