For His Service

When we were told Olivie' was deaf, we read that most Vets say put them down because they are hard to train, are aggressive in nature, and aren't good pets. With patience and love...and discipline, Olivie' has learned it is better to trust and obey me. She has learned to stop pottying on the floor and to not chew up electrical cords. She is a sweet girl...and I am so glad she knows she can trust me and that I have something better than electrical cords. (She has baskets full of dog toys and children's toys that she has claimed as hers). :) Watch the video and you will see other things she knows...with doggie sign language.

I don't know about you but I am often so hurt by the hurt God allows that I don't want to talk to Him... but where does that really leave me? On my own, I have no truth, no real truth...that can take away the despair. Anyone can mask pain with over eating, over drinking, over spending, over sleeping, etc. There is no lasting comfort apart from God. I have to remember that if God required such intense suffering of His own perfect son..whom He loved... to accomplish a holy purpose, He has a purpose for you and me in our pain. Of course the Bible tells what that purpose is.... to make us look like Christ. I had someone relay a story to me of a conversation they had with a woodcarver. The carver was creating a duck out of a block of wood. The person said, "How do you do that?" The artist said, "It is easy...I take everything off that doesn't look like a duck". That is what God is doing with us. He is taking everything off of us that doesn't look li...

I have been reading a book by Nancy Guthrie called Holding on to Hope. This is her journey of losing two babies at 6 months of age to a rare genetic issue. In this book she teaches the lessons she has learned and is learning through suffering and grief, while knowing God could have chosen a different path. She starts by having us look at Job from the Bible. You see, the book of Job starts with God saying to Satan…”have you not considered my servant Job?”… As much as we don’t want to see it, God gave Satan permission to hurt Job. Our understanding of a loving God doesn’t comprehend it. I can’t comprehend why God has woven NF into John-Michael. NF is like a volcano in his life. I don’t know if the NF volcano will lay dormant forever (literally)…or if it will erupt and cause a little damage…....or catastrophic damage. I just don’t know. It is a scary road to be on. However, God’s word…and my own life experiences, has shown that God is faithful and God is good. When I can’t...

Imagine my surprise when we discovered ..our much wanted... far fetched ..(lol..had to go to North Carolina to get her...) new puppy was deaf. We didn't figure this out until we had her for a week. To be fair to us, she was 9 weeks old and still slept ...a lot. I couldn't imagine why God had chosen her ..for us! Why a broken dog, Lord? Not house broken...that would have been great...but a dog that most vets said.."put her down". Deaf dogs have the reputation of being hard to train and aggressive. I was fortunate enough to learn this doesn't have to be the case. The "aggression" is when the dog is being woken up from a nap. You touch the dog..you scare the dog...the dog bites. Solution??? Stomp the floor. No, they don't hear it...but they feel it. If you don't like that idea, use a flash light... They will wake up without being touched. I signed Olivie' up for puppy obedience classes through PetSmart. Do you know that the main trainer used Oli...

If you knew me, really knew me, you would know that I don't have many things I don't share. I don't have hang ups that you won't like me, if I show you the REAL me. I think this is a gift, but others might hate that about me. I think it is a gift because I am not worried that I am not as good as so and so. I am not worried that I can't measure up to so and so. I am not worried that I am weirder than so and so. I am not worried that my life isn't as perfect as so and so. Do you know why? Because we all live in a fallen world...no one is perfect...no one is married to anyone that is perfect (sorry, Russ... :) ) ...and everyone is weird about something. Since I am NOT going to share how my husband or my friends are weird, I will give you a few samples of my own weirdness. 1. I sleep with a pillow under my head and on my stomach. I Used to sleep with 3 pillows...I think Russell is grateful that I am down to 2 pillows. 2. When I wake up my children, I sing "Good...

