Uplifting Friends and Verses…

I have a wonderful friend that has shared a devotional with me almost every day for a few years now. So many times, these verses have spoken to my heart as if God is talking directly to me, and I believe that is exactly what is happening for He DOES use others to speak His words down here. So many of you have done that for me, too.

As many of you know, I’ve had some major health issues going on continually since last October… Bronchitis, Asthma, Pneumonia, and lately, Borderline Congestive Heart Failure, which they are hopeful that they have caught in time to stop or slow way down it’s progression. Needless to say, I’ve also had some days when I’ve been fighting depression, but almost always, God has sent an angel… sometimes named Angela, Sandie, Betty, Monica, Kellie… and many others, to help bend down and lift me up with words, cartoons, jokes, prayer, etc.

This was the verse I read from my friend’s devotional today… Isn’t it wonderful when looked at through my eyes…

From SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns: You have had many opportunities through adversity to fall down and stay down. I call to you to gather your strength and get up. You are not without help; I am with you to lift you up again if you will refuse to give up. Exercise your faith and seek My help, says the Lord, for surely I will hear your cries and come to your aid. Trust Me to lift you up again.

Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

I also read another verse from Jeremiah today. It is one that has always touched my heart:

Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

With promises like these, to remind me of God’s love for me, I have been, and will be able, to continue on the path that God has for me until He calls me home!

The Lighthouse…

Many of you already know that I took a blogging break because things were piling up around here that needed to get done and I just didn’t have time to get them done. Well, apparently God had different plans for the break that He told me to take, because I promptly got sick and have had some very difficult times with illness for several months now. I won’t go into all of it, but I know I wouldn’t have made it without the thoughts and prayers of my friends reaching out to God on my behalf, and without the touch of His mighty, healing, loving hands.

Looking out through the darkness and holding on to the light… just knowing that He was there for me… reaching up and touching your fingers and seeing the “Light” of your love… you angels (messengers of God) that have helped me through with your blogs, emails, and the laughter in and from them (which the Bible says is like a medicine to the soul) all have helped me get to this point.

I am breathing better, my cracked tailbone is achy, but tolerable, the tendinitis in my shoulder is being worked on. Let me tell you, being ABLE to breathe without a total struggle, is wonderful!!! The last tests came back and the signs of cancer that were in the last two are totally gone and so is the pneumonia! Praise God!!!

Meanwhile, NOTHING got done around here, but I hope to be able to drop a post in here now and then, because GOD IS GOOD… and I wouldn’t be walking AT ALL without him (Title of this blog). Sometimes, you’ve got to just put one foot in front of the other and keep your eyes on the light of God’s love… and if you can’t “see” it out there, look for it in the Psalms or gospel passages in the Bible. Let the words of Psalms cry out FOR you, and let the life of Christ, and His love for us all, “relight” the pilot light in your soul. LISTEN to Praise Songs for they will help lift your spirit up to heavenly places.

I want to give you a gift… please take about three or four minutes and shut your eyes and just listen to the words (below) of this beautiful old song… It’s helped me so many times!

The Lighthouse

(Jesus is The Lighthouse)

Words and Music by Robbie Hinson

© 1971 - All rights reserved

There's a lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's sea.

When I'm tossed it sends out a light that I might see.

And the light that shines in darkness now will safely lead me home,

If it wasn't for the lighthouse, my ship would sail no more.

Chorus

And I thank God for The Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him.

Jesus is The Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin,

He has shown the light around me, so that I might clearly see.

If it wasn't for The Lighthouse, Where would this ship be?

Everyone that lives around us, says tear that old lighthouse down,

The big ships don't sail this way anymore, ain't no use in it standing round.

But then my mind goes back to that stormy night, when just in time I saw the light

With the light from that old lighthouse, that stands there on the hill.

Chorus

And I thank God for The Lighthouse, I owe my life to Him.

Jesus is The Lighthouse and from the rocks of sin,

He has shown the light around me, so that I might clearly see.

If it wasn't for The Lighthouse, Where would this ship be?

Forgiveness is the key!

I was reading my devotional today, and this scripture came up talking about obedience and forgiveness. I know that we are to forgive those we have things against, and that Jesus said in his prayer example, that we should forgive so that we can be forgiven.

