Sunshine!!

Love the sunshine!  And the warmth!  It always helps me to feel good.  But so do good friends, loving family, precious time with little ones and enjoying the many blessings of the Lord.
 
Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that God is the one in control and not me.  I learned that lesson again last Tuesday.  I will probably have to learn it a few more times, okay lots more times.  

But God is a loving and forgiving God.  Last Tuesday was a hard day for me.  I spent the majority of my day in tears (see the previous post).  I was frantic about issues with the motor home, how were we ever going to make it to Texas and concerned about a couple of friends who were struggling with illnesses.  I fretted and figured and figured and fretted some more.  


The motor home finally got repaired late in the day on Tuesday.  We had dinner plans with Ron's cousins, Jim, Sharon & Belva and I was just not in the mood to be "happy and social" yet I knew that would be the best thing for me.  So while Ron drove to Jim & Sharon's I sniffled and wiped my tears.  


We had a delightful dinner sharing lots of laughter and good stories about our children ~ you know those teenage years you wonder if you as the parent will survive them.  And we talked about the joy of grandchildren and how special they are to us grandparents.  And we talked about our families and some of our struggles and yet each time a struggle came up that we talked about each of us were able to say "but God did...." or "God showed me how to do...."  and in the end we were all able to say that we were each blessed time and time again.


And you know what.  God continues to bless us even in our humanness.  I can say I prayed a little on Tuesday but did I spend time on my knees seeking God's wisdom and not mine.  Nope.  Just a few arrow prayers.  But God is an awesome God and he works things out a whole lot better than I ever could on my own. 


I talked with a friend that night, three times to be exact.  And each time I hung up just thinking "Lord, thank you for loving me and showing me that love in so many ways."  And when I went to bed that night I prayed for the Lord to forgive me for trying to "fix" things on my own once again.  He is so much better at fixing things.  I need to remember to go to Him first.  Turn things over to Him first.  Not fret and worry.  I slept so well Tuesday night.  God forgave me for trying to do things my way.  He gave me rest so I woke feeling so much better emotionally on Wednesday morning.


My pastor, Charles, used to tell me to reign in those wild horses Alice.  Don't let them escape out into the wild blue yonder.  And I thought a lot about that on Wednesday.  Boy were those horses out running amuck on Tuesday afternoon.  So glad that God helped to bring them back into their corral.  


I have had a good rest of the week even though there were a couple of bumps along the road.  Wednesday we went to Edwards AFB where we met up with Jenn and Mike, Ron's niece and her family.  We had a fun time playing with the little ones and getting in some more kisses and hugs.  One can never get too many hugs and kisses from little ones.

 Thursday morning we got on the road about 9:30 a.m.  We drove to Quartzite, AZ.  While on the road I got up to get us something to drink and while getting back into the passenger seat I hit my head quite hard on the TV.  A little later I started feeling sick to my stomach and my head was pounding so I went and laid down on the bed.  I slept for over two hours.  I woke up just as Ron was pulling into Quartzite.  It was about 4:00 p.m.  Actually it was really only 3:00 p.m. but because of the time change it was 4:00 p.m.  So I guess it really was around 4:00 p.m.  We found a campsite for the night and got parked and set up.  Then we had dinner and dinked around on the computer for a few hours.  I did not sleep real well even after taking Tylenol for my headache.  


When I woke up Friday it was still there. I also felt like I was getting a sinus infection. We slowly got on the road about 11:00 a.m.  It was a short day for driving, just over 160 miles to Scottsdale, AZ.  I still had a headache but it was not too bad.  Once we got settled into our camping spot at West World - a huge horse complex we decided to go into Old Town Scottsdale.  We walked around and went in/out so many little gift shops things began to look pretty much the same.  After stopping at the local Safeway to pick up some groceries we came back to the motor home.  We had a nice dinner and then Ron headed off to bed.  I think the stress of traveling and the motor home issues were getting to him.  I read a few blogs and got the advice from three or four friends to put some Vicks on the bottoms of my feet and then sleep with socks on.  So with some thoughts of "those crazy friends of mine...I am so gullible...but gooped up my feet and put my socks on and crawled into bed.


And you know what? This morning I didn't have a headache, my sinuses weren't hurting and the bottom of my feet were kinda soft.  Guess those girlfriends of mine know what they are talking about.  That and asking God to relieve me of my headache helped tremendously.


We have had good days of travel and now a couple of good days of rest.  Tomorrow we get back on the road and go to Tucson for two nights.  We are going to be able to spend some time with Ron's Aunt Tine and Uncle Ken.

Thanks for listening as I rambled on tonight.  I am so glad that I am a child of the King!  And that he works in ways we could not imagine.  And that he knows what is best for us and when we should be where.  Thanks for praying for me, for us and for our motor home.  God is faithful and he is answering your prayers.