Happy Birthday

Happy Sabbath

God is good.  All the time God is good.  Today is my birthday.  God gave me a most amazing present and I am so happy to share that I stayed the first night in my house last night.  I was able to get the certificate of occupancy yesterday after all this time.

I was told by a woman who I feel was happy in denying me when I realized I didn’t have a survey completed.  My parents paid $400 for a survey to get completed and this was something that was supposed to take 2 weeks but they made it happen the same week.  My parents gave me the survey and I headed to the township to give them the heating certificate and this document and it was the same lady who denied me before.  She took it quickly and headed back, spending around maybe 5 minutes in the back before returning with the certificate of occupancy.

Or at least that’s what I thought.  My eyes only saw the first four words “The Certificate of Occupancy”.  I was so happy that I didn’t bother to look over the rest of the document.  I asked the lady point blank if there was anything else I needed to do or if I would need to return at a later point and she said no unless I wanted to come by and say hi.  I thought this was sincere and I headed out happy and headed to my parent’s home to finish doing my service notes before figuring out what my afternoon and Sabbath plan would be.


I finished most of my work when my parents came back to their house and I stopped to pull out the certificate.  I noticed that it said “The Certificate of Occupancy—Expires in 30 Days”.  I was confused about this but my mother spotted another error.

In the owner line it listed my father first and then my name.  The only time I gave them my father’s name was when I was scheduling the township inspection and they said if they could not reach me I needed to provide a back up for when the inspector comes out so I gave my dad’s name and number.  Of all the times paperwork went over and the township discussed my case, the only person that came into their presence was me.  I purchased the house, not my dad.

I headed back up there and the lady who served me saw me and decided to dip out and keep checking around the corner to see if I was still there.  Finally a different lady came to assist me and my mother decided to come out for moral support.  The lady was quick to say that my dad did this or that but my mother backed me up that he had nothing to do with the house and the house is mine.  By having his name on that document, he might be held responsible for property taxes and their taxes are just as high as mine.  I’m glad my mother was there because the lady was not getting it when I was telling her that my dad’s name should not be on the document. She sat down on the computer and corrected it in less than a minute.  This time it read The Certificate of Occupancy.  Period.

My name was listed as owner.  I believe the previous lady intentionally put that it would expire in 30 days and added my dad’s name.  At no point did I see anything talking about a process where a certificate such as this would expire in 30 days.  If it expired, they could come out and fine me. They could also create confusion and problems for my mortgage provider who is handling my tax payments.

I walked out with my mother feeling bitter but I have to let that one go.

I headed back to my parent’s home and finished my notes. Then I decided hurriedly to pack what I could so that my son and I could stay over at our house.

I never thought I would get this far, see, I was expecting to come very close to moving in my house sometime in November.  I never thought I would be in by my birthday. I have a blow up bed and two sleeping bags.  Some of my furniture is already here but the rest will be moved tomorrow.

I went to church today and my son said a prayer.  He actually prayed and thanked God for different things and I didn’t have to talk to him before.  He thanked the Lord for me having a birthday and when he said that, another little boy in his Sabbath school told me that his older brother also was celebrating his birthday today.  That boy’s family sits in the same pew as I do.  I am 35 years old and have never come across another person with the same birthday as me and here this boy sits with me just about every week.

I thank God for his traveling mercies.  I was heading home on Thursday and was at a major intersection.  My mind was on another conversation when I decided to turn to go westbound but I didn’t realize I was turning into oncoming traffic.  The lanes I turned into didn’t have any cars…THEY ALWAYS HAVE CARS. I realized my error when I saw the left turn markings on the street were upside down.  I did an about face and had to wait for the green on my new side.  I then went down and did a proper uturn.  On Friday, I never expected my schedule would have me going to the same exact area.  I didn’t mess up this time.  That stretch of roadway is extremely dangerous and I’m sure I’m not the only person who did this but I beat myself up for making such a stupid mistake.  Can’t tell my family this especially after the accident I had back on 10/16.  Again, I was waiting at the intersection for the light to turn green when the truck hit my bumper while the light was still red. That was not my fault and insurance companies are playing games with me right now.  I’ll call around next week to see if I can get someone to schedule an adjuster to inspect my car.  My car has been totaled twice.  Three times a charm.

