The Discipline of Darkness

Isaiah 50: (vs. 3) "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. (vs. 4) The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. (vs. 9) Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. (vs. 10) Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. (vs. 11) Behold, all ye that kindle a fire that compass yourselves about the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow."

We all go through dark times in our life. Sometimes we ask why we are going through it. Only God can lead the way through that darkness. Sometimes nothing seems to make sense.

We need to be asking God "how" not "why". We need to ask Him how to use the time of darkness in our life. He has a purpose for us and something for us to learn as we go through it. Unfortunately we usually find ourselves asking "why" looking for answers to that instead of asking "how" we can be used in that time and what He wants us to learn in the midst of it.

If you are not in a dark time right now you need to enjoy it and praise God for it but be assured that there is a time of darkness ahead for you at some point. The Christian life is an ever learning experience. God does not desire for us to stay in the same place in our Christian walk. One of the key ways He uses for us to grow is to allow us to go through dark times.

Those of greatest devotion to God may know the darkest of times. In verse 10 we are told that when going through dark times we must keep our trust and focus on the God.

The faith that is born in the light is often developed in the dark. The test of our character is what we do in the dark and how we respond to it. God develops our faith when we look to and lean on Him. Isaiah 45:3 "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." He will also give us many blessings (treasures and hidden riches) that we may not recognize when we are going through that darkness. When my brother was murdered I didn't recognize the grace God was giving me until someone pointed it out to me when I requested prayer for the man that killed him. I wanted him to be saved. He has a soul just like any of us do. And in reality I was no better than him before I got saved. God had mercy on me and saved me and I wanted Jaime to have that same opportunity. I do thank God for the grace that He gave me and continues to give me. But that grace is a treasure and a hidden riches that I did not recognize in the midst of that dark time.

God is the Author of that darkness when we are afraid to obey God in the light. One of the dangers of being in darkness is trying to light our own fire. God will let us do it too and make a mess of it. Man-made fire is deceptive. We need to have a teachable spirit in those dark times. God has someone He wants us to help as a result of our dark times.

If things are dark for you now....have the right spirit about it and know this....that things may be dark now but the light will come again.

"Thank You Lord for the dark times in my life. They are not pleasant when going through them but I know they make me more like You in the end if I let them."

Audioministries Blog

My son-in-law Josh has started a blog for the ministry that God has him and my daughter Kristina in called Audioministries. The ministry shares preaching messages that he has either recorded himself or has had sent to him in order to share with anyone who has an interest in listening to them and sharing them with others. It is a wonderful ministry and no doubt God has used it mightily. I know that he has a couple of my husband's messages on his website and I have received feedback of how God has used those messages to help someone in one way or another. God has led him to start a blog also.

Please go by and check out his blog and listen to the messages that he posts and read the articles that he will be sharing. I know he will appreciate you visiting his blog.

Updated Pics of Candyce

Nanna and Candyce

How precious!!!

Mommy, Daddy and Candyce

Our beautiful granddaughter!!!

I Promise I'm Still Around

Hello all!! I'm still here. I know....I said once I got moved that I'd be back to blogging. It has been one thing after another it seems. I am still unpacking and trying to find places for things and giving away other things. We down-sized to a three bedroom townhouse from a four bedroom two story house. I didn't realize how much stuff we had till we tried to fit into our smaller place. It is sad that I haven't gotten everything put away and unpacked yet. We have been in our new home for over a month now.

Now we are facing my husband having surgery. Nothing serious....just what is called a lipoma. It is a fatty mass on the left side of his back. It is the size of a baseball and goes deep into the muscle tissue. He will have surgery (as of right now) on November 5th to have it removed. That will take about a week of recuperation time and me caring for him during that time.

All is well other than that though. Candyce is growing so fast and is just adorable!!! Ronnie and Jessica are doing well. Kristina and Josh are doing great as well. God is blessing both their families and answering many prayers for which we are very thankful. Michelle is expecting a baby due in March. Her boyfriend is in Afghanistan and should be back in time for the baby to be born. We are very excited about this newest grandbaby. Michelle knows we are not happy about how this all came about...and she is very disappointed in herself and her boyfriend is disappointed in himself....but we count each pregnancy a blessing from God and know God has a purpose and a reason for allowing this. Please pray for Michelle and the baby who we call Baby Blessing since the daddy's last name is Blessing. Michelle and John plan to be married once he gets back from Afghanistan.

Life has been busy but has also been a joy. God has been so good to me and I praise Him and thank Him for everything He is doing in all of our lives. Thank you all for checking in and I really do hope to be back to regular blogging soon. Just please be patient with me and don't forget about me.

In the meantime please feel free to go back and read my past posts in my Topics of Interest section of my blog. There is much good reading there. Love you all and I still pray for each of you that come by!!!

