Gifts of Love

 

While looking for a story to post for today, I wasn't exactly looking for one about sewing kits. Or Valentines Day either. But with Valentines Day, a month away, I decided this story would be a very good one to pass on. Why? Because, it isn't exactly just about the sewing kit, but about the human heart that is sometimes void of love until someone comes along to help fill it. 

Read on....

Her Care Packages Comforted These Vietnam Veterans on Valentine’s Day

A Vietnam vet struggling with alcohol addiction shares how her simple sewing kits made a big impact.

by Roberta MessnerFrom  - Posted on Dec 27, 2020

Red hearts decorated the windows inside the dollar store, but that wasn’t what I’d come in for today. I’d stopped off on my way home from my nursing shift at the V.A. Mental Health Clinic as a favor to one of my patients.

Irv was a Vietnam veteran who struggled with alcohol abuse. So much so that I’d referred him to a rehab center out of state. Irv wasn’t happy about going, but he went. “You wouldn’t believe it here, Bert,” he’d told me over the phone. “Saddest bunch of soldiers I’ve ever seen.”

“Alcoholism will suck the spirit out of a person,” I said. “I can imagine.”

“It’s not just that,” Irv said. “There are fourteen of us, and boy, are we are a ragtag group. Buttons missing, popped seams, torn pockets. I’m itching to teach the guys to sew; I took care of things like that back in Nam. But try finding a needle and thread in this place. It’s impossible. I don’t suppose you could find me a sewing kit?”

Irv didn’t like to ask for help, so I was glad he had reached out with even this simple request, one not just for himself but also in the interest of others. It was a good sign.

I wheeled my cart into the appropriate aisle and came upon an entire row of sewing kits. Enough for each one of the soldiers in Irv’s group. Why not send them all a Valentine gift? I tossed the kits into my cart, counting them out and thinking of the men who’d been through so much.

Irv had first arrived at my clinic in the middle of an April downpour that reminded him of the soaking rains of Vietnam. “It was monsoon season when I got there,” he’d told me, burying his red-bearded face in his hands. “I’d just graduated high school and thought joining the Army would be a way to support myself. I was a good shot. That earned me a spot on the front lines. I’d never felt so alone, just me and that gun.” Near the end of his tour of duty, Irv was wounded. He took a bullet to the chest on September 24, 1968. The date resonated. On my fifteenth birthday, Irv was lying bleeding in the jungle, earning his purple heart.

Speaking of hearts...I thought, turning my cart toward the cash register. According to Irv, the men in his group had plenty of obstacles when it came to feeling loved and cared for. Broken families, broken relationships, broken dreams, broken hearts, to name just a few. Why not add chocolates and wrap each gift specially for men who might not have anyone to remind them that they were? At least Irv had a wife and a son back home praying for his recovery. Surely some of the others had no one. It was the least I could do, even if it might seem trivial in the scheme of things.

At home I filled a big cardboard carton with Styrofoam pellets and my gifts. I got carried away and drew a heart-shaped door on the box, where I wrote, “To my Valentine’s Day heroes: Open your door. Open it wide. Someone is standing outside.” I sent it off, worried Irv might think I had overstepped. These were grown men—did I really need to have decorated the box?

Around 2 p.m. on Valentine’s Day I got a phone call at the clinic. It was Irv. “I’ve got a few guys here with me by the phone,” he said. “They want to say something.”

Irv passed the phone to one of the soldiers. “I’ve never gotten anything for Valentine’s Day,” he told me. “I wish I’d saved a piece of chocolate, just to remember how it made me feel to get it. But it was so good, I ate it all!” His gratitude seemed completely out of proportion to my small gesture, but I could hear in his voice that he meant every word. One by one, all of the men took a turn on the phone, each with his own story of loneliness or love or loss.

“It was those sewing kits that did it,” Irv said when he got back on the line. “Something about sitting together, me teaching the guys how to stitch up those tattered clothes, sew on a button. We just started talking. Really talking. In a group that understood one hundred percent. It was a big deal for us.”

Not long after, I left the Mental Health Clinic to take a job in another department. Irv surprised me one day in the hospital parking garage.

“You’re home!” I said, with a big hug. He opened his wallet to show me a picture of his family on a riverbank.

“Take my boy fishing every chance we get,” he said proudly. “My wife brings a book. But she goes. She says I’m still tough, but I’m soft now. Can you beat that?”

