Putting one foot in front of the other - from Greg and Melody

Last night a friend of mine posted on his blog. He just started chemo for the second time - this is his second bout with cancer. He wrote just a little about the struggles and talked about putting one foot in front of the other. His girlfriend's reply was amazing. He has quite a girl. I asked her if I could share it. She laughed and said I could though she didn't think it was anything great. It was great, though. It was a great encouragement to me and I know it will be to other too.

Sometimes I wish I could do more than put one foot in front of the other - literally leap a couple miles ahead and be done with some of the hard things that are in the way. But...I know that He promises to give us strength for the journey. That means we still have to walk it - but we will be able to make it to the end. He "gives strength to the weary" and also "renews their strength". (Isaiah 40) It never runs out and we can't reach an allotment. It is continually renewed.
"Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
One foot in front of the other...Not an easy thing to do. It takes faith, knowing that we are heading somewhere and that it is worth pressing on towards. Trust, because we can't see where we are going. "We walk by faith not by sight." But we continue to walk...
Thankfully, you don't have to do this alone. Not only will God always walk beside you, but I'm not going anywhere either! :) <3

Let Me Be a Woman

I finished reading Let Me Be Woman on Monday night. Actually, it was the third time I finished it. Elisabeth Elliot's books just keep getting better each time I read them. There were chapters through out the whole book that I kept wishing I could share with everyone. But since I can't exactly post a whole book I guess that won't work. I strongly recommend it to ladies of any age. There is a ton of stuff in there that would be good for guys to read also - but no guy would read a book by that title unless the front cover was torn off. :)

But anyway….

This is the first "chapter" though it is only a page long. It is so simple and yet so encouraging. I need the reminder sometimes that we do serve...

The God Who Is in Charge

When Walt came to me at Christmastime to ask for your hand I said to him, "There is no one to whom I would so gladly give it. " Then we talked of the long wait you would have if the wedding date was not to be until after your graduation.

"Do you think you can stick it out?" I asked him. and he answered, without hesitation, "Ma'am, I'm a Calvinist!"

He knew that I would understand what he meant by that. You and I are Calvinist too, in that we believe in a God who is in charge, We are not for one moment of our lives at the mercy of chance. Walt saw the timing of his proposal, his own graduation from seminary, your graduation from college, as among the "all things" that work together for good to those who love God. He saw the pattern of duty that lay before you both and took it to be the will of God, so that the power of his own emotion to weaken his resolve was not a threat. He knew, as the psalmist knew, "My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." I am grateful that God has given you a man like that.

While I'm Waiting

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Takeing every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Here is Love

I heard this song only once. The Pettit team sang it when they were in our town a few weeks ago. I thought it was beautiful but since it was only once I didn't think much more about it. Then last night Bethany had the music and lyrics in her bedroom. I read the first verse but I think that was it.
After some tough lessons on trust and God's love tonight I came home and read all the lyrics. When I got to the third and forth verses I just sat and cried. They were exactly what I needed to read.

Here is love, vast as the ocean, Lovingkindness as the flood,When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,Shed for us His precious blood.Who His love will not remember?Who can cease to sing His praise?He can never be forgotten,Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,Fountains opened deep and wide;Through the floodgates of God’s mercyFlowed a vast and gracious tide.Grace and love, like mighty rivers,Poured incessant from above,And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justiceKissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting, Love Thee, ever all my days; Let me seek Thy kingdom only And my life be to Thy praise;Thou alone shalt be my glory,Nothing in the world I see.Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct meBy Thy Spirit through Thy Word; And Thy grace my need is meeting,As I trust in Thee, my Lord. Of Thy fullness Thou art pouringThy great love and power on me,Without measure, full and boundless,Drawing out my heart to Thee.

Happy birthday, Courtney!!!!

iPod Survey

Amanda and I got to talking today about what kind of iPod we would get if we could get any we wanted. I think I would want a pink (or any other color) Nano. Oh, and it would need to be one with a camera on it. :) An iPod Touch would be nice in some ways but I really think I would prefer the other. So what about you? Which one would you choose and why?

Florida Vacation

OK, here we go. I finally got the pictures from my trip yesterday, and got them uploaded tonight. I didn't think there were that many until I started uploading them. I left out a bunch!

This was a few days into our trip. It was the first time Jim remembered to bring the camera along. :) We were walking in the woods because we were so sun burnt we decided to stay out of the sun for a day. We walked some trails in the woods on base. It was very beautiful. I was talking to Beckisue when he snapped the picture.
One of my favorite places down there was the "Gazebo Tower" (what I called it anyway). It was just that - a very tall gazebo at the end of a boardwalk. It over looked a swampy area and the in the distance you could see the gulf. There are several pictures from there throughout this post. This was our first visit there.

Jim and me in the gazebo tower

And the three of us!

Can you tell the roof was lattice? :)

On Saturday we had decided not to go to the beach. Jim and Marge said there were too many people there on Saturday. The beach was the private base beach but weekends were still full. We went shopping all morning. In the afternoon we decided that since there were a storm blowing in there wouldn't be many people on the beach. We were right. There weren't people on the beach for good reason. The wind was horrible! Marge staid on a bench on the boardwalk and Jim and I walked the beach. We decided to walk 2o minutes and then turn around. Just one little problem - we didn't think about the fact that we started out with the wind to our backs! When we turned around the wind was so strong we had to lean into it. We couldn't talk to each other because we couldn't hear anything. The sand was blowing so hard it was stinging our legs. The crashing waves were amazing though. The 20 minutes out made it totally worth it (I think). :)

Marge and I when the sun returned.

A pause on the very long boardwalk on the way back from the beach.

Sorry this one is sideways. I rotated it in iPhoto and then accidentally uploaded the wrong one. I am not about to start over again. There is a silly story behind this picture. Beckisue loves to walk on railings. It freaks Jim out. He just worries she is going to fall. So they tease each other back and forth about it. One day he decided he would stand on the railing and get a picture just to tease her. So he did... I left out the picture of me on the rail. :)

One of our little lizard friends. Jim and Marge said they thought it was a gecko.

One of my favorite things on the whole trip was the evening we watched the sunset from the gazebo tower. It was gorgeous. I took up my violin to play while we were there. When I pulled it out and was looking at the beauty the first song that came to mind was "How Great Thou Art." I couldn't help but play it. The sunset was absolutely beautiful. I could never describe it and the pictures cannot show it's beauty.

Jim taking a picture of me watching the sunset when I didn't know it. (in my "adorable green jacket")

The water - just in case anyone was wondering.

This would be me - being me.

I fixed supper in our apartment one night. A very simple meal but it was fun. We went out most of the time.

Jim and I came in from a walk one night and he pulled out the camera while I was sitting on the arm of the chair. So...

...I took the camera and took one of him! :)

This would be what I look like when I have been swimming in the waves.

This was at the Thai restaurant. We ate Japanese, Mexican, Thai, and Chinese on this trip. :)

Sail boats way out in the distances.

So that is the end of the pictures. Hope you enjoyed and didn't get too bored. :)