Death and near Death

My dear husband, known as "Pastor Ken" has had some really busy days. But March 16, 2019 was a full day for sure.  In the morning he brought me the flowers we had staying cool in the camping trailer.  I was busy cutting  daisies and  ferns to make a special Memorial token in Vivian's honor.  I put a daisy, a fern and a butterfly together with floral tape.  She and I LOVED butterflies and would give each other butterfly items ….just because.

Pastor Ken was busy making sure he had the podiums from the Church, all the wiring he needed, the speakers, the "boom box", Vivian's Bible, his notes, etc and loaded them in the car. The Service was not at the Church but at the cemetery mausoleum "chapel". They provide only the stand for the Memorial book. They had two outlets and 45 chairs. Everything else we (or the family) provide. At first it was VERY HOT in there as we were setting up. We remembered several years back we

had a funeral there and there was NO AC.   Ken said, 'I am not sure I am going to make it without AC today.'  Thankfully, the Cemetery Director came and turned it on just in time to make the funeral service comfortable.  The service was wonderful. The music was great, the equipment worked, their was alot of sharing of stories, and family hugged each other.  Very sweet service. 

 I passed out the flower mementoes and we all got in our cars to head 1/2 block to the burial site. We got in our car, and followed the hearse which is custom for the Pastor to do.

Ken, Angel and I stepped out of the car and headed to the burial site behind the coffin. Ken led the grievers in Psalm 23.  Then I sang, :His Name is Wonderful"....which was probably the last Jesus song she sang (with me) two days before she went to Heaven. Then Pastor Ken nodded to the funeral director. He heard someone say:  "Is that all?"  Ken had a conversation with Vivian's son then turned to me and said,  "We must go, I am really hurting."

He felt it when he stepped out of the car to walk to the burial site!  He led Psalm 23 and waited for me to sing, and talked with a family member....ALL WHILE IN PAIN with a heart attack!

We went the 1/2 block back to the mausoleum where our speakers, podiums etc still were. Ken stayed in the car and dialed 911.  His pain was very intense and no relief even after two nitro and two excedrin.  The ambulance came and took my hubby to the hospital.

We learned a blood clot had gone into one of his heart stents clogging it completely.  So he was in terrific pain for about 1 1/2 hours.  Then into the cath lab where they did angioplasty to open up the stent and remove the blood clot. It definitely was a heart attack.  He then went into ICU.  

So thankful that God is not done with him yet.  GOD has allowed him to live over and over again.  Heart attack, after heart attack, God continues to give his life back to us.  Yes, I am GRATEFUL!

He is home now to recover.  So Thankful for God's Mercies- We serve an AWESOME GOD!!

God will make a way

Yesterday, Hubby and I traveled through Kentucky and Tennessee.  

Of course being originally from Michigan and now residing in Florida, we are moved by the beauty of the mountains and the bright green terrain everywhere.

As were were going through the mountains, the roads would repeatedly go UP and DOWN.

YET occasionally, we would see where the mountain had been BLASTED to make a way through the mountain so the road could go through.  Steep sides of rock make a path for the traveling vehicles to pass by, saving all of us an UP and a DOWN.

I was drawn to how often LIFE is a series of 

 "UP and DOWN". 

 While traveling we are in touch with friends back home who are struggling with serious health issues. Their lives are "on hold" as they await a path through their high, rock solid, mountain.  While they await for their cut path to the other side, the CHURCH was in action, going UP and DOWN for them! 

My husband is the Pastor of a small loving Church in Florida. 

 Normally we would be at the hospital helping out and doing errands for them, etc. 

 We are on a much needed vacation....so it warmed our hearts to "see from afar" the Church working as a Church family!

  They were running like a fine oiled machine, humming in tune to the GREAT SHEPHERD in the absence of their earthly spiritual Shepherd.

When we come up to a mountain that we do not have the strength or ability to cross...GOD will make a way. 

GOD will either give you what you need, or He will provide help. 

One HUGE help He has given, is the local Church. 

He has provided the local Church to be family in times of need.  Please dear friends, connect with a local Church so you don't have to stay stuck at the foot of your mountain.  The local Church cannot remove the mountain, but it is amazing how they can assist you through it all.

