King David

Most people who know me know that David was not one of my favorite people.. Most people today say well if he is a man after Gods on heart then I have a chance. They think that their screw ups can't be half as bad as David, I mean he had a man killed so he could have this wife for his own( not that he didn't already have a wife, probably a few at that time). But as I am in a cycle of major hot flashes again through out the night, when I woke up about 5 this morning it came to mind some things on David. In reading Psalms 51, he wrote this after his adultery with Bathsheba, "have mercy on me, wash me clean, purify me, create in me, restore me, & forgive me. Joey told our small groups class last night, that God wants us to have fellowship with him. That he wants us to keep open dialogue with him even when we have sinned. Lots of times we are not obedient and then we shut down and feel because of our sinful nature that we can't or shouldn't be close to God, but David who so many times picked the wrong sinful way knew immediately that he had done wrong and went to God and kept the relationship open with him. Unfortunately because of his constant selfishness and disobedience the consequences with his children and others were not heathy or Godly.  But I did come to the conclusion this morning that God can show us through his word that while David was a man after God, he like many choose to think of themselves first but God is always there to show mercy, restore and forgive us. But the lines of communication needs to stay open and that is our responsibility.

Crazy World We Live In

I have been thinking about all that is going on in the world and lets just say in the most southern lady like way I know how, its a bunch of crap. I can hardly stand to turn on the TV, between the election mess, the shootings, the riots and the news media, late night TV watching has come down to funny sitcoms or of course the NCIS shows. I have started reading again that way I don't have to see all the commercials about how bad they all are. I will say as I get older I thought that fear is something I had overcome, but I do seem to feel a little more fearful these days. I know deep down in my soul that I am loved and taken care of by my creator. But the human in me comes out sometimes and if I am going to be real, I have fears, fears for my grandchildren coming up in this crazy world, where children are raising their parents, where in the news this week it said that the rise in pot smoking is in the 45-60 age group. When people take there children and make a family outing going to protest, when they don't really know what they are protesting over. When a man is drunk at 7:30 in the morning and kills two kids on their way to school. When a good, honest days work is look down upon because you don't make enough money by the worlds standards. When wrong is right and right is wrong, good is evil and evil is good. I know that I have to take some of the blame for not standing strong and standing up for my beliefs more. I know that as a church we have failed in so many ways and let government and Hollywood teach us about morals and how to treat people (in their own screwed up way). But in saying all of this, I will tell you there are a lot of good, kind, decent human beings in this world and it is about time we as Christians start noticing this and acknowledging this. We get caught up in the cynical  and complaining side of life along with the rest of the world and we are to shine his light. I had a black man come in the office yesterday and I talked to him like I do everyone else and when he let he turned around to leave he  told me thank you for being so kind. I thought how sad that thought he needed to say that. I know all people can  treat others so rudely and unkind, but like I said we as Christians can have bad days but in the big picture we need to keep a check on our self and how we reflect light to others.

It has been a while since I posted, life in the summer is crazy for us at the Nifong house. Added to it this year, we have another building at the storage so I am trying to get it cleaned up to rent out and it takes a while to do this. So instead of saying anything profound, which I doubt I could come up with anything at this moment. I am putting up pictures of my favorite little ones.

He is one happy little boy, and reminds me so much of his Daddy

We were having our last fun day before she starts Kindergarten,
 I found a new book called "How to Baby sit a Grandma"
So we were dressed up and singing a duet.
 

He loves his Pap-paws scruffy face

Pap-paw is so proud that she loves racing...Not sure Mom is...

