Rehashing Days Passed

Thinking about my life’s journey has been a repetitive occurrence of late. I have wanted to leave no stone unturned in confessing forgotten sins I have gotten away with or just have forgotten and maybe didn’t even realize at the time. And overall I believe my life has been like everyone else’s in that I have done really great things and have amazing memories and I have been pretty much scummy also at times. I have said beautiful words that have inspired and I have said careless words that have cut people to the quick. I have told the truth and I have lied. I believe this is everyone’s story with just the details different.

For my part, I am ashamed of the sins in my life and am truly sorry for them. And I wish I could go door to door and confess but I don’t know where all over the world some moved to or last names now or whatever so have to rely on God to help them forgive me.

But I praise God where He has given me grace and mercy. There is no sin too little or too great that His grace cannot cover it with His forgiveness and purify us with His blood. He is perfectly capable of restoring our souls where we are at our level. And He can and will restore our souls in heaven someday soon. And all the regrets and sadness of people lost and loneliness and hurt and every ugly thing will instantly be forgotten and us restored to full life in our incredible Jesus Christ. And that day is soon and I long for it for my family.

At the same time, I have sadness for those left behind. It will get harder, much harder, when that happens. And I want everyone to be saved, as God also wants every precious soul saved. He loves us oh so much.

So, I guess my thoughts on my past are really a distraction. I am made right by God through the sacrifice of Jesus and I have a job to do now. So onward I go and keep moving forward and someday it will be moving up. Praise God, everyone. Praise Him, friend. I thank Him for you and remind you how greatly you are loved and considered precious!❤

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Remembering Lessons from Daddy

Today was my Daddy’s birthday. I have been thinking of him a lot. I miss him. More than that, I wish my kids could have known him better. But I assembled a list of key facts and morality codes he lived by that will benefit them and anyone seeking wisdom.

1. Daddy always told the truth. He did not lie and detested lies. Yes, you have to face the consequences if you did something wrong but the consequences for lying are a slow death inside and misery along the way so far worse. Truth is always the right answer.

2. Daddy loved God, family and country in that order. No exceptions. Daddy would fight to the death for any of those and in that order. He was a junior high Sunday school teacher and church song leader, a faithful husband, great provider, loving father, and former Marine and lifelong farmer. This was proof, which you always provide when you believe in something.

4. Daddy was very generous and secretive about it. He loved anonymous gift giving and was quite sneaky about it. He saw more rewards for helping without notoriety or reward, knowing then that God gives greater eternal rewards in heaven. Pretty smart cookie.

5. Daddy saw black and white and had no time or patience for gray. It was right or wrong. Dismiss the wrong and live the right. No in betweens, no compromising the right ever.

6. Daddy loved nature. He tended his fields with a passion for their Maker and appreciated, knew and coaxed the soil and plants to perfection. He was an amazing farmer and loved nature.

7. Daddy sang like an angel. He was big and strong, had taught boxing in the service, ran and repaired heavy equipment, farmed, was tough as nails but always sang like an angel for Jesus. You use the gifts you were given. You just do.

8. Daddy put everyone first. God was first and foremost but everyone followed after. He never saw a stranger, picked up hitchhikers, helped countless people move, took great care of us and all our family members, helped out friends with car repairs, even after a double shift. If he could do it, he knew he should.

9. Daddy loved me unconditionally. He was the only one other than God. Yes, sometimes he disagreed with my choices, but he alway was there loving me, there for me, eager to provide for me, had my back. Always. My rock. My secure person.

10. Daddy was faithful to my mom. He is the only man I know of who has been. No porn, no cheating, turned off raunchy shows or even commercials, looked away at trashy dressed women, never even side glanced. He was faithful to her, even when she weighed over 300 pounds. Didn’t matter, that was his sweat heart and he loved her. Proved it.

So, I hope everyone sees the example of my daddy as one to follow as a human. Of course Jesus is a greater example, but daddy pretty good too. I am proud and honored to have been his daughter.

