"Blessed Be the Name of the LORD!"

I'm soo very aware that there are hurting people around us.  

I hesitated to post my joy yesterday concerning the arrival of Mark's 'new' car, but while contemplating it, the Lord reminded me of Job.  He suffered heart-wrenching, tragic sorrows in Job 1... 

"20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped (?!?!)

21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."

I pray, though I know some may not fully understand, my reason for posting the picture of Mark's new car is to publicly thank the Lord and praise Him after we'd publicly made everyone aware of the hit and run accident in October!  Thank you to many of you who have supported us through prayer and encouragement!  I hope you know how much it blessed and encouraged us to know you were there for us! 

But yesterday, I wanted to tell the rest of the story.  The LORD has blessed us, Mark especially, more than He blessed us/him before, BECAUSE this is who God is!! 

I want to praise the Lord in all things, not just in the giving and the taking, but because of who He is.

I want to know Him in all the seasons of life.  I'm thankful I have a Christian heritage that has allowed me to see my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles grieve, yet they endured and trusted the Lord as He lead them into and through those hardships.

I want to be like them, and hopefully like Job who didn't blame or charge the Lord for the hardships allowed and used as tools to shape him.  

Life is hard sometimes, but there are hard things very valuable, which contribute to, encourage, and strengthen faith and character! 

I want to be willing to trust the Lord, to say, "Lord, You are doing ALL things well" and believe it, even when it hurts!  

He does not make mistakes!! 

Of course, I hope to one day hear my children proclaim this truth. 

The Lord doesn't just give us good things when we need them; He satisfies our souls. 

We are as dust, yet, He is still mindful of us, and He satisfies our deepest heart's longings.

The car is a huge answer to prayer, a great blessing, but it pales in comparison to the deepest longings of a man's soul that have been satisfied, namely in the person of Jesus!  

Ohh, how I pray for those who are in a soul battle, for those who do not know or believe they can trust the Lord to meet their deepest needs!  

He is their deepest need!!

8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul,

    and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Psalm 107:8-9

❤️

This Came Today...

Stay tuned... More to come!

It's been a long and exciting day.

I'm tired! 

Divine Perspective versus Natural Inclination

Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 

I am a sojourner on the earth;  hide not your commandments from me! 

My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. 

Psalm 119:17-20

"Choose to view life through God's eyes. 

This will not be easy because it doesn't come naturally to us. 

We cannot do this on our own. 

We have to allow God to elevate our vantage point. 

Start by reading His Word, the Bible...

Pray and ask God to transform your thinking. 

Let Him do what you cannot. 

Ask Him to give you an eternal, divine perspective."

Charles Swindoll

Marriage: Model of New-Covenant Grace

"...Marriage is a model of Christ and the church---namely that this gives marriage a solid basis in grace, since Christ obtained and sustains His Bride by grace alone. 

...Since Christ's new covenant with His Church is created by and sustained by blood-bought grace, ...human marriages are meant to showcase that new-covenant grace.  And the way husbands and wives showcase it is by resting in the experience of God's grace and bending it out from a vertical experience with God into a horizontal experience with their spouse.  

In other words, in marriage you live hour by hour in glad dependence on God's forgiveness and justification and promised future grace, and you bend it toward your spouse hour by hour-- as an extension of God's forgiveness and justification and promised help."

John Piper, This Momentary Marriage

God's Showcase of Covenant-Keeping Grace

Mark and Caroline ❤️

The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam, 

not made out of his head to rule over him, 

nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, 

but out of his side to be equal with him, 

under his arm to be protected, 

and near his heart to be beloved.

Matthew Henry

Photo credit: Gracie Powell 

BULLITT 3207

"This then, is of faith,

that everything, 

the very least, 

or what seemed to us great,

every change in the seasons, 

everything that touches us in mind, body, or estate,

whether brought about through this outward senseless nature,

or by the will of man, good or bad,

is overruled to each of us by the all-holy and all-loving will of God.

Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us,

we must receive as the will of God.

If it befalls us through man's negligence, or ill-will, or anger,

still it is, 

in every circumstance, 

to us the will of God.

For if the least thing could happen to us without God's permission, 

it would be something out of God's control.

God's providence or His love would not be what they are.

Almighty God Himself would not be the same God;

not the God whom we believe, adore, and love."

- E.B. Pusey

Mark returned to the service repair center today to collect the dress up kit Caroline gave him for his Bullitt last year.  His dad went with him and took this photo to commemorate their final look at the car before it is removed for salvage on Monday. 😪

SF has been both gracious and generous in meeting Mark's desire for 'replacement value'.  

They also recently offered him the option of purchasing his wrecked Bullitt as salvage for $1500.  That was a tempting offer, but sadly, we have no room here to store it, and honestly, the time required to sell parts is not what Mark has right now while working full time and attending school two nights a week. Finding a replacement car has been a high priority for him and we are cautiously optimistic that may happen soon.  🎉  

Making time for anything other than that, while saving money to get married soon, has been his focus, and I'm thankful to say he is aimed and moving forward.  

