NO GOOD THING

I just love hearing things like this.....
Listening to "The Light",this morning,one of the programs had on Dr. Howard Hendricks(sp?),talking about how Moody Bible College got started...... Seems that back in 1925,they opened their doors, never realizing that the depression was only 4 years away.When it descended upon them,they knew that God in His faithfulness would give them an answer about staying open.Harry Ironsides and several other faithful prayer warriors closeted themselves in a room and prayed to God as to what to do.Harry Ironsides prayer was similar to ....."Father,I know You've got cattle on a thousand hills,so if you could see fit to sell some and help us out, we would appreciate it."
At the precise moment he was praying, a Texas cattleman sold some cattle, and brought a check from that sale to the institute. The check was for the exact amount that Harry Ironsides had prayed for!
His secretary interupted him and said......"God just sold some cattle!"
Talk about faithfulness!
"We get not,because we ask not".If we will just call upon the Lord in prayer,we might be surprised at what awesome benefits and blessings He will bestow upon His children.
Scripture says "No good thing will I withold from those who walk uprightly with me." I guess the first thing is for us to start walking uprightly,huh?
Becky

THE THIEF

The only time we should be looking for a thief coming into our homes at night,
is when the Day of Lord comes!
Becky

STIR FRY

When I want to fix a really good stir fry,I usually start by adding some olive oil and spices to my pan, along with some freshly cut up veggies.I will briefly toss them,just so they will absorb the oil and spices, and have the right crispness.I don't want them smushy and limp.They go into the pan,one way, all limp, and come out another way,all crisp, and delicious!
If you want to fix a good,crisp thought process for your mind on the Christian walk,you can do what scripture says!
Gather some things that are true;noble; pure, and toss in some things that are lovely. Then stir in those things that are of good report, and you will find that if there is any virtue,or anything praiseworthy, in what you are partaking, you will think on those things.Whatever you are eating in this stir fry,you will also be!
In other words,"As a man thinketh in his heart,so is he!"
Beats a stir fry, anyday!
Becky

BE STILL

If the wshole world could just be still, and worshiup God,
then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in!
Becky

FEATHERWEIGHT

When I learned to sew,I did so,on Grandmother's portable Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine.She had a small piece of plaid material wrapped around the top portion of the machine, where she had placed all her pins.
This is the machine where I learned to match plaids;make button holes and zippers, and even made all my children's baby clothes along with my own maternity clothes.
It's stored in my closet right now,gathering dust, awaiting some new grand babies.....(haha!) Grandmother always told to me to rightly divide(and sew) the word of God, and to make sure that I went out and sewed His word, wherever I went! She would tell me that I had the thread to God's story, and all I had to do, was to weave it into the fabric of our lives, whenever I sewed it!
Cool,huh?
I love my featherweight,but I love the one who gave it to me more!
I love my salvation,but I love the one who gave it to me more!
Becky

KEEP IT CLEAN!

I love to put on different clothes,but different ones that match! I want my purse to match my watch,and those to match my shoes,etc.....
I have lots of different clothes for when I go out. God has given us many powerful pieces of clothing when we go against the enemy too.He's given us the girdle of truth;the shield of faith;the breastplate of righteousness;the helmet of salvation;the shoes of the gospel of peace;and the sword of the spirit.We have a closet full of armor to put on before battling the enemy, but the very first thing we need to do before ever opening our closet door,is to bathe in prayer!
Dirty,rusty army,will never win a battle!
God's word,which is sharper than any two edged sword,is never dull, and will slay that 'ole enemy quicker than you can blink!
Keep it clean and polished!
Becky

NO LANDING STRIP!

I thought this was pretty cool,folks!
When you've had a disagreement with someone,but they won't get past the problem, and you've done everything possible to rectify the situation,and yet the other person still won't respond,......here's a solution.
Satan loves to hang around and fly over your thoughts.He will land over your flight pattern,day after day, and make you "feel" guilty, but we "know" that Christ has not given us a spirit of fear,but one of a sound mind.......
The next time this happens,the Holy Spirit will remind your sound mind,that the Lord has already shot down satan's plane, and he has no landing strip to land on!
Your mind will then refuse to parachute into guilty thoughts again!
Becky

DON'T WAIT

The first glimpse I had, of having this surgery, was of my dead weight hand. I have never truly seen a hand that was really dead before,but this one was so filled with the anesthesia remnants,that it was completely lifeless and wouldn't budge!As the days wore on, life came back into it, and I could move it again!
This reminded me of how our life looks after Christ comes into it and wakes us up!
We were dead in our sins and all our movements were lifeless and everything we did was for nothing. Then Christ does "His Thing" and jars us up "quite a bit" and all the numbness comes out of us and we come alive for the first time ever!
Cool huh?!
Just don't wait for surgery to find this out!
Becky

