Ok, just to warn you -- this will be an uncharacteristically serious note from me -- I rarely comment on politics, current events, or controversial issues...and if I do comment, it's generally a friendly poke at ya', or something ridiculously silly...but I've had some thoughts on my mind lately that seem to resonate through recent days and I thought I'd share some of it.
When I turned on my computer yesterday morning, I was greeted with a headline about the CFO of Freddie Mac, and his suicide. It seems that things like this are becoming an everyday occurrence, and I fear that, over time, we will become calloused to headlines like this...in much the same way we are when we hear about bombings in Irag, 27 dead, or militants raiding villages in other countries and killing as they go...and we glaze over those articles hurriedly in our rush to get to the IMPORTANT news...like the Sports page or the financial page to check on our money. When I say WE, believe me, I am not pointing a finger at you...I am doing a great deal of attitude-adjustment and correction of misplaced priorities in my own life and although I am using the word WE, I really mean ME, and if you feel like including yourself in that bunch, then" Welcome", glad to have you...and let's all try to learn from our mistakes and push the reset button in our lives.
My heart was deeply saddened when I read the article about Mr. Wellington, Freddie Mac CFO. In the particular article I saw, it also briefly mentioned that he had a wife and a 5 yr. old daughter named Grace and lived in a $900,000 home in Virginia. I sat at my computer and cried as I thought about his little girl...Grace... What about his wife, his parents, his siblings, his neighbors....I do know how it feels to have someone close to you commit suicide. It is indescribable. There are no words to explain it. My best friend in high school committed suicide, as did her boyfriend, who was my neighbor and close childhood friend. I recall the evening when our other neighbor, the one who lived across the street, committed suicide by hanging himself in his garage. I vividly recall standing on our front porch and watching his lifeless body hanging from the rafters...and as a young teen, somehow I felt responsible. We didn't know the family very well, but not a day goes by, even now, years later, that I don't picture that scene in my mind -- and it makes me sad -- and yet resolved to be nicer to the people who cross my path each day.
While at physical therapy yesterday, I was reading the newspaper and read 3 different stories about men -- Fathers -- killing their entire family, and then themselves...and I wonder what happened...why? What is it in their life that would cause so much anger, rage, hurt, disappointment....or who knows what else? I do not want to judge them, but I do want to learn from tragedy. I would hope, as a parent, that with the help of God, I would instill certain principles and character traits in my children that would enable them to face hard times and to live honorably and peacefully, so that tragedy would not befall my family in this way. It is only by the grace of God that it's not our family mentioned in a similar tragedy.
It would be easy to blame the recent financial crisis...it would be easy to blame childhood abuse, or depression, or the loss of a job, broken relationships, bad government, blah, blah, blah...we could find a million things to blame it on. I suspect that there are numerous factors in each situation that contributed to a breakdown in each family.
I don't have any answers, but I do know that God does. The more I read and study the Bible, the more I find out that my priorities have been misplaced. Our country also has misplaced priorities. Somehow, somewhere along the way...we became so focused on "Entitlement" and on our rights and on "having it all"....is that really the American Dream we all seek?
I am not well enough educated in finance to expound on the causes of these recent problems, but I do know that in Romans 13:8 that God says "Owe no man anything, but to love one another". Hmmmmm....now that's a thought-provoking statement right there! What condition do you think our country would be in if we didn't owe anyone anything? Except, well, to love them. Suppose we all had zero balances on our credit cards....or...gasp...if we didn't HAVE any credit cards, or car loans, or mortgages or student loans....oh, but we say..."that's not reality...no one could do anything or get anywhere in life without THOSE things"....hmmm, maybe. But where have we gotten WITH those things? Has access to lots and lots of money made us happy? I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I was very happy when that plastic little card came in the mailbox and we had the "freedom" to go out and buy whatever we (thought) we wanted. I was SOOO happy! I felt rich and powerful and FREE...I had "money"!!!!! Woo-hoo! Now everything was going to be great! No more problems, because I had MONEY (aka plastic).