DREAMS

I personally LOVE to dream. 

Last night I had several and remember three upon waking. Well only parts of the dreams.

The first one I was in a big convention center and I was babysitting for a 5 month old (have no idea whose child).  I looked  through a window into another lecture room, and I saw my Uncle Dellis, Aunt Melva and Aunt Eleanor.  I decided I would go around to their room and show them the baby and say HELLO. In the process of heading to their room, through all the crowd of people I was apparently injected with some sedative medicine from behind, and the baby was stolen!  It was chaos trying to explain to the security guards it was not my child, but I was babysitting.....etc....It had some emotions in the dream for sure.

The Second was:  My phone gave off an alarm during the dark of night, with lights and voice:  "A dangerous criminal is loose and expected to be in your area.  Please lock all doors and stay inside".  Just as I was about to wake Ken up and tell him, a motorcycle with rider came down our driveway (We have a gate that he would have had to open).  It was one of those zzziiing - zzziiing sounding bikes, it was blue and white. Definitely not a Honda or Harley.  He went to the end and turned around, parked in our driveway an got off his bike.  THAT is when I called 911 giving them our address, etc  and tried to wake up Ken.   That is all I remember on that one.

Oh dear, I had the third dream, but now it escapes me. SMILE.   That is what happens with dreams you have at night.  They come and they go.  Many people say they  remember no dreams that they have.   If I remember a dream upon waking, I go over it in my head before I move to get up. I enjoy dreaming. But they leave my memory  within a few hours. They are always messed up from reality.  I never recognize the building or house I am in, every dream is an adventure...so to speak.

BUT the dreams I have in the Daytime, are under my control. 

 Do I plan my day with all kinds of goodies myself? 

 Or do I give God an empty slate and ask HIM to fill my day with HIS dreams and plans for me?  I think we do alittle of both.  I ask God to delete or adjust my day as HE wills, for I truly want HIS guidance in my day.

I am so thankful that GOD watches over me Day and Night.  I love how HE is never far away, just like my mind is never shut off.  He keeps me running according to HIS plan, as I yield myself to Him.

Day or Night, I trust my Lord Jesus Christ. 

I am His, and He is Mine.

GOD, our Protector

My husband and I
have been in full time ministry

for some time. 
 

 Each day is something new and challenging.  My husband just left to pick up our newly welcomed  Assistant Pastor.  They are  going on a challenge together today.  I am on prayer cover duty at home.

 

 
Yesterday,

about half hour before Sunday school started,

 a very scruffy man walked in. 

 

 

 The leadership team meets early for sound checks, rehearsals, prayer, etc.  He came in and sat on the back pew.  I introduced myself to him and he said, "I need to talk to the Pastor". 

  My hubby was on the organ so he came down to talk to him.  He said he has surgery tomorrow at our local hospital and needs gas money in order to get there.  (Keep in mind he drove to our church today to ask money, which was taking some of his gas.)  We were not born yesterday, and NEVER give out cash money.  Pastor asked a few questions and learned that he would be staying overnight in the hospital.  Hubby said that he should not be driving himself anyway, that we would pick him up in the morning and see that he gets to the hospital safely.  The man gave Pastor an address. 

 I asked the scruffy looking man if he could stay for Sunday school and Church today.  He said he would, but he had a car load of people outside waiting on him. 

I told him he might want to put up his zipper before he goes back into public.
 (Only Pastor's wives, get those kind of jobs). 

He headed out the door, indeed it was a decent car he was driving and several other men inside.  Of course we do not know his real story, what they were really up to,  but we thank God that we were kept safe.

RIGHT NOW,

Pastor has gone to pick up the Assistant Pastor,

and they will be men of their word. 

 They will go to the address and see what transpires.

 

 

Lord, YOU are our protector.  Thank you Lord.  Do a mighty work in this man and all the men in the car who were up to something. 

My husband reported that the address was a vacant lot.  So whatever that man came in for, he probably did not get.....but he (and his buddies) have been prayed for. We showed him love and respect. Stop and pray that this man, and his buddies, will find JESUS, the ONLY ONE who can truly give them what they need.

