Leave it all behind...and come to The Well!

I hope you listen...really listen to the words! I absolutely love this song! This has really touched my heart...especially in the last few days with some people in our lives that you know are searching but they aren't searching in the right places! They know something is missing but they refuse to listen to what is missing. They are down and out but they won't take it to The Well. Everything in the world is wrong but if they had Jesus...their lives would be so much different. You just pray and hope and wish that they could find Christ and experience what you have experienced and have the peace that comes with knowing Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

"I have what you need, but you keep on searching. I've done all the work, but you keep on working. When you're running on empty, and you can't find the remedy. Just come to the well".

We can search for all the rights...we can think we have it made...we can find security with wrong addictions...we can hope for a brighter tomorrow...we can search and search and search...but Christ has all we need...he has done all the work for us...all we have to do is come to him!

"You can spend your whole life, chasing what's missing. But that empty inside, it just ain't gonna listen. When nothing can satisfy, and the world leaves you high and dry. Just come to the well".

We spend our whole lives chasing things that don't matter. Thinking if we buy this or that..have more money, have a better car or have a better house we will feel satisfied. When that turns up empty and we still feel this emptiness and nothing can make it go away. When bad things happen...we lose money, we go bankrupt, our marriage fails, we lose our job and we feel we are left "high and dry"...take it to Jesus! He has the remedy! If you will only let him help you!

"And all who thirst will thirst no more. And all who search will find what their souls long for. The World will try, but it can never fill. So leave it all behind. And come to the well".

"So bring me your heart, no matter how broken. Come as you are, when your last prayer is spoken. Just rest in my arms a while. You'll feel a change, my child., When you come to the well."

No matter how broken you are...no matter how bad you think you are...it is NEVER too late! We think we have to wait until we are perfect and have everything where it should be before we can go to Jesus. Go to him NOW...let Him help you through whatever problem you have...drugs, alcohol, addictions of any sort, depression, anxiety...He can help you with it all if you will let Him. Take your problems to him and rest in his arms awhile. Feel the comfort of knowing Christ as your Saviour...He CAN save you! You WILL feel a change if you truly know him. Go to the well!

"And now that you are full of love beyond measure. Your joy's gonna flow like a stream in the desert. Soon all the world will see Living water is found in me. Cause you've come to the well. Leave it all behind and come to the well. Leave it all behind. Leave it all behind. Leave it all behind. Leave it all behind. Your pursuit of perfection (leave it all behind). Your fear of rejection (leave it all behind). Your temporary pleasures (leave it all behind). All your earthly treasures (leave it all behind). Dried up empty religion (leave it all behind). Rusty chains of addiction (leave it all behind). All the guilty that weighs you down (leave it all behind). Just leave it all behind and come to the well.

Can you leave it all behind? As my husband says...you go to the doctor when your sick...you don't wait until your well! Take it to Jesus! He can help you through any situation you may have. He has helped me through countless ones. I want you to experience Christ's unconditional love! I want you to experience satisfaction and happiness in your life that only He can bring. Will you let him? I am not perfect and I will never be this side of Heaven. I just want to share what Christ can do for you! You have to make the decision for yourself that you want to change. No one can do that for you. You have to decide that you are going to make God and church a priority in your life. No one can do that for you. I just want you to know that you can experience more joy and happiness than you have ever had if you will just come to the well! One of the things I hear most are "well, I am a good person" and there is no doubt in my mind that you are. But there will be a lot of "good" people in hell! People that think because they are good they have nothing to worry about. My friend, if you have not given your heart and life to Christ...you will not be in Heaven!

Thank You Jesus...

Jack was star of the week a few weeks ago...so Noah and I took a special snack and he was so proud to show his baby brother off! He is such a good big brother...I am very thankful for that!

A shout out to my big boys who ran the Drumstick Dash 5k... their first 5K and they did AWESOME! So proud! Dylan finished in 26:50 and Mason 27:41 (had to stop and tie his shoe..or he would have been on his brothers heels!)

"Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalms 100: 3-5

1 Chronicles 16: 8 " Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done."

1 Chronicles 16: 34 "Give thanks to teh lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in christ Jesus."

So many verses to look at about being thankful! Giving God the glory and praise and thanking him for all that I have. What I have on this earth is not of my doing...realizing that God has placed people, circumstances, places, things, etc...in my life for a reason! I didn't get to this point in my life alone...only by God's grace and will am I here today! I want to be a Philippians 4:6 woman! I don't want to be anxious about anything, worry about anything, I want to take it all to God and let him help me deal with whatever circumstance, problem or anything in my life that I might be struggling or need help with. I need to turn EVERYTHING over to him before I give myself a moment to get excited or anxious about anything! I want my boys to learn to do this also! I want us to learn together to not be excited or upset about anything before we take it to our Father...who will help us through any storm we may encounter! This morning one song keeps going through my head "I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter his courts with praise. I will say THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HATH MADE...I WILL REJOICE FOR HE HAS MADE ME GLAD...he has made me glad, he has made me glad...I WILL REJOICE FOR HE HAS MADE ME GLAD."

So this week Mason has taught Noah to say "Thank you Jesus". It is probably one of the sweetest things I have ever seen! He looks up squints his eyes and says...what we can make out to be..."Thank you Jesus". If only I would look up, squint my eyes and say Thank you Jesus every day for the little things, big things, all the things that he does for me. So many times I go through the day without thanking him where thanks is due! I vow to do better! God has given me another day on this earth for a reason...I WILL MAKE THE MOST OF IT! I will further his kingdom, I will spread his word, I will be his light that shines, I will shout from the mountains that he is MY KING, I will stand on his Word, I will teach his way.

Halloween Fun!!!

The doctor is in the house!

Mason the mime!


Ghostbuster Dylan!

Not sure who these people are!

The whole crew...almost (minus Noah)!

Mason, Dylan, Jack, Cole & Ellie

The finished product!

Noah getting in on the action!

Cutie!

ooyeee gooyee fun!

He isn't so sure about this slimy stuff!

So here are a few pictures from our Halloween weekend fun! We started Saturday morning with carving our pumpkins...two of which were stolen off our front porch on Sunday night! Anyway, the kids has so much fun carving them and cleaning out the guts. They were so proud of their work so I thought I would show off a few pictures. We went to Amy's for supper Saturday night so grandparents could see the kids all dressed up. Sunday was busy as well. We had Awana Sunday night and the kids all got to dress up...as well as a few of us grown ups! The kids love it when we dress up too! Monday was fall fest at church...couldn't bring myself to dress up Monday night! We had a lot of fun though! Hope you enjoy where four boys grow....

The Fruits of the Spirit...

The Fruits of the Spirit are something we all want to live by. Instilling this is hard because every personality is different. We talk about them a lot in church...Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Sometimes it is not something we talk about enough at home. My grandfather, I believe, lived by every one of these. He was one of the kindest, gentlest, patient, loving men I have ever known. I wanted to break each one of these down a little. I am sure this is not very interesting reading for most but it is something I want to work hard on with my boys and myself.


Love, Agape Love, selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. We should love everyone unconditionally as Jesus loves us. We may not agree with everyone. We may not like everyone. We may not agree with others decisions. But, according the Bible we should love them anyway. This is hard to explain to kids also. Someone might be mean to you and you might not like it or them but God says we are to love unconditionally. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. love never fails.





Next is Joy. Let's just face it, it is impossible to by joyful all the time and to constantly be happy right? I would agree, and I believe God understands how hard it is for us here and that it is hard to be happy 24/7! I do believe he wants us to have a joyful heart though. We should work joyfully, live joyfully, worship joyfully, etc...We will not always be 100% happy but we can be joyful in whatever we do and give the glory and praise to Him. John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my JOY may be in you, and that your JOY may be full.





Peace...how do we practice peace in our lives? This is probably one of the hardest for me. How do I live peacefully and know that God is in control...NO MATTER WHAT. It is hard to not worry about what the future holds but with God I have to believe and have faith that good or bad he will sustain me and my family. John 14:7 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through Faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are so many verses that I could quote for each of these!

Patience...OH MY! This is my downfall! I am not a patient person! I am better than I have been in the past but only because I have asked for help and guidance from my Savior in this area. I remind myself how Patient Christ has been with all of us in this earthly world. I know that the things of this world are part of his plan and we are here to endure whatever his plan is for us PATIENTLY. Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalm 15:18 A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel. A hot temper is not something I want to be known for. When you don't have patience it is hard to obtain it...BUT, I promise with a little work and help from our Heavenly Father...it CAN happen.

