Party of Five

For some time now, there has been a worship song that is a favorite of many in the church, except maybe me. Don't get me wrong, I thought it a perfectly good song - I just didn't "get" the lyric - they didn't sit right with me... Lord I'm amazed by You - Lord I'm amazed by You Lord I'm amazed by You How You love me. In my own little world, I would sing that and think - "Why should I be amazed?" I'm saved, I know He loves me! I'm not going to wallow in self-pity of what a horrible sinner I am and un-deserving of His love. That was before I was a Christian...I've been a Christian a long time, and I know all about His love. Why should I be amazed by it?" (This would be yet another time when Mr. D. just looks at me as if I'm the most bizarre person in the world. Apparently, he already gets it. But this is my blog, so I get to write about it...) I was reading The Ragamuffin Gospel yesterday. I've actually been rea...

Hello, my name is Candy, and I am a Facebook addict. More specifically, I am a Farm Town addict. For those of you who have not become a part of the social networking sites. Run...run as fast as you can away from such things. Once you get in and get hooked, it's impossible to get out. I'm only kidding of course. I could always delete the site from my Favorites folder. But I just know that I would miss out on reuniting with that one person from high school that I haven't spoken to in the last 19 years. (If I haven't spoken to them in 19 years, why do I care what they're up to now?) But it's not just the reuniting of old friends - even family members we don't see often enough. It's the applications! Oh my word - who knew that I was such a "Saved By the Bell" fanatic! Well there's a quiz on there that let me know as much. Now Mr. D. has found his little FB niche within the realm of "Mafia Wars"...an innocent enough little game where y...

I have never claimed to be a perfect person. I'm not some uber-spiritual, got-it-all-together, perfect woman who walks through each day with a smile on my face. I have bad days. I have really bad days. And there are days when I really, Really mess up. I have those days when bad decisions and stupid choices just abound out of me like snow in Buffalo during the winter months. The thing is, I'm not a baby Christian - I've been in church all my life, and know in my head everything that's always been taught to me. I know He's a forgiving God. I know He loves me. I know He's merciful. It's only recently that all of this has become to be known in my heart, and not just my head. What a difference between having that "head-knowledge" and knowing it deep within your heart! I sat in my church service like I always do. But lately, I'm learning to "let go", and shut out the rest of the world. It's during worship, that God is really beginning t...

I'm reminiscing a bit for this one - but it was one of those moments that when it happened, I knew the memory would stay with me forever. One Sunday morning at church, when "Big D" was all of 5 years old, he did what everyone does at some point in their sandle-wearing life. He caught his toe under a door and ripped the toenail off. It still makes me cringe, 4 years later. Needless to say, at the time there was blood and a lot of tears. That night as he was getting ready to go to sleep, and I was tucking him into bed, I could see his mind working as he asked: "Mom? Our bodies are filled with bones and blood right?" Yes... (I really had no idea where this was going, but apparently the sight of his blood had made some impact on him!) "And Jesus lives in our heart, right?" (Okay, you really have been listening!) "But mom, with all that stuff in our bodies ~ Won't Jesus get squished?" Oh...wow...okay, I wasn't expecting that from my 5 year...

I'm spending my time this week getting ready for next week's activities. My mom -who was just here a few weeks ago - will be making a return trip from Texas, and then her and I are taking off for Northern Michigan to visit this wonderful woman who just happens to be our oldest living family member! According to my genealogy program - Irene is my 1st cousin twice removed. Now, after being hit with the genealogy bug for the past 2 years, I still haven't quite figured out that "removed" thing when it comes to cousins. All I know is that my great-great grandfather, William Bryan Andrew Parrish, was her grandfather. My grandfather was his son from his first marriage, Irene's father was his son from his 2nd marriage. So maybe that's where the "removed" card comes into play? (Confused yet?) In the midst of my research, I discovered these 3 wonderful family histories that were written by Irene. Within the chapters of these books were references to a futu...

Job 42:2 - I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. There is NOTHING God cannot do, and it is impossible to frustrate God's purposes. God's purpose can't be blocked, restrained, or stopped. God's intentions can neither be altered nor disrupted. What He purposes will transpire without delay, without hindrance, and without fail. This is where my journey with Job comes to an end. Oh, I think God is still teaching me and will continue to do so, but after 4 years, I finally felt "released" from my time spent with Job. There is no explanation for what we went through during that time. For 9 months, we tried to get pregnant only to have it end in a miscarriage...it took us another whole year to get pregnant after that...18 months later, we were pregnant again - and had another miscarriage, and six months down the road, it happened once again. Month after month of fertillity testing resulted in no apparent reason for my body to...

The story of Job ends with his wealth and posterity restored. So then, what is the point of the story? Are the rewards of Job's faithfulness and integrity to be understood in terms of the restoration of his fortunes? Are all things as they were? Not all! The Job of the first chapter was perfect, blessed, and without adversity. But he had never seen the splendor and glory of God. The Job of the last chapter has been sorely afflicted, and those times cannot be forgotten. Job has been deeply wounded. But he has survivied warfare with God; he has seen God. The Spirit of God moves in the lives of believers in a variety of ways. He draws us into God's presence so we may receive the blessings of salvation. He continues to move in our lives, sometimes in a gentle and restful breeze, and at other times like the winds of a great storm that disrupts our lives. The Spirit's work in our lives is to draw us into God's holiness so we may experience his glory. We prefer to experience H...