GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS, LORD UNTO ME

I'm soooooooo tired, but here goes,folks!
I don't think I've ever seen my God in action, like He was with me, this past Saturday, in Mullins, while I was giving my testimony!
I was the last of the four ladies, who were scheduled to give their testimony, and even though I felt prepared,I must admit,I still felt nervous, and a little anxious....and especially when I knew there were going to be microphones.Ohhhhhhh, I do not like microphones! Well, I began my testimony, the way I had planned, and rehearsed, and He allowed me to muddle through it, but somewhere along the way.......and I am not sure when,or where, He stepped in,and I began speaking in a confident manner, but it seemed as if my whole agenda had changed.What I was speaking about, wasn't even on my outline, or written down in my testimony, so I knew that my Heavenly Father had shown up, and had decided that this was what was important to Him, and all I need to do, was just "say it"!
Now, folks, this is sooooooooo cool, and yes, can be a little frightening! I've always said,I wanted to let my life be a blank piece of paper for the Lord, and He could fill me out as He saw fit....
Well, I guess,I saw,on Saturday, just how He could do this!
I remember telling the ladies, that it would be so wonderful to get to the place in our lives, where we can be so at peace with God, that when something does happen to us, that we know, if He is okay with it, then we can be okay wi th it too.Now wouldn't that be an incredibally wonderful, and fragrant aroma to our Heavenly Father?
Seriously,it was awesome,to know,that I had planned to go one direction with my testimony, and God, in His Faithfulness,took my history, and re-routed myfootsteps in an entirely different direction!
Great His His Faithfulness!
I like to think,because I let myself be His blank sheet of paper,He allowed Trisha to get me back to Beaufort, in time for Linda and Janet to get me to Parris Island, to hear Janet Parshal's, last night. (She was awesome,too!)
Then, He gave me Matt's absolutely wonderful music, in church this morning, to remind me of His love.....
What do you think? Maybe?I wouldn't put it past Him.....
Becky

AMAZING GOD

Yes, You are an awesome God! Oh,how I just melted listening to that today...... I thought my heart would do a double backflip right out of my body today, and if I smiled and broader,my mouth was just gonna split wide open! Oh, how amazing it is to read the words of this song.....
I mean, to know He tells each lightning bolt where to go, and is also the same God who directs my footsteps! He gives the sun its very light, and me, my very existance.....But, the Sun? That Big Bright thing out there in the sky.....He did that!.......And then, He turned right around, at nightime, and placed the sun someplace else, "hidden from our eyes," so we could see another of His magnificent treasures..........The Moon!(Mr. Romantic, himself)
I mean, is He not awesome, folks?
Yes, "indescribable and uncontainable" pretty well describes it to me too......
It reaches to beyond my tippy toes, to the outer most parts of my noggin' (whatever that is).I shan't try to figure out what that may be either.....
Suffice it to say, that, yes, He IS an amazing God, and Yes, I am His thankfully His Amazed Child!
Becky

ALL ABOUT JESUS

I've had more people ask me when I came to know the Lord, and as best I can remember, He has always been in my life. I've never known a day, without Jesus in my life....I know that sounds strange, so I'll give you some of the tidbits that aren't in my testimony, in the hopes that you might just understand "me" a little better.Hopefully my testimony stresses Jesus, because it really is about Him, afterall.......it isn't about me, but so much of me, is grounded in what I believed about Him, as a child, and that's important, when we are teaching our own children. Don't become disacouraged , when trying to reach them with the word.........
Even before I was born, God had His hand on me. When my Mother brought me home from the hospital, she had developed Amoebic Dysentary, and was bed ridden for almost two years. Her Mother, would come pick me up and take me to her trailer, where for almost two years,I spent time learning everything she knew about the Lord.....She was a Dutch Baptist Minister's wife, and had little education, but boy, howdey, she knew her Bible. Her love of the Lord, and scripture was quite evident to me, even as a baby!
I spent most of my weekends there, all the way through junior high school, and her words remain with me to this day............... I have always been His. He has been with me through Epilepsy;divorced parents;the death of a sister; the death of a son; my husband's heart attack; my cerebral brain hemorrage....and so much more, and yet HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!He allowed me to make my choices, and I did, but He was ever faithful and remained by my side, working me back to where He wanted me......Back to that full and abandoned love that I had as a child, for my Lord. When I left Aiken, I knew I was leaving a sound church, in its doctrine, and this saddened me. I didn't need to worry, because He is always faithful, and just zipped me right into another sound church, in Beaufort. I think the re-kindling for me, must have started when I went back to Aiken, on my birthday, and saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ".....all by myself. My heart nearly broke. These were things I knew, and felt, and Christ knew how much I loved Him,but that movie did something to me.......
Then, there was the Baptism......
I always said I didn't need to be re-baptized. That it was between the Lord and me, and then Frances sent me John Piper's book, and it mentioned about Baptism, and how going under the water, was symbol of going into the grave, as with Christ, and then coming out of the water was like being resurrected, and it hit me.I hadn't thought of it that way.......and then Jacki said that she wanted to be a part of seeing me be re-Baptized. I hadn't thought of it that way either...YIKES! I mean, if Christ wanted me to do it, by golly, I was gonna do it!..So the kid here, did!
There is so much more, but I've already taken up alot of space. I never had an "on the road to Damascus" conversion....mainly because I never had a day without Jesus in my life, and it has been an exciting life,folks! He has always been with me. I just think my love of Him, has gone up a notch.....
And that's okay too!
Becky