Sticking out of the billfold was a piece of cardboard that looked as though it had been handled many times and shoved back into its handy spot. I recognized it easily—a heart shaped door, open wide.

 

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This story makes me picture Jesus Christ. His heart broken and bleeding for those all around him as he hung on the cross that day. For those that loved him and especially those that murdered him.

Upon arising from his grave, having triumphed over death, however, it was as if he could have sewn up his love to make it all one piece for the world that their sins could be forgiven. 

And thinking about these men, and all the men that have gone through war, no matter which one they served in, were willing to lay their own lives down for us as well. Many did lay them down, never to go home alive again

Many went home with problems as these men did. Many whose wives or girlfriends rejected them. Many that did not have any one that cared enough for them. Many that have lived or are still living with the effects of what had happened to them, while serving their time.

These men in this story were blessed by her gift. Such a simple thing she did for them. But such a great thing she did by caring and then showing them that she did. What a difference she made that day. 

What difference can we make?

 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, Ephesians 3:17

He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understand al their works. Psalm 33:15

Thanks for coming by. Have a blessed day!

Thin Ice

 

The story I am posting today comes from Thin Ice | New https://newlife.com/thin-ice/.if you would like to go there to read other posts. It is a short one, albeit it is truth as well. It is a reminder that we need to trust God, even in times when we could fall through the cracks of our faith as well as the  "philosophies and teach­ings we put our faith into."       .  Read on...

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it’s roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; it’s leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. – Jeremiah 17:7-8

When I was a boy, I fell into freezing water while trying to cross some thin ice. A while later, my brothers took me to a frozen pond–where I wasn’t in jeopardy of falling through. It was frozen thick and solid.

Yet even when my brothers ran out onto the ice to demonstrate its sturdiness, they had a difficult time convincing me it would sup­port my weight. I’d been fooled by solid-looking ice before. Finally, they dragged me onto the ice. At first, I tested it nervously. Then slowly and hesitantly I began to trust the ice.

My experiences with ice remind me of the philosophies and teach­ings we put our faith into. We have to test them to make sure they’re trustworthy.

Are you trusting in thin ice? Or in something thick and solid? Put your faith in Christ!

– Steve Arterburn

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The old hymn: "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand' comes from 1 Corinthians 10:4. Our hope is on the built solid Rock of Jesus Christ, the moment we are born again. As we begin to trust Him, he will keep us from falling through the thin ice of anything less than what  is from Him. 

Today, we have some appointments that we will be going to, that involves the home we are wanting to purchase. A couple things came up about it that we are concerned about. But as we go forward, we will have our questions answered and know for sure, that is the home God wants us to have. Or not. I can only trust him because he knows what is best. And in this situation, as in every situation, I do not want us to fall in to the thin ice that the enemy might conger up that will not be for our good. 

Thanks for coming by today. May you stay on your Rock as you go through the day and be blessed!

I L Y

 

Good Morning, Friends. I believe my husband and myself are about to embark on a new part of our lives in having moved to this state about 2 years ago. We are now ready to purchase a home here and in fact, will be having the inspections on one, tomorrow morning. 

I will still be posting most days, but for now I will be continuing to mostly find uplifting stories, as my life will be quite busy for awhile, until we are moved in and settled. 

The story for today tells of a lady that had been feeling some despair in her life, as the things that were coming in to her life made her anxious and sad. I know how that is to be sad and depressed as I know many are. But this lady found something quite unexpected that reminded her that indeed God loves her. Just as he loves each of us.

Go to: This Heaven-Sent Red Glove Reassured Her That She Was Not Alone | Guideposts to read other true stories of faith. 

Read on....

This Heaven-Sent Red Glove Reassured Her That She Was Not Alone

Her anxiety about multiple situations threatened to overwhelm her. Then she prayed and asked God for a sign.

by K. Anne SmithFrom  - Posted on Dec 27, 2020

Flipping up the hood of my parka, I took a deep breath before stepping out into the icy March wind. The day was bleak, the sky a dour gray. Not ideal conditions for a stroll, but I needed some air—even if it was freezing.

The past few days I’d been in a bad place—a feeling I couldn’t seem to shake. But I was determined to walk it off. I planned to take my usual route, a five-mile loop around my neighborhood, then back home. But with each step, my thoughts raced.

