A huge thank you for praying...

That last post I wrote was where I was.... exhausted and in need of the prayers of my sisters.  Thank you so much for reading and praying.  You are all good at that.

God has answered... Larry has slept much better for three nights now... much better, and perhaps we have a habit forming.  Only got up 3 times last night.  Some might say "Only?????" Yes, but that is good and one of the times was four hours between.... (Remember those days of infant feedings at night?)

He is still walking very bent over....can't quite figure that out, but would so appreciate prayers for that issue.  Not standing up means someone has to pretty much walk everywhere with him so he doesn't topple over. I am doing the "hamstring stretch" with him twice a day now. I have to say that at one point, after Sunday morning, when I was wondering if we would get him to the car without carrying him, I pled, "Holy Spirit, I need help here....what to do."  Shortly after I remembered the hamstring stretch thing....seems to have helped some.

Anyway all of this to say "THANK YOU!"  After the last post, there were times when it would hit me that life was better, I wasn't so exhausted, and Larry was doing okay.  "Oh my, people are praying..."

Thank you all!!

This semester in our women's Bible study, we are studying Ecclesiastes.  And to be honest, that is not a book I would have chosen.  Preachers don't choose it much either.  Most of us have the idea that it is a very negative book, dealing with the futility of life.  You know phrases like "all is vanity" and "it is just striving after the wind," don't help our perception.

But as I was working on lessons 3 and 4 last night, I was overcome with God's goodness and love for us because of his sovereignty in the plan he has for each of our lives.

When we try to plan our lives,
     when we strive for control of what is happening in our lives,
            when we try to fix things,
                 when we try to figure it all out "under the sun",
we get discouraged, disillusioned, and defeated.
Because of the hard things in our lives, we begin to think life is hopeless, unbearable, and absolutely no fun.

But when we realize that God is indeed in control,
     that he has our life planned for good (even if it isn't what we would have chosen),
           that he is above the sun where there are riches and wonders we can't imagine,
                that his Son paid the ultimate price so we could spend eternity with him,
Then we will be able to have the joy that God has for us.
Yes, we will understand that all of life here is a gift from God including eating, drinking, working, and the hard things that draw us into dependence on him.

During these last weeks, I have been able to finish a book that I started months ago, Unbroken.  I can't imagine anyone going through what Louie went through as a Japanese POW during WWII. But through the book, over and over, the reader sees how God and only God spared his life...to be sure barely at times.... but spared his life so that one day Louie would come to the realization of who God is and what God had done for him. Definitely put what we were dealing with in perspective.

Again, I thank you all for your prayers....My prayers for you continue along with my thanks to God for each one of you.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.