Friends,

Rodney and I have known for a long time that we live in a wonderful small town and that we have made some really good friends since we have lived here. But over the last few days I have been reminded of our good favor once again.


As you may know, I have been laid up on the couch recuperating from a knee replacement since last Friday. During this time several people have visited and called. Some have even brought food over for us.

Two days ago, Riley made breakfast and dinner out of the left overs from the last night's brought in meal.  During the course of the day, yesterday, I heard from 10 people, plus, one person came to dust, one came to visit and then came back with gluten free brownies, one picked up Riley for choir practice, one even brought me a diet coke, knowing that that is a special treat. Last night we even had one make sure Riley made it to his last pep band playing for the season. I have also received many little gifts that have brightened my boring, mundane, somewhat painful healing on the couch.

I am sure God has a big hand in the placing of these wonderful people in our lives, right now and over the years. I bet if you look at your own lives you will see that God has given you some wonderful friends too. 

Paul had some friends who stuck by him through anything and everything. 2 Timothy 4:21 tells of the ones who where with him clear to the end. But over the course of his travels and teachings,  Paul mentions many without whom he would not have made it....... 

AQUILLA, PRISCILLA, ARISTARCHUS, BARNABAS, EPAPHRAS, GAIUS, LUKE, JUSTUS, TIMOTHY,  TITUS, and MARCUS, just to name a few. 

The one common denominator with all of these people from the past and in the present, is that they love and loved our God and are and were available to be used by Him to be the kind of friend that gets written about.

My life may not depend on my friends, like Paul's did, but I can tell you that, to me, they are just as God sent. 

I hope that we all can be friends like that.

Blessings!

Long Night

It is now about 6:45 in the morning and I am awake with only about an hour's worth of sleep from this last night. Hospitals are in the business of healing and they seem to be quite good at it, except for one thing, remembering the healing power of sleep. I know that meds are needed and orders have to be followed but goodness gracious couldn't they let a body sleep at least two hours at a time and does blood have to be drawn from a person in the dark hours? Maybe it's because they know most people are not a fan of this and they try to catch you when you won't fight back.


Please forgive my complaining, but golly I am tired! I know poor Rodney is too. He had enough struggles just trying to sleep on the short couch, and I know he got awakened every time I did. I am sending him home tonight so that he will be able to preach a coherent sermon in the morning. Though isn't it sweet that he insists on staying with me whenever I am in the hospital.
Yes it was a long night but in the end it will be worth it, when I have a knee that will work without pain.

There were many instances in the Bible when men and women had long nights. Here are two from the Old Testament........


2 Samuel 12:16

Common English Bible (CEB)

¹⁶ David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground.

 
Daniel 6:18

Common English Bible (CEB)

¹⁸ The king then went home to his palace and fasted through the night. No pleasures were brought to him, and he couldn’t sleep.

In 2 Samuel, David is praying for the life of his new born son to be spared. And in Daniel, the king is dealing with his conscience.
In both of these verses the men were calling out and were very much aware that the God of the day was the very same God of the night.

The author in Psalm put it very nicely.......

Psalm 42:8

Common English Bible (CEB)

⁸ By day the Lord commands his faithful love;
    by night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.
 

Isn't is comforting to know that no matter what we are going through, or when we are going through it, God is there and in control. I did pray quite a bit last night, for sleep. But every time he was gently leading me there, my door opened again!!!

Oh well, please forgive my tired ranting. The surgery is over, healing has begun and I will get sleep at home.

Blessings!

Anxious Anticipation

Today, as I am sitting here writing this, surgery is only two days away and I am a little anxious. Now I know that there are thousands who have gone through this same surgery and have come out just fine. I know in my own heart that that is going to be the case with me, but personally I am a little scared. Not of the actual surgery part. For some reason that is only comforting to me. It means that the pain in my knee will be on it's way to being taken care of, after the healing has happened. It's the healing part that scares me.

I remember the pain when I was healing from the partial knee replacement, (that is going to be replaced with a full one). I remember the first day after the pain block in my leg had worn off. I remember just trying to get up the back steps and on into the house the day I came home from the hospital. I remember the pain of going to therapy and having the therapist make me bend my knee back to a certain point, no matter how much it hurt. I remember the pain of just trying to get to the bathroom or getting a drink of water, in my own home.

This morning as I was listening to my second favorite pastor, he was preaching on the courage of Daniel. Now I realize that Daniel's courage could have gotten him eaten by a pack of Lions, and I certainly do not have to worry about that, but there were some scriptures, he read, that gave me pause......
 

Daniel 10:18-19

The Message (MSG)

^18-19 “Then this humanlike figure touched me again and gave me strength. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, friend. Peace. Everything is going to be all right. Take courage. Be strong.’
“Even as he spoke, courage surged up within me...."


As I heard these, being read,  it was almost like I could feel what Daniel must have felt. It was a wonderful reminder that God is always sending safety, comfort and peace to us if we would only let Him. If we would only listen to the small voice speaking, to let the soft hand ,touching us on the shoulder, give us comfort in the fact of knowing that we are not alone. To remember that God will bring us through anything and everything.

