We live in a world that seems so large, and yet throughout my life, I have experienced many times, what I call, God’s Little World, events! I’m sure you remember times in your life, when you thought about an incident and said, “oh my, what are the chances of this happening?”  I have had many and will try to reflect back on some, even though as I am typing, I am having to look back.  One I recall, was being at a business convention in Los Vegas, NV.  I live in Texas and I met a man at the convention from TX.  When we talked, I found out that his Grandfather was from the town I was living in,  and the school 2 blocks from my house, was named after his Grandfather.  The school was just shut down this year when they put a new Jr High up.  Another time was recent, when we were just playing around on the computer and discovered we could actually google drive by our house.  As I was driving down my street, I noticed my brother’s van in my drive way and a friends car in front of my house.  That car was one that my husband worked on for this friend for over a year, so the time frame was there.   Dec. 28th or 29 of 2007.  My brother and his wife came and spent the night.  The Christmas lights were up on our sidewalk.  The night of the 28th was a night my Mom had long waited for.

Just 3 months prior to that, on Oct. 7, 2007, I stepped out with my husband to go have breakfest at a nearby restaurant, leaving Dad in the nursing home and telling him we wouldn’t be long and I would see him shortly. We left and my phone stayed in the car while my husband and I ate.  It was flashing when I got back in the car, so I checked and it was news that Daddy had died.  We went back to the home to say our good byes and then on to the house to be with Mom, as she lost her companion and loving husband after 61 years of marriage.  The next 3 months were quiet exhausting as we buried Dad back in his home town area, about a 12 hour drive from where we lived.  After the funeral, my husband told Mom he was OK with her moving in with us and we made plans to make that happen.  We set her room up at our house, moving all of her bedding there so she would feel at home.  She did great, considering her loss, but she felt secure, knowing she was with us and she was not alone.  We had a great 3 months, until she started having heart trouble in Dec. which lead to her getting progressively weaker as Christmas approached.  We were able to get her into a chair for only a short time to open her gifts, and then I called the family in.  My brother, who’s van was in our drive way, lived only 3 hours away, and got there to spend the night, the night before she died.  As night approached the night of her death, we just knew it would happen.  I crawled in the bed beside her hospital bed and slept in my clothes.  My sister in law and brother slept in the other room.  It was the middle of the night when I woke up to look at her.  The fan was blowing and I thought she was still breathing, but I think she was gone at that time.  My sister in law said she was awaken with what she thought was the sound of angel wings in the other room.  Mom had waited so long to be with “her sweet Jesus”  and now she was home and never would suffer sickness and pain again!  How could I be sad?  We all walked in and sang a song about meeting her in heaven and then that is when they came and carried her out the door.  That is the time frame when the picture of our house was taken for satellite viewing via the internet.  I told my husband, It was a wonder, they didn’t get them carrying her out the front door!  Instead, it was a picture that to me told me that God remembered that day and he wanted me to know that he did.  To me, it was him saying, “ I was with you on that day, and I even had a picture taken so you would see it later and know that I was with you! ”

God’s little world…..  It’s not so big to him. There are 100′s of times in my life that strange things like this have happened and I knew it was not just by accident!  It was God saying,”you think things are so big and so impossible, but through me, all things are possible!  You just relax and don’t be anxious.  I have everything under control and I know what you need and will provide it!”  That is what I believe!  He knows what I need and he takes care of me, he guides me and he is the one in charge!   I encourage you to consider letting the stress you carry around, be placed in his arms.  You were not meant to figure everything out, but with God, all things are possible!  You can achieve the dreams and desires he has placed in his hands and he wants to show you “God’s little world” events.  Be expecting them and take notice of them.  When you notice  things,  such as you saying something like, “This was beyond anything I could have done, or this didn’t just happen by accident or what are the chances of this happening; then, welcome to God’s Little World! The power to acheive is in YOUR FAITH, PUT INTO ACTION and in HIS HANDS!

Don’t let it RETIRE your dream! Just like a toddler who is learning to walk, sometimes, on the way to your dream, there will be “UPS” and sometimes there will be “DOWNS!” I love watching children and learning from them.  They do not have all the hang ups that come with age and disappointments.  They look at life through a trust that is there without question.  They say the cutest things and we realize then how simple life is to them.  My niece, who is 4, lives near the ocean.  She takes in everything about life with a passion.  She is quiet a talker and while at the ocean, she expressed to her Mom how much she loved the ocean.  Her Mom, trying to get her to tell her “why” she liked the ocean, asked her, “Why do you like the ocean so much?’  She looked at her Mom in disbelief that Mom didn’t understand!  She said, ” UHHH…..  we have the biggest swimming pool!”

