Restore and Renew

 

My husband and I are proof that God cares.

That he still loves the unity of marriage.

And can  and does preform miracles that allow families to stay together.

God is in the

Miracle Workin, Restoration Business..

TODAY !

 

This picture was taken in 2004

on our 2nd Honeymoon..

On our 19th wedding anniversary John and I sat

at opposing tables with attorneys by our sides in a divorce hearing.

 

I had felt that John was not a good husband to me, and that I could do better..

My husband felt that he could not trust me as his wife.

And our 3 children were caught in the middle..

It was an ugly divorce to say the least..

As all divorces are.

Everyone that I knew,, convinced me that I was doing the right thing..

And everyone that John spoke to ,, told him that he was doing the right thing too..

Cut your losses and Run !!!

Move On !!

 

But God continued even in the midst of use both moving on

with our lives,,to work on our hearts..

God took the place of my now absent husband in providing and protecting me..

And he started working on my Johns heart as well as mine..

John would call me (because I refused to see him) and he would

ask me to turn on the radio and listen to Focus on the Family with him,,

him on his phone me on mine..

Now my husband had never been the Spiritual leader of our home before..

so for him to do that was totally out of character for him..

And things like this continued to happen..

After a long while we started to date again.

And as the fairy tale goes..

We lived Happily Ever After..

 

Well ok..

That may not to totally true.. God still had a lot of changing to

do on both of us..

but we soon learned that in order to visit the thought of reconciliation , things would have to be different this time around..

 

We lived by the motto of :

Insanity

(or a bad marriage)

Is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result..

 

We had to ask God to give us a new love for each other

to show us a new way to do marriage..

To help us let go of the past

The harsh words that were spoken,, the broken hearts,, the unfaithfulness,

And to give us New hearts to love each other in a new way..

AND HE DID...

It didnt happen over night,, and there was trying moments.

but God has changed our hearts from the inside out..

and we just celebrated

27 yrs marriage in Feb 2012

And I feel so blessed..

 

When  our children and grand children walk in our door they walk into

Mom and Dad's

house and that means a lot to me.

They are not forced to divide up their time and holidays between

moms home ,,and then off to dads..

 

I realize that this is not possible for everyone..

Both John and I's heart was willing to be touched by the Lord..

We were"both" willing to do the hard work that God had in store for us.

 

But I also know that during our time of divorce..

NO ONE

 encouraged us to stay together.

This world is all about ,

The grass is greener on the other side..

If you fall out of love, move on..

marriage is good as long as it makes me feel warm and toasty.

No one puts in the hard work anymore,, its easier to pay someone to file the papers..

 

But God created Marriage,, and he loves Families..

And if we are willing to follow his teachings he can save, change and restore even

the most disfunctional marriages..

He can heal the most wounded heart.

 

And we can stand tall and teach our children about the

Love of the Lord

and

The Value of Family.

 

 

July 2012

John and I and our 3 beautiful Grandchildren..

 

God is Good !

 

You can find me now at....

Heart of the Home

on Facebook..

Please come by and say Hi

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heart-of-the-Home/119488721467729?ref=stream

 

 

 

 

 

 



Well we just had a visit from the Kids and Grandkids.

It was awesome.

Amanda and her family came for 3 or 4 days.

Wes and his girlfriend Taylor came for a couple of days too.

We had lots of fun, and me and the kids headed over to

St Augustine for the day..

(John had some work he wanted to get done here at home)

(And Luke was under the weather, so he stayed home a rested )

But not before wrestling a bit with Pa

This is Masons new "Cheeeeseeee" face..lol

And Breleigh had to come in and let Grandma

play makeup before we left

Finished produce...BEATIFUL.....

At lunch in St Augustine

Uncle Wesley makes it easy for Breleigh to get around

Amanda and Breleigh trying on the accessories in the shops

Breleigh Marie

(aka )  Ms Thang

(aka) Sassy Pants Marie..

love the hand on the hip action...♥

Andyou know Grandma had to get in on the actions....

The whole gang..

Mason, Breleigh,(Grandkids)

 Amanda , Tyler, Wesley(my kids)

 and Taylor(Wesleys girlfriend)

Me and my kids

In St Augustine..you gotta pet a horse..

Ok , now this is my favorite picture..

Mason making his Cheeeessseee face..

But in the picture , he just happens to behind

our dog Trace,,see the tail in the right of the picture

my son in law pointed out the me that it looks

like he is smelling something aweful from Trace's backside..

Toooo Funny...

(fyi,, Trace is know for being able to clear out a room if he has gas)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Well it was a wonderful visit..

Everyone is so busy these day that is was great to have us all in the

same house at the same time..

Thanks for the visit.. I love  you guys

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000122778071#!/pages/Surprisingly-Satisfied/209501352482491

Hello my blogging friends..

I just started a new FB page called

Surprisingly Satisfied..

I hope you will click over and

"Like " the page and come along with me

on this search for Gods Design for women

See ya there...

Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem~free life.

Part of you is still hungering for the resolutinos of all difficulties.

This is a false hope !

As I told My disciples, in this world you will have trouble.

Link your hope not to problem solving in this life

but to the promise of an eternity of problem~free life in heaven.

Instead of seeking perfection in this fallen world,

pour your energy into seeking Me:the Perfect One.

It is possible to enjoy Me and glorify Me

in the midst of adverse circumstances.

In fact

My light shines most brightly through believers who trust me

in the dark.

That kind of trust is supernatural

a production of My indwelling Spirit.

When things seem all wrong,

Trust Me Anyway...

I am much less interested in right circumstances

than in right responses to whatever comes your way.

          ... Love 

                  God ♥

This was my devotion this morning in my

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

it is so true,, and I thought you gals

might enjoy it as well...

