Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 9:39 am Post subject: Traveling a Rough Road
It seems I have been around the world and back since I last posted. Life has a way of kicking you when you are down. Sometimes it seems we sail through life without a care in the world, as though we are living in Heaven on earth. Those are good times and my friendly advice is to never take them for granted. They seldom last as there is evil loose in this world. The enemy's desire is to destroy the children of God in order to hurt God himself. Who among you does not hurt when your child is in pain for any reason? God is a loving parent and hurts when we hurt. It is Satan's desire to harm God and he will destroy us to gain that end. He will use everything at his disposal. He will use anyone who makes themself available. The closer to you, the better as the pain is that much worse. But God is a faithful Father. He holds us, comforts us, binds up our wounds, soothes us with His peace and at some point He sets us back on our feet, gives us the will to continue on the journey and allows us to see good times again. He will put new people in our lives, new wonders, new adventures and as time goes by we once again walk hand in hand with our Father enjoying a new piece of Heaven on earth. The good times sustain us even as the hard times strengthen us and we walk each day with God, facing whatever comes our way with confidence, knowing our Lord is faithful and that with His strength, "This too, shall pass". The enemy can knock us down but he cannot keep us down and he cannot win if we do not quit. I have begun a new chapter in my life and I hope you will come along for the ride.
That is a beautiful picture. I wish I lived in such a beautiful place as you do. Awesome!
It is so great seeing you posting again. We have missed you around here. I really enjoyed this post and the one you placed in the Christmas forum.
http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/about3464.html
Your Christmases sound just exactly like the ones I knew as a child and the Christmases at our home when our children were still at home. Wonderful memories!
I hope that the storms of life are moving on for you at this time. You write with great wisdom and I know that the Lord has taught you a whole lot during your absence from TGP. We look forward to sharing all of your thoughts and reflections of that time as well as the wonderful new experiences that lay before you. Welcome back, dear friend.
Did you ever find homes for the horses that you need to sell? I have prayed for good homes for them.
Thank you Lord for answered prayers for Cheryl and her family.
Thank you both for the warm welcome and kind words. We are not settled yet by any stretch of the imagination but things are getting better each day. I gave Granny away to a good home. I was sad to say goodbye to her but so happy she will be in a warm, dry barn this winter. I still have 3 horses without a barn and need to find good places for them. Because of the shape of our economy it is hard to move horses right now but I cannot afford to give these 3 away. If I could I would have already done it. I try not to think about how nice of quarters they were in before we moved and how they are housed now. I know in my head that horses with big barns choose to stand in the weather all the time but I like them to have the choice. They are fed very well and cared for but I still feel bad for them. I could let it make me bitter but that would not help and surely hurt so I leave it all up tp God. He knows what is best and He will work it all out.
I have not been able to get into the Christmas Spirit at all. We went to a Christmas banquet last night for the ministers on our church district and a neighboring district. It was a bit hard walking into a room of strangers and that has never bothered me before. I don't know why it did last night but it didn't last long. I did a quick skit after the meal. An old one I blew the dust off of but the folks really enjoyed it and got a big kick out of it. I used "volunteers" from the audience and that helped to make us "one" with the group. We had a very nice time. I would also like to make a bonfire beside the creek in my yard and burn it on Christmas Eve. It's a Cajun tradition. They build very elaborate structures on the levee along the Mississippi river and set them afire to light the way for Pappa Noel. I would like to continue that here if the weather will allow it.
Here is another picture of the scenery where I live now. This is about 20 minutes from my home.
These things take time and hopefully you will begin to feel more at home every day. The horses and the problems involved with them hopefully will be settled soon. I will continue to pray about this situation also.
Sometimes people try too hard to get into the Christmas spirit, I think. I know that many people are depressed at this time of the year and I don't think it is good to pressure our feelings to try to make ourselves happy just because we feel that we should be happy. Working through problems can be very depressing and adding to the burden by feeling guilty just isn't the best thing. You love the Lord and you worship him every day of the year and that is fine. No need in feeling that you must do more than that in my humble opinion. These things take time.
I would love to see one of your skits and hopefully I will be able to do just that one of these days. If not, maybe you can do one just for me in heaven.
I hope you are able to light your fire to guide Pappa Noel. I love that custom. (See the post titled "A Cajun Christmas.")
Thankyou so much for the link to that post. I love cajun music! There is something about an accordian that sets your toes to tapping.
I have not seen any posting by Lisa at DG in quite some time. Are she and her family doing well? I hope her Mom is enjoying good health.
I agree with you about "forcing" the holiday Spirit. If it's not genuine, it's worse than not having it at all.
Here is a picture of my son. He is on the porch of a cabin in a nearby park. He stayed with us and helped us move. It was so nice having him to ourselves again for a while. We could never gotten it all done without him.
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