2 Corinthians 2:9-11 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. 

So often I have made so many excuses about forgiving people that have hurt me, and in particular one situation where I blamed someone for changing my whole life that I’d had planned out. It took me a long time to realize that even if I didn’t FEEL like forgiving them, like in this verse, I HAD to forgive them to be obedient to God. 

It had become a habit after so many years to go over the bad things whenever the name came up in my head/heart, and I had to make it a HABIT to NOT go over the bad things, but to pray to God for help to forgive, and to pray for God’s Blessings on them, knowing only He can heal my hurting heart.

This scripture goes on to say to me that God forgives them AS I forgive them, and then it goes on further and says that it is for OUR OWN SAKES that He has forgiven them, because Satan can take advantage of us through our anger… at least that is what I believe this is talking about. 

At the time, I prayed and prayed for what I wanted to happen, but it didn't.  It wasn't that God didn't listen or answer my prayers, it was that He knew best and said, "No." In other situations, He has said "Wait."

As to that other situation, over the years, that person and I have again become friends, AND God has shown me that HE had a different plan for my life, for I wouldn’t have met and married Mike or had my wonderful kids and grandkids if things had gone according to MY plan… 

(Pic. from 1995)

Tuesday’s Show and Tail… My Shadow

It’s time to share another "Tuesday’s Show & Tail." Angela, over at West Virginia Treasures, has been hosting this special time for several months, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! This is the 36th week that Angela has hosted this meme to share about past or present pets, animal friends we’ve known, or interesting stories about animals. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines.

Today… if I can get through it… I want to share about my old Shadow. He was a very special dog (but so many have been) that we got originally for my son, Mick. We first saw Shadow at an old Safeway Grocery store in March of 1990. He was in a shopping cart with a BUNCH more brothers and sisters. He was the skinniest of the bunch, and looked like he was mostly head (as do most animals who are starving) I couldn’t take all of them home, but decided we would try to save him as he was in the worst shape of them all.

He was part Border Collie and probably had some German Shepherd and/or Queensland Healer in him. He was TOTALLY smart, and learned very quickly. Of course, with good food and a lot of love, he grew into a very handsome, healthy dog and, since we moved out here a few months after we got him (one of the reasons that I knew we COULD get him) he and Mick had lots of room to roam. Mick lived on, and for horses, and they spent many hours riding the hills around here for miles with Mick’s brothers.

One day, when Shadow was a year or so old, I heard what sounded like a horrible struggle outside about 6 a.m.. It sounded like someone was being strangled. I jumped out of bed and ran outside (without my glasses), tripped in a hole and crawled to where the two dogs were struggling. Our other German Shepherd, Midnight, and Shadow had been playing when she got her jaw tangled in his choke collar and it somehow twisted around her jaw she couldn’t let go and it had tightened down on his neck and was strangling him while threatening to break her jaw.

I was yelling to try to wake one of the kids and praying desperately when suddenly one of the links broke! ( a TOTAL miracle as those were heavy, welded links) Midnight ran dripping blood from her mouth, and Shadow lay on his side, not breathing, his tongue blue, and he had already soiled himself. I gave him CPR ( I worked with little special ed. children, so had been taught how) Within a minute, he started to breath again, and we laid there, side by side, me petting him, crying and thanking God, and him gasping until he got his breath back.

His neck was cut and swelled up quite badly for several days, and Midnight had lost one of her front molars, but they both survived. From that time on, if Mick wasn’t home, and after he graduated and left home in 1996, Shadow was literally, in my shadow, until he got to the point where he could no longer walk and started to be in pain, at the age of 17. I took him to the vet and was with him as he went to the “Rainbow Bridge.” Mick drove out and buried him in our front yard, under the trees in his favorite spot.

Besides her Mama Mist, Shadow was OC’s favorite, and she followed him around and looked up to him totally. He was great with everyone and with other dogs, too, once he was told they were "ok." The only thing he feared was gunshots. I remember one day, the neighbors were practicing shooting out in their side pasture, and I heard a bang at the front door. I looked up and there was Shadow hanging from the flyscreen that’s on the upper half of the screen door. He reminded me of those old Garfields that used to have the suction cups on the feet that you could hang on windows… poor baby.

I wrote a poem about/for him the evening we buried him:

Goodbye My Shadow

3/90 to 7/9/05

That silver muzzle is no longer here

To nuzzle my hand as I shed my tears.

