Happy 4th of July

I've never been excited about the 4th of July. I only thought of picnics and fireworks,and it's always been too hot to enjoy them! This year I am excited. Our church offered an inspiring service -- the best in patriotic songs, testimonies from 4 members who had immigrated, and a time of serious prayer for our country to turn back to God. The immigrants told what being in America means to them. I was humbled and convicted by their words. I don't always remember to appreciate the freedom we enjoy. It's all I've known.

Then, I saw Jennifer's blog post with this picture. She said it it is always a joy to take Wesleigh to church. She talked about the church they visited in China--one that Wesleigh would never be allowed to attend had she stayed there. Tourists and visitors could attend but not Chinese citizens. How I appreciate that she is here with us to enjoy our freedoms!

We are closer to losing these freedoms than at any time in the 234 years of our history. Lord, remind us to pray for ALL in authority so that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives! I don't want to let Wesleigh down! She may not know now that she came here for freedom and because of freedom, but some day she will.

An inspiring testimony

Eric has shared his testimony with me several times, but I will copy Eric's testimony as he told it to Max Davis in his book Desperate Dependence so that I will remember all of the details. "Growing up,I naturally adopted my parents' beliefs," Eric said. "Their argument against God made sense to me. 'How could there be a good God with all the evil in the world?' And that's the attitude I picked up." All through high school and college if people said they were Christian, Eric had a good time sparring with them. He would throw at them the same questions his parents used. In addition to the pain and suffering argument, he would ask them, "How can you say Christianity is true? What about Islam? What about the Indian gods? What about Buddhism? Are you saying that they are all wrong?" Eric enjoyed arguing. It was fun trying to convince someone that his faith was foolish. While he was in his sophomore year of college, Eric began to develop a hunger for truth. He sensed something out there was called truth. He had no idea what it was. It still had nothing to do with God at the time. But he wanted to know what truth was. Eric spent some time considering it and came to the conclusion that "goodness" was truth. If you were a good person then you were living in the truth. That lasted for a while, then it evolved into something more. He sensed that there was something deeper than "goodness." Then he came to the conclusion that "love" was truth. So he said he wanted to try to love people. Mind you, everything was still very atheistic. God was still not even a consideration. At the time, Eric had no idea that it was a God who was drawing him to Himself. So he continued for a while to believe that ""love" was truth. Yet he still hungered to make sure that he was living in truth and he still sensed deeply that he was missing something. At this time, Eric had a friend whose girlfriend was a Christian. She asked him, "Eric, do you believe in God?" Eric responded, "No, but I'll think about it." After that, he didn't see her again but the question sparked a desire in Eric to know if there really was a God. If that was the truth, he wanted to know. He was going to college in upstate New York in a quaint little town and would take long walks. While walking he would ponder these questions. One night, he said, "God if You are there, I want to know." If He wasn't there, that was okay by Eric. His life was fine. This was not a crisis. In fact, it was probably one of the happiest times of his life. Nevertheless, Eric said, "God, if You are there, show me." On another night, he had gone to a party and met his roommate from the previous year. Eric really looked forward to seeing him, but his former roommate was as cold as ice to him, and Eric couldn't understand it. This really hurt him, and he walked home that night, dejected. saying to himself, "There is no God. It is true. There is just too much evil and sadness in the world for God to be real. That's it, my search is over." But then something rose up inside of him and he cried out, "God if You are really there, then show me now!" Instantly and surprisingly, there was an unexpected tingling in Eric's head, and it felt as if his brain were going to explode into a hundred pieces. Then, out of his gut--that's the only way he could describe it--came the words JESUS! GOD! At that moment, God revealed Himself to Eric. Eric says, "I had no bias or preconceived notions. If it had been Buddha or Allah, it would have been fine with me. Jesus as God was a complete surprise. I had no previous knowledge that the Bible referred to Jesus as God. My Bible knowledge was nil." From that point on, Eric knew that Jesus was real--there was no doubt about it. Since then he had never doubted the the existence of God. Eric said that he believes that you must have a personal encounter with God to truly believe. This was more than thirty years ago, and Eric is still a committed Christian man. How encouraging to know that our God desires to reveal Himself to any man who is willing to learn the truth!