GOD'S LOVE AT BMH..........

This was a beautiful lesson today,folks......
One, we could all take heed from.

I stopped off to see Doyle, at the hospital, bringing him some Custard(He wanted lard & fried chicken!). The first little nuggett my Lord gave me, was that He allowed me to see how it felt to see someone, as others saw me, when I was in the hospital in a coma, back in 1996, with my head shaved. I was deeply moved by this feeling too, and encouraged by how Doyle was doing....... I am sooooooooo blessed!
The neat thing though ,was that Norma told me, that Doyle told her to bring some of his homemade BBQ back to the hospital, along with some buns, so he could give some good BBQ to everyone on his floor!(Sounds like him,huh?)
Now, if that isn't God's love pouring out on a hospital floor, then I don't know what is!
Becky

SEEMS TO ME.................

This was a cool journey,folks............


Now, if I were having company coming to stay with me, in my home, I would want to clean my house up, from all the trash, that can dirty it up, and make it comfortable for my guests now..........wouldn't I?
Well, then, seems to me,that if the Holy Spirit is gonna be residing in the hearts, minds and souls of its people, then, we might seriously want to do some house cleaning ourselves, to get rid of the trash, we keep there......
Now, wouldn't that make sense too?
Becky

UNEQUALLY YOKED

Folks, I'm kinda baring my heart and soul today, so bear with me....
I think I have finally figured out, and deeply understand, why God stressed so much, that we are not to be unequally yoked. It has always made simple sense to me, in the fact, that it would make it a lot easier if you were both believers and had things in common in your belief's about the Lord.
Not until I actually came in contact with those people that I loved the most, did I understand, that they really didn't get it! They didn't share in my enthusiasm for this wonderful God, I so love. They didn't understand the fellowship, when believers, as a body, get together, or how you feel, when you can't get together.....
You know what that feeling is?...........It's called lonely!
That's why unbelievers and believers shouldn't be unequally yoked together. Christ never intended for us to be lonely and when we are apart from the body, we can be very, very lonely.....
It hurts too, folks, as I bare my soul to you.
Take this reposibility very seriously. It's a hard lesson to learn, but one that will reap eternal benefits if caught and corrected in time.
Becky

GOD'S OVERTURE ON THE BRANCH

Mmmmm,so nice.....
Just to be outside on the deck again , looking at the Branch. It's kinda in between a cold, dreary day, and what would seem like, the beginning of Spring......but, we're a long way off from that!
I'll take today though.....
Crickets are clicking away;birds are chirping, and I so wish I could describe the sounds that the breeze is making in the trees.....
So cool!
God has given me a full length movie presentation today, complete with sound effects. My chimes are going ballistic, right now.
The trees are moving like a symphony conductor's hands as he fantically swings his baton...... Whooppeedogs!
What a symphony my God is giving me today.
It's suppose to rain really hard tonight, so maybe......
Just maybe......
I am listening to God's overture for tonight's feature presentation!
God's Overture on the Branch.....
Cool, huh?
Becky

BETTER OR BITTER........ THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Wouldn't it be far better to be in Heaven, and find out there really was a Devil and a Hell, than to be in Hell, and realize that there really was a God and a Heaven.....?
Becky

STEP OUT IN FAITH AND....... DO IT!

