Find This Web Site, You Will Be Inspired

 

I love the scripture that says, "A three fold cord is not quickly broken," which represents God's promise that a marriage anchored in His love has an advantage.  Certainly the marriage of this young couple portrays this love anchored in His love.
My husband served 30 years, two of those years in Afghanistan and Iraq.   We have son-in-law who didn't have a wife when he was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2003, so I have some knowledge of the sacrifice this young couple has endured.  I am sure the young Soldier in this video knows the blessing that a godly wife brings to the life of a man.

To avoid his mother being upset and worried, our son-in-law didn't even tell her he had been wounded as he recovered for months at Ft. Sam Houston, about four hours from where she lived.  How lucky this young Soldier is, and how lucky my son-in-law is today, for God has gifted him with a loving wife, and her whole family's love and respect as well.  He is a hero, as is this young man, in every sense of the word.  He suffers still today the physical effects of his wounds, although they are not readily visible, but his heart long ago triumphed over them.  

My husband continues to serve in Iraq with the State Department, determined that the ground gained in Iraq and Afghanistan against terror in the world, and those who commit it, will not be lost.  Today in Afghanistan our troops are still on the ground, still in harms way, still sacrificing every day.  Keep them, and those who struggle, having paid the price for the ground thus gained, in your prayers, and look for ways which you can support them now.

From 1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

 1.  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

 2.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

 3.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 4.  Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

 5.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

 6.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 7.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8.  Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; whee there is knowledge, it will pass away.

 9.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10. but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

11.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

12.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;  then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13.  And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love. 

WHEN YOU ALMOST LOSE A FRIEND, YOU SUDDENLY KNOW EXACTLY HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU

You may have heard on the news that South Texas has had a little rain.  That is putting it mildly.  We received over nine inches overnight at my house, and this has caused some problems, and if it had not been for my best friend, Brenda Orr, it would have caused a tragedy.

I had a long night, because Ginger, our dog, is terrified of lightning and thunder, and we had significant lightning and thunder.  She whined and insisted that my arm be over the edge of the bed touching her all night long.  I slept in a bit, and then around nine o'clock my girlfriend called talking about how the water was rising in town, and threatening some homes.

I had not thought of flooding possibilities as I comforted Ginger through the night, but after Brenda's call I went to the door to check things.  When I opened the door, I panicked!  As I looked across the property, water was everywhere, and deep.  Then I noticed the pen that I keep Rocket, our little miniature goat in had at least two feet of water in it from one end to the other, and I could not see Rocket.  

I ran barefoot in my nightgown down to the pen, and as I approached I thought I saw her floating at the deepest end.  Panic and soul pain flooded me.  Rocket has been a sweet and loving companion, and I adore her.  I struggled with the chain on the pen, and finally got it open, and as I waded toward the end of the pen she made a pitiful little bleat from her house.  She was in the house up to herchin in the water.

She was shivering uncontrollably, and could not move to come to me.  I went into the structure and carried her out and back to the porch.  Then I took her to the bathroom and warmed her as I blew her dry with the hair dryer.  She was so grateful, and so was I that Brenda had called the water kept rising, and within fifteen minutes or so, it was above the roof line of her little house. 


She would not have survived another
 ten minutes, and I would have lost a 
dear little friend.  It came to me once 
again what careful care the Lord 
takes of me, and then how he makes 
a way to demonstrate to me it was by 
His hand that the grace came.  I would have been devastated.  Rocket spent the rest of the day dry on the porch, eating my potted plants.

This incident reminded me of the story in the Bible of Moses, and the release from captivity of the Jewish nation from the Egyptians.  When Moses went to the Pharaoh,  he would not at first listen, then he would relent.  In fact this happened several times as God would through various plagues demonstrate to the Pharaoh His resolve to have his people set free.  One would wonder why at each demonstration of God's power, the Pharaoh would at first refuse, then relent, and then change his mind again.  That would be a good time to note the little phrase "but God hardened the Pharaoh's heart," each time, and he would relent.  You might wonder why God would harden the Pharaoh's heart, cause him to change his mind, and why God in His Word would make note of that.