Happy birthday in heaven, daddy! I sure do love and miss you.❤❤

Never Forget the Bad

The wounds you bore, the mistakes you made, the pain you survived, every tear cried, never forget. But remember for the right reasons. Remember that the enemy and bad choices made all those things but God has healed them all or is in the process of it as soon as you humbly ask Him to. Remember where you have been in order to bring glory to God for getting you through and saving your soul for eternity from such devastation. Never forget what God has brought you through. Forget to glorify God and forgive it all, even yourself, and then deny these things power over your present, learning that God’s salvation and life is far greater for you and for eternity. I am proud of where I have been because praise God He got me through them wiser and humbler. Our history needs to be reflected on sometimes not to go back or grow bitter but to forgive and realize what God brought us through and never to go back to it. Forgetting or drowning the past in distractions or drugs/addictions of choice prevent the full lesson. Sometimes greater than the pain of that time is the longer drawn out pain of remaining there and not allowing God to heal you and complete the leason. People believe the lie that it will hurt more but the truth is that God frees completely. ❤

Pet Peeve of the Cross

Christians are Christians and have all the promises and rewards and relationship and security that God provides because of the work of Jesus. And yes, His mode of sacrifice was the horrific cross. But instead of the torture He went through for me, I cannot help but wish the symbol of Christianity was an empty tomb, a grave with the stone rolled away. Because if He had died that horrible death for us and stayed dead, it would have been an incomprehensibly nice gesture but have no eternal value or meaning. But He rose from the dead! The resurrection is the power over death once and for all for all of us who accept Him. And some even keep Jesus on the cross! Hard for me to take. Our hope is the resurrection. I will buy a necklace with a pendant not of a cross but of the empty tomb, thank you very much. And I am so very thankful for His resurrection after His sacrificial death. We live and are secure and loved eternally because of Jesus. 😄 ❤ ❤ ❤

Historical Freedom

What we as Americans sink our teeth into is freedom. We have it on the backs of thousands and thousands of courageous men and women who went before us. We love our freedom. We breathe it. Our freedom has been threatened many times, sometimes from foreign threats and much more often by traitors with horrifying agendas. We have been saved, I firmly believe, directly by God in response to prayer and fasting of Christians who care about freedom. And God blessed us with a President, unlike the few we have had before that destroyed more than helped, who loves and protects freedom and knows the truth that God got us here. Freedom always has a past, a back story. It never stands alone. It is like a tall, beautiful, huge flower on a singular stem whose leaves have been plucked off. It cannot stand without support. History is that support. We must find the truth of it, teach our children and live in such a way that honors our forebears and keeps our freedom very much alive and protected and beautiful. D-day is a huge historic event that happened today at Normandy and along the French coast that helped freedom eventually win and proved the will and spirit of the good guys conquers more than the might and numbers of an evil force against it. This is worth every honor we give it and when we tell our children, we celebrate the warrior’s passion for freedom which put freedom before even their own life. They are incredible and I am so thankful for them. We must remember.❤

Memorial Day

Many people have sacrifices for our country in service fields because of their love for our country, sometimes for a paycheck, sometimes because n of their sheer love for their fellow man and a God-given desire to help. In any case, the sacrifice they have made or are making now or even have made and they are retired now, this day we value, respect and really appreciate them and their families. Sometimes their families give up more than they do. So we thank them. Thank you, every service person, in past, present or future, for we could not be free without this sacrifice and be protected without your important work. You matter. What you did matters. What you are doing now matters. What better way to serve God than to serve men and women and u our country. Thank you all! God bless you all!!!❤❤❤

Starting to Remember

Many years of my life are hard for me to remember. I believe the psychologists of the day (yes, I had to study psychology while working toward my doctorate in the science of audiology) would say that I repressed or blocked memories too difficult to remember during times of extreme stress. And stress, I am afraid, has been a constant companion of mine much of my life. It is a wonder I am alive really, seeing how they are blaming stress for every illness known to man. Anywho, as God has healed my deep depression relatively recently, He is bringing back the memories I had forgotten in order for me to know the truth and forgive to free me. This process is surprising and beautiful. He reminds me of this good memory or this hurtful one to forgive or this one of me bad I have to ask forgiveness for, etc. And He is bringing them to me in bits I can handle calmly and remaining in peace and joy. And He is through this process drawing me closer to His presence. It is peaceful, joyful, beautiful, even the bad stuff. I am not bragging, I am observing and showing you what can happen if you pray all the time, fast, throw away all social media and addictions/distractions, and read your Bible. Draw close to God and really humbly pull toward Him and He rewards you with what you want… closeness to Him. And it is making me incredibly homesick for my best friend, friends and family. But I know God will comfort me until I can see them. Oh how I love and trust Him. Not really anyone else, but Jesus is my blessed Champion and Lord and oh how I love Him!❤