God Is For Us

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. (‭Psalms‬ ‭121‬:‭1-8‬ NLT)


When I look at the majestic  mountains that God has made, it brings me into a sense of awe.  It's as though I am stepping into a holy sanctuary built by an amazing, all knowing, all powerful, ever present God!  I see it as His work of art, that we humans can't even begin to replicate!

And to think that the God who formed the mountains, cares about you and me!  He cares when we've had a bad day at the office or the laundry has piled up and the washing machine is broken.  He cares when something like cancer targets you or a family  member.  He even cares when you're running late and need to find a parking space!

Find comfort in knowing that God is more than enough to meet your needs.  He doesn't take time off from watching over you and me!  He knows what He's doing!  Trust In Him, because He is worthy!  He is for you, not against you!  Romans 8:31 says, "What then, shall we sayin response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?


"Shoulders"  By: For King and Country

When confusions my companion and despair holds me for ransome
I will feel no fear
I know that You are near


When I'm caught deep in the valley with chaos for my company
I'll find my comfort here
'Cause I know that You are near


Chorus:
My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me through
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulders

My help comes from You
You are my rest, my rescue
I don't have to see to believe that You're lifting me up on Your shoulders
Your shoulders


You mend what once was shattered
And You turn my tears to laughter
Your forgiveness is my fortress
Oh Your mercy is relentless

Chorus:

My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
My help comes from You

Don't have to see it to believe it
My help is from You
Don't have to see it 'cause  I know, 'Cause I know it's true



[Chorus]
My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulder

Growing and Improving With Age

Ever since my incidents in the hospital this past summer, I've determined I'm going to go to great efforts to get this body into shape and to stay healthy.  Weather in eating or exercising or in keeping this brain in gear for learning!  One of my favorite quotes says, "Good, better, best!  Never let it rest!  Till your good is better and your better is best!  In that regard, it is my hope that the older I get, (and boy am I feeling it after hitting my mid forty's mark last week!) that I will continue to learn and grow and improve!  Thankfully, I am not the same youthful, selfish person I was when Steve & I first married 19 years ago!  God has been patiently crafting me into His daughter who seeks to let go of self and seek more of Him!

In getting this body into shape physically, it has meant consistent, deliberate exercise and saying no to unhealthy foods- especially my favorite unhealthy food- doughnuts! :) When I get a sandwich out somewhere I skip the fries and the soda.  In fact the last time I had soda, it was really nasty tasting to me, sickeningly sweet!  And horror of horrors, I had a doughnut this past week and all I could taste was the grease!  I guess that's a good thing, because that means I'm getting away from that craving for greasy carbs!  Although I confess I haven't given up on chocolate!  I love chocolate and chocolate loves me!

On a different yet similar topic, God is guiding me to kick the negative and complaining habit!  Again, thankfully, I'm not the negative, criticizing wife I was 19 years ago!  And I've got to put in a plug for Steve, on that one! He's dealt with me year after year with this!  At first it was not a pretty picture! But I know God has been changing this negative seeking heart when left in its deprived nature, into a heart that desires to seek what is good and right in this world!

 One of Steve's love languages is words of affirmation.  One way to find out what communicates love to a person is finding out what bugs a person and then offer the opposite.  For example my husbands desire for words that encourage and build him up were not being filled.  I was great at complaining and letting him know about the things that bugged me and that just drove him up a wall! I was really good at pointing out what was wrong and what I didn't like.  That made for some really great first couple of years of marriage!  By God's grace we made it through some rough waters! God has helped me to seek what is good and to point it out!  To treat Steve, the way I'd want to be treated!  God is so good and patient with me!  Incidentally, words of affirmation is one of my love languages too!  I think the longer we're married the better we've gotten at filling each other's love tank (see Christian Comedian Dennis Swanberg for what the Love Tank is all about!)