All of our structures here at the ranch have carefully been constructed above the flood plane.  I rode a back-hoe for  hours moving dirt and building a pad for their foundations.

We also have very good flood insurance, we have made provision for catastrophe, but I had not considered the possibility of the tragedy that almost happened.  If God had not prompted Brenda's heart, I would have lost a dear friend, and been very grieved.  God wanted the people of Israel to know that it was not the generosity or kindness of the Pharaoh that was the reason for their release, but His Almighty Hand.  I know yesterday morning I was certain of the fact when I heard Rocket call to me from her little house.

SOME Of US ARE RULED BY GREAT PASSIONS FOR ALL OUR LIVES

"My father said she was a strong woman, and I believe a strong woman may be stronger than a man, particularly if she happens to have love in her heart.  I guess a loving woman is almost indestructible.  John Steinbeck, East of Eden

My husband's mother is dying.  She is ninety years old, and has been bed ridden for some time now, and because she was always a proud and independent woman, I feel strongly she welcomes the closing of her life in this world, and looks forward in great anticipation to her next existence in eternity.  My husband has always adored his mother, his sister has as well, and in fact the three of them have always greatly loved each other in a unique way that always survived the trials of their relationships.  They have traveled together, played cards together, ate together, and laughed together, in a continuous celebration of life that most people long to experience, but never know.  They naturally have spent their lives enjoying each others minds and true selves without effort, as long as I have known them.

I think that in large part, the gift of great intelligence that I see in both Randy and his sister Vickie, is the legacy of their mother.  I first met Randy's mother when she was about eighty two, and I was amazed then at her mind, her quick wit, her love of life, and the passion that I saw in her, even at the advanced age at which I first engaged her.

Mo, as she was known as to her grand-children, came and stayed with Randy and I directly after Hurricane Catrina, and during that time, she shared stories of her very remarkable life.  She was orphaned at the age of nine, lost two brothers in WWII, and by age fourteen, was working in a hosiery factory in Kentucky where she was born.  We did some singing at the piano when she was staying with us, and she still had a lovely clear alto voice, with perfect pitch, and she told me of traveling around to different churches with a singing group in her youth.  One of the favorite family stories is of the time Randy was stationed in Hawaii, right after he graduated from West Point, and how on a car ride up through perilous mountains there, Randy, Vickie, and his mother sang "How Great Thou Art," as Randy drove the car around the curves in the manner he has that makes one consider their own mortality during a car ride.  My favorite description of Randy includes the term "runs with scissors."  The three of them all have rooted within the depths of their truest identities, a love of adventure, and a daring passion for life.  In my mind, I can so easily envision the three of them singing at the top of their lungs, as Randy careened around the curves, playing with destiny, without regard of anything but the thrill and joy of the moment of adventure they were sharing.  I am certain that while there might have been playful protests, the two women were just as into the thrill of that ride as Randy was.  

That was the kind of woman Zora Moore was... and the passion with which she lived sometimes came out in a storm of emotion, but passionate people have those tendencies, along with their highly prized spirits, and their zest for life.  In all that she told me, and all that I have observed in her, the most outstanding quality has remained for her entire lifetime, her great love of Randy's father.  She could have had any man, but she told me that fall as we shared the same house, that she never loved any man but Ampton LeCompte, and she said that not with a far away dreamy look, but with a bold, daring stare, straight into my eyes...  She meant precisely what she was proclaiming, and though he had long been dead, and married to another when he died, for their fiery and passionate personaities made them too volatile a match, that love was still as strong as ever in her eyes.  They had parted ways when Randy was very young, but as Zora told me, he had always possessed her heart, and though she did not boast of it, I could see in her eyes the confidence that she knew he had never truly loved another as well.

It has well been observed through the centuries that women such as Zora, if the bare truth is exposed, never know true happiness when the love of their lives is lost from their life.  Instead, the rest of life is lived in a bitter sweet knowledge that it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have known true love at all.  Tonight, in the very organized room where Zora lies on her death bed, not far from her head, on a small oriental designed chest, a picture of Ampton LeCompte in his WWII Army uniform stands in a frame, the enduring evidence of a love lost, but never given up.