OUR KINDERGARTEN GIRL

Buster

It has been a sad day around our house, our wonderful cat of 15 years had to be put to sleep. He got sick last week and could not seem to come out of it. We were caught between a rock and a hard place. I am not a animal lover, however I did consider Buster my cat, he loved on me and was kind to me not like our first cat FeFe. She was Joeys... We second guessed ourselves but as I told the Vet, we will try a few things but I am not spending $600 dollars on a 15 year old cat, when I had just spent that this past summer on him.  I try to rationalize that he is a cat, not a human, and how do we justify spending $1000 dollars on cat and not giving it away to people in need. So we have battled our hearts and minds this week. It is weird to not have to open the door for the cat 5 times a night. Joey has been very depressed about it. Everyone thinks that since he is the hunter in the house he doesn't like animals, this is so far from the truth of most hunters, they are usually the animal people. We haven't told Harper yet, we are slowly telling her he is sick, went to Vet , and next is telling her he went to Heaven. I know some people don't believe that, but its not the animals fault they got caught in the sin problem that causes death to all. So this will be our last pet, Joey and I decided a few years ago that after Buster there would be no more, it would be very hard to replace such a good pet.

Will Wagon

Can and does God ultimately get his way? That is a loaded question. Joey and I have been in discussion about a situation that arose and a statement was made that "yes I believe ultimately this couple would have received the money they needed to go to mission field,"even if in the beginning a decision was made in a quick way. Some were upset by the way things were handled but as Joey put it, if you would have been in the meeting and looking back on it you can see how the Holy Spirit worked that day you would know that the people in charge made the right decision. Well it was brought up that they could have waited and had input from others and would have had the same outcome. We don't believe that. God does ultimately get his will accomplished, and he will use what ever means he sees fit to do so, however, we are called to get on his WILL WAGON, and do what the Bible tells us to do. He doesn't need any of us, he could use animals, rocks, trees if he wanted. He uses us so that we can grow, be blessed, tell others of who he is, there are a lot of reason that God wants us to participate in the work of his. But like I say he doesn't need any of us, but he wants us.
Some say well we need to pray about, Joeys key word is always is there a Biblical principal behind what you are doing or what needs to be done, you don't always need to pray, you just need to do.
For instance, we had a lady a church who had a leak, her husband and son are not very helpful and Pastor called Joey to look at it. Joey didn't go over there and say to this lady well I first need to pray about doing this, he saw the need and fixed it. God gives us a lot of freedom to do things, he gives us opportunities to be blessed by doing some things, the key is whether we are willing to put ourselves out there. Like I say God will get somebody to do his work for him, is it going to me or you.

My Doller General Story

My friend Cindy likes to tell Walmart and now Sheetz stories, well I have a new one.  I went to pick up a few office items in the local Dollar General when I heard on the isle next to me. "I'm getting ready to cuss your @## out if you don't watch it." I came around the corner and there was this little skinny older lady and no one around her, so I think well she's losing it, I will have to keep an eye on her. I go to another isle and  she bumps into my cart. I kinda smile and she says in a 10 pack a day voice "sorry". I notice that she is struggling to keep her sweat pants up and then I see what I at first thought was a growth on the back of her leg but I think that the reason her pants were having a hard time is she has stuck something back there to take home. I continue on with my shopping and start to check out and who is right behind me but this little old lady and she starts to mess with my stuff on the conveyor belt looks up at me and says "oh this is your stuff ain't it" then goes to the ice cream box and down comes her pants to her knees and guess what no underwear... I hope what she was stealing was underwear, I know she needs it because I saw it all. I heard her tell her family member that brought her, I can't keep my @#$# pants up. The life people lead is so different than my normal sometimes  I do forget that this is their normal. Its a sad normal but its theirs. I live in my own little fairy tell land. We talked last night in ladies small group about how it must be exciting to witness to people in foreign lands about Jesus, people who have never heard the name. But I believe that living here in the United States in Davidson County there are people who have heard the name, who think that they are good people, that they went to church at some point in there life, that their normal is not so bad, so of course they are Christians, they are as lost as the ones who have never heard. I think it might even be a lot harder to witness to these people because Satan has sold them a big fat lie. While I had to laugh at the Dollar General I was also very sad for this family.