HEAVENS, EARTH, WORLD FOR HIM, FROM HIM

TRUSTING HIM IS ALL WE CAN DO.

EVER!

MY ROCK... AND YOURS, TOO.

THIS IS WHAT I RELY UPON,

MOMENT-BY-MOMENT,

DAY-BY-DAY!

HONOR, GLORY, AND PRAISE

AND THAT'S AN EVERYDAY,

EVERYWHERE,

EVENT.

F O R E V E R.

MINISTRY AND SERVICE.

GLORY, HONOR, AND PEACE...

ANGELS OF GOD PROTECT ME...THEN AND NOW.

This took place in the early summer of 1972.  

In Redwood City, California, Doctors had told me to stay in bed ASAP for a couple months so my baby might survive.  Prior to that, the Doctors had tried to get me to let them abort the baby, since they were convinced it would be mentally and physically "dead".  I was terribly frightened about that possibility, but, as a Christian, I refused to have the baby removed.  AND, in those days, talking to a pastor or Christian counselor and bluntly describing things didn't work very well.  [Life is definitely different now for nearly all of us.]  My husband, basically, said it was up to me.  I hardly told anyone.  Just kept it strongly in my heart and mind.

A couple weeks after "living" in bed, it was a very late night and still about 2 AM had the light on.  I'd been reading for hours.  My 2-year-old daughter was asleep in her room. My husband was not in the apartment, but was hanging out in another apartment building where he was in charge of cleaning and fixing.  It was a couple towns north of ours towards San Francisco.

Suddenly, I saw a satanic "person" in my room and "he" began pressuring my chest.  I  could hardly breathe.  All I could do was say one word:  Jesus.  With horrible difficulty and very, very hard, I choked it out.  

After just a few times, my chest pressure relieved and I could breathe and it was an amazing moment.  I knew Jesus' angels had broken in through Him, for my heart, and for my baby.

My husband arrived about an hour later.  I don't recall ever telling him.  I told my spiritual Mom Joyce, who lived in San Mateo area, and she and her husband, John, often prayed for me and lifted me higher and higher for His protection.

I'm a grateful lady, to say the least.  The Lord protected me ... and brought my son into the world in good health.

================
BTW, Steve's Dad and I divorced in 1984.

And, as I've told about my son's birthday every year on my blog, the official national abortion law came into effect 5 days after he was born.  God protected both of us then, and have many times now.  Steve is 41 and making it.

Me with him on his graduation day, May, 1991

HIS LAW, MY HEART...

DEPART FROM EVIL...

    IF THEY CAN, WE CAN!!

I WILL TEACH. I WILL!!

       I WOULD IF I COULD...

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE.

FOREVER!

THE WAY [AND WHERE] I SHOULD GO..

BEGINNING IN MAY, 1984, THIS WAS A SERIOUS STRETCH OF TIME, ESPECIALLY FOR ME AND MY KIDS.

I WAS HEADING INTO A DIVORCE AND THE WHOLE TIME...MAY TO AUGUST... WAS FILLED WITH STRESS.

THE STRESSFULNESS WAS OBVIOUS, BECAUSE IN MY BIBLE I HAD PUT THE DATE [5/84] RIGHT 

NEXT TO THIS VERSE. WHEN I'M READING THE PSALMS I'M ALWAYS GRABBED BY THIS VERSE AND THE DATE LISTED THERE.  PULLS MUCH OF MY MEMORY OF MY SORROWFUL HEART INTO ME.

 LATER, THE LORD, SHOWING IN ME THE WAY AND WHERE I SHOULD GO, MOVED ME BACK UP TO OMAHA, HAVING MOVED FROM THERE A COUPLE YEARS BEFORE. WE WERE BACK INTO THE LIVES OF MANY FRIENDS HERE, 

AND FILLED WITH ENCOURAGEMENT.

A YEAR LATER [MAY, 1985], LIFE CHANGED AMAZINGLY.

DAD'S 30TH YEAR IN HEAVEN...

THIS VERSE WAS SHARED BY THE PASTOR AT HIS FUNERAL.

DAD DIED 30 YEARS AGO TODAY WHEN 65 YEARS OLD.

THROUGH MUCH SINFULNESS, FROM CHILDHOOD FORWARD, HE OFFICIALLY CAME TO THE LORD WHEN HE WAS 59.  HE LIVED IN TACOMA, AS USUAL, AND CALLED ME HERE IN OMAHA ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND TOLD ME.  THEN HE SENT ME A LETTER WITH HOW IT HAPPENED.  I REJOICED.

