We Can't Do It Alone.

Do you not know?  Have you not heard? 

Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole Earth. 

 He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.  

He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. 

 Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, 

but those who trust in the Lord, will renew their strength;

 they will soar on wings like eagles; 

they will run and not grow weary; 

they will walk and not faint. 

Isiah 40:28-31

When you begin to rely on yourself or your spouse to make you feel better or to fix all of the problems that are going on, things can get hard.  Actually, they get even harder than they were before and you wonder why because all you are trying to do is make things better.  That is why God calls upon us to trust in Him.  He calls us to get our renewed strength, rest, hope, and faith in Him.  No one else.

How exhausting to try to refresh and renew your own spirit.  That is what I have been trying to do for the last 3 weeks.  Yes, we have had A LOT going on, as I explained in our last post, but we were trying to fix all of our own problems!  

And, of course, we were miserably failing!

I just flipped back to our last post and read where we were asking for prayers for us to receive a restful spirit and to have patience.  That is exactly what has happened over the last 5 days!  God brought Clint and I back to reality last Friday when we encouraged one another to really open up God's word and just divulge in it.  Submerse ourselves in God's word, because that is the only thing that was going to renew our spirit.  

God really moved through us this past weekend.  We had some great conversations with some friends in our community/B-Group.  God is really transforming us through our Bible Study(s) and creating/establishing relationship that are going to be everlasting. God restored our hope and faith this weekend and we are so grateful.  

It is kind of like working out.  Whenever you are in the gym, you feel so good and restored and whole.  When you quit for a week or so, you feel like mush and you feel terrible about yourself; beating yourself up about the food choices you are making, etc.  

When you are in the word of God, it is unlike anything else.  You have your shield on and covering your heart.  Scripture is pumping through your heart and veins and protecting you against the next strike against you.  You aren't so defensive and on edge.  You quit being so selfish and "wordly" thinking.  You aren't so burned out to where you are biting everyone's head off around you. 

We knew that we needed to be restored and rested to make it another hour through another day.  And we thank God for his restoration because we were prepared to face Monday...

.......

Monday morning I walk into my nursing home to find out that State was in the building and we were having our annual review.  For those of you who know LTC, this is the big one.  You have to have everything perfect.  You do not leave the building until everything is perfect and complete.  So..that is what I have been doing the past 48 hours.  Working.  A lot of hours...I cannot believe it is only Tuesday!

Clint and I walk in the door after work about the same time on Monday to immediately get in the car and head to Bible Study.  Bible Study was amazing and the Holy Spirit was moving in that place!  So excited about our group. As I was walking to meet Clint, after our study, I looked down at my phone and saw I had a missed call from Chantel and a text saying, "Call me now."

Clint and I immediately called her to find out that Clint's dad was being rushed to the hospital because he thought he was having a heart attack. After many hours/tests...he had a heart cath that determined his previously placed stents were blocked and he had to have two larger stents put in.

Clint and Chantel decided to leave this afternoon to be with their Dad.  Dustin and I are holding down the fort in Shreveport. Praise God Mr. Greg is alive and doing well. Thanks for the prayers.

Praises:

1. Praises for my husband stepping up to the plate and taking care of EVERYTHING, even more than normal, on Monday so that I didn't have to think about anything aside from work. Perfect timing from him all the way around.

2. Praises for my Mom who is in town and cleaned our house, cooked for us, grocery shopped for us, and has picked up all the pieces that neither one of us has had time for!  HUGE HELP and I don't know what I would have done without it.

3. Praises that Mr. Greg is alive and in recovery.

4. Praises for new friends who are so encouraging and uplifting!

Prayer Requests:

1. Continued prayers for our Brother-In-Law, Dustin, who is still in remission from cancer. PT went well this past Monday. Please pray for his continued success with PT.

2. Prayers for Mr. Greg and his recovery from surgery. Quick healing, patience, change of lifestyle, and diligence through this process.

3. Prayers for Clint and Chantel as they travel back tomorrow from Alex.

4. Prayers for Clint as he travels to Denver, CO on Thursday-Monday for a conference.

5. Prayers for continued peace for Clint and me in the midst of craziness!!

6. Prayers for my job situation.  That God's will be done whether that means me staying to God softening my heart to a really tough environment or God finding me a new place of employment.  

Thanks again for all your prayers and thoughts.  We really appreciate it.  We can truly feel your prayers.  Love you all.  Have a wonderful week.