WHEN I AM WEAK

Mar and I were talking on the phone today, and she reminded me of how we are both planners, and like to know what we are going to be doing,or what's going to be required of us when we begin a project.She went on to say that she thought it was so cool for me to to be so enveloped in the blanket of God's peace and grace for this entire time,that it allowed me to just let Him take charge!"When I am weak,He is made strong." How many times in scripture are we reminded that in our weakness,we are made strong through the strength of Christ?This blanket,or covering, is how I imagine it must feel like,being under the Shadow of His Wing.If I stay in His will, and close to Him, He will be my shelter and very presednt help in time of need.
So far,after 62 years, He has been just that, and there's no reason to think He will do anything different now! The one thing this God of mine doesn't do,is change!
Becky

NO PAIN>>>>>ALL GAIN

When folks ask me about the pain I must be having from this surgery,they are so surprised when I tell them I have absolutely "NO" pain whatsoever! That's zilch! Zippo! Nada! None, folks! I am on no pain meds either.Just some Ibupropen when I need it. Can you believe my God has been so faithful to deliver this "chicken" from out of her fear of pain? .........I can! "I'll say of the Lord".....He has been my shield;my strength;my portion; my deliverer;my shelter;strong tower; my very present help in time of need.....
Did you get that last one? MY VERY PRESENT HELP,IN TIME OF NEED!!!
Boy howdy, did I ever need Him too, and did He ever come through in a huge way for Bec!
He met me right where I was, and right where I needed Him, and He continues to do so, and will do for you too.He wraps His arms of mercy around me, and "yes,He has made me glad, and I will say of the Lord"........forever, and ever.
He can continue to watch over me like this as long as He needs, because I love having Him loving me!
Becky

NOODLES

This has gotten to be so funny at my therapy,folks, and so awesome for me, and I don't use that word lightly!
When Jim sets up my excercise noodle for me now, he gives me an extra minute on the timer,just so I can worship my Lord when I roll my arms out on the noodle. Can you imagine that? I just roll my arms over that sucker and bow my head down and just start singing "Majesty,worship Your Majesty"..........I'm off magnifying my Lord for 5 full minutes! This is the one excercise that everyone hates, and I just love it. .........I hate it when he tells me my time is up too!
Who would have ever thought that I would have been given a total shoulder replacement,just so that I could have therapy in the middle of the week, and be able to worship the Lord at 10:00 in the morning?
Who else but my faithful God?
Becky

MY TESTIMONY

This is not really a testimony,but in a way,I guess you could say it sort of could be one......It's kind of a reminder to me of how God's faithfulness to me, has always been around in my life....even from the very beginning.It's uncanny how this God of mine loves me!
As a child with Epilepsy,He provided me with parents and a family who saw me through this time.Why He even provided family friends who helped me do activities in a normal manner, when being normal for me was difficult! Doctors;hospitals;EEG's, and pills to last a lifetime were all part of God's plan to be by my side during this time.....
My first biggest disappointment came, when I was not on our homecoming court,my senior year, but God was faithful even then, and answered my very first prayer to Him, in a very definite way, and as childish as it was,I have never forgotten it, or the God who answered it!.........That was 44 years ago!
His faithfulness when Mother and Daddy became divorced after 40 years of marriage was my rock, and my very present help in time of trouble.When my dear,sweet sister,who was 13 years older than the "baby,Becky" died in 1990,He stayed so close to me and gave me some valuable lessons that I would need in a few years.......(Like in 5 years!)
My heavy duty time with God, was all during the 90's, but He was ever faithful,folks, and He always is.
Our son,George was removed from the home in 1992,for a period of two years.
I choose not to dwell on this time,so don't be surprised when I don't talk about it.
At the time,though,I thought this was my own personal "hell on earth." God was faithful even in this,to give me a glimpse at what it was gonna look like for these two years, with out him in the home, for when I was to lose another son for an eternity,just 3 years later.....What a sweet way to show this Mother such a thing.
(George has since married;I have 4 grands, and he has made the Deans list twice).
My husband,David had a massive heart attack in 1993,and was worked on for 45 minutes before the paramedics could bring him back to life. God was so faithful to give him a second chance for "Life"........
Again,God proved His faithfulness to me in 1994,when George was reunited with his brother,just months before I was to go through the worst thing any Mother ever should go through.In April of 1995,David junior was in a car accident, and to have to re-tell all those horrific things was awful for me,but God,"once again" was faithful to His Becky and reminded me that all I had to tell was about God's Sovereignty,when telling about what happened.I didn't need to remember any decapitation,or all the other grueling things......Just that my God was Sovereign and knew that He was only gonna live for 20 years and no more and if God was okay with that,then I could be too.
That one concept has taught me more than anything folks, and has made me more content than anything I know.You don't just get that way,though.You have to abide in the will of Christ constantly! He is so good to me,all the time.
God continued to watch over me when I had my Cerebral Brain Hemorrage in 1996,and provided a top notch Neurosurgeon, and some wonderful recovery with watchful friends and family.My church body stayed by me every step of the way and God in His faithfulness has blessed me in so many ways.I will never be who I was,but then,maybe I am not suppose to be.....huh? The coolest part of this story,was when I moved to Beauforft and needed my doctor's for a hip replacement. God chose the coolest way in the world to find them for me.I was to call the head radiologist at BMH at ask Andy Jackson who the best doctor's were.After introducing myself to him,over the phone,he interupted me, and told me that he was the radiologist that had read my charts at the Aiken Hospital, when I had my brain hemmorage.Now, you tell me, that my God is not a God who is faithful to His Becky!!!........I mean,move Andy Jackson all the way to Beaufort for me!
That's why going in for this surgery two weeks ago, and coming out pain free, even in therapy,doesn't really surprise me, because my God is a God of the tiniest detail and has my bases covered.
He is an absolutely awesome and fantastic God,this God that I love and adore!
Becky

