Bridge builder--Appointment #2

     Part of our goal on this trip we are taking is to visit all four of our siblings.  The last couple days were spent with my husband's younger brother and his wife.  We had not seen them in many years, basically since their mother passed away and their father remarried.  Contact has been limited to a rare phone call.  My fear was that the next time we saw them would be at a funeral--either one of theirs, one of ours, but most likely their Dad's.
      Most of us are aware of how the dynamics in a family work to either make a family grow closer or to draw apart, and with this family it has been the latter.
     The last few years have been pretty tough for my husband's little brother.  Both he and his wife have been experiencing major health problems.  Not only that, but the younger brother had been questioning his faith--he had been hurt by other Christians. The time was right for The Lord to build a bridge between the two brothers, to restore the relationship.  But not only did he do that, but he also used the visit to shore up the bridge between the younger brother and The Lord.  As the two brothers talked, my husband was able to reassure his brother that the commitment he made as a child was just as solid as it was the day he made it.
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    God is so good!  I can't wait to see what awaits us on the rest of our trip!

God's Appointment Book

     Did you know God schedules appointments for you every day?  The thing is, we have to be on the lookout for them.
     We are currently on the first day of our two-week vacation.  We have been praying for a while that  we would not miss the appointments God has set up for us during our trip.  Well, we had the first one today!  We were in Council Bluffs, trying to find a Hy-Vee to fill a prescription.  We asked directions  from a guy next to us at a stoplight, and he sent us just a few blocks to a Hy-Vee store.  As we were walking in, we met a young couple whose trunk popped open just as we walked by.  Inside they had boxes of products, and I was afraid they would try to sell us something.  But, instead, the lady handed me a bottle of body lotion and said, "God bless you!"  So we stopped and talked for a while, and encouraged each other in our faith and agreed in prayer with them concerning their business venture, which involved selling their products in Hy-Vee.    Then as we were leaving, Del called out, "By the way, God bless you, too!"  Then an elderly lady and gentleman getting out of a car waved and said, " God bless you, too!"
     So in a few short moments we were encouraged, the young couple were encouraged, and a couple of passers-by were encouraged!  And, oh yeah, I had a new bottle of body lotion, something I had forgotten to pack!  God is good!
   I wonder where our next appointment will be...

What she really wanted...

    I recently had an interesting conversation with man who is in the process of getting a divorce from his wife of 14 years.  He was angry with her because she didn't seem to appreciate all his hard work in providing for her and their children.  He said, "I gave her everything she could ever want!  A new home, nice vehicles, whatever she wanted, she could have!"
     Well, I know these people quite well, so I told him this:  "It is true that you did give her all those things, but she didn't require those to be happy.  You withheld from her what she really wanted and needed from you:  your love, your respect, your devotion."  
 
    This reminded of what God wants and needs from us:  our hearts to be truly devoted, and trusting in him.  That is the basis of Christianity and the rest will follow.

    We can fool ourselves into thinking we have a great relationship with God because we give money to charity, or we teach Sunday school, or we work in a soup kitchen.  All those things are to be admired, but they aren't what God really wants.  Just as that young woman wanted to know that her husband loved her fully and totally, so God wants us to love him.

     

Love of My Life

  The month of October has special meaning to Pat and Del Bertsch its our anniversary month.  Our anniversary is the 23rd. of October. How I met their mother is still the best experience that I ever had.

  I was working for my friend Marv in the freight business.  He was my sponsor in AA so we had a good relationship.  I didn't expect that he would become my father in-law nor did he.  I had walked by his desk hundreds of times, saw Pat's picture there, but never payed much attention.  One day as I walked past the desk I had a prophetic moment. The Lord said "you and Pat will get married someday." I never thought that was possible!  She was married and so was I.

   I met the person I was married to while I was in treatment for alcoholism.  She continued to pursue drinking, I was trying to stay sober.  All the problems of drinking were present in that marriage, and they were getting worse instead of better.  I was talking to Marv one day, and  decided that divorce was my only option. I asked if  I could have a pay advance to start the process.  He agreed, still neither of us ever thought that we would have a father son relationship.

  After my divorce was final, I went to work one day and Marv asked if I would take a truck and go with Pat to Brookings and pick up her personal belongings.  I was taken by surprise. He hadn't mentioned  Pat was having problems.  I agreed, but first I was to  go over to his mothers house  and pick her up.  He's the boss. I followed his request.

 While driving to Brookings I got to know her a little bit. Small talk, likes/dislikes, and what kind of music she like. Just visiting.  Her dad called her one day, and asked if she would like to go along to get a load off  turkeys. She thought that he was talking about going to Canada.  She said no.  Sow I said to him let me call her, I explained that we were going about 40 miles from town, she agreed to go along.  Our first date, a truck load of turkeys, her father, Pat, and Del.
   After we got back to town I offered to cook supper. She agreed.  We enjoyed the outing. I liked her and she liked me.  I invited her to a AA Christmas party.  When her father heard about it, he was not pleased, and I decided not to take her.  The next week she started to work for her father.  I got to see her every day, we would get a bite to eat and  talk.  One day after we had been together a short time, I got bold and told her that we would get married.
   The odds off us making  by our standards slim to none, in Gods standard we couldn't fail.  When the Lord spoke to my heart about Pat, he had a very special purpose for us.  He always knows the right time and the right person.  I thank God every day for our special relationship