TRULY BLESSED

This was another journey blessing that I learned of, just recently. When I lived in Aiken, we had a lovely lady who worked for us, named Jestine. Her entire family became adopted by my family, and David encouraged each one to go on to college, but especially Roma, who was having a difficult time in her high school years. My boys loved her, because she would take time with them after school, while she was waiting to take her Mama home. Her brother John, spoke at David's funeral, just as David spoke at Jestine's service, back in the 90's. Her sister Judy would always encourage me to remain focused on the Lord, whenever I ran into a difficult time.
Before David died, and as he was going downhill, he lost the ability to communicate with us, but when I found out that Roma had graduated from college and received her Masters degree, I told him, and he gave me the thumbs up, and the first smile, in a long time!
What a blessing for him to finally know that his Roma had achieved her Master's degree, after his telling her that she could do it, for so many years.
Roma called me this afternoon, and reminded me that Mr. Lock had continued to encourage her to strive to do her best when the chips were down, and it seemed like she wouldn't make it. When he started to get sick, she was motivated to go on and make sure she finished school just for him!
That's how God chooses to bless us, sometimes, when He gives us a blessing. He will bless us through the lives of others.
I'd say I am truly blessed!
Becky

CAROLING

Every Christmas, when my children were little, I would gather them together with all the neighborhood folks and we would walk around the neighborhood and sing Christmas carols to the neighbors, while David stayed at home and fixed hot cocoa and set out the Krispee Kreme donuts for us, so they would be ready for us on our return home!
What a welcome treat it was, on those bitter cold nights, to return home to a warm, crackling fire and have Daddy waiting with a cup of cocoa and a donut! I believe the neighbors enjoyed their voices as much as we enjoyed singing too!
One day, after we have finished our singing solos on this earth, our Heavenly Father is gonna welcome us Home too! He will not only have prepared a place for us, that we can live in eternally, but He is gonna serve us a banquet that will put my krispee Kreme's to shame!
(Besides that, He is gonna serve it in the presence of my enemies too!)
Becky

FOREVER

Some things may not be here this year, that were here last year.~~~~
The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever!
Becky

AIKEN

I was given a warm and wonderful "day after Thanksgiving" today!
George and Melissa opted to celebrate their Thanksgiving on Friday this, year, and also honor the memory of David's birthday. George invited all the relatives that lived in Aiken, and Allen and Theresa. This celebration was complete with all the trimmings and my precious Emery, who gave me the biggest and most beautiful smile, ever! The eldest son of Melissa even made sure Grammy B had a special dark chocolate Reeses Peanut Butter Cup hidden in the refrigerator! What a special treat for me, from a young man, who adored "Cap'n Dave."
Many blessings and memories were shared and flowers were taken out to the cemetery afterwards. A day I wasn't looking forward to celebrating, without my sweetheart, turned into a lovely surprise for me. God always does things like that for me, and for His children. Allen even wore one of David's shirts and it made me feel right at home.
If they'll cook like this every year, maybe I should do it this way next year too!
Becky

PUBLIX

This was a special day today, as I arrived at Publix. I had to pick up some cinnamon mini bagels and that was just about it. I was meandering down the aisle looking for them, when a lady said she couldn't find the sparkling water, so I stopped to help her look.I couldn't find the bagels either, so she helped me look! She asked if I was going to have family in this Thanksgiving, and I told her "no", that my husband had died two months ago, and I just couldn't handle a lot of family yet. I told her Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, but couldn't do it this year! She exclaimed! "Oh my dear, you need a hug!" She then went on to say that she was widowed too, and understood completely why I was doing it that way. She said her birthday was Friday, on David's birthday, so I told her I would celebrate it then too!
How like my God to give me a pick me up in the middle of the week, knowing I probably would need it.
He's such a clever God!
Becky

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This Thanksgiving I want to wish each and everyone of you a most warm and wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.
As you know, this is my favorite holiday of the year, and I love decorating and all the preparations of getting ready for Thanksgiving. This year it is hard for me, so I am doing it different. My decorations were put up the day after David's service. I had to do it that way. I am giving thanks for 63 years of a wonderful life. I am giving thanks for 37 years with my hero who has given me three terrific children, who have grown into some remarkable adults. I am so proud of them, and give God thanks for them each day. I give thanks for the land I live in and all the benefits it has given me. So, even though I am not with my family this Thanksgiving, I will still watch the Macy's Day Parade, and look for the "Cats" that my brothers will laugh over, and I will see my children on Friday to celebrate what would have been their Daddy's birthday, and I will have a wonderful Thanksgiving, because my thanksgiving is in my Lord!
Happy Thanksgiving my friends!
Becky

