Getting Ready to Move

      For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from GOD, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.-2 Cor. 5:1

     Last week, i was walking my dog and i had a part of a song perusing in my mind...it was a small part albeit, but it was a part. I couldn't quite remember the words, but i knew it was along the lines of "needing to fix my shingles," and...something "about an old house." I searched and searched on my phone for it as i walked. I knew the Isaacs sang it, but could not find it to save my life.  Several years ago, i was in Texas for some medical treatment, and my room on the second floor was next to a rickety old house, that was draped with moss, and fallen leaves. In it's dilapidated state, it had reminded me of this song and i wrote a blog about it then.

     When i got back to the house after my walk, i had my time with the LORD. Since my Daddy died, i have began reading a couple of old devotion books i used to read-"Streams in the Desert," and "Words of Comfort and Cheer," by Charles Cowman. I opened up the "Streams in The Desert," and i couldn't believe what the devotion was about for that day:

October 21 Ready to Move

 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from GOD, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.-2 Cor. 5:1

The owner of the tenement which i have occupied for many years has given notice that he will furnish but little or nothing more for repairs. I am advised to be ready to move.   

At first this was not a very welcome notice. The surroundings here are in many respects very pleasant, and were it not for the evidence of decay, I should consider the house good enough. But even a light wind causes it to tremble and totter, and all the braces are not sufficient to make it secure. So i am getting ready to move.  

It is strange how quickly one's interest is transferred to the prospective home.  I have been consulting maps of the new country and reading descriptions of its inhabitants.  One who visited it has returned, and from him I learn that it is beautiful beyond description; language breaks down in attempting to tell of what he heard while there.  He says that, in order to make and investment there, he has suffered the loss of all things that he owned there, and even rejoices in what others would call making a sacrifice.  Another, whose love to me has been proven by the greatest possible test, is now there.  He has sent me several clusters of the most delicious fruits.  After tasting them, all food here seems insipid.

Two or three times i have been down by the border of the river that forms the boundary, and have wished myself among the company of those who were singing praises to the King on the other side.  Many of my friends have moved there.  Before leaving they spoke of my coming later.  I have seen the smile upon their faces as they passed out of sight.  Often i am asked to make some new investments her, but my answer in every case is, "I am getting ready to move."-Selected

The words often on Jesus' lips in His last days express vividly the idea, "going to the Father." We, too, who are CHRIST's people, have vision of something beyond the difficulties and disappointments of this life.  We are journeying towards fulfillment, completion, expansion of life.  We, too, are "going to the Father."  Much is dim concerning our home-country, but two things are clear.  It is home, "the Father's House." It is the nearer presence of the Lord.  We are all wayfarers, but the believer knows it and accepts it.  He is a traveller, not a settler.-R.C. Gillie

The little birds trust God,  for they go singing 

From northern woods where autumn winds have blown, 

With joyous faith their trackless pathway winging

To summer-lands of song, afar, unknown

Let us go singing, then, and not sighing:

Since we are sure our times are in His hand,

Why should we weep, and fear, and call it dying?

'Tis only flitting to a Summer land. -Selected

     When i read this devotion, i couldn't believe it! This devotion had gone right along with the song i was trying my best to remember but couldn't think of it. I prayed, Lord, help me find that song, and "Boom!" almost immediately God put  in my head some of the lyrics after reading this devotion and i was able to find it.  Here it is, "I'm Going to Move," by the Isaacs:

https://youtu.be/FfjTZt-GzqY

     With my Dad's moving to heaven being just a little over three weeks ago, these verses, thoughts, and song was such a comfort to my heart.  My Dad's body that had served him so well for most of his almost 94 years, had gotten in some bad repair over the past 10 years.  He began losing his eyesight with macular degeneration in his mid 80's and had to give up driving.  His hearing continued to gradually decline and a couple of years ago he had a bad ear infection and lost complete hearing in his left ear.  The antibiotic left his joints sore and achy for several months afterwards.  He began losing his short term memory a few years ago.  He could tell it was coming on and he showed my brothers where his important papers were filed very neatly, and went over business things with them they needed to know to take care of our dear Mother.  A year ago, he was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, and more and more of his days were spent sitting in the swing on the carport watching the traffic go by and the fields across the highway, or on the back porch looking at his "Grandfather Tree," as he called it where both of his Granddaddies had helped him plant a maple tree in his back lot many years ago.  I often would come down and hear my Daddy singing which is something i don't remember him doing when i was growing up. 