Tithing is like a baby taking its first step......
Sometimes, you just have to step out in faith,.........and do it!
Becky

GOOD MEDICINE

There is nothing better than to find out, that somebody left one of God's empty medicine bottles of sunshine out here on the deck at Edisto! Oh, what a dose of this is doing for my soul today. Mixed with the nippy breeze, it kinda "kick starts" the 'ole bod once again!
The crows are "caw caw cawing" away, and there must be "zillions" of diamonds sparkling upon the waves.
Mmmmmm, so nice! I can see Hunting Island from here, it's so clear, while some days, like yesterday,I could even hear the planes flying overhead in Beaufort! The sparkling rhinestones on my sweatshirt are just glittering away out here, but they will be no match for what will be sparkling in the sky tonight!
Oops! I hear the planes firing up again.....(It's so cool to hear that all the way over here folks!)It pleases my God, to do this for me......It pleases me, to be able to tell Him, how much I love it!
I think the following sorta sums the whole thing up...................

"Oh Lord,our Lord, How Majestic is Your name in all the earth".....
What do you think?
Becky

PRAISE ON!

After listening to Charles Stanley today,I got to thinking about how hard, or how easy it is for each one of us to receive praise from others.I know, for me, it is quite hard.....
I can give praise all day long, but, for some reason, I feel as if I must defend myself, when I am praised for a particular talent......I liked his comments,though, about learning to "deflect,and redirect"!
How true, but hard to do....
I found that if we channel that praise back to the Father, then we take it off of ourselves in a nice way, and place it on the one who gave the talent to us, in the first place!
Becky

RULES & REGULATIONS

Oh how beautiful it is today.I am sitting here looking out at the Branch, this morning, in all its splendor.....
David and Herman have gone garage saling.(This is a new venture to me, with this husband of mine!) I'm enjoying the best of the best!
......the green lush trees;the blue sky and sparkling blue water.......
I think even the birds know it's getting cold out, because they're hibernating right now, but, ........My God, is still in control, and that's what's sooooooo nice......
It has been kinda nice, just to spend today thinking about the wonder of my Heavenly Father, and how we don't do that, as much as we should.
We get all tangled up in rules and regulations and doing "things",so much, that we forget to think about just "who" created all "this" to begin with.
Oh, let's don't do that!
Becky

NO WAY JOSE' ......WANNA BET?

I bet there aren't many of us who wouldn't become upset, if someone robbed us, of something, or took something that belonged to us? I know I probably would! Infact,I did, when we were robbed in 1995.I was sick at heart, but also mad at the robbers too! This realization, made me stop and think,though, how we so often rob God and don't even realize it! Yep, you heard me right! We do rob God.........The very God, who we don't think we would ever rob!
Even in the Old Testament, in Malachi 8:36, God told the people that they were robbing Him of their "tithes and offerings". We not only rob Him of our first fruits, financially, but we rob Him of our time;prayers...and even our thoughts on a daily basis.
Oh, so many things, when we don't take the time to acknowledge our King of Kings!
We are actually robbers of our God! Yikes!
Doesn't sound very good, does it? I don't know about you, but I think I'll try anyway to keep on loving this God of all Very Gods!
Becky

I WONDER?

I wonder if those who are in Heaven, are eagerly awaiting our arrival, as much as we are looking forward to seeing them again?
Guess we'll have to wait and see,huh?
Becky

COOL THOUGHT

After church tonight,Alice wanted me to meet a couple who had moved here from Aiken.I didn't recognize the young man, but as soon as I met his wife,I knew I had met her before...... We had both been in a Bible study,at Edie's house, where she even remembered me talking about my Grandmother's "Streams In The Desert", and what a difference it had made in my life! What a tribute to her memory..........
After I returned home, I considered all the things that had happened at church, and thought about how Christ, will someday, "remember" those things we have talked about too, and just what was important to us.....
She remembered my "Streams" from close to 20 years ago!
Christ has thousands of years to reach back from!
Cool,huh?
Becky

ALL THAT COUNTS

What a nugget my God gave me today on this journey, and if you look close enough, you will see where He has done it for you too, as He did for my daughter.
She was coming to see us, in Beaufort, from Edisto, but when she called us, she said she had taken a wrong turn onto highway 17, and was heading into Charleston! Well, this is NOT like her, and is not the sorta thing that she does, but she got ragged about it anyway.....that is, until she mentioned that she had seen a woman getting beaten up on the side of the road, by a man, so she called the police on her cell phone! Well, when she told me this, I suddenly realized, that she had NOT taken a wrong turn at all.....NO WAY! She was listening to the Holy Spirit, guiding her.......
She may havce just saved this woman's life..........I don't know.I do know, however, that God gave her the very first nugget, of her very own, and it was so exciting to see it happen.........
"Who knows but that you have come for such a time as this?", as I thought of Mordecai's words to Queen Esther........
I do believe he had her turn onto 17, "for such a time as this", and she may have just saved that lady's life.
There are no wrong turns in God's book........perhaps, ones we don't always understand, but they are always the right!
Oh,how cool to see that she listened and obeyed, even though she didn't understand..... Wouldn't it be nice to hear God say:" How cool,you are listening and obeying, even though you don't understand"!
.......But God understood, and that's all that counts!
Becky

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS!

"Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning,
New mercies I see....."
......How true!How true! And since I made the prayer chain yesterday,I thought it best that I email a journey to you, about what happened.(I still don't believe it myself!)
This was the original"Horrible,no good,very bad day",....day!
It doesn't matter to our Lord, though, whether a day is bad, or good, because He will show up, when we need Him, and boy howdy, He showed up, in full strength yesterday for this girl!
I was driving home from Publix(with ice cream in the trunk too!), minding my own business, and not driving like "Mr. Toad" in The Wind In The Willows", when an SUV Suburban pulled out from Barnette's Batteries,( I think this is the name of the place!) from along the side of highway 21.He darted out into the median, and started to turn, and looked as if he were going to get into the outside lane, but instead, he made a complete U-turn, and drove straight back into Barnettes, right in the lane of my car! When I realized I was going to hit him, I slammed on brakes,and waited for the air bag to deploy.As I watch the hood of my car being crunched all the way up to the front window,I realized that my air bag, had not deployed, but that I was being restrained by a strength far beyond anything I have ever felt.I have almost no strength in my left shoulder, but my upper body, arms and head were held away from hitting that steering wheel, by a stronger force than I have ever felt............I know my own personal "God-Air Bag", was in deployment yesterday, and for that I am soooooooo thankful! By all rights, I should have hit the steering wheel hard, but I didn't......and I was calm.Shaken,yes, but calm! Only God could have done that for me! Oh, as I write this, I am listening to "God Will Make A Way", on "The Light", and He surely did!
Great Is Thy Faithfulness.......
My car didn't fare too well, but, I thank you all for your many prayers, for I am okay.Just sore, but okay, and very, very thankful.......
Becky

WAITING ON THE RAPTURE

Oh was God chuckling over this lunch bunch today!
Joy and I met for lunch at Panini's, and spent most of the time talking about His Majesty, and how absolutely wonderful it has been to see how He has allowed Joy to use her writing and her photography and how He has allowed me to do the illustrations in the book I wrote. It's just so cool,folks!
Then the giggles started, as we imagined us sitting there, with her holding her camera, and me at the computer typing a journey, and suddenly,"in the twinkling of an eye", the Rapture occurs! Well all we could think about was, that we would be in the middle of taking pictures and writing journey's, and going up in the air with our camera and computer saying:"Wait a minute Lord, let me get this last picture and this last journey sentence in!"....Boy howdy did we get the giggles, and then the gales of laughter set in,over the absurdity of it all!!!
Oh how funny. He has blessed us both so much, and He has moved us both out of our comfort zones to get us to this point too! Right Joy?
He's so awesome, and wonderful.........
Becky

VITAMIN E

I just love driving back to Aiken, on these short, little trips. It gives me time to refuel my spiritual batteries. I get to enjoy the drive by the Sheldon Church, into Yemassee, and then, too, my talk with the Lord, usually lasts a good while......
Sometimes, Allistair, or Chuck will join me, but only for awhile, and they always rechartge my thinking cap! On this trip I was treated to NCPC's Christmas musical, and its tribute to a Magnificent Savior, who "just happened" to arrive as a baby! What a beautiful Wednesday evening....
(No, I didn't sing with their choir, either,Matt!)
Isn't our God, simply awesome?
To arrive as a gift.........
To leave as THE gift......
This was my Vitamin E ("Eternity" )shot, and it's comforting to know that I can go from my church in Beaufort, to my church, in Aiken, on a Wednesday night, and know that the word of God will be preached.....and beautifully! Thank you!
Becky

DON'T FALL FOR IT!

While I was in Aiken, Joyce told me that someone called her, requesting she give them her pin number, in order to verify her credit card number, and to make sure it hadn't been given out.Well, she didn't give it to them, and the scam stopped with her, but it got me to thinking about how glad I am that I don't have to remember a pin number for Christ.........
I'd really be in a pickle, because I just don't remember things anymore(except to watch out for the 'ole 666)
God already knows us inside and out, and called us by name before we were even born.......
I mean, He created us, so what does He even need a pin number for?
Becky

FLOODLIGHT

This was cool today, and I picked up on it, from Carl's message , out of John 16:12-15. I liked the analogy of the Holy Spirit pointing to Christ, kinda like the flood light that shines on the statue in the garden.I thought that was cool!
Everything we are, comes from our Father above, and His Holy Light shines down and radiates upon us, through His Holy Spirit, showing us exactly what we should be doing. Cool, huh? He will illumine us with God's word, if we just let Him......
Cool, huh?
Becky

TODAY,TOMORROW,AND ALWAYS

Remember that.......
The God of the Old Testament
Is the God of the New Testament
Is the God of our Testament today
Is the God of our Testamony tomorrow!

