Victorious at Last!

A great man has left us. My dear father-in-law went to be with our Lord and Saviour last night. He did not want prayers for healing, as he was ready to meet Jesus face to face. He was at peace with dying and was very much looking forward to going to Heaven. I can envision him now singing with a big smile in his beautiful high tenor, leading the heavenly choir, rejoicing!

The hospital staff commented that it was very rare these days to see a family surround a loved one for their final moments like we did "Pop." Our family was all around him when he left this earth and his earth tent behind, for his new eternal home with Christ.

Pop quoted to me the words of Paul, a couple of weeks ago:

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:6-8

What a testimony for Daddy, Carroll, Brother Carroll, Pop, Pop-Pop and Mr J. (the different names we knew him by) to have!

Are you spiritually ready to face Christ right now?

What will your life say about you?

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Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me....

Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize
it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't.

Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,
there will always be sunshine, after the rain....

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;
But God's always ready, to answer your call....

He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
a word from His lips, can calm every fear...

Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish, dawn's early light...

The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,
to give you His grace, and send you His love...

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.


Author Unknown

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A Poem To My GIRLFRIENDS

Someone will always be prettier.
Someone will always be skinnier.
Someone will always be smarter.
Some of their houses will be bigger.
Some will drive a better car.
Some of their children will do better in school.
And some of their husbands will fix more things around the house..
So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.
Think about it!

The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart.
And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to have children.
And the richest woman you know, she's may have the car, the house, the clothes~~~~ but still might be lonely.
And the Word says, 'If I have not Love, I am nothing.'
So, again, love you.
Love who you are.

Author Unknown

"1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13

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Troubles...

Paul says troubles are light afflictions. We need to remember that in our daily lives. Here is an acrostic my Pastor shared with us this past Sunday.

T - Times to trust God!

R - Remember: I am not self sufficient (Psalm 100:3).

O - Opportunities will do things for you that nothing else can do. It makes you be more creative, and seek fresh solutions.

U - Unbiased: Trouble is an equal opportunity provider. Trouble rains on the just and unjust alike.

B - Blessings in disguise, trouble opens up doors that you do not usually go through in good times.

L - Lessons: Each lesson becomes your teacher if you learn from the lesson. Listen, be observant let the lesson teach you.

E - Everywhere: Trouble abounds everywhere...

S - Solvable - Every trouble that you go through has a solution. The question is, are you going to find it? Are you going to be open, and be available to God to give you the wisdom, and to be attentive to hear the solution from Him?

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

II Corinthians 4:7-11, 14-18

\0/ Happy New Year, Halleluyah!