Good Thursday Friends!

My wireless internet was down this morning at home… so I tried to blog from my Iphone and it wouldn’t let me enter data… so as a LAST RESORT I drove to my office in the SHIVERING COLD to send this message! Thank God for my three sources of access to the world wide community.

Sad news… Lilly the piggy may be going to live in Roanoke VA. Yup, it’s looking like this may go down today… our lives are just way too high paced for Lillian and it’s best for us all that she is adopted out before she really knows who her parents are.

We are going to be very sad and we will all need your prayers today! Especially Heaven and me. If we were a normal routine kind of family, Lilly would grow old with us. I must admit how attached to this chubby chick I have become over these past few months… (chuck whimpers, wiping the tears from his eyes)

Oh well… she was a good little piggy and I am praying for God to put her in a good home where she will live long and happy!

Here is the scripture I am leaning on today… Psalms 70:21-22

20 You have allowed me to suffer much hardship,
but you will restore me to life again
and lift me up from the depths of the earth.
21 You will restore me to even greater honor
and comfort me once again.

22 Then I will praise you with music on the harp,
because you are faithful to your promises, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with a lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.

Even though I wrote out these verses as a humorous addition to my exaggerated depiction of pain… they are really UPLIFTING aren’t they! I mean for me, the past six years have been a cruel and relentless series of hardship. After succeeding PERFECTLY in everything I had ever set out to accomplish, I entered a 6 year period of absolute mutilation. I must have stumbled onto the FRONT LINE of a historical battle ground… and for six straight years, the war has been unbearable quite a bit of the time!

Hardship is a very real thing… all of us face it on many levels. Even saying good bye to a piggy can be a very painful thing for some of us. Life is filled with hardship. And it’s how we react to these hardships that separates the boys from the men! Sadly, I have buckled under many of my own hardships throughout the years. And with GREAT EXPERIENCE I have learned the above verses from Psalm 70 to be absolutely TRUE!

Take a look at the faith in the psalmists declaration!

• You WILL RESTORE me to life again!
• You will LIFT ME UP from the depths of the earth!
• You will restore me TO EVEN GREATER HONOR!
• You will COMFORT ME!
• THEN… (premeditating his victory dance) I WILL PRAISE YOU!
• BECAUSE… you are FAITHFUL TO YOUR PROMISES! (declaring the certainty of deliverance)

Let’s do the same in our times of hardship! With a voice of faith, announce these same things over your life right now! Raise your voice and let the devil know you mean it! “God, I KNOW without a doubt, that YOU WILL RESTORE ME TO LIFE AGAIN… I KNOW that YOU WILL LIFT ME UP from the depths of the earth… I KNOW that you will RESTORE ME TO EVEN GREATER HONOR… and YOU WILL COMFORT ME!”

Now that will make for a HAPPY THURSDAY… have fun, chat with you throughout the day!