Two weeks ago, I had a garage sale and I sold most of those things that were bought with those little plastic cards, and strangely, no one wanted to pay the same amount for them that I originally paid! Can you believe that? Why....those Etienne Aigner black pumps that I just HAD to have, because they will make me look prettier...and besides, they were ON SALE at Macy's, so it was GOOD to buy them for $78...and I wore them 5 or 6 times...and I sold them at the yard sale for...$3, still in the box. Hmmmm, why am I not so happy about that? Oh, and I paid 21% interest on them for about a year, so I wonder how much they REALLY cost me? And yes...I wonder why I feel sad about that.
And then I just HAD to get my teeth fixed...and "thankfully" there was that dental loan at only 15% interest, and can you believe that even with a mediocre credit score, I was able to get a car! And a house! and a piano! and braces for my kids!
Then, for some strange reason...my husband wanted me to go out and get a REAL job...can you imagine that? Oooo....I wasn't too happy about that. So I got mad at him. I wanted him to work more and he wanted me to work more....and that equals a whole lotta tension in the house. But SOMEBODY has to pay for all that stuff!
Oh, and if you happen to suffer from loneliness, just go get a few credit cards and then stop making payments...you'll get lots of phone calls! You will feel so VERY popular...your phone will start ringing at 8:59 in the morning and keep on ringing all day! You'll have lots of people to talk to, but I should warn you that they are not very friendly. In fact, they are downright rude...and they even know where you live and they will conveniently come and take your car away if you don't send enough money to them. Oh, and then there are the people who think they own your house and can just come and take it whenever they feel you haven't given THEM enough money! Oh, but wait a minute, I'm sorry...they DO own your house...I forgot. It's not mine, it's never been mine, silly me! What? You're serious? You are REALLY going to kick me out of MY OWN HOME?...Oooops, forgot again -- it's not MY home.
And then it's time to play Hamster...you climb on the wheel and go round and round and round....all the while juggling who gets paid and who has to wait..work, work, work, soccer and ballet, work, work, piano lessons, Easter dress, drive-thru, coffee, chest pain, medical bills, more coffee, McDonalds for dinner again, manicure/pedicure, birthday presents, CHRISTMAS AHHHHHHH!!!!!, more bills, more work, vacation? you must be kidding, home equity, college, you HAVE to get a scholarship!, bills, fees, bills, fees, and then you don't even care how much you've paid in fees and interests -- it's all just part of the BIG MESS that is...The American Dream.
And then we stop answering the phone, 'cuz those people are SO mean! And then we don't open the mail, or we get another address at the UPS store so they can't find us...for a while...but let me testify...they will always find you. They called my mother, my neighbor, my friends...oh, that's fun to explain :-)
Until one day....I find myself out in the garage with a rope in my hand, making an assessment of which crossbeam is most suitable to escape all of this craziness.
I am sure that none of this sounds familiar to anyone else...it's probably just me...living the American Dream...but I'm finally starting to realize that it is precisely that...A Dream! We cannot keep buying and borrowing and expect to live in peace. We have "nurtured" a nation of people who feel entitled to everything, and who will do anything to get it. We feel guilty if we don't buy our kids the nicest clothes, the hottest video games, and take them to all the appropriately cool places. Our birthday parties become a Can-You-Top-This competition, and we stress out over what gift to bring to the other peoples' kids' parties so that they won't talk bad about us.
The other day I told one of my kids "I'll give you a dollar to put all of those groceries away for me". The response was...(wait, are you sitting down?) "Nah...no thanks". WHAT????????? Surely I didn't hear what I thought I heard. I inquired further...and the response was "well, maybe for $5, but not for only $1". My head was spinning...I was creating a monster with my bribery in exchange for obedience. My child eventually put all the groceries away -- for free. And then I felt guilty about that. Wait a second!!!! I should not feel guilty for asking for help in putting groceries away! What was I thinking?
Oh...and to finish the story...I decided that I couldn't work the midnight shift anymore at our local hospital, and I took a good, long, hard look at My American Dream, and realized that I was making choices that were first of all, opposite of the way God intended us to live, and 2ndly not in line with the type of life I would label as the American Dream.
Every week I receive real estate foreclosure listings in my email. As I peruse the various properties, sometimes there are photos. In the few where there are photos, I see a home...usually with a massively-huge screened TV, and a DVD player and a Wii in the living room...and some lovely furnishings, and possibly a pool, and a 3-car garage....and I wonder if perhaps some of the money used to purchase those items could have been used to make a house payment...we all make choices...sometimes we have to make the tough choices and sell things that bring us joy, or tell our children "No" to certain things that we truly cannot afford. But when we choose immediate gratification, instead of telling ourselves to live within our financial means, we are making choices that will bring unwelcome consequences down the road.
