Little by little God is growing me! It's true! This morning upon waking, my head throbbing, my body weary from a fitful night's sleep and thinking about the task at hand, I just cried out to God for the strength to do it without complaining. He so graciously answered that heartfelt prayer!
As I was driving in the car, I began to reflect on how God gave me the help I needed this morning to just do the necessary things to get my son out the door, care for the dog, get ready and tough it out without any pain med or food till I got through with my blood work!
I also recalled a phrase I came across when I was reading in the Bible taken from Mark 6:51-52 "Then He climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in." The phrase, "...for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves." played over in my head.
Upon thinking of this scripture I witnessed something when we were attending Kenmore Alliance Church up in Tonawanda, NY. The event left me and another onlooker shocked! We as a family were heavily involved in AWANA, the church's children's program that met on Wed. nights. One particular Wed. night, we were having some kind of party in which several of us were asked to bring some kind of snack cakes to pass out to the kids. Well it was one of those nights where several people at the last minute, couldn't make it due to sickness or unforeseen events and so those of us who did show up brought our snack cakes to pass out. But we were short on supplies. There was no time to go to the store. The cakes were placed on the table to serve and the kids came through to grab them. A lady and I looked at the line up of kids and the amount of snack cakes on the table and we were both like, there's no way there will be enough cakes to go around for all these kids! To our amazement every child went through that line and got a snack cake! I seem to recall there were even a couple leftover!
It would be easy to rationalize or explain that away, but I personally witnessed it! There is no doubt in my mind, God performed a small miracle that night! It is so easy to forget the little things God does, answers to prayer,His mercies that are new every morning, help in the night when fighting a headache and in last night's case no way to take any of my normal pain medicine, just rely on God! Now I will say this, my dear friend Joy Walton shared with me some of her herbal oil for sinus issues. I did have that available and some icy hot and so I was able to use those items for my headache. I am incredibly thankful to Joy, because I was living on sinus meds and since I've been using the R.C. oil I've drastically cut back the amount of sinus/allergy meds I was taking!! Again one of those small miracles if you will that God has brought to me!
As I was driving I was also thinking of my friend Amanda Quinn. She had requested prayer because her daughter needed to see a specialist. In the weeks that had passed while waiting for the appointment, she received a call from the hospital that there were some complications with the insurance coverage. She asked the small group I attend to please pray that the insurance coverage would go through. Well, her daughter's appointment is today and as of yesterday, 8 days after she'd requested prayer she got a call and the insurance company did approve the visit with the specialist! Again, some could rationalize or explain this away, but when God takes care of His children, you can't deny it!!!
Simply and Honestly I'm thankful for small, everyday kind of miracles! There's a song that pleas with God, Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the Eyes of my heart, I want to see you. I want to see you.... My prayer for myself, is that God will help me to see the significance of the little everyday miracles He does in my life!
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Vacation Reflections
Ok from the title you might be misled, so I will just say it goes much deeper than remembering vacation memories! We were blessed my husband, Steve, my son, Michael and myself to go on a vacation to sunny Florida. If you saw my last blog entitled "Just Beneath the Bitter Snow", you'll know that we had a rough winter here in NE Ohio, as did much of the U.S.! Funny thing was, while in Orlando visiting Walt Disney World, there were a lot of people there from Ohio!
On this fun filled vacation we did go to several of the Disney theme parks and had a blast! We did however squeeze in some time to visit family members both on Steve's side at the beginning and my side at the end of our trip. While visiting with Steve's second cousins we did learn of several family members whose marriages ended in divorce and several lives that were affected by alcohol. It made us sad to hear of homes that were ruined because someone was addicted to alcohol.
That was how we began our trip to sunny Florida. Kind of like a wake up call to be vigilant and to hold on to each other! This June Steve and I will have been married for 18 years! I can't say it's always been chocolates and roses, because it hasn't! We've had our share of differences, but we can both trace a line back to God that has held us together! When you take two opposite people and bring them together to make a whole, there are times I look at my the other half and say, why does he do it that way?! I know there've been a couple times I've driven Steve crazy with how I've said or done something. Mind you, just a few! But then there are those times when I sit back and watch him do things that are entirely not in my area of expertise and I am blown away! Through it all, we can honestly say, if we did not have a God who helped us look beyond ourselves and look to the needs of the other, we would be another marriage statistic that ended in divorce. There are so many things out there to eat away at the foundation of even the best of marriages. It takes a power bigger than myself to say, I forgive. And that's just for the little stuff!
Our time together as a family visiting Disney was so much fun! We rode rides together, unless I was too chicken! But the nice thing about Michael being a teenager is that he is up for riding those crazy, wild roller coasters! I like my feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you very much! We made some fantastic memories that still make us laugh! We did take some time each day to read a devotional together and talk about it and to pray for each other. Those were special times! These are the things that are deposited into our memory banks!
