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| Thank you Timothy and Haley for the beautiful fireworks! |
Do you ever have those days when you just want to go back to bed and start all over again? Well that is how we have felt the past week, except we wanted to go back home and start over. Every time we turn around something is tearing up. First of all our refrigerator quit working and it was full of some good 'ole home cooked food. We had to throw everything out. It was an act of congress to find someone to talk to...in the USA.... that had the part we needed. By the time I found someone I was about ready to bite his head off...poor fella! Poor Carl thought his head was gonna be a goner also. I will be so glad to have the frig back..all this fast food is killing me. After the frig messed up, some of the lights on the truck decided to quit working. Carl would fix one and then another would quit..fix that one and then the one he had previously fixed would quit again. It was a back and forth "nightmare". We even had a whole light panel to break and fall off. Carl finally got the lights working...thank goodness. Then one day when he shut his door we heard something clinging and clanging...we just looked at each other "Oh My Gosh, what was that!" He opened his door and found his CB antenna laying on the ground. Do you remember the sheriff's car in the movie Smokey and the Bandit...I am beginning to think that is what LC is going to look like before long. We are going to be just wheels rolling down the highway dropping and dragging pieces behind us.
On top of everything falling apart on us, we have had to deal with C-R-A-Z-Y drivers, normally that is nothing new...but wow....summertime has brought them alllll out. Then add a little rain....well they just forget how to drive altogether. Last week when we went through Tennessee on our way to Pennsylvania we encountered a lot of "non-driving" folks. We went through 2 hail storms, were in and out of rain storms all day and had to sit for almost two hours on the interstate due to a wreck. We were only about 20 miles from our home for the night when we got stopped on the interstate. By the time we started moving it was dark and raining and my nerves were shot and I wasn't the one driving. We had to cross over a river on a very high bridge and at that very moment a sense of fear took over my body. I could not breath, talk or function normally...I seriously could have used a "chill pill". I talked to my mama later and was telling her about all the bad weather and she said " We were praying for ya'll." "I was praying for us too!"
So many people go through their lives living in fear....fear of losing their job, losing a love one, worrying about finances, worrying about their future. Fear smothers and traps you to the point that you can't focus on anything of value. Your soul begins to hyperventilate. If you have ever hyperventilated then you know it is a very scary feeling. I can not imagine going through life feeling that way all the time. 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline." Every circumstance comes to us for a purpose, bound by God's love. There will always be times of uncertainty or a sense of fear but God is always standing right there waiting for us to say "LORD, save me!" Trust is the antidote to anxiety; it's the resolution of worry and the destruction of fear. Turn your fears over to the LORD. Trust Him, He sees what we can not see. My fear was very real that night but was quickly removed thanks to my loving Savior.
We ended up riding on the 4th but thanks to my thoughtful, loving, magnificent son and his "just as wonderful" girlfriend we did get to see some fireworks. They videoed the ones in town and sent it to us. I think they were the most fabulous fireworks I have ever seen. After we unloaded Thursday in Pennsylvania we made a bee-line to North Carolina to load on Monday. I was so excited Sunday because I GOT TO GO SHOPPING...not at Wal-Mart....a REAL mall. It had 80 stores! Oh yes, I was in heaven!!! When I was teaching, I went shopping almost every weekend...so yes...I have been having some major withdrawal symptoms! Carl asked me later if I had fun...crazy question...what do you think?! I think he even had a little fun.
While traveling through Texas...again, we got to enjoy one of God's creatures. We stopped at a rest area and 2 of the cutest little raccoons were there. They evidently have made this their home because they were not afraid of people. They kept watching to see who was going to feed them next. I know we see raccoons all the time but usually in the road and not in the best condition. I took so many pictures that you would have thought this was my first raccoon sighting. Carl just stood there patiently waiting for me to finish enjoying my moment.
On our way to San Antonia Wednesday night, we saw a beautiful sunset. Another one of God's amazing creations. Thanks Jen for reminding me to enjoy nature and to see what I could find. We unloaded Thursday in San Antonio and will reload Monday in Beaumont, TX going to back to Texarkana,TX and then who knows where our next adventure will take us.
For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13
'Til we meet again!
Only by Grace,
Lynne