     A week before Daddy died, i went down to their house like i usually do on Thursdays to do their grocery shopping.  I asked Daddy how he was doing and he said, "I'm here," which wasn't like him. The past few years he would always say, "I'm hanging in here," when i asked him how he was doing.  As we talked later that afternoon,  we enjoyed a bowl of Brunswick stew from Whitt's Bar B Que which was our Thursday routine after he helped put up the groceries.  I remember Daddy sitting in his recliner and  saying: "If you aren't prepared for where you are going, you had better get prepared." I don't remember what were were talking about, but i remember these being  close to his last words to my heart and i hope i will never forget them and live by them.

     My Daddy was prepared when the LORD called him home early in the morning of October 1, 2020.  He had settled his relationship with JESUS a long time ago.  He couldn't remember the exact time and date when i asked him in his later years when he accepted CHRIST, but he knew he had and his life bore much fruit for CHRIST through his life of laying down his life for his family and others.  He led his family to church, and he raised us to love the LORD.  In GOD's time each of us five siblings would go on to accept CHRIST as our LORD and SAVIOR.

     The past few months due to the Covid shutdown, i made some sweet memories of coming in on Sunday mornings and seeing my Mom and Dad watch their church service on TV.  Daddy would scoot up close to the TV so he could see it and hear the preaching.  One Sunday morning my Dad and I shared the LORD's supper together on his back porch as our pastor led us online.  Another day, Daddy and i were sitting in the swing together and i asked Daddy if he'd like me to read the Bible to him and he said yes and turned toward me with his good ear and he listened attentively.

     My Daddy was getting ready to move, and though we would never be ready for him to temporarily leave us, his old house, or tent, was worn out.  His sprit is in heaven with JESUS and one day the Bible teaches us that JESUS is going to come in the clouds, the trumpet is going to sound, and the dead in CHRIST shall rise first.

By the word of the LORD, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the LORD will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the LORD Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in CHRIST will be first to rise.  After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And so we will always be with the LORD..." I Thessalonians 4:15-16

   Then, verse 18 says "to encourage one another with these words." 

     I will have to tell you, i was so encouraged when i read that devotion Wednesday morning and the LORD brought that song to my mind.  He reminded me that Daddy's old tent had worn out and now he has a building in heaven that is eternal in the heavens and Daddy is with the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

   As i stood by his grave a few days ago to check the mums we had placed on it, God again brought joy to my heart reminding me that Daddy wasn't there.  His dead body was planted like a seed of corn that Daddy had planted so much of during his life, and his old body will be raised again, turned into a new body, when the LORD comes for HIS Bride. 

`So it is with the resurrection of the dead:  Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body; raised a spiritual body." I Corinthians 15:42-44

 Daddy's spirit is in heaven because Daddy had trusted in JESUS as his LORD and SAVIOR years ago.  

    If you haven't accepted CHRIST as your LORD and SAVIOR, Daddy's exhortation to me a week before he died is my exhortation to you: "If you aren't prepared for where you are going, you better get prepared." No decision is a decision to spend eternity in hell if you should die apart from CHRIST. 

     To accept JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR:

1. Admit you are a sinner. Romans 3:23

     2. Believe in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Romans 6:23

     3. Confess JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR. Romans 10:9-10

 "For God so loved the world that HE gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

   

    I pray these words the LORD has given me to share today will comfort your heart as they have mine.  Thank you so much for taking time to read.  

    "May the LORD bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you.  May the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26

                                                                                           With all HIS love,

                                                                                            mitzi

We Will Remember

     "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now He will heal us. He has injured us, now He will bandage our wounds. In just a short time, He will restore us, so that we may live in His presence. Oh that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn, or the coming of rains in early spring." Hosea 6:1-3