Like it or not, our country was founded on Christian principles...Christian, as in, Biblical principles...Biblical, as in, this is how God tells us to do it. There is a successful way of life, as outlined in the Bible, and it doesn't include competing for the biggest house, the hottest car, the most beautiful clothes, the power of high position, affluence, popularity, money (how much is enough?)...It's not handing our children everything on a silver platter, pushing our husbands to make more and more money to maintain the lifestyle we THINK we want.
Romans 13:13 says to "Live honestly". Is it living honestly when we are living beyond our means? Husbands who never have time for their kids because the standard of life chosen FORCES them to work endless hours in order to pay the bills. I think somehow that translates into slavery. Children need their fathers home after work. Children need their mothers in the home. Moms are the glue that holds everything together in the home. When we choose to live beyond our means, we take Mom out of the home and our families are fragmented. I'm not expounding on things I've merely "heard" -- I've lived it first-hand and I know it's not the way God intended our families to be.
I know how it feels to be too exhausted to sit with my child on my lap and read them a bedtime story. I know how it feels to snap at my kids in impatience because I feel overwhelmed with responsibility -- most of which are things we "want" to do, or should do to live up to the American Dream, but they are not things that contribute to peace in our home.
Personal responsibility. Compassion. Honesty. Living simply, and within our means. The Bible teaches us to live this way, yet we often ignore it. In Joshua 1:8 God clearly tells us what will give us prosperity and success. Isn't THAT the American Dream? "This book of the law shall not depart of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for THEN thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and THEN thou shalt have good success."
As I read that verse, I am reminded that the answers -- ALL the answers-- to life's situations are in the Bible. Why do we look in so many other places? Why do seek solace in drugs, alcohol, money, stress-relief, music, busy-ness, self-help, other people, other places...anything, but God's Word....Thank God for His grace, His mercy, and His longsuffering toward us. If someone treated us the way that we treat God sometimes, we would write them off forever. Lucky for us, God is not that way.
As I read more and more about people trying to escape from life's pressures by suicide or other hopeless methods, I am reminded that if I only would seek God and HIS ways, that things would be better. Study the life of Joseph -- and we think WE'VE got it tough? The Bible has SO much to say about how to live life, and how to live it well -- not well by humanity's standards, but well by the Creator's standards.
This week I decided to take personal responsibility and make a tough choice. I sold an item from my home that was very valuable to me. It was heartbreaking -- but so are the pressures of life right now. I sat in my living room looking at that very sentimental, valuable item and realizing that if I sold it, I could park my car in the garage and not worry that it would be taken away on a flatbed at 4 am. If I sold that valuable item, I could catch up on my house payments and not be in a continual panic over where are we going to live? If I sold that item, I would not have to stand in line at our community food pantry in order to feed my family and that I could have heat in my house next winter. Was it a hard choice? Kinda sorta. If I sold that valuable item, I could have the back surgery that I need so that I won't be in continual pain. But most of all, if I sold that valuable item, I would be debt-free. I would be living according to God's ways of "owing no man anything".
I sold the item and I paid every single bill that has been hanging over the head of my family. Yes, living under that kind of financial pressure was affecting my entire family. Although I feel a twinge of sadness every time I walk into my living room and see the empty spot where it used to be, that twinge is nothing compared to the peace that has settled over our home and into my heart since making the choice to live the way God intended us to live. I have no regrets. We will never regret living God's way. You cannot make mistakes by living according to the Bible.
Yes, there is such a thing as The American Dream -- it is the dream held by the founders of our country, who had purpose and vision and a reverent fear of God. I pray that as an American, I will maintain God's values and principles in my family. Yes, we are only one little family in Illinois, but if more of us hit the reset button and lived according to God's morals and principles, perhaps we wouldn't see such heartbreak in the families of America. Correction, not "perhaps"...but rather, as promised by God in Joshua 1:8, we would possess true prosperity and good success.