It is so reassuring when you can see God's fingerprints on your life. You know He is working, but you can't always see it. You know He sees you, but you can't always see Him. You know that He loves, but you can't always feel this love. That's when you have to remember to look for the stones (see my post from last week..or read Joshua 4..lol). God gave me Psalm 62:8 in 2008. I found the verse and felt God say I am saying this to you, Rachel Taylor Pate. Then, the next day, my girlfriend, Kathy Lee, said, "God gave me this verse for you, Psalm 62:8." The verse says, "Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." You see, I have had an on-going problem of self-reliance.....how can RAchel Pate fix this... and I have had a problem with trust of others...yes...even trust with God. It is easy to trust God and pour out my heart to Him when things are good....it is another story when things are hard. Faith has...

Do you ever clearly know what God is telling you to do, but your emotions say, "Lord, how am I going to do that?" Well, that's how I feel. I feel like God is saying that He will not leave me (or John-Michael)...He will not forsake me (or John-Michael). My emotions say...how do I know ??? .. My Spirit tells me ..When you are afraid, Trust in Him. The sin in me says trust in yourself... The spirit in me says God is my refuge and my strength...an ever present help in trouble. Therefore,do not fear. The sin in me says you can only get strength in yourself as God is causing the trouble... be afraid. I know spiritual maturity is having an active faith instead of doubt. I know spiritual maturity is having confidence instead of fear. I know spiritual maturity is evaluating feeling and experiences in the light of God's word and character instead of evaluating the situation according to my feelings. Pray that I can put what I KNOW in action. Pray this ...

After processing the information about the cyst in John-Michael's spinal fluid (cord), I had many questions for Dr. Boydston. It was nice to have those questions answered so quickly. First, I asked how often does a syrinx become a problem. In his practice, they become a problem (where a shunt is required) a little less than 1/2 of the time. That is better than most of the time. I also asked how does this effect John-Michael's life right now, meaning...can he wrestle, ride roller coasters, etc? He said, no wrestling or any other jarring motions that would twist or hurt the spine. He can ride roller coasters ...if it is a smooth ride, but no jerky ones. He said that he would address the syrinx way before any scary things happened.. (loss of use of arms/ legs, etc)... if it EVER needs to be addressed. This all makes me feel less anxious. I am grateful for the many of you who have prayed for John-Michael or prayed with me! You make such a difference to us! :) Thanks again..for bei...

John-Michael had his annual MRI's today. We just left the neurosurgeon's office, Dr. Bill Boydston. First the good news...the tumor by his spine has not grown at all! Also, his brain had no fibromas .. a few bright spots..but nothing of concern. Bad news... http://depts.washington.edu/neurosur/chiari/s_prognosis.htm he has a cyst inside his spinal fluid. It is called syringomyelia. The surgeon said that if they need to....they will reevaluate in a year and at some point ..put in a shunt in a year. We continue to place John-Michael into God's hands... some days it is easy to do...some days, it isn't easy to do. I am reading a book called Jesus Calling . I will leave you with today's page. "Try to view each day as an adventure carefully planned out by your Guide. Instead of staring into the day that is ahead of you, attempting to program it according to your will, be attentive to Me and to all I have prepared for you. Thank Me for this day of life, recognizing t...

Sometimes you have to go back and look for stones. Let me explain ... In the last 4 weeks, we had various things happen that makes the "normal" side of you say, "Lord, what are you doing?" It started two weeks before Christmas. Good news....Russell received a bonus of several thousand dollars. Bad news, it was gone..... from various broken things....within 3 weeks. We received a letter from our home owner association saying we must put up a new fence...as our old fence was beyond repair. Although it is an old fence, we had just one split rail down. In my opinion, it wasn't beyond repair. Next, our 8 year old dog, Dirk, was dripping blood from his tender part. We took him to the vet and ...he had 8 kidney stones stuck in his urethra. The vet had to do surgery through his boy part and his kidney. They had to sedate him and catherize him for 7 days to allow him to heal. Then, we noticed ...as we drove to Grandma's house...that the van was pulling. Russell thou...