My Amazing Trip

I was given an amazing gift!  It is an all-expense paid trip to PARADISE!!  In my brochure I read that it will be a completely worry-free environment and the weather will be Sonny all the time!  And apparently when you get there, you are instantly healed from all of your diseases, pain and discomfort.  There will only be joy and love, no sadness or crying…and get this…I can sing all day long.

I will be staying in a MANSION where the streets are made of GOLD!  Not just paved with gold, they are MADE out of gold.  The government there is completely above board, and they will have my best interests at heart.  It sounds like the perfect place.  I know when I get there I will never want to leave!!  I will miss everyone, but this trip is just too good to pass up. 

But wait!  This brochure says that I can invite as many of my friends and family as I want to come with me!   The only problem is we have to go at different times.  So who gets to go first??  I would love to go first because this place sounds absolutely wonderful…I’m so tired of dealing with all of the problems of this world.  But how selfish would that be? 

My mother has lived such a selfless life and she has never really had expensive things.   Besides, she has lots of aches and pains and she is getting older.  A trip like this would be such an amazing reward for her.  I should let her go ahead of me.  And my children, why would I want to leave them here in this horrible world when they could go to Paradise and not have to ever worry about anything??  What about my husband?  He is in constant pain with his back and he has to work so hard, just to have every penny drained by bills, bills and more bills.  I should let him go before me.

What if we looked at the death of a loved one with this scenario in mind?   How comforting would it be to know in your heart of hearts that they are truly in a place just as wonderful as I have described?  Would you really want to take that from them?   Would you rob them of that ultimate vacation in Paradise??  If they know Jesus, and have truly made Him the Lord of their life, then they have that free gift and will spend eternity in Heaven (Paradise). 

We are selfish and we want our friends and loved ones to always be with us.  We even pray, “Lord, please take me first.”  But I hope that when you think about this more, you will never pray that again.  I miss my Daddy every day, but I would NEVER wish him back here in this evil world full of sickness and pain.  I’m just excited for the day that I get to go and be with him!

When my work here is done, I will go on my trip, and prayerfully so will you.  And if I go before you, please don’t be sad, I will be in PARADISE with my Daddy and my Jesus.  I will be singing at the top of my lungs and “praising my Savior all the day long”!! 

John 14:1-3 NKJV - "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

March 21, The Day That Changed My Life

I was only 19 years old on March 21, 1990, the day that God gave me the most amazing gift…

a beautiful baby boy. 

The entire course of my life was changed in the moment that I first held him in my arms.  My life was no longer just about me…I had this little, tiny person depending on me for everything. 

I had always thought that I would go to college and do big things…but raising our son took the place of everything.  I like to say that I went to the college of life!  I had to work, learn how to cook and clean, pay bills, take care of a baby and 10 million other things…and I wasn’t really even old enough to be considered an adult! Praise the Lord we had parents that were always willing to help us, yet still encourage us stand on our own.

More important to me than any college degree or high paying career is the accomplishment that I feel when I look at my son.  He is a good man and a good husband.  He is loved by everyone that meets him.  He is a hard-working, God-fearing, compassionate man.  And I know that some day, he will be an amazing Dad.

Do I ever have regrets about what could have been?  No, I never do.  I had never planned to have a child so young, but God worked it all out for good. (Romans 8:28) One day, when Cody figured out how young we were when he was born, he asked me if he was a “mistake.”  I told him NO WAY; he was a “surprise”…an unexpected gift that I didn’t even know I wanted until I got it!  

No child is ever a mistake.

The bible says, “Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3 NLT

Happy Birthday, Cody.  I love you more than words can express. Thank you, Lord, for that special gift you gave to us. We have always cherished him, and we always will!  When I look at Cody and our daughter, Maddie, I know that there is nothing in this world that could have made me happier and more fulfilled than being their mother. 

 That is what God put me on this earth to do…

it is my first calling.      

Jesus Glasses

A few years back, there was a popular country song that spoke of a man named Billy that was having a hard time in life, but when he put his “beer goggles” on, life looked good, good, good again.  Also, there is a very popular saying “the more I drink, the better you look.” (How many songs have been written about that??)

But the truth is, when you are not in control of yourself, satan has free reign over you.  Drugs and alcohol are two of his biggest weapons.  They create a false environment that makes situations (and even people) look different to you.  Of course in the song, when Billy got back home from partying it up, he fell apart. And anyone that has ever been “under the influence” knows there is nothing good about waking up and not knowing what you did (or who you did it with)!  Those temporary solutions to life’s problems are just that, TEMPORARY. 

Life is hard and people are not perfect. If everything was perfect, there would be no need of a Savior!  In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks about how we should view things differently after we receive new life in Jesus.  “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:15-17 NLT

After we receive Jesus as our Savior and become a new person, we should see the world and everything in it through our “Jesus Glasses”.  That is truly the ONLY way to look at life with hope and to look at other people with love.  If you don’t have any “Jesus Glasses” I would love to tell you how to get a pair!!! 

Are you are having difficulty in life and feeling that you just cannot handle the situations thrown at you?  Do you look at other people and only see their faults?  Try waking up every day and committing to look at everything through the eyes of Jesus.  Ask, “What would He do in this situation?  How would He look at this person?”  Study Him through His word and see how He handled things.  Model your life after His.  Pray and ask Him to guide you through it all.  Ask Him to show you how to love people.  

I promise you, when you put those “Jesus Glasses” on life will look good, good, good!!