I praise God because on Friday also, I looked at my schedule and realized that my car was due to be inspected and that I didn’t have any other days to go get it inspected except for Friday morning.  I rushed out thinking I didn’t have a new registration.  I had searched before but couldn’t find one.  When I was halfway to the place, I checked again in my second wallet and the first thing I pulled out was the new registration.  I changed gps directions and headed to my inspection area.  I really thought the line would be long and I thought they would fail me.

There was no line.  They passed my car.  They didn’t count the damaged bumper or other issues with my car.

There were other good things that happened this week but these are the ones that stick out the most.

I was able to sleep in my home with my son for my birthday.  I avoided another disaster or rather I should say the Lord prevented another disaster on the road.  He permitted my car to be approved by inspectors and for me to not pay a second large fee for a new registration.  He also permitted me to go to church and to have a wonderful day in Him.  I even saw a beautiful baby boy dedication today.

I thank Him for another birthday.  We love Him because He first loved us  John 4:19 was the verse for today.  This is a new chapter in my life and I want to live my life loving Him more than ever before.

My mother told me that in her home town she heard on Thursday that a building had burned down overnight and no one knew what happened.  Then Friday the house at the top of our vacation property's short street burned down.  That house belonged to long time (generations) neighbors of hers and they had too turned their home into a vacation property.  My mother believes someone is going around looking at vacant seeming properties and is intentionally burning them down.  The area is extremely rural and you are hard pressed to see anyone walking down the dusty road in any direction.  My mother has been hoping to turn our vacation property into something amazing and she has been spending most of her time helping me get into my own house.  I believe in her dream (most of the family doesn't care much for it or want to be around each other).  I pray that no more fires occur and what ever caused the fire, who ever did it is caught.  I pray also that the family that lost their home at the top of the street will get the help they need.  Those homes go back I'm sure to the end of slavery times.  Please keep this in prayer and may you enjoy your Sabbath and week :)

Even through tragedy, God is still Good!

Happy Sabbath

This week has been a true challenge I’ll tell you that, but I thank God for bringing me through even to this moment. 

Sunday was good. 
Monday was good.  I went to work and was productive.  I had the plumbers come out to do another heating certification and was certain all would go well on Tuesday. I gathered my paperwork on Monday night and was ready to stop by the township Tuesday morning to drop it off and get my certificate of occupancy. 

Tuesday morning, I made plans to not only go to the township building and get my CO but planned to drop off a voter registration form so I could get in for the next election period.  I headed to the township to find out that I was missing a major piece needed to get the CO.  That was the survey.  My agent never spoke to me about a survey.  He would tell me about all these other fees and no matter how high they were, I would commit to going forward.  I purchased the house and I guess he figured his job was done.  I was told I needed a survey and didn’t know where to turn.  I texted him and he told me that it is costly but when I asked him where I get one from, he didn’t give me a response.  I know he was not a good agent and I’m not upset with him about it.  He has wiped his hands clean of me.  I recalled what my dad told me about a certain town about 15 minutes away so I googled and found the only company in that town that does home surveys and they said they charge $400. 

I was told to shop around and that if I didn’t choose them, I would not be hurting their feelings.  I headed over to another town to register to vote and on my way in my disappointment back to my home town, I was hit by a mac truck.

I had a dream I believe on Sunday night that I was driving on a street and ended up hitting a truck head on.  I woke up and thought about the different parts of it and tossed it aside as an attack from the enemy.