CHRISTMAS SHOEBOX

Of course I couldn't let a day go by when I didn't tell you how my God shines His awesome glory! Today was no exception, and this will absolutely blow your mind! Only God could have done this, folks!
Only God could orchestrate the arrival of a Christmas shoebox going over seas, that arrived and have a set of twins walk to pick it up, only having one twin arriving too late and alll the shoe boxes had been given out, and she didn't get one. Her sweet sister waited for her though, and told everyone that she and her sister would share her shoebox. When her sister arrived, they opened her box to find two of everything in it, and a note that said the contents of the box was to go to twins!
Now, I ask you......How cool is that? Did our God not know from the very beginning that she would be late and that she would not get a box and would have to share her sister's box? Did He not plan that from the very beginning?
Our God is an awesome God indeed!
Becky

RECOGNITION

When I hear Michael Easley's voice on the radio, I recognize it, and I recognize the voice and words of John MacArthur too, even though his dark wavy hair has given way to a shiny top, and he doesn't look a thing like he use to!
That should be the same way it is, when we see or hear words from scripture! We should be so use to what those words sound like, that we can recognize them anywhere!
Becky

JESUS

I found that in my 63 years, the one thing I appreciated the most in growing up, was my Grandmother Bouterse telling me about the love of God and all the stories of Jesus. I grew to understand that they weren't just stories either, but a covenant with His people, telling them that He would never leave them, nor forsake them! I understood this at an early age too, and the relationship with Him just grew and grew. I wasn't in a church that opened the Bible every Sunday, because it preached those wonderful "feel good" sermons that they do in the Methodist church. We had some wonderful preachers and my family was very close to them, but I didn't grow in God's word.
God, however didn't forsake me!
No, He knew where I was all that time, and was just waiting!
He was waiting until I married a man that "I thought" was a believer and who "seemed" like he was, .......and then God went to work!(He worked on him for 37 years too!) He tried me at every turn and I tried Him at every turn, but He wouldn't budge, this God of ours! When I was ready to throw in the marriage towel, He held me faithful and true to my marriage vows, and some thirty seven years later, I was so grateful for that!
God gave me New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Aiken,( PCA) where I finally heard God's word and it was like going from an appetizer to a full course meal! I couldn't get enough! When we moved to Beaufort in 2003, I just knew I would never find another church that preached the word of God again! God is always faithful, though, and He drove me right over to Community Bible Church, and I have been so blessed to sit under expository preaching about our glorious Savior, ever since!
Yes, I appreciated Grandmother telling me about Jesus way back then,and
I appreciate Jesus more for telling us how to get the gift of salvation!
I know now that He never did forsake me then, and He surely won't forsake me now!
Becky

THE BODY OF CHRIST

I had the sweetest blessing today! Most of you know that I was trying to wash down my walls in the living room; laundry room; bathroom, and the two bedrooms. Well, I knew it was gonna be a huge job, so I emailed Kim who teaches my Sunday School class, and asked if there might be some of the ladies in the class that could help me out. Well, today, Charlene came out at lunch and she washed walls with Edie's miracle cloth attached to my swiffer mop and we finished the entire living room! She managed to go down the hall, and the bathroom too! Then, this afternoon, Michelle and her hubby came out and they took on the task of moving all the furniture in the back bedroom and cleaning it from top to bottom! They both cleaned and talked with me, and then I fixed them some vegetable soup for supper. Chris was kind enough to hang the pictures back on the walls for me too!
This is what is so wonderful about the body of Christ. When a limb needs help, another limb will come to its aid!
I had a wonderful body of Christ at New Covenant, in Aiken, and I have a wonderful body of Christ here at CBC, in Beaufort!
I bet I'll have a body of Christ that will be out of this world in Heaven!
Becky

MIRACLE CLOTH!