THE PERFECT SOFTENER

***First let me say,that only I could come up with a journey like this folks!

When you're in the hospital and on those meds,you can get pretty stopped up,(if you know what I mean!)Sometimes they will give you a stool softener to make it a little easier for you to go.It doesn't necessarilly make you go, but it makes it alot easier when you have to go.
This got me to thinking about our walk with the Lord.......(See,even this can be related to Christ!)
At the end of our life's journey,toward death,Jesus doesn't make us go,but He makes it a whole lot easier for us to go, when the time comes!
It's a lot easier to bear death,when you taste of Christ, before swallowing death.
Infact,if you taste of Him before tasting death,He will swallow up death for you.
Now that's some softener!
Becky

THE BUBBLES!

Before you read any further,know that I am going to the doctor about what I am writing you!

I must have the most exciting showtime at night for my eyes.I'll try to describe what I am seeing, but bear with me folks,'cause it sounds crazy!
I'm in bed going to sleep.Shortly after I close my eyes, a bunch of bubble like balls,that look like those ginger ale effervescent bubbles appear under my eyelids, and will continually bounce all over the place. Then,at other times,there are brown ones,the size of ping pong balls,that bounce everywhere inside of a small picture frame.Suddenly,one by one,the balls will begin to drift away,going upwards and out of the picture frame......(Probably going to another part of my brain that I know nothing about!)
Other times,there are sharp edges that appear,followed by jagged slices that go swooshing by.Circles will appear, and sponges and balls, and all kinds of goodies,folks, and then they begin to thin out and drift away.
The last one looked like small yellow cotton balls,smak dab next to each other, with pale brown cotton swabs beside them,all giggling about.They didn't last for long though......
I have no idea where they go when they leave,but sometimes I almost wish they would stay,they are so entertaining! I worried about this at first, and I AM going to get it checked out, but sling and shoulder come first! I figure they must be there for a reason, so I might as well enjoy the show!
If this is my thorn in the flesh for awhile,then I'm gonna enjoy it for as long as it last.
"In whatever circumstances I find myself,I have learned to be content,", and folks,these bubbles are about as contented as I can be!
If it will make you feel any better,as soon as I got off of the "hard drugs" from surgery,they stopped showing up!.......No more side shows for a week now!
Becky

SWEETER THAN HONEYCOMB

When I learned to embroider,Grandmother taught me to do all kinds of different stitches,so that I would be prepared for the day when I learned to sew.I learned to blind stitch;whip stitch;make knots, and do all kinds of cool things .....
Whenever I'm having to do any sewing today, I am often remind of those basic steps she taught me so long ago!
It's the same way with God's word! If we don't use it at the beginning,we will lose it!
We won't have any markers to go back to, for remembering things.
If we become so familiar with scripture as a child,then the Holy Spirit will bring it back to mind when you need it, as an adult.
You won't need to whip stitch,or blind stitch God's word to your memory bank,because it's sweeter than honeycomb,and sticks to a man's bones quite well.....
Thank you very much!
Becky

ELISABETH ELLIOTT

One of my favorite authors has always been Elisabeth Elliott. I've always appreciated her honesty and committment to her husband,Jim, when he was a missionary in Ecuador to the Acuan Indians.Several years ago,my former church ladies from Aiken went to Ridge Haven to hear her daughter speak.She called two weeks prior to coming,and asked if it would be alright if her Mother came along too! Talk about a dream come true! I finally got to hear and see Elisabeth Elliott speak in person! I also got to sit at her dinner table that night too, and she was every bit as nice in person as I had hoped!
Scripture tells us to "delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
I don't know about you,but I'm pretty sure that God was the only one who knew that seeing Elisabth Elliott was one of my biggest desires.
Whoduh thunkit?...............God, Who else!
He never ceases to amaze me,folks!
Becky