Yesterday,Today, Tomorrow.....
The same same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Now, isn't that comforting?
Becky

SOUND MACHINE

I have the coolest little sound machine, that I listen to at night, when I go to sleep, as it helps me block out certain snoring sounds coming from "somewhere" in our bedroom! :p) Whenever "that" sound occurs, my little machine recognizes it, and just responds with the sounds of the ocean waves rolling in! (I have a friend who has the sound of a train roaring along on its tracks, but I'm afraid that I would feel like Amtrack was gonna run over me,if I used that one!) The ocean waves always seem to recognize the sound, and instantly come on.....(I wonder how?), and relaxes me.
So it is with our Heavenly Father. He hears our call, when we send our prayerful petitions to Him, and He recognizes our voice, and responds to us. Likewise, when we stay in tune to our "Shepherd", we will also recognize, and respond to His voice.
It's one we will never forget!
Becky

PRESENTATIONS

I just love desert! More importantly,though,I just love to see the presentation along with the desert. Now, I think a Trifle, is one of the most attractive desert's, because you can clearly see what's inside, and it tastes as good as it looks too! (Fruit layered is wonderful!)I honestly don't think it would be nearly as good, if assembled in a dark,enamel loaf pan!
You know,our own Christian walk is kinda like this Trifle too. The things we put on the inside of us, to build our character, should show forth as clear as a bell, all the time, and be clear for all to see what 's on our inside! If our container is fogged up with trash, it will surely show, and it won't be a very appealing presentation, now........... Will it?
If I'm setting out my very best china, silver, and crystal, for a special guest, then I'd surely want to set out my best "self" container, filled with the "Fruits of the Spirit", so others could see God's richest desert at work!.......
Becky

CHILDLIKE FAITH

.............I think I understand something about me. Something that sort of sums up my philosophy on life! I'm a pretty simple minded and child like sorta person, when it comes to my faith. I take things on faith, and don't usually have to know "why". I kinda figured it out today...........
I think I must be a 58 year old grown up "child" at heart.
This is why it's not hard for me to see God in everything, and to accept everything on faith! I've always had a great deal of faith, even as a child, and it's still with me..............Isn't that cool? (I couldn't get rid of it, even if I wanted to!)
If I believed, as a child, in God's Sovereignty(which I most definitely did!), and that God would take care of everything, then I'm certainly not going to change my thoughts and beliefs as an adult! Some people might, but not this kiddo! See why it's important to train up a child in the way he should go?..........
It just makes good sense to me, that, just because we're grown-ups, doesn't mean we have to give up our "child like" faith and love for our Lord............ I'm not!
Becky

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS

I was talking with some Search and Rescue wives tonight, about having family heirlooms.......... Seems one of the girls was given a 1951 Singer Featherlight Sewing Machine for her birthday............just like the one my Grandmother Bouterse taught me to sew on, and that she gave me! Boy howdy, was I ever surprised!
Heirlooms are wonderful and priceless things to have and keep.......and to cherish too! I havce a lot of family heirlooms that were given to me from David's family, that I will treasure for a long time........By far, the one heirloom, that I do treasure the most, is a gift given to me, a long time ago. It was quite costly to the giver, and I certainly didn't deserve it, but since it was a gift, given in love, I accepted !
This special heirloom I didn't mind sharing, either, because God's love wrapped up, in Christ's gift of Salvation, is just about the greatest Heirloom I've ever received!
Becky

CAN YOU IMAGINE?

Can you imagine,loving your father so much, that you would do anything for him, because you loved him so much?
Can you imagine being so in tune with someone that you were driven to please them in anyway you could?................... It's all about Him,isn't it?
Just knowing Him.......Yes, when our Jesus took up that cross and gave up His life for you and for me, He was doing it to please His Father.
.....To make things right between us......Oh, what love!!!
I love my father, but had he asked me to die for someone,I don't think this'ole kiddo would have!!! How about you?
That's why His Gift of Life to us, is so remarkable. He didn't have to do it!....... He wanted to please His Father through His obedience, and His Father wanted us back in communion with Him, and the only way that could be accomplished, was for us to be sinless, so a sacrifice had to be made.
Can you imagine His sacrifice that day? Oh,I know it must have torn His Father's heart apart, indeed,but at the same time, it was a beautiful fragrance indeed ...........
Becky