SIXTEEN DAYS LEFT

SIXTEEN DAYS LEFT till I land in that beautiful state of GA where pictures like the above are all over!! HALLELUJAH!! I can't wait to be with my family, get down my favorite country road, worship with my church body, and hang out with friends - yakking, playing golf, fishin, and sharing with each other what the Lord has been up to in our respective lives! Lots to share about His grace in the midst of teaching me much about myself and about His faithfulness!! I arrive in Atlanta on Friday Nov. 7, head for T'Ville on 10th and then Dad's on 11th! Then will be back and forth from Atlanta to Ocala and places beyond for the next 10 weeks! Hope to see you there!!

Well, I know it might LOOK like I am preaching, but really I am only giving a "congratulatory message" to a PCP church at their 12th anniversary Worhip Service. It was a very encouraging day for me because it is a church that has really grown in many ways during those 12 years! It has purchased a lot and built a building, it commissioned its first missionary couple to Mindoro the day I was there, It has a Reformed Teaching Institute going on for training both lay leadership and pastors every Saturday, has planted a couple of daughter churches and is self-supporting!! In fact, after hearing the history of the church before the message, I completely changed my congratulatory address to one telling them how much just hearing how the Lord has been working had encouraged my heart. Sometimes we do get bogged down in seeing what we label as "failure" which is often just the Lord's working in our hearts and others, that we wonder if there is any work going on for the Kingdom. Seeing the Lord's presence and work with this body reminded me how often I choose to believe the lies of Satan that it is all for naught! It really is true that the Lord will build His church and the gates of hell WILL NOT prevail against it!

Old Hymn "If You Will"

Hey, as many of you know, I go to Bible Study Fellowship here in the Philippines. BSF is all over the world and we have 3 womens classes and 2 mens classes here. The Lord has used BSF greatly in my life to get me into His Word in a disciplined manner. I have so enjoyed and appreciated the friends that the Lord has given me through my years in BSF starting in Miami, FL, to Tallahassee, FL, to Manila, Philippines!!

One of the things that I do wish that BSF would do better is to update their music to at least the 20th Century! I know that there are some wonderful old hymns that have great words, but there are also some newer songs that have great messages also.

Saying that, there are some great, great, old hymns and we sang a new one for me today. It was written by Georg Neuhart, a German back in the 1600's. It spoke to me. Here it is.

If you will only let God guide you, And hope in Him through all your ways,

Whatever comes, He’ll stand beside you, To bear you through the evil days;

Who trusts in God’s unchanging love builds on the Rock that cannot move.

Only be still, and wait His leisure in cheerful hope, with heart content

to take whatever the Father’s pleasure and all discerning love have sent;

Nor doubt our inmost wants are known To Him Who chose us for His own.

Sing, pray, and swerve not from His ways, but do your part in conscience true;

Trust His rich promises of grace, So shall they be fulfilled in you;

God hears the call of those in need, The souls that trust in Him indeed.

A good message for this sometimes too independant child!

MAJESTIC OLD LADY

I like this old lady! I actually took this picture off of my computer - it is a picture that is on an internet site that I have been going to for years - I wanted to put her on my blog so the only way I knew how to do that was to just take a picture of the picture on my computer! Those who are more savy are probably laughing, but hey, here she is!

I have no idea who she is, but doesn't she look like she has lived a lot, seen a lot and done a lot? I like the sparkle that I see in her eyes, that sense of engagement with whomever she is looking at. There seems to be a little twinkle still there - I bet she is a handful! I know she has no teeth, and certainly has a fair share of wrinkles, and.... you'll probably think I'm a little weird, but you know what? I wouldn't mind looking like her when I get old - really old!

WHERE DO I COME FROM?

I was just browsing through some old posts and some friends blogs and ran into one that some had answered regarding "Where do I come from?" As I saw an old black and white picture on my friend B's site it made me think of two pictures that I keep on top of my tv. I scanned them and there they are above. The top picture (I am the blond, sitting on the ground next to my mom) was taken just months before my mother's death. I was five years old. My little sister, Cindy was just six months old when my mom went to be with the Lord. The other picture was taken before that, I am not sure how old I am there, maybe around 3 or 4, but as you can tell, it looks like I am already excited about being outside and fishing! That is my older sister, Carolyn with me and Dad in the picture.

