Pleasant Perk Of Aging

Each day I’m engaging with this thing called aging,

and sometimes it doesn’t seem fair.

I let out a sigh as in mirror I spy

on my chin a new granny hair.

 

It seems my forgetter works better and better.

Now what was I going to do?

For those in your youth, let me tell you the truth.

This reality is heading toward you.

 

My get up and go never more says hello.

It left without saying adieu.

Rocking chair is my friend, right up till the end.

With marathons, I think I’m through.

 

Age spots dot me like sprinkles. There are plenty of wrinkles.

Most of physical beauty has waned.

Yet I do not despair. For with joy I declare

I can see one thing I have gained.

 

Through life’s school of hard knocks and its aftershocks

and Biblical application,

wrongs I have spurned and lessons I’ve learned

give me cause for celebration.

 

I’m now somewhat wiser, can be an adviser

to those traveling life’s shifting road.

By God’s grace be spurred to give encouraging word

and perhaps lighten somebody’s load.

 

Though steps are measured, still there’s one thing I’ve treasured

in spite of youth taking backstage.

Experiences of life have left me rife

with the gift to bear fruit in old age.

6/6/19

Psalm 92:12-15  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 

Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 

To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God Is Faithful!

As a new convert to Acts 2:38 salvation at the age of 16, I remember hearing various saints in the church testify about how they had been living for God for 20, 30 or even 40 years. This was amazing to me, because I really felt so weak and pitiful in my fledgling walk with God. “What a pillar of strength they are!” I thought to myself. In my heart, I hoped that one day I would be able to have a testimony like theirs.

On June 16, 2019,  I was blessed to be able to celebrate my 40 year anniversary of being baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. My perspective has certainly changed from the one I had as a teenager. I realize now that none of the people I heard testify about living for God many years were pillars of strength. God is the pillar of strength, and without His faithfulness and steadfastness, we would not be able to live for Him.

As I reflected on my relationship with God, I could see that there were many times when

my attitude was wrong

my thinking was messed up

I wasn’t focusing on the right things

I was half-hearted in serving God.

But God was faithful to

put preachers in my life to tell me what I needed to hear

let me hear preaching or teaching from the Word of God, so I could see myself

convict me when I was wrong

forgive me when I came to Him in true repentance.

As I thought about my 40 year journey with the Lord, the words of a chorus came to my mind.

He’s been faithful, faithful to me.

Looking back, His love and mercy I see.

Though at times I have questioned,

even failed to believe,

yet He’s been faithful, faithful to me! 

I am so thankful today for God’s great faithfulness, and I’m trusting that  His faithfulness coupled with my obedience to His Word will carry me to the day when I shall behold Him face to face.

Lamentations 3:22,23  “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Psalm 17:15  “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness”.

 

Music To My Ears

When I was a little girl
My mom would say those wonderful words…
“I’ll read you one more story.”

That which once was music to my ears
has changed with time and passing years.

Oh what heights of glory were
reached upon hearing the awesome news…
“There’s no school today due to bad weather.”

A happy day it was receiving my
high school diploma as the announcement came…
“Congratulations to the graduating class of 1980!”

That which once was music to my ears
has changed with time and passing years.

After crying out to God in true repentance,
He impressed upon my heart affirming words….
“You are forgiven!”

Like a sweet symphony
The voice of the man of my dreams rang out a question…
“Will you marry me?”

That which once was music to my ears
has changed with time and passing years.

After laboring to give birth,
my own vocal chords lifted in sheer glee…..
“Honey, it’s a girl!”

My little girl whispering
Those coveted words for the first time.
“Mommy, I love you.”

That which once was music to my ears
has changed with time and passing years.

Reflecting on my life, I can see that there
have been so many musical moments
produced by words that resonated
in my soul. But I have been living most of my life
watching, waiting, longing, anticipating
to hear that celestial concerto that can only
take place in another world.

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou in to the joy of the Lord!”

That which will be music to my ears
will not change with time or passing years.

2/13/19

Good Old Folks

I can’t believe I just called these two fine people old. In reality, Bro. and Sis. Halstead are very young at heart. Bro. Halstead still shouts, runs the aisles and praises God like a much younger man. His worship is sincere and encouraging.

The Halsteads are a very important part of our Kids’ Church program. In the first photo, Bro. Halstead is playing Grandpa Jones, a character in our current quarter of The Real Pentecostals. Both Bro. and Sis. Halstead are wonderful teachers, and I have been amazed at some of the creative ways they have come up with to keep the children engaged and teach them the precious Word of God. Brother Halstead also heads up our outreach department and does a great job inspiring us to reach out to those in our community that have not experienced Acts 2:38 salvation.

