Jump Start

My cousin called me one day to see if I was home. I told her that I was. She then asked me if I had a pair of jumper cables. I told her I would look to see, and that if I did, I would be right over with them. Well I looked in the trunk of my car, and to my surprise I actually had them. So I headed over to her house to help her out. I pulled onto the farside of their driveway, thinking that we could put her vehicle in neutral and push it out to jump it. I went up and rang the doorbell, she answered and out we went to jump start her vehicle. She climbs in the drivers seat, puts the key in the ignition, turns it, and nothing. She can not shift the car into neutral. Ok, so now what? Well I looked at the opening of their door and thought that I maybe could squeeze my car in far enough to get the cables hooked up. Sure enough it worked. (praise God). Then I had just enough room to open my door without dinging her car (praise God #2). Then the next question was, are our batteries on the correct sides for the cables to reach. Her battery was on the right side, my battery was on the left side (praise God #3). Ok, final question. Would the cables be long enough to reach from my battery to hers? We stretched them out as far as they could go, and guess what........It worked. Just enough length to hook up to each others terminals (praise God #4). So I hooked up the cables to the batteries and my cousin got in to start her vehicle. She cranked and cranked and still nothing. We both came to the same conclusion at about the same time. I was supposed to be in my car, reving the engine. So I climb back in my car, carefully and pressed the gas pedal down. Sure enough, within a couple of seconds, her vehicle started right up (praise God # 5). So my little Ford Focus started her gianormous SUV! So God knew exactly what we needed, how much cable and how much room to get my car in the garage to get the job done! It is awesome to see God working right in the moment that you are in! I give God all the glory for this event. It wasn't because of me that this all worked out, it was because of Him! Prasie God!!

Funeral protest

I just read an article on the internet about a church planning on protesting the funeral of young girl who was killed in the Arizona shootings. I can not believe that they are claiming that God sent this sick indivdual to pass judgement on their  idolatrous ways. I'm sorry, but in my Bible, God does not work that way. My Bible says that at the end of times, there will be the judgement day! He and only He will be the judge! This person who is the shooter, comes from Satan, not God! Jesus teaches us to love one another unconditionly.

 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."

-Proverbs 6:16-19

As far as protesting the military funerals, we are to hate the sin, not the sinner! We love the person, but do not condone their lifestyle. What kind of Christians go around passing judgement on each other! We are to gently show people the love of Jesus through us. Our actions and thoughts should be of Jesus! We are to be a light in this dark world!

Break through #2

I forgot to mention that when I went down again on the following Wednesday, that same waterfall was all dried up. No water to be seen! I am glad that I was obidient to the Lord! I could easily have missed that message, by being stubborn. I let God direct me and lead me! Praise You Jesus!

Break through

During the summer of 2010, I would go hiking at Starved Rock once a week. I would go down and walk the paths, alone, and pray and meditate. I would always pray the same prayer everytime I went down there. I would pray for revealation, for a job, college, whatever God wanted me to do. So I was doing this for about six weeks! The second week of November I figured it would be the last few nice days to go hiking, before the cold weather hit. So I drove down there on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All summer long, all the waterfalls were dry because of a lack of rain. I would still go there anyway, hoping to see their beauty. That Monday in November, I was going to walk on a different trail, when I heard God telling me to go to a certain waterfall. I argued with Him about going there. I was like "really God, there is nothing there, all dried up". He told me to go anyway. So I did. When I arrived there, the water was flowing like you couldn't believe. I couldn't believe! So I walk down deep into the canyon and really close to the waterfall. I was only there about five minutes when I noticed that the water was starting to pool up with a collection of leaves blocking it from going forward. In a couple minutes time, I noticed the water starting to break through the leaves and start flowing down to the next level of the canyon. The set of steps in the rocks that I used to climb up there, were starting to get covered with water. So I quickly make my way back down to the next level, before I got trapped in there. Then I noticed the water starting to pool up again, with the fallen leaves blocking it from moving forward. I wondered how long it would take the water to break through the leaves and start flowing again. It was only a couple of minutes at the most. So I climb out of the canyon and start heading for a different trail, when I realize, God just showed me something incredible. He was showing me that I am or that my family will have a break through with something coming up.