Just the other night as Helen,my mother in law, and I were talking, we couldn't help but laugh at some of the Eyore type of comments we've seen of facebook!  There are certain people who consistently post, Oh, I'm so tired... and proceed to post about all their aches, pains, woes and the things that are going wrong.  Now I understand, we all have a bad day from time to time, but please tell me that NOT everyday is a bad day.  If it is, well then I'm afraid you're stuck in the same trap I was in!

II Corinthians 10 :5 says:"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  The second half of that verse is where God had to take me to change me and grow me!  To capture those ugly thoughts that just tear down instead of building up!

Now back to that night with Helen, she started pointing out some negative things in a tongue in cheek type manner!  She had me rolling with laughter!  She ranted on and on about how tired she was, that she had to have surgery on a hernia, that because she'd had an ice cream cone, she didn't have room to eat the sub for supper, that she had to have surgery on Friday the 13th,  that all was doom and gloom.  I wish I could remember all the funny negatives she was jokingly pointing out.  They were hilarious!

Now in fact that very day she did have surgery on a hernia, but before that surgery, we didn't know what was going on inside of her body.  Fearful it could have been something much worse we prayed and asked for prayer on her behalf!  The surgery was to take 2 to 2 1/2 hrs., it ended up taking only 1 hr.! In the recovery room, she was laughing and full of life!  She did not act at all like she'd just come through major surgery!  She did tell me this surgery was her 9th surgery.  She stated that she'd never had a recovery like this one!  She was full of life and alert and joking!  The nurses were laughing with us at her antics!

Simply and honestly, I cannot begin to convey how much it meant to actually, physically see God's hand on her and how He answered some very heartfelt prayers!  God is so good!  If only we throw off the weights and say yes to what is good and right, we can rise above the circumstances that come our way.  When we say yes to God, He gives us strength that is not our own!!

If life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we respond to it then I really think what happens in this life is a test.  God is our Heavenly Father, he is our teacher.  He wants His goodness to shine through  our lives.  And just like I have to deny myself of my doughnuts and schedule consistent exercise, these things require extreme discipline!  God is way more interested in what will make us more like Him than He is in our comfort!  Ouch!  I know that's not an easy truth to swallow!  My desire is to learn without having to go through the difficulties.  I do want to be tenderhearted, teachable and bendable, so that when I need teaching and growing, God doesn't have to do some drastic thing to get through to me! Also as a final thought, when I'm down, it's so easy to pull others down with me!  Oh, God help me not to be a negative drain on anybody, especially my husband and my son!

 In light of these musings that I've just shared I'd like to finish with this Scripture that really sums it all up!


 Hebrews 12:10-13

For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.  But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11  No disci;ine is injoyable while it is happening- it's painful!  But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in the way.  12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.  13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Year End Journal Entry

Regardless of the title, this isn't anything to do with accounting!  At least not in the financial sense! I do think of taking time to think about Gods Word and what it means to me in my life as a way of being accountable, so in my mind it's kind of like accounting!  For example I am advised in
James 1:22-25 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens  to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it- not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it- they will be blessed in what they do."

There've been many years of my life that right around New Years Eve I would take time to look over the past year and journal the experiences and do some self evaluation.  I would look to see, "am I growing as a Christian or have I  moved further away from God?".  Still to this day, I try to keep that tradition an ongoing thing.  And Simply and Honestly I believe God has  used this time of remembering and evaluating to help me grow in Christ.

I think a big part of why I do this is because on New Years Eve in 1982 I knew I had done some things that did not please God.  Our church was ringing in the New Year with what they called a watch night service.  I remember going forward to accept communion and feeling in my heart that I needed to ask God for forgiveness for the wrong that I'd done.  And THAT night is where I decided to follow Jesus.  Not just because Mom and Dad and my brother were all Chrisitians, but because I felt God calling me to Him.  That is when my Christian journey really began.  That is when I fell in love with Jesus and searched the Bible to see why do I believe what I believe?  How do I know that what I believe is right versus all the other doctrines and religions of the world?