In the second photo, they are clowning around at a meal we had recently to break a fast that we did together as a church. Earlier that week, Sis. Halstead had sent a photo to me and another sister from our church of a man devouring some chicken drumsticks. She said that was going to be what she would look like when we broke the fast. Hence, I took this photo to represent that moment. 🙂

This faithful couple has been such a blessing to our church in many ways. Getting older has definitely not stopped them from being faithful and working for God with all of their hearts.  They are living out the following verses.

 

“Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;”

Psalm 92:13,14

Just to clarify, I’m not saying that Bro. and Sis. Halstead are fat. This is talking about abundance or a “spiritual fat” that is a good type of fat.(I sure could use more of that type of fat!) I am thankful today for the great big FAT blessing that Bro. and Sis. Halstead have been to Cornerstone Pentecostal Church!

The Gift

When I was a young child, you were an old gray headed man that shuffled along slowly, aided by a cane. You never could move fast enough for me, and although I tried to hurry you, you would not be rushed. I looked forward to things like going to kindergarten, summer vacations and the holidays that never seemed like they would come soon enough. As I got older, I looked forward to graduating 8th grade, graduating high school, graduating college and finally getting married, but I was always waiting on you, for you were ever with me. Things just had to be done at your pace.

An amazing transformation happened to you after I got married. Suddenly you were much younger, and it seemed you and I were moving together at an almost equal speed. Now we were getting somewhere! We seemed to be in sync until I had my first child, at which point another alteration took place in you. You became even younger and seemed to have the energy of a teenager, while at the same time, I noticed that I was getting older.  I was enjoying being a mother.  There were days I just wanted to marinate in the experience, but you with your boundless energy kept pushing me forward. Before I even realized what was happening, my children were graduating from high school and growing up. Oh, you rambunctious youth! You just wouldn’t stop and rest even for a minute.

Then one day, I had an epiphany concerning you. In all honesty, you had been the same all along and had never changed. The only thing that had changed was my perception of who you are. You have been God’s faithful servant throughout the ages, and I am learning to cherish you more each day.  I will do my best not to try and hurry you or slow you down or squander you, but with God’s help, I will let you run your course. You are precious to me, Time!

1/3/18

Hope For The Middle Aged

My husband and I were having a discussion yesterday about middle age. It’s certainly been a period in our lives where we have seen a lot of changes, sometimes on a daily basis. I’m writing this post for a little comic relief and to give hope to our friends out there who are in the same boat as we are. I’m certainly glad for my physical body that some of these changes are only temporary. For reasons listed here and others, I sure am looking forward to seeing Jesus!

 

A strange thing has happened in our lives

They call it middle age

Which I think is overrated

Definitely not all the rage.

 

We don’t know what changes there will be

Upon awaking each morning

But there are signs our years are advancing

Our bodies are giving us warning.

 

One day, I found quite surprising

And much to my chagrin,

While gazing in the mirror

A granny hair under my chin!

 

And as my spouse was starting his day

His body moving about

I heard him utter a groan

As one of his knees gave out.

 

When we were kids, we played outdoor games

I remember when “tag” was in

But now it’s turned into this ugly little thing

We find hanging from our skin.

 

There are other changes I could mention.

The list goes on and on.

But it’s really not the type of change

That I wish to dwell upon.

 

The change that I am longing for,

For which my spirit does sigh;

Will take place in a moment,

In the twinkling of an eye.

 

When the Lord returns to earth

And splits the Eastern sky

Caught up to meet him in the air

To heaven, I will fly.

 

This body, now slowly fading

Puts on immortality

Gone, the limitations of this flesh,

In his likeness, I will be.

 

Truly this is the change

That I’m longing to see take place

And forever I will be satisifed

When at last, I behold His face!

9/2/16

1Corinthians 15:51-55

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

 

Psalm 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Bye, Prayer Partner

13 years ago when we came to the city of Oakley to start a church, we promised our children who were 7 and 11 at the time, two things. The first promise was that we would get a pool, which we did do. The second promise was that we would get a dog. We had some friends that had a Lhasa Apso, and we really liked their dog and the fact that this breed of dog does not shed. Our friends gave us the number of the homeschooling family that sold them their dog, and we made arrangements with them to buy one of their pups. After much deliberation and polling of our extended family, we settled on the name of Misty for our new dog.

This is one of the earliest pictures I could find of her that was saved on the computer. We were both a lot younger. 🙂

 

Our new dog quickly worked her way into our hearts, even though at times she did some bad things. I recall going out of town for a tournament when our kids were involved in Bible quizzing. We left Misty at home but had a dog sitter that came twice a day to care for her. Upon arriving home, we found the blinds of the front window chewed upon and badly mangled.

