Pity Party to Praise!

I can't tell you the last time I have been so tired...and it isn't just physical exhaustion, I am emotionally drained. During this journey there are times the "pity monster" comes and sticks his nose up against me and I just fall into his trap.   I know better.  I know scripture.  I know the Lord loves me....and yet so easily I will succumb to the invitation with my RSVP...yes attending, the Pity Party. 

The last six months have given me plenty of reasons to say "yes" to the invitation to the Pity Party.  I attended, then felt sick over my reaction. I picked myself up and turned the pity into praise. Today I want to invite you to my shaking off the dust of pity and turn into Praise Party.

One of my pity parties was over the lack of money to enjoy my daughter's upcoming wedding in the fashion I wanted. I just knew that after the young couple had paid for their own wedding that I would be attending looking like a rag-muffin. Now we know better. God knew my heart and He knew what could be done. He supplied me with more than I could have imagined...and I didn't look like a rag-muffin. I am sharing my pity party exchange with you.

Outfit for Rehearsal Dinner - New Dress - New Shoes...and a bounce in my step. Total Cost for Outfit - $25.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shoes $15.00 and Dress $10.00 Thank you Ross and TJ Maxx

Now for the wedding outfit. My poor husband heard my unbelief in this area as the wedding galloped closer and closer. God in His mercy didn't discipline me with a harsh "No girl, you have rent to pay." Instead He took me to a sale!

My dress - $38.00....thanks to Dillards sales....shoes that were still like new in my closet matched the dress.

Wedding day taken care of for me. Benjamin was the ring bearer. The tux rental for him would pay our electricity for a month. Thrift store shopping we went...because it will never be used again. Blazer, black dress pants and black dress shoes....total $10.00! Our biggest expense was his red bow tie...$7.00!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, I don't have pictures in yet....so give grace on this phone picture...but you can see how handsome Benjamin was as a ring bearer. I must say, they all were just so handsome and beautiful to this mom.  The three in white ties walked in front of the Bride and her Dad and the one in the black tie was a groomsman.

Hubby hasn't worn suits in years, due to changes in jobs. His were out-of-date and a little tight. Thrift store again for the Father-of-the-Bride.....$10.00 That is right...we all went to the wedding in style. What a different way of shopping than our son's wedding where.we rented four tuxedos and bought one bride's maid dress and shoes.  Could anyone tell the difference at this wedding? I think not! Now when you see the pictures you will know the story behind our clothes..............then tell me if you could tell we didn't spend our rent money. God is faithful.

  When I stop the pity party He takes it and turns it into a Praise!

yes there are still more wedding tales....get ready to laugh...and see more pictures
I also get to see my grandson for the first time this weekend...he  should be coming home to live permanently with my son and daughter-in-law soon.  They become first time parents to a beautiful  two- year- old!  

Tears of Joy and Gratefulness

I can truly say I am so tired that my eyes hurt.  My eyes have been shedding tears of joy and sorrow over all the events of the past two weeks.  The last two weeks I prepared for my daughter's wedding...tears of joy, while also hearing daily reports on my father.  One week before our daughter's wedding my father had a stroke...so tears of sorrow.  Each event ended in tears of gratefulness.  The wedding was a "TOTAL GOD" thing and my Dad arrives home today continuing his recovery...an answered prayer also.

Her three oldest brothers marched down the aisle in front of her and her Dad.  Her two youngest brothers, one a groomsman and Benjamin the ring bearer.  My Ethel saved the day by coming to my rescue and helping from sun up to sundown to prepare all the decorations for both the rehearsal dinner and wedding.  She is the definition of true friend.

So through my tired fingers I am leaving you with some of the first pictures.

We now enter our second unemployment period in six months, while looking back at the beginning of this roller coaster ride and recounting God's faithfulness.  Standing in the reception room, which was overflowing with 220 guest...we only expected 100...we stood as a couple amazed at the goodness of our God and "oh how He loves you and me!"

Today is the DAY, She Becomes a Bride