My Own End Times

Monday, February 10, 2014

Dear God,

Thank you for a beautiful Spring-like weekend. It was so nice to be outside without a heavy coat, gloves, and scarf. My friend, Beverly, and I made a trip to the old cemetery where her family is buried. We took a bucket, some water, and decided to take some cuttings off an old rose bush and another bush (I have no idea what it is). I have them potted and treated with root starter ~ my fingers are crossed. So excited ~ 6 new plants for the garden come Spring!

The oldest headstones
date back to the late 1700's

We also decided to visit one of Beverly's mom's dearest friends ~ Grace is 90+ years old and lives on her own with her cat Rascal. It was like visiting one of my sweet little Aunts in Minnesota. She gave us a mini sermon on the end times and told us she was praying thanking you for her TV because she can listen to the preachers and for Rascal because he is such good company. Funny the things we thank you for as we grow older! I hope that I get invited back because I felt so uplifted when we left. Grace made me smile!! I am thanking you for Grace and her willingness to speak her mind.

We do not know when the end times will come but you tell us to be prepared. Last week Beverly's husband had a drop in blood sugar to 36 and nearly went into a coma and was close to death. The EMT's worked on him and literally saved his life. I went to the hospital with Beverly and was her support system for several hours until Don was released to go home. While we were in the ER, there were several people who were s-i-c-k  sick. Not sure one made it... As I drove home, I asked myself if I was ready if you took me home that night. I knew I was ~ I just needed to affirm it to myself one more time.

No, I'm not being morbid and thinking negatively. I just know that I don't know the day or hour of my own end time and I need to be prepared. I sure as heck didn't know I had a heart attack but I do know that the chances of my having another is heightened. I am doing some reading on women and heart attacks and strokes and want to care for my body as much as I can. As for the rest of the story, only God knows.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." ~Matthew 25:13

There is something to be said for the wisdom that we gather on the road of life. History tends to repeat itself and our country is in grave danger in the very near future. I am not concerned about myself but I am concerned about my children and grandchildren. As Americans we have fought for our freedom on home soil and abroad. Living in the land of the free has been such an amazing thing so thank you Father for placing me here.

Many of our forefathers came to this country to escape religious persecution and establish new lives. I read John Kennedy's book A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS and highly recommend it. What a wonderful melting pot America has been. The sad part is that we have become so complacent thinking we still safely live in the land of milk and honey. What we miss is that faithful Christians are already being persecuted in our land under the guise of separation of church and state. I have listened to the cries of the atheists and agnostics all bent out of shape because the courthouse here chimes hymns at noon. Pleeezzzeee.

Carl Pederson with children
from left:
Helen, Lorna, Ernest

Good character used to mean something ~ now many people are only sorry that they got caught not that they did something wrong. My father was Ernest son of Carl and Maggie Pederson. The Pedersons were upstanding members of the community active in church, helpmates to neighbors and friends, raising educated moral children. It meant something to be a Pederson. Pederson meant a person of Christian character ~ honest, trustworthy, giving. I am grateful for that part of my heritage, LORD. That heritage has kept me on the straight and narrow when I wanted to give in to the call of the flesh. I totally understand what it means to be a woman of Godly character.

Father God, as I gaze out the french doors of the cottage, everything looks so barren and bleak. It is Winter ... a time of slumber and quiet. Although I always look forward to a down time, in February, I begin to yearn for Spring. I get so excited when I see new growth on my roses and other flowering bushes and perennials. I love the smell of the earth as I dig and loosen soil to give my plants a little breathing room. Ah yes...Spring will come in just a few weeks.

Fever, chills, coughing, a runny nose, aching bones, and a piercing headache are knocking on the door today and I don't want to let them in so that they take hold and wreak havoc on my week. I will miss the Chamber Music performance tonight at the college but hopefully this bug will not keep me from seeing the marionettes next week. I am rarely sick and most of the time I am able to use prayer to ward off illnesses deepening. So far, that hasn't worked on the Fibro and my spine. Bummers!  My thorn in my side, LORD?

Watch over my Readers and bring them warmth and comfort in these winter days and nights. See them through the barrenness while giving them hope that the earth will explode with color in a few weeks.  Heal bodies where there has been illness, surgeries, and chronic disease. Most of all, LORD, bring them to a place where they yearn to know and be like you remembering that we all have our own end time.

Amen.

Miss Dottie

PS  Note to Readers: Boy, I did some rambling today, didn't I? I've told you before that I love to talk to God which means my mind and mouth wanders. You know, I don't think God minds ... He knows my heart and appreciates me checking in with him. That gives me such comfort!!

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~Richard Bach

I think of my life on earth as my caterpillar life. My eternal life will be my butterfly life. Whoopie!! Welll, now that I think about it, maybeeee not ... there are times when I am so darn happy I sing and dance with joy!! I'll just be a bigger butterfly in heaven!!