Well, Hello Strangers,

 (said in my best John Wayne vernacular)

Another 4 years without a word from anyone. Where have we all been? Surely we have stories to tell about God’s faithfulness?

I’m studying the book of Joshua with the Thursday morning women’s group at Rio, and one of the questions in the study guide this week was this: “What milestone in your past serves as a reminder to you that God is mighty to do what He has promised?” I immediately thought of our old, dusty Trust Tales blog, and out of curiosity, came looking for it. Can’t believe it’s still here. 

I have to admit, the last couple of years have, at times, found me doubting. It’s so easy to lose sight of Who God says He is and promises to be—to focus on the “hard” things that seem to never change and believe the lies. I’ve needed encouragement to trust God to write my story, with all its plot twists, and believe it’s a happy ending.

What a great place to share and be reminded that He is always at work and longs to “show Himself strong” on our behalf—that He is for us—and worthy of our trust.

Anyone else interested in reviving the dry Trust Tale bones?

Let’s go!

 It’s been a looooong time, but you’re still here, little blog. Kind of reminds me that “HE is faithful, even when we are not.”

Blown Away

     Just thought I would make some ( at least one) spiritual parallels about Hurricane Matthew.
     Lets start with his name which means " the gift of God".  Now I am not sure how hurricanes can be a gift but any storm that threatens and stays away is a "gift" for me.  As far as I could tell, early Thursday morning we were going to get whacked.
     Then there's the "hand of God", but in this case I would say "arm".  At the last minute the storm "wiggled" and pushed out to sea about 20 miles, enough to miss us.  This I call an answer to prayer, even though hurricane damage produces a lot of work, it is not the kind of work I particularly enjoy.
     And then there is the "letdown", all the work and preparation and nothing happened.   For this I am GRATEFUL.  We think we are ready, but when the storm comes something usually breaks down.  The Lord says: be prepared, do the things you know you have to do, step into the water, beat your clay pots, get thrown into the lions den, face the fiery furnace, put others before yourself, toss your net on the other side and let the Lord do the rest
     Grace and Peace to those who were hit, hopefully there is a different kind of blessing for them

Been Awhile

Welcome back it been a while. Knew you were here but out in the "cloud " somewhere.  Maybe 5 years.  Faith has not wavered, but things have changed quite a bit.  Kids grow to adults, addition of son in law and grand kids (4 more).  Loss of  father in law and closing of the lives of other family and "old" friends.  Fessin' up to being old and not as young as I used to be.  I am sure stuff  happened that Iand yall will remember.  Feeling blessed that we were brought thru a prolonged recession and looking out front for what may be next. My how the time flies

Contemplative

Things that I love about home-

*Running out to meet dad in his truck when he gets home from work.

*Mom having dinner ready every night.

*Dad turning the light on in our bedroom every morning, monday through friday, at 0630 to have family Biblestudy...thundering Cadillacs and all :)

*Sharing a room with Leah

*Setting up play-mobile houses with blocks and taking turns choosing our people

*Holding Chloe

*Trying to trick dad with the generic cereal...you always knew it was generic

*Mom reading a book aloud to us during "couch time"

*Going on long walks with Mom, Leah, and Jenna while the soup we put together stewed

*Jumping on our trampaline, feeling the wind flow through my hair and the exhilliration when I landed a flip

*Helping mom organize her clothes and pot&pans

*Climbing the oak tree in the front yard

*Swinging from our old oak tree

*Walking to Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit, cookie, and movie

*Hearing the cruise ships horn down at the port

Mom and Dad,

 Thank you for making our home full of so many wonderful memories!!!!

The Blue Olds

In need of a larger family car, at least four doors and room for two car seats, we traded in our sporty car for "the blue olds". Figuring we were not quite ready for the station wagon our "Cutlass" was a pretty nice car, even though this was not "your daddy's cutlass". It served us well considering we keep our cars for a hundred years, but really, it was because of our good friend Vinnie (and Holly). Vinnie was a GM auto mechanic and when we had a problem we went to see Vinnie. He nurtured us through a/c condensers and brake jobs when we could hardly afford it. As "blue" was getting up there in miles we figured it could make one more trip to Illinois with a stop in Tennessee, so we loaded up the three kids and off we went. About five hours up the road the car started clattering like a cotton gin. I think we were in podunk nowhere and after a backroad search for a garage the one we found came up with nothing and it had stopped rattling. We had another friend who used to lay hands on her broken down car or washing machine to get them going again, so we prayed over the car and figured it was "healed". While on the road again we were able to contact Vinnie and get his opinion. He thought it might be the oil and if it happened again to change the oil. Five hours later, a roadside oil change was enough to get us to Tennesse. The dealership there could not help us, but another oil change with some of the thickest oil we could find got us all the way to Illinois, nonstop. Now the dilemma, how are we getting back to Florida? I think the decision was to load up on oil and go for it, but God and my brother and sister in law had another plan. They would swap their mini van for our car. Such a deal! We were going home in a better vehicle than we came in, they wanted a newer van, and their newly licensed sons would drive that car into tarnation. What a "blessing".

Origin of Species

This isn't a story but a comment I found interesting while reading an article concerning Darwinists.
The statement said: Let's admit that the Darwinists are right about one thing, we are in a predicament. We don't ask to be born, but we here we are. We don't normally want to die, but we do. Not knowing why we are here we look for hope. I would say we look for the reason we are here. The choices being to serve ourselves or to serve others. Jesus said it best, Love God and treat others better than we would treat ourselves. I am not sure that solves finding hope but I think it brings peace with "being".