Saved By Grace

All of us are born sinful. People might do good things but we are not born good....because to be good would mean to be perfect, never breaking God's commands, always doing God's will. So first we have to acknowledge that we have all sinned. Then we can cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and repentance. God has paid the price of sin through Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. If we believe in Jesus, confess our sins and turn from it, He will forgive us.The bible says to seek God and search for Him with your whole heart. If we do this and ask Him to fill us with the holy Spirit, He will and that gives us a new life. This is what it means to be born again. There is no other gift as great as the gift of the holy Spirit! We then will want the things of God. We will love God and He will become the most important thing.This does not mean now you will be perfect. This just means that God will teach you and show you day by day what he wants or does not want you to do. It will not make life easy, and there will still be temptations and mistakes. So we just have to continually pray and ask for His guidance.When a baby is born they need time to grow and learn . It does not happen all at once. The same thing when we are born again, we will grow each day, and become more like Jesus. God will show us bit by bit. Only God is able to do all this in our lives. .It is not the things we do that make us Christian, it is faith. We can not make ourselves Christians no matter how hard we try. By faith though he will bring us to Himself and we will want to live the way God wants us to and the things we are doing will often show that we are Christians. God will make us a light in the dark because of what he has done in our lives.

Salvation Verses

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
—Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 6:23


But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
—John 1:12
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
—John 3:16-17

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
—Ephesians 2:8-9

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
—Romans 10:9-13


Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
—1 Peter 1:8-9

Our first born son

A.J.- Born June 22nd, 1996, passed away June 24th, 1996

I see your picture on the wall,

I wonder how big you'd be , or how tall?

When you would have started to walk?

How good would you be able to talk?

What would your first words be,

Would it be mom, or would it be daddy?

Would you be walking all around?

Would you be noisy or hardly make a sound?

Would you keep me up at night,

or go to bed without a fight?

None of this I will ever know,

can not help but wonder though.

Poem written on what would have been his first birthday by Nancy Wall

Learning from Others

God put something on my heart today and I thought maybe I should write it down right now while it is fresh in my mind. It has to do with the older women teaching the younger women as it says in the bible.
Titus2:3-5
"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
I am grateful for those verses. I have had a few great older women in my life to teach me much in different areas. From some I have been taught much about the word of God, from some about being a wife and raising children. (My mom for one seems to have a special touch with our children when they are not feeling well...or sometimes maybe just need that soothing from grandma.) Having ladies to turn to has been a great inspiration for me!
So then why get offended or annoyed when an older lady with more experience in an area tries to help us in an area. It seems that often people do not want to accept help or advice from someone else. Dare I say... that maybe it is pride in our own hearts..when we believe we know best.
God has called these older women to do just that, to help the younger...so why refuse help or feel upset about such things? It's taking away from what God has asked of woman.
I keep putting myself in the younger woman category, I know!. Well the truth is I still have much to learn from older woman(and well I am young) At the same time I guess there are areas where I am not THAT young and need to be willing to help others as well. In fact I think almost our whole life is like that, where we live, learn and pass it on.
We just have to swollow our pride, be willing to learn each day, and then be willing to teach.

More Gardening

Fast Growing Weeds

A negative thought is like a fast growing vine or more like an ugly weed. It very quickly spreads into many areas, and this is what I have done these last few weeks. It started with me feeling like I couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on. Felt like there was just too much to take care of. I could go into all the details and come up with a bunch of reasons why I felt like this, but I’m not going to do that, because the fact is God’s grace is always sufficient and somewhere in there, this was my own fault, and God had a better way for me then what I was taking. With negative thinking, it’s funny what it can do… A little self pity and suddenly you have a huge unwanted weed!
So I’m thinking, this is all too much, then I start thinking it’s not fair! Oh, AND then wait a minute…My husband should do this and that and the this and maybe this…..(oh,I could give him a long to do list ) Do you see how this could grow into bitterness towards him and well anyone else who isn’t doing things according to MY list. I know! As I’m writing, I’m thinking what kind of a woman would be like that…Oh ya me. Well, this weed started to go into other areas as well. I started to think well it’s not like anyone else cares either. The only reason people talk to me is because, I always make the start. You see how one thing led to another? I think I was beginning to believe some lies here and being ungrateful for God’s many blessings.
Well, I needed to get down on my knees and ask God for forgiveness for my attitude and not being thankful in all things. I needed to let Art (Hubby) know that I had been wrong and ask him to forgive me. God changed my thoughts and feelings as soon as I repented.
Then my eyes were opened again to all the things I needed to thank God for. Art goes to work in an over heated paint booth everyday for his family, he is always the one to clean our van, yesterday he cleaned up all th junk in our basement, he cleaned the pool for the kids.(and he does all these things without me asking him to) I started to feel bad because I saw he was doing way more then I deserve. The greatest blessing of all is he often reads and prays with the kids now. He is always telling me he loves me and makes me feel like I’m worth so much to him. God has done so much in both our lives! I know! How could I ever complain! It’s embarrassing to think about it now!
Then as for other people go, I have received a number of calls and an email this week from friends just checking in to see if Kati-Lyn is okay now (she was sick) I have a mom who is always there and a dad whom I talk to more now then ever. Many sisters and sister -in- laws who do care. Also thankful for my prayer sister I have now who also really brightened my day. Thank s to the people who pray for me even though I don’t always know it So all around I just needed to be thankful and apologize for not weeding this garden.
I am so grateful for the mercy and forgiveness and grace God has for us if we as!

O what a wonderful, wonderful day- day I will never forget;
After I’d wondered in darkness away, Jesus my savior I met!

Johnny was blessed with a little brother

On May 31st, Johnny's family was blessed with another boy. (that's 4 boys now)His name is Matthew. He was 9 lb and 11 oz. mom and baby are healthy and well. This was pretty exciting for Johnny! He has had a great attitude through all that he is going through.

Children are Gifts

God is the creator and giver of life. Children are a blessing from God. They are a gift and God is counting on us as parents to nourish, protect and bring them up in the ways of our Lord.
We walk through this life and watch our children grow. As babies, just watching them sleep is amazing. They seem so peaceful and innocent. Seeing them smile, kick, hold things for the first time, their first words.... It's all so much fun! So many stages come and go. Before you know it they are talking, walking, playing, and with it comes teaching them no means no! If you are a parent, or take care of other people's children, you have a clear picture of all this.
I guess the most important thing I have learned is that children are gifts that I need to give right back to God. Ultimately they belong to Him. Sometimes it's hard to give them back to God. We always feel like we want to be in control of things ourselves.(or atleast those have often been my first instincts.) But really, if we come to the point where we say it's all yours God...Whatever you see best for the day we will do, they are in much better hands and so are we. We are not perfect parents but God is a perfect holy father. Who better then to keep watch over us and our children 24/7 !

"Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3

Jesus said, "let the little children come to me, and forbid them not, for of such are the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:14

Family Devotions

We have been going through Step into the Bible by Ruth Graham. We started to do family devotions first thing in the morning now...well right after breakfast. It seems like after beakfast works better because the kids are more ready to listen. This book has a story, bible verses to read and verses to memorize and questions to ask. Then we also have a time of prayer. I have noticed that it makes such a big difference in everyones day, and I really want to keep it up... I pray that we will. I am grateful that God has made this possible for us, so I don't want to take it for granted!