Aunt Stella

My Great Aunt Stella was a lady of awesome faith. In her late eighties, she had kidney surgery and bounced back so well, you wouldn't have believed she had recent surgery. Her faith was strong and solid. Sharing her faith was important and she did it with grace and wisdom. She was a happy woman of God. It didn't seem to me that she was shaken by much. She loved her family and she loved me. I remember the last few times that I was with her; I noticed how she looked at me, with the eyes of Jesus. She loved me so much. I remember my dad looking at me much the same way. It was weird. I say weird only because I didn't really know how to receive it, but I did notice.

My first memories of Aunt Stella are from the delicious homemade rolls she made for each and every family gathering. The aroma filled every nook and cranny of the house. You couldn't escape it and they were always saved for supper! Of course, if you got to Aunt Stella with Mom's back turned, she'd sneak one to you, but you had to be careful because then she'd have all of the kids lined up waiting for one!

A widowed woman as long as I can remember, she never missed an opportunity to get together. She loved to play card games and laugh.

Last week, Aunt Stella went to be with Jesus. Sad as it was here, I know she was well received in Heaven. Yesterday, while washing dishes, the Lord reminded me of the healing that has taken place in my family. I was taken back to a time when Aunt Stella came to Texas and stayed with my mom and her husband, my stepfather, Papa Wally. I too, was staying with my folks and Aunt Stella and I bunked together. Every night, she and I would lie in bed and talk. We had missed out on many years of being together with the loss of my father and there was much to catch up on. She wanted to hear about my salvation and my folks. Mostly, she was concerned with the rest of the family and how they would spend eternity.

After the years of animosity and distrust, Aunt Stella felt perfectly at ease spending an entire week at Mom's house. Why? Because we were all Christians, washed by the blood of Jesus...sins forgiven. We all had a common bond of Jesus, not my dad. It no longer was the hurt and pain of his death that brought us together, but the healing hands of Christ our Lord. As I thought about this miracle that took place in our lives, tears of gratefulness began to pour out of me. Sure, I was going to miss being with Aunt Stella and the faith she loved to share. But mostly, I was overwhelmed at the grace that Jesus shared with a hurting family.

Dandelion Hunter

While waiting patiently for the short ribs to BBQ, Lucy and Wrigley and I sat at the fence line and visited with April, the dog next door. April is an exact replica of Wrigley, only female and taller. We were caring for her while her mom was gone and even though it was hot, I wanted to give her some attention. I dragged a chair to the fence line, had Wrigley on the extenda-leash and we proceeded to visit. Miss April, was frustrated with the fence between us and kept jumping up on it. Eventually, she lay on her side of the yard and rested in the shade.

With her and Wrigley resting side by side, Lucy went on her hunt. Carefully, eyeing each dandelion patsy she began to roam the yard to determine which head got snatched. She didn't care if the head was empty or bright yellow or if it had the puff ball on top. All she wanted was to snap it in two. Finally, she found a patch and began her rampage. Seizing each dandelion head, one by one, quickly she plucked it between her teeth, shook her head to make sure it was dead and spit it out, then she moved on to the next victim.

After she was finished, she came and lay down, completely satisfied with her hunt. Continuing to watch the yard closely, she looked for her next victim. Eventually, eyeing another seemingly trouble maker several feet away, she walked past several dozen until she came to the one that was getting the axe. Snap! She bit the head off, spit it out and came back to lie down, next to me. I think she would have cleaned my whole yard, if we would have stayed outside, but it was getting too hot, so we had to come in.

Lemons and Lucy

Yesterday after we went out for a ride, we came home to a surprise. We had friends over on Friday for a fish fry, had lemons cut up in a bowl for the fish, but of course, we didn't use them all, so they stayed out on the counter. Not giving them a thought, when Gary and I went for our little drive yesterday day afternoon, not being gone more than an hour, we returned to an almost empty bowl! I asked Gary, "Did you toss these lemons?" He heard, "What should I do with these lemons?" He was standing down by the back door, I was in the kitchen, and Lucy was standing at the top of the stairs. I said, "No. I asked you did you throw these away?" As I walked over to the stairs to show him the bowl, Lucy let out a big ole burp. We both looked at her in disbelief! No way! We said as we looked at each other. She wagged her tail as if nothing happened. I gave her a piece of bread, a cookie and a Tums, hoping for the best. She took a big drink of water and had no problems at all with the lemons. Thank God!

I wonder, what was she thinking as she ate them? There must have been ten very thick slices of lemon in the bowl. Knowing Lucy like I do, she is always hungry. That is the result of her seizure medication. There was, however, a loaf of bread on the counter; I would have much rather her eaten. But, it was sealed and the lemons were in the open and smelled good.