How about you? Are you going through some scary times in your life? Don't be like me and let fear take ahold of you. Don't sit and stew. Sit and pray. Let the soft, gentle strength of God comfort you.

Remember what happened with Daniel. It will make your, what seems like terribly huge, problems diminish and remind you of all that God can and will do. Hey, He can shut a lions mouth. He certainly will bring us through money struggles, marriage problems, rebellious children, job issues, sadness, and even pain.

I feel so much better just thinking on these things. I hope you do too!!!!

Blessings!

 

Are You Negative?

Today during Rodney's sermon we read scriptures about Andrew and Philip. The text was about Jesus feeding the 5000. Philip could only see the reasons why these people couldn't be fed and Andrew found Jesus a way to get it done.

One disciple was negative and not very helpful, one was positive and, very much, helpful. Do you know people who are negative like Philip? Me too. Hey, sometimes I feel that way, myself. It makes for a very sad day when I am.  All I can do is feel grouchy and sorry for myself.

When we are being so negative we tend to miss all the blessings we have around us. We don't see the beauty in the world. We don't see how wonderful our families are. We don't see how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends. We don't see that God has given us so much. All we see is that others have more than us. That even though they may not even believe in Christ, they seem to be doing so much better than we think we are doing.

In the scriptures we can read that the author of Psalm 73 seemed to feel just like us........


Psalm 73:1The Message (MSG)

73 1-5 No doubt about it! God is good—
good to good people, good to the good-hearted.
But I nearly missed it,
missed seeing his goodness.
I was looking the other way,
looking up to the people
At the top,
envying the wicked who have it made,
Who have nothing to worry about,
not a care in the whole wide world.



 The author realized that he almost missed all of what God had given to him.
He realized that his focus was on the wrong thing. He realized that he was being far from positive.
How sad it is that we can be just like him. We waste so much time and effort looking away from the good around us. Looking away from the miracles God gives to us everyday.

Let's all of us try working at staying positive this week.

I bet our days will go so much better if we keep our eyes turned toward all the goodness of God. I know that we will definitely have better days. Maybe we will even be surprised at all the wonderful things we find in this world. Maybe we will be surprised at the energy we have because we are not wasting it worrying about what we cannot do anything about.

People will see smiles on our faces and not frowns. They will see God shining through. Then, just maybe, they will want the same smile on their faces too!


Here's to a great week!!!


Blessings

 

Tired Joy!!

Yesterday Rodney was the most tired I have seen him in a long, long time. But on the other hand he was the happiest and the most content I have seen him in a long, long time. Besides loving our Lord with all his heart, Rodney has a passion for hungry people and he also has a passion for our missions in Guatemala and around the world.

Another thing that Rodney has, is a passion for is planning and getting things done. He has a God given knack for it. He also has a knack of helping others plan and get things done, as well. Over the last several months he and a wonderful group of people have taken this knack and ran with it. Yesterday all their planning, praying, meeting and worrying came together to bring about a miracle for, oh so, many hungry people.

This miracle came about as over 500 volunteers came together, in a elementary gymnasium, in a small town in Indiana and packed a grand total of 155,520 meals in just over 6 hours, with "Kids Against Hunger". These people did all of this work with humility, with grace, with compassion and above all with a love for the hungry children and the hungry adults of this world. As I took a break and sat back and watched the bee hive of activity, I could just see God smiling.

In the gym there was cheering, singing, dancing, and happiness could be felt all over. Even though I know they had to be tired, their feet had to hurt, their backs had to hurt and they were probably getting hungry themselves. But you would have never known it as the boxes of meals just kept getting filled and packed away to be sent wherever they are needed.

You could see the look of "wow, it sure has all come together" on Rodney's face as he went around taking pictures of everyone. Made me giggle to see him acting like a kid who had just woken up on Christmas morning. 

Yes he was happy but he also was very moved. In our meeting together before we went out to start packing the meals Rodney spoke from his heart to the group. He told us of when he went to Guatemala and saw the children, some of these meals will feed. You could hear the tears in his voice as he showed us some pictures he had taken of these sweet children. I know that Rodney truly believes that we should be about the business of taking care of the innocent and less fortunate. As does everyone else  who worked to do just that yesterday. They all were about what these scriptures tell us......

Isaiah 58:6-8

Common English Bible (CEB)

 

⁶ Isn’t this the fast I choose:
    releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
    setting free the mistreated,
    and breaking every yoke?
⁷ Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry
    and bringing the homeless poor into your house,
    covering the naked when you see them,
    and not hiding from your own family?
⁸ Then your light will break out like the dawn,
    and you will be healed quickly.
Your own righteousness will walk before you,
    and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.

 

I am so happy to married to a man who listens to our God.  And I am so happy to be apart of a church, of a town and of the many organizations, from yesterday, that truly listened to the call of our God and truly wanted to be apart of His work.  For surely their light is shining brighter today and their righteousness is walking before them.

Blessings!