New Every Morning

Today I saw a six-week-old baby smile. You would think that I had never seen a baby smile before! Maybe that would make some people call me naïve (or should I say “dense”), saying “she wakes up in a new world every morning.” I suspect that my own three children’s first smiles astonished me some thirty+ years ago even though I had read Dr. Spock and every other baby book I could get my hands on, but, when my first grandchild Bryce smiled at me fourteen years ago, I was stunned! “How do they learn to smile so early?” I asked Jennifer. “I just can’t believe they smile at this age!” “How can that be?” Incredulously, Braden did the same just about exactly two years later.
I love surprises. And, you know, I never saw it coming with any of the six grandchildren who followed. “Amazing! How do they smile so early? How do they learn that?” The baby’s smile reminded me that, even at my age, every day is still fresh and new.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease.
For His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23

Imagine a God who created a brain capable of responding to the love in a mother’s face and rewarding weeks of sleepless nights with a smile! Only a joyful God would think to create such an extravagant gift as a smile! As we say in Louisiana,“lagniappe", a little something extra. Yes, every day is indeed a new day. I never want to lose the wonder of waking up knowing that on “this” day God’s lovingkindnesses invite me to be a little “naïve” – yes, even childlike -- and expect to be surprised, even stunned, by all He has planned for me!

A Reminder

Sometimes we just need a reminder of truth. Sometimes we need a little, or a lot, of comfort.

I decided that I need to re-read Romans. I tend to get into devotional books and other things and not just sit down to read the Bible. I've even fallen a bit into what the whole busy, distracted, electronic-connected culture has (even me-always a reader) into not believing that I have the attention span to just sit down and read the Word. Not true!

This is comforting to me right now:
Romans 8:35-39

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Back to verse 31: "What then can we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"

Bryce Loves to "Dribe"

Bryce has always loved to drive! Now that we have three acres, Bryce's love for driving has been put to good use. PawPaw needed help to get the yard ready for an Easter crawfish boil, so he put Bryce to work.



I don't remember what Bryce's first word was, but one of his first sounds was "n-n-n-n-n" with a little car in his hand. Here he is in 1998 on his roads rug. He would ask us repeatedly to "pay roads". He would say, "I want to dribe." If he wasn't seeing enough action from our assigned hot wheels, he would prod us to action, saying "Dribe!"



I always knew Bryce would teach the younger grandkids to "dribe." He even tried with Madelyn without much success. Here the oldest grandchild (with the help of his brothers) teaches the youngest to "play roads."



And look who wants to follow in the his footsteps! Rylan! He has a few boy cousins in line before him, but by the time he is 11 like Bryce, PawPaw may really need his help!

A Short Sweet Trip...Very, Very Sweet!

We went to Colorado for a quick trip. Madelyn celebrated her 8th birthday by opening gifts and a meal at Olive Garden, her favorite restaurant.

Here we are playing king, queen, princess and prince.

How many of you remember the 1982 movie "Savannah Smiles"?

I remember taking my children to see it at the theatre. Deanna found a copy, and we all watched it together. Talk about nostalgic! Darren was about 8 years old when we first saw it--Madelyn's age now. I was about 34--a year older than Darren is now! I couldn't have told you the story before we started watching, but, every scene was familiar. It's a very sweet story of a little blonde girl with huge brown eyes who runs away from home because her rich parents don't give her enough attention. She ends up in the company of two criminals who she immediately wraps around her little finger. As always, Darren ended up in a hilarious wrestling match with the kids all over him. As I lay there on the couch watching the movie I had seen 26 years before with my 11, 8, and 6 year old children, and seeing my son enjoy his son and daughter, I thought, "It just doesn't get any better than this."


At night, PawPaw slept in Hayden's bottom bunk and Madelyn slept in the room with me. As we lay in bed each night, Madelyn and I continued a tradition she started on the last visit--we asked each other questions. The ingenuity of her questions amazed me, such as "What was your favorite age, and why?" "What was your mother like?" When I commented that she is the only person who asks me such questions, she said, "That's just how girls are!"

TRUST

Matthew 7:11 "If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him."

If we love our children enough to bless them with good things, how much more does God love them and desire good for them?

Lord, I will trust you with the well-being of my children and grandchildren!

"I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there won't be room enough to receive." Mal. 3:10