Saying Goodbye

This world is not our home. We're only passing through.....Well, it's a song a lot of people have heard. As I sit back and reflect on some of the lessons God has allowed me to learn, this one sits heavy with me. This life we live is not really "ours" to live. One of the easiest things to say is that we give our lives to Him and that this is not our life to live. Unfortunately, it's easy to say but hard to live. Saying Goodbye to our own wants and our selfish flesh and doing what God truly wants us to do is something that has to be "worked" on daily. I truly understand why Paul said that he "dies daily". It is extremly hard to deny the flesh, control. It's something in my life that I have to strive towards every day. Not just with my husband but with my God. We're raised from little babies to get what we want. It starts with the desire for milk, then a desire for love. Those are truly things we need but it also feeds the flesh to get what it wants. Once we're saved and start reading the bible it's opposite. Living by Faith is absolutely that. Not needing and getting (or taking) but praying and receiving. As I sit here and type, we are currently awaiting to see what God is going to do with our life. Oh, people may say...it's the military. Everyone goes through moving. That's what you signed up for. But I say military or not, we are ALL bought with a price if we're saved. We belong to Him. It's truly been a blessing "waiting" on the Lord. It builds our faith and allows us to depend on Him. Denying the flesh is one of the biggest faith builders that there is. People often say, where do you want to move if God moves you but our answer really lies in where does God want us? It's something we've failed poorly at in the past and things really are better when we allow God to have His way. We've left before and went through a very dark valley spiritually but when we resolved to "give it to the Lord", He turned it into a beautiful thing. We grew with him! If our Father lets us stay we will be overjoyed and humbled for finding Grace in His eyes. If He does not let us stay, we await finding out His will so we can please Him once again. There is nothing sweeter than finding grace in the eyes of our God. Noah found grace and it literally saved his life. We just want to please the Lord. If that means saying goodbye to friends, or simply saying goodbye to our fleshly wants, it worth it all to find favor in our Lord! He is the best if you do not know him! Jesus has been the difference between walking through a valley, and being carried through one!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

It has been a while since I last wrote but we had a wonderful holiday and are still thanking God for all the blessings in our lives. We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with our family in Tennessee. God is still continuing to work miracles in our lives and we are so greatful to Him! This week I decided to feature Jeremiah Daniel. He is so precious. His picture definitely shows his precious personality. Jeremy was born on January 8th of this year. Like our other two children he came weighing in at 8lb. 10oz. It has been such a joy to watch him grow up. He has been walking now for about a week. He absolutely LOVES that he can follow Hannah and Timothy around. He lights up to anyone of us family memebers. You don't have to work hard to find a smile from this bundle of joy. I was cleaning in one room the other day to hear my 2 year old saying in a warning voice, "No, no baby". I came into the kitchen to find him trying to get in the cabinet. We have always taught ours from a young age what things are acceptable and what things are not. It was a blessing to see a 2 year old brother looking after his 10 month old sibling. Jeremy will be no differnt than our raising of the other two children. I thank God for Jeremy. The book of Psalm puts it best when God writes....Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. I don't deserve my 3 blessings but I'm gonna do whatever it takes to raise them up to be the king that the book of Revelations says they will be one day. Thank God for my children!

....Rags to Riches

Most everyone has probably seen the old fashioned movie Rags to Riches but a short encounter the other night has given that title a new meaning to me. Our family went out for a nice dinner the other night. As most of you know, we live very close to the Interstate and we were eating in a bbq restaurant up near the interstate. The waitress sat us in a booth so Hannah and I were on one side and across from us were Timothy and Shawn, with Jeremy sitting at the end. While we were enjoying some conversation waiting on our food to arrive, I noticed Hannah start giggling under her breath. I then noticed there was an older gentleman and his wife sitting in the booth behind Shawn. From across the tables the older gentleman was smiling and winking at Hannah. She got very tickled with him. He wasn't by any means making a scene. I explained to her that it made him happy to see her smiling and giggling at him. His face beamed as if a grandparent holding their grandchild for the first time. I told her that he probably was traveling and had stopped in for a bite to eat. I also told her he probably had a grandchild out there somewhere that he missed very much. It was quite a blessing to watch the two of them. They were very quiet but their smiles just beamed across the room. Our food finally arrived and she would eat some and then smile or wink back at him. It was rather sweet to watch the two of them. We continued with our dinner and after about 10 minutes the older gentleman and his wife got up to leave. Not really paying them any attention, the man stopped when he got up next to me, patted me on the shoulder and in a soft voice he said something I"ll never forget...."You are Very Rich" "God Bless You" and he smiled and walked away. Sometimes when I'm reminded of the blessings God has put in my life, I think back to what I used to be and where He brought me from. Before I got saved, my life was "..as filthy rags..." just as my righteousness was. I TRULY went from RAGS TO RICHES!!!! I know my biggest riches will be claimed when I get to Heaven but God has truly blessed us w/ so much here on Earth! We don't deserve any of the blessings He's given to us. I truly am a rich person. It's not because of any money that I have but it's because of the blessings that I have. The one's that CAN NOT be purchased. That's what makes me rich today!