Made me think of choices I make. Thing I put in my mouth that are quick and easy and smell good or do I put for a little effort and go for the nutrition. Works for the Word of God too. Sometimes, I'm too lazy to pick up my Bible and open the package and dig out the meat. I'd rather snack on the things that smell good and tickle my ears.

It's My Bone

We bought one bone and thought both dogs could share. What were we thinking? The bones were expensive, and Lucy didn't really chew it as much as Wrigley did, but she did gnaw on it occasionally. Christmas came and we bought two of the largest bones they had...19 ounces each! At first, both dogs went to their perspective corners and chomped away. Eventually, Lucy got board. Noticing an extra bone, Wrigley quickly ran to survey the damage, picked up the bone and took it to his kennel where he could work on it himself. The sibling rivalry began. Whenever Lucy picks up a bone, Wrigley is quick to snatch it away from her, regardless if he already has one.

Sometimes, Lucy will pick up a bone on purpose so that he will come and get it and start chewing it to get him out of trouble. She is a good big sister and very smart. On this particular day, Wrigley was laying on the bed, looking out the window. He had already been chewing earlier. Lucy plopped down and fell asleep. I couldn't resist the picture.

It made me think about my "bones" and how willing I am to share? There are some that I am very willing to share, but for the most part, I am very selfish, like Wrigley, I want mine and yours too. I don't mean to be that way, I just am. The "bones" in my life that I have to share, be it, time, money, things are hard for me to give up. I've either worked hard to achieve them or keep them.

Grateful Heart

Today, I'm feeling grateful. Grateful for my faith, my husband and my life. I know that God has a purpose and a plan for me. I understand that I need to walk by faith, not by sight. I also understand that as a writer, I have a lot to learn, but people want to read what I write. That is very encouraging. I'm thankful for my teachers and friends who have developed me and brought out my gifts. :-)

God's Peace

Yesterday, while praying I was asking God about what to do with my books. I asked Him to help me hear Him and be sure about His answer. Then I thought about how my friend, Milton commented and said that people hear God in different ways. I agree with that. Some people actually hear Him with complete sentences and directives. Me? I get His peace on situations. In this case, I must have forgotten, because I had peace, then when it was questioned, I got shaken. As I was asking God to direct me His answer was clear, "Be lead forth with peace."

As I thought about that, I remembered all of the times in the past, where He had me use that as my guide. If I had peace I could go, if I didn't, then I had to stop. Who can argue with God's peace? I wish I had such a close relationship that I could hear Him tell me stories and tell me of this thing or that thing. I know others that do, and I'd love it, but that is not what I have, yet, or for now. But, I'm not going to beat myself up over it, or stress myself out over it. God loves me, of this I'm sure.

Prayer Needed

I need prayer warriors to pray over me and my writing projects. I want/need to hear from God. Last time Journey was published, I was so excited to be writing for the Lord. I was in constant prayer. I knew that I knew how He wanted to finance the project. I had heard from Him and I knew what I was supposed to do. I didn't have any money to start with, so I started pre-selling copies. That started some funds. As I prayed, more money and donations started coming in. My faith was strengthened. I started speaking out God's plan for funding the book. Of course, I ran across resistance from my then editor and publisher. They pushed me to start before I was ready.

One night I had a dream. In this dream, there was a lady on the platform at church. She pointed to me and said that God was going to abort my book. I woke up scared. I knew that I had come too far to have the book aborted. I also believed the dream was not from God because God doesn't want abortions. So, at the thrill of seeing God's project complete, I pressed in with my strength, and forgot to consult God. I buckled under the pressure of the editor and publisher to spend finances that God didn't provide.

Eventually, I had a book, but it wasn't the book that I could be 100% proud of because I knew that I had gone out from God's grace and did it myself. As consequences, I found out that the publisher was not all I had expected, the editor was far from professional and there are errors that got left in the book.

So, God is giving me a second chance. The book, Journey Back to the Lord has a very good message, one I need to listen to myself again. It is a message about hope and pressing through the hard times. I believe that producing it as a Second Edition is God's will. It is basically ready. All accept the finances. I am back again where I was when I started the first book.

I need prayer for clarification so I can hear from God. I do not want to mess this up again.

Journey Back to the Lord, Book Update

Well, this is the direction that I believe the Lord is leading me in. Since my fiasco with my first publisher, which is the reason why you can't buy it on line or at a book store. I have decided to re-publish with a different publisher. Now, most everyone that knows me and many that don't have already purchased a book from me, so they probably won't purchase another one, however, I do need to get the book redone so that it can go out to the bookstores etc. The issue here is of course money. The money that I have from the books that I've sold is not enough to cover the publishing and the marketing and purchasing books.

So, what I'm thinking is, writing a book of short stories because I have quite a few of them. I sent out an email to my friends a family around Christmas time explaining a contest I had looking for a title. But anyway, if I publish a book of short stories, it would be a mix, fiction, pets, Christian, personal and devotional. If I were to purchase these books, then I could sell them to help generate funds for my Second Edition of Journey. Then, when I'm out there, marketing Journey, I would have two books people could buy if they wanted, while I'm writing my third! I really believe this is God's plan and I'm still praying about it.

