2018 A New Year

Well it's 2018!  How is that even possible??  Time speeds up faster and faster as we get older.  That's gotta be some sort of scientific rule or something.

Anyway,  2017 has come and gone.  I usually do a year in review.  So just a quick recap:

It was a fabulous year!  

We got to go on a marvelous trip to the Baltics!  

My sweet daughter had my first granddaughter!  

My sweet son got married to a sweetie pie!
Got to see my handsome Marine son twice! He came home for Thanksgiving & Christmas!

We moved into our new condo on the canal!  It is beautiful!
We got to see the most amazing thing--the total Eclipse!! 

So many positives, so much good that happened.

Then the calendar turns and it seems like everything changes so quickly.  The new year started off with a bunch of yuck.  Larry and I both got sick.  We are actually still battling it 2 weeks later!  Then my mom passed away.  It's bittersweet really as we had a rocky relationship-especially the last 10 years. Trying to just come to grips with my feelings in all of this.  In a way it's a sense of relief.  We don't have to be at odds anymore.  I'm sad for my sister because they were very close.  I'm happy that I feel like I can see my dad more.  A lot of mixed feelings.  Still trying to sort through them.

My daughter came up for the funeral and wrote me the most heartfelt note.  She described perfectly the things I was feeling.  She has such a sweet spirit.  In my contemplation of mother-daughter relationships, I am thankful for my relationship with my daughter.  I have made a conscious effort to do things differently than my mom did with me.  We have had our ups and downs for sure over the years but I think we are on the upswing now.  I still have to work on old habits and old ways.  I have to make an effort to not fall into the ways I learned from my mom.

She wasn't a bad person.  She was kind to most.  But somehow we always seemed to butt heads.  We had our differences and couldn't ever seem to reconcile them.  I got to see her in the hospital and I am grateful for that.

So as we start this new year with all kinds of changes, I pray our relationships grow deeper, our relationship with the Lord grows deeper too, and we continue to grow and change in whatever ways we need to (it's never too late to change!) and that we would be humble enough to know and accept how we need to change.

 Have a wonderful 2018!

It's time for us to do something

We spent the last week in New Orleans with the group Operation Save America doing pro-life ministry. What an encouraging, inspiring, challenging week it was!  We spent time at 2 abortion mills standing for the truth and proclaiming Christ, peacefully and prayerfully.  Young people, old people, people from every stage, age and walk of life came together to proclaim Christ. During the times at the mills you could find spontaneous worship, prayer, praise, pleading with women and men, holding of signs, and the truth being preached.  Thankfully the mills shut down for the week!

We also spent time at a proposed Planned Parenthood site.  Fortunately,  it hasn't had any work done on it for over a month.  We spent time there reading the Word of God out loud.  By the end of the week, the entire word of God and been read aloud over the site!  Men and women and kids spent many hours there in the pouring rain and in the heat of the sun reading God's Word.  How powerful!  God's Word will not return void.

Teams were also sent to Shreveport and Baton Rouge as well as the City Hall in New Orleans, Canal Street and other places throughout the city.

   

Abortion is the holocaust of our day.  59 million children have lost their lives.  Countless women have died. Many women and families are wounded emotionally.

To see how many babies have died Click here

This was only a week out of our lives.  We didn't do much.  I could do so much more.  Others sacrifice daily.

It's Time for us to Do something!

Being around men and women and teens that are serving God with their whole heart is inspiring.  It is also challenging.

What can I do on a daily basis to help others around me? We only have a small amount of time on this earth. I want to spend my time here doing something eternal.  Something that will have an effect on others.  It can be small or it can be big, but let's Honor the Lord in our lives. Let's be salt that is shaken out of our comfortable salt shaker. Let's be light to those in the darkness.  Serving others, praying for others, helping others. You never know how they will affect you, and how you might affect eternity.

What will you do this week to make a difference?

To find out more about the group we went with click here.

Amazed

Sometimes I just have to sit back and be amazed. I'm in awe of how big God is. He is big enough to create the entire universe! He created the Sun! He created the stars and the amazing amount of galaxies we have yet to even understand. Yet he cares about each of us individually. He cares enough about us to listen to our needs. Who am I that He should listen to my piddly concerns? Yet I have seen him answer so many of my prayers in the last few months! Sometimes we pray and pray and seek the Lord for years on certain things...and we don't get an answer. But in the past few months I have seen him answer time and time again! He cares about what I care about. I don't know why. But He does. That is so comforting to know that this big big God cares about little 'ol me!

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—that are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?" Psalm 8:3-4