Our time at the parks came to an end much too soon! We headed south to see my cousins and my grandparents down in Hobe Sound, Fl. It was so amazing to see my cousins Charlie and Morgan who've chosen to live for Christ, and raise their children to know and love God. It warmed my heart! Also, Amy and Josh are just great examples of parents who are raising their kids in the same way! What a great thing to share that common thread that we have, the difference that Jesus makes in our families and in our marriages!
A final highlight was the time we got to spend with my grandparents. This was yet another deposit into our memory banks. My son got to visit with his great grand parents! I so love them and am so thankful for their faithful example to 68 years of marriage (Ok it will be 68 in June)! They've done everything together, from being a Pastor, to farming to owning and operating a family diner, to caring for their daughter after she was diagnosed with brain cancer. They have always been hard working, salt of the earth kind of people! Not perfect- but in my mind, pretty close! My memories of them singing in church and their prayers that touched Heaven will be forever etched in my memory!
The funny thing is, is that God doesn't have any grandchildren! We are all either His children, or we are not! I cannot claim to have any closer walk with God because of my heritage anymore than Steve can claim that he is a victim of alcohol. We each must make our choice. Our theme verse in our wedding was Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Steve has chosen to break the cycle and not to be a victim of alcohol like his Dad was. Steve has chosen to love and serve God! I have chosen to not be a victim of being a 3rd or 4th generation, ho hum Christian. We have chosen to cherish each other come what may! Simply and honestly I am thankful to God that He gives the power to choose what is good and what is right. It's a choice that we must make every day. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!
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On this fun filled vacation we did go to several of the Disney theme parks and had a blast! We did however squeeze in some time to visit family members both on Steve's side at the beginning and my side at the end of our trip. While visiting with Steve's second cousins we did learn of several family members whose marriages ended in divorce and several lives that were affected by alcohol. It made us sad to hear of homes that were ruined because someone was addicted to alcohol.
That was how we began our trip to sunny Florida. Kind of like a wake up call to be vigilant and to hold on to each other! This June Steve and I will have been married for 18 years! I can't say it's always been chocolates and roses, because it hasn't! We've had our share of differences, but we can both trace a line back to God that has held us together! When you take two opposite people and bring them together to make a whole, there are times I look at my the other half and say, why does he do it that way?! I know there've been a couple times I've driven Steve crazy with how I've said or done something. Mind you, just a few! But then there are those times when I sit back and watch him do things that are entirely not in my area of expertise and I am blown away! Through it all, we can honestly say, if we did not have a God who helped us look beyond ourselves and look to the needs of the other, we would be another marriage statistic that ended in divorce. There are so many things out there to eat away at the foundation of even the best of marriages. It takes a power bigger than myself to say, I forgive. And that's just for the little stuff!
Our time together as a family visiting Disney was so much fun! We rode rides together, unless I was too chicken! But the nice thing about Michael being a teenager is that he is up for riding those crazy, wild roller coasters! I like my feet planted firmly on the ground, thank you very much! We made some fantastic memories that still make us laugh! We did take some time each day to read a devotional together and talk about it and to pray for each other. Those were special times! These are the things that are deposited into our memory banks!
Our time at the parks came to an end much too soon! We headed south to see my cousins and my grandparents down in Hobe Sound, Fl. It was so amazing to see my cousins Charlie and Morgan who've chosen to live for Christ, and raise their children to know and love God. It warmed my heart! Also, Amy and Josh are just great examples of parents who are raising their kids in the same way! What a great thing to share that common thread that we have, the difference that Jesus makes in our families and in our marriages!
A final highlight was the time we got to spend with my grandparents. This was yet another deposit into our memory banks. My son got to visit with his great grand parents! I so love them and am so thankful for their faithful example to 68 years of marriage (Ok it will be 68 in June)! They've done everything together, from being a Pastor, to farming to owning and operating a family diner, to caring for their daughter after she was diagnosed with brain cancer. They have always been hard working, salt of the earth kind of people! Not perfect- but in my mind, pretty close! My memories of them singing in church and their prayers that touched Heaven will be forever etched in my memory!
The funny thing is, is that God doesn't have any grandchildren! We are all either His children, or we are not! I cannot claim to have any closer walk with God because of my heritage anymore than Steve can claim that he is a victim of alcohol. We each must make our choice. Our theme verse in our wedding was Joshua 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Steve has chosen to break the cycle and not to be a victim of alcohol like his Dad was. Steve has chosen to love and serve God! I have chosen to not be a victim of being a 3rd or 4th generation, ho hum Christian. We have chosen to cherish each other come what may! Simply and honestly I am thankful to God that He gives the power to choose what is good and what is right. It's a choice that we must make every day. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!
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