Blog #49

I have been out of touch for about a month and a half...no internet. But so much has happened, that I need to try and catch up.

I have been so blessed with such incredible friends and God has allowed them to come and visit after we moved. It has been a busy June/July but it has been incredible. We have had visitors from everywhere and almost every weekend. But I have felt up to company and it made it awesome! I have been able to cook, clean, wash clothes, change beds, stay up and watch movies, and play games and more!! Just the joy of being able to get up and cook breakfast for my family has been incredible!

Johnny started school and I have been keeping all the family schedules running as smoothly as possible. LOL!! With everyone's work schedule at different times I am the only constant in the house, and it feels so wonderful to be able to be here if for no other reason than to make everything flow. I have some days where my hip will give me trouble but it hasn't slowed me down, until one weekend it almost knocked me down. I was trying to exercise my hips just for staying in shape because I have to take steroids with my chemo treatments. Well, I guess I did too much because it got so painful that I had to stop and lie down. That bothered me because the first thought is .... "it's back!!!" So I just called my kids in and we prayed right then and there, I was not going to allow the doubt to enter and give the devil a foothold. Needless to say, by the next day it was almost back to normal and by Tuesday when I went to see the doctor I wasn't hurting at all. Then I got the good news of my numbers dropping another 200 pts. !!!! The normal range for the average person who doesn't have cancer is 24-35....I am so close to that number at 59!!! Is God just incredible or what?!??!!!

I wake up every morning and grab a cup of hot tea and head out to the back deck to have my time with God while I listen to the birds and look at the mountains. It is almost indescribable how I feel to still be here and know that my life is in His hands and He has given me another day. The smallest things become such incredible displays of His love. And just being able to share with my family and friends what they mean to me, all of sudden I don't want to wait to let them know how I feel...they need to know now. We aren't promised tomorrow, only right now.

Something else that has changed drastically for me is my prayer life. I have always wanted to spend more time in prayer but never knew quite how to fit it in....how awful to say that out loud! If you want to pray, than you pray. I just didn't know how to make the time to pray, now I get up early just to pray and I can't wait to get up and get started! I love my time in God's word and learning something new about Him thrills me! I sometimes get distracted with reading other books about God and our relationship with Him and don't read the Bible. Don't we all go through that? Well, I like reading other author's but....BUT, it is not God's Word, it is someone elses word and even their opinion. I have been almost craving the scriptures...yeah, I believe that is the right word... I just need time with this God who loves me enough to give me more time with my family. I started to realize that I have become quite aggressive in my prayer life and the devil must just hate me! But when you look at the door of eternity and realize who might go with you and who might not....all of a sudden prayer becomes very important for those you love! So all of a sudden those in my family and circle of friends that may not know Jesus personally or are having a hard time with circumstances with their life? Well, you have been covered with some serious prayer!
Best of all is that God has been answering and that only makes me want to pray more! I want to go to battle for those I love, because if I don't who will? My children have been my prayer supporters and partners. We pray about everything! LOL!! I am sooo thankful! If my kids learn nothing else but how important prayer is, than my job will have been a success.

I was planning on going back to work but just the random hip pain I was having kept me from doing that. But it seemed to be how God wanted to work it out in the first place. So I have been able to stay at home and keep our home in running order. We got some chickens and that has been just awesome! We love them and the fresh eggs :) And I love to listen to our rooster crow every morning.

We had two weeks with the teens from Dickson. It was wonderful!! My kids were overjoyed to have their friends in town and to all be back together again! It was good for me as well, it had been too long to hear them all together! They are all my boys!

I had one other answer to prayer. I have been missing being involved in some way or in some part of ministry. God opened the door for me to work with the ladies at our church. I am so happy and looking forward to it! Isn't it just like a loving Father to give is the desires of our heart? Well we have a Father who loves to do that!! I am so thankful!!

I have so much to tell but it would make this go on forever! I will try to get back on soon and keep everyone updated as best as I can. :)