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
When I turned on my computer yesterday morning, I was greeted with a headline about the CFO of Freddie Mac, and his suicide. It seems that things like this are becoming an everyday occurrence, and I fear that, over time, we will become calloused to headlines like this...in much the same way we are when we hear about bombings in Irag, 27 dead, or militants raiding villages in other countries and killing as they go...and we glaze over those articles hurriedly in our rush to get to the IMPORTANT news...like the Sports page or the financial page to check on our money. When I say WE, believe me, I am not pointing a finger at you...I am doing a great deal of attitude-adjustment and correction of misplaced priorities in my own life and although I am using the word WE, I really mean ME, and if you feel like including yourself in that bunch, then" Welcome", glad to have you...and let's all try to learn from our mistakes and push the reset button in our lives.
My heart was deeply saddened when I read the article about Mr. Wellington, Freddie Mac CFO. In the particular article I saw, it also briefly mentioned that he had a wife and a 5 yr. old daughter named Grace and lived in a $900,000 home in Virginia. I sat at my computer and cried as I thought about his little girl...Grace... What about his wife, his parents, his siblings, his neighbors....I do know how it feels to have someone close to you commit suicide. It is indescribable. There are no words to explain it. My best friend in high school committed suicide, as did her boyfriend, who was my neighbor and close childhood friend. I recall the evening when our other neighbor, the one who lived across the street, committed suicide by hanging himself in his garage. I vividly recall standing on our front porch and watching his lifeless body hanging from the rafters...and as a young teen, somehow I felt responsible. We didn't know the family very well, but not a day goes by, even now, years later, that I don't picture that scene in my mind -- and it makes me sad -- and yet resolved to be nicer to the people who cross my path each day.
While at physical therapy yesterday, I was reading the newspaper and read 3 different stories about men -- Fathers -- killing their entire family, and then themselves...and I wonder what happened...why? What is it in their life that would cause so much anger, rage, hurt, disappointment....or who knows what else? I do not want to judge them, but I do want to learn from tragedy. I would hope, as a parent, that with the help of God, I would instill certain principles and character traits in my children that would enable them to face hard times and to live honorably and peacefully, so that tragedy would not befall my family in this way. It is only by the grace of God that it's not our family mentioned in a similar tragedy.
It would be easy to blame the recent financial crisis...it would be easy to blame childhood abuse, or depression, or the loss of a job, broken relationships, bad government, blah, blah, blah...we could find a million things to blame it on. I suspect that there are numerous factors in each situation that contributed to a breakdown in each family.
I don't have any answers, but I do know that God does. The more I read and study the Bible, the more I find out that my priorities have been misplaced. Our country also has misplaced priorities. Somehow, somewhere along the way...we became so focused on "Entitlement" and on our rights and on "having it all"....is that really the American Dream we all seek?
I am not well enough educated in finance to expound on the causes of these recent problems, but I do know that in Romans 13:8 that God says "Owe no man anything, but to love one another". Hmmmmm....now that's a thought-provoking statement right there! What condition do you think our country would be in if we didn't owe anyone anything? Except, well, to love them. Suppose we all had zero balances on our credit cards....or...gasp...if we didn't HAVE any credit cards, or car loans, or mortgages or student loans....oh, but we say..."that's not reality...no one could do anything or get anywhere in life without THOSE things"....hmmm, maybe. But where have we gotten WITH those things? Has access to lots and lots of money made us happy? I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I was very happy when that plastic little card came in the mailbox and we had the "freedom" to go out and buy whatever we (thought) we wanted. I was SOOO happy! I felt rich and powerful and FREE...I had "money"!!!!! Woo-hoo! Now everything was going to be great! No more problems, because I had MONEY (aka plastic).
Two weeks ago, I had a garage sale and I sold most of those things that were bought with those little plastic cards, and strangely, no one wanted to pay the same amount for them that I originally paid! Can you believe that? Why....those Etienne Aigner black pumps that I just HAD to have, because they will make me look prettier...and besides, they were ON SALE at Macy's, so it was GOOD to buy them for $78...and I wore them 5 or 6 times...and I sold them at the yard sale for...$3, still in the box. Hmmmm, why am I not so happy about that? Oh, and I paid 21% interest on them for about a year, so I wonder how much they REALLY cost me? And yes...I wonder why I feel sad about that.