Well, on Tuesday, after I registered to vote, I came to an intersection and stopped because the light was red.  There was a left turn lane and a lane to turn to the right and I was in the middle at the front.  I sat thinking about the disappointment with the CO and how it seemed the lady who rejected me derived satisfaction in telling me “no”.  The left turn signal turned green but I had to wait since the straight light did not turn green.  Suddenly, I felt a hard bump behind me.  I looked in the rear view mirror to see a mac dump truck on my bumper.  I waited until the light turned green and we both pulled over into a parking lot on the other side of what I would learn was a town dividing road.  I texted and called my parents since I was in shock as to what happened. Then I got out and spoke to the driver of the truck who was nice and I called the police with him there.  I didn’t know there was another incident occuring in the same parking lot where a police officer would head over for and leave and that confused the guy and I.  My parents arrived before the police did.  The police realized that our accident occurred on the other side of the town road so they were sent away and had to send someone from that town over.  All the while, I stood outside with my parents who were supposed to be on their way to a funeral.  My mother’s good work friend passed away from cancer (the friend who just happened to live 2 doors down from my little sister and my sister never visited her although knowing she lived in the area).  They were about to hit a major highway when I called them and so they were close by.  None of this is by chance. 

I talked to them about the CO and I thank God for my parents because, I don’t have $400.  I have spent my all and I have to recooperate.  My mother was on the phone with the survey company and agreed to pay for the survey since time is not on our side.  I thought my car bumper was just scratched and cracked a little.  I didn’t realize that my trunk would not close until I took off back town the highway.  I also didn’t know that both of my tail lights had damage.  I have to wait for the police report to be processed and then I can pick it up next week and contact the guy’s company’s insurance to file a claim. 

The mac truck sustained no damage of course and I know that they are going to total out my car for a third time because that’s what happened before when I was rear ended.

Wednesday was not too bad.  Something terrible occurred that escaped my memory but I still will say it was a good day.

Thursday morning I had work appointments for two of my clients 40 miles away.  Before heading out, I spoke to my parents about child birth.  I think this came about when we heard the news about the duchess being pregnant, not sure.  My mother shared some funny information about my day and I headed on to meet with an agency representative to find the good news that she was pregnant and I shared the same funny story with her to encourage her. 

I headed back to my parent’s home to work on my notes and meet my son which I heard from the bus driver that he hit another child in the head with a seat belt buckle.  After hearing that, I was told that a good friend of my mother’s (her old boss) was in the hospital and brain dead. 

Friday morning, I was told that a friend who recently married and came from Africa to be with her husband had an ectopic pregnancy and she miscarried.  This happened to her on Thursday but we didn’t get the news until Friday. 

Friday October 19th was also the day that I had that terrible accident where he died.  I drove down the same road and didn’t have any problems going or coming back. 

All of this plus some other things made me decide for the first time in years without having my son for a reason, to stay home from church.  I didn’t go to church today.  I do plan on going next Sabbath. 

And to top everything off, as I spent time with my son today, my son uttered some words I never expected him to say.  Actually, first on Wednesday, he was upset with me so he told me that he would run out in the street and get hit by a car. I told him not to say such a thing ever again.  Last night, he was upset with me so he told me he would go up to a high place and cast himself down so I would never see him again.  Clearly the enemy of souls is trying it and I rebuked all of this in Jesus name. 

Then when I was spending time with my son, we were playing with his alphabet magnetic letters. I wanted to help him spell words or sentences like God is good and other things.  When we got to our names, he told me what he thought his name was.  He decided to add in one extra name, a name that happens to be his father’s last name. 

I have never uttered my son’s father’s name in his presence.  I am waiting until he is older to have that discussion with him but at this time, at his age, he is not to have this information.  He actually said this name before and I disregarded it thinking it meant nothing.  My son claimed a name I never spoke to him or put on him.  I asked him who told him that this name was his name and he said he heard it in the house we are staying in but my parents said they didn’t tell him.  The name is not written anywhere.  No one speaks that name.  The enemy of souls is doing this. 

