Letters 1971 - 1998

You asked me how I gave my heart to Christ,
I do not know;
There came a yearning for Him in my soul
S0 long ago;
I found earth's flowers would fade and die,
I wept for something that would satisfy
And then, and then, somehow I seemed to dare,
To lift my broken heart to God in prayer;
I do not know, I cannot tell you how;
I only know He is my Saviour now

Author Unknown

When I was helping mom pack some of her things to get ready for her move I found a box of letters. These letters were written by me to her and dad from the time I was 15 years of age, until I was 43 years of age. It was like finding a diary of my life. Many things I'd forgotten about. In other instances it brought back vividly many precious memories: When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, Those first years after my son was born, and then my daughter. How I felt when I went through a miscarriage at 5 months of my pregnancy...so many things.

It was such a surprise to find those letters, and such a gift! The above poem I found within that stack of letters that I had written and sent to them.

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Mom Has Moved To Texas

My mom is 82 years old. She has changed a lot, especially in the last year. My oldest brother lives in Texas. He comes down to visit with us and his 2 daughters several times a year. He has been trying to get mom to move in with him and his wife for a couple of years. Everytime he has come down during this last year especially, he has seen a big change in mom. I've noticed it as well, but it hasn't been as obvious to me since I see her often. He wouldn't see her for 3 or 4 months, and so would really notice the subtle changes that I didn't see. He was concerned that she wasn't taking her medicine the way she should. Or that she wasn't eating right (which was my concern as well).

She finally agreed to move, which surprised me a little. She's always been so adamant that she was going to stay in her own little apartment. I guess she knew that she really needed to be with someone. Danny isn't working, so he can be with her during the day and make sure she's taken care of. Once it was decided, Danny didn't waste any time! They left yesterday, and I already miss her! The weekend was a busy one - moving the furniture she decided to keep onto the truck, finishing up with packing all her things. Everybody worked hard, but we got it all done.We considered her wishes through it all.

I would have loved to have her move in with John and Jared and me, but we're gone so much of the time with work and school and church activities! And, in all liklihood, we will be moving next summer. Jared will be going off to college (Freed-Hardeman in Tennessee). We will be moving somewhere, depending on where John finds a job. He's been here 15 years and is ready for a change.

My brother Gary stopped by with his grandaughter Autumn. I was fortunate enough to get a picture of mom and her 3 remaining children. Dad is gone, and my sister Merlea. This may be the last time we'll all be together for a while.

What Happened To July?

Being a person who has never suffered any kind of serious illness, I can now say I am MUCH more understanding to those who do and have. This last month has been an experience I will never forget, though I would love to! Basically, this is what happened:

July 5th - I worked, but just didn't feel very well. By the end of the day, my whole body ached, my stomach was upset and I had a fever of 101.

July 6th-9th - I called in sick on Thursday (6th). I knew I had the next 3 days off, so thought that'd be plenty of time to "get over it" whatever "it" was.

July 10th - Monday morning. Still sick. Still running a fever of 101 and 102. Can't eat or drink. So I decided to go to the Urgent Care Clinic. They examined me and sent me on to the Emergency Room. Told me not to eat or drink anything because they would probably be doing some abdominal scans to figure out what was going on. Waited for either 4 or 5 hours before they got around to seeing me. Had a temperature of 102. Was MISDIAGNOSED! They told me I was dehydrated so they started an IV to rehydrate me. They gave me some phenergan for my nausea, which basically put me to sleep. They told me I had viral gastroenteritis and to go home and "get over it".

July 17th - Monday morning. Experienced a week of misery. Continued fever off and on during that week, abdominal pain, nausea, and other things I won't mention. But I figured I HAD to get back to work, even though I still didn't feel very well. So, I went back to work. Worked my 9 hours.

July 18th - Tuesday morning. Woke up with a low grade fever of 100.6. Didn't feel well. But...went on in to work (I know, I really shouldn't have!) As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. I was on a Continuous Care case, so when the RN stopped by to check on the patient, I told her I was going to have to leave because I was not feeling well at all. My husband got on the phone to my doctor and told her I REALLY NEEDED to see a doctor. The soonest she could see me was the 20th (Thursday).

July 20th - Thursday morning. Saw my doctor, who sets up an ultrasound to be done Saturday morning at the hospital(the 22nd).

July 22nd - Saturday morning. Ultrasound done of my abdomen. Ahhh...it appears my gallbladder has been acting up. So about 2-3 hours later, they did emergency surgery to get that gallbladder out!

