Grateful

Grateful

Hi guys! How is everyone doing today! I am having a fantastic morning! We had a beautiful morning and I got to water my plants. I know, I don’t get tired of talking about the garden  .

Today I want thank God for our family and how they have stepped forward and helped Terry and I. Terry’s sisters and their pampering, and my sisters and their home cooking (I don’t like cooking so when they come over I can have them cook me a favorite meal). They pamper me and will do anything for me. It is sweet!

I thank God for my siblings because as we grow older we are learning to appreciate each other. I must insert this in here, if you have a sibling you don’t have a relationship with, make one. Ask God to help both you surrender your pride and to help you be a humble witness to your loved one. Read on…

My siblings and I, as we grow older have open up to each other (even just a tiny bit means a lot to me) and are calling and checking in on each other. Praise God! This means so much to me; it brings tears to my eyes. We are sharing things we didn’t know about each other and of course that brings more tears. I believe most of us have chosen to forgive and forget which is best both spiritually and emotionally.

Back when I gave my life to Christ in 1992, I thought it was going to be easy, since I believed I was a pretty good person and the person who hurt me was gone. Ha! The Lord has a great sense of humor and was checking to see if I had one as well (which I didn’t, and still don’t. I just don’t get jokes. Lauren has to sometimes tell people to explain because I’m just not going to get it). Anyway, I asked God what I needed to change. Well, be careful what you ask the Father, ‘because he is honest and will tell you. He kept telling me to apologize to my husband. I didn’t get it. What the heck for? It wasn’t my fault, which by the way was my favorite phrase.

Well to make a long, long, painful story short. God wanted me to apologize to my husband. Whether it was my fault or his, I was a believer and needed to be the first to apologize. My poor husband was usually an innocent bystander when I needed to blame someone. After years of my grumbling, kicking and complaining, none of which God appreciated, I’m sure. I finally learned through the power of the Holy Spirit (I can now honestly say, I could not move forward in my walk unless I surrendered to God).

I did learn to apologize (which I still do  ). I felt so much better about myself but mostly I felt closer to God. There were many a tearful night of repentance asking God to help me be closer to Him, but the more I read the bible the more I understood that I had to put myself aside and only then could I feel his “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control”

Today I’m grateful to God for His faithfulness. In retrospect if I had kept picking on my husband we may not have made it this far. My faith wouldn’t have grown and I wouldn’t have so many caring loving Christian people encouraging me with the truth. I thank God for all of you prayer warriors. I’m grateful God is with me right now and I’m thankful for His promise of healing.

Blessings,
Doris