I watched something on 3abn that talked about the imagination and hearts/minds of men.  We need to be careful and guard our hearts at all times.  My son has been a target of the enemy and my family are targets for a long time.  We need to keep our minds stayed upon Jesus.  I hope to help my son to learn this and to live this though he is young. 

After my accident, I told my younger sister about the accident and she said that she would not trust and keep looking out every window and rear view mirror and just be in a paranoid state essentially.  I don’t have time for that.  When that accident occurred in 2014, it really shook me up, but what I learned is I need to trust in God.  The enemy is out here messing with people.  I could have been shook up when my son told me he would run out in the street and get hit and not be with me anymore.  I know it’s an attack of the enemy for those words to even part the lips of my five year old son. 

I could have been shook up when the truck hit my car.  I didn’t even see the truck behind me approach until it was too late.  God doesn’t want us to live in a state of fear.  He gives us power, keeping our minds stayed upon Him gives us sound minds. 

I am broke.  I have a broken car with no way right now to prepare it for inspection. My inspection needs to occur by November 2018 and my sticker will soon expire.  The enemy is running about at work and trying to use my son to speak words to create doubt and despair in my life. I am having a dental emergency and no funds to deal with it.  I don’t feel the support that I feel that I should have from church.  I am not living in my house yet (thought I would be moving everything in tomorrow but now I have to delay until I get the completed survey document).  I have heard sad stories of friends losing their babies and older friends of my mother on the way or having passed away from cancer.  I continue to hear disappointment and saddness from all directions.

But God is good.  The sun is shining on this Sabbath day.  I know that Jesus loves me and He cares for me.  I know that all of this is just temporary and a stepping stone toward bigger and better things.  I am going to learn what His purpose is for me.  I have hope for a future and only He has been able to give me this.

So in the face of all this, I am going to praise the Lord.  This week had a lot packed into it.  But God is above and greater than all the troubles that we can ever experience. 

God is good.

Inspection

Happy Sabbath

I had an inspection on Friday, yesterday. On Tuesday, I went over to the municipal services building hoping to schedule my resale inspection. I went with my deed, cash, and the resale application in hand. The lady was ready to turn me away because she was not going to accept the deed. She wanted the settlement papers which I left at home because I figured the deed, the paperwork that says I officially own this house would be all the proof they needed. This is the same place that rejected a document that was notarized because the one person looking at it didn't want to look up or call the notary to confirm that the notarized seal of authentication was from them. If a place or person forges a notary seal, they can be prosecuted, there is a hefty fine associated with this unlawful act. That office is devoid of all basic common sense, I am praying I can get through this last hurdle, which is basically that office as a whole.

Lady rejected the deed but I implored her to look in their system to see what documents they scanned. I told her if they didn't have what they needed, I would return right back the same day with the settlement papers. I had all day and was not going to go anywhere until I got what I came for...which was a township inspection. Lady used a full hour of my time looking or not looking for my paperwork in the system. She returned and told me I could schedule the inspection. The inspection was scheduled for Friday morning.

I went the rest of this week back and forth from my parents’ home to my house. I jig-sawed, circular sawed, drilled, patched, set molding and trim, put up wallpaper, painted, chiseled, scrubbed, weeded, and did a number of things to get ready for that inspection.

I prayed and prayed some more.

The morning of, I read a text in my Youversion application. It said” Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on Earth is yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the One Who is over all things. 1 Chronicles 29:11.

I went to my house about 6:15am to 6:30am and continued cleaning, and patching. I had wanted to try to go to the hardware store to get some more molding but I knew I was out of time. I felt strongly that this was an impossible situation and that as soon as the inspector steps in, he or she would see the unfinished perimeter of the living room or see the door catch that we all overlooked for months (I noticed it within the hour of the inspector coming, that they would fail the house and force me to come back another month.