     Today is our baby girl's birthday.  She is 28 and she was born on her great grandmother, Mary Bottom Fowler's birthday, and the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  She has been a joy from the beginning as she came out with her prissy little self in her first baby picture, indicative of the overflowing personality and sunshine  that would fill our hearts and our home.
     When she was 2 months, and then again at 5 months, we nearly lost her.  She had a growth across her windpipe that the doctor's were unable to find until she almost suffocated to death.  Even through this difficult time when her little chest would be working so hard to take deep breaths, she would be smiling.  She was in Children's hospital twice both for a week at a time while they first tried to shrink the growth with prednisone, and then when they did surgery to remove the growth.  After a rough start, we are so grateful for God's grace and mercy to protect her and deliver her from the hemangioma that almost took her life before she got started good.
     Hannah Beth has always been so full of life.  As a little girl, the more friends she had around her, the more full of life she became.  I tease her about it, because her little guy is just like she was and the more the merrier for her!  She loved playing with dolls, but she also enjoyed playing ball.  I always admired her because she was feminine, but she liked the outdoors.  She played softball, and loved dance.  When she was little she took ballet from a studio here in town.  I wasn't too happy with the older girls recital, and longed for Hannah Beth to take ballet from a Christian perspective like Heather Whitestone, the deaf Miss America, who was a part of the Briarwood Ballet.  Interestingly, after having to wait a few years, GOD raised up her babysitter, Melody Kiyak Locklair, to be that ballet teacher.  Melody took dance from the local dance studio and i asked her Mom one day if Melody would be willing to teach Hannah Beth at our home some ballet.  Little did i know that HB would be the first of many students that Melody would teach ballet and dance using music that glorified the LORD having large recitals at Friendship Methodist and then Trinity Methodist in Huntsville and impacting so many young ladies for JESUS.

Hannah Beth at 16 with "Troy," our little Maltipoo

    Hannah Beth took a break from ballet for a few years, to pour herself into karate and earned a black belt.  Not sure what degree, but she got it and then resumed her ballet again through her high school years.
   HB and i took a lot of road trips together and we had a great time and made some great memories in the midst of my doctor appts in Dallas, and we squeezed in the Mesquite rodeo on one of our trips.  She was always great at reminding me of stuff which i needed.  She was taking care of me!  We went to a ton of gospel singings, and had a big trip up to Ashville, North Carolina to see the Greene's at their homecoming. The young man she was dating was also up there with his family staying at the Biltmore Hotel while we stayed at the Motel 6.  True story.  We had a great time as they took us through the beautiful Biltmore and touring the grounds, and then we camped out at the Motel 6...Lol.  It was cheap and a place i could stay with my allergies.
    She was always a fun loving gal, and not as studious as her older brother.  So i was really pleasantly surprised when she took classes at Calhoun while she was in high school and earned A's and received the History award.  She went on to the University of Mobile and finished as one of the top students in her nursing class, gaining special awards there also.
   When she graduated from college, she got a job as Camp Nurse at SAMBICA out in Washington State.  We hated to see her go that far but GOD had a plan and she ended up meeting her future husband out there.  We are so thankful he was a CHRISTian first and from Alabama second.  Then, she came home, and a friend from our church helped her get a nursing job at UAB on the Liver and Transplant unit.  That was a big job for a gal fresh out of college and summer camp.  Summer camp was a big job too.  She had a lot of responsibility to give out a lot of meds.  She also managed to break her foot while she was there, and she kept on working.
    Next stop for her was Labor and Delivery, her true love.  She worked at UAB in L and D, and now at Madison Hospital, in L and D.  She is training to be a charge nurse there and we are so proud of her.
    Most of all we are so proud of her relationship with JESUS, and the great wife and Mom she is to her two boys, Bracken, 4, and Shepard, 15 months, who are full blast.  I watch her pour out her life day after day for her family, and work fulltime on the weekends, and work on her Nurse Practioner degree and knows she only does all this by GOD's help.

    A couple of weeks ago, she and her son, Bracken, were returning from the gym, and a car was stopped on the road.  She swerved but was unable to miss it.  Her car rolled over and over and they ended up upside down in the median.   WE ARE BEYOND GRATEFUL that she and Bracken, and the other people who were in the other car were not hurt.  It was truly a MIRACLE and happened just three days before THANKSGIVING.  It could have been a whole different scenario, and we are so grateful for GOD's divine protection of them.  This picture was taken of our baby and grandchildren the day after the wreck.

Celebrating THANKSgiving after  serving others at the hospital all day.

     This past week, Bracken celebrated his 4th birthday, and today is Hannah Beth's 28th.  GOD thank you for the privilege and blessing to be able to remember your great faithfulness to our family.  Thank you so much for the wonderful gift you brought to our family and our house 28 years ago.  We had no idea how much you wanted to bless us and use her to be a blessing to others.  THANK YOU, JESUS.  WE WILL REMEMBER YOUR GREAT LOVINGKINDNESS and FAITHFULNESS to our family and PRAISE YOUR NAME!!!

Playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," at Bracken's 4th birthday


"We Will Remember"
https://youtu.be/DzoxsxsIMCE.

The Lawnmower

 

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him." Matthew 7:11

Dear Friends,
    Earlier this week my husband told me that the guy who was cutting our yard was no longer working for us.  It's funny cause even before he told me that, i was planning  to cut our grass last Friday.    I went out into the garage, and much to my disappointment, there was no lawnmower.  I asked my husband where the mower was and he said it was at the restaurant  http://www.oldgreenbrier.com/ . I was a little annoyed but there was nothing i could do but wait til Monday til the young man who usually cuts our grass could do it.  Monday, my husband told  me  the young man was no longer working for us.  So, the next day my husband gave me money to go and buy a new lawnmower to keep at the house because they needed the  other one at the restaurant.
     I went by Lowe's and was checking out their lawnmowers.  I noticed a lot of them were self propelled , but i didn't want one of those.  My husband had bought a nice one for me last year and honestly, i was about as ungrateful as a person can be.  It had all the bells and whistles but i didn't like it.  I didn't think i needed one and I liked the old one i had just fine until the wheel broke off.  Giving me a self propelled mower and calling it my "Mother's Day," present did not sit too well with me last year.  I used it once or twice in the yard last year and although it worked great on the straight a ways, it was  heavy to use to trim.   So with disdain in my heart and voice i told my husband to take it to our restaurant and use it there, i didn't want to use it.  Besides we had the other young man to cut the grass and he didn't need a self propelled mower.
    Well, back to Lowe's this week. I walked by the self propelled mowers out front and went to the aisle the lawn mowers were displayed.  A chatty salesman helped me and told me which lawn mowers came back the most.  He was helpful but i couldn't make a decision  right then between the cheapest and middle of the road mulch mowers, so i told him i would have to come back later.  As i walked out the door, i found myself praying and asking GOD to show me which lawnmower He would have me to purchase.  Would you believe the first thing that popped into my head was the self propelled lawn mower my husband had bought for me a year ago?  The one i didn't like, and grumbled and complained about and was ungrateful for my husband's generous gift.  I called my husband and asked him about the mower. He said he wasn't sure where it was but he would look at the restaurant when he got there.  He called me a little while later and said he had the mower on the truck and he was bringing a guy in from work to cut the grass. I was a little disappointed, i wanted to cut the grass myself to get some exercise, but

i was glad to get the yard cut.  He called later and said the guy had to stay at the restaurant and couldn't cut the grass and i was really glad.  When he got home, we unloaded the mower, and i had to go and get some gas for the mower. The gas can was missing:).  After i was all gassed up, i immediately started cutting the tall grass.  Took me a little bit to remember how to engage the blade, but once i did, the mower took off and cut like a top.  It didn't get bogged down at all in the tall grass like my other mowers usually did. The mower plowed through that tall grass in nothing flat and up the hill in the back yard where our storm shelter is without any straining from me.  All i could think of was how thankful i was for this wonderful gift and i wondered why did it take me so long to appreciate what my husband had done for me?  Maybe get a year older and slower had something to do with it.
    I started thinking about the verse i shared up above that had been in my Bible reading that morning.  I thought about me being slow to accept the gift of the lawn mower my husband gave me was like not wanting to accept the many gifts God wants to give us....like the lawn mower for one,.  Some of His gifts come veiled in packages that we don't want....sickness, death, financial struggles, loss of relationships.  I know because i have struggled with illness since my mid twenties.  And as much as i have struggled with this "gift," of sickness, some of my greatest blessings from the LORD have come because of the path GOD has orchestrated for me.  Blessings of people i have met that i wouldn't have otherwise had i not been sick, education i have received because of the path the LORD has guided me down. Gifts like learning to depend on the LORD to help me raise my kids and homeschool them, because i had to so very much.  Now i am entering a new season with grandkids and i find myself having to depend on the LORD to be a good grandmother, and mother in law and mother and wife even when i don't feel like it. HE is strong in my weaknesses.  His gift of grace to me and to you each day is a GIFT  that HE gives us to DO THIS LIFE.  We don't have to struggle through and try to do it on our own.  He is there to "supply all my needs in CHRIST JESUS," Phil. 4:13. "His grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my  weakness...therefore i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me.." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Kind of like that self propelled lawnmower...all i have to do is hold on and it cuts!
    The most important gift of all is the gift of GOD paying for our salvation with the precious blood of His Son, JESUS. "But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12. This gift is free to us, because it costs GOD so very much."For God so loved the world that HE gave His only Son, but whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.  But like me with the lawnmower, we often turn our nose up at this most precious of gifts and don't want to receive his  salvation from the fiery flames of hell, salvation from a miserable life and all the blessings that being a child of GOD brings to us.  Reading in my Bible reading this morning, God warned the children of Israel over and over, if they obeyed him, and loved him, He would bless them,  and pour out this gifts upon them. If they disobeyed and turned to other gods, he would punish them and eventually send them to live among other nations, which is what eventually happened to the Jews when they turned away from GOD. When we refuse God's grace in our lives and reject His gift of HIS SON JESUS, it results in us losing so many other blessings that GOD wants to lavish upon us as HIS children.
      I sure am glad the LORD led me to pray that prayer and ask HIM which lawnmower i should purchase.  My husband had already purchased the best lawn mower, last year, and it was sitting in a shed, just waiting to be a blessing to me.
    Do you have some "lawnmowers," in your life, gifts you have rejected for one reason or another?  God wants us to be thankful and receive all of HIS gifts with grateful hearts, whether it be a lawnmower in my case waiting to bless me, or maybe it's something else the LORD wants to bless your life with.  Just ask him, HE is so merciful and gracious and glad to give us good gifts if we will ask Him.

