November 26, 2003 V2N2
Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow--a good time to remember to be thankful to our family, friends, neighbors, and most of all, God. You all have a great week end!
THE SMELL OF RAIN
A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12" long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.
Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one". Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from Cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.
"No! No," was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Dana held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live and live to be a healthy, happy young girl.
But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable. David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers she felt so bad for him because he was doing everything trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen.
I said, "No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say. Dana is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!" As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Dana clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life were next to zero.
Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted. Today, five years later, Dana is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more, but that happy ending is far from the end of her story.
One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet, it smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest." Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.
"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13)
Smell the rain.
~submitted by Deborah Epp
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Don't Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worse,
that you must not quit.
~submitted by Loretta Miller
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Prayer & Praise
I was so glad to hear that CO Bible School went so well! My heart was with ALL OF you even though I was not able to come.Hopefully next year things will work out. =) The reason I am writing is to tell you about my 12-year-old brother Joshua's accident...And I would like to have everyone's prayers as he continues to recover. Oh, so what happened? Well, you all know how boys are, right!? My brothers are no exception, believe me. They hung a up a crude swing in our woods and were having a lot of fun with it when they got
another brilliant idea, an idea for a bigger thrill, bigger than the norm... They nailed a board up on a tree, climbed up and jumped off. It was a "home-made bungee-jumping" experience. And they were having the thrill of their lives. =) Then it happened. Josh got
on the swing but didn't grab the rope before his feet slipped off the narrow board. The results were- a fast fall to the forest floor, just missing several
protruding stumps, and landing on his back. A bad fractured hip... Praise God he didn't break his back.He ended up in the hospitable, and since that doctor hadn't seen a brake like that in 7 years, he had to be transfered to a bigger hospitable. So much
pain. It was so hard to see our dear little brother suffer! NOW he is home... and learning to move around on his crutches. SO, keep us in our prayers... I'm sure a card would brighten his day to... =) Our address is P.O. Box 264, Woodleaf, NC 27054
God bless you. =)
Thanx, Meg Troyer
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Word Study
by AprilRose Pilgrim
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Time:
the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or occurs, season.
Season:
a suitable or natural time or occasion,a time characterized by a particular circamstance or feature.
A time to be born,
and a time to die;
A time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
A time to kill,
and a time to heal;
A time to break down;
and a time to build up.
A time to weep,
and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
and a time to dance.
A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing.
A time to get,
and a time to lose;
A time to keep,
and a time to to cast away.
A time to rend,
and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
and a time to speak.
A time to love,
and a time to ;
A time of war,
and a time of peace.
And He hath made everything beautiful in his time.......... Ecclesiastes 3:11a
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalm 1:3
Ideas, comments or suggestions would be appreciated, please email me, missrosepetal84@yahoo.com
All definitions from Websters Dictionary and Strongs Bible Concordance.
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One Liners
Opportunity may knock once,
but temptation bangs on your front door forever.
Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect,
you couldn't belong.
The phrase that is guaranteed to wake up an audience:
"And in conclusion."
If the church wants a better preacher,
it only needs to pray for the one it has.
~submitted by April Pilgrim
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Point2Ponder
Devil's Beastitudes:
Blessed are those who are too tired, busy or disorganized to meet with fellow Christians on Sundays each week.
Their hearts are not in it.
Blessed are those who enjoy noticing the mannerisms of clergy and choir.
Their hearts are not in it.
Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked.
I can use them.
Blessed are the touchy.
With a bit of luck they may even stop going to church.
They are my missionaries.
Blessed are those who claim to love God at the same time as hating other people.
They are mine forever.
Blessed are the trouble makers.
They shall be called my children.
Blessed are those who have no time to pray.
They are easy prey for me.
Blessed are you when you read this and think it is about other people and not about yourself.
I've got you.
~submitted by Loretta Miller
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Selected Sayings
1. Hence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. I thank God there is a height in the Book that I have never been able to reach, a depth that I have never been able to fathom. -D. L. Moody
2. The problem with our spare time is how to keep others from using it.
3. I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy. --Wilde
4. Old age ain't no place for sissies. -Bette Davis
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Smiley
A 4-year-old boy who was asked to return thanks before Christmas dinner. The family members bowed their heads in expectation. He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip.
Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited. After a long silence, the young fellow looked up at his mother and asked, "If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"
Thanks to all of you who read this issue! If you have anything that might be of interest to R4A, please email it to ready4anything_2003@yahoo.com. Right now I especially need more participation in the Verse of the Week section. And testimonies from the Youth Bible schools, any state.
The website is at www.oocities.org/ready4anything_2003. If you have thoughts or comments on how it can be improved, let me know.
The R4A Volume 1 CD is now ready. In addition to having the complete orignal issues (#1-#26) it also has seperate sections for articles (26), poems (25), word studies (25), smileys (25), points2ponder (4), Verse of the Week (11), and selected sayings (87 in 9 catagories). They are $4.00 a piece, included shipping and handling. A handy, inspiring resource. Please make checks out to Jamie Scharf and mail to: 37953 Rio Vista Rd, Springville, CA 93265.
God bless your day!
Staff: Editor in Chief: Jesus Christ
Assistant editors: Jamie Scharf & April Pilgrim
Website Coodinator: Joshua Champagne
Columninst: April Pilgrim
Contributers: Loretta Miller
Megan Troyer
April Pilgrim
Deborah Epp