I have been enjoying learning to cook

Gluten Free

and the other day I was watching

Elizabeth Hasselbeck on The Chew

And I just made her

Orange Cream Cupcakes

and

O...M...G

As I am starting to get all the "staples" needed

for GF cooking , things are getting easier..

And thought the cost of flours are a little costly

you dont use a lot of one in a recipe..

And I cant say it enough...

If I could tell you just how GOOD I feel,

(im jumpin up and down right now)

it is soooooo worth it...

Not only are the pretty...

They taste ....Awesome.....

(singing it in a opera voice)

If you would like to try these

you can find the recipe at

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Elisabeth-Hasselbeck-Orange-Cream-Cupcakes

Now just to show that God can use you in any and

all things that you are going through in life

listen to what happened to me yesterday

when i was in the GF isle at Publix..

This young mom (20's)with 2 young kids

and one on her hip..

Came up behind me and was mumbling to herself

about where to start as she looked at the Gluten Free items

and we started talking..

She started telling me about her son (1 yr old)

who cried uncontrollably and she said she just

could not comfort him,and could not keep food down.

They had switched milks,, went through the

list of possibilities of what to do.

And just on a last ditch effort she removed Gluten

from his diet and after 4 days he started

sleeping through the night and playing w/o crying..

When I told her how good I was feeling and

how my mind has never felt clearer in my life.

She looked at me and almost started to cry

she said... I told my husband that my son had

been learning better and paying better attention,

but he didn't believe her.

She thanked me for encouraging her and confirming

to her what she was feeling was correct..

Now only God could of put some one like me,

some one who will talk to just anyone..lol

in an grocery isle with a nervous young mom

who needed to know that what she was doing for her

child was the right thing..

Im so grateful that he used me..

God was sooooo busy in my life last year..

That I cant wait to see what he has in store for me

this year..

"Change"

 has been a big word for me last year.

With a move from my home town,

taking me out of my comfort zone.

And it looks like he isnt done yet..

I finally have to acknowlegde my allergy to

Gluten.

So now I am having to learn to "Change" my eating

and my cooking.

Im having to do a lot more home cooking from

more fresh foods,, less processed foods..

Gluten is found any any wheat, oats, barley.

and in so much more,,

even in lotions, make up and shampoo's

so I am having to learn a lot..

I made my first loaf of Gluten free bread the other day..

It was awesome.....

Then it was off to make

Blueberry Muffins.. Yummo !!!

And I have to say...

I feel better than ever !!

True in God Fashion..

he may take some things away from us,,,

but he always replaces it with something better ♥

Well Im excited to learn this new life of Gluten Free

so keep me in your prayers and I will keep you informed

on my progress..

Have a blessed week..

Hebrew 13:2

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers,

for by doing so,

some people have shown hospitality to angels

without knowing.

I heard this scripture read on the radio yesterday.

and I have to say that it hit me hard..

and in the words of Reba on her show..

I said..

Awww Crap !!!!!

I do try to be friendly to all people

but do I do it on purpose?

Do I do it for the Lord?

Have we shown hospitality to the single mom

who is stretched to thin, trying to keep her

head above water.

To your local cashier

who may be struggling with her own issues

and cant seem to crack a smile.

To the widow next door

who has no one to talk to,

no one to hold her hand, laugh with her,

offer an help to bring in the grocerys .

Even to our elderly Walmart Greeter.

Who has lived through so much in his lifetime

yet we dismiss him and rush to get items on our list.

One of the things I want to be better at in 2012

is to Love People on Purpose.

Not because they smile at me first

or they service me in some way..

But just because God asked me toooooooo.

Thats good enought for me..

P.S....

My daughter has started a new blog to show

some of her awesome DIY projects.

Can you take a moment to swing by and visit her

it would mean the world to me.

Thanks and Love You girls..

http://frillsnfreckles.blogspot.com/2012/01/ive-got-diy-bug-badly.html

My Prayer for 2012

I had a God Moment this morning.

You know the ones... where something is said

or you see something and then you

get that feeling of God standing right beside

you and is personally telling you something

or pointing out something to you 

and you just cant stop crying,

either in gratitude or in regret,

In the past few years I have friends

or acquaintances send me emails

and or text asking for prayer

for someone they know and love..

Some of these people are Christians,

some are not ..but know that I love the Lord

and how much I rely on him

so they trust me with their request..

This morning one of my customers sent

me a text regarding a  family members

coming to the end of their life,

and asked for prayer for her son, who was very

close to this family member.

(now comes that personal message from God)

At that very moment

I was watching Beth Moore on tv

and she said

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

(Beth speaking)

"And God told me

 why do you memorize

scripture but not do anything with it."

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Now here is a little snippet into my head

I have always admired Prayer Warriors.

I always wished I could be as devoted

to going to the Lord with intended

prayers and setting aside time to pray for people.

But

I'm not very good at it.

I always felt like there has to be a

"Method"

and a list of

"How To's "

 to be a prayer warrior

But God told me at that moment..

I don't need your Method, I just need you to stand

there and pray for this person

who has entrusted you with their prayer request.

And I started to cry with regret for all the times

I told people that I would pray for them

and I did say a little prayer for them,

but I did not come to God with what they

had entrusted me with..

They have heard me proclaim my love for

God and how much I trusted him with my life,

and that is what they were looking for.

Someone they could trust to go on their behalf

to that Loving God I always talk about..

So I stopped right there and prayed for

my customer and her family

with a truly humble heart.

So my prayer for 2012

is

♥♥♥♥♥

God Make Me Your kind of

Prayer Warrior

Not with rules and regulations,

not with methods and how too's

but with a

 Humble and Caring Heart.