My mom was a tiny little woman, not even five foot tall, and never weighed over 100 lbs - well, maybe when she was pregnant. I can't imagine us with her today - I am definitely the largest of the three girls, and the tallest at almost 5'8", but even Carolyn at 5'2" would tower over her! I don't remember much about her, but all that I have heard about her from those who knew her has made me glad. I do know that she loved the Lord and desired to raise up her children in His ways. I know she was a faithful, loving friend, and that she had many friends. I know she loved my dad and I know she loved me. Another of those perks of eternity will be that I will get to really know her and to be able to make up the time we have missed, though not as mother/daughter, but as co-heirs and sisters in Christ. Another thing I know is that she LOVED to eat black-eyed peas and rice and all three of her girls have inherited that! She had brown hair, but blue eyes - and she is who I get my blue eyes from. Although I do not look anything like her, some older relatives tell me every once in a while that I will have a facial expression that reminds them of her. That brings me joy!

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Sandra and I went to the beach this last weekend on a much needed quiet weekend! It was a very pretty resort about a 2 1/2 hour drive through beautiful green agricultural area. In fact, the same drive that I took last week when I was out on my antsy drive. We were sitting outside in this wonderful little hut they give you (need better word than hut as it was quite nice) so you can sit outside by the ocean with roof over your head and cushions behind your back! It had sheer cotton drapes which we definitely kept open to be able to both see and hear the water lapping on the shore! The only thing I am afraid to tell you is that I was there for three days and did not get in the water - am I getting old or what?!?!? I took a picture of the hut from the beach at night with the lights all around it - it is the top picture.

As we were talking together and looking through Genesis we found where it wasn't until after the flood that God gave us animals to eat - before the flood we were vegans! I didn't know that before. Then Sandra brought up that she was reading some book and it talked about the fact that Eve was not shocked or suprised that the serpent came up and talked to her! That had never dawned on me either. So, it could lead you maybe to surmise that animals used to be able to talk or communicate with us! How exciting for this animal lover!! You know, it talks about how on the New Earth the lion will lay down with the lamb and the snake won't bite. We will be back like in the garden - where we will be in total harmony again with the animals. I can't wait!! That is only one of the small joys we will have in eternity! Sandra said she was even more excited that we would be in total harmony with one another - no more strained relationships! And, of course, the big one, we will be perfectly united with Christ - able to worship Him perfectly and have unblemished relationship!! HALLELUJAH!!!!

By the way, that beautiful little boy is my nephew Bradon - I took that picture last Christmas when I was home - can't wait to get home in November to see how much he has grown!

Belonging?

These are just some pictures I took as I was roaming around the countryside yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure if you can tell it, but the sunset was over a large field of rice paddies which are beautifully green. I was half exploring, half heading down to a new beach area that I have found (it has been around forever, just my new discovery) to check out a resort that I had heard about.

I was wandering around because I was feeling antsy and alone, and I know it probably sounds weird, but my car has always been a place of refuge for me. It's funny, I just remembered that as I was writing this. I always head for nature and animals if I can find them. In Thomasville, I head down those beautiful red clay roads through the woods and here I head for the agricultural area and the beach - and it just so happens the agricultural area is on the way to the beach. My car is a place for me to talk out loud to the Lord, to listen to music and just look for all the many beautiful things the Lord has created and given to us to appreciate. Yesterday it was this beautiful "flower" in a tree, an old man working in a field with his carabou, and a gorgeous sunset over the mountains in the distance.

As I was listening to a Sarah Groves CD ("Conversations") The song titled "Going Home" seemed to really capture the way I am feeling these days.

I've been feeling kind of restless, I've been feeling out of place I can hear a distant singing, a song that I can't write, but it echoes in what I'm always trying to say.

There is a feeling I can't capture, it's always just a prayer away, I want to know the ending, things hoped for but not seen, But I guess thats the point of hoping anyway.

I'm confined by my senses to really know what You are like, You are more than I can fathom and more than I an guess, and more than I can see with human sight. But I have felt You with my spirit, I have felt You fill this room and is just an invitation, just a sample of the whole and I cannot wait to be going home.

Going Home, I'll meet you at the table. Going Home, I'll meet you in the air. And you are never too young to think about it. Oh, I cannot wait, I cannot wait to be going home! Face to face, how can it be? Face to face how can it be? Face to face how can it be????

Sometimes we think it is when we are "out of sorts" that we long for Home, but maybe we are just in the midst of being in this fallen world, tired of living in our frail, depraved bodies, constantly bouncing against other frail, depraved bodies, tired of being in the battle, tired of being where we don't belong - on this fallen earth. Maybe we are meant to long for that other place - where the battle is over, the world is no longer fallen, but totally as beautiful as God created it and "Face to face!!" I don't think I will ever hear those words, "well done," but I know that I will hear, "Well, Cheryl, you sure screwed it up, but precious daughter, I do love you!