"How it Feels"

My Birthday is this Friday- Feb 27. 

I will be 64. 

Now I must tell you, that sounds OLD to me. 

These aging hands have been signing for a LONG time.  They have interpreted many different subjects to a variety of audiences, but the message has always been delivered from the love I feel in my heart for them and for my Lord.

Our Church has been reading through the Bible, studying and preaching on the Old Testament now for two years.  Each Sunday I teach my adult DEAF Sunday school lesson from the reading assigned to us that week.  Each Sunday Pastor (my hubby) preaches on the assigned reading in the morning and evening sermon, and I interpret them for the DEAF.  Yesterday we did the Book of Amos.

 

 

Every week I am "preaching" hard at them like the prophets of old relentlessly preaching to the Israelites.  God would give each prophet a strong message of what will happen if the people continue to worship idols and neglect HIM.  God begs them to come back to HIM and HE will give them renewed Life.  But the people over and over and over and over reject Him.

 

After weeks and months of this heavy "preaching" - God is really letting me have a glimpse of what it must have felt like to the Prophets and even to GOD.

 

Week after week I "preach" and get in their faces about: "Stop playing Church, fall in love with Jesus". and yet it FEELS LIKE the message falls on "Deaf Ears." 

 

I told my husband and I am really tired of "preaching" this gloom and doom stuff!  I cannot wait until the NEW TESTAMENT!   My husband calmly said, "Now we have some idea of how frustrated the prophets must have been....and how GOD FEELS."

 

Lately I have wanted to find another Sheltie dog to join our family. I feel our neutered male sheltie needs a playmate....that is Biblical right!  lol   We don't have the funds for a puppy costing $1,600.  so been looking at other options.   I have suffered rejection after rejection as I call and find myself second or third in line. All I want is a female Sheltie dog to add to our family for us to love on. The Florida Sheltie rescues make it almost impossible to locate a sheltie for sale.  They have a list a mile long of demands to meet before you can welcome one in your home.  REALLY???  Anyway, I have FELT the frustration of rejection over and over.  It feels like they are rejecting ME, and all I want is to offer a loving home to a young adult female sheltie. 

 

 

 

So when I was teaching on Amos yesterday, who was a Shepherd (may have had a sheltie dog or two ha ha), I began to more clearly understand what GOD was doing in my life.

 

God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute so he could experience what it felt like to love someone only to have them seek the love of another.  God said, you will FEEL what I feel over and over as my people reject MY love.

 

Amos was just an ordinary man, working as a shepherd and a fig picker, when the LORD asked him to tell the same message of REPENT or ELSE!

 

So as I interpret the same hard message week after week, hour after hour...and see a light impact on changed lives, I ask God to keep me faithful to HIM...no matter how it FEELS, or how hard it is week after week to "get in faces" with a strong message of repent.  

 

 

 

The New Testament is coming!

 

Oh how we need a Savior! 

Thank You, JESUS!

Life is like a Maze!

The Lord is allowing me  to teach Sunday School for a lovely group of Deaf Adults.  Our Church has been reading through the Bible slowly.  Each Sunday, Pastor preaches from the chapters the congregation was to read the previous week.  I also, in Sunday School class, with God's help, share a lesson from the assigned reading.  I have found Isaiah to be challenging. 

Yet this week God POWERFULLY spoke to my own heart from Isaiah 30.

  AMEN! 

The Israelites, OT book after OT book, have rebelled against God's Word.  They begged forgiveness and He was faithful to forgive them.   Two miles down the road they are complaining and rebelling again.  Isaiah 30 says WOE TO THEM who keep going back to Egypt.   It seems like such craziness for them to entertain the thought of going back to Egypt where they lived in SLAVERY, just because they get tired of the same food, or whatever.

Yet  we, God's Engrafted Children  (Christians)  , OFTEN act the very same way as the Israelites!!

I started SS today with a MAZE....asking this adult class  to find their way from Egypt to the Promised Land.

 

I watched each student as they tried to look ahead for walls. 

