It has been spring break in our area this week. One granddaughter, Mary Kathryn, has been in Chicago on a mission trip with 178 other youth from our church. We have communicated with her every day and she has had a wonderful time sharing the gospel and praying with others.

I have been reading "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young as one of my devotions this year. I love how the Lord has spoken through her to me. This week Faith was out very late coming home by herself. Anxiety began to build and I felt myself almost in panic mode. I sat down to read from "Jesus Calling" and found these words for the day: "This is a time in your life when you must learn to let go of loved ones..... In order to let go of something that is precious to you, you need to rest in My Presence...."

Well, Faith is very precious to me as we have raised those two granddaughters as if they were our daughters and I am finding it harder to let go of her than it was for her mother. But, as happens so many times God had put the right words in front of me at the right time. I recommitted her to HIM and began to relax in his presence. God is so good. She made it home safely and hopefully I can remember that He will never let go of my hand and that our grandchildren and children are safe in HIS arms.

Well, God has done it again! He has such a way of taking our trials and turning them into something good. Our granddaughter will turn 20 in a few days. (Doesn't seem possible!) She has been driving her grandmother's 1997 Lumina since she was 16. She never complained that most of the other girls at college had cute newer cars to drive. Always a grateful child she thanked the Lord everyday for a car to get her back and forth to school (about 3 hrs. each way). There had been some problems with it but they always happened when she was home on the weekend and her granddaddy could help with it.

Last Wednesday night she called crying because her car had quit and all the lights were flashing at her. It was out of oil and when she put in extra it flowed out. Her uncle went down the next day and brought it back on a trailer. He discovered the oil filter had come loose and there was water in the oil and oil in the water. Not a very good position for a car with that many miles on it.

We all began to pray not knowing how she would get back to college on Monday. Well, God in His mysterious ways had seen to it that her dad was in Jonesboro that weekend. They had talked about another car for her in times past but never felt he could do it. This Saturday he picked her up and they went 'lookin'. About five hours later she called and said her dad had bought her a car. A much newer one than she had been driving and very few miles on it. Today we took her to get the insurance changed (ouch!) and she was soon headed back to school.

That may sound small to many but to our family it was a God thing. Only He could have put everyone and everything in place to make it possible for her to have a beautiful almost new vehicle to drive. We all give God the glory for ministering to Faith in this wonderful way. Faith was faithful to wait upon the Lord and He is always faithful to us!!

Today when I got ready for church I had to get my heavy coat again. The ice storm is gone but the cold continues to linger on. I found myself wondering when would we ever see spring and warm weather again. Rounding the corner in my car just a few feet from our driveway there were beautiful early daffodils staring me in the face! Wow, how could just those tiny bright yellow flowers change my undeserving frown to a smile so quickly? I loved it!! Thank you Lord for ministering to me on this cold Sunday morning.

"God has made everything beautiful for its own time." Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)

We have seen God's beauty the past several days in the form of an ice storm. Glittering, glistening, and glowing on the tree limbs and power lines, it was a sight for our eyes to behold when the slow rain froze as it fell. Power lines were downed as giant oaks and huge pine trees fell across them. Some of the century old trees were completely uprooted.

One day, two days, three days and it became colder and colder in our home. We have a fireplace that we kept fed with logs but it did not keep us warm. Finally after about a week, we were excited, when the lights begin to shine and we could hear the whir of our refrigerator and furnace. Our TV and newspaper tell us it will be weeks before some of the customers in north Arkansas and Kentucky will have their power restored.

Though we love our electricity that brings us physical comforts, we can only be truly happy when we have Jesus in our hearts as our personal savior. We were given a glimpse of God's earthly beauty through the tree limbs covered with intricate bits of ice, but our perfect beauty must come only through our trust in Him.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009, our 44th president of the United States was sworn in before more than a million people. It was quite an historic event as he is the first African-American to be our president. I do not agree with his agenda on many points but I pledge to pray that the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. I pray He will delight in obeying the Lord. That He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay. That he will defend the poor and the exploited. I pray that he will rule against the wicked and that he will be clothed with fairness and truth (Isaiah 11:2-5 NLT).

I love sports. Although I am nearing the three score and ten age (Psalm 90:10) I enjoy most any kind of athletic event. Basketball is my favorite. When I was young many years ago basketball is about the only activity available at my school. So I love going from gym to gym around our area watching our granddaughter play volleyball and basketball. Right now it is basketball. And then my husband and I attend most of the Arkansas State University home basketball homes. My sister often gives us their extra tickets for which I will be eternally grateful. However, last night we needed three more tickets as Mary Kathryn wanted to take a friend with her. Maribeth is always welcome in our household and in our car wherever we go. Jerry went to park the car and the girls and I started to the back of a long line to wait to buy tickets. We have had an unusually cold week and the wind was blowing. We were freezing. I just wanted to be inside in the warmth of the Convocation Center. As soon as we got in the long line a kindly gentleman came up beside us and said I have extra tickets tonight, how many do you need? Wow, how neat for God to provide the tickets free and keep us from waiting in the cold weather. Thank you Jesus for taking care of us in such a delightful way. It reminds me to always be on the alert to minister to others in whatever way you make available to me.

Faith and Mary Kathryn (our granddaughters) are back in school following the Christmas holidays. Their sweet spirits are such an encouragement to this grandma. I miss them both so much, and I will be praying that others continue to see Jesus in their lives as they walk the halls of Ridgefield Christian School and Ouachita Baptist University.