Looking back on it now, that's some pretty deep stuff for a 12, almost 13 year old to think about. That must have been God leading me!  I spent most of my teen years reading in my Bible and honing in on the parts that answered my questions.  There was a new desire in my life to want to do right.  So that is where and when my journey to follow Christ for myself began. I think I was 15 or 16 when I started this year end in review/ journaling.

As far as this past year is concerned, it's been a year that I've experienced some close encounters in which I thought my life was coming to an end!  Never have I faced the things I've experienced this past year. Honestly, I feel God has given me my life back.

Here's a weird perspective on this new lease I have on life: my grandmother is exactly double my age this year.  She still gets around, both she and my grandfather are an inspiration to me of what faithfulness means, even in the face of hardship, they've remained true to God and to each other.  That wasn't the point I was making about my grandmother being exactly twice my age, but I had to share that!  My point is, if I live to be as old as she then I have lived half of my life up to this point.

With that thought in mind, I want to make the second half of my life count for more!  I am looking forward to the year ahead as a year to accomplish great things!  Throughout my life I can see God has  custom fit the events to put me here, now at this time in this place and at this age for a higher purpose than to just live a comfortable life.  I believe this is what you call getting out of your comfort zone!  Regardless may 2015 be a year spent for a higher purpose!
Proverbs 29:18 "When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.
But whoever obeys the law is joyful."

All I Want For Christmas

Just recently I heard on The Message, my Serious XM satellite, go to radio station the following, "It's a sign of old age when someone asks you, "What do you want for Christmas", and you can't think of anything.  Then when you do finally think of something, it's something that can just be picked up at CVS."  That one made me laugh and nod in agreement!

Oh well, I may be getting older but along with that I'm getting wiser!  Wisdom comes with experience and experience comes from making mistakes. Taking the time to learn from those mistakes does indeed give one experience!  And I've surely made my fair share of them, just ask Steve! Uh, on second thought maybe not! :)

With the years of hearing the Christmas story, growing up in the church, hearing it at home, reading it In my alone time with God and then running full circle of teaching it to our son, and bringing him to church, it is easy to just gloss over it. I mean by my age, even if I'd only heard it once a year I've heard the Christmas story at least, 40 + times by now! (Not divulging my exact age in this format!) :)

So how does one make it fresh and new?  Actually it's not my job to make it fresh and new.  Well I do have to put forth the desire, but God is the One who makes it fresh every year! As for this year, God has already given me a new, old truth that I remeber learning around the age of 13 or 14. Michael is fourteen this year and I don't know why, but that is one period of my life that I remember vividly!

I remember learning the meaning of my name, which means Pure, or Pure one, around that time. Learning the meaning of my name put the desire in me to live up to it!  I also remember a fill in Pastor in our church, Rev. Jack Pease talking about the virgin  Mary.  He spoke of how she was probably very young, maybe 15 years old and God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah.
She was just a common girl, not of royalty, there was nothing that drew attention to her. And yet in her young innocence she chose to live in such a way, that God would pick her to be the mother to His son.

Rev. Pease challenged us to be that kind of man or woman.  That when God is looking for someone to use for His plan, that He would choose you!  Now, I know, that God uses people who've messed up.  People who were totally not perfect by any stretch of the imagination!  Look at the apostle Paul, he murdered Christians, in the form of what he thought was the right thing to do!Yet God revealed Himself to Paul and he was a different man! He then went on to be one of the first missionaries of the gospel and he wrote nearly 1/2 of the New Testament!  So I know better than to think that God only uses the perfect, the holy, the elite!  And Romans 3:23 makes it very clear that we've all sinned and
have fallen short of God's glory. Also, Isaiah states that, " all of our righteousness is as filthy rags".  (Isaiah 64:6).  Even if we do everything to our best, humanly speaking, it's still not good enough to come into the presence of a holy God!

After having said all of that, even Mary, would have been imperfect and in need of having her sins
forgiven!  Yet God saw her hearts desire! The desire to do what is right and pleasing to God!  There is something to be said of the one whose grown up in the church and has chosen to follow Jesus.  A life that has been spared the the consequences of rebelling and reaping the results of that rebellion.

