October 16, 2005
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I’ve been working on a family cookbook for my girls and immediate family. It’s nearly finished and I hope I can give it to them for Christmas. While we were visiting my husband’s family a few months ago I ran across a book that my husband’s grandfather had written while he was a Pastor. He has long since gone to be with the Lord but he had left a part of him and His love for the Lord behind. I was blessed as I stood there looking through his book. It meant so much to me to know that my husband’s grandfather was a Christian and that he had prayed for his family and most likely my husband. It was at that time I had a desire to put together a booklet of the articles on my web page to leave for my children. These articles, are in the truest sense of the word, a mirror of my walk with the Lord and the workings of the Holy Spirit in our marriage and family.
So, this afternoon I picked out an article and began to critique it. The article I chose was on lessons I learned during some difficult years of one of our children. As I read through the paragraphs that I had written many years ago the reality of what the Lord had done for this child became overwhelming. I was flooded with memories of those difficult years. The fear, turmoil and strife were so real as if it were yesterday yet the pain was not as deep as it once had been.
Yet, this afternoon I was able to sit before those pages and praise my God because He alone had brought my child to Himself. The door had closed on that trial in our life. We now are able to enjoy this young man in a way we hadn’t been able to for years.
As I was reliving some of the lessons the Lord had taught me during those years I was reminded of the greatest lesson… the Lord is our refuge in times of trouble.
I had my eyes on the Lord more during that time than any time in my Christian life. I knew that I did not have the wisdom or strength to meet that situation .I failed time and time again. But, by God’s grace my eyes were on the Lord. He was our wisdom when we didn’t know which way to turn next. He was our strength when we were so weary from the spiritual battle. He was our love when we felt we had exhausted ours. He kept us in the battle when we wanted to leave and run as far away as we could. We failed but He never failed us.
Not one of our prayers fell on the ears of a deaf God. God heard our cries. He heard our pleas for help to deliver our child from the grip of spiritual death that had him bound. We prayed for God to open His eyes and His ears to hear His truth. It became so clear that if God didn’t draw this child then there was no hope. God heard those prayers and He answered our plea for help! We called upon the name of the Lord and He answered us!
May His holy name be exalted!
Comments (6)
Thank you for the kind words you posted on my blog. These are the very things the Lord had brought to my mind. If nothing else this trial is good exercise at turning the other cheek. Ü Your post resonates with me because, though I have not lived long enough to have grandchildren, I have lived long enough to have seen God work His grace in my life time and again. Only His strength, His mercy, His grace…nothing of me.
Thanks for stopping by my site. I enjoyed reading your post. God is awesome, and never leaves us. And praise God that all of our household will be saved, leaving none behind. Have a blessed day.
good afternoon! i am putting together family cookbooks for my kids too, as well as mother’s remembrance books. that takes a lot of time to do, but it is an effort in love that i hope leaves a legacy of same someday..
as for doxies….yes, i now have 4 dachshunds. here is a link that you might find interesting aobut them
http://www.doxieskennel.com/colors.html
dachshunds were bred in germany as hunting dogs, particularly badgers, and other predatory animals. doxies are tenacious and most often seen sniffing either the air or the ground. there are 3 haircoats: long, smooth, and wire there are 3 now recognized sizes: standard (20+ pounds), mini(up to around 10#) and tweenie which is, uh, inbetween. there are many coat colors, and there are many coat patterns also- those being 2 very different things.
i own all miniature smooths. i have Peanut who is 8 going on 9 (he is the one with the heart problem i have talked about) Peanut is a classic black and tan.
Roscoe is going to be 7 at the end of the month. he is a brindled red.
Tillie is about 5 months old now (my only female) and she is a copper red/dapple (tho her dapple is mute)
Patches is 12 weeks old today and he is a black and tan dappled/piebald
it is unusual for a dog to carry 2 patterns. but dappling, if covering the eyes will make them blue, and piebald accounts for his white patches and tipped tail (which is a classic pie trait) so he carries both patterns in dilute genetic coding. it’s pretty symetric, so he is just a gorgeous pup! back in the spring (may i think) i xanga posted about the chronology of my pet-owning. each one had his own entry, if you’re at all curious to read about them.
the dachshund has the most varied coat/color/patterning of any dog breed. they are easy care, low maintenence, pretty non-allergic/non-shedding dogs. (unless you get a long-hair (which has breeding lines with setters historically) or wirehairs(whose terrier lines require the coats to be ‘hand-stripped’ a couple of times a year) the smoothes are the most hound like, with beagle/bassett lineage historically. each haircoat takes some traits from it’s ancient lines: the long hairs have the reputation of being the best family dogs of the 3. they are more laid back. the wires are the aristocrats with terrier traits and can be very stubborn and defensive. the smoothes are a happy medium….i guess that’s why i have 4.
i’d love to be a breeder. in fact i’d love to breed tillie and patches, but i cannot take that chance. breeding a red to a black and tan is fine, but both of these dogs carry the dapple gene. a ‘double dapple’ mixture could result in puppies that have congenital defects to vital organs, or they may be born with small eyes, no eyes, or blind and deaf….”cute” pups are not worth taking that chance.
the genetics are fascinating!
i would recommend a doxy for a home where a pup and very young children are introduced to each other and have the opp to grow up together, or for a single person who loves to cuddle and play/have true companionship. i would recommend more than one if you were not going to be home much. they are very social dogs and love company. for a couple with no children, a doxy becomes thier ‘child’ very quickly, and he/she will remain very loyal to you.
doxies are sometimes known to be stubborn trainers….they most often train YOU! they are very clean animals, shed very little, and have no ‘doggy odor’ as many other dogs do. they are easily bathed in the kitchen sink and do not have very many inherent flaws. the largest one being that doxies are prone to intervertebral spinal disc diseaase, so they need to be kept trim with weight so as not to stress thier backs. jumping should be held to a minimum, tho i can tell you from experience, this is not an easy thing to accomplish at all! since my husband died in 2000, and both kids are grown and gone, my ‘kidz’ have become my family. they are comical, wonderful to watch play, exuberant, loving, interractive, loyal, (sometimes quite barky) children, who will always appear to be puppies, even when they are full grown.
thier backs are not actually any longer than any other breed. it is just that their long noses, long ears, short necks and short legs give that appearance. the stress on the back is increased because the legs are short shock absorbers and overfeeding can cause stress also.
i have had many dogs…..big ones, but for me, the dachshund is a perfect fit.
i hope that this info has been helpful to you. any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask me, k? <3 bette
Hi :O) Was browesing through a blogring i joined & came across your site. Thought i would stop by & say hi :O) Have a great day :O)
Oh, I so needed to hear that. thanks for writing what you did. Jesus knew it was meant for me. My grandaughter is where your son is. I have put her in God’s hands because without Him, I can do nothing. I know that he can take her, a broken vessel and turn her into a vessel of honor. Everything you wrote is exactly where we are at.
God bless you,
Faye
Hey :O)
Thanks for coming by :O) Have a great day :O)
Jeanette :O)