Kindness...Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Well, that pretty much sums it up, huh! We are to be kind to one another in EVERY situation... that is hard! It is a challenge! But, it is something I want to try very hard to do. Even in situations within our own family these past few weeks...I vow to be kind and to be as Christ would expect me to be! I will not give in to the devil and I will be kind! In my kids this is also hard...not necessarily with other people but with each other. Of course, brothers will be brothers but imagine how much more smoothly the day would go if we would all show a little kindness and compassion!

Goodness...2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This covers them all I believe! In every aspect of our life we should general be good. I feel like goodness incorporates this whole list.

Faithfulness...Provers 3:3 let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Let love and faithfulness NEVER leave me Lord! I want to stay faithful to our heavenly Father! On a daily basis stay faithful to the Lord in what I do, say, the way I act, in every part of my being.

Gentleness...Philippians 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. I love this next verse. 1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks to you give the reason for hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. We are to show gentleness to everyone. Gentleness to our children, parents, strangers on the street!

and Self-Control...We are to show restraint in areas of our life. Self control with our mouths (speaking only good), self-control sexually, self-control with money...etc...We should, as Christians, be set apart from others and they should see that there is something different about us. All of these aspects fall under self-control. If we have self-control we will be loving, we will be joyful, we will be patient, we will be kind, we will be good, we will be faithful, we will be gentle!

It is no secret that Satan attacks those that are doing good and living in God's desired path. He has attacked our family on different occasions. Have we always acted as God would intend...no! But, we have learned and grown from these mistakes. I want to teach my children these attributes! I want my kids to make this their lifestyle from the beginning so that it is not so hard to learn in their old age! I want to live these myself! How about you?

Contentment...

Something we have been trying to work on in our family is to be content. The definition of content is "happy enough with what one has or is; not desiring something more or different; satisfied; willing". This is a tough one to say the least! The human part of us is always wanting something more or different and we are rarely satisfied. I am guilty of this more than anyone. Always wishing we had this or that or we need to do this to the house or that to the house or buy this or that. I want to just be content with what God has given me. To be satisfied with what has been provided and to enjoy God's blessings and not always want MORE MORE MORE! Philippians 4:12 tell us I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in every situation whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I want to live this verse! I want my kids to live this verse and to learn to be satisfied! How do you teach this...how do you accomplish this from the human aspect of it. Someone is always coming in with something, young or old and we think "ooohhh I wish I had that" or "where can I get myself one of those" or "so and so has this and I want one too". I know it is impossible to completely erase those thoughts from our mind. After all, as I said before, we are human! What I am hoping is that we can say "you know that is really nice and that would be great to have but you know I already have a ___ and I am grateful that I have what I have". It is okay to buy something I am not saying that but to constantly think we need more is what I want to work on. We don't always have to have more more more. As the old saying goes "sometimes less is more". It is training yourself to look with the eyes and say that is nice but with my mind say "I just don't need it"! Controlling the wants from the needs. Sometimes it is easy to talk ourselves into making something we want into something we need. Anyways, just something we are working on here Where Four Boys Grow...

Memories...