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating my experience with the health community has been...especially that ER visit. What people have to go through to get seen in the emergency room is a joke! But the killer is, you wait for hours to get back through the doors and on one of those beds (which in itself is a blessing because all you want to do is just lay down on their cold, dirty floor after waiting so many hours!) I understand they're busy. But they don't seem to take the time to really listen to what you are saying. If they had done that ultrasound on the 10th I wouldn't have had to suffer and go through all that I did.

Having said that, I have now been able to vent my frustration, and now I am so thankful they were able to figure out what was wrong and do what needed to be done. I feel so much better and will soon be back 100 percent!

Happy Birthday John

Today is John's (53rd) birthday. He says everybody celebrates his birthday every year! My brother is down from Texas to visit with my nieces and with mom. They came by and had some birthday cake with us. John also has to have watermelon every year on his birthday. I couldn't let him down. The gift...he picked out for himself one of those MP3 players. He can download books off the library internet and listen to them on his new toy!

Have A Happy 4TH

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Backwoods Christian Camp

This morning some of our youth group left for Backwoods Christian Camp. There were about 25 leaving, including one of our elders and 3 other adults. We have a church bus that we use to drive them there. Because we had more people than would fit in the church bus that wanted to go, we also drove a mini-van. What a GREAT problem, right????

We've had several of our young people come back from their week at camp who had been baptized. Everyone comes back tired, but rejuvenated. It's a week of singing, and fun, and learning. Fellowship and meeting new people. They love it!

You can check out Backwoods here.

Regarding Open Minded

I am a person that has strong religious beliefs. Yet I base those beliefs, not on what others have told me I should believe, but on the conclusions to which I have come because of my own study of God's Word, the Bible. Yet I know that there is so much more for me to learn. I am always open to knowing and learning to be the way God wants me to be.

I have used that same Bible to form my opinions about other issues, such as homosexuality or abortion to name a couple. Because God says it is wrong, I feel it is wrong as well. The society in which we live in today would not say such things. Just because it's legal to have an abortion, is it the right thing to do? Just because many in our society say homosexuality is okay, that does not mean it is right. We have to look to the Bible as our standard to determine what is right and wrong. That's not a very popular position to take sometimes.

Now that's no excuse to treat someone who is a homosexual in an unloving way. Nor should you look down on a person who felt she had to have an abortion because of the circumstances of her life at the time. We just need to show love to everyone, because we were all made in the image of God. And we try to build a relationship of genuine caring with all people. Then we try to show them what God says about what is right and wrong, by directing them to the Bible.

We are all human. We all make mistakes. We are all guilty of sin. We all need a savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ. He has already provided the way of forgiveness for our sins through his precious blood. If we would only listen and obey.

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The Dentist

Well, looks like I've finally put it off long enough. I went to the dentist Friday. I'm probably going to have to have a root canal done on one of my teeth! Just the smell that greets me when I walk into the dentist's office is enough to make me turn around and walk right back out! Then when I hear that drill sound you always hear when you're sitting there in the waiting room brings a cold sweat out on me. I'm such a big baby when it comes to going to the dentist. But I guess the very REAL pain of having a bad tooth is a little bit worse than the PSYCHOLOGICAL pain of going!

I get to go back next Friday! Pray for me!

A.C.T.S.

Tonight we had a get together with some of the folks at church. I always seem to come away from those little meetings feeling kind of bad about things. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the fellowship. We got together and went out to eat. Then we went back to the church building for a bit of brain storming. ACTS is an acronym for Active Christians in Today's Society. I hope the number that showed up tonight isn't a true count of how many active Christians we have in our congregation. We only had 15 show up. And isn't it always the same handful of people that are willing to show up for something outside of their normal Sunday morning and Wednesday night?

We are great about coming up with some good ideas. I've heard all kinds of great and wonderful ideas in my years attending here. But our problem is the follow up; following through with all those great ideas. And as great as they are, I'm not sure any of them will actually cause the numbers to increase. One problem I see with a small congregation (we're about 130 members) is that we just don't have all the activities that so many people are looking for when they start looking for a church. Especially when they have children. But how do you build up your class sizes and your youth group when they won't stay? We have a pretty decent teenage group because all our children are growing up!