Amazing "Grace"

This week I have decided to feature blessing #1. Hannah Grace. Hannah was named after the Hannah in the bible and her middle name was chosen through the tough pregnancy that God allowed me to endure. Hannah was born on December 17th after missing her original due date of Dec. 15th. I will NEVER forget the everlasting peace that God granted me the day she was born. I was blessed to have my mother with me for her delivery. Hannah was induced and later on, history will show that all my babies were here w/in 6 hours all weighing in at 8lb. 10oz. God is so good! God truly has blessed Hannah in so many ways. Here it is almost six years later and I still wonder why He would bless Shawn and I with such a remarkable child. The only thing I could come up with is..."...to whom much is given, much is required." There is no righteousness in my life that would ever deserve such a blessing from the Lord so I figure that God wants to do something mighty w/ her. She is on loan to us until the Lord comes back so it's up to us, Shawn and myself, to raise her up the way "HE" wants her to be. Not any way else! Sometimes people have a way of saying that things would be done better if they were done this way or that way, but I often wonder....what about God's way? As a mommy, I know I haven't done everything right. God reveals that to me when I commune w/ him in fellowship. My ONLY desire for my children is that they will give their heart AND their life to the Lord! This world has so much for people these days but sadly parents don't teach their children that all they need is "Him"! Hannah has been given some talents from the Lord and we want to stay humble and abased so that maybe one day God will allow her the oppurtunity to use those talents for him. My desire is to see each of my children grow up w/ the "Touch" of the Lord on their lives. That really is, all that matters! That they find the Lord and seek to give them their lives....not just their hearts. God has been so good to our family and it's our desire to live for Him! I thank God for the blessings he's bestowed in our lives. My sweet little girl is not perfect by any means but if I desire to see her turn in to a Godly woman one day, I have to submit to God's word and God's will in our life. I thank God for my sweet blessing! It's only by "His" grace that we are so blessed to have children. I thank God for Hannah Grace!

There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

Well I have decided to feature each of my children one by one in how they truly are blessings to me. This week's feature is child #2, Timothy Josiah. Timothy was brought into this world on March 14, 2005. We were residing in Kingsland, Ga. the night he decided he wanted "out"! ha.. It was about 3:00 in the morning and I awoke to being puddled in water in my own bed. In trying to awake my husband, groggy and still very sleepy he tried to reassure me that it was just a pregnant thing and I had wet the bed. Knowing this to be "NOT TRUE" at 39+ weeks I shook him telling him to "Wake UP" , "my water has just broke". Other than some few problems during the labor the delivery was extremely fast. I look back now and it was quite comical. The nurses had been in my room for quite some time because of my blood pressure bottoming out so everyone decided to take a break and step out. They told me it could be any time so just yell if I felt like I needed to push. As any good story goes, it was about a minute after they walked out and then all of a sudden here comes Timothy. I reached up by my ear to press the call button but Shawn had moved it!! So next, I call to my sleeping husband who is in the chair next to me. To my surprise, he sleeps through my desperate pleas! Finally, screaming, "I'm having this baby" probably in tongues by now, everyone comes a running and my sleepy eyed honey starts to awake. As they enter the room I hear, "OH MY LORD, She's CROWNING". Of course I had choice words for them but I kept my composure and told them to grab the mirror. It couldn't have been even 5 minutes later and our precious son was here! We had no idea of the sex so when he arrived I just watched his daddy in smiles and tears. It was the best! Since that beautiful day, Timothy has been such a blessing to us. He doesn't take well to strangers but he is the most loving child. Always giving mommy kisses. Always giving Jeremy kisses. He is so precious. God is truly so good. Timothy is now 2 1/2 years old. His vocabulary is definitely improving and he's still working on potty training. He sleeps with what he calls his "mama", (his blankie) and every morning I get good morning loves and at night, good night sugars! Sometimes I think that I am so blessed to have good children. It's not by our works. We try and train them up but God does all the reaping and when my heart is so happy to just step back and smile upon our children, I wonder if God is looking down, doing the same!! Until next time, God Bless You!

Singin' In The Rain

Well our Revival was quite a success and Praise the Lord one soul was saved on the last night! It makes all the work and prayers worth it! Things are going well here. I'm fixin to search the bible for blueprints on building the ark if this rain doesn't let up soon. =-) No, we Praise the Lord for the rain. It's been a blessing! Well, school is going pretty good for Hannah. I've chosen to do 4 day school weeks and that's working out real well for all of us. We do two days of school on Monday and then take Friday-Sunday off. Gives me a chance to get all the housework done on Friday and then if we're blessed to have Shawn off on Saturday, we can spend the day together as a family doing fun things together. We have so much to be thankful for! Shawn has promised to help me update this blog w/ new pictures and fun things as soon as he gets out of shift work. So..........don't give up on us. Keep coming back to look. Have a good weekend!

Revive Us Again....

Our first night of Revival was great! Had a great crowd, good music and a wonderful message brought by a great man of God. The message was brought from Genesis on Joseph and his life as a picture of Christ. Points were brought out in how he honored God, never questioned God, never complained about going through his valley's, and not turning bitter towards people who did him wrong. He lived his life in Faith only to please God and in return, God used his life in a very mighty way! The message was so very good! We eagerly await what the Lord has for us this week in Revival and continue to pray for lost souls to be saved and hearts to be revived! God is TRULY SO GOOD!!!!