Honestly, sometimes on Sunday mornings I want to roll back over and not get up and SKIP CHURCH. I know, I know, that sounds odd coming from me, but, like I said in my LAST POST, I'm being real now. (well, as much of the REAL ME as I'll let you see ! HAHA). Ok, I think ONE reason is b/c my whole LIFE, probably even as early as a newborn, I have BEEN IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNINGS. I think I've written before that unless I could produce a doctor's excuse or DEATH record, I was to be up and ready for church. PRONTO. I remember, once, coughing (fake) , all morning when I was in high school to try and get out of going to church. Didn't work. My mother handed me a cough drop and said, "get ready". Back THEN, it was dress up day, too! NO CASUAL DAYS at church ! UH UH! I had to put on the hose (ugh!), the dress, roll the hair, get out the SUNDAY CLOTHES. You know ...you might have had to do it too!!! And, going even FURTHER back, I remember whining and griping in my little JAN POWELL voice b/c my DRESSES were SCRATCHY and I had those &j8&*^S crinoline petticoats under the scratchy dress. One time I was so impertinent as to say, (walking down the sidewalk on the way to church), "WHY DON"T THOSE PEOPLE ON THE PORCH (that always would call to me and say, "come up here and let me see your pretty dress!"), GO TO CHURCH?" My mother didn't miss a beat and said, "Why don't you invite them?" Um, no. I never wanted to do the evangelistic thing. Even at age 5 or 6. ANd I HATED having to go up on a strange front porch to show off my dress and shoes. It was awkward, come on! Yeah, I was a bratty little kid sometimes. I was FINE once I got into the big ole brick church. EAST LAKE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. I LOVED the church and LOVED the chimes that played as we got closer to the building. I loved the big ole water fountain that was dedicated, "to God and...."(and someone who probably left the church a big ole fat bunch of money!)! I loved my teachers. I loved the sliding board/ the crafts/the Bible verses I wasn't so keen on, b/c I had a hard time with memory verses. But, I always had sweet teachers who liked a cute little girl with long hair b/c don't ALL Sunday School teachers prefer girls to boys at that age? HA! (they didn't know ME!). I started yawning in Sunday School and was full blown ready for a nap when we got to the balcony! I remember my mother even let me SLEEP on her lap (but would punch me when I would snore!) up there. I missed some good sermons, I suppose. Now Sunday nights????? DIFFERENT STORY! I love love loved to go to Sunday night services b/c we SANG most of the time. I loved sitting next to Mrs. Smith who had one of the operatic voices and could hit the high notes. I pretended to , too. I sang, "Little Brown CHurch in the Vale"'; "In the Garden" ; "BLessed Assurance" ("This is my STORY, this is my SONG....!). I KNEW THOSE SONGS! (still do!). I felt comfort in the dark of the sanctuary standing between my mom/dad (sometimes just my mom, daddy didn't always go at night_) and sort of jealous of not being old enough to be with the YOUTH like my sister was. But, still, loved it. Afterwards , if we were with Daddy, we would go to the "SPINNING WHEEL" or the Root Beer Place--"FROST TOP" ?. OH WOW< that was the best!!!!.......Fast forward to my YOUTH and , again, SUNDAY NIGHTS were the BOMB. I had crushes on my Youth minister and all the boys in my class! LOL!!!! But, maybe I didn't "get it" then, but my kids Youth MInisters were MUCH better than back then. Or maybe I didn't have my listening ears on.......As an adult, I of course continued going b/c I wanted my kids to be active. SO, we ALWAYS went. When we moved to Riverchase, I began going b/c I loved going so much! Things changed! I went because my soul felt compelled to do so. My spirit needed the unity of my CHristian brothers and sisters. And that is how I feel now. I LOVE going. But, there are still those days when I almost give in to the "I'll- stay- home- just- this- Sunday and: clean or scrapbook or just SKIP". You know what I have found? That it is the BIGGEST TRICK OF THE DEVIL. Yep, it is. I hate talking about the devil, but I know one thing for certain. He knows my achilles heel, for sure. And those Sundays that I fall into his trap? OK, let's just say that I have MISERABLE SUndays when that happens! LOL! And ALWAYS, it never fails, someone will say to me, "YOU MISSED THE BEST SERMON I'VE EVER HEARD". Great. Then, when I go, I feel so blessed that my eyes spill over with tears because I know that I ALMOST Missed : PRAISING/SINGING/HEARING THE WORD/HEARING A SERMON/BEING WITH THE BODY OF CHRIST! Soooo, while I still say, occasionally, "I THINK I'LL SKIP", I remember how MISERABLE I am later on in the day and how much I missed being with God's people. Sharing in His Word and learning. So, while I probably will fall into that trap many more times, I hope that I am reminded that I NEED God's Word to make it through till the NEXT Sunday....
Here's a few pix from Worship today. I sure am glad I was there.
Oh, and btw, devil, if you're reading this? You didn't get me this time.