So we are in Florida. Trying to enjoy the vacation we were supposed to leave for on Tuesday but it just isn't that easy. It has been a rough week to say the least. I think that today was even a little harder for me than some days earlier in the week. I am not sad for Poppy because I know he is in a better place. I think what I am struggling with most is all the family times and events he was always there for that he won't be at now. My heart breaks for my daddy. They spent so much time together and I know that he will feel lost without him. I hated to even leave to come down here feeling like we needed to be home with family! I know that it will get easier with time but he was such a big part of our lives and we were all close to Poppy. You can't help but have all those memories from childhood and even adulthood come flooding back. You see, I spent many summers at Poppy and Grangran's house while mom and dad were working. I would watch TV, follow Poppy around to the basement or the barn. He was always working on something. He might be working on a car or just piddlin' making something. I would play with all his tools and look at all the things he had made. He is the one who taught me how to ride horses. We spent many a day riding around the fields at his house! He was the best! Grangran would always be piddlin' around the house and would always make sure we had something good to eat for lunch! If I got tired of piddlin' with Poppy and Grangran I could always walk across the field over to Uncle Jo and Aunt Edna's house and aggravate them for a while. Every, did I say EVERY Saturday night memory that I have growing up was spent with the whole family going out to eat. In those days about all we had was Quincy's, Shoney's and Cracker Barrel. It was always Poppy, Grangran, Uncle Jo and Aunt Edna, us and whoever else would tag along. We would end up at either Poppy and Grangran's house or Uncle Jo and Aunt Edna's house afterwards. Looking back these were some special times! I would always stay with Poppy and Grangran the week of VBS at Poplar Grove. The bus from church would come by and pick me up! The church was only a mile down the road! Christmas Eve's at Poppy and Grangran's house until Grangran got sick. Poppy then came to my house every Christmas morning since Dylan was born and would watch the boys open their presents. I don't think he missed a single year! Poppy was always at our Christmas with mom and dad. He was always at the boys birthday parties and everyone else's birthday dinners we had. We were always having supper at mom and dad's...mom always makes sure we are well fed. She always made sure Poppy had enough food to take home for a few days of meals also! His morning breakfasts with dad and his Saturday spent working on the building the hot rod with dad or restoring the old '48 Ford. Too many memories to share and ones that will never be forgotten. I am so thankful that Dylan Mason and Jack got to know Poppy. Poppy was a very special person in their lives! I am also glad that Poppy got to meet Noah...sad that Noah won't remember what a special person he was, but we will have lots of stories to share with him as he grows!

Today we lost a GREAT one...

Our morning started out with exciting conversation over breakfast!  We were leaving for the beach today for a few days of R&R over fall break.  Then we got the call that you always dread!  We lost my Poppy this morning.  Our excitement and joy soon turned to tears and sadness as we had to tell the boys about their great grandpa.  What a special man he was to all of us!  Our sadness turned to rejoicing that he did not suffer.  He never wanted to be sick or in the nursing home.  He was 93 years old but still driving, living at home alone, doing his own laundry, buying his own groceries, he ate breakfast with my daddy every morning at Made With Love or Cracker Barrel.  What a life this man has lived.  All the things that he saw in his lifetime.  He joined the National Guard in 1938 and was in the Cavalry...yes the horse cavalry!  When bombs hit Pearl Harbor his unit was activated and he was sent to California to prepare to go oversees.  He was in Okinawa when a bomb hit the tent he was staying in. Sixteen men in his unit died that night but he was saved.  Why?  He asked himself that same question!  He knew at that moment that God had a plan for him and he accepted Christ as his Savior.  What a testimony!  He married my grandmother in Rossville, Georgia by a Justice of the Peace at midnight.  He and his buddies all got leave one weekend from Camp Forest, Tennessee and realized they had no way to make it home.  Three men rode a motorcycle back to Cookeville!  I love these stories!  After the Army he was a mechanic for the state!  He loved to work on, well, just about anything!  He rode horses, trained horses, was a member of the Upper Cumberland Horeseback Riders Club for years, he loved woodworking and was a great craftsman!  He loved his family, his children, his grandchildren, his great grandchildren!  Oh, the memories we all have!  He love to get together and eat...anytime!  As a matter of fact last Friday night we all had supper together at mom and dads! He was at my house every Christmas morning for the last ten years since Dylan was born!  My boys loved Poppy so much!  It is so hard to realize how much you love them also until they are gone!    We will miss his company, we will miss his smile, we will miss his happy spirit, we will miss his presence BUT we know that he is well taken care of! 

Forever After

Words cannot say what my hear truly feels
A sadness, a loss, that only time will heal.
But today my Poppy is in a new place
Where life after death really does exist.
No sickness, no sorrow, no pain, no tears.
For today is a celebration of his happy years.
(Ninety-three to be exact)
What a wondrous life, what a wondrous day
To know that he no longer has to say,
"I Can Only Imagine!"
He sits before our King, our Maker, our Redeemer
Holding the hand of his beautiful bride.
She has waited for him and she knew the day.
Their celebration of being reunited.
They are Poppy and Grangran
How we know them best.
Without them
Our lives would have have been so blessed.

Thank you Lord
For the time we had them.
Now they are yours...for forever after!