I should mention that I had gone to a job fair the week before, and when I got home from Starved Rock, I recieved a call, telling me that I had a second interview with that company. Could this be the break through? I was hoping and praying that it was! It wasn't meant to be. I went to the second interview and haven't recieved a call back.

So I guess the meaning of this post is, to be persistent in your prayers! Always pray for the same thing until it is answered! It may be one day, it may be one year or even ten. Keep praying anyway. God is listening.

Trust in God

In January of 2005, our company shut down manufacturing operations and became just a distribution center. They let over 40 people go, but kept four. I was one of the four. I went through all of the questions of why me. Why did they keep me and not some of the more experienced workers. Then in June of 2007, I met the woman who would become my wife at the company co-ed softball league. I didn't know it then, but I found out later, God wanted us to meet. That is why He kept me on at my job. That following fall of 2008, after we returned from our honeymoon,  my wife found out she was losing her job. Then in the spring of 2009, I found out I was losing my job. So God kept the door open at this company long enough for us both to meet, then He closed that door and has something else planned for us. My wife found a job after about four months, I on the other hand have been layed off since June, 2010. I am just trusting God and waiting patiently on Him. I know that he has something awesome for us! The first few weeks of being layed off, I have seen or have heard the following Bible verse.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New Living Translation)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

I put all my trust into this verse, that God does have something amazing planned for me and my family! I keep praising Him, and glorifying Him!
So I am trusting GOD!

It's a God thing!

 We wanted to start looking for houses, instead of moving into one or the others apartment. We contacted a real estate agent, and she went to work for us. We told her what we were looking for, school district we wanted to be in, etc, etc. We looked and looked at probably ten houses or more, with no luck. One day while we were at my sister in laws house, we were searching houses online. We noticed one that wasn't on our viewing list. We contacted our agent and asked why we hadn't been shown this one. She didn't have a clue as to why she didn't have that listing. So we looked at it the next weekend. Come to find out, the price had been reduced AGAIN, right into our price range! We walked in, took a look, and knew that we had to make an offer that day. So we did. Our bid was accepted in less than 24 hours. Praise God!

On top of all of this, while we were trying to get our house financing together, my car died. We did not and could not afford this at the moment, but I needed a car. So off to car shopping we went. It was February and very cold. We went to about 5 - 6 lots with no luck. I had a car in mind and no one had it available. Then the very last lot that we went to, there sat the car that I had been looking for all day. It looked brand new. No way we can afford this, I thought. We decided to go in and check on it anyway. Thank God that we did. The car was right in the middle of what we could afford, without throwing our house financing out of whack. Praise God once again. He provided a house and a car for us, on the same day!

Then on the way to take my old car to the dealer to trade it in, I did not have any brakes. So for the whole trip of about 45 miles, I trusted God to protect me and keep me safe. Guess what? He did. He had His arms of protection wrapped around me. Praise be to God!

History

Let me start with a little history of starting my walk on the narrow path. Three and a half  years ago, I met a woman at our company's co-ed softball game. I asked her out and she accepted. We went on a four mile hike at Starved Rock. Later that night, as I was laying down to go to sleep, I prayed to a God that I really didn't know. I prayed that if because of our age difference, God did not want me to date her anymore, He would tell me. That was not the case. I woke up the next morning with a clear definate yes from God! That was the first of many blessings! That was June 10th, 2007. The middle of July of that same year, I asked the woman that I was dating if it would be alright if we attended church with her. That date, July 22nd, 2007 I accepted the Lord into my life! It has been a decision that I have not regretted! From that point on, God blessed us with physical custody of my daughter, we got engaged, got married, and bought a house! God has blessed us immensley. I am going to attempt to share my walk with God in this blog. It will be personal and heartfelt posts. Probably with a lot of spelling and gramatical errors, but straight from the heart.