It all started when I learned that my dear friend’s cancer was back. It had been in remission for two years, and we thought she was cancer-free. She sounded optimistic over the phone, but the news was hard to hear. Now it seemed that it was all I could think about. And the anxiety just kept building.

I thought about my son. The last time I spoke to him, he sounded so drained. He was in the middle of his medical residency, sleeping too little and stressing too much. As a recently retired speech-language pathologist, I knew what it was like to be devoted to your work. While I was a proud parent, I was also worried he wasn’t taking care of himself.

When I started to worry too much about my son, my thoughts would inevitably drift to my niece and nephew. Both had passed away—my niece from cancer; my nephew in a car accident. Grief still hung over our family like a dark cloud. It made me feel so helpless. The pain that my sister and brother lived with seemed unbearable, unimaginable.

I took a deep breath. and tried to focus on walking. The once-white snow was pushed in to brown piles at the edges of streets and driveways. My frozen toes begged me to turn back toward home, but I trudged ahead, one foot in front of the other.

The harsh wind suddenly picked up, whipping at my back. I hunched my shoulders against it and pulled my hood down tight. Perhaps it was that posture of prayer, head bowed and eyes downcast, that brought the words to my lips. Maybe it was my heart crying out to the Lord. Maybe it was both. But at that moment, I prayed. It was a simple prayer. “Help me, Lord,” I whispered. “I need to feel your love.”

I had taken only a few steps more when I saw it. A bright splash of color against the dull brown scenery.

It was a child’s red glove. Just one. Lost, without its mate. It lay in an awkward position, the thumb, index finger and pinky finger outstretched. The other two fingers were curled down, resting on the palm of the glove.

When I realized what I was looking at, I stopped in my tracks. I was as familiar with sign language as I was with the spoken word. I immediately recognized the “ILY” hand shape, a combination of the finger-spelled letters I, L, and Y. The sign for “I love you.”

I had called out, and God had heard. He’d sent me an angel in the form of a small red glove, dropped to earth from heaven. With that silent sign, he’d said all I needed to hear.

I continued my walk, a spring in my step, knowing I wasn’t alone. God was holding me in the palm of his hand.

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I have found in my life, that God will give us what we need at times we sorely need something from him. A child's red glove is a simple thing. Did God put it there upon the cry of a heart that needed to be reminded that he had her in his hand? I have no doubt because God can do the impossible. Especially when we need Him the most! Because remember this:

For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37

Thanks for coming by, Friends. Please pray for us for this month as we go through the steps of owning a home. And thank you. Til next time,

God Bless!

2021?

 

What a year 2020 had been. We hope for a better 2021, but will it? Be better I mean? Its already gotten off to a bad start in Washington D.C. What is still to come? 

We can only 'hope' for the rest of the year We don't know as the days go by, what tomorrow, or next month, or even 12 months will bring. Heck. We can't even know what will happen this afternoon, or five minutes from now.

Our hope is in Jehovah Jirah, which means God is my provider. No matter what this year continues to bring, we can trust his promise to us:

For I know the thoughts I have for you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then you will call upon me, and you will go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart. Jeremiah 29: 11-13

Praying with Hope for the New Year

Are goodness and blessings beyond our imagining about to burst over the horizon?

by Edward GrinnanPosted in Inspiring Stories, Jan 6, 2021

• I’m a bit of a night owl, especially these days with an elastic pandemic schedule, so I stayed up a little later than usual the other night, tuned into The Godfather (mostly for Nino Rota’s sweeping score) and watched a soft snow cloaking the hills. Finally, I straggled up to bed, Gracie trailing me on the stairs, and slid under the covers. 

But not for long. Suddenly Gracie, who usually sleeps like a sandbag, sprang up from her dog bed with a low, throaty growl and headed for the stairs, paused, then let out a little whine and glanced back at me with an expression that said, “You need to get up, dude.” Gracie never whines.

So I got up and followed her downstairs where she marched to the picture window, ears perked, tail erect. I caught up and stood next to her.

“What’s wrong, Goo?” 

Then I heard it, the sound that had woken her so dramatically—the faint, plaintive yipping of coyotes up on the ridge across the way where Gracie’s gaze was now fixed. She erupted with a little woof.

“Sshh, you’ll wake Julee.”

As if to stifle herself she picked up one of her old ratty toys and held it in her mouth. 

We stood like that for a few moments, watching the snow drift down and listening to the coyotes carry on. If only heaven permitted us to apprehend what our animals are thinking. Was Gracie worried? Excited? Just curious? I ran my fingers through the furrows of her fur and assured her all was well. 