Old friend I will miss you so

As through this life I continue to go.

I remember your big head at six weeks old

Attached to that tiny body of bones.

We took you home and fed you up

And you became a sturdy pup.

And then when you were one or two

I shared the breath of life with you.

You’ve been my Shadow from that day to this

And you’re loving presence I greatly miss.

Today I freed you from your pain

I hope that my loss is your gain.

I looked to throw you a treat tonight

But no trusting eyes greeted my sight.

Later I reached to scratch your old ears

Then couldn’t hold back the flowing tears.

I know you’re in a better place

And smiling again with your doggy face.

By Linda Brock © 7/9/05

Showers of Blessings…

We’ve had so many “Showers of Blessings” lately that sometimes I’m not sure I should share in case someone thinks I’m bragging… BUT it’s not by OUR doing, it is things that God has been blessing us with, so I decided to share anyway because maybe seeing God's love and faithfulness to us will encourage someone else who is waiting for their showers to start…

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the BIG Fundraiser of the Year for Alpha House, the Battered Women’s Shelter that our church helps sponsor. My Brother In Law does all the cooking each year because everyone in town LOVES his BBQ Tri-Tip and Chicken so just knowing that he is cooking brings in people. After dinner, they have a silent auction and a regular auction. That is always fun too because our “Goofy, but wonderful” Praise Leader from our church does the auctioning off of the things that have been donated.

This year, my hubby was determined that he would win a “Bed and Breakfast” stay at the big ranch that our friends have up in the mountains near here. These wonderful people are the ones Mick cowboyed for, a couple of years before getting married. This picture is of a “flying mount” onto my Cory while up at the ranch during a day of branding. He had run up from behind like the old cowboy movies and jumped on. Anyway, they open their ranch house for a “Bed and Breakfast” stay once a year for the Alpha House Auction.

Mike started bidding, and then another friend of ours also started to bid. Our friend suddenly realized that he wasn’t going to be in town during the times that were available, so he quit bidding and we got it for about ½ the regular price it goes for! Praise GOD!!! 

We had SO MUCH FUN!!! These people are so very dear to us, and we ate such wonderful meals and talked about the Lord and what He was doing in our lives and our kid’s lives. It was WONDERFUL! The worst part of it was that I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! Can you BELIEVE IT!!! They had so many beautiful wildflowers out all over their place that I missed. They had a bunch of these blue lupine bushes growing all around the area. I got this picture off of the web, but it looks just like it was taken on their ranch!

Anyway, after the auction, Mike wanted to rush home because it was late, but an elderly lady from our church asked him for his help to take some of the things she’d gotten out to her car for her. He did that and then we headed home. About half way home, we came across a big car/truck accident that had happened maybe 5 minutes ahead of us. If Mike hadn’t helped that lady, we could very well have been in the midst of it!

 

One of the drivers in the accident was walking around dazed (we stopped to help and put up barriers to stop others from running over the debris in the road and until the emergency crews arrived and we weren’t needed any longer) and he was talking about how he had been having blackouts for a while and was supposed to be getting an MRI the next day to find out why… WHY WAS HE DRIVING THEN!?!? 

He had blacked out and hit the other driver almost head on (which could have been us!) Praise God for His angels (the lady) and His protection (the timing.) Luckily, they had both slowed down enough so that no one was killed, though they still totaled both trucks (a big, raised ¾ ton Pickup and a smaller pickup) Both ended up in the ditches, one on each side of the road. Praise God, in this case, for seatbelts! (The pic was taken on Robert’s cell phone at night)

I also Praise God every time I look out of our windows at our pastures which are so beautifully golden with the grain hay that our neighbors planted for us! That was such a wonderful gift, and will feed our horses for at least 6-8 months!

Another thing that happened last night, also has us so happy! Mike came in after work, with a newspaper classified ad section and said, “Someone has a camper shell for sale for only $75!” We have been wanting one for quite a while so that we could put in a back window from the cab in our truck and make a place so that the corgis could have more room when we go on road trips, and we could take them all instead of only a few of them. They would be able to go back and forth into the back if they wanted to lay down, etc. like they do in the car.