The guy was supposed to come at 830am. He came at 900am late. He spent no more than 4 minutes walking through and didn't even go in my son's room, look in closets, inspect the attic. He didn't test all windows, look at the wire job on the outside of the house my dad secretly did, or look at the condition of the shed and fencing. He didn't test the garage door, run water in all sinks. He didn't do much of what I expected him to do. He said all the stress is really to be on the seller. He told me I was missing a smoke detector in the half garage and the electrical panel needed to be better labeled. Other than that, there was no need for me to be worried. He lives around the corner in the same park and welcomed me to the area.

I passed the inspection.

This was the same inspector who came through before but I was not at the house when he visited. He did test the window in my bathroom (the one that wouldn't stay up) and ran water in the kitchen sink (the sink that had a pipe burst and damaged the entire line of cabinetry and all the flooring). All of the cabinets were replaced, the pipes and the window fixed. He obviously knew some of the key issues because of how quickly he headed to the problem areas.

I passed the inspection. God is good. I just need to redo my heating certification and then I can get a certificate of occupancy. I have the heating certification scheduled for Monday morning. When it passes, I will take the form to the township on Tuesday to get the CO. It passed before in June, but you know how things go sometimes. I pray that I will get everything I need next week so I can move my stuff out of storage and begin living in my house before my birthday this month. I want to be in my house on my birthday.

After i scheduled the heating certification appointment, I headed to storage and brought some rugs, stools, a small chair, and a few other items to the house. I went to two stores and forgot how much I already spent that day paying bills. I bought a large framed living room mirror, drapes, drapery wall holders, curtain clips, kitchen curtains, painting tools, spray paint, and a jug of white vinegar. I headed over to my house again and was so excited and at a loss of what to do. I eventually found myself on my knees on that hard floor shining my tiles with my vinegar water solution and boy did those tiles look amazing.

Still a lot of work to do, but I am closer than I was before. After hanging those drapes, the living room felt amazing. God is so good.

I thank Him for my house and for my awesome family. I wouldn't have been able to get here without God’s grace. He truly is wonderful and awesome.

Jehoshaphat

Happy Sabbath,

I am going through a trying time with my son. It is difficult right now, but Jesus is still on the throne. Despite what is happening in my life currently and what will happen, God is still good.  His mercy endures forever and He never changes and I thank Him for that.

Last Sabbath, I had to leave my son behind because of his behavior.  This morning I was weary of bringing him, feeling that he would have the same behavior he presented last and even this week.

He started his new school on Monday and started taking the bus on Wednesday. Thursday he had a melt down after he got off the bus and I had to go and pick him up from school.  I was hoping that with all these changes with his support team at the school, I would no longer have to be called out of work but I was wrong.  When I showed up to school, I could not calm him down.  He kicked, hit at, and screamed at the principal, the teacher, an unknown lady assisting, and myself. My mother came and offered play dough and a dart board game and he finally calmed down but I still had to take him home.  He was fine for the rest of the day and no one knew what the trigger was. After speaking to him later on, I think it was simply the teacher telling him he could not go into is classroom yet, I’m not sure.

He has homework now and every night.  The teacher has been giving him work that the second grade autistic children in his class have been doing.  He is to read a book each day, complete comprehension questions and do math equations (greater than less than, equal to, and word problems).  He is pretty much good with the spelling words. The problem is his behavior.

Friday he had a great day at school and was an angel on the bus going and coming. Friday evening however was a different story.  My older sister’s car broke down and she has been staying over my parent’s home since Thursday night. He didn’t know she was here until Friday and when he discovered this, he wanted to be up in the guest room and not give her the privacy she needed after she worked a long day. I told him to stay in the kitchen and wait until she was ready for him but he was not having this and proceeded to rage and strike me while I restrained him.