CLACKING TEETH

One of the funnniest things I ever saw my Grandmother do,was to take her teeth out at night and put them in a glass filled with some kind of a water solution beside her bed. I often wondered what she had to say about Jesus with her teeth out and she never let me down! She would make a clacking sound when she had her teeth in and she had a beautiful smile, but it was at night when she had her teeth in that little jar,that I thought she was the sweetest!
She loved me even then,so much,that she would tell me about Jesus without her teeth........Now that's devotion!
I think she used these times to get real close to me and I've never forgotten it,even if those teeth were funny!
Becky

BREAD OF LIFE

When I was at Grandmother's and had a sore throat,she would give me little thin wafer's called Throat Disc's. They were hot as all get out,but boy howdy did they ever get rid of your sore throat! I never could find them later on,but I happened to run across some licorice flavored Altoids,the other day, and they have the same taste as the Throat Disc's!The memory's just came flooding back too!
All it took, was one taste,....... and I remembered!
It's the same way, when we taste of God's word,and digest and understand it. When we are away from God's word for awhile, we will recognize it's true and abiding flavor, when we taste of "It" again.......
God's word is just too good to forget and who would want to forget the Bread of Life,anyway?
Becky

A SPLASH OF COLOR

Oh,the beautiful Painted Buntings are back on the river again. they are gathering around the bird feeders and their colors are absolutely breathaking. the bright blue, green and red of the male,and the charteuse of the female, stand out around my plain 'ole bird feeder. they kinda add some pizazz to all the other birds too, as far as I'm concerned.God didn't have to give him such magnificent colors,but he did, because he knew we would need some brilliance to liven up our ''drab'' lives.
He does the same thing when He gives us his word.By giving it to us,he has chosen to give us this colorful and powerful tool;one that was part of his life, and it's there for us to use,if we we'll only use it......
It is sharper than any two edged sword and when God swings it,........watch out!
He can come up with some mighty brilliant colors for our lives folks.
I love watching my Painted Bunting's,and I love watching what my God's gonna do next, 'cause it's always colorful and simply......"out of this world"!
Becky

THE BEST PLAY

The best play for the christian walk.....

I. Listen to the play in the huddle.
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God."

II. Snap #1
"Do it to the Glory of God

II. Snap#2
Run! Run! Run!

III. Life won!
Becky

SUBSTITUTE PLAYERS

When players are substituted in a game,one player comes out and another one goes in.
That's the way the game was planned.....
When Christ became a substitute for us in death,we came out from death and into life,while He went into a deathplay and died for our sins.
It was in His plans, but we just didn't know it!
Becky

THE HAND OF GOD

Even when you can't see God's hand,
you can trust God's word!
Becky

SOME GOD

It's the night before surgery, and I tell you folks,I have such a peace concerning this whole thing.I know it all the prayers of the saints that are lifting me up right now.....
Beth called from Aiken and had prayer, while Evelyn called from here in Beaufort.I've had 4 or 5 emails from people asking how I was doing and lifting me up.I'm in the back bedroom,right now,listening to "The Light", and feeling my eyes begin to droop.
Seven o'clock will come early enough for me.
It's so exciting to watch God at work, when one of His children is going through something.He takes care of every single detail, and doesn't miss a trick..Not one!
I am so at peace with this. How about that?
I can be at peace here on earth, as well as in Heaven.....
Or with one arm in a sling!
Woo Hoo!
Now that's really some God, who can do all that for you!
Becky

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

The sign says"Don't Sweat The Small Stuff".
If that's the case,wouldn't we be alot better off not sweating the big stuff too?
Becky

WHEN WE SING

When we sing some of those old songs at church,like "I'll Fly Away"",my mind zips back to a time in the Community Center where I sang those same songs with Grandmother and Grandaddy Bouterse, at Riley's Trailer Park.Oh,does it ever bring back memories,folks.Can I ever remember Grandmother's teeth clacking,as she sang, and the big grin she wore on her face.The memories for me,are as fresh today, as if they were yeterday.
It's the same way with God's word too.When we read something today,that we learned as a child,it comes back as a beautiful clear memory later on, in vivid detail,as if we just learned it.I can almost hear Grandmother telling me that Jesus was going to prepare a place for me, and that He would come back again one day, and take me Home to be with Him.She never lied to me,so I believed her,because that's what Jesus said!
The way things look today folks,He might be fixing my Home up sooner than I think!......
Woo Hoo!
Becky