We figured it probably wasn’t in terribly good condition at that price, because we’d priced them and a decent second hand one has been going for around $200 or more. I called and asked if it had windows that worked (expecting that maybe they’d be broken out at that price) and he said yes, the windows were fine, and that it was in pretty good condition, so we decided to go ahead and make the hour trip to the big town and check it out.

When we got almost there, I called to tell them we would be a little later than I’d originally thought, and the lady I spoke to then, said that was ok, and mentioned that her hubby hadn’t been very happy that she had put it into the paper at that price, but she’d been told to put it in since they were moving and she hadn’t known what to put it at. 

About THAT time, I decided to get out some extra money because we didn’t want to cheat anyone. We got there and this thing was gorgeous… looked brand new, matched exactly with our truck (which, if you remember, was sold to us by Mike's Christian boss for only $1000) and was PERFECT! We talked with the guy and he helped us put it onto our truck. 

There was a garbage can open right by where he’d had this SnugTop stored, and it had some artificial turf type stuff in the top of it. I asked him if he’d mind giving that to me as we needed to put something like that on the ramps to give OC more traction, and he gave it to me. I'd thought I was going to have to buy some...

He was really nice and was going to give us everything for the price in the paper, and even helped us put it on our truck. I told him that since the Lord had blessed us so much with such a wonderful gift, that I thought He wanted us to bless him, too, and we gave him $100 instead. That was still half or less than half of what we would have had to pay, and we were able to share some of God’s love with them. Maybe the Lord gave us a chance to plant one of HIS seeds… I know WE got a blessing!

Our Golden Tuffy…

It’s Tuesday again and time for another "Tuesday’s Show & Tail." This meme is hosted every week by Angela over at West Virginia Treasures, and it is always a lot of fun to see all the interesting posts of the people who join in! It is a meme to share about past or present pets or furry friends we’ve known. If you’d like to join, here is the link to the Guidelines.

I had a couple of ideas about a couple of other horses we’ve had, but found I’ll have to find their pics and get them scanned before I can share them with you, so today, I’ll tell you about my son’s horse that we have out here now. We call him Tuffy, though he has a really long fancy registered name, which my son forgets half the time, because he’s known him as “Tuffy” for many years.


One of our dear friends, Tom Cain, bred and raised some of the top line quarter horses in California for many years. Tom was a friend of my Dad for many years and they’d met up at Fess Reynold’s place, where Tom worked in the 50’s (when those 8MM films were taken that I shared a few weeks back.) He lived about 5 miles from where we live now, and had 5 stud horses and about 30 mares. Over the past 20 years or so, Tom and my son, Mick (Little Bear’s Dad) got to be really close, and Tom taught Mick a great deal about training horses. This is a portrait of Tom’s life that I did last year, just after he passed away. The original is 12 x 14 and it is done in graphite (pencil).



Tom was getting quite elderly and couldn’t do as much as he used to, so Mick helped him a lot and was able to learn so much from him. Tom raised some of the most beautiful horses, but they were priced in a range that was WAY out of our league, so even though Mick longed for one, he never expected to ever be able to afford one.



About 16 years ago or so, Tom sold Tuffy (after Mick had helped green break him) to a woman that wanted a beautiful horse to train for Dressage work. They started him on that, and then she sold him and the next people wanted him to learn to do Quarter Horse Western Riding work. This confused Tuffy and, as with most ALL horses, if you ASK and show them what you want, they will do anything for you, but if you try to force them and they don’t understand, they start to fight back!


This is what happened to Tuffy, and eventually, no one could do anything with him, so his price dropped down to $2500 (about a quarter of what he originally sold for). Tom got him back, about 8 or 9 years ago, and made arrangements with Mick to take payments, and this beautiful golden boy came to be owned by my proud son.


Mick worked with Tuffy patiently for a long time, and he could ride him and do most anything with him, but then when his job required him to move a couple of years ago, he brought Tuffy here. He isn’t sure if he will ever be able to afford to keep him where he lives now, but he also doesn’t want him to go to anyone who isn’t VERY experienced and willing to gain his trust, because you still can't move fast around his head, etc., so right now, he is being a good companion horse to my Cory.


Tuffy is 21 years old now, but is still a gorgeous horse… one of those palominos that sheds out in the spring as bright gold as a a newly minted gold coin. His winter coat, which he is in now, is a slightly dappled dark cream color.