There are no garuntees that the son we are raising will always choose the "narrow" path.  But I have thrown out this challenge to him that Rev. Pease threw out to our church when I was a teen!  Strive to be that kind of person that when God is looking for someone to use, that He'd choose you!  I pray that Steve and I as parents are faithful to practice what we preach!


Simply and Honestly, the only gift I want, really can't be bought at CVS.  It can only be bought through the life that Jesus gave when He died for our sins and paid the price.  What I want for
Christmas is to know that we've have been faithful to pass the baton onto our son.  To see him to continue to make that choice  and live for God!  No pressure on Steve and I as parents!

Always Only For My King

It's crazy the things God uses to make me more like Him and less of me.  When normal activities are withheld from ones life, well at first it's nice to just rest and allow the body to heal.  Then after a while it's easy to become stir crazy!  Just to be able to vacuum and mop the floors, at this point almost feels like a luxury. Oh! Did I just say that?   Notice I did say ALMOST! And sorry, but I'm just able to do our own, so please don't volunteer me to come do yours!

 But that's the truth!  Then to be able to do work in the yard with caution of course- it felt like I am a contributing member of this family again, more than just doing laundry and dishes! And dare I say it, to finally be able to mow the lawn, felt like I was back in the saddle again! (Yesterday, November 25th was my first time to mow in 4 months!)

I'm just thinking about how wonderful it feels to be able to do these things again! If you'd told me a year ago I'd be this grateful for these things, I would have laughed and thought you were joking!  I am so thankful  to be able to mow. Being able to mow, means my son can just be a student and focus on his a;ready full plate of, School, Teen Quizzing, Science Center education and Taekwondo.  It all keeps him pretty busy.  To be able to vacuum and mop the floors helps me to keep our place somewhat inhabitable.  Which makes our house a safe haven to call home, where there is order and structure.  YES! I was finally able to do some organizing last week!  It's amazing how many piles of things were just sitting around awaiting being put back in their proper places!  And how many things needed to be thrown out!

I have an idea that God may have permitted the unusual events of our summer with my being in and out of the hospital, to teach me a thing or two!  I know I even wrote a post about what is my lesson in all of this in which I shared some of the events that God was using to shape my life.  But now looking
back from this perspective I see life!  God has granted you and I life and breath!   Never have I felt so thankful to be alive!  Never have I felt the desire to make the most of my time.  Investing my time,
energies and talents  for a higher purpose than to please myself.  Moses prayer in Psalm 90:12 has a new meaning  to me, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. "(‭Psalm‬ ‭90‬:‭12‬ NIV). And yet in giving my all to God, He in turn has blessed me immensely, Psalm 103:5 says, "...who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s." This Thanksgiving I am  so thankful that God has restored my body from the trauma that I experienced this past summer.  I am thankful for life and to be alive.  To be able to use the gifts, talents and abilities, and the experiences God has brought me through for His purposes.  It's not all about what's in it for me.  Not that it ever was, but now more than ever I see this life as something precious to be valued. To live without regrets! To make the most of the time I am given,
as James puts it,"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (‭James‬ ‭4‬:14‬ NIV)

Another way I'm looking at life differently these days is to let the special people in my life know how
much they mean to me!  And a big way I see that is by celebrating their lives by remembering their
Birthdays, and to let them know their life has impacted mine. To let them know, I'm thankful to God that He brought our paths together.

By the way God has really blessed me with some amazing friends who are such encouragers and down to Earth people that I can just be myself with.  And for family I am one blessed gal, to be brought up in a home that showed love and taught me how to live, laugh and love!  It's not the stuff I can accumulate that I'm as thankful for as it is the people God's blessed me with.  Friends and family mean much more to me these days!