I began washing down the walls in the living room today, so I placed a miracle cloth on the end of a swiffer mop and "mopped" away! Much to my surprise and glee, it took off so much of that 'ole stale smoke stain, that I won't have to have Servpro come out, or even have it painted!
Hallelujah and pass the butterbeans!
I took that cloth and it wiped the stain of leftover cigarette smoke off the walls....... I couldn't believe it!
It was almost as if it had never been there. The walls were refreshed and looked as if they were brand new!
It's the same way when we are new creatures in Christ. He takes His cloth of forgiveness and wipes away every stain of sin that we have. When He does, there's not one trace of stain left.....anywhere!
If it begins to show up again, His grace covering cloth will wipe it away again.
It was a lot of work for me to wipe down those walls, but if I want Jesus to wipe away my sins, all I have to do is ask Him!
He does all the work.....Not me!
Becky

LOVING FATHER

God's word says:" For in the days of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle. In the secret places of His tent He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock."
I think when David died, and I had to go through so much anguish and yet still function, I think that's what God was talking about!
I think that's where He had me~~~ in His tabernacle taking care of my wounds so I could move on. He hid me in the secret places of His tent and He would lift me up on high on a rock when I needed to be lifted up.
Somedays I could go out and be with people and some days I did better at being at home in His tent!
He does these things for His children because He loves us, and because that's what a loving Father does. Only if we look for them, will we see them everywhere.
I don't think I have to be in trouble to be in His tabernacle either!
Becky

GARAGE SALES

I hand painted a SC Palmetto tree with the crescent moon on my black cloth suitcase, so that I could easily spot it in the airplain terminal tarmacs, and I definitely can!
It is painted in white and stands out on that black suitcase so well that I can spot it from the window as they are loading it onto the plane!
There is one big problem though.....
After 911, many airports have tightened their security so much, that seeing a crescent moon on anything makes them very nervous! I'm not kidding! I have been stopped and tageted as a high risk because of this suitcase, so because I'm going to Israel next March, I decided it would be to my benefit to find another suitcase to take.
I asked David's garage sale buddy, Herman to be on the look out for an inexpensive one, that was still nice, and did he ever come through! He found one that's nicer than my original one, and only paid $3.00 for it! I have a new suitcase worth about $45.00, for $3.00. Talk about a bargain!
God always provides for His children, doesn't He, and sometimes He even does it through a garage sale!
Becky

RIGHTEOUS ANGER

When your Father sees you doing something he told you specifically not to do, he has every right to become angry with you for doing it anyway!
Why is it any different for God to become angry, when His own children are disobedient to His rules?
Becky

EVERYTHING

We are singing a song in the Christmas musical, called "My Treasure."
The words go like this:
"Everything! Everything!~~~~ Lord, You are everything to me!
Everything! Everything!~~~~ Lord, You are everything to me!
My treasure! My priority!....."
It goes on to tell of how we can't compare Him to anything.
He is truly everything to me, especially after all that I have been through, as of late. Every time I sing these songs, folks, I'm humbled that Matt would allow this 'ole voice to sing with the choir, just at Christmas and Easter~~~~but he does, and I love it! It helps with memory too, because I have to memorize all ten of the songs, each time. Many of the songs, I learned as a young girl, but I learned them as a soprano, and now I'm singing with the alto's, so I'm having to re-learn them that way too. When I sing, I'm actually singing up towards Jesus, and I have to be careful to remember to watch Matt, or I will just keep on praising away to my Lord!
Yes, we are told not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, but in Heaven, and if we make Jesus our treasure, then we can, indeed, have "everything" in Heaven!
Becky

LENA

I made some Spritz cookies this week, and had to call the lady who gave me the recipe. Mrs. Howard lives in Mount Dora, and is 92 years old! She was my kindergarten Sunday School teacher and one of the dearest ladies I have ever known. When I was a little girl, I remember being invited over to her home after church, and that was the highlight of my Sunday.
She and her husband Tony, had one of the very first electric garage door opener's in Mount Dora, and to a little girl, that was the most exciting thing ever! They would drive me to their home and let me push the button to raise the garage door, and then I would stay the afternoon, after lunch. She would teach me the art of baking cookies, and tell me about the horses that she saw when she and Tony lived in Harlan, Kentucky. Her favorite horse was War Admiral!
She often sent me post cards from Harlan, with pictures of horses on them, and at Christmas, she was known to drive all over Mount Dora, delivering her plates of cookies to various and a sundry friends and acquaintances.I think that is where I have picked up this trait of delivering a smaller plate of cookies to my friends too.
She truly was a friend who refreshed, that was herself refreshed!
She reminded me how to finish off making my Spritz cookies, and was so appreciative that I called. She used to pick up a church bulletin for my Mother and bring it to her, when she was unable to go to church, so it was only natural for me to call and check on her! Just as that garage door opener was a thrill for me to see, so should the revealing of God's love and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ~~~~
Only more so!
Becky