Today is a milestone in our marriage!!!!!! FORTY YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!! WOW!!!!!! Sometimes it seems like yesterday and others, well, EONS ago!!!!!! I married the BEST LOOKING GUY in all of Birmingham. A dead ringer for Tom Cruise (who was probably about 5 years old then, however! LOL)! He had black shiny, gorgeous hair---a smile to light up the world and was just about the most handsome guy in town. I snagged him, foot/line and sinker!!!! LOL!!!! I can't go into our history, it would take me about a week to blog, but let me say our marriage has brought us many things! JOY (indescribable)/ANGER (fights!)/SADNESS (losing 3 parents)/LAUGHTER (we have our own strange jokes!)/HURT (we have hurt each other's feelings)/ GRINS(I still love his grin, it is what first attracted me to him!)/FINANCIAL SECURITY (there were times , however, when we lived by the seat of our pants)/GROWTH (we were babies when we married--him 21 and me 19 so we had to grow up!)/FORGIVENESS (we had to forgive and forget some painful times we weathered)/COMPLETENESS (took awhile to feel we were complete, but we are there)/STRENGTH(there is no one stronger in my world than my husband. And not only physical strength but emotional strength as well)/TRUST (this one took awhile but I trust this man with my life)/FAITH (our faith in God and giving Him our marriage is what has kept us together)!
Seriously, it is the faith in God that has enabled us to go through lots of storms in our marriage. I won't air our personal life here, but I believe it is being honest and transparent that we help others. Our marriage took some HARD WORK and lots of LOVE and LOTS AND LOTS of God's Miraculous TOUCH to make us where we are today. We DIDN'T GIVE UP when times were bad---we STUCK IN IT because we had the One who brought us together in the first place!!!! Those times where we REALLY struggled --the main one being when I broke BOTH ANKLES while pregnant with Katie AND he had just opened his own carpet business, almost did us in as I laid in bed for 2 months with 4 kids and him having to work a new job and come home and take care of us. Hard stuff. Then, raising those 5 (GROCERIES/CLOTHES! LOL)>! WOULDN'T TRADE ANY OF IT (except maybe the broken ankles! HAHA). We always took our children to church and we always had God in our lives. HOWEVER, it was in 1990 that things began to change for us. We both went on a thing called an "EMMAUS WALK" that totally changed our lives forever. I thought I knew everything about God!!!! I probably started off at age a month (in Dauphin Way United Methodist Church in Mobile, ALa) and was baptized there as a baby and then grew up in East Lake United Methodist Church...MY WHOLE LIFE. I mean, I had to have a written excuse from the doctor to hand my parents if I didn't go! HAHA! SO, all that to say, YEAH, I went to CHURCH MY WHOLE LIFE! But even so, I think I missed some stuff. Sure I knew ALLLLLL about the Bible stories and "GOD IS LOVE" (Methodists LOVE to say that!) but I was missing some of the personal stuff . YES (for all you Baptists reading haha), I DID accept Jesus into my heart at an early age, but STILL, I missed something. I really needed a lesson in GRACE. (another biggie from the UMC). I needed to hear things I had missed for most of my life. I can't explain it all here, but let me say, that Terry and I BOTH were changed. Inside. We began a journey with Christ that has only gotten better by the day. YES, we still have things that hurt us/worry us and make us sad. BUT we have the keys to help us work through them. We trust in HIM and we turn to HIM when things don't go our way or we get hurt or sad. I can't even explain how it feels to get up EVERY SINGLE MORNING, no matter what, and see Terry sitting in our little sitting room with the Bible open on his lap. Sometimes I see him in prayer/sometimes I see him in tears for our children/grandkids. Sometimes I see him smiling that same BEAUTIFUL smile that attracted me to him in the first place. And behind him I see the sun rising on the lake and it surrounds him with this glow. It's nothing short of amazing.
I thank God that we have walked our 40 years together. yes, I'd rather have "erased" some hard times but yet, but YET, that is what has made us who we are. We don't live remembering past hurts or mistakes, we move on, hand in hand towards our future with our children and grandchildren. God is so good . He kept us together when the odds are this day and time , that 1 out of 2 will divorce b/c they cannot weather the storms of marriage. You have to be ready for the storms! I say, hold up the UMBRELLA of FAITH and put on the RAINCOAT of SALVATION and SHOES of PEACE (sorry Ephesians 6, this my version! LOL).Seriously, I truly believe that if you cannot see rainbows unless you have experienced storms. And the rainbows that come out after pain/suffering/sadness--the colors of that rainbow are the most vivid and gorgeous of all. We have weathered the worst tornadoes a marriage can weather and afterwards experienced the rainbow that stretched across the sky (and our hearts) incomparable to any the eye have ever seen. Advice to young marrieds (as well as "old" marrieds?) Trust that God will give you the strength you need for each day. For each day has it's own agenda.Know that God provides rainhats/raincoats and umbrellas for those days that are stormy. And He'll give you the biggest rainbows ever if you will trust in Him!!!!! (words of wisdom, and cheesy words at best , haha) but true!
Right now Terry and I are in the best place we've ever been. We are happy in our marriage/our children/grandchildren and looking forward to another 40 years.
TERRY CHARLES FRY : I love you. I love you with all my heart/my mind and my soul. Thank you for being my soulmate. You know me better than ANYONE and you still love me.
SONG OF SOLOMON:
"Behold, you are handsome, my beloved!
Yes, Pleasant!"-------Song of Solomon 1:15
