Daily Miracle Grow-Better Than Fertilizer

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Have you ever been lost? I mean really lost? Like on your way to a new place...and lost!

Steve and I used to go snow skiing every winter. I have to tell you a little secret about snow skiing...not many females LOVE it the first time...or at least like their man loves it! And NEVER EVER learn to ski or expect it to be easy if you're a chunk!

Snow boots are meant to keep you from breaking your leg....but they are not made for large calves....you cannot wear the largest ski suit in town (which I have experienced that...trust me) and expect your ski boots to fit comfortably on your calves. Enemy camps ought to think about new forms of torture...one being panty hose put on crooked where your leg joins your torso...and ski boots on large calves...either one will completely cut off all circulation to your lower extremities....and where you might believe numbness does not hurt...you are nuts...it hurts really, really bad.

I have to confess to you that I have no sense of direction...and get so turned around and be completely lost in just a matter of a few turns....very few turns.

I can completely lose my car in a parking lot after having parked the thing just a mere hour before. My goal is to NEVER look lost....wander around like you know where your headed. Trust me, I always look lost.

All those years that we went to Winter Park Colorado...all those years that I skied down the same trails, cautiously, scared to death, to this day, the ONLY way I could find my way down would be to follow the rear end of the man I followed all those years....I was very familiar with that particular view of his body and as long as I could see that side of him...I was fine! But let him get out of my sight, I would completely panic.

Ever remember being lost when you were little? Of all my kids, Amber was the one I always lost. She never had any fear of being separated from me....and she always took off. I spent half my time in a frantic search for that little darling and then would drag her out of the store ready to kill her...

I remember Steve and I looking for one of ours in a grocery store, kind of knowing that they had to be on an aisle or two over....so we would sneak around just to see their expression on their face when they realized how lost they really were.... We laughed at the time, but it really wasn't funny to see that look of total terror when they realized they couldn't see us.

This morning I was reading in Psalm 31...it starts out just like us when we are pretty secure in our surroundings....got our moms and dads on the same aisle with us....verse 21

"Praise be to the Lord for He showed His wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city...."

Then we see the separation anxiety that comes in when we lose sight of our protector....all of which transpires in one verse...going from safety to panic

"In my alarm I said, "I AM CUT OFF FROM YOUR SIGHT!!!!!"

There we are, we lose sight of God, our fortress, our protector, our deliverance....

Then, "YET you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help!"

Remember the relief we felt when we were "found" in those days of our youth. Remember the look on that lost child's face when he saw you peeking around the end of the aisle...and how they cried in relief when you picked them up and told them, "That's why you must always stay with us."

Just as we were never far from those lost children....God is not far from us....it is us who head off in wrong directions...

Then in verse 23 it says, "Love the Lord all His saints! The Lord PRESERVES the faithful, but the proud He pays back in full.

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

We must keep sight of the Lord....We must remember where our help comes from....where our strength lies...our hope lies...

Stay on the same aisle as God...in fact never pull your hand out of His.... I always knew where Amber was when I kept a deathgrip on her hand....now believe me, we had some major tug of wars...but she never got lost when she kept her hand in mine....

Try to keep your hand in His....don't pull your hand out thinking that you have the plan in your life that will work...will fix things...we get in so much trouble when we find ourselves on a different aisle than God is.

I love you all so much. I am so thankful to have found this garden of strength...

Kathy

Garden Friend Members

Amber - amberlu29@yahoo.com - Red Poppy
Angie - angieswindell@verizon.net - Butterfly
Aunt June - tjmoore@cut.iserver.net - June Bug
Cheryl - Prayer Warrior
Diane - cessahunt@yahoo.com - Daisy
Elizabeth - eaw@mesh.net - Gardenia
Granny - Doris - Prayer Warrior
Jan - jrhawk2@earthlink.net - Bougainvilla
Janice - jh2336@sbcglobal.net - Pink Rose
Jenny - haasdenton@verizon.net - Cala Lily
Joann - Pr1ttywoman@sbcglobal.net - Wildflower
Joleen - Prayer Warrior
Karen - skwelch98@sbcglobal.net - Clover
Kathy - sweetpea@brazosnet.com - Sunflower
Linda - lindabrown1953@yahoo.com - Pansy
Marlisa - marlisa@dfn.com - Lilac
Maura - Prayer Warrior
Missy - Prayer Warrior
Sheri - gram_a_holic@yahoo.com - Iris
Susan - Lily
Susie - 4smcgee@sbcglobal.net - Orchid
Tia - suzypebbles@urnet. - Gladiola
Tobi - ryanandtobi@srcaccess.net - Star Gazer Lily
Vicky-vghboiles@msn.com - Tulip

Welcome to My Garden Friends

Hey this is brandon. I am setting this blog up for my mom. Here is just a sample of what she soaks in from God in everyday situations. I love you mom. Can't wait for you to meet Kaelyn Joy McCain-scheduled arrival July 23.