IT'S POSSIBLE

It is possible to become so close to God and His word, that You are in tune with Him and content with what He is doing in your life, so that when people are upset with what's going on in the world, it doesn't really bother you! This means that your entire being has become so focused and enmeshed in the Savior, that earthly things won't overtake you! You have truly learned to place your treasure in Heaven, rather than on earthly things!
One of the most beautiful moments I will ever treasure, is knowing that amidst the ugliness of a nation going caddywhampus from what I grew up with; from terror growing by leaps and bounds and from death surrounding us all over~~~~
Actually, from prophecy being fulfilled before my very eyes,is the fact that God has allowed me the opportunity to come closer to Him in my walk!
He has planted me by streams of "Living Water" so that when the dead sea rolls, I can live peacefully through it!
All things are possible with God!
"I AM" is some God, isn't He?
Becky

CREATIVE GOD!

I get so tickled with my God sometimes!
Way back when I was thinking about my major in college, and planning on a future in Physical Education, God knew already that I wasn't the most excited person in the world about exercising. Yet, in my classes, He gave me creative ways to have my students learn their lessons. They never even realized they were exercising, when we finished our activities! What a fun way to move!
When I had my brain hemorrhage, I couldn't do anymore early morning reading, so He gave me "The Light" in the morning for my worship time! He also gave me scripture to go along with my exercises for my total shoulder replacement,the first thing in the morning. I did them to "Be still and know that I am God" and "The joy of the Lord is my strength"!
What a way to start your day! Anytime God can get me to be still and know that He is God, is a great exercise any day!
Becky

QUITE WELL

The little woman and frail elderly man sat across from us at McConkles eatery at Edisto today. Her cheeks were pink and he could barely see, but they smiled and laughed together. There was a twinkle in their eyes for just each other that any bystander could witness. I asked him how long they had been married, and with a chuckle he said "69 years!"
What a treasure folks! Isn't it an extra treat when God gives you something like this in the middle of your week? Pat and I were enjoying our Pimento Cheese Hamburgers, when they came in to eat....and the fun began!
We were treated to wonderful words of wisdom from this couple.
God teaches us to number our days, that we may present to Him a Holy and acceptable sacrifice, and I think after listening to this delightful couple, their hearts of wisdom were the most acceptable sacrifices this dear couple could give!
I think they have learned to number their days quite well!
Becky

GOD'S WORD

It's so nice to know, that even though my sweetheart is no longer by my side, I can still count on the same things to hold me up!
I can still do the same things!
I can still think the same way!
I can still wake up and go to bed the same way!
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because my life revolves around the God of the Universe, and nothing else!
God's word never changes, and it will never fail!
It doesn't mean I don't miss David, but God's word will uphold me, even in the rocky times....
God provided for me, by providing a husband who took care of me!
God always takes care of His children!
His word never changes and never fails, and you can take this statement to the bank!!
Becky

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

I just thought of the neatest thing, and I think it might help other ladies who are in my exact situation!
I have been struggling with not wanting to go anywhere for Thanksgiving. I haven't wanted to even go to my children's house, or even have them come here, and I have felt terrible about it, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I loving getting ready for it. I want to be here in my own home this year. I don't mind getting a bite to eat at someone else's home, but I want be here at home for that day!
I was talking with Maybelle, and she said that a friend of hers had been going to some Hospice grief counseling, for women who had recently been widowed, but that who had also lost a child, and several of them had said they were going through their first holiday without their spouses and didn't want to go anywhere, or have anyone in. They wanted to be at home and in the security of their home! That made so much sense to me! I was suddenly validated in my thinking! Because David had been here for me when David junior died, I now felt his security and closeness at being at home.
Yes, Thanksgiving has always been special to me, but it's because I can be thankful to God for so many blessings. that I don't need to have my turkey and sweet potato casserole this year. I could feel okay about staying home and maybe going to someone's home for lunch that day, and then coming back home because "Home is where the heart is"! Giving a child back to God is the hardest thing that a person will ever be asked to do...... even before losing a spouse! However, God gave me that spouse to help me through that time, and I want a special time now to remember that spouse without all the Turkey trimmings!
I hope my friends and family will understand. I think it makes really good sense!
Becky