Of course the short story book is not quite ready to go to print, but its close. Come back for more details.

Define Joy

According to John 15:11, NKJV, Jesus says, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

Now, my thoughts on this:

What was Jesus' joy? He said that His joy may remain in you. What was His joy? I know, or at least think I know when my joy is full. Like I said earlier, my joy was pretty full, but did I have His joy? Hmmm...something to think about.

Joy

After spending about four hours at work this morning, (which wasn't particularly joyful,) however, I did have a great deal of the Joy of the Lord in my heart. I left home about 7:30. On the way to work, I had an old song in my spirit, you know the one, "I will enter the gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord hath made..."And so my day began. I thanked God for being thankful. Have you ever done that? I love being grateful. It puts a bounce in my step and joy in my heart and a smile on my face. People wonder what I've been up to. I'm thankful for being an author and the road that I'm on. It has been a road of heartache and pain, but also a road of unspeakable joy!

My book, Journey back to the Lord has helped a lot of people in a lot of different ways. I'm glad the Lord showed me how to write it and that now is the time to put out the Second Edition. I'm looking forward to marketing it and getting in into the hands of people that want it.

Having a heart full of joy and gratitude is such a good thing because it doesn't have room for frustration. Negative emotions seem to dissipate into the air when you are full of the love of God.

Anyway, on my way home from work, I was listening to Third Day, Denis Jernigan and Darrell Evans and taking the traffic in stride. I wasn't in a hurry, although, after getting up at 4:00am, I was sleepy, I was very relaxed. I had peace and joy. I feel very mellow. God is so good!

Writer's Block

I'm trying to write a story or a little something about Joy. Now, as much as I love the Lord, my husband and my kids, you would think that I would have plenty to write about. Wrong! I've been up staring at a blank Word document for about an hour, at least and I have a couple of lame beginnings, but nothing I can really use. So...I decided to come to my blog site. If I'm just going to ramble, I might as well, ramble here and who knows, maybe the Lord will drop an idea into my tired brain and I can go write something. I know I haven't written everything under the sun about Joy.

What brings me Joy? Jesus brings me Joy. Why? Because I can trust Him and I can count on Him. I don't worry when I leave things in His hands. He loves me and He loves you. He is my answer. He is my strength. He gave me Joy for my strength!

Gary brings me Joy, especially when he does like he did last night. ;) He is so sweet and special to me. I want the whole world to know that I am proud of him and glad that he is my husband! He is a great man of faith. He has wisdom from above. God's favor rests on him daily. He leads our household with wisdom. "As for me and my house...we will serve the Lord." This is our statement of faith for our home. Can you believe that we will be married twenty years in July? TWENTY! I can hardly believe it myself. Yes, I expect, I will get a couple dozen peach colored roses after we get home from our home away from home...Frankenmuth.

Let me see, what else brings me Joy. Lucy and Wrigley, they also bring me Joy all the time. Just watching them interact with each other or with their dad. Lucy is a little cuddle bunny. When she gets tired she hops up into my lap and lays down or if she just wants Mom's attention. Then she flops herself backward so that I have to cradle her like a baby. That brings me a lot of Joy. Watching her run and play in the backyard with the neighbor dog, April. Lucy can hardly wait to get outside to see if April can come out to play. They run the fence line and get their exercise.

Wrigley, he is just a mushy mutt, especially when he is sleepy. He never waits for an invitation to come get on my lap. He just steps up on the chair and lays down. With his big brown slanted eyes, he melts my heart when he looks at me. He sometimes gets into a rambunctious streak in him, but when he is sleepy or in a mellow mood, he couldn't be a bigger cuddle bug. His fur is thin, so he has a lot of body heat. When I'm cold, I encourage him to come and get on my lap. Of course, both dogs know they have to share it with a keyboard. I did however have to get a cordless, because I got tired of having to rescue my computer from the floor as they would get their heads caught in the cord.

Meet the Kids

Meet Lucy and Wrigley. Lucy is the protective yellow lab, laying on her little brother Wrigley. Wrigley, who insists on laying on my foot. Lucy just turned 5 and Wrigley will be 2 in about six weeks. We rescued them both, Lucy from a shelter and Wrigley from the woods. He was a drop off. Both are wonderful kids. Gary and I don't have children other than these two. :)

We wouldn't trade them for a million bucks! God has shown me so many things about myself as I've watched and trained these guys. I will share some experiences as I blog away. Stay tuned...

Hi

Welcome to my blogging posts.

I decided as an author that it was my turn to begin blogging. I don't know what I will write. I'll leave that up to the Lord to lead me.

Touch base and see what is going on. I have several writing projects in the works.