A Time of Reflection

I really do enjoy reading other's blogs and have been wanting to sit down and post but haven't devoted any time to doing it. I have every good intention of keeping up with this blog because it is a source of journaling for me. It helps me keep up with what's going on here at RiverBend Farm and also a means to keep family and friends informed for those that are at all interested. When I was a kid, I used to keep a diary...oh, yes, the sacred girl's diary of personal ramblings that were kept under lock and key. To this day, I have no clue where it ever ended up. So, I will once again try to keep up with this blogging or journaling of mine.

Since I've last posted, I have no chickens left...the coyotes and dogs have wiped them out. I'm waiting very impatiently for a sturdier more critter-proof pen for chicks before I order any new peeps. I've been buying farm eggs but they're just not the same. I love having my own chickens and miss them terribly.

Spring seems to be in full bloom around here. Today was one of those days where motivation is at the bottom of the barrel. I did walk outside and, literally, stopped to smell the roses...

Yesterday, after we got home from a wonderful church service, covered dish lunch and Easter egg hunt for the kids, we got a call that one of the guys from our church had taken his life Saturday night. He had been attending our church off and on with his young sons after his wife informed him she wanted a divorce. She attended another church in town so "he" had been attending her church for the last several Sundays in hope of reconciling their marriage. Small town that it is, everyone still talks daily. Of course, this came as a blow to all of us. Suicide always does. Three years prior to this, his niece (a cheerleader at the local high school) committed suicide. This has taken it's toll on the family. With Buddy being the pastor, his presence was needed at the family's home and he wanted me to ride with him. Not easy. It took everything in me to arrive at their home...I was flooded with memories of when I was "invaded" with folks at my home to inform me of my first husband's murder. The delicate privacy of informing my children was taken from me as the sheriff's dept where we were living proceeded upstairs to wake my children. It was a hell I never want to relive. We will never understand what goes through someone's mind when they consider suicide. I truly believe that someone is ill when they think ending their life is the only alternative. Ephesians 1:13 tells us that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. I know this man loved and knew Jesus Christ. My heart breaks for the two boys of this man. I had these boys in Sunday School and they loved and admired their daddy. Unfortunately, I do understand the anguish of losing a dad that these boys will live with.

I can say this.. everything happens to the glory of God and miracles still happen. Last Wednesday, we lost another dear friend in a plane crash. He will be buried tomorrow. The miracle is that his nephew (an almost son-in-law of mine) was the pilot of this two engine plane and he survived. There was nothing left of the wreckage but Dustin managed to be found walking around the crash site and had no broken bones and no internal or head injuries. He had severe burns over the front of his body from the top of his head down to his legs. He will require surgery on his arms but it is truly amazing the progress this young man is making and even more a miracle that he survived.

I do not understand any of this but I do know that everything happens for a reason. The Bible tells us that. I also know that God's love for us is strong and He is beside us in this walk if we just reach up to Him.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory. Eph. 3: 20-21.

Happy Trails,

Berte