Loved

Hey gang...

how are y'all?

Life is busy here with harvest and family.

Everybody is good.

I really appreciate the emails from you readers

asking me to blog again.

I want to, but I want to sit on the porch,

sit around a fire,

go to festivals and auctions with friends.

I have grands' soccer games to attend

and family to take pranking.  

There's leaves that need raked,

farmers that want fed and always chores to get after.

I haven't read blogs hardly at all.

but I did catch a few this week.
It actually inspired this post.

 I read a blog where the author was really struggling with hard stuff.

I hurt for her and prayed for her.

I thought about how blessed my life is.

I went as far as thinking...

"gee, I have such a great life.

I have hardly had any sorrows."

Then I realized uh yeah, I have.

To name  just a few...

our twins death,

my dear college friend died at age 37, from colon cancer leaving two young children.

Stu's uncle, that we adored, died in his sleep at age 51.

Maggie had a 4-wheeler wreck and had to have emergency surgery.

my mom almost died on a trip to Branson and had a heart valve replaced.

my good junking pal went into the hospital with pneumonia

and died of a heart attack while there

my beloved father-in-law showed up here at the farm same as always, bright and early,

only to fall ill, be rushed to the hospital and die by that afternoon of an aneurism.

our beautiful nephew was killed in a car wreck leaving behind a wife and two little kids.

a close friend hurt me so bad that our friendship never recovered.

a family member betrayed and cheated us.

my dad suffered from Alzheimer's

 while we watched his personality and health decline in a very ugly way.

Ollie was born with a heart defect and needed Open Heart surgery.

We had two fires this Spring.

First the house and then a few months later,

a hay field, and a truck and trailer while hauling big hay bales.

Did I forget those stressful things?

No.

The honest truth is God made it bearable.

He never left us.

He gave us strength.

He carried us on the truly hardest days.

I cannot imagine how those trials would have affected us if we were not believers.

His promises kept us strong.

Oh sure,

we have questions.

We wonder why at times.

But, I know when I walk in Heaven's gates

 those questions we will have obvious answers.

Our God has a plan.

His plan is always, always the best.

I have witnessed it time and time again.

I admit there are times I tried to do it myself,

only to realize I needed to give to God.

I'm far from being perfect.

I am the one who lays it down but then picks it back up.

Over the  years, I have learned that taking it back does not work.

I need the Lord and

his wisdom, his guidance, and his strength.

I don't want to live in this world without him.

The truth is our blessings

during/after those hard times

far, far outweighed the strife.

Our most precious blessing being the gift of his unfailing love.

With Jesus, life is good

even when it's not because,

God is good all the time.

He really, really is.