We headed back to bed. But I lay awake for a while remembering another movie I’ve seen a million times, Dr. Zhivago (also with a memorable score, by Maurice Jarre). I thought about the part where Yuri and Lara (Omar Sharif and the luminous Julie Christie) retreat to an abandoned, ice-laden estate in the dead of the stark Russian winter. At night they burn the furniture in the fireplace for heat and can’t ignore the howling of the wolves, portending the fate of their misbegotten love.

Here we are at the beginning of our winter, shrouded in uncertainty. Back in 2020 at this moment, we had virtually no way to imagine what was coming at us, the storm boiling up over the horizon. I am a bit of a disease nerd, so I’d been getting Google alerts for a couple of weeks by then about a mysterious outbreak of a SARS-like illness in Wuhan. That news coming out of China was like the howling of the wolves or the yipping coyotes—warnings in the night of danger on our doorstep. But we didn’t really know. We couldn’t see the future.  

We don’t know it now. Yet I believe, I hope and pray, that this moment is 2020 in reverse. That goodness and blessings beyond our imagining are about to burst over the horizon of a new year. That the yipping of the coyotes was just a mountain lullaby, the gentle midnight snow a reminder that we are held in loving hands and all will be well.

Thanks for stopping by today, Friends. I hope and pray as well, that this year is  2020 in reverse! Only God our Maker knows....Have a blesse day!

Pray For America!

 

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I woke up the other morning heavy in heart, after the violence that went on in Washington DC. Two groups of people believing that they know best what this country needs, and wants.

Later I learned that it had begun as a peaceful march that then at some point turned violent. And that the Republicans were the culprits. 

But those people that were climbing on the walls, breaking in and tearing the White House up,...they are not who we are as a people. We don't want violence and I believe that it why for so many decades we have stood back and let our God given rights be taken one by one. 

Most of us are not hateful and racist. Those do exist in all races, but most white people are not racist. 

And I wondered if it was a group of the opposite group that wanted to make it look like we were those that did it. Later that day, riding in our truck to do some errands, a radio host that we like to listen to, made the same observation. And in fact, he had been there walking in the peaceful demonstration.

We were deemed as horrible people for choosing a different leader, and tearing up the White House, but what about all the riots that have gone on around the country that have torn up property and hurt other people? What about them? Are they great American groups that demonstrate peacefully? Are they allowed to do what they have done? 

I don't spend much time on Facebook these days, but for awhile that day, I read down through the thread on the main page, reading what people were saying about it.

Max Lacado had his thoughts about it there and he had said something about praying for this country. 

His comment was followed by people that agreed. And a few that didn't

It is of my own opinion that if there ever was a time in the history of this great Nation, it is now. Never before in my 60 plus years have I seen this kind of thing. While bad things have indeed happened here in times past, many good things have happened as well.

I agree with Max though. And if anytime in our history that this nation needs prayer, it is now. NOW!

We are in war. A war of good and evil. A war of where one group wants it all. They want God taken out for good. And that is evil itself. 

It is not time to give up. We need God on our side because surely the other side doesn't want him on theirs. Even though for many, he doesn't even probably exist. We must not entertain thoughts that he doesn't want to help us for his word says,

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15.

God's people fought many battles in Bible days, and when they did as he commanded them, they were always the victors. 

This battle is his. It is a battle of good and evil. And we can't fight it without him and win.

What does God ask of us today? 

Some are to continue to keep fighting the Washington system of evil. Some are called as Pastors to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And everyone is to pray. 

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Why pray? God doesn't seem to do anything but let things get worse. Even if he does exist. Right? Well, I believe he does. And we need to be praying and seeking his face, so that he will heal our land. 

Possible? Entirely. Because if it wasn't, he wouldn't have said so.

Have a blessed day, and thanks for coming, Friends!

Life's Funny Ways? Or Is There More To It?

 

The above graphic is mostly true of our lives. We go through sadness to understand the times we are happy. Chaos to appreciate to the times that are peaceful. The loss of those we love or maybe even those things that we love, so we understand what their presence means to us.

But the one thing thing that sticks out at me is that it is not just life that causes these things to happen. It is God that does.

He allows these things to happen to us, so that we turn to Him. And the way he does them, can be simple or complex. We can understand some but not others.