Pictures of Candyce

Candyce and her great grandma

She looks like a doll.

She is adorable.

Candyce with her great grandma again.

Candyce with her Aunt Kristina and Uncle Josh.

Pictures of Candyce

PawPaw and Candyce

Nanna and Candyce

Eyes open and just precious!!!

I love her sooooo much!!!

She is wearing the dress that her mommy wore
home from the hospital when she was born.

Pictures of Candyce

Daddy looking at his baby girl.

Mommy looking at her baby girl.

One of the pics the hospital was taking with Candyce in her daddy's hand.

Ronnie is SO exhausted!!

Our precious gift from God!!

Candyce Is Here!!!

I am so sorry I have not posted. We got the call from Ronnie on Tuesday evening (August 11th...her due date) that Jessica was having contractions 10 minutes apart. He was saying they may end up at the hospital before the night was over because her contractions were becoming quite painful and he wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to tolerate them. The next call I got was at about 9:00 that evening saying they were on their way to the hospital. We waited to hear from him that they were keeping her because we had gone the week before and they ended up sending her home. It was about 30 minutes later that I couldn't stand it any longer....I called him to find out what was going on and he said they were checking here at that moment. I held on the line and he told me she was dilated to a three and that they were keeping her. So my husband and I got in the car and headed to the hospital. I called Kristina and Josh and told them and they too left to head to the hospital.

Long story short....after a long night at the hospital and my husband having to leave at 7:30am so he could go home and get some sleep since he had to work that night....Candyce was born at 10:49am. She weighed 7 pounds and was 20 inches long. Jessica did great and God blessed us with a very healthy and beautiful baby. Jessica and Candyce are doing wonderful and are now Ronnie, Jessica and Candyce are home starting their new lives together as a family of three.

I will post pictures when I have time. I have been up for 35 hours this time and was up for 39 hours the night of the hospital stay. I have enjoyed getting to hold our granddaughter and watch Jessica and Ronnie love on her and care for her. She already has them both wrapped around her little finger.

Please pray for Jessica's recuperation from the delivery as of course she is quite sore. Check back for pictures soon.

Update On Jessica and Candyce

I have gotten comments asking about Jessica and the baby so I thought I would post to update you. First of all she made her blog private due to some anonymous comments being left that were upsetting her. I've had some too which is why I have had to eliminate anonymous comments altogether. I know that will prevent my sister and others from visiting but the devil has been on the attack of my beliefs and standards and convictions. So I have had to change my settings of who can view my blog.

Now...as for what is going on with Jessica and the baby. Jessica is in true labor as of this afternoon. She has been having irregular contractions for over two weeks now. She went to the dr this morning and her midwife said she has not started to dilate yet. She has been having VERY strong contractions all afternoon that have been consistently 10 minutes apart and are lasting 2 minutes with each one. We believe this is the real deal now. She is having to stop in her tracks and breathe with each one. She cannot lay down for them hurting so much worse.

Please pray for her and for Candyce...and Ronnie too!! Jessica is weary from lack of sleep due to her contractions keeping her from sleeping lately. She is thinking she may not be able to do this when it gets worse with the pain. She needs all of our prayers right now. Thank you so much. I will post more as I know more. And of course there will be pictures when Candyce gets here.

Pictures of Kristina and Josh's Wedding

If you would like to see a slideshow of some of the pictures from the wedding you can go to the photographer's blog here to see them. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did. Kayla did an awesome job on the pictures!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Joshua C_________

It's me!! Have you forgotten who I am by now? I know....it has been a crazy last few months. But I have good news....I shall soon return to blogging....I hope!!

The sentencing is over for the man that murdered my brother. He is currently serving 30 years in prison. It was a long process to see him put behind bars for what he did...but that chapter is over.

Another chapter is over as well and a new one has begun. The chapter of Kristina's single life and the wedding that we were planning has come and gone. She is now married to the love of her life and is on her honeymoon. They are having a terrific time. It is a real adjustment for me and my husband. I have cried tears and asked the Lord to help me adjust. When you have had children with you your entire marriage (over 23 years of your life) it is very different to no longer have them with you at home. Even my husband is finding it strange and difficult to adjust. But a new chapter is beginning....that chapter is of her being a wife and sometime in the future a mother. I am looking forward to this next chapter of being a Nana in my life.

Jessica is doing great. She is blossoming and glowing. Her and Ronnie are doing well. She told me today she is having contractions....sporadic ones but contractions nonetheless. That is our next big event.

My husband and I are also currently looking for a house to move to closer to his job. He currently drives an hour and a half one way to work and that is difficult for anyone under any circumstances but he works the overnight shift and that shift is a more difficult shift to work since God intended for man to sleep when it is dark not be awake and working.