There are many things that children do, that are actually meant to teach us! They cling to the one they can trust and to the one who gives them the most care.  In the same aspect, if someone scares them or hurts them, they do whatever they can to stay away from that person.  We can learn by this, to look at who in our life, has our best interest in mind?  Who is trying to take advantage of us and trying to cause us harm.  Children who have good examples in their lives will grow up to be good examples themselves.  A child who has been treated badly, may carry those things into adult life.  Everyone who lives on this earth, has their story.  They have roots that are attached to them.  We all have to examine our life and experiences.  We need to get back to the place of innocence,  just like a trusting child who trusted to be cared for.  We have a heavenly Father who will never treat us badly.  He is there to help you get rid of all the obstacles that are between you and your dream!  He is there to help you define what your dreams are!  He did put them in you and if you didn’t get a great start or if you have hurt in your life, he does have a key to help you unlock the potential you hold within yourself.

When a child is told how beautiful, special, or smart they are, they believe it! The same is true if their past was not so good and they were not encouraged to achieve. Maybe they were told they were failures or not smart or good enough, they start to believe that too!  It might just be one thing that was said, that they believe, that started a breakdown in self-confidence!  Really, you need to dig deep sometimes to get to the root of what holds you back.  When you find that harmful root, speak the truth to yourself and take ahold of that ugly root and pull it out!  Then celebrate and tell someone who believes in you that you’ve got it!  Fight for your freedom and forgive the one who hurt you, put your faith and trust in God and move on!  I dare say, that the most successful people in this world, have overcome some of the toughest obsticles, to get where they are today!

Look to your mentors as a child looks to his parents and others in his life to guide him. As an adult, if your mentors do not have your best interest in mind you can leave them.  As a child, you were not able to make those decisions, but now you are an adult you can chose to be around those who will inspire you!  Don’t retire your dream but bring it back to life.  Live life with a passion.  Take back what has held you back and find fullness of joy in your life.  Be a peacemaker and be a good mentor to those you are blessed to have in your circle.  We are only here for a short time, so make do whatever it takes to get peace and tranquility back into your life.

Back to my neice and some of the cute things a child might say.  It was afternoon and a busy day.  She told Mom she wanted to take a nap!  Mom said, “Ok, but only for an hour because we have to leave.”  My niece said, ” could you set the alarm clock?”  Mom said , “Ok and she set the clock for her.  My neice then said, ” OK, I can turn my ears off now!”

Kids are precious and have many differant personalities. The Bible says, “And a little child shall lead them.”  God loved children and he wants us to model ourselves out of their innocense.  The way they were before their trust was broken. If you’ve had past lies and disappointments that have taken shape in your life, take back what was stolen for you and get back to child like faith and you will find you have the Power To Achieve!

We all have our comfort zones. Many of us live in our comfort zone, never really realizing what it would be like to live in another person’s lifestyle.  We get really use to taking things for granted.  I am now in a place totally different than what I am use to.  It’s not a drastic change, but still it’s not what I am use to.  I made the decision last month, to go with my husband, rather than stay in place at our home, while he took a work assignment far away from our home base.  This was a major trip, not a weekender.

We left the “cold country” and moved to South Texas back in 1996. Climate was a big factor for us!  Why did I not like the winters of the Texas Panhandle?  It wasn’t the cold, because some of my favorite memories were the White Christmases, having snow ball fights during the lunch hour at school, and watching my sons growing up there.   From childhood, I remember building snowmen, snow forts, sledding and just staring out our big picture windows at the huge ice cycles and snow covered trees.  I love the beauty of the snow fall.   With the move to South Texas, I didn’t know if I would ever live to see another snow.  Why were the winter months of the Texas Panhandle something I really was glad to walk away from?  It was that big and awful word FEAR!  You see, I was never a great driver in the snow and ice.   My first experience was driving to work which was while I was in High School.  My first job was twelve miles from the town were we lived.  It was icy after the snow and I was just coming off of the hills when suddenly, my car went into a spin.  I saw the pole coming at me, but fortunately I missed it and was able to keep driving to my job.  Then there was another time when, my boys were with me in a small truck.  They were young and as we were on our way home and came to the blacktop change of the road when the county line changed.  The light colored asphalt was not slick, but as soon as we crossed to the black pavement, the truck went into an uncontrollable spin, sliding off the road and taking out the fence.  There were more weather incidents with my driving in weather conditions, but I won’t go on.  Just wanted you to realize that I wanted to just find a warm climate so I wouldn’t have to drive on ice and snow ever again!  When fear can get a lock on you it causes you to be its victim.  