WE HAD RARELY SEEN EACH OTHER FOR YEARS, AND SAW EACH OTHER JUST ONE MORE TIME.  ALL OF MY SISTERS WENT TO SEE HIM DURING THE THANKSGIVING TIME IN '83, AND, MIRACULOUSLY, I WAS ABLE TO BE THERE, SINCE FLYING FROM OKLAHOMA WOULD BE TOO EXPENSIVE.  BUT  WE KNEW IT WOULD BE OUR LAST TIME WITH HIM AS A GROUP.

MY SISTER, NIKI, HAD CALLED ME WHEN I WAS IN OKLAHOMA IN THE PREVIOUS SEPTEMBER AND TOLD ME HE WOULD DIE SOON, AND I SHOULD WRITE A POEM FOR HIM.  GOD GAVE IT TO ME THAT DAY, I SENT IT TO HER, SHE FRAMED IT, AND GAVE IT TO HIM.  HE HAD IT ABOUT 8 MONTHS INSTEAD OF JUST A FEW WEEKS.  

AT HIS FUNERAL SERVICE, 

I READ IT, AND IT WAS GIVEN BACK TO ME,

 AND I STILL HAVE IT ON MY WALL.

HERE'S THE POEM:

TO DAD

We’re so much alike – you and I – 
    We think and we feel much the same.
When we love, it’s a deep, soul-filling love,
    When we hurt, it’s with soul-rending pain.

We’re like mirrors – mirror images.

Two needn’t be close –
    If you’re counting the miles –
To Share this world’s Days and its Night.
    There are soul-mates
Who travel life’s path side by side
    Though mountains and plains bar their sight.

And we’re mirrors – you and I – mirror images.

Without Jesus to keep us, we’d Die – you and I –
    Eternally lost from our Lord.
Our hurts closed our hearts to the goodness of God,
    And we turned our backs to His Word.

We’re SO alike – like mirrors – mirror images.

But He reached us – He found us
    And He healed our hearts –
The greatest of healings provided.
    We opened our hearts to receive that great love,
And now He walks closely beside us.

We walk hand-in-hand,
    But with Jesus between –
As He looks in our hearts, we can say
    It’s not just the one,
        or the Two,
            But the THREE of us,
Who will love through Eternity’s Day.

Shining like mirrors – mirror images 

PATH AHEAD OF ME...

A REGULAR AND REGULAR EVERYDAY BLESSING!

HEAVEN FACE TO FACE

MY COUSIN, SHARON

To say it most kindly, but truthfully, in Tacoma we were both raised in significantly dangerous family situations.  Since Sharon was about 4 years older than me, we rarely hung out.  Occasionally, she stepped in to protect me from one of her brothers or a sister when I was at their place.  We got along pretty good.  I was about 12 when she stayed at our house on the other side of town.   Later, our family moved out of Tacoma to Klickitat, Washington, just as I turned 15.  Except for one night in 1970, when she stayed at my apartment in Redwood City, CA, and I was about 25, I didn't have any time with her again.  And, in reality, her life had exploded many ways over many years, before and after that last time together.

I can't say I wasn't frustrated this March when the Lord gave me the dates to head to the Northwest and to take a plane instead of driving.   It's the first time in 14 years that driving hadn't been the God-job.  Now, home, I've seen a number of reasons why and how I was out there without my car.

Sharon was one of the reasons.  She had been moved to an apartment about 3 blocks from the sister, Betty, where I was staying in Tacoma.  When I arrived at Betty's, Sharon was there.  We laughed, we hugged, we rejoiced together.  She told me her address and I said I'd be there later that evening.  So, I walked.

We laughed, again, and watched some TV.  I walked back to Betty's, but it was getting pretty dark.  She was quite concerned and she stood outside the apartment building and stayed on the sidewalk so she could see me for about 2/3 of my walk time.  That area, for instance, was not a safe place.  It has been filled with danger for many years from drugs and gang situations... one of my nephews murdered there, for instance, and other family members truly filled with danger.  Sharon watched out for me, even though it wasn't quite as bad.

Another couple nights I went to her place and spent a couple hours.  The last one, because I was leaving town the next day, I invited her to drop down to Subway and have dinner with me and I'd buy for her.  She agreed to come down, but wouldn't have any food.  It took me a short time to get my food and I walked to the booth she was at.  Before I sat down she said, nodding to the window, "There's a guy right over that's in trouble."  I looked and saw this young-ish man sitting on the street-edge of the sidewalk.  He had his feet on the street and kept leaning over.  I grabbed my stuff, and we rushed straight across the street.  It ain't a safe place sometimes, as it has bars, etc., right over there.  When we got there, Sharon asked him what was wrong.  He said he was so thirsty and couldn't breathe.  I tossed my food into Sharon's hands and ran back across the street and into Subway and told them I needed water ASAP.  I was given a cup and filled it and ran back.  When I gave it to him, he drank it quickly.  He said he was waiting for his friend from the apartment over him to come down and he'd have someone to help him walk.  