This morning, seemed to be a good start. I made him breakfast and he ate and watched tv quietly.  I took him to church and thought it would be smart to have him sit up front while I play piano for Sabbath school.  He got on the floor and disappeared shortly after I started playing. I went looking for him and soon everyone was looking for him.  He managed to go in a stairwell no one really enters and crawled in a crawl space that no one would ever think to look in.  A finished board was against the wall and somehow he put it in place and no one saw him.  It was only when he heard my voice and called out, “I’m here”, that he was found and an elder told him not to go there because there is electrical equipment under there but my son remained defiant. I took him downstairs to go to his Sabbath school class and it took a lot to get him to sit down and focus on a painting activity.  Close to the end, he was still painting and out of time for the project.  I tried to help him pack up and he became defiant and started to rage towards the main Sabbath school teacher, something I wanted to avoid.  I decided to go back up stairs while he worked on his painting and grab my bag.  Two people who are always aloof and huddle amongst themselves projected what I believe was fake concern and I told them everything was fine but inside I was furious with my son and already determined to leave.  They laughed as I passed by.  I don’t know if they understood the stress I was going through or perhaps I’m being too critical.  I don’t get a good feeling when I am around them.  There are always certain ones in church, in every church.  Whatever, I get my bag, head down and pack up my son’s things and take him out the side door to the parking lot.

I had to leave.  My son was calm when he walked up the stairs and to the parking lot but I had to leave because when he gets into a rage and attention is all around towards his tantrums, he won’t stop.  He was so out of control at school and at home, it is inevitable for it to occur in the church.  Some people think a simple spanking and stern words are enough.  I have been doing this since he started misbehaving and this alone is not working.

I took my son to the car and before he got in the car, he went on and on about his shoe lace, but I was not going to bend down and tie it. I just wanted him to get in the car.  He started raging outside the car so I took the shoe off and put it in the car which amazingly, he went in the car after it.  He put his shoe back on and continued to rage at me. He put his seat belt on and I drove down a distance and then, he hit me with his shoe (took it off and hit me with it while I was driving).

Now it is no longer safe for me to operate a vehicle with him in the car. I stopped the car and had to restrain him so he would not throw any more objects at me or try to hit me while driving.

I was able to get him back to my parent’s house safely and he is in his room as I told him he had to go take a nap.

I don’t know how I am going to go to church with him. This is something to be kept in constant prayer.  I don’t have the help I need there to keep him in a safe space and most people don’t want to be bothered with someone else’s child.

Also this week, not sure about this but on Thursday, I brought my son back from my house (he went with my parents to work on my house after he was sent home early from school…what I mentioned in the section above).  I took him to my parent’s house and when I parked, I saw something in the roadway that looked like a belt but was more plump than usual.  Turned out to be a black snake.  I have lived in this area for most of my life and never have I seen a snake out here.  It was about 3-4 ft in length, curled up and appeared to still have a head on it.  A passerby came from across the street to peer at it and we both presumed it was dead before going our separate ways. I forgot my phone in the car and had to return with my son. At that point, the snake was straightened out and the head was clearly missing. I guess a car ran over it and the head went with it? The snake was about a yard and a half away from the front of my car.

That same night I went to bed and had a dream.  I dreamed that I was walking down the street with my son (a street on the other block for the house that is next door to my parent’s home.  For some reason, my son took off running and ran into the house of my parent’s neighbor.  As a child, I grew up playing in their yard and would sometimes go in their house.  Since the owner died, his adult children have been managing the property and they are up there in age now.  I have avoided them since coming back to this town.  Their dad was a good guy but I never did trust the rest of them for what ever reason.

I woke up from the dream wondering what it meant but quickly forgot it and went on to focus on getting my work schedule in order for Friday.  Yesterday evening, my mother came and told me that a man who was living over at the house (a man I had never seen before) died suddenly in the store.  She said he went to use the bathroom and told his wife he would be out, but he died in there.  Today is his funeral and my parents are attending it.  It’s strange that I had that dream on Thursday night, Friday morning as I never had a dream of going to their house before and certainly no good reason for my son to run and enter their house.  And yes, that snake too on Thursday.  All weird.

