God Gives Credit?

 

My husband is a Big O Tire guy, he loves them and will not go

anywhere else.   So when we had a low tire, Big O is where he went.  When he took the car in, my husband thought he had probably ran over a nail and needed a quick patch but turns out he needed two new tires, new serpentine belts, a new alternator belt and a new motor mount.

 

As they stood at the counter going over the estimate my husband was worried about the price but the guy looking at the computer told my husband that it was covered today because of the credit on his account.  My husband told him he must be mistaken because he didn't have any credit and always paid cash when he went in.  The guy at the counter looked at the computer again and told him he had several hundred dollars of credit and it looked like God had taken care of it all.  My husband was speechless as he left the car there to get worked on.   No explanation other than God gave us the credit needed to get everything changed and fixed! 

 

Tonight we are truly standing in awe of the power and of God!

 

1 Chronicles 29:12   Both riches and honour come of thee,

and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

 



A Wonderful Day

I pray that everyone had a wonderful Easter! 

There is no better place to be than in the Lord's house and we had such a wonderful time with our church family!

 

 

 As soon as my grandbabies got there I set them up for their Easter pictures.  Keith hates to have his picture taken with his sister but he actually hugged on his sister and I think it turned out to be the cutest picture!

 

 

Our sunrise services were amazing!  We had several people sing specials, act our monologues, read poems and recite the resurrection story.  Such a beautiful time to reflect on the resurrection of Christ.

 

 

Of course Breakfast was delicious and we are ate way too much!

 

For our main worship service and evening service, Mark and Jen Cruz were there to present their ministry to the Philippine people. 

 

Mark and Jen are so talented and played and sang such beautiful songs!  Mark then preached a fantastic message!

 

 

After our evening service, as the men had a short meeting, Jen showed us an amazing talent she has learned.  She made a tool with part of a sardine can and she took that tool and heated it over a candle and then used it to melt crayons on her tool.  She then used the tool to draw with the melted crayon.

 

When she finished it was a beautiful work of art!  Absolutely gorgeous!

I was flattered when she gave this to me and will think of and pray for them and their ministry every time I pass this picture!

 

It was another wonderful day to be in the Lord's house and in His service! 

He Prayed for Snow

 

Our church people are blaming my husband for praying for all the snow we got yesterday.  Last week my husband told our congregation that he was praying for snow so he could help witness and minister to a lady he had seen shoveling out her driveway after our last snowstorm.  Thankful for this answer to prayer, this morning he got up early and hustled out the door to be able to shovel her walkway before she got up to do it herself.

 

As I went with my husband, we had the chance to meet Ruth.  Ruth is 87 years old and lives a couple streets away from the church.  She is a very lively lady and lives independently on her own.  She loves driving around town and shopping and visiting with everyone she meets and she usually shovels her driveway on her own but was so happy that someone came and helped her today.  She has a hair appointment tomorrow and was going to be working on her driveway all day so she could get her truck out of the garage.

 

 

 

The snow was so thick and heavy that even with both Chep and Mason working, it took over an hour to get her shoveled out!  Ruth tried to pay them for their hard work but they told her how it was a blessing for them to be able to help her and were able to witness to her about God's love and invited her to church.  I also told her that I would be back and to visit with her as she said she doesn't get out in the winter time as much as she would like.

 

After they finished at Ruth's house, Chep and Mason headed to check

on all the elderly ladies in our church to make sure everyone was shoveled out and able to get out and about if needed.

 

 

They worked hard today and were stiff, sore and cold after moving all that snow so I made sure to have a warm and hearty dinner ready for them when they got home.  Shepherd's pie is a favorite around here but also fitting today as they had been out all day checking and ministering to the sheep of our congregation.  I love the chance God gave us to minister today in the snow! 



Spring In Wyoming

Monday and Tuesday I was out enjoying the 60 degree spring weather and doing some landscaping around the church but today we woke up to this!

 

 

  A full out blizzard with a foot of snow and winds up to 55 miles per hour!  The snow drifts are up to 6 feet deep in places making everyone snowed in plus most of our city has shut down due to the weather conditions.