So, how do you get a congregation to grow? How do you get the members you already have to get involved? It seems to me that's the key to growth...having members who care and who are willing to be involved. Because it's not about the numbers. It's about each one of us sharing our hope in Christ with others. It's not the preacher's job, or the elder's job; it's something we should all be doing.

Choices

My cousin owns about 175 acres in Arkansas. She and her family have been raising birds for years now that eventually get to our local pet stores, such as Petco. They also raise guinea pigs, rabbits, a snake or two.

They work really hard too, because they do it right. They make sure their animals are healthy, and clean and well cared for, and they expect anyone that buys their animals to treat them the same way! They have a beautiful home, and their children live close by and also work with the animals. The Lord has blessed them.

It was so nice and peaceful out there. If you sit out on the patio, early in the morning and again in the evening you can watch the deer as they walk across the yard. And when it gets dark you can actually see hundreds of stars because you don't have all the lights around that dull the brightness of the starlight. I loved it!

That's what I want for myself. To be able to slow life down a little bit. I think it's still possible to get a little land somewhere (maybe...say 5 acres, I won't be greedy!) and have a little house, a garden. Sit out on my porch and enjoy God's creation. We just don't take the time to do that anymore. I know I don't.

We brought home a cockateil. They hand feed their birds, so he's pretty tame and used to being handled. I'm hoping to be able to teach him to talk. I had a cockateil once before who had so much personality and was really sweet. Supposedly the males are easier to teach. Guess we'll see. I don't know what to name him though!

Family Reunion

We just returned today from a family reunion in Arkansas. I'm not sure how many more of these we'll be able to have. Mom and all her siblings are getting older and their health is declining. Marvin is 84, Mom is 82, Faye will be 80 next month, Bonnie is 76, and Mattie is 72. They have always been a very close family, though they live in different states (Florida, Arkansas, Texas and North Carolina.)

Mom and Dad

Pics of Mom and Dad. Dad died in 1990 at 80 years of age.

Me

Pics of me. I'm the youngest of the four.

My Brother Gary

My brother Gary. He's almost 2 years older than me.

My brother Danny. He's 10 years older than I am. Picture of him and our mom.

My Sister Merlea

These pictures are of my sister Merlea. She was 12 years older than me. She died in 2000 at 56 years of lung cancer.

Da Vinci Code

The last two Sunday mornings John has preached about the controversy of the "Da Vinci Code" that everybody's talking about. I thought I'd pass on a couple of points that came from these sermons.

First of all, The DaVinci Code is fiction. It's a suspense novel, howbeit a sacrilegious novel. It's not true. The only problem is, Dan Brown claims he believes it is based on fact.

Brown claims that Jesus and Mary Magnalene were married and had children. The truth is, the Bible mentions Mary Magdalene only a few times: (1) Jesus cast seven demons out of her(Mark 16:9). (2) She was present while Jesus was dying on the cross(Matthew 27: 55-56). (3) She was present when Jesus was buried (Matthew 27: 60-61). (4) She went to the tomb early on the first day of the week (Matthew28:1). (5) She told Peter and John about the empty tomb (John 20:1-2). (6) Jesus appeared to her after His resurrection (Mark 16:9) and told her that He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). Mary reported to the disciples what Jesus had said to her (John 20:18). The Bible never hints of any kind of romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary. It doesn't teach that they married and had children. The scriptures present Mary as a devoted follower of Jesus.

Brown claims that Christians worshiped on the Sabbath until emperor Constantine changed it to Sunday. "Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan's veneration day of the sun. To this day, most churchgoers attend services on Sunday morning with no idea that they are there on account of the pagan sun god's weekly tribute - Sunday." (pp232-233) The truth is, the New Testament church met on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7) If the churches in Corinth and Troas were meeting on Sunday (the first day of the week) back in the middle of the first century, the time of worship could not have been changed by Constantine in the early years of the fourth century as he claims.

Brown claims that the Bible is a product of man...not God. "The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven... The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times and it has evolved through countless translations, additions and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book" (p 231) The truth is, the Bible gives a different explanation for its origin. 2 Peter 1:21 says "For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." If Brown's view is correct, the Bible ought to be a mishmash of confusing and contradictory stories. Instead it is a single, unfolding story of sin and redemption.

Even knowing this book is a work of fiction, I still find it upsetting and an attack on the beliefs I find so very important to me. Christians will recognize this for what it is; a book full of lies about Christ and the Bible. In order to minimize the potential damage to people's faith in Christ and in the Bible, look for opportunities to share the TRUTH about Christ and God's word.