Snow

O God, I sense that You're there. I sense You not with my physical eyes, but with my spiritual ones. And yet, there seems to be a distance between us. I don't know if I've caused the rift by my selfishness and sin and envy of others or maybe my past mistakes or my guilt and regrets. But for whatever reason, You seem far away. And right now I need You close by. I'm reaching out to You the best I know how and You're still out of reach, so reach out to me, Father! Take my hand and touch my heart. Spread Your Spirit over my wounds and heal me from my lingering injuries of past mistakes. O Lord, cover my life like snow. The winter landscape of my soul is vast and frozen. Cover me with Yourself like a glistening blanket of snow from Your storehouses. Cover me with Your purity and Your holiness. The land cannot rise up to greet the snow, and I cannot rise up to greet You because my selfish tendencies hold me down. So fall upon me, O God! I will receive You. I will welcome You. That much I can do. I greet the snowflakes of Your grace as they fall upon my soul...

Remind me that my longing for You itself is evidence of Your presence. My desire for Your intimacy is a clue to Your work within my soul. Wherever my life leads me, remind me that You're already there waiting for me. However abandoned I may feel, remind me that You'll never, ever leave me. Despite the hatred in the world, remind me that nothing can separate me from Your love. However desperately I may seek You, remind me that You sought me first and I can only find You when I find myself in the center of Your love. Remind me that however lost I feel sometimes, I'm still on a journey. You are the path beneath my feet, the sun that lights my way, the companion by my side and the final destination that I seek. Remind me that it's not the depth of my longing that brings You close, but the length of Your grace extended down toward my heart...

5 Years

5 years...60 months...it's hard to believe this much time has gone by. The weather is similar to that day. Nothing really happening this morning. But a huge storm is supposed to head this way later. The weather wasn't that bad 5 years ago. We traveled to town in the morning for Bonnie & Alicia to get a haircut. I hung out at the church. I went back to town that afternoon for who knows why. I came back home around 3:30. The roads were clear. Alicia's wipers were sorta bad and I thought about traveling on to Mexico to Wal-Mart to replace them. But I decided they were ok. Almost as soon as I got home Alicia asked if she could go to town early to hang out with Nora before she went to work. Surprisingly, Kayla asked if she could go to the library and then I'd go to town later to get her. I did question her some and offered to take her myself but she wanted to go with Alicia. Looking back, we'd do the same thing. The weather didn't look all that bad, the roads were ok. Who could have guessed? Well, God knew. Again, I'll say what I've said for years, that day didn't take God by surprise. God continues to be in control of the WHOLE world. We would be lost without Him in so many ways. We are so thankful for family and friends who continue to love us and pray for us and support us. We love being loved by you. We love you all.

God's Love

The LORD is COMPASSIONATE and GRACIOUS, SLOW to ANGER, ABOUNDING in LOVE.

For GOD so LOVED the WORLD that He GAVE His ONE & ONLY SON that WHOEVER BELIEVES in HIM will NOT PERISH but will HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. 

GREATER LOVE has NO one than this: to LAY DOWN ONE'S LIFE for ONE'S FRIEND.

But God DEMONSTRATES his OWN LOVE FOR US in this: While WE were STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.