    I had the opportunity to go see the Hoppers this past week and been singing this song in my head all week! ..."Life is Good Because God is.."  https://youtu.be/2a-JntnZcro

               With all His love,

                         Mitzi

       

You Don't Know Where I've Been...But GOD Knows Where I Am Going

                                                             

     This morning i dragged myself to the gym to go to the first dance exercise class I've been a part of since my husband was in seminary in the mid 80's when i went to aerobic classes at the RAC.  I'm a  slow starter in the mornings...i used to be a fast starter before i got sick from different stuff like too many antibiotics, pesticides, chlorine, cigarette smoke, medications, etc and i became allergic to EVERYTHING. I truly was and thankfully by the grace of GOD I am sensitive to a whole lot less things now.  Well, i wasn't dragging to0 slowly after i had my Armor thyroid medicine, my homeopathic drops that help me detox, my little pink drink, and my bone broth protein shake filled with raw eggs, almond milk, avocado, spinach, beet powder, green super foods mix, blueberries, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, wheat grass....you get the picture.  I have been going to the gym now about two weeks and just thrilled to death.  I've was very athletic up until i got sick...and then i wasn't. I couldn't hardly get up off the floor to be honest and i was 27 years old with an 8 month old little baby and a pastor's wife.I am 54 now.   So today, going to the gym and actually taking part in a dance class was a huge victory.  
    A couple of weeks ago, my husband told me to go by and see if i could stay in the gym because he wanted us to start going together.  He didn't have to ask me twice. Though i've tried before to stay in there, the smell of rubber or chlorine was always too strong for me, this time i signed us up and i have been able to exercise without any smell problems.  Finding something to wear was the hardest part so far.  I just had a couple of pair of pants that would work and they both were too short for me.   So after pulling them down around my waist as far as i could so i wouldn't flood too badly, i went to K Mart Thursday and bought me some better fitting pants. Lula Roe leggings work too, and since my daughter sells them, i have a good stock of them and wore the purple ones with different color motorcycles all over them this morning to dance class.  I am self conscious about my weight....and that was a humbling thing for me to go to the dance class as heavy as i am.  I am really thankful to have been able to get on thyroid medicine lately, along with some adrenal support and the other things i do including eating mostly organic, and i hope and pray my weight is going to start going the other direction.  It's been very humbling going from being the smallest or average person to the largest sometimes.  But it's a good humbling because i've always been judgmental about folks who are overweight.  Always. So God is giving me a good dose of what it's like to try, try, try to lose weight and i have to work harder than most people it seems.  But it will come off in GOD's timing.  