We have yet to hear any news from the police department in McRae regarding the hit and run suspect or vehicle, and really, we have little reason to think they will ever be able to bring us the closure we'd enjoy.  The City of McRae is small and evidently does not have the funds or staff to put someone out in the field to look to solve this case, so that gives us little hope for resolution.  

I only know to pray.  To keep from allowing any of this to consume me, I have purposed to let it all go.  Mark's example and desire to be content with what God has allowed has been the encouragement I've needed to do that.  If he, the owner of the wrecked car, can release it, then I must be resolved to do the same. 

"...Whatever befalls us, however it befalls us,

we must receive as the will of God.

If it befalls us through man's negligence, or ill-will, or anger,

still it is, 

in every circumstance, 

to us the will of God. ..."

Goodbye, Bullitt 3207!

I hope someone with a lot of time, space, and money will find you and rebuild you, and make you what you were made to be... a dream come true! 

You were definitely that for Mark!  

The Joy of Work

“Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary, and He gives us hands and strength to do it. The enjoyment of leisure would be nothing if we had only leisure. It is the joy of work well done that enables us to enjoy rest, just as it is the experiences of hunger and thirst that make food and drink such pleasures.” 

Elisabeth Elliot

How difficult can packing away Christmas be?  
Well, this week the effort was hard work!!  
It might not have been so, had I not felt a little sad, but I had to practice this thought:  "There's satisfaction in this" for knowing my effort will bring joy to Mark and Caroline next Christmas, Lord willing.  

Of course, it helps to also have the obvious, necessary steps of busyness, and with this particular work, there's a demand for vacuuming up all the tree needles because... Yay!!  Finally, the tree is boxed up and put away!!!  It's true, artificial trees make messes too! 

Even with the sorting and packing away of all of the ornaments, more time and effort than usual was required of me for packing away Mark's ornaments.  All of the sentiment involved (for me, at least) was draining...an accumulation of ornaments given to him over a span of 25 years!!  
Mark and Caroline will be getting married in August, so I thought it'd be better to pack up his now, than to wait to do it later. <sigh>

...

I remember the excitement we enjoyed as newlyweds when we bought our first tree.  I could hardly wait to get it home to decorate it.  The meticulous care and effort Mark went to, to wind every branch with white lights.  I think I remember it was 8 strings, or was it 11?  Aunt Faye had given us 75 crocheted ornaments, and ohh how beautiful they were... bells, hearts, snowflakes, angels, all made in the colors of my choice: white, ecru, country blue, and mauve.  We purchased a handful of a few new ornaments to add, and I also added lace bows, and baby's breath to fill in the branches.  Now that I think about it, that tree was probably a huge fire hazard, but we were too much in love to consider such negativity!  That tree was amazingly beautiful, and anyone who came to see it said, "That's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen!"  We agreed!  That year we kept our tree up until February 1st.  Every dry needle was like a pointed flying projectile as Mark pulled it out the sliding glass door by the trunk.  The effort required to vacuum up that mess was a lot of work also, except didn't just fall.  Blue Spruce needles went flying everywhere!   Ha!  

...

At least Mark and Caroline will have a few old ornaments to hang on their tree when they bring it home.  That's a sweet and exciting first to think about, for me at least, but I've also had to push through a few tears to realize, "This is the last year our firstborn's ornaments will hang on our tree!"  😭  

My sentimental heart has definitely been a tad bit tender.  I've had to feel the conflicting emotions.  I really do want this.  All I've known to do was to push through and keep on working!  

Elisabeth Elliot would have also said, "Do the next thing!" 

Soo, yeah, ...pushing through the tears wasn't easy for me. <sniff, sniff>

Thankfully, and in a timely way, Bagheera, as always, brought some sweet relief for me.  
Who'd have thought he'd discover and rearrange a bed of tissue paper I'd thrown to the floor?   Ha! Silly kitty!  

How much more adorable could he be? 

Then, even after I cleaned up the mess last night, he discovered the trash bag of tissue paper I'd left next to the chair this evening, and he resumed his sweet cuddly leisure.  

How sweet of him to show me that change does not have to be hard, but simply embraced and enjoyed.     

I'm thankful there's still plenty to do this evening.  I'm still making progress. 

In fact, there is always plenty of work to do in this household filled with "these [growing, changing, transient] people" I hold dear!  I can't wait for Caroline to be added to the number! 

Well, I better get back to work, because obviously, according to Bagheera, there is more joy to be discovered and embraced in all that lies ahead!  

Foremost...Mark is getting 'meowwied' and Caroline couldn't be more 'purrfect' for him!  

>*.*<