I am certain with the last beat of her heart, the last breath on her lips, and the last lucid thought of her mind, she will know just as strongly as on any past day of her life, that passionate love for her Ampton.  Some women are just lucky like that in life.

  

Jewels for God's Crown

My father has always loved children, been such a great parent, grand-father, and great-grandfather.  One of his favorite songs is "When He Cometh."  This old hymn talks about how God loves children, how they are precious to Him, and how they are His own.  

When He Cometh

 

 When He cometh, when He cometh
To make up His jewels,
All His jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.

Refrain

Like the stars of the morning,
His brightness adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown.

He will gather, He will gather
The gems for His kingdom;
All the pure ones, all the bright ones,
His loved and His own.

Refrain

Little children, little children,
Who love their Redeemer,
Are the jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.

I love this rendition of the song When He Cometh.  My dad will too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn3EwsRJosM&feature=player_detailpage 

When one of the tragedies such as happened today occurs anywhere around the world, I experience such grief, but in this situation, as far as the children who lost their lives today are concerned, there is a great comfort that does not always exist.  Before God they were all completely innocent, pure, and without sin.  Their relationship with Him was firm and sure, there is no doubt where they are this moment.  They are in the presence of the One Who Loves Them most.  While grief is overcoming our nation today, we should all understand that when that shooter went into the elementary school in Connecticut today, God who endowed each person with a free will, knew of  his intent.  He was ready, His provision was in place, His love for each of those little ones never greater than in their last moments on this earth.  As much as each of their parents and family loves those precious children who were murdered by this mad man today, their Heavenly Father loves them and cares for them even more.  His help and hand were ready and poised, they did not step out into eternity alone.  He called thousands of angels to surround each child who would not come out of their school alive today.  There may have been brief moments of terror as the horror that took their lives encountered them, but as their lives in this world ended, their forever lives began, safe in the arms of their God, whose character is described as "God is love."  The wonder of heaven, the love of God poured out over them, and all tears, all pain, and all suffering forever ended for them with the bullets from a gun wielded by a man who entered into his own reward.  He will reside forever where there will be nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth, pain, darkness, loneliness, and love will never be known by any of its' residents.  

With joy and rejoicing the hosts of heaven welcomed these innocent beautiful children to their forever home today.  No Christmas celebration anywhere will compare to the one they will experience.  In the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life for them  because of His love, they will know the full meaning of His love, mercy, and grace directly from their Heavenly Father.  That is something that those of us left behind cannot begin to fathom yet.  I hope that those whose hearts feel ripped from their beings will look to the Lord for His comfort and help.  I cannot imagine how they will be able to deal with this separation, other than to know that it can be just a brief separation, because the love of God has made provision for each of us.  He desires a forever relationship with each of us. 

This is one of the most beautiful renditions of this promise to each of those parents and loved ones left behind in the form of a hymn written in 1977 by .  The name of the song is, "If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven."  I know God's comfort, mercy, grace, and love will be poured out on the grieving, may they reach out to the Master to be held until they can stand once again.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYHG8piu9H4

Soon we'll come to the end of life's journey
And perhaps we'll never meet anymore
'Til we gather in heaven's bright city
Far away on that beautiful shore Chorus 1:
If we never meet again this side of heaven (never meet this side of heaven)
As we struggle through this world and its strife (struggle through world and its strife)
There's another meeting place somewhere in heaven (meeting place somewhere in heaven)
By the side of the river of life (by the shining river of life)
Where the charming roses bloom forever (roses bloom ever and ever)
And where separations come no more (separations come never more)
If we never meet again this side of heaven (never meet this side of heaven)
I will meet you on that beautiful shore (meet you on that beautiful shore)
Oh, they say we shall meet by the river
Where no storm clouds ever darken the sky
And they say we'll be happy in heaven
In the wonderful sweet by and by
Repeat Chorus 1
Chorus 2:
If we never meet again this side of heaven
As we struggle through this world and its strife
There's another meeting place somewhere in heaven
By the side of the river of life
Where the charming roses bloom forever (roses bloom ever and ever)
And where separations come no more (separations come never more)
If we never meet again this side of heaven
I will meet you on that beautiful shore