My husband took this picture of me this morning before i went to class for a 60 Day Trim Up with Plexus Contest
www.shopmyplexus.com/hisgraceissufficient

     So getting back to the dance class...i purposefully went to the class this morning hoping i wouldn't know anyone.  I didn't, thankfully.  Several from my church and old church go to the evening classes and they are like advanced and i didn't want them to see me heavy and stumbling around trying to dance.  God is gracious and there were just a few people there, some close to my age, and skill level:).  The teacher, Erin was really nice.  She made me feel comfortable and although i was on the back row, nothing was hidden in that class with the large mirror in front. Ugh.  But we got started, and i felt like i had two left feet, but it was ok.  I made it through most of the songs...not gracefully but i made it.  Two songs i recognized from my kids days, and dancing to them at their wedding....maybe that's why "The Cupid Shuffle," was my easiest dance move today!  I never thought i could be a cheerleader, and some of those hand and arm moves were just downright "cheerleaderly," and i don't do cheerleading.  The teacher said as long as you have rhythm you'll do fine.  I have rhythm, but i didn't do fine but i made it through and the humility is good for me.  As i looked at my self in the mirror stumbling through some of those dances, i thought this is growth.  Humbling myself, coming to a class where just a few days ago i wouldn't dream of going, and GOD took me there. I am so thankful.  I'm not sure what this journey holds, but I'm sure WHO holds the journey and that is GOD.  
    Yesterday while i was at the gym, i saw a young man who looked to be about 20 walking with a limp and using a cane.  He got on the treadmill and walked several minutes.  As i did the elliptical i watched him, and admired him.  I wondered why he walked with a limp.  When he got off, i gave him a thumbs up, suspecting that was a great victory, harder for him than most people.  I thought about my own journey and the pain and suffering i have been through. For years, no one could tell outwardly, unless i got angry with my family from "allergic reactions," or sensitivities to chemicals.  But now that i've gained weight you can tell i've gained weight but you don't know why.  I eat healthier than most, and i walk pretty regularly so a sluggish thyroid, and hormones diminishing definitely have something to do with it.  I'm very grateful for all the help GOD has brought me in the past and continues to.  As i think about that young man, i didn't know where he has been on his journey, but i admired him for being an overcomer.  I too am an overcomer in CHRIST JESUS and i am grateful to be out on the field after being sidelined for so long.  So when you look at me, don't feel sorry for me and think i've eaten myself to death.  I haven't. But i have had some difficult health challenges that i've sought for answers a long time.  One by one GOD is bring me answers and HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.  I am learning not to judge others by their appearance, especially their weight.  You don't know the journey they've been on or the efforts they've made to try to lose it.  I know, I am one of them now and i pray that if GOD helps me to lose the weight,

i will never look down on overweight people again.  It's humbling to be overweight. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.  There i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

                                   "Overcomer" by Mandissa

                                https://youtu.be/b8VoUYtx0kw

Live Online Event Tonight! My Heart A Calm Sea

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

    It's been over two years since i posted on this blog...wow, a long time:). I'm blowing the dust off this blog and posting here.  I'm sorry i can't get everything to be the same color on the page.  I have forgotten some things, so please forgive me for the way it looks.  I felt led to fill you in just a little what's been going on with me and wanted to invite you to tune in tonight to a live Plexus event.  If you haven't heard of Plexus...tune in tonight at 8:30 pm by clicking on the link and you'll hear more what it can do for you.

     My health struggles continued, and when i quit posting in the blog, i had just begun a heavy metal detox.  It was a little hard on me, and still haven't been able to get that thyroid working up to par and just didn't have the energy to write the blog.  Just had to feel it was a GOD thing.  In December of last year, after i continued to struggle with energy and IV's were coming weekly now, GOD led me to try a product called Plexus.  It has helped to balance me and after 5 weeks i was on the Slim, i was able to get off of IV's...praise the LORD!!!! He answered a long time prayer of mine!  I also have had increased energy, sleep great, increased focus, lost inches, and hopefully some weight as my body continues to heal, and started a business...sharing Plexus! Johnny lost over 20 lbs his first five months on Plexus and his cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose went down to normal limits and his BP was in good range.  As a missionary nurse, i felt GOD called me to be, i am so encouraged by these simple and affordable few products that get to the root of our problems...balancing blood sugar, hormones, detox, and healing the gut.  So, this past year has been a new journey for me, and I'm so grateful for the improvement in health i'm continuing to experience, and for the business opportunity GOD has brought into my life to share health and a business opportunity with others.  Tonight on youtube...     https://www.youtube.com/user/PlexusU/live  there will be a 30 minute live event where you can learn more about it.  If you, are your loved ones are struggling from diabetes, allergies, autoimmune, asthma, obesity, tiredness, crankiness, really anything,  i really encourage you to watch this and give it a try...there is a 60 day money back guarantee, and over an 80 percent success rate with Plexus products.  I've learned a lot on my long health journey, and Plexus has included some of the key ingredients for allowing our bodies to be heal as GOD intended.  http://hisgraceissufficienthealth.com/2015/09/10/plexus-live-event-tonight-free-product-with-a-purchase-for-those-who-watch/