While Sharon and I were standing there, and he was still sitting,  I asked his name.  He said it is Chris.  I asked for his hand.  I held his hand and Sharon touched my arm, and I prayed for him, for his health, his safety, and more.  When I finished, he thanked me and he said he has Jesus on him.  He showed me his other hand other his 5 fingers each had one letter for J..E..S..U..S.  I'd seen many tattoos on him, but hadn't noticed that.

I bent down and hugged him, and Sharon and I went back to the other side of the street to her place.  And then I ate.  We laughed, we talked, and we had our last time together.  As she was putting me on the elevator, I said I wanted to take a picture of us now.  She didn't like that idea, but I forced it.  She smiled.

SO... when the Lord had me take a plane, this is one of the events that occurred that wouldn't have happened if I had my car.  I'd see her, if at all possible, or drive her around and about where our families had lived dozens of years ago...and hers still owned by family member.  But I know I wouldn't have been hanging out enough for Sharon to be piled with concern of Chris, for us to run across the street and check him out and to pray for and protect him in a small way. 

If the Lord "makes" me fly again, instead of driving around and about, I think I know now that He has some significant reasons.  Without my car, I was with Sharon more often... I couldn't run all over town, go to Seattle to play, spend lots of time with other friends... and have been with Chris.

Many more happened, both out there and on the plane home.  Can't complain about the plane, doncha think?

JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS FLOWING!

AND A BLESSING TO BE IN THE NW

WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS,

AS USUAL.

[NOW I'M BACK IN OMAHA WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

CAN'T EVER COMPLAIN, 

BECAUSE I AM BLESSED SO OFTEN  BY SO MANY. 

 OH, HOWEVER, I DO COMPLAIN BECAUSE I MISS SEEING RIVERS, STREAMS, FALLS, AND MOUNTAINS.  OH, WELL... PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT, DONCHA THINK?]

CLOUDS OPEN OUR HEARTS TO HEAVEN

AMEN!!

MOUTH WITH PRAISE...

HE WAS A WORSHIPER, A SHARER, A WALKER, A DOER.

I WANT TO DO IT EVERY DAY, ALL THE DAY, TOO!

HE IS MY TRUST, MY HOPE...

When I graduated 51 years ago, even though filled with sinfulness, I was also filled with "seedfulness" 

from people who entered

 my life from childhood forward. 

 My sinfulness increased significantly after graduation and, another significantly, was when the Lord broke 

into my heart officially on April, 15, 1966.  

Since then I've grown more and more in Him and 

want only to be with Him, 

moment-by-moment in our world and then 

instant-by-instant when in Heaven.

WINDS AND SEA OBEY HIM...

APPRECIATED THEN, APPRECIATED NOW!

FOREVER AND EVER.

OUR REAL LIFE IS HEAVEN

WHAT WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO.

HE RULES THE OCEANS AND SEAS AND LAKES...

PATTI'S ANGEL, 1953

[This is a portion of a Grandma Cary story for the grandkids.  Since being with Patti in Clatskanie, Oregon, during this last couple weeks, this grabbed at my heart, so sharing it with you.]

...“Let’s get out of the kitchen and go up and hang out on my bed. Your folks are hanging out on a movie in the living room, but I have a story to tell you.”

The girls headed for the doorway as Grandma Cary took one last glance around the kitchen and turned out the light.  The three of them headed up the stairs and climbed onto Grandma Cary’s bed, plopping down in the middle of the pile of pillows and pulling the comforter up around their chins.  The girls snuggled up against Grandma Cary, one on each side.

“A very long time ago, more than fifty years now, our family was traveling from Portland, Oregon, where we were living, to Tacoma, Washington, where we had relatives and had lived there before.  It was a trip of about 150 miles. In those days, it took longer than it would today.  There wasn’t a road system like we have now, and, generally, cars weren’t able to go as fast and, even if they could, speed limits were lots lower.”

Makayla popped in. “Mom sure would have had a harder time driving then,” she laughed, and Grandma Cary shook her head and laughed along with her. 

“Back to the story, Makayla.” Grandma winked at her.  “We were going to Tacoma for Christmas, and it was a dark, rainy and foggy evening. I was 8, Niki was 3, and Patti was 2, Teri was about 8 months old, and Mom was expecting my sister Betty.  In those days cars didn’t have seat belts or safety locks on the doors and there weren’t car seats for babies. I were sitting on the back seat and that I was holding the baby, Teri, and Niki was sitting there, too.  That's what I remembered. Patti, the 2-year-old, was playing around in the back, and had been hollered at to stay away from the door. Suddenly, Patti leaned on the door handle and disappeared out of the car on the passenger side.  I screamed about it and Dad hit the brakes.  It took a few seconds to get stopped, especially since – and this is the scary and strange part – we were going over a metal and concrete bridge.  There wasn’t anywhere to pull over.

