THUNDER!

There is thunder and lightening in his lips, Our God is an awesome God.

I just heard thunder outside and it reminded of this song.

I know I had asked my readers where and what they were doing five years ago. I will answer my own question, especially since it seems no one else reads my blog. But that is okay. I blog for me!

Five years ago, I was still reeling from a hard break in our church family! That seems such a long time ago and yet when I let myself think back, it still hurts. So, I try to look forward and not think back to those times.

I do have to say that though that is a hurtful time, it was also a very growing and maturing time! To say that I have changed is an understatement. Tollie and I were talking the other day and realized how much we have changed, especially spiritually. We are free in Christ! We don't worry so much any more. We don't feel like we have to walk on egg shells any more. We just enjoy worshipping God in everything we do and not just on Sundays!

I don't ever want to degrade or downplay our years at Westgate. They are precious years and precious memories and precious people! I love so many of them and miss them very much. Fortunately, we still have some of those people still in our lives! I would not want to go back though. I would feel stiffled and pushed down, like someone had their thumb on my head, pressing ever so hard to get me down! Does that make sense?

I can remember most that the last few years at Westgate were a struggle to keep my sanity. People were saying things about my mate that were unfounded, untrue and totally out of character for him. If they knew and loved him, they would know that. And in all that time, I kept thinking, can I make a mistake? Can we at least try other things to see if it works? Do we have to keep doing the same ole things and not growing? Why do we keep banging our heads against the perverbial wall?

At least now I know that if I have an idea, it will be listened to. Not that all my ideas will be done or tried and that is okay, but that I will be heard. That makes so much of a difference. And I know that people will take the truth and hold it high!

There are some things I want to change. I want to be more community minded. Yet, I am the one who did not sign up to do the Some Other Place Tasting. Why, I am not sure. But I find it hard to make those changes. Yet in five years, I have made milestone changes. When Tollie and I went to church with Mindy, it was a new experience for us. Something that five years ago would have been so hard for me to do. But I actually enjoyed the experience and want to learn from that experience.

Five years ago, I was in Beaumont, longing to know my grandbaby who was to be born in the next month! They were in Lubbock and we were 12 hours south in Southeast Texas! How in the world was I to be a grandmother 12 hours away? I prayed for three years for God to put us closer to my children! Never in a million years would I have guessed that my children would move to Beaumont! Thank you God for the experience to see my grandchildren anytime, and have them with me. To allow them to spend the night, see new and exciting things together, like movies, circuses and carosels.

Five years can bring a lot of changes and it has been that in my life. My children now live close, I have changed careers, going from doing medical transcription to managing a parts department to semi retirement. Now I work two days a week, doing fun jobs for an executive. I do genealogy work, publishing and printing calendars for the family and making menus for the family. I never know what project will come up next, but I find most of them fun.

I pray that your five years have found new growth and excitement in your life.