Encouragement

In response to my last blog entry - even though I commented what happened after.... I just wanted to post a praise report - that God was as good as I expected Him to be and 100 times greater when going through my discouraging moments this week. After I blogged that long entry on discouragement...I laid on my bed and I was just still. I just started affirming God -- "God I know you are the one and only God. The king of king and Lord of Lords. I believe you are the one creator of this universe, the prince of peace. Please let me see you God" and I will leave the rest to be between Him & I.

I felt His presence like never before - so much that the tears just were automatically flowing like a fountain - and then I was giggly with the joy & peace He brought to me. I was giggly with the words he was woo-ing me with that I heard ever so softly & tenderly. "Yes Randi I do love you". And I can't even put into words what He was trying to communicate. It was like a sense of, "of course, more than you will ever release, forever and forever" - but my english couldn't capture all He was trying to say. I heard, "be patient.... I have a plan for you. I know what I'm doing."

In those moments when He draws me in - and surrounds me....I just feel like literally nothing else matters. It reminds me of Brandon's favorite verse in Psalms - Psalm 23:2. "He MAKES me lie down in green pastures, He leads me besides quiet waters". He makes us rest. He makes us be quiet and still and need Him. During those moments it's like nothing else matters at all.... I get a glimpse of what it's going to be like with Him. When we're with Him, this life will be like a blink of an eye and soo insignificant compared to eternity in His glory.

I do enjoy the journey and the fact that through ALL the moments - ups, downs, moments of discouragement - HE is ALWAYS there. He always lets me turn to Him with my heartache - and He always builds me back up!

God is so great beyond words!

(and by the way - as if I needed anything else besides Him -- He went totally above & beyond and blessed me even more ...with three very encouraging emails. From C, K & D. I was blown away with these women's comments to me and about me. He reminded me through them, that I DO make a difference and I AM being used even if I don't see the results! K & D don't read my blog and have no idea what I'm going through - their emails came out of the blue thanking me for something I didn't even know I did!! God is sooo good.)

These 2 pictures are special to me. The first was the day that Brandon proposed to me. The 2nd was on our honeymoon. Everybody who knows me knows I LOVE sunsets. I watch the sunset every day even if it's just a peek through a window sometimes. I believe each sunset is a special gift from God for me... if I'm with Brandon and Raymond at sunset, I make everybody go outside and watch it together.

And out of ALL the sunsets I have ever seen - the top 5 prettiest were ALWAYS after a huge storm! They were the sunsets that nobody expected to come - it would be too cloudy, no light would shine through at all --- but I always made everybody stay and wait - and guess what! The sun always did peek through if only a little bit for a short time - and it cast the most incredible reflections on the clouds and it created the most beautiful sunset!! My little digital camera just doesn't do any nature scenes justice --- but these 2 sunsets were 2 of my favorites!

What a wonderful life lesson! Grandma and I always used to encourage each other and say, "we would not appreciate the sun, if there were never any clouds"

God is so great and I am blessed! :)