A Great Day

Even in the midst of the most intense battle of our lives it is nice to know that yes we can have a great day once in a while, and today was truly one of those days! For the first time in over a month Dawn was able to join us at Church today and what a wonderful service for her to attend. We had three new families join us today, these were local people with no affiliation to Little Country, which made it all the more special. While we thoroughly enjoy seeing our friends from LCC our primary goal is to be a part of the transformation of Shasta Lake and drawing the local people in is a very large part of our plan. We are so blessed to have someone as gifted as Brandon Allen leading our youth, Luke Pettingil leading our worship, and Dwelly Crofoot who is heading up our recovery ministry as well as much more. Laura Arnold is covering our fifth grade down to the babies and no one loves kids more than Laura, and soon Dusty Rose will be joining us as the leader of our Junior High, and yes he too is amazing! Along with this core team of staff we have families like the Golden's who serve so well in the ministry with great integrity and support, and Jon and Pat Stone affectionately known as mom and dad for obvious reasons. When you combine them with the team that was already in place at Shasta Lake who have served so faithfully for so long and you can see why I would be excited to go serve at every opportunity with this wonderful and expanding group of people.Some of whose names I cannot share because I have no permission to do so (I haven't asked).
Dawn and I cannot express in a lifetime our gratitude nor the depth of the blessing we feel we are receiving on a daily basis from so many brothers and sisters in Christ. I truly do not know how we would get through this difficult time without all of your support!
As I think back on the day I am reminded of the passage where we are told we will not receive more than we can bear, I must admit Iwas close. Isn't it amazing though how a single day without ongoing challenges and frustrations can equip you to take on many days of such challenges. The speed at which the human mind and body is able to recover from tragedy and trial is truly amazing when it is accompnaied by the power of the Holy Spirit. Somehow He is able to distance the pain and emotional suffering so quickly if we will allow it. I believe one key here is that we must be willing to let go, we must be willing to move on and not seek revenge, or justification. After all if we hang on we are bound as I mentioned in the last blog. But back to the point that God is so faithful to His people in strengthening them when they need it, and giving them not just substenance but abundance in times of trial.
Somehow this allows it all to make much more sense when James says things like,"count it all joy when you fall into various trials". The joy comes from the assurance of knowing that God is with us, that He understands our needs, and that He will not let us have more than we can handle. Like I heard someone say,"that which does not kill you makes you stronger", well I can honestly say yes I am getting stronger, as are my wife and my children. Maybe the reason I have such a hard time getting into a body workout is because I am so tired from the spiritual one, sounds good if nothing else. In all seriousness if you are in the battle zone, try enjoying it a little more and allow yourself to learn from it, after all you truly are not alone, and you cannot lose unless you quit!
Dawn has chemo this week on Tuesday and Wednesday so keep praying for the nausea to go away as well as the extreme sensitivity to anything above room temperature, this is all so uncomfortable for her. Bless you all and again Thank You!
Gene