And then I just HAD to get my teeth fixed...and "thankfully" there was that dental loan at only 15% interest, and can you believe that even with a mediocre credit score, I was able to get a car! And a house! and a piano! and braces for my kids!
Then, for some strange reason...my husband wanted me to go out and get a REAL job...can you imagine that? Oooo....I wasn't too happy about that. So I got mad at him. I wanted him to work more and he wanted me to work more....and that equals a whole lotta tension in the house. But SOMEBODY has to pay for all that stuff!
Oh, and if you happen to suffer from loneliness, just go get a few credit cards and then stop making payments...you'll get lots of phone calls! You will feel so VERY popular...your phone will start ringing at 8:59 in the morning and keep on ringing all day! You'll have lots of people to talk to, but I should warn you that they are not very friendly. In fact, they are downright rude...and they even know where you live and they will conveniently come and take your car away if you don't send enough money to them. Oh, and then there are the people who think they own your house and can just come and take it whenever they feel you haven't given THEM enough money! Oh, but wait a minute, I'm sorry...they DO own your house...I forgot. It's not mine, it's never been mine, silly me! What? You're serious? You are REALLY going to kick me out of MY OWN HOME?...Oooops, forgot again -- it's not MY home.
And then it's time to play Hamster...you climb on the wheel and go round and round and round....all the while juggling who gets paid and who has to wait..work, work, work, soccer and ballet, work, work, piano lessons, Easter dress, drive-thru, coffee, chest pain, medical bills, more coffee, McDonalds for dinner again, manicure/pedicure, birthday presents, CHRISTMAS AHHHHHHH!!!!!, more bills, more work, vacation? you must be kidding, home equity, college, you HAVE to get a scholarship!, bills, fees, bills, fees, and then you don't even care how much you've paid in fees and interests -- it's all just part of the BIG MESS that is...The American Dream.
And then we stop answering the phone, 'cuz those people are SO mean! And then we don't open the mail, or we get another address at the UPS store so they can't find us...for a while...but let me testify...they will always find you. They called my mother, my neighbor, my friends...oh, that's fun to explain :-)
Until one day....I find myself out in the garage with a rope in my hand, making an assessment of which crossbeam is most suitable to escape all of this craziness.
I am sure that none of this sounds familiar to anyone else...it's probably just me...living the American Dream...but I'm finally starting to realize that it is precisely that...A Dream! We cannot keep buying and borrowing and expect to live in peace. We have "nurtured" a nation of people who feel entitled to everything, and who will do anything to get it. We feel guilty if we don't buy our kids the nicest clothes, the hottest video games, and take them to all the appropriately cool places. Our birthday parties become a Can-You-Top-This competition, and we stress out over what gift to bring to the other peoples' kids' parties so that they won't talk bad about us.
The other day I told one of my kids "I'll give you a dollar to put all of those groceries away for me". The response was...(wait, are you sitting down?) "Nah...no thanks". WHAT????????? Surely I didn't hear what I thought I heard. I inquired further...and the response was "well, maybe for $5, but not for only $1". My head was spinning...I was creating a monster with my bribery in exchange for obedience. My child eventually put all the groceries away -- for free. And then I felt guilty about that. Wait a second!!!! I should not feel guilty for asking for help in putting groceries away! What was I thinking?
Oh...and to finish the story...I decided that I couldn't work the midnight shift anymore at our local hospital, and I took a good, long, hard look at My American Dream, and realized that I was making choices that were first of all, opposite of the way God intended us to live, and 2ndly not in line with the type of life I would label as the American Dream.
Every week I receive real estate foreclosure listings in my email. As I peruse the various properties, sometimes there are photos. In the few where there are photos, I see a home...usually with a massively-huge screened TV, and a DVD player and a Wii in the living room...and some lovely furnishings, and possibly a pool, and a 3-car garage....and I wonder if perhaps some of the money used to purchase those items could have been used to make a house payment...we all make choices...sometimes we have to make the tough choices and sell things that bring us joy, or tell our children "No" to certain things that we truly cannot afford. But when we choose immediate gratification, instead of telling ourselves to live within our financial means, we are making choices that will bring unwelcome consequences down the road.