Wow, did I have an exciting weekend! I had two of my grandbabies...Carsyn and Luke. Carsyn has decided that I love Luke the best. I asked her, "Why do you think that?" She told me, "Because you play with him." I told her, "Carsyn, that is because Luke "requires" me to play with him...to keep up with him...to know exactly where he is at ALL times!"

It is so interesting to see how children relate to hard things. We had to be in the car quite a bit so I listened, literally non-stop to Carsyn chatter. Even Luke was totally amazed at this female who never stopped talking. I would look in the mirror and he was just staring at her, totally amazed...or in awe of the conversation...who can tell with a male just under two years of age.

We passed a cemetery. "That's where John is buried. Everytime you pass a cemetery, that's where John is buried." I explain to her that John is not really in that cemetery...he is with Jesus.

"That's right...cause Jesus was ready for John to come be with him...and that's why he had to go." I told her, "yes, and now John watches over your daddy, Stacey and Cade."

Then she said to me, "I don't know if that's the right thing to say though....'cause Jesus was ready for him to go'. I don't want Jesus to be ready for you to go Poops."

She had told her Grams, (Linda) "Grams I don't like you to have more birthdays...cause you and poops are just getting older and older. (No one lets us forget that!)

Then she told me, "I miss my daddy. He is sooooo cute!"

Here this child, five years old, has this burden in her heart...on her mind. And she is afraid. She doesn't have to say those words, "I am afraid" but with every sentence she speaks...she voices that fear.

As I listened to her, she told me, "Poops, I saw Jesus one time." Amber had told me about this conversation she had with Carsyn, but I'm telling you it was the sweetest most sincere conversation I have ever heard about the Lord.

"Where did you see Jesus, Carsyn?" "In my rocking chair at my 'nother' house."

"What was He doing?" "He was sitting in my rocking chair in my room."

Then with all sincerity, she began to describe Jesus. She said, "He has brown hair and its curly. And then he has this beard...but its not a really long beard....it's like this" And she puts her hands up to her chin and somewhat cups her chin to show me how long his beard is.

"And he has this white robe." "Why did Jesus come to your room Carsyn?" "He just wanted to rock in my chair. He likes to rock." She said, "I went and rocked with Him, but then I told Him, I gotta get in my bed cause my Momma and Daddy are gonna come in here and say to me, 'what are you doing out of that bed?"

There was nothing silly in this conversation. With all the sincerity and honestly of a child, she described her Jesus...

I have to tell you that my heart was envious of this divine encounter with the Lord and this sweet child, and I truly believe she will never forget it.

Then for the next 90 minutes she explained to me why there was barbed wire, why there were stickers, why there were bad people, why there were thorns, why mosquitoes bit people.... "Because Eve ate that apple."

Never in my life have I heard so many things caused by that apple-eating Eve. She told me, "I tell you what I would have done. I would have cut that tree down! And when I see God, I'm gonna ask Him WHY DID SHE EAT THAT APPLE?"

Oh my goodness....you have to keep a straight face because she is talking in ALL sincerity. I asked her, "Who told you all about Eve?" "My Momma...and it was that Adam too....."

When we got home, Steve had just got home from his fishing trip. She walked up to him and said, "Do you know what the devil looks like?" As Steve opens his mouth to tell her what he thinks, she says, "He's big, bald and red."

I just about fall in the floor and he looks at me and says, "I think she could possibly be describing ME!"

Oh my gosh we laughed....

How do we comfort those with broken hearts....no matter the age? How do we reassure our children that their Momma and Daddy will not leave...will not go to Jesus because it was their time.

We live in a world where there is so much hurt ... And the world doesn't know where to find its comfort...grace...strength.

The child of God's heart will last forever....

"We were made for more than just this life. We were made to spend an eternity in the company of our loving God...our Father.

"Our hearts know this is true. Even before we reached out to God our hearts whispered, 'there's more to this life than just this.' Don't try to drown out that whisper. The discontent and disillusionment we feel is not always born out of a selfish desire for the 'good life'. After all, your heart was made for the good life, a life of live that never ends. But so far we've only had a taste of that life...an appetizer of what is to come. Savor it. But listen to your heart....the best is yet to come.

"He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from the beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Taken from our book, Amazing Things God thinks about us)