Fun Filled Weekend

Saturday Iris participated in the Cowboy Christmas Gymkhana, this is what Gymkhana means " timed speed events such as barrel racing, keyhole, keg race (also known as "down and back"), flag race, and pole bending. All of these events are designed to display precise, controlled actions and tight teamwork between horse and rider at speed, although most clubs offer a variety of classes, allowing riders to compete at the speed level they are most capable of, and comfortable with.

So this event went on at the Rodeo Grounds in Apache Junction AZ, this was Iris's & Pumpkins first time, there was at least 35 participant men, women, and young people, Pumpkin, Iris's horse was very restless at first but later on she calmed down, Iris was too but I kept reassuring her to just go out there and have fun, well, she did!!!!! and she loved it!!!!! then came the time of giving out the awards, they all lined up and the announcer started and after mentioning a few names he called Iris and gave her a $60 certificate to a saddle shop, she was shocked and we were too and rejoiced for her and we figured she must done some thing right, she barely had any experience or practice with gymkhana, I did put 4 sticks in the ground for her and 2 flags and she practised in our half acre back yard, but it was very exciting to see her there, later that day David and I decided to take her out to dinner to one of our favorite family meals "Pho" Vietnamese rice soup and we had found a restaurant so we tried it the soup tasted great and it was not busy at all in fact when we finished eating there was no one in the small restaurant so we started chatting with the 26 year old Vietnamese waitress we got to have the chance to share salvation with her and tell her how much Jesus loves her and died on the cross for her so she can have a way to get to heaven, well to our surprise she was willing to pray and call on the LORD as soon as we asked her to pray with us and call on the LORD to save her, we all walked out of there rejoicing after I left her our phone #, well that was an extra blessing from GOD to let us share His name and Salvation with that dear lady, if you are a Christian and reading this post please pray for her to grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love Your Enemies!!!!!!!

Jesus said in Matt.5:44

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate

you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Lately this verse keep coming to my mind...now I am not writing this post to preach to anyone or say, look at me I am holier than thou, the only reason I am writing it is to let others know that God's word is true and HE is faithful to work with our weaknesses and infirmities even though while in the process we feel so defeated, confused and just down right mad,

Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

So I started thinking to myself and asking this question,

Who are my enemies?

Well from God's word I know that the World, the Devil, & The Flesh, ARE OUR BIGGEST ENEMIES, but in the verse above Jesus is talking about people that are my enemies, so who are they??????... immediately one woman came to my mind..

Now I started thinking what make that woman an enemy?

This is one of the definition from Merriam Webster dictionary,

Date: 13th century:
1 : one that is antagonistic to another; especially : one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.

Wikipedia definitions:
An enemy is a person who hates or dislikes another person, or is nasty or mean to the person he is an enemy to.

Now as I was searching for the meaning of this word many many painful, sad and hurtful memories came to my mind that were done to my family and me by that woman, but by the Grace of GOD I have learned to rise above them and just let them be where GOD can reach and take care of them....AND HE HAS... ALL GLORY AND PRAISE BE TO HIM.

NOW this is why I am writing this post to let you know my reader that GOD taught me to pray for that woman, and if you are thinking right now in the back of your mind that evil person that hurt me so much and some names or situations are coming to your mind reminding you of your enemy... please just stop and ask THE LORD JESUS TO TEACH YOU TO PRAY FOR THEM right now, you might say oh but you have no idea what they have done to me..... yes you are right... I do not know, but THESE TWO THINGS I HAD TO LEARN:

1.The ENMITY, HURT, PAIN AND SUFFERING came from the WOMAN and NOT FROM JESUS.
2. What she did to my family and Friends was nothing compare to what MY sin did to JESUS.

If you are a Born Again Christian and committed to serve THE LORD dear reader, I promise you that the biggest dart from the Devil at you and your family will come through someone in church who is gladly serving the Devil, filled with hate and have no compassion, there are at least 10 brothers and sisters that were almost destroyed because of that women in one incident alone that she put us through, many of those people have no desire to enter another church ever.....all because of the deeds of that woman, BUT GLORY BE TO GOD NOW AND FOREVER, HE IS A FRIEND THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER, do not give up, keep trusting HIM.

HE taught me through the whole ordeal to pray for my enemy (that woman) and ask GOD to bless her and if some day HE wants me to love her and do good to her, I do not know what it will take, but I believe that HIS GRACE is available and freely given to each one of us when we are determined to obey AND DO HIS WORD,
until then I will be praying for her as she comes to my mind, and I will go on my way singing...and praising him

Oh victory in JESUS my Savior forever.....

Wonderful Trip To Oregon

We just got back from Oregon visiting my husband's family and having Thanksgiving at his Aunt's house, he got to see his grandmother, she is a beautiful Christian lady and at 96 years old she wakes up every day at 5:00 am and brings out her list of all her children and their families, her grand children and great grand children and prays for them every day then reads her Bible.

We got to play in the snow and work on our future retirement summer house, it sits on over 2 acres on top of a little hill over looking a beautiful green valley, there is abundant of wild life like deer and turkeys, we got to see beautiful trees with bright red, orange, and yellow colors and creeks and rivers with rushing waters.

The girls got to spend some time with grandma Edwards, she is one of the most wonderful Christian women I have ever met in my life, she was such a blessing to the girls, she showed them how to do so many different things in those few days we were with them, she is a master gardener, cook, baker, seamstress, quilter, decorator, painter, and much much more but the most important thing, she is a REAL CHRISTIAN, that is what I am blessed with when I am around her, I get to see an example of a godly women that has sacrificed her life for others, she truly is the virtuous woman of Prov. 31 in the Bible.

She saved some toys from when David was a little boy in a box and she brings them out whenever we go there for Nellie to play with.

Here is Nellie with grandma and great grandma that she was named after.

"WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN HERITAGE" PRAISE BE TO GOD...

those 2 women are another blessing on top of the hundreds of blessing that I am so thankful for that my ALMIGHTY GOD brought into my life after he saved me, but THE VERY FIRST BLESSING WAS......... "MY SALVATION"..........and it is the greatest gift I have ever received.

Oh, I almost forgot to write about the lady that got saved on my trip a couple of months ago, I got to see her and visit with her last week and she asked me about getting baptised, I explain to her after I led her to the LORD about baptism 2 months ago but she was not ready yet but now she said she did some reading and she really think that she needs to get Baptised in a good church, so I am going to call and find a Baptist church for her to go and get baptized.

that is another blessing that I am thankful for.