Like it or not, our country was founded on Christian principles...Christian, as in, Biblical principles...Biblical, as in, this is how God tells us to do it. There is a successful way of life, as outlined in the Bible, and it doesn't include competing for the biggest house, the hottest car, the most beautiful clothes, the power of high position, affluence, popularity, money (how much is enough?)...It's not handing our children everything on a silver platter, pushing our husbands to make more and more money to maintain the lifestyle we THINK we want.
Romans 13:13 says to "Live honestly". Is it living honestly when we are living beyond our means? Husbands who never have time for their kids because the standard of life chosen FORCES them to work endless hours in order to pay the bills. I think somehow that translates into slavery. Children need their fathers home after work. Children need their mothers in the home. Moms are the glue that holds everything together in the home. When we choose to live beyond our means, we take Mom out of the home and our families are fragmented. I'm not expounding on things I've merely "heard" -- I've lived it first-hand and I know it's not the way God intended our families to be.
I know how it feels to be too exhausted to sit with my child on my lap and read them a bedtime story. I know how it feels to snap at my kids in impatience because I feel overwhelmed with responsibility -- most of which are things we "want" to do, or should do to live up to the American Dream, but they are not things that contribute to peace in our home.
Personal responsibility. Compassion. Honesty. Living simply, and within our means. The Bible teaches us to live this way, yet we often ignore it. In Joshua 1:8 God clearly tells us what will give us prosperity and success. Isn't THAT the American Dream? "This book of the law shall not depart of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for THEN thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and THEN thou shalt have good success."
As I read that verse, I am reminded that the answers -- ALL the answers-- to life's situations are in the Bible. Why do we look in so many other places? Why do seek solace in drugs, alcohol, money, stress-relief, music, busy-ness, self-help, other people, other places...anything, but God's Word....Thank God for His grace, His mercy, and His longsuffering toward us. If someone treated us the way that we treat God sometimes, we would write them off forever. Lucky for us, God is not that way.
As I read more and more about people trying to escape from life's pressures by suicide or other hopeless methods, I am reminded that if I only would seek God and HIS ways, that things would be better. Study the life of Joseph -- and we think WE'VE got it tough? The Bible has SO much to say about how to live life, and how to live it well -- not well by humanity's standards, but well by the Creator's standards.
This week I decided to take personal responsibility and make a tough choice. I sold an item from my home that was very valuable to me. It was heartbreaking -- but so are the pressures of life right now. I sat in my living room looking at that very sentimental, valuable item and realizing that if I sold it, I could park my car in the garage and not worry that it would be taken away on a flatbed at 4 am. If I sold that valuable item, I could catch up on my house payments and not be in a continual panic over where are we going to live? If I sold that item, I would not have to stand in line at our community food pantry in order to feed my family and that I could have heat in my house next winter. Was it a hard choice? Kinda sorta. If I sold that valuable item, I could have the back surgery that I need so that I won't be in continual pain. But most of all, if I sold that valuable item, I would be debt-free. I would be living according to God's ways of "owing no man anything".
I sold the item and I paid every single bill that has been hanging over the head of my family. Yes, living under that kind of financial pressure was affecting my entire family. Although I feel a twinge of sadness every time I walk into my living room and see the empty spot where it used to be, that twinge is nothing compared to the peace that has settled over our home and into my heart since making the choice to live the way God intended us to live. I have no regrets. We will never regret living God's way. You cannot make mistakes by living according to the Bible.
Yes, there is such a thing as The American Dream -- it is the dream held by the founders of our country, who had purpose and vision and a reverent fear of God. I pray that as an American, I will maintain God's values and principles in my family. Yes, we are only one little family in Illinois, but if more of us hit the reset button and lived according to God's morals and principles, perhaps we wouldn't see such heartbreak in the families of America. Correction, not "perhaps"...but rather, as promised by God in Joshua 1:8, we would possess true prosperity and good success.
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
2 comments:
Oh, Trish! What a post. Sending love. Jation
Trish,
I found out your blog is still around through another blog. I was
so glad. I read through your last
articles. What a beautiful testimony
to God to "give away" something that
is precious to you and PTL for taking care of those many cares...
I have had to do that very thing times in my life and God has given
more than I could ever ask for.
You sound like a wonderful lady who
gives her all to the Lord!
Have a wonderful week. lv-nancy
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