Thank You Lord!!

This is Carrie Ann.  She was born in Heidelberg, Germany on May 9, 1975.  Here in the US, it would have been Mother's Day.  How appropriate that she would come on that day and be such a gift.

Several months after she was born my husband indicated that we wouldn't baptize her giving her the opportunity to make up her own mind.  This greatly distressed me but because I wasn't a whole and healthy person then, I reluctantly agreed. 

I can't tell you the years I worried about something happening to her before she agreed to come to Christ.  Worse yet, I worried that I would die and I wouldn't see her in heaven.  This caused me great distress!!! 

Today I was reading Proverbs 8 and it just spoke Carrie Ann to me. (Sorry, Michelle, you will get a double dose of Proverbs 8 today if you read both blogs.

Verse 35 and 36 read: For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death. 

So here's the scoop.  Carrie attended youth group and church with us and when she left home, she left Him behind (if she really ever had him).  But through the years and particularly in 1998 after I came back and asked him back into my heart, I felt the heart crushing need to see her saved so that I knew I would see this amazing woman in heaven at the appointed time. 

I would bring God up at every turn.  Relate every situaiton in her life to christ.  One day in the kitchen, she told me to lay off the God thing or she was going to leave. It was the holy spirit telling me to lay off.  His timing is perfect, he knew what she needed and he would take care of it.

Sometimes I think we're like alcholics or addicts, in that, we must hit rock bottom before we reach out, ask for help and humbly accept it and accept it with true gratitude.

Anyway, this child showed me how amazing she was from an early age.  She potty trained herself at 20 months,; she worked two jobs through high school; she moved out when she was 18 and at 19 had a horrific car accident that required surgery on her face.  She did two and decided that was enough.  She wouldn't do any more. 

She met the love of her life, Roger.  Quite handsome, good hugger, big heart, GREAT work ethic, wonderful dad.  I knew this man was a keeper because when she had her car accident, he was the one beside her.  Yes, I was at the hospital, took her home to her apartment, got her meds, but when he found out, he came a running.  She didn't want him to see her and he said I love you any way.  As a mom hearing this, I just wanted to scoop him up and hug him.

Roger had a landscaping and snow removal business. This woman, not only went to work at her own job, but would go out with him, doing bids with him, coming home, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and preparing customized booklets for each bid. She knew everything about landscaping, plants, irrigation, snow removal (and she also plowed next to him) and accounting that he did. Do you see some of her amazing attributes??!?!?

So it wasn't until a few jobs later and 2009, February, that she called me crying indicating that she was laid off. I wasn't surprized as I had felt that God was telling her to move on from there. The first month or two were ok, relaxing, etc. Then after trying to find a job, she called and wanted to know why God did this to her. I explained that God did not do this to her, man did this. Poor choices etc.


One day she calls me and says she bought a book of The 101 most valuable verses in the bible. She had read a few and had questions. We talked. The next day she had read about 5 more pages, she was taking her book and her bible to the garage at night and reading and praying and the fire was ignited. Big time!

The questions were coming, the calls were coming so frequently I had to screen my calls.  I was excited for her.  She came to Christ in 2009 and was baptized in Nov with her two sons.  I can rest in peace (literally) knowing I will see her in heaven. 

Now, for her sisters........................