I hope to be back to blogging regularly again soon. I am still needing to work in order to help keep us afloat. Once we move I should not have to work any longer. I am very excited about that since I miss keeping up with my blog. I will post more pictures of the wedding once Kristina gets her posted. I do not want to take away from her the opportunity to share with everyone about her special day. So check back....I'll either have pictures or a link for you to go to so you can see hers.

Busy Weekend

I work this morning and this afternoon then I'll be off to go to Kristina's wedding shower that her aunt is throwing for her and Josh. That should be so fun and such a blessing to see and meet all those that will be there from Josh's family and to see what they get for their house. Then tomorrow the church is having a bridal shower for her in the afternoon. Time is going by so quickly and there is still SO much left to do. We painted at her house yesterday and the house looks soooooo good!! Josh has done an awesome job with it fixing it up.

Also this morning is the first annual memorial bike ride in memory of my brother. He was a Marine and all donations from entering the bike ride are going to the Toys 4 Tots organization that the Marine Corps contributes to. My sister told me there were going to be at last report as many as 200 bikes taking part in the ride. I'm not able to be there due to not being able to get off work and both of Kristina's showers. My heart and my thoughts are going to be with my family as they take part in that bike ride but maybe I can make it next year. I hope to post pictures when my sister is able to send me some from the day.

Have a great weekend!!

I Know...I Know....

I know...I know. It's been FOREVER since I've posted anything. I have to be honest. I've not had much to post on in the devotional area of late. Well...that isn't entirely true either. I have but just haven't taken the time to sit down and do it. There has been so much going on that I've just been consumed with. Not so much physically but moreso emotionally and spiritually. I've been in a lull of sorts and have been trying to deal with it in my own way. My own way is to basically withdraw and deal with it on my own. Just me and the Lord. I have been posting on my Facebook but that has been the extent of it lately.

Kristina is now 47 days away from being married to her sweetheart. So we are quite busy planning for that special day. There is much to do before that day arrives. July 11th is that day and it will be here before we know it. I was telling her the other day it seems like just last week it was going to be 108 more days till the wedding. Now we are at 47 days.

I've also been dealing with the whole thing of my brother's murder. That has been quite a thing to go through lately. The man that murdered him signed a plea deal and we had the first sentencing on March 23rd. The second sentencing for the second charge of arson was to be on May 19th but that didn't happen. My parents, my sister and I all drove to Mississippi for that sentencing only to find out after arriving there that the sentencing had been continued. So that trip was a wasted trip. We did get the estate settled (which was quite emotional as well) but no sentencing took place. So now we are headed back to Mississippi on Monday (my parents) and Tuesday for me to HOPEFULLY see this all be finalized and hopefully get SOME closure on this. The sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 CST. I thought I was doing well with all of this until we settled the estate and found out that we'd have to wait another week for the sentencing. I have cried and cried and cried every day since last Monday. I found that I'm not handling it all as well as I had thought. Other things are going on in my life that are having an effect on me as well.

It also broke my heart that Michelle came down a couple of weekends ago to get the rest of her things to take them to NC with her. That pretty much told me that she does not plan to come back home. That also tore my heart out. She is dating a young man in the Army by the name of John. From what we can tell he is a wonderful person and we hope to meet him when he comes back from his deployment for R&R. He truly seems to love Michelle and for that I'm very thankful.

The better news is that Jessica and Ronnie are expecting their little girl Candyce to make her arrival sometime after the first of August. Jessica says they are not real sure of her specific due date now because Jessica is measuring a week ahead of the original due date. So they are hoping to know more at the next ultrasound appointment. We are very excited about getting to meet our granddaughter very soon. We praise the Lord that all is going well!!!

So that is what has been going on. Please continue to pray for my family and me. Pray the sentencing happens this time with no more continuances. We need this to be over!! Thank you all so much for you blogging friendship and your continued support and visits to Julie's Jewels. I love you all more than you will ever know.

Youth Today....

"Many youth today are reaching out for thrills and kicks, only to clutch the spider's web of sin and plunge in their ruin."

How many of us know young people who are doing just what that quote says? I know several. In fact...I'm sure we can all say that we know at least one young person who is indulging in sinful activity or activity that is not pleasing to God and are headed for destruction. They don't see that they are....but they are. The devil is a sly being who works subtly in people's lives. He has a plan to accomplish and he won't stop until he accomplishes that goal. The only one that can keep him from accomplishing that goal is the individual that he is working on.

We have the privilege and opportunity to pray for each young person we know that they would not give in to the wiles of the devil. God desires to use each one to further His plan to reach others with the gospel of Christ. We as parents need to be praying and seeking God in His Word for how to train up our children so as not to give the devil ammunition to use against us and our children. He has enough ammunition on his own without help from us parents. My desire for each of my children is that my children walk in the truth of God's Word and live according to His ways.

What is your desire for your children and/or the young people that you know in your life?

3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."