I read part of the book of Job this morning.  I read some proverbs too.  I don’t know what this time is, this period is in my life.  Is this a new Job moment for me? I just watched a video about Jehoshaphat and despite all that he was going through, he never forgot that God was in control. I am encouraged. God is still in control even now for me.  I have gone through extreme pain in my past, physical and emotional.  I have been spiritually attacked. I feel like I am in a murky zone and I can’t see my way through it.  My son is spiraling out of control. I am broke but on the last leg of this journey to moving in my house.  I just have to finish tiling the bathrooms (can be done in one day) put the wall paper up in the bathroom, fix that one piece of siding that is falling down and I can schedule the township to come out and inspect, next week.  I am down to my last $100 and I need to get paid this week.  I cannot pay another storage fee, I cannot afford it.  My work is getting more difficult day by day and I am struggling to get things done and not let my clients down who depend on me.
I have let my health go.  I need to see the dentist, my pcp, the eye doctor, gyn, and have someone do an xray/ultrasound of my knee, but I have not had an appointment for myself since a pcp appointment in January or March.  Even with all of this, God is in control.

I don’t know what all this is with my son.  My son is my biggest concern.  I don’t know who he is any more.
Then there is all this that is happening with the country, the supreme court.  I personally want to see someone who is conserative on the court, but not Kavanaugh.  I believe her testimony.  I believe the testimony of the other women and classmates who have come forward.  There is spiritual wickedness in high places and that definitely includes our government and the decisions that have come forth from both Republicans and Democrats. People get so angry about people who don’t vote and say that choosing not to vote gives the number to the wrong side. Nothing could be further from it.

 I could not support Obama because of his standing on abortion and definitely not after all that he ushered through for gay marriage.  I could not support Hillary because she is a liar and I watched many videos where she lied plainly on camera. Her super predators comment is not something that can be swept under the rug.  I could not and never will support a Trump.  I cannot see clear evil and individuals who don’t share my values and vote for them.  I cannot choose the lesser evil because my conscience will not allow it.  That is how people from year to year choose not to vote. 

The events of this week have gotten me down. My son, Kavanaugh, financial woes.  Next week I want to post about what the Lord has helped me through, helped my family through.  Jesus has not returned yet. He is still on the throne. God is still in control. He sees all this wickedness and nonsense that is going on down here but He wont let it drown us. He knows the despair we feel, the stress we are experiencing, the confusion.  I’m going to give my time to God for today.  I need this time to be renewed, restored and I am thankful there is a God in heaven who can do it.  With all that is happening even in your life, continue to seek Him.  Don’t give up hope. I sat here talking to my mother about what happened when my little sister called. She called to tell my mother that someone came to her apartment door (the wrong one) asking about a woman named Ramona. Turns out, my mothers friend Ramona passed away either yesterday or today. My sister happened to be a close neighbor and didn't even know Ramona lived a few numbers down from her. My mom just came back from a funeral for a neighbor to hear this about one of her closest friends. I thank God that He had the message delivered through my little sister. If not for that person accidentally knocking on my sister's door, my mother may have never found out. God is still in control.When Job was under attack, Messengers were sent left and right. From his son's house, from the sheep fields, from the camel stalls. God was and is still in control

Thank God for your life. Our time is short, life is not promised.

I thank God for helping me to get to work safely, to be there when my son needed to come home, and for food to eat. I thank Him for my parents and all that He has given them in their hand to do to help me when I needed help the most.  Without God blessing me with my parents, I would not be able to say that I can go to the township next week to schedule the inspection.  It has been a long time coming.  I thank God for being who He is.  God is good. Praise the Lord for His goodness and kindness.  Rise above how you feel and give Him the glory.