This was longer than I intended, but Simply and Honestly this day of Thanksgiving I'm so thankful
for the life God has given me and for my family and the many special friends that are in my life.  God's blessings just seem to be overflowing and I cannot begin to Thank God enough for each of you who've made a difference in my life! In the only way I can even begin to Thank God for His goodness and blessings in my life I give Him everything, always, only for my King.
This song is my Thanksgiving prayer:

Take My Life

Take my life and let it be

consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days,

let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move

at the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be

swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing

always, only for my King.

Take my lips and let them be

filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold

not a mite would I withhold.

Take my intellect and use

every power as You choose.

Chorus:

Here am I, all of me

Take my life, it's all for Thee.

Take my will and make it Thine

it shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart it is Thine own

it shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord I pour

at Your feet its treasure store

Take myself and I will be

ever, only, all for Thee.

Here am I, all of me.

Take my life, it's all for Thee

(Take my life, Lord take my life. Take all of me)

Here am I, all of me.

Take my life, it's all for Thee

The season of Thankfulness

They say wisdom comes with age and Proverbs 20:29b says, ". . . the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old."  A few weeks ago when We as a family were traveling with my Mother in law we had made a pit stop at a Travel Plaza.  While there the lighting was pretty bright compared to the energy efficient light bulbs we have at home.  As I looked in the mirror I noticed quite a bit more gray in my hair than I'd realized I had!  I asked my M.I.L. Is it just the lighting in here or do I have this much gray hair?  She laughed and confirmed my fear that I did have that much, but quickly assured me that it looked real nice, kind of like I'd had a nice frost job done!  Thanks (I think)!

So now I wonder who gave me all these gray hairs, was it Steve or was it Michael?!  Between the two, of them I've earned every one of those gray hairs! ;)  There's an old Amy Grant song that was released around the time Steve and I were engaged.  It's  called, Oh How The Years Go By.  Part of the lyrics are,"Oh how the years go by. We fight, we laugh, we cry as the years go by..."  No, thankfully we rarely "fight" we've had our shares of laughter and great times together and we've tasted of the bitter cup of grief.  But through it all and by Gods hand we are still together after 18 years of marriage! And we are stronger for it because we've weathered the storms and have come through on the other side victorious! Now I will say this, were it not for God and His keeping grace we would not have weathered those storms!  We owe so much to God and His power to keep two totally different people and yet somehow make us one!  In regards to that old Amy Grant song the years definitely get better as they fly by!  We've both changed in many ways and for the good.  Steve has definitely helped me to grow into the person I am today and I really hope that I've been the same to him!

This is the season of Thankfullness and as I take a few moments to reflect on God's goodness in our lives, I feel so unworthy of God's blessings in my life! I thank Him for loving me when there was nothing good in me. I thank Him for daily helping me to grow and become more like Jesus!  I'm thankful God doesn't walk out on us, that He is patient and forgiving. That He doesn't settle for less
than our all!  Wow and I'm just getting started!

Then there's the blessing of being a wife and a mom, of having a husband who loves and provides for his family!  All of our needs God has provided for and many of our wants.  Oh may I never take Gods blessings in my life for granted!

I know for me personally through many years God is helping me to not be a complainer, and if you catch me complaining you have my permission to stop me in my tracks and call me on it!  But on the flip side of that is the aspect of thankfullness.  If I'm busy looking for the things to be thankful for, then maybe, just maybe I won't have time to notice the things nagging at me to complain about! A passage that God has used to challenge me in this area is, Phillipians 2:14-15, which says, "Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.

Simply and honestly maybe with these new gray hairs that are the splendor of the old and indicate life's experience, are a way that God is making a new and better me. One who complains less and is more thankful.

Striving to be That Kind of Mom

Well, I'm entering that stage of Motherhood that says it's time to let my son go and spread his wings.  No, he isn't headed for college, but if at 13 almost 14 I don't start  the process of letting go, begin, he'll be depending on Mom and Dad when it's time to strike out on his own.  It's a tough balancing act!  Somedays we don't see eye to eye on anything.  Sometimes I get a break and we laugh and make memories I'll cherish long after he leaves home! It was easier when he was younger and we'd go through these times where he'd test the boundaries and I let him know where they were with definitive consequences. After a period of  say a week of that type of behavior we'd be back to my compliant son who respected those boundaries.

