Storms...Grace...Thankfulness...Grandbabies ...

When you have something go awry in your life ... let's call it a storm (the graphic above is the best I could find) ... how do you handle it?  If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know the many storms that I have faced and hopefully saw in my writings that I wanted to find the good in the storm.  Sometimes finding that good is challenging but if you really try, you will see the good.  Most of the time we will never know 'why' that storm passed over our life but if we endure we will get through it.

Storms wage battles in our heart, in our souls and many times in our lives.  The many storms I have endured during the last ten months could have at times been categorized as a 'Cat 4 or 5' (weather service term).  I made my decision early on in my diagnosis that I wanted to handle these Cat 4 or 5 storms with grace.  I believed there was nothing I could not get through because God would provide me the grace I needed and desperately desired.

2 Corinthians 12:9 - "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  "  Therefore I will boast more all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  

I weathered the cancer, chemo, radiation and side affects storms because I believed that God would equip me with everything I needed.  I praised Him while the storms were upon me.  He was and is  there with me and I know and recognize that and He is here with all of us every second of every day, all we have to do is call on Him.  I cry out and He hears my cries and He answers me.

Psalms 37:14 The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them, He delivers them from all their troubles.  

A few storms that stopped over my place this week ... It rained early part of the week and my allergies kicked up.  I cannot figure out how in the world allergies kick up when it rains.  I thought the rain would drown all the allergens.  Then my sinus' got in gear.  After much prayer and OTC meds and antibiotics that I had, I began feeling better by Thursday.  Thank you Father.

Thursday evening we loaded up in my Highlander and when I started it  the little red battery light came on.  I told my daughter to get the manual out and the caption beside the battery icon said something like ... DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR.  Great ... just great ... we needed bathroom tissue aka toilet paper and I was determined to get to our new Family Dollar store and get some Northern Bathroom Tissue.  On the way I called my mechanic ... he said ... DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR, your alternator has probably gone out ... I said ... well what does that mean?  He said ... you are running your car strictly on your battery and there is nothing charging your battery so when your battery goes dead, you will be stranded.  Great ... just great.  I turned the radio and a/c off (much to my passengers dismay).  I left the car running while I ran in to get the bathroom tissue.  The young lady in front of me at the check out stand obviously did not know there was a car sitting in the parking lot that could die and we would be stranded ... as she slowly dug a penny out of the bottom of her little tiny purse.  I don't carry coin change due to the weight of it and my lymph node removal (that's another post) or I would have found a penny and said ... HERE!  I got back in the car and prayed ... Father, please please let us make it home.  We made it home and I thanked Him as I parked my car.  I called some friends to borrow one of their extra cars, went and got it. My mechanic came on Friday afternoon about 4:45, towed my car way across town to his shop, replaced the alternator and towed it back to me by 7:45pm.  He is awesome.  He charged me HALF of what a shop was going to charge me.  UNBELIEVABLE.

My praises came for the rain ... we need it so bad.  I cannot sit here and tell you that I praised God for the allergies, sinus, or car issues nor can I say that I praise Him for this migraine I woke up with at 2:00am this morning BUT I can tell you that I praise Him for feeling better from the allergies and sinus, for my car being fixed and it not costing an arm and a leg and that my headache is easing up this morning.  I think many times we ask God for help and then forget to thank Him.  If someone does something for us and is standing in front of us, we always say ... Thank you.  Just because God is not physically standing in front of us ... we need to remember to thank Him.  He likes to hear from us ... no matter what ... with our request for help or our praises singing His name ... He wants us to talk to Him.

Psalms 35:28  My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.

Praising God contradicts what life looks like to us sometimes ...
Praising Him overcomes doubt ... who doesn't need that?  I sure do!
Praising Him overcomes sin ... 
Praising Him overcomes sorrow ...
Praising Him overcomes pain ...
Praising Him overcomes our own disbelief ...  

Praising God is not like putting our money in a candy machine ... we put the money in and in turn the handle and we get a 'goody' out.  Praising Him is our recognition that we have already received all that He wanted to give us and we are thankful.

And now on to my grand babies ...
Mathew 19:14 ... Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these".  

This summer has been a 'stay in the house' summer.  With all the West Nile reported, it is scarey to try to take your kiddos outside.  Last night everyone had had enough ... we donned mosquito spray and headed to the local park.  What a blessing the time outside was ... so much so ... both of the older babies cried when we had to leave.  Praise the Lord, as far as we could tell, no one got bitten by a mosquito.

As I close this morning, I thank God for all He has provided me, for healing me and loving me even when I know I'm unlovable.  I feel His smiles when I talk to Him and His arms around me as He comforts me.
Psalms 100:4  Enter His gates with thankfulness and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

Blessed and praying blessings for you today.

genam44@charter.net


NOTE:  Coming soon and new look for my blog ... I think.