     I'm asking you to pray about this opportunity. My friend Anna, my grandmother in the business, is 24 years old and she has already earned a trip to the Leaders Retreat coming up in Oct.  She is trying to earn some more points so she can take her sis to the spa with her Mom and other sister. Anything you order before Sept. 15, will help her earn that spa for her and her sis.  You can order directly through my website...www.hisgraceissufficient.myplexusproducts.com

    I also have another prayer request:  I am close to earning the trip myself but i still have chemical sensitivities and traveling can be a challenge for me.  Please pray for wisdom if GOD does bless me with the points if i should go or stay.  My family is really leaning towards me staying....and at this point, i'm not sure what to do.  Thanks so much!

   We are expecting our first grandbaby in December and really thankful and excited!  Hannah Beth and Matt's baby is due December the 6th!  So i've been hitting yard sales, and antique shops, painting and getting ready for the new little guy! 

    

   Going to have to wrap this up, but wanted to close in sharing this devotion i read this morning...it is so perfect for right where I'm walking. I pray it will be a great comfort and blessing to you too.  I want my heart to be like that calm sea...where nothing rattles it, but knowing my FATHER does what is perfect for me.  

                                                                                  His Grace is Sufficient!

                                                                                             mitzi

                                                                                    

I have had the privilege of continuing to play the drums for our KING of KINGs going on 4 years now at FBC, Athens, Al.  The choir is singing this beautiful song Sunday.  This is where I feel ive been walking recently...love this!  www.fbcathens.org.  Come and worship with us if you don't have a church home.  Our pastor will be a starting a series on Marriage this coming Sunday.  
                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdxOKEuoHU

     Streams In the Desert for September 10

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.”(Psalm 138:8.)

There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls. In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking God questions; it stops crying, “Why hast thou forsaken me?”

The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of God. The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way; for, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work together for its good.

Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! Of losing our own strength. And wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus -- Soul Food.

The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged. -- Fenelon.

     

"Live Like You Are Dying"

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

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

   I am sorry i have not been very good to write lately.  I have been doing some chelation to get heavy metals out of me, and it makes me really tired.  I sure would appreciate your prayers for me as i go through this process. I tried to write Sunday, and got part of it done, and never was able to get back to it.  I have decided GOD doesn't mean for me to write much right now, and to quit trying to force myself.  He is the one who writes through me, apart from HIM i can't do anything.

   I just got off the phone with Mrs. Eudy, and i appreciate ya'll praying for her so much.  She was scheduled to have surgery for the brain aneurysm this past Monday in Louisville. When the doctors examined her again, it was much more complicated than what they anticipated, and one of the doctors said, if it was my Mom i wouldn't do it.  The aneurysm is 12 mm which is more than double what they usually see.  Please pray she will be able to take the medicine which will enable them to be able to put a stint in and shrink the aneurysm.  She is having problems taking it, and they are switching her to a different color one tomorrow in hopes she will be able to take it.  In the midst of all this, GOD is doing some really neat things and one of them is her pharmacist son is there with her from Hawaii, and she beat him in Scrabble the other night!  That is great...Mrs. Eudy is so competitive!  A couple of weeks ago, her daughter wrote that she had a bad night and coded twice in the emergency room...Mrs. Eudy regretted the ambulance having to take her to the hospital in the middle of the Braves baseball game!  Thank you for your prayers for this dear saint...out of all of this, her one desire is that her son, Michael, will come to know JESUS as his LORD and SAVIOR.  Please pray this with her that the LORD will save him.

