The Sweetest Things

Every Friday, since I have Fridays off, I go to my kid's school and eat lunch with them. The timing is perfect because Hannah eats first and as soon as her lunch is over Braeden's starts. I have been rotating Fridays between the three kids, and since Carson goes to school in another town I am unable to eat lunch with all three of them on the same day, which kinda stinks!

I thoroughly enjoy eating lunch with my children. I love to see them with their friends, laughing and making jokes and having fun. It's different with Braeden sometimes because he only has one friend and he is in a different class so for the first five minutes of his lunch he sits there all alone. Sometimes if his one friend, Zach, decides he wants to sit somewhere else, Braeden eats alone during his whole lunch period. It's not that the kids don't like him, he's very likeable, but they have other people to sit with. This, of course, completely breaks my heart! Braeden couldn't care less though, he is perfectly content by himself and he always has been. I have learned over the past few weeks, though, that Braeden is a true witness for the Lord when he is at school! His teacher has told me that he is constantly telling people about Jesus and how Jesus loves everyone. His bus driver overheard him telling another little boy about the true meaning of Easter, and he told him about how Jesus died for us. The bus driver stopped him as he was getting off the bus and told him she was very proud of him for not being afraid or ashamed to talk to other kids about Jesus. Braeden's dream is to go to Bible college and become a pastor. I think he is well on his way!

After eating lunch with the kids, I stop by to visit my grandfather in the nursing home here in Franklin. He has been living in this nursing home for a few months now and after a month and a half of complaining and trying to escape, he finally seems content and almost happy. It could be the meds he is on, but I think he has just calmed down and he knows he has no other choice. My mom and both of her brothers tried to take care of him, and they can't do it properly, so the nursing home was the next option.
Today, though, he laughed when I spoke about my kids, and he actually ate a plate of lasagna! He hates Italian food! It was nice to see him smile again, and it amazes me that he went from a big strong ox of a man, to a tiny shriveled man who can barely walk. Looking at him in this condition is shocking to say the least. He used to be a farmer and his arms were as big as tree trunks! Now, he's not much bigger than me. But at least I got to see him smile, and hear his chuckle. That was heart warming.

As grandpa and I sat there in the dining room and he ate his really disgusting-looking lasagna, I watched a very elderly couple at the next table. The wife was in a wheel chair and was not able to do much for herself, in fact she could barely hold her head up. Her husband seemed to be better off than her, but he could barely scoot across the floor. I watched him feed her, and then ask her if she was okay, and then wipe her mouth with the napkin. Then he held her hand, stroked her cheek and just looked at her with so much love in his eyes. When she finished eating, he got up to wheel her back to her room, and then he pushed her wheelchair very slowly as he scooted her down the hallway. It was so sad, yet one of the most touching things I have ever seen. This man loved his wife so much that I am positive he will be there to take care of her until the end, or at least until he can take care of her no longer.

As I watched this elderly couple, I couldn't help but think of my husband. I know that we are far from that stage in our lives, but the old man reminded me so much of Mike. The way he took care of his wife and did everything for her, I know that Mike would do that for me. I know he would, because he has. There have been times I have been so sick I couldn't lift my head off of my pillow. I've had such severe migraines that even though I wanted nothing more than to get up and take care of my family, I simply couldn't do it, and my husband took over.

When I am sick, he makes my own little nursing home in our bedroom. He always makes sure I have a cold cloth for my head, no noise or irritation. He makes the kids stay completely silent, and takes care of them so I don't have to worry about them. He has fed me before, not necessarily because I couldn't do it, but because he wanted to. He has washed my hair for me when my head hurt so bad I couldn't lift my arms. (Thank the Lord, I don't get migraines anymore!) How wonderful it is to have someone like Mike in my life! I am a blessed woman.

My day has been full of blessings! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for the rest of the afternoon and evening! Thank you, Jesus.


*edit* 10:00 PM

On top of all of the joys of the day ....I just received a call from a lady I go to school with. She and her husband have been slowly leaving the church over the past few months, and in fact as far as I know they haven't been to church in several months. They have been searching for something different in a church, not knowing what that something is and I have been telling her since we met that she should come and try our church. She was raised in the Apostolic faith, but things have happened over the past few years, and with the death of her mother, she has started to turn her back on her beliefs. My constant badgering about church has finally won her over somehow and she called to tell me that they are coming to church Sunday night. In fact, we are meeting them before church and they are going to follow us there. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will will be welcomed with open arms, and they will fall in love with our church just like we have! I'm so excited! Thank you, Jesus!

Re-naming Your Valley

Last night our church was blessed to hear the wonderful preaching of Brother Raymond Dupree from Morgantown, IN. I've heard Bro. Dupree preach many times and I always feel blessed to have heard God's word from such an amazing preacher.

Last night Bro. Dupree preached a message entitled "Re-naming Your Valley." It was a very powerful message and one that I won't soon forget.

He spoke of Psalm 23 in which the psalmist emphatically states that even though he is walking in the valley of the shadow of death, he still knows that the Lord is his shepherd, and that he will not want for anything. He knows he will continually be blessed because the Lord is with him to comfort and protect him. Because he knows the Lord is his guide through his valley, he is still giving God praise and glory. This was the statement in which the psalmist named his valley 'the shadow of death'.

Our valleys can have many names, and can be many different things. Some may be walking through the valley of 'addiction', the valley of 'marital crisis', the valley of 'financial dispair'. When we give God praise and glory even while we are in our valley, we can put our faith and trust in God knowing that He will deliver us. When we 're-name our valley', we are claiming by faith in Jesus' name that He is going to bring us out.

Bro. Dupree went on to encourage us by saying that even when we claim it in Jesus' name that we may not see immediate results. We have to keep pressing on with a belief that God will come through in our time of need. The story below depicts a woman who knew in her heart that God would bring her out of her valley and she never gave up hope.

A middle-aged woman walked into a Sunday night revival service at a United Pentecostal Church in the south. She had never been to an Apostolic church before, and having been confined to a wheelchair for the past eight years with no hope of healing in sight, her depression had brought her to a low point in life. She found her way to an altar of prayer during this uplifting revival meeting where she claimed her healing in Jesus' name....she had re-named her valley. This woman's valley of broken-ness had now become a valley of hope and trust in the Lord.

Although she had claimed her healing that night, she left the service still wheelchair bound. The woman didn't lose sight of the promise God had given her that first night and she told the preacher she would return the next night for her healing.

The woman returned the next night, and again she left the service in her wheelchair. Knowing the Lord would heal her in his own time, she vowed to return to service each and every night until the Lord healed her.

On the third night of revival the woman showed up with an entire pew filled with her family members, none of whom were serving God. When the altar call was given, the woman knew she would be able to make it to the altar...on her feet. She stood up on her own and took a small step, and then another, and then another until she had steadily walked all the way around the sanctuary. In the past eight years she had only taken a total of seven steps, and on this night she felt as if she could run a marathon.

The woman knew right away that God had only waited to perform this miraculous healing until her family could be there to witness her take her first walk around the sanctuary. That is faith!