Lessons in dirt bikes

We went to the Mannington Fair on Thursday afternoon. We went only to see the livestock and the horse shows, and the biggest excitement; the motorcross demonstration! Elijah couldn't wait for it! I must confess, I, myself was really excited! I have secretly loved dirt bikes since I was a kid! I had a friend growing up who, when I stayed at her house let me ride her brother's mini dirt bike! I was in Heaven! Not real lady-like, I know, but I love it lol. So, I must say that seeing these guys do tricks off of ramps high in the air was the highlight of my and my son's evening. When you see how they defy gravity like they do, sometimes completely coming off of their bikes and then grabbing on right before the bike hits the ramp! Amazing! We just sit with our mouths open in awe. I am thinking, man if I had just kept practicing maybe I could have done some of that! (I doubt it but its fun to imagine lol) Anyway, if we as humans, can do such gravity defying, mouth dropping, awe inspiring "tricks", imagine how much more the Lord can do in our lives! He has already done awe inspiring, mouth dropping things. Jesus came here lived a perfect life, spoke in ways that made people speechless, dropping their jaws in awe, healed the blind, raised the dead,made the lame walk! Then he did the ultimate "gravity defying feat" of all he defeated death, hell and the grave, and rose from the dead!!! This is the power we have inherited, if you are living your life for Him. He wants to do things in your life that defys evil and sin, makes the world stand in awe and wanting! Oh the "gravity defying" things He can do in you! But, are you allowing Him to do it, are you "getting on that dirt bike" and letting Him take you at break neck speeds up that ramp so He can use you, or are you just watching from the stands, with your mouth open too, wishing and dreaming it could be you? Come on get on your "bike!" See what awesome things the Lord has for you!

Trusting God

Last week was a very hard week for my family and I. We had a bout of Parvo come through our house and take three of our five, 6 week old puppies. It was hard to watch those little ones suffer so! Parvo is a horrible virus that attacks the intestines and causes severe vomiting and diarrhea, and the dogs that get it usually pass away from dehydration and depletion of electrolytes etc. The fact that these were just babies was not good! I did iv therapy at home because the cost for the vet to do it was WAY out of my budget. I had everyone that would pray for the healing of these little ones and to pray that none of the other puppies got it and our three other dogs. With parvo being highly contagious, everything has to be bleached and sterilized and everytime we went in with the puppies we had to sterilize anything that came in contact with the puppies. We developed a routine of how we ran things everyday, twice a day and sometimes three times a day! It was physically and emotionally exhausting! I had every hope that God would take this horrible virus out of my home and heal these poor helpless pupppies! Prayers were going up left and right. We lost the first one the next day after he came back from the vet, the day after that one more, two days later we lost the last who I thought for sure was bouncing back from it, he had a good couple of days (I thought). I have to say, I do not understand why God didn't heal this time. Through the words of a very wise woman of God, I was reminded that, even though things did not turn out the way I prayed, God knows better than me, He sees the bigger picture, I can't. I must trust Him! He didn't intend for anyone or anything to suffer, so I don't know what would have become of those little ones had they lived through this virus, but God did, so He answered my prayers by doing what a good Father does; with what was the best thing for everyone. I also have to remember that God does not look at death the way we do. Maybe I would have had a different attitude had it been, God forbid, one of my children but I still learned the lesson all the same. I really do trust Him in what He did! The outcome was not what I would have wanted and we grieved..a lot.. but I have a peace that I normally would not have had in this kind of situation! I will admit I didn't get that peace right away, I had to reflect on the whole thing for a couple of days, doing the "what if I had given that puppy one more treatment or what if we had kept that one at the vet one more day"..what if...what if I just know and trust that I did everything that I could in my situation (not knowing anything about ivs and measuring the amount from the bag, did I get the needle in right etc, etc..) and God took care of the rest. I do, I really do trust Him that what happened was answered prayer. I also have to look at the fact that two of the littlest puppies, who were in with the other sick ones the whole time, are alive and well and did not get one single symptom at all of sickness!! And that the mom of the puppies didn't get sick while nursing them, and that all of the other dogs in the house didn't get sick either! That is a miracle! God knows, He knows what He is doing, our job is to pray and trust Him whatever the outcome and know that He is Sovereign and He is perfect and doesn't make mistakes and most important, He has nothing but our good in mind and will move Heaven and Earth to get that for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose..Romans 8:28 (paraphrased)