Why did I focus on the “Fear” and not on the “Faith” I had at the moment each incident happened?   With all of my weather related incidents, I could have been seriously injured or killed and yet, I can tell you of 6 weather related incidents where fatality could have been a factor and yet God protected me and others.   My understanding through this lesson of life is that it wasn’t my appointed time to go.  We must put our faith in a God who knows what will happen, even before it happens. I had put restrictions on God’s plan for my life by letting “fear” be my guide.  When we needed to find work, leaving the warm climate wasn’t even a consideration.  Remember the story of Jonah in the Bible?  God needed him to go to Nineveh to preach to the people there and he headed out the other direction.  As he went aboard a ship away from Nineveh, a great storm came and the men aboard the ship cast lots to see who was causing the storm.  Jonah knew it was him so they cast him into the sea where a great fish came and swallowed him up.  As the story was told, the fish later spit Jonah out near the shore and he knew he had to obey God and complete his mission.   Now as we have realized there was a “Jonah” situation in our life, we are where I know God has called us to be for this time.  What are you letting keep you off of your chosen path.  Your success may be right around the corner if you will just let your faith go and stamp out your fears.  Expect to be happy and fully able to complete your mission.  Look for amazing discoveries as you embark on your new journey!  Tackle each obstacle with faith!  Be blessed and be one who blesses!  Don’t limit yourself but believe in yourself.  You are an achiever and fully equipped to be more than a conqueror!  My boys sang a song when they were little that went like this:  In the belly of a whale, three days and three nights…what an awful feeling!  What an awful site!  I’d much rather be….in a dark old jail….than to be like Jonah….In the belly of a whale.  See yourself gaining victory over your fears! You were born with the Power to Achieve victory over your fears!

Today, I would like to talk about loss.    For those of you who have had to deal with loss of a loved one, I hope this writing will let you know, you are not alone.  Georgia  Ross was my husband’s Grandmother.  What an inspiring lady she was to me, what little time I had to know her.  She always treated me like a Granddaughter and I loved her spunk. She lived in her kitchen, constantly baking and cooking for the family she loved.  Her table always had plenty for those who ate there.  She had 9 brothers and sisters as I remembered and 2 sons.  She died at 86, but she outlived them all.  I looked at her and wondered,  how she had dealt with losing so much?   I knew it was God’s unseen hand, that had given her strength.   I lost both of my parents at the end of 2007.  I knew it was likely they would proceed me in death, so when they did, I determined to be strong!  I had great examples in my family as well, in realizing that death is as much a part of life, as living is.  Actually, it is my belief, that death is stepping into an eternal life, that never will end.

We left for our 2 month job assignment in Nebraska just 2 weeks ago.  On the way here, I had a call that there was a death of a neighbor who lived next door to my husband’s Dad and his Grandmother, Georgia Ross.  Then I had a call from our friend who was house sitting that his best friend had died.  Then, after getting to our destination, my brother called me and told me a friend whom he had ministered to for many years, who was born with Spinal Biffida and had been paralyzed from the waist down, had finally lost his battle at life and died.  Now, just this week, the lady whose basement we are renting, had a call and her nieces husband had a sudden massive heart attack and died.  Then just a few minutes ago, I called my friend who had moved her father in with her when we left and he died 2 days ago!  There are lives effected and differant stories and situations, through every death that occures.  Five known deaths in just two weeks has been a lot for me to grasp!

When I lost my Dad and Mom, just 3 months apart, in 2007, times were tough!  I was so stressed before my Father’s death, I started having panic attacks.  I was driving out to his house about 10:30 at night, and felt weird before I left the house.  You see, my Dad had crippling arthritus, and he couldn’t do his hook ups for dialysis, so I had trained to do it for him.  As I rounded the last corner to his house, I knew I had better call Mike, my husband.  I felt as though my whole body was shutting down.  My chest was tightening, my mouth was tightening and I told Mike to have the paramedics meet me in Dad’s driveway if I could make it that far.  I managed to get there, call my niece and have her get someone to do Dad’s dialysis, and decided to start coughing as hard as I could.  I had read that could help if you were having a heart attack.  I prayed Dad and Mom didn’t hear the noise in the drive, but I wasn’t thinking about the “fear” of dying, I was ready to meet Jesus, but I was thinking about the things I was leaving behind!   Before I knew it, I had paramedics all around me!  They assessed me and said I was having a “Panic Attack!”  I thought….”You are crazy!  I am having a heart attack here!”  My thoughts were that I was a rock and nothing emotional would shake me!  I was wrong!  I had to come face to face with the fact that my stress had reached it’s limit!  With lots of prayer and several months later, and a great Doctor who gave me a bottle of Xanax for my purse, I overcame the attacks.  The biggest battle I had to fight after that was the “fear” of another attack.  I followed my pastors advice and put my hand on my heart and declared, “I am a child of the living God!  No weapon will come against me!  I claimed my wellness and it finally left!”  I had to take charge of a situation that I was going through.

When you face stress, for whatever the cause, you can be an overcomer!  You have to give yourself permission to grieve when you loose someone.  You have to forgive, whether it be yourself, or someone else.  You have to not turn on the one “God”  who loves you and wants to walk through your pain with you!  You have to have “Faith, Hope, and Love.”  A song I grew up with, went like this….”Have faith, hope and charity, that’s the way to live successfully.  How do I know?  The Bible tells me so!    We all have more inside of us than we see in ourselves.  God will help us activate the unseen things and we will be able to make it through our trials!   We were made to be Achievers and you have that power within you.