Pageants, Tornados, and Happy Tears!

4:55 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »

I forgot just how much I love Monday mornings! That sounds incredibly strange doesn't it? LOL!

But I love the opportunity to sit and reflect on everything that happened this weekend.

I had planned on going to the Louisville Nature Center this weekend for their Earth Day celebration, but then, luckily, I was reminded that my niece Krista had a beauty pageant so we quickly changed our plans so we could go cheer for her!




I, personally, am not a big fan of pageants, but I love my nieces and would NEVER tell them that! LOL. BJ and I tease each other all the time... I tell her "I wouldn't ever want to be a pageant mom" and she tells me "At least I'm not a soccer and cheerleading mom!" hehe. It's all in good fun though, because I'm at every pageant and she's at every game!

Then Saturday night, we had some scary weather! We were up late from our naps and Josh and I were taking pizza out of the oven, when my computer started thundering. I have this program that does that every time there's severe weather. So I checked it, and there was a tornado warning for ... pretty much the next road over from our house! They said the tornado would be there within ten minutes!

We live at the top of a hill and DON'T have a storm shelter, although Josh keeps promising me to build one. We jumped in the van and drove to the sheriff's department, which is one of the strongest buildings around, to wait out the storm. It was SO SCARY!

Luckily, the tornado was just an EF0... which means it only damaged some trees and roof-tops and other slight damage. *sigh* I don't think any tornado is less scary although I am glad there wasn't that much damage. We were lucky too, because our power comes from 'down the hill' instead of 'on the hill' and we didn't even lose electricity when it went through.



Then on Sunday...

Josh finally went to church with me! I told him I didn't care WHERE we went, as long as we WENT as a family. And so, on Sunday morning, he got up, reluctantly, and got dressed and we went to a church a few miles down the road that I'd never been to.

You could tell that he was so nervous, but the people stepped up and really made him feel welcome. An usher came by and introduced himself and asked Josh and I if we were saved. Josh told him he was having trouble with his faith (after the murder of Jessica, and the deaths of so many friends and loved ones we had at the end of last year) and the usher prayed for him and told him that he would still be praying for him during the message and if he needed anything to just come and find him.

The pastor stepped up and started talking. He was great, and the message was awesome. He spoke on living in depression and how the bible teaches us to live each day as though it was the day when Christ would come back, because one day will be that day. As soon as he was finished, the usher came rushing over and said to Josh, "Brother, that message was just for you, wasn't it?"

Josh broke down and said "Yes. It was."

He walked with Josh to the alter, and almost all the men in the church went to pray with him and encourage him. When he came back to the seat, he was smiling like I haven't seen in smile in a long time! We stayed and visited for a little while and on the way home, Josh told me he had rededicated him life to Christ with a big smile on his face.

When we got home, he even thanked me for forcing him to go because he was planning on going and using the bad experience as an excuse to not go back! But he said he wants to go on Wednesday and promised the children we ALL could go back on Sunday.

Praise God, I am still crying... I'm so happy! I had been praying all night Saturday and all morning that God would lead us to a church with a message that Josh would hear... he certainly did!

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)

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