 

 

 I watched as they bumped into a wall and had to go a different way. 

 

 

 I saw the temptation for one to view another's paper because it was too challenging for them. 

 

 

 I had to encourage one student to continue rather than to quit. 

 

 

I watched as one thought she was done, only for me to show she had not come out the exit, but rather ended at a wall. 

 

 

Curve after Curve, wall after all, each student kept on until they proclaimed with glee, "I'm done!" 

 

 AMEN!

 

 

My heart ached within me as God continued to show me how "real to life" this maze is.

 

 

Before starting the actual lesson, I explained to them how the Maze was like Real Life. 

 

• We are on a journey to Heaven, it started the day we bowed ourselves in faith to Jesus.
•  
• All along the path, there are bends, where we cannot see what is coming up.
•  
• We do not always know if we made a right choice or not, until we hit the wall. 
•  
• We should not stand smashed against our mistake, but turn around, until the right path is reached again. 
•  
• We all wish life was a nice easy, straight journey from our Salvation to Heaven....and it is...in a way.   Isaiah 35 says there are no lions or predators on this path....Lions may roar and darkness may be near, but our road is safe because JESUS has not only put us ON the path, but walks with us, step by step.  

 

 AND THE GRAND FINALE...

..will be Heaven! 

 

•   It may take a while to reach it.
• We might get tired in the journey.
• We might get bruised as we bump into walls..
• BUT..... we will all make it....

 

WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!

 

 

This is the REST of the Lesson:

 

 

 

Thank You, Lord for YOUR Word!

RIDING in a STORM

This morning I woke up with

a Heavy Cloud of sadness

as I reviewed friend after friend

who was in crisis.

 

 

 

 I WANTED to rescue each one.

I WANTED  to take their pain away.

 I WANTED to put the Sunshine back into their life.

I WANTED to hand them a never ending supply of JOY.

I was even willing to take the pain on myself and off my friends.

 

 

 

 BUT, I am not God!  

(Bet that surprises ya, hey?......ha ha)

 

 

 

I have learned SO MUCH from the 'cloud time' in my life,

and so glad that I walked thru it. 

 

 I learned about GOD, and I was able to learn about MYSELF. 

 

  I need God, and with HIM, life is a WIN-WIN. 

 

 So who do I think I am,

having the desire to rob them of learning from God!  

 

My desire was VERY SELFISH!

 

 YET STILL my heart aches for them.

 

 

GOD SHOWED ME SOMETHING TONIGHT....in a STORM!
 

 

My hubby and I were on our motorcycle riding home from visiting my sister, about an hour away.  Clouds looked dark ahead.  We started out without our rain gear, for it was not raining....but the WIND was very strong.  It was actually TOO strong for my comfort.  I felt the bike was riding on an angle due to the wind.  I was hanging on, where I usually do not hang on.

 

GOD began to show me this is LIFE

here on Earth. 

 

I was not alone.  I was with my husband who loved me.  HE was driving me HOME. All I had to do was ride along, even though the wind battered me, the clouds were ominous, the rain was pending, but we were heading home TOGETHER.

 

Soon my hubby pulled over and he got out the rain gear for me to put on, and we started out again.  The rain came, the wind battered me, I clung on ,wishing we were in the car, or already at home.  My hubby kept moving forward.  Both of our shoes filled with rain water, but for the most part we kept dry.

 

FINALLY, the rain calmed down, the roads were more visible and I was able to relax more.  I watched the lightening  and heard the thunder, but we kept moving forward.   Finally we pulled safely into our driveway and I got off.   My driver had not been stressed at all, he said "That was a good ride."   I looked at him in disbelief.  Were we not together the entire way?  How could one 'LOVE the ride', and the other one 'Totally Uncomfortable'?

 

Everyone has their own personal ride thru life with Jesus.  He is driving.  We voluntarily got on the back by faith in HIM.  He drives and we have choices....to LOVE the ride, or be totally uncomfortable at what we see or feel.

 

Either way....we end up HOME.

 

I would rather go thru life ENJOYING it, then wishing I had not gone along in the first place.

 

Do you understand what I am trying to say?