Know God, Know peace, No God, No peace.

So I was sitting around doing some thinking today and I came to the conclusion that without God we are all in some serious trouble. I've realized that in my life, which is the only one I can honestly speak about, when I try to do things on my own, I usually fail. On the flip side of that when I include God's direction in my decisions things usually turn out a whole lot better. I won't go into many details on what "decision" it is I'm speaking on, but trust me, it's true.

Faith is a powerful word and a powerful tool to use in life, it's also my daughter's middle name! Plenty of people claim to have faith in many different things, I claim my faith in God. My faith has never ever been tested the way it was when Maggie was in the hospital. We were rendered completely helpless by the situation. It was awful. I wanted so bad to switch places with her but I couldn't. The only thing we could do was pray. We were going to pray for her anyway, but to put your faith in God, someone you cannot physically see, can be a challenge. I'm in no way saying trusting God is hard, because it's not, especially when you do and you're rewarded. What I'm speaking on is to want so bad to have something happen, and not be able to make it happen yourself. If you see a stick in the yard, it's bothering you, you want it out of the yard. What do you do? You go pick it up and move it. What if you see a stick in your yard, and you have no arms or legs? What do you do then? You call someone on the phone (you can't see them), ask for them to help you, and then trust that their going to come help you. That's how it was and is in our day to day lives when we pray for assistance. We have to have FAITH that God is going to do what He feels is in your best interests and what fulfills his plan for your life. It's amazing how human beings, who typically lean more towards instant gratification, can step out in faith and not only ask for something, but be willing to wait for it, and know in your heart that God is answer you. I'm so thankful he answered me.

Posted by: Wes

My next few birthdays.

Today we celebrated Bethany's grandmother's 70th birthday. Posted all over the fellowship hall in the church, in photo albums, and on computer screens were pictures taken over the years of Janet, the grandmother. The pictures represented occasions and momentous events that were worth remembering. As I stood over a table flipping through the pages of a photo album I got thinking about my life, things that have happened, things that may happen, and I wondered one thought. If I were to die today, would there be anything left undone, anything that my family left behind would wish that I would have done, anything left behind that my family would make proud of me? I truly hope that when I am gone, if I make it til I actually die, I honestly believe the rapture is right around the corner, that I will have done what all I've intended on doing. Most of all when I check out of this world I want to make sure that I still have my faith intact, so that when I am face to face with God he welcomes me with open arms to heaven. Ok ok ok, I'm not implying that by the fact that we celebrated a 70th birthday that we're close to checking out, but it does make one sit back and examine the progress that we've made in life. In the 25 years I've been alive I definitely have a ton of memories, some good and some bad, but to this point no regrets. I've made mistakes here and there, some worse than others, but fortunately I feel as though I am the sum of my experiences so I can take all the steps I've made and ensure that they'll lead me in the right direction, to 45 more years of memories til they celebrate my 70th birthday party.

Posted by: Wes