We can understand some because if we doing something that is wrong, we can know why we are sad. The Bible says we are not to sin. 

David faced this dilemma when he had Bathsheba's husband killed after he had an affair with her. He had had a son with her which died and all told, he was very sad and depressed. Psalms 13:2   2 Samuel 12:18

But he rejoices in God and sings Him because He is good. Psalm 13:2-6 

God allows that sadness in us when we sin, so that once we confess it, we can be happy and not sin again. Of course, like David had, we will never be perfect, but we always have God to run to. Sadly, David's losing his son meant that he would not be with him on earth, but he would one day go to be with him in Heaven.

Psalm 12:23

And so we can sometimes understand that our sin can make us sad, but when we confess it, we can again be happy. 

Yet there are times that we do not know why sadness, chaos and loss happens into our lives. And that is where trust comes in God comes in. 

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

That scripture says it all. When we are crying out "to God, "Why?" or "Why Me?", that is when we need to trust Him, because for now, what ever we are asking that for, it is not for us to know right now. But God does and He is taking care of it, for us because He loves us. 

No, it is not life alone that lets things happen to us. It is God, in our lives that does. And it's because He has His reasons.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. Have a blessed day

"An Anticipated Ending..."

 It has been a long year. Not only because of the pandemic, but because in and about September of 2019, we moved from our home state to a southern state. It had been quite a struggle to get here. Cleaning out a house up north and trying to decide what to get rid of and what to bring.

And the fact that we are Seniors, did not help since we both have health issues and have needed to find doctors. Thankfully, we have adult children that already lived here with their families, that has helped  us through it all.

We had had some work done to our home up there and all of that took time throughout this year. And finally just a couple months ago, it was sold and we could move forward with what we need to do here.

The decision to move down here did not come easy. It meant leaving what we knew best. I love my home state and never really thought I would ever move from it. Especially because now at this stage in our life, I wasn't sure how we were going to manage it.

We had thought about it for a couple of years before one day actually making the decision to follow through. Had I really thought we would do it? How would we do it? 

I mean we are Seniors and don't have a lot of money. We would be leaving a lot behind. Mostly not material things but memories and loved ones, and yes-snow.

The most important thing we would leave was not a thing, but a who. In fact, several who's. And that was my three precious grandson's and their mom and dad. Would I ever see them again?

I remember the day when the final decision to move came. It came to me. And I thought I was going to have to convince my husband of it. But I didn't. He had agreed. Wow! A meeting of two minds! A rare occurrence in the 50 plus years of our marriage, I can assure you. lol.

The why of the whole situation  was not so hard anymore. We needed it to happen to be able to get us down here around our adult kids because if something happened to us, we would need them. Plus they had been wanting us to move down for a long time.

And more importantly was the fact that I knew that it was God's answer to the dilemma of why we needed to come here.

The how and when though was another matter. I had pretty much come out of a bad depression the year or two before and this was a lot to struggle with. 

When I grew anxious about it, my thoughts would go to the scripture in Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the thoughts I have towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

As I write this, I looked up the word 'expected." Not that I didn't know what it meant, but I wanted to see just what the dictionary said about it. And it says, one definition means: anticipated. 

And in this case of selling our home and moving down here, even though it was unknown to me at the time, the how's and when's of it was anticipated. God was going to do it and he had gotten it started.

Now over a couple years later, and having actually lived down here for over a year, and being on this side of it, I can look back and I am still amazed at how God did it. Financially, and giving us all the help we needed to get it done.  

Truly amazing! And why should it be. God had fulfilled his promise to us, and I should have expected it.

Oh yeah. There were times of struggling, worry, stress, exhaustion, and a few arguments thrown in...I told you about the meeting of two minds, or the lack there of...lol. 

But through it all, God was and still is faithful. Our expected end has come At least of this phase. And now, we are ready to go into the next chapter, which is that with the house up there finally sold, we can find another home to purchase. And we have already started that. But even when we finally get to the point into moving into it, our expected end, hasn't quite ended yet. Not in this situation, anyway.

It won't come until we get all we brought down here that is being stored in two different places and get it moved into our new home.

Thank the Lord, we have help!

And so my message for today is, when you are struggling through your own situations in life, and don't know how they are going to end up, look to that scripture in Jeremiah that promises you that God will get you to an anticipated ending. If you truly believe and hang on to it, He will. I know because he said it and did it in my life.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

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