“Not long ago when we talked about this for the first time in many, many years, Mom told me that somehow Patti, instead of flying outward from the car, and hitting the concrete side of the bridge, she bounced along the road and into the lane behind them.  A man saw her fly out, and he stopped.  At first they couldn’t see her -- it was dark and foggy -- and then they heard her whimper.  The other man found her in the middle of the road and he stood over her and protected her until Mom and Dad could reach her.  Mom says that Patti had been wearing a heavy snow suit, heavy shoes, and a stocking cap.  The cap was gone, and her head was badly hurt and she had a wound on her neck.  The man told Mom and Dad that his wife worked in a hospital near there, so Mom held Patti in her lap and they drove to the hospital as quickly as possible.  No ambulance.   Niki remembers Patti being all bloody. and screaming all the way to the hospital and in the emergency room. We left Patti there with the doctors and all the rest of us went on to Tacoma about 50 miles away and stayed there with our aunt and uncle so Mom and Dad could go back down to be with her.  Patti was in the hospital overnight, but, even though she was pretty scratched up and had a concussion, they couldn’t find anything else really wrong with her, so the doctors sent her home.  Mom said Patti had bandages all over her head, and that she was really hurting.  She didn’t want anyone to touch her and had a headache for a few days.  That’s really hard on a Mom, because when your baby is sick, let me tell you, you want to hold them and rock them and make it all better for them.”

Grandma Cary looked at the girls.  For once they didn’t have much to say.  They looked back at her with big, serious eyes.

“So, Grandma,” Miranda asked, thoughtfully.  “Where do you think the angel was?”

“Over the years, as I’ve thought about this accident, I’ve realized an angel must have been there to ‘aim’ Patti away from the bridge wall and somehow under or around our car and then softened her landing.  To land in the middle of a highway like that, and not have a car hit her, and to find her in the fog, and the guy to stand over her to protect her -- all that is pretty amazing.  When my Mom and I talked about this she said there must have been an angel, and believe me, and I can tell you for a fact, my Mom was not an angel-believing kind of person for years and years, just changing as she was turning to heaven a few years ago.  But when we wonder, sometimes, whether angels can see us and know what we’re doing and what could happen if they weren’t paying attention, all I have to do is take a look at this one incident.”

At that moment, the Twins’ Mom stuck her head into the bedroom.  “So this is where you disappeared to.  I realized it was too quiet in the kitchen, so I’ve been wandering the halls.  You ready to head for home?”

"Yes, Mom," Miranda said, "But we sure want to tell you the story about your Aunt Patti when she was a very small kid."

The girls jumped off the bed and ran out the bedroom door and ran down the stairs and headed for the car.  Grandma Cary ran behind them to get a hug and grabbed her daughter for one, too.

Smiled and waved all the way down the driveway.
 

Niki's son's wedding, July 4, 2013

Me leaving Oregon last week.

 

MOUNTAINS AND DEEP SEAS FOR HIM

MY MOM ... IN HEAVEN.

MOM'S 90TH BIRTHDAY, JULY 28, 2010.

MANY OF HER KIDS AND GRANDKIDS

AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS ARE SHOWN HERE.

SHE DIED 3 YEARS AND NEARLY 4 MONTHS AGO, 

JANUARY 30, 2011,

BUT SHE IS ON MANY HEARTS, STILL,

AND I SURE AM LOOKING FORWARD TO 

SEEING HER IN HEAVEN.

CAN HARDLY WAIT!

SING TO THE LORD

AND I'VE "LOST" HER,

BUT NEVER STOPPED LOVING HER.

COME, LORD JESUS!

OCEANS PRAISE

DRY AND WEARY LAND

HE IS ALL WE CAN COUNT ON;

HE WILL POUR SPIRITUAL WATER

INTO OUR HEART, SOUL, AND SPIRIT.

MY INHERITANCE

THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST 

INTERESTING, CHALLENGING

DAYS AT MOROCCO.

HERE'S A COUPLE PHOTOS OF THIS AREA

WHERE THE ROMANS HAD BROKEN IN

AND TAKEN OVER 3RD CENTURY B.C.

HISTORICALLY, QUITE A PLACE TO LOOK 

AROUND AND ABOUT.

LARGE AREA

STORK

FUNNY ROCKY MOSAIC FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

HUGE AND MAIN GATE