We’ve had a lot of good times with Misty over the years. From early on, she was pretty much a mommy’s girl. When I was at home, most of the time she followed me wherever I went, unless of course somebody in the house happened to be partaking of any good smelling meat or delectable. She loved whipped cream, and she would come running whenever she heard the sound of it coming out of the can.

One of Misty’s favorite things to do was open gifts. She was very skilled at savagely tearing at wrapping paper and pawing and clawing until at last the gift was revealed. As I was saying before though, if she wasn’t being enticed by food, she usually followed me wherever I went. When I would go to work, many times I would come home to find her sitting in my son’s window seat(at our first house)or on top of the couch looking out the window at our second house waiting for me. Early on she even wanted to be with me when I would pray in the morning, either downstairs in the family room or up in my closet if we had company staying overnight.

Over the past six weeks, Misty’s health had really been deteriorating. Yesterday, I came home from work to find that she had lost the use of her back legs. She was very distressed and tried using her front legs to move around. To make a long story short, my husband and I took her to the vet emergency hospital and after an exam and consultation with the vet, we made the difficult choice to put her down. It was tough this morning praying by myself in the closet. I always leave the door slightly ajar and half expected her to bump it open with her body as she usually did.

I miss my little pooch, but I’m thankful that God allowed us to have her for as long as we did. Good bye, my little prayer partner. I’ll always love you and cherish all the good memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

71derful Years!

(Mom and I at Kiki’s Surprise 50th Birthday Party in 2009)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother who turns 71 today! I’m glad you got to go to Wisconsin, mom to be with the other August birthday grandchildren, but count on some birthday spankings from me when you return. Hee hee. I love you so much, and I thank God that He blessed me with a wonderful mother like you. I hope you enjoy your special day.

Love,

your favorite child 😆

Reunion

This poem is dedicated to my dear friend, May.

Time and distance can cause

some relationships to

decay, but

that has not been the case

with you,

old friend.

When I heard your voice

again, you sounded exactly

the same, and suddenly,

I was transported back to

our teen years.

Remembering the little things;

Your ankles cracking

every morning when

you got out of bed.

Filling your closet space

with…………………

those dreaded banana peels,

and other scenarios

too numerous to mention.

But we are not kids

anymore, and some painful

blows have come your way.

I see you still

fighting the fight,

and I am reminded that

not everything which

is crushed goes

in the discard pile.

Tear the delicate petal

of a rose in

tiny pieces and,

there is still sweet fragrance

to enjoy.

And so friend,

Let’s march on.

Will I see you

in your state?

Or will you visit

in my state?

I do not know.

But

there is a

City that awaits us!

7-19-10

Getting Closer

The teenage girl marveled at the testimonies of the elders in her church. Several times she had heard different ones stand up and thank the Lord that He had saved them and kept them for 40+ years. Life hadn’t always been easy, but God had been with them every step of the way. “Wow, what a testimony to be able to serve God all those years! I hope that will be my testimony some day,” thought the teenage girl. At the age of 16, she had repented of her sins, been baptized in the name of Jesus and gloriously filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Although she enjoyed her new found faith in God, she often found herself fighting against the voice of discouragement that roared in her head. It seemed she was bombarded with negative thoughts of not being able to live for the Lord and really please Him. However there were a couple of things that really helped her. The first was her pastor who taught her the importance of casting down those negative voices of doubt and despair and replacing them with the good Word of God. The second was a quote that she read in a book.

“The mighty oak was once a little nut that stood its ground.”

A short time after reading the quote, the young lady found a little acorn and decided to keep it as a reminder of the quote that had encouraged her. For a while, she kept the acorn where she could see it. After moving a few times, the acorn wasn’t in plain sight anymore and was largely forgotten. Through the grace of God that teenage girl grew older, married a godly man and eventually became a mother. Every so often, she would think about the acorn and the elder saints from her first church that had encouraged her so with their testimonies. Time was going on, and she was still living for God! It seemed like before she knew it, she had been living for God for 30 years. It dawned on her that she was getting closer to the testimony that she wanted to have. In a couple of days it will be 31 years that the Lord has kept her.

Actually, I should say that it will be 31 years that the Lord has kept me, for the teenage girl that I mentioned was/is yours truly. On June 16, 1979, I came to God in repentance, was baptized in the lovely name of Jesus and received the Holy Ghost. I am so thankful that God is not only a Saviour, but He is a Keeper as well, and has kept me all these years. Back in my younger years, the devil really tried to convince me that I could not live for God and that I should go back to my old way of life. 31 years later, I would just like to say, IN YOUR FACE, DEVIL!

I’m getting closer to being able to have the testimony I always wanted to have, and if the Lord tarries long enough, and I don’t go by way of the grave, I look forward to the day when I can say…………………………………………….

“God’s been so good to me! 40 years ago He saved me and He has kept me. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been worth it. He can save you and keep you too!”