IN SUNNY OKLAHOMA

I made it!! I'm in warm and sunny OK with our son Christian and our sweet daughter-in-law Holly, and the precious granddaughters.
There was so much to do before leaving that I feel I'm on vacation now, (although I'm sharing the night shift with baby Storie =). I sure am enjoying being here with them, and look forward to Al joining me soon. I'll try to post some pics soon, with more updates.

I'll also post news of my upcoming art show for the month of April in Camp Hill, PA, for those of you who are interested.

Answered Prayer

God never ceases to amaze me!
In an earlier post entitled "The Necessities Of Life", I was (reluctantly, sad to say,) praying for the granddaughter of the lady who hands out samples at the grocery store - some of you will remember! Well yesterday I saw her again for the first time after that, and I went up to her to say "Hi" and ask how her granddaughter was doing.
I was amazed! Her face lit up and in front of a lot of people, she blurted out that she is not the same girl. She said she has "totally changed", is back at school and is doing "GREAT". She went into quite a lot of detail, telling me that she even told her that she had somebody praying for her. I walked away praising God for even listening, let alone answering my prayers.
When we don't feel like praying, or our hearts are not right, this shows me to be obedient anyway and God will bring about the results He desires. It's not about how good we are, (thank God), but about how good He is!

Exciting Trip Ahead

Well, at least I'm excited!! I just read our son's blog (Sean's) and I hope you read mine before his, or it might seem boring to you =), but our lives are anything but boring at this stage. (I am finding life only gets better and better with the Lord!)
We are right now in the midst of a total rehab job on the Timber Trail cottage, which we are moving into by April 30th. We're ending up doing a whole lot more than we had originally planned - it's sort of like dominoes - you do one thing and find you need to do more and more.
For example, if you put in a new entry to the bathroom from the bedroom, all the other doors now need to be changed to match. The same with the trim, walls and ceilings (getting rid of all the panelling and drop ceilings is quite a job, especially when there's nothing above it but insulation from the attic). We're even putting in new oak floors and a whole new kitchen - it's been so much fun designing it and the Lord's been giving us great bargains. Of course Al still has his construction business during the day, so it has to get done in between. He's doing an amazing job, and God brings the right help at the right time. (We still miss you Sean - it's the first house we're doing without him. =( I'll try to post some pics soon.
Anyway, the exciting news is we're taking some time off and finally going out west. I'm leaving on the 13th for OK and going to see our new granddaughter Astoria for the first time. I can hardly wait! It's the only grandchild that I have not been able to hold minutes after being born, but I had a chest cold which lasted for about 5 weeks, and I did not want to give it to her or the rest of the family (but I'll sure make up for that). I'm doing better now, and praising God that I'll be there soon with Storie, Addie, Holly and Christian.
Al is coming on the 20th and we'll spend 4 days together with them, and then fly to CA to visit with Sean for 3 days. How exciting is all that!!!! This will be our first time visiting Sean since he moved out west in September. Our RV trip will have to wait for more time and better weather. The nice thing about posponing the RV trip is that we'll get to see them all again, and Christian's family twice - on the way there and back. The Lord is soooooo good to us all. I love these verses:
Psalm 103: 10-11 says
"He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities,
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear Him."

Definition of Grace

I just love Yancey's definition of grace. He says in regard to Jesus' parable of the workers who were all paid the same at the end of the day, even though they all worked very different hours:
"Grace is not about finishing last or first; it is about not counting." (God gives gifts not wages).

GRACE

Philip Yancey in his book "What's So Amazing About Grace " says
"I fight the tentacular grip of ungrace in my own life....a feeling that I must somehow earn God's approval. In the words of Helmut Thielicke, .... the devil succeeds in laying his cuckoo eggs in a pious nest.......I came to see that the image of God I had been raised with was woefully incomplete...... Grace comes free of charge to people who do not deserve it and I am one of those people.......any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely from the grace of God. I yearn for the church to become a nourishing culture of that grace."

Receiving Like Children

Andrew (8) playing with space lego yesterday at our home.

Yesterday our grandson, Andrew spent most of the day with me. We had such a precious time together. I wanted to bless the socks off him, and he had absolutely no problem receiving it.
From the time he walked through the door just after 8 AM I gave him the biggest hug I could and called him "Prince" because he is God's special child, the son of the King of Kings. (We really became connected after one of those hugs when his new mouth appliance got hooked up in my sweater =). They are all so very special and I love one on one time with them to enjoy their uniqueness and lavish them with love - just like our Heavenly Father wants to with us.
Anything Andrew wanted within reason I wanted to give to him. (Hang on, I'm making a point!) His favorite sandwich, ice cream, mango, berry smoothie, playing with space legos, and chess, chess, chess! (He has become quite the chess player now!) He received it all, and what a joy it was to watch his excitement playing chess with me. At times he could hardly contain himself! I loved every minute with him (as I do with all our grandchildren).
Well , last night we has our good friends over, Donna and Craig (up from S. Carolina), and what an incredible blessing it was. They were here at 4 PM and we thought we would go to the mid-week service with them at 7 PM, but the Lord had other plans ( we had "church" at home instead =)
We had a great time of fellowship and prayer together. Craig asked us if we could pray for him as God was revealing something to him as we were talking. He had a need and he humbly took it to the Lord, making himself vulnerable, and we believed and agreed with him in prayer. The box of tissues came out. This triggered something the Lord was dealing with me about, but I could not get to the bottom of it myself. (I am becoming more and more aware of my need for "the body", the church. I am not an island unto myself. We need each others - in the OT even Moses could not win the battle without others holding up his arms). I then brought up my issue, and Donna reminded me we had already taken that to the Lord in prayer and He had forgiven me a long time ago. So we asked the Lord to show me what the root of the problem was, and He did.
He showed us it was a matter of me not being able to receive. He had forgiven me when I confessed it, but I had not received His forgiveness, and was beating myself up inside subconsciously. I felt like the kid who brought the paddle to his dad, and said "Here Dad, I was bad and I need you to paddle me" so he could feel better. I knew I was guilty and deserved punishment. BUT this is the truth of the Gospel - HE PAID THE PUNISHMENT FOR US. All I had to do was confess it and receive His forgiveness. ("If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness." )
This had to do with our children, and the way I had hurt them at times as a mom, and although they had forgiven me, and God had, I had not forgiven myself. I needed to receive God's free gift of forgiveness even though I do not deserve it. Andrew did not say "No Grandmum, I cannot receive these free blessings because I do not deserve it." Like Joyce Meyer said just this morning, children do not have a problem receiving. (God always reinforces what He's doing in our lives, doesn't He?)

In Luke 18:17 Jesus says "Truly I say to you, whoever does not accept and receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child shall not in any way enter it."

"Unless we become like little children"... ( not childish but childlike!) I needed to receive!!!!!! I confessed, repented and received God's forgiveness last night and was set free. (More Kleenex was pulled out of the box).
Then Craig shared something that God had put on His heart. It was the story of the woman who was guilty of sin and by law should have been stoned to death, but she was forgiven and received it. All her accusers threw down their stones, as they too were not without sin. Then Jesus told her to go and sin no more. My children had no "stones" as they had already forgiven me, the only stone was in my hand....I was forgiven and I finally received this free and undeserving gift of forgiveness last night. I laid my stone down, making an alter of remembrance instead (like they did in the OT) to recall what God has done for me in this place. What a wonderful Father He is to us!

I am learning so much through our little grandchildren! All they want to be is "big", but guess what kids ... Jesus tells us we need to become like you!