 

We had a missionary couple that are from the Philippines come in last night.  What a wonderful time we had talking with them and hearing what God was doing in their lives and ministry.  We got them settled for the night and were planning on taking them out to brunch today and again for dinner before church tonight, but the weather changed our plans.

 

With the roads so treacherous and the storm still raging on we knew we needed to make a run to Walmart and get some water and food for our missionaries.  The roads were a white out for most of the trip and we even saw a snowplow and several semi's that had gotten stuck.  We praised God when we pulled in Walmart and were able to get some fruit, soup,

sandwiches and coffee for our missionaries.

 

The streets in the subdivision where our missionaries are staying,

 were drifted three to four feet deep and the truck struggled to make it in some areas!  Again we praised God for helping us through the roads to deliver supplies to our missionaries!

 

Our missionary had planned to preach at our church tonight and then head down the road to their next meeting in Texas but because of the horrible weather and treacherous roads, my husband had to cancel services for safety.  Thankfully our missionary was able to rearrange his schedule and will stay with us through the weekend and preach for our Easter Sunday Services.

 

As I was talking with our missionary, I said that I really thought God brought us a blizzard just to keep him here for the next few days.  His wife has been extremely sick with morning sickness and is weak and exhausted.  Being here for a few more days will give her time to rest without traveling and driving and worrying about meeting and visiting with new people when she is feeling so miserable!.  I love how God looks out for all the needs of His children and I love how His storms bring a time of rest, even if it's just

for a missionary wife who is experiencing morning sickness!

 

 



Little by Little

I have to tell you I really, truly think our church yard is ugly!   The church sits so far back from the road and the field of grass is sparse and interspersed with weeds and cactus!  The first couple of years we lived here I worked on the yard and planted bushes and flowers and trees, raked and cleaned and tried to make things look better but no matter what I have done everything still dies!  The last couple of years I have not worked very hard on the yard at all because it doesn't seem to matter what I do, it still looks ugly!

 

As I walked outside last week to see how everything had survived the snow and winds of winter I found that the antelope had eaten all my lilacs, cherry trees and rose bushes!  Thankfully they still have little living stubs growing out of the ground that I can nourish back to health but I feel like there is will be no new progress as we go into summertime!

 

As I was walking the ground surrounding the church and parsonage,

I prayed and asked God what to do to help make the church look more appealing.  As I walked and prayed, God brought to my mind Jennie Butchart and the beautiful Butchart gardens in Victoria, Canada.

 

Most people would never guess that theses beautiful gardens actually started out as a limestone quarry.  The limestone in the quarry ran out leaving a horrendous and ugly pit near the Butcharts house. 

 In an attempt to hide the ugly excavation, Jennie Butchart came up with the concept of a sunken garden.  Little by little she planted ivy and other plants and flowers into every nook and cranny, covering every bit of the ugliness of the limestone pit and transformed it into a place of beauty

 that millions of people have enjoyed today. 

 

 

The church property is not an ugly pit but I can use the same thought process and work to transform the ugliness into something beautiful

little by little.  My sweet husband has been working tirelessly on the inside of the new sanctuary that the church is building and is more than happy

 to leave the outside to me, so when I asked him for some fill dirt he immediately called and had it delivered.

 

 

 

We had a beautiful day yesterday with temps in the 60's! 

 It truly felt like a heat wave and we took advantage of it before it starts snowing again later this week.  For the first step my husband helped me measure out 25 feet from the sidewalk and sectioned it off.  We then took the fill dirt and thickly spread it over the area.  It took us the full day to do the area south of the driveway so we will wait for the snow to come and melt and then do the front of the yard on the north side of the driveway.

 

We have decided to go with a desert landscape as there is no water supply that far from the church and I am so excited to see the progress so far and excited to see what we will be able to get done in the next couple of months! 

 

Our property may never look as green and luxurious as the Butchart gardens but little by little we will make it look more inviting and welcoming

to those who are passing by.