Hope

I read this last night. It was very timely for me. I thought I would share it.

Christians look forward with hope to the joy of being with Christ in glory forever. Faith is defined as "the assurance of things hoped for" (Heb. 11:1) because the invisible things hoped for in the future are grasped through faith. Hope is certain; it is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Heb. 6:18-19). According to the Bible, Christ is "our hope" (1Tim. 1:1), and our God is called "the God of hope" (Rom. 15:13)
An ethic of hope pervades the New Testament. It is an ethic of pilgrimage for strangers on their way home (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11). It is an ethic of purity, as the one who hopes to be like Jesus when He appears "purifies himself as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). It is an ethic of preparedness, since we should be ready to leave this world at any time (2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21-24; cf. 5:1-5). Hope gives strength and confidence for running the race, fighting the good fight, and enduring the tribulations that continue in this life (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:18; 2 Tim. 4:7,8).
Though the Christian life is marked more by suffering than by triumph (Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 4:8-13; 2 Cor. 4:7-18), our hope is sure and our mood should be free from despair (1 John 4:18).

Happy Birthday, Courtney

Just about four years ago God brought a new person into my life. Little did I know that day what God had in store for us. At that point in time she was not a believer. We basically held nothing in common which made conversation difficult at times. :)
Suddenly several months later. I saw a drastic difference in her. She had been born again. The Spirit of God now indwells her.
Over the last years it has been my wonderful blessing to watch her grow in the Lord like no one I have ever seen.
In four I have watched as she has gone from a person I couldn't carry on a conversation with, to my closest friend. She is my peer, yet at many times my teacher. God continues to sanctify each of us through each others lives. I cannot begin to write down what a blessing she is to me!
Happiest of birthdays, Courtney. I love you so very much!

Randomness - Just because I feel like it

This is just going to be a very random post. I am just giving your warning.
First of all I didn't do well with my posts for the end of April, but thank you everyone that joined me in prayer for each thing.

Second: I do not particularly like sewing sleeves in. I never have and probably never will. When I have to put a sleeve from one pattern in a bodice from an other.... YUCK! I have put four different sleeves in since yesterday and none of them look right. I might be bald if I don't figure this thing out tomorrow. I have to get this pattern all together so we can start making the real bridesmaid dresses. All I have to say is we had better look good!

My family played music for a mother daughter banquet tonight. I am sure this was our last musical program before Beckisue gets married. Kind of sad in a way.
The banquet was beautiful. Old fashioned tea was the theme. I got a lot of ideas for Beckisue's tea luncheon bridal shower.

Never go shopping with someone when you are wearing heals and they are wearing flip flops. Just not a good idea. I was wearing the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I think I have ever owned (and also one of the cutest) and Beckisue decided to stop on the way home from the banquet tonight and finish registering. After standing a LOT for the whole banquet thing my feet HURT!

Courtney is coming tomorrow and I am excited.

The End

April 25 - The Truitts

My friend Anna had a prayer request she asked that I share with you all.
As I am sure you all know there were many, many tornadoes last week across the country. One of the hardest places hit was North Carolina. Anna's dad is a insurance adjuster and a contractor. He was asked to go to North Carolina for the summer and left on Saturday.
He will be spending many hours traveling as he plans to come home every other weekend if possible. He will also be spending time on scaffolding and roofs.
So, Anna and I ask that you pray for him as he works and travels, and for Anna and her mom as they are without him for the summer.

April 21 - Skyler's Family

One night toward the end of February, Stephanie got a phone call from one of her best friends. It was the horrible type of phone call. The kind with news you never want to hear. This girl's sister, Becky, and her nine year old son, Skyler, had slid on ice across the road into an oncoming truck. Skyler was killed immediately.

Today would have been Skyler's tenth birthday and it was two months ago today that he died. Please pray for Becky and the whole Hartman family today that they would be given peace today.

April 20 - Photography for the wedding

Over the last two months since my sister, Beckisue, got engaged we have watched God provide time and again for her wedding. She was given an absolutely beautiful wedding dress by a total stranger. It was not only given to her but it had the three elements that she had decided were most important to her when she had gone to try on dresses. I will refrain from saying what those three things are in case Andy where to see this. He plugs his ears whenever the dress is mentioned. He doesn't want to know anything about it. Monica keeps telling him it is purple with black polka dots. :)

The reception hall was also provided wonderfully. We looked and looked for a reception hall. Reception halls big enough in our little town are very scarce. In stead of finding one here went went ten miles north to a town about a 1/8 of the size. :) Not only did we find a very nice place, we also were able to barter for the rent. When Beckisue went to look at it they told her they were wanting to get the carpet cleaned before they rented it out again. Well, it 'just so happens' that Monica and I have been cleaning carpets together for sever months now with her Aerus-Electrolux equipment. :) What a HUGE blessing.

I could go on and on with the list of things that God has provided.

- A friend that we haven't seen in 12+ years sent Beckisue a message and told her she does wedding cakes professionally now and would like to do one as a gift.

- There was some mixup with sale dates at Jo-Ann's and we ended up getting $35 EXTRA off of the bridesmaids fabric that we were already getting on sale.

-A friend is doing the dinner for a very low price. etc.

So now we get to the point. We have a friend who is a professional photographer. He shot both of my brothers weddings. He always told my sisters and me that he would do our weddings someday. Well, he and his family moved to Arizona last year. :( The plan was that he would just come back to attend the wedding but he is unable to because he cannot leave his oldest son who is severely autistic.

Plan B: A friend of my dads offered to shoot the wedding. We do not know anything about his skills though. He met with Beckisue and Andy on Sunday evening to take some engagement pictures so they could get an idea of what he is like. His camera is film and not digital so they haven't been able to see the pictures yet to see their quality and his skill level.

Andy kept saying Sunday night that he really wanted to make a matter of prayer this week that God would direct them in their decision making and He would show them just what they are to do.

Wow! That was a long post for a short prayer request!

April 19 - Jared's Surgery

My apologies in advance that we are back to writings by me this morning. We will try to have guest blogger Courtney back very soon.

When I was in my last couple of years of high school we attended monthly youth rallies. There were several church who participated around central/north central Indiana.

One of the main pastors was a man named Tim Boyd. Pastor Boyd's son, Jared (I think he is 19 but am not completely sure), was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. The cancer was in remission for a while but is back again. Jared's sister, Katie, said over the weekend that Jared was having surgery this morning to remove the largest tumor. She asked for specific prayer for this so I thought I would share it with my little prayer group that has been joining me these last couple of weeks.