As You’ve prepared a place

Beyond our mere imaginings

With no familiar trace.

We’ll find our custom-built abode

Beyound the pearly gate,

Step-by-step down streets of gold,

Oh, I can hardly wait!

Yet, Lord, I feel I must express

What heaven means to me.

It’s not the mansions of my dreams

That I receive for free.

You see, Lord, if You’d given me

A hut beneath a tree

Or led me to a country shack

Where I’d forever be,

I’d make my home there happily

For always and a day

If You’d make just one promise:

You too would come and stay.

Because, my Lord, one thing is sure,

So search my heart and see -

It’s not reward my heart leaps for:

You are heaven to me.

At times it is for me.  Yesterday, our 44th President was sworn into office.  It was a frustrating day for me because I heard people makes such negative comments towards Barack Obama and also George Bush.  I swear nothing will make some of these people happy. 

I am willing to wager that the ones that made remarks against Bush will make the same remarks against Obama.  All I will say is this:  Respect is earned just as a loss of respect is earned.

I work on this continually; I wish other people did too: 

Philippians 2:14 & 15  – Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Romans 5:20

Salvation does not even come by claiming to be a Christian.  Salvation comes only when we receive by faith the gift of God’s grace.  Hell will be full of people who tried to reach heaven some other way….The first provision of the gospel is grace, which is neither earned nor deserved.  Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse said, “Love that gives upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.”  God has stooped to give us grace.  Will you receive it?

I have been able to find other distant relatives through their family trees also!  There is even one close by in Des Moines!  So if you read this and you are a descendant of Thomas Dixon (b. August 5th, 1627) please respond and leave a comment!   I’ve got very extended family in NC, AR, TX & OK!

The peace of God…will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

God’s peace guards us from anxiety, doubt, fear, and distress….Our confident trust in the Lord will allow us to thank Him in the midst of trials because we have God’s peace on duty to protect our hearts and minds.  When Paul refers to our hearts and minds…it’s a comprehensive statement that describes the whole inner person.  Because of our union with Christ, He guards our entire being with His peace.  And that’s what helps us be spiritually stable.

My own personal thoughts: 

During this whole harvest season I really did feel God’s peace.  When it continued to rain, sleet and snow, I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that we would somehow get done; even though it almost took us twice as long as usual.  When the springs to the platform sensors broke, and the auger was ripped off the combine, I knew we would finish.  When something was trapped in the fuel line of one of our tractors and one of the filters was cracked, I knew we would finish.  When 2 ½ inches of rain came in November and we still had 600 acres of corn to harvest, I knew we would finish…God promised to always provide for our needs, and he always has and I believe he always will.

I’m not saying that I didn’t have anxiety, doubt, and fear or distress…if I did, I’d be lying…but I always had a calmness in me and deep down I always hung on to the fact that God would take care of our needs.  You see, as long as I have been alive, he has and he always will.

Oh, and by the way…we finished.

I can’t believe we still aren’t finished with Harvest.  It has been a very long, wet season.  We haven’t been able to combine now for over a week because of rain/sleet/snow.  The ground is saturated.  If it would stay frozen outside instead of the temperature raising to the high 30′s low 40, we could at least get some tillage done, but nope, it’s too gooey out.  The tires of the tractors and combine get too muddy.

On a much happy note, I have had plenty of time to study!  I recently started a new Bible study at a ‘nearby’ Church and absolutely love it!  We started on October 13th and continue on through March 23rd.  The study is by Beth Moore, and if any of you know Beth Moore, it is INTENSE!  She is so excited about sharing what she has learned during her video sessions!  Right now we are doing “A Woman’s Heart; God’s Dwelling Place”.

We’ve had a lot of reading to do and lots of questions.  I recently bought a new ESV Bible and love it!  It came with an online versin as well, so I can get online and listen to it as I follow along…sometime listening to someone else lets it ‘sink in’ better.  I can do cross reference with it, and look up all kinds of stuff! 

Well, that’s all that’s been going on with me lately.  Just waiting for it to dry up so we can finish the labor part of our work.  The moisture content of the corn has been too high, so we will have to haul the corn in to town fairly soon if it doesn’t stay cold.  We don’t need to have a bunch of rotten stuff fermenting in the bins!

More later!

I know that I am safe in writing about this because Denny doesn’t read my blog, but the other day I was leafing through a catalog and my heart skipped a beat!  I know it sounds crazy, but nostalgia set in and I remembered playing with my Mrs. Beasley doll for hours on end until her arms fell off and she lost her bib and glasses.  I remember watching Buffy on “Family Affair” and pretending I was there with them.

I would love to have another Mrs. Beasley doll even though I am 40 now.  I’ve mentioned it to Denny a few times when he would ask me what I wanted for Christmas, but I think he thought I was kidding.  I’m not going to mention it anymore. 

My Grandma (on my Dad’s side) gave me and my Cousin Kim one for Christmas so many years ago.  I can’t remember the year, but we had to have been young, because she passed away in 1976.   I can’t remember if my Cousin Shawna was born yet, but if she was, I’m sure she got one too. 

I don’t really remember much about my Grandma, but I do remember that she loved me.  I remember sitting on her lap a few times when we came over, but she was sick so we never stayed very long.  Another year, she gave me a gold necklace with a heart shaped charm.  I wonder what happened to it.

Mrs. Beasley

James 1:3

Don’t ever doubt that trials will accomplish something positive…With every trial, we build the tenacity of spirit that holds on under pressure while waiting patiently on God to remove the trial at the appointed time and then reward us…God allows increasingly greater trials in our lives to increase our endurance for greater ministry and joy, for the more difficult the battle, the sweeter the victory.  When you come out of a difficult trial, you can rejoice over God’s delivering you.  That proves Him to be trustworthy, and that strengthens your faith.

I have the words saved on my computer…if you want a copy, let me know and I will email it to you.

Do you know Him?

1995

It’s been six years since my Dad’s death; kind of hard to believe that time can go by that quickly.  So many things remind me of him and I don’t think a day goes by that something doesn’t trigger my memory.  What I wouldn’t give to hear his voice again!  I take comfort in knowing that someday I will see him again.  I haven’t lost him.  I’ve just lost contact with him for a while.  Boy will we have a lot of catching up to do!!

I heard “If You Could See Me Now” on the radio earlier.  It was played at his funeral.  The link below will take you to another site so you can hear it.

\”If You Could See Me Now\”