As a side note, there was a time when Michael was in first grade and he'd get distracted at school.  It seemed he was ending up in the principals office every day. I'd been talking to him at home about what was going on, and felt he was trying but he was having difficulty.  I've taught enough kids to read and I knew he was smart, but I did notice his reading did not take off as I'd expected.
Finally I got a double edged idea!  I laid down the law.  I let him know he would get the spanking of his life if he got in trouble and ended up in the principals office!  Now to make the stakes the highest I could I promised him if he succeeded at not ending up in the principals office I'd do something great, we'd go to Chuck E Cheese or something of that caliber.  Well I hate to report but he DID end up in the principals office for not following through and doing his seat work.  So, true to my word I pulled out the belt.  As I was getting ready to make the first swat, he cries and says, "Mommy, you're the only one who understands me, you and Jesus!"  Well that kind of broke this Mommy's heart!  I did end up going to bat for my son with his teacher, and we began to look into what the reasons were as to why he was having  such a difficult time sitting and following through on seat work ect.  We did find out a year and a half later that in addition to vision problems that he was diagnosed with ADHD.

Now back to 13 almost 14.  We've had this struggle lately and the other night I was exasperated, frustrated and to the point of tears. It started hitting me, that my little boy is growing up and wanting space AWAY from his Mom.  That hurt!!  I prayed for God to help us figure out what to do!  How do I handle this?  Time to pull out some psychology books or child rearing books or something!  What happened next, I believe was God's answer to my brief prayers of help me figure this out Lord!  Finally at bed time, Michael exclaims," I feel like you're babying me!".  In response to this I told him, "I feel like you're not respecting me!".  Then it hit me, we can build on this now that we've both expressed what we're feeling.  So before we turned out the lights and said good night, we shook on a plan to point out to the other when we're doing it again.  And we agreed to make the needed adjustments.  Since that night, things have been smoother!   It's only been four days since then, but at least we understand each other!

This Tues Oct. 7, 2014 marks the 8th anniversary of my Mother's death.  There's so much I could say here, but I will try to convey how remarkable my Mom was and how I'm striving to be the kind of Mom she was!  I turned out largely due to her consistent example and I don't think my brother nor I turned out all that bad!  She was a level headed parent.  She was not too lenient, nor was she such a stickler for rules that we couldn't wait to break away. She loved God and lived to give of her time talents and energy for God and His kingdom.  That was not just something she did as a front when we were in church.  She lived it at home.  Teaching us to pray, living how to give, leading by example.  I remember a time she shared her love for God's Word when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.  She would read her Bible before going into work and facing the world.  She shared in church about how Moses talked to God face to face and just shared her renewed love for God's Word.  She'd listen to the song More Than Wonderful by Sandi Patti and Laranel Harris, which talks of God being a Counselor and of God's love for His children. To this day that passage of Scripture in Exodus is so special to me as is that song.

As I am reading a book by Dr. Kevin Leman called Have A New You By Friday, I'm realizing that my parenting skills will greatly affect how my son will face the challenges of life, work and responsibility.  I'm striving by God's grace to be the kind of parent who is neither too lenient nor too strict!  Simply and Honestly when we follow God's plan for parenting and we live it out in front of our kids, who see us even in the dark, who listen when we don't even realize they're listening, we are laying the groundwork for how they will respond to life and to God's design for their lives!

These are just some thoughts going through my mind as I think of this point in Motherhood as I reflect on my Mom whom God healed when He took her home.  Sometimes life is hard, but I'm so thankful that even on the rough days God is there with us in the middle of the pain or the hardship.  God never leaves and He's waiting for us to call on Him.  I'm learning to do that more and more these days!  God IS more than wonderful!!