Again with the beautiful West Virginia summer. The skies are gorgeous blue, almost as deep blue as in October, which almost throws me off as to which month of the year it is when I look up. It is definitely warmer than October!

One thing missing though (and if you’ve been here in the summer, perhaps on a mission trip, you know what I mean): it hasn’t been raining that much lately. This weather is great for painting houses and roofing (which our summer home repair teams do), but if you want green you have to have rain! We live in a northern “rain forest”; we have forests because we have rain. I think I can safely say I rarely grouse about the rain! (In fact, one of Randy’s and my favorite things to do is call to one another, if we hear thunder, to go sit on the porch together! We love thunder and lightning storms.)

It was also rainless in Tennessee when we were there last week. It had been 3 months since I’d last visited my mom so I really wanted to get down there and spend some time with her. I’d roll her outdoors in her wheelchair and we’d sit and enjoy the warmth and breezes. I read a chapter at a time to her from Hannah Whitall Smith’s classic, “The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life” (Barbour Publishing, Inc.). It is a small book, 190 pages, and worth the time to read. It is a classic, as I said, first published in 1870; biblical truths that have stood the tests of time and culture.

Not only did we both enjoy the messages in the chapters I read, but I was amazed and thankful I could read aloud for a whole chapter’s worth of words! If you know me, you know what I mean. For most of my life I have not been strong enough to read aloud. Talking has been difficult, to say the least. I remember back in high school before I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, when I was called on to read in class, it was extremely difficult for me because of the weakness of my muscles and I had to ask to be allowed not to continue struggling to read out loud. It was embarrassing. I was a good reader! I loved reading. But I couldn’t easily form the words and say them clearly so others could understand me. My muscles just didn’t work.

When my sons were just little and we’d sit on the couch in our house in Pasadena to have a morning devotional time before school, as soon as Jeremy and Seth learned to read in kindergarten I had them reading the scriptures for us because it was so difficult for me. I put them to work! I guess it was good reading practice for them. Now, wonder of wonders, I can read to my mom a whole chapter in a book! I get choked up writing this because it is such a miracle to me that I am stronger than I’ve ever been since I was 13 years old.

I am continually amazed and awed by the Person of God. I (dare I say ‘we’?) are so impatient with things in our lives, especially the unpleasant things. We cry out to God to do something about it…and, of course, we mean “do it yesterday!” Oh what He puts up with from us! I have thought, I need to take a hard look at how patient God is with us (from examples in scripture and life around me) and learn from His example of patience, and long-suffering. Oh how He does ‘suffer long’ with us.

Is 40 years too long to wait for a prayer to be answered? Not when you are at the 40 year end of it. And all the prayers I’ve prayed for daily strength…why, God was answering those all along.

Are you on the “front end” of some prayers? Keep praying! Keep giving yourself and your concerns into the hands of God, sincerely asking for His will to be done. Believe me, you and I don’t want it any other way.

Keep on Writin’

Though I feel like a snail (not the same as a slug) in my writing progress, I am excited to announce Randy is almost ready to publish his second book! This will be an e-book. You’ll need a bookless-book to read it, like Kindle, Nook or iPad. It will be sold on Amazon and everyone will be able to afford it. The title has been chosen (From Here to Kingdom Living: Transitioning from short-term missions to a Kingdom lifestyle) and though it is going to be a paperless book, it still has to have a cover design, which is in the final stages of being decided on. Though his target audience is late teens to 20 and 30-somethings, it is one of those topics which every believer can profit from. Watch for further updates!

And as for my snails’ pace…well, I did get in some reading I need to do to learn to write well, publish, and so on. Now, just to get to the writing part…. I count my blog and prayer letters and receipt notes as “writing” to a certain degree, but there is a difference now for me when I talk about writing and “writing”. Because I am learning there is writing, and then there is writing. If I sound like the proverbial dog chasing its tail, I’m not really! I’ve just stepped into a new world and am learning the language and culture. I hope I can learn well and communicate better within this new world! (Prayers appreciated!)

Updates to follow!