Track of Light

Grandma Journal Project

Grandma:
Did you like to read when you were a child?  What else did you like to do?

Her Response:

YES, I liked to read when I was growing up but books were limited and I didn't know how to find the kind of books I liked in the library.  I
still don't unless I know the author.

We played some games at home at first using pots and pans to make a
parade.  We were allowed to play Old Maid but No games with a regular deck of cards.  We cut out paper dolls a lot from catalogs and played games with them.  We also play games during lunch hour at school.  There was one we played in the snow called fox and geese.  There were other ones too but I can't think of what they were called.  I think one was called Red Rover cross over which meant we had to have sides but that is all I remember about it.

Grandma Journal Project: Music Cont. and message from greeting card

The song by Andrea Crouch I mentioned yesterday; the words start out, "Through it all I learned to trust in JESUS, I learned to trust in God"
etc.

Another hymn that is very special is, TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS.  It was special before but when it was sung at Marion Blanchfield's funeral it really had a special comfort to me.

The special card that I will mention is from your Dad this past Mother's Day.  The verse says on the front: "You're obviously the world's most perfect Mom. (inside) How else could I have turned out so great?"  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Grandma Journal Project: Favorite Songs

It is hard to tell you my FAVORITE  songs without hearing them to remind me.  (:-) Here are some I can think of at the moment:  The first one I can remember from before I was married is, HE LOOKED BEYOND MY FAULTS AND SAW MY NEED by Dottie Rambo who has written 2000 Christain songs (and no secular ones).  She was killed when the wind blew her travel bus out of control just about 2 weeks ago.  I saw her in person in Lakeland in the late 70s.  About any song she wrote could be my favorite.  Andre Crouch wrote a song that is one of my favorites too but right now I can't think of the exact title.  The words go, "If I never had a problem I wouldn't know that God could solve them."  Of course there is a story behind why I like these songs.   I guess these aren't exactly hymns so I will say VICTORY IN JESUS is about the top hymn. Many of Bill Gaither's songs are super great too.  Your Dad says there are some of their songs in your Hymn books.

Grandma Questions Return

Grandma:
How are you adjusting to moving in with your Grandson at 83 years of age?

Moving was stressful but the worst was not having any phone service for nearly a week.  As it turned out the lines to the house were disturbed when they put the new septic tank in plus the prior owners had done some wiring that wasn't the phone companies.  That was rough when I was here without a way to talk to anybody.  Dennis wasn't here much at that time because his room was too hot.  Your parents did get him a small A/C so he is here more now.

I had to REALLY ask God to help me get through that part.  One night I was so irritated that I decided to draw something on an envelope like I do for all my inmates and answer my sister's letter.  Of course I ask the Lord ever day for wisdom and strength to go through the day.

Grandma Journal Project #6

Describe a particularly happy day in your life.

This will shock you.

After my husband died, I started writing inmates.  The first one I had called me on the phone once in awhile.  Thus in January when I was talking to him, I said, " How would you like me to come for a visit?"  Afterwards I thought to myself, where did that come from?  At that time I was in Florida and he was in NY state!!  When my birthday came in July, I was in the visiting room at the prison where he was.  I felt JOY in my soul just to be there, like I never felt before.  That was because I was where the Lord wanted me.  It took a few miracles to get there, for sure.  But that is another story.

Grandma Journal Project #5

I know that you have many favorite Bible verses.  Which ones do you turn to the most often?  Why do those verses mean so much to you?  Has your understanding of those verses changed over time?

Yes, I do have favorite verses but as you say they do change over time.  One that is very important of course is John 3:16-18. 

16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

But for those who are passed that and have a personal relationship with the Lord but are struggling, I go to Jeremiah 29:10-13,

10-11This is God's Word on the subject: "I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

Phi.4:4-8 especially verse 8 which says to think of positive things. 

4-5Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Then there is Phil.4:10-14 which I have used in the past to lose weight.   

10-14I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

It really worked IF you remind yourself of it when you are tempted to eat more than you should or something special that someone wants to buy for you.

I do like to read the verses in different translations so one can get a better understanding of what is really being said.

Journal Project With My Grandmother #3 and #4

Grandma: I would like you to say more about why your Bible reading and other items are your priority for this time in your life?  Why does it mean so much to you? 

When I started writing inmates after my husband died, I felt I should
have something encouraging to say so I started reading my Bible more to have something to say.  Of course I was brought up in a Christain home and with Christain grandparents and Aunts who were mentors to me at an early age.  So I always felt reading the Bible was important.

However, now at 83, I feel it is even more important to be ready when the Lord calls me home.  The Bible is the road map for one's life.  The
answers to our questions are found in God's word most of the time.  He does answer in at least 3 different ways; Yes, No, and wait.  But He
tells us to ASK and you will receive so that is why I have a prayer journal that I write in every day.    

One needs to take what the Lord tells us in his Word seriously and OBEY.  I've come a long way but I still have a long way to go to do all that the Bible says.  The Holy Spirit will help us IF we ask Him for help.

Incidently, I have written to inmates for over 30 years and still have several I started with 28 years ago.  Writing them is what brings purpose to my life when I can't go out much anymore.

Journal Project with my Grandmother

2. What is the biggest challenge you have ever been through?

The biggest challenge I have been through at this point is moving again and trying to pack up my stuff now at 83 (2 &1/2 months from being 84).

The first challenge was living with your Dad's father and that I don't
even want to remember.

Raising 3 babies without any water on the place much less a bathroom was a challenge also.  Take your choice.

Follow Up Question: How did you raise 3 babies with out water?  How did you do baths? Laundry?  Cooking? etc.  Did you grow up with out water?  How were your neighbors living at the time?

Water had to be carried in from the neighbors and Don (grandpa) did have a big metal tank that when it rained it drained into it from the roof.  This was rainwater, so called, and I had to carry it in from the tank to wash etc.  We used this kind of water for baths in wash tubs after we heated it on the stove.  What we drank and cooked with we carried in from wells in the neighborhood.  We used others well until they got upset then Don brought water from the Rod and Gun Club in big milk cans.

Growing up there was a pump somewhere in the yards and we had to carry it in pails into the house for cooking, drinking etc.  We usually also had a cistern of rain water in the cellar with a pump at the kitchen sink for washing and bathing.  Everyone lived this way with water as farmers did not have inside plumbing. We also had an  outhouse instead of a bathroom. I never lived where there was a bathroom until I left home and did live in jobs.  The kids did not ever have a bathroom either at home.

The Pain Clinic

I have lived with chronic pain for a long long time.  The intense pain started after my husband and I were t-boned by a drunk driver who was driving at 60mph.  Then, we spun around twice and had a second impact in a ditch.  I have had years of physical therapy and neck surgery.  From there, I have just had to live with it. 

Unfortunately, that is not the only condition I have that causes pain, I have several other chronic conditions that, on their own, are enough to cause a person a lot of grief but it combination...are quite difficult.

Anyway, I have been to a pain clinic before and left quite unhappy.  With some of my recent problems my doctor was insistent that I go to the pain clinic, here.  I have only been two times but my new doctor is incredibly humble.  Quite a wonderful trait in a doctor!  He has tried me on a new nonaddictive medication (I am not interested in anything that might cause impaired functioning) and I feel like it takes the edge off of my pain.  It is still there but I feel less stressed by it. 

I feel blessed.

Dinner Date: Journal Prompt

Describe what would be a perfect dinner date for you.