      We had a wonderful week of revival at our church this past week...and it was truly a taste of heaven.  The preaching was by a man who has a large blood clot and aneurysm in his heart and the doctors don't expect him to live very long without a heart transplant.  But, he hasn't let that slow him down too much...and most of his stories were about bull riding, champion fillies, hunting bears and lions.  He was the most interesting evangelist i've ever heard.  Sunday night he message was about "Live Like You Are Dying."  It was so powerful...and we all came away challenged to make the most of our time on earth count for JESUS.  Another great blessing of the revival was The Akin family, www.theakinsonline.com.  We had the privilege of eating with them on Monday afternoon, and getting to know them a little bit and what a blessing their love and fellowship in CHRIST JESUS was to us.  Their testimonies of GOD's faithfulness in their lives to answer their prayers and take care of them were so powerful...they were the real deal and they blessed me personally so much.  Monday night after the revival, they invited me to play their electronic drums, and i had a blast playing with them...GOD just blessed the socks off of me through their kindness and love.

     Well, the revival continues and i wanted to invite all of you to our Ladies Conference at FBC, Athens, www.fbcathens.org coming up a week from tomorrow.  Our speaker, Joanna Weaver is coming all the way from Montana, and i know that you will be so blessed.  We have been studying her book, Lazarus Awakening, during our Monday morning Ladies Bible Study and it has encouraged me so much that GOD truly can bring us out of our "tombs," whether it is new life in CHRIST, or freeing us from the things we are in bondage too.  I hope you will call this weekend and get your tickets for this special time in the LORD.

   A friend asked me if i would share their Ladies Banquet with you which is the same day as our Conference...wish i could be in two places at once!  This sounds like a wonderful study about Israel, and i would love to be there too...that's where we are all going to live one day, all of us in CHRIST, in the New Jerusalem, and i can't wait!  I hope you can make plans to attend one of these Ladies Conferences and be refreshed and encouraged in the LORD.

    Some of you may be wondering about Dana Grammer Sanchez and her son, Zach.  The last i heard from Dana, the court date to get Zach returned was going to be in June 1 i think.  It was moved from April.  Her husband is working here in Athens, i believe, and Dana is teaching school...and they are so happy to be back in Alabama.  

     For my friends out in the DFW area, i wanted to mention the Duck Dynasty gang is going to be at Prestonwood Baptist's Crisis Pregnancy Fund raiser next week...wow, would i love to be out there!  You can learn how to get tickets here http://www.prestonwood.org/event/439417-2013-05-05-pregnancy-center-dinner-with-the-dynasty/.  

   Well, that's about all i can think of and i do appreciate you remembering me in your prayers...oh, something big, Hannah Beth is graduating May 10 from the University of Mobile!  Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow!  Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for her to pray her through school.  Also, my daughter in law, Amanda will be graduating from Physical Therapy Assistant school the same weekend and we are so very proud and thankful for all of her hard work...to GOD be the glory great things HE has done!  Please remember HB in your prayers...she has been sick for a couple of weeks, and had to take some drugs this week, sure would appreciate your prayers for her.  She is working in the emergency room, tonight and tomorrow night, and then will be through!  Yea and Praise the LORD!!! Thank you so much for all of your dear prayers for us...

                                                                                               With all HIS love,

                                                                                                       mitzi

PS...So proud of my brothers riding their bicycles over 170 miles in Texas this past weekend for MS!  Way to go guys!

This is the reason i started putting my letters on a blog, because i forget things and can add them easily:). 

    Tonight when i was talking with Mrs. Eudy, she started talking hurriedly to someone else in the background.  I ask her if she needed to hang up and she said, "Hang on, something is wrong with my roommate, and i'm calling for help." It was understandable for her to be cautious since her last roommate died on her:). She said, the lady was coughing and had quit.  She was unable to hear so Mrs. Eudy couldn't ask what was wrong.  In a short time, someone came to see what was wrong, and Mrs. Eudy told me the lady beside her was taking her teeth out and needed somewhere to put her teeth:)!  Mrs. Eudy and I laughed and laughed at each other, and the seemingly serious situation, wasn't serious...just some teeth needing a resting place:).

    "Live Like You Are Dying," Mrs. Eudy and her family are such examples of that...through her very serious journey with her health, they have managed to love, laugh, and make JESUS known to those around them.  I want to be like that...."teeth" and all.  Love,mitzi

First Baptist Women's Conference, May 4th with Joanna Weaver

Dear Friends,
   Sure hope you will plan to attend our Women's Conference coming up next weekend with Joanna Weaver.  She is coming all the way from Montana...you will be blessed in the LORD through this day of HIS refreshing and encouragement to us. We look forward to seeing you there! 
                                                                                      Love,
                                                                                       mitzi