July 15, 2006

• Carolyn asked the following questions:

  
  

  1. I don’t know much about N.Y., but after seeing the bears ~ are you near a woods;  what kind of land are you in (suburbia, country, etc.)

  
  

  

  
  

  My husband saw this bear the other day, which is why Carolyn asked where we live. I live in upstate New York, and it is a mountainous area, with lots of land, trees and country. I live in a small town, and there is enough woods around to support a bear population. We have a few bears around that tend to make a circuit that seems to be related to the garbage truck route. Many of the towns around are very careful because of the bears, we have had a few problems with bears breaking into houses and causing trouble. Right now we have to be especially careful because there are cubs and moms wandering around. We do not want to get between a momma bear and her cubs. I have instructed my kids to not go out too much by themselves to walk or jog, because until we know the bear isn’t around I don’t want them getting cornered. During the fall we also have to be careful during to hunting season. But what is awesome is that when I look out my back window, I see mountains and no houses. In the winter I can see the road in front of my house, but it feels like the country. I love it.

  
  

  

  
  

  While the focus of the picture was my daughter on her birthday, you can see the view from my back deck. Trees and mountains, and what awesome pictures God creates with those.

  
  

  
  

  2. What country (s) would you be most interested in visiting, and why?

  
  

  My fantasy is to visit Israel, to walk where Jesus walked and just worship.

  
  

  3. What parts of the Bible do you most like to read devotionally, or for other reasons ~& which ones are the most challenging for you?

  
  

  I tend to like to read the Bible from cover to cover because I find that if I pick my favorites I might miss something that God wants me to see about my life. I think the most challenging for me changes depending on where I am in my walk with God. For example, when I first stumbled into Living Word Chapel’s Friday Bible study, Pastor Don was teaching in Romans. Romans was tough for me because I was pretty angry at God. For a long time I struggled with Job, wondering how God could have allowed satan to inflict Job with his problems. How could the book end by saying that God restored in abundance all that Job lost, when Job did not get back his first kids who died. I was angry at God’s seemingly lack of response to Job when Job confronted God. Sometimes the love of Jesus is tough to take when I am feeling rather down. And when I looked at passages in Psalms like He knew my end from my beginning, or had fashioned me and knew what I would have dealt with. I used to bristle at that. Now God will strike my heart almost anywhere I am reading, it seems that He knows as I read that I will have to face His truth.

  
  

  That being said, what has most impressed me lately is how much Jesus is in the Whole Bible, and how God does keep His promises, and that often God does not act immediately (that is not always comforting to me when I want Him to act sooner). But how, not one promise has fallen through the cracks. When I see the prophesies fulfilled, I can trust that the unfulfilled ones will also be fulfilled in the right time. It is comforting to know that even when we don’t see how much God is in control, He really is. I hope that makes sense.

  
  

  TBN has Pastor Don on right now, from a previous show of Praise in the Night. I am recording it, so am up later than I probably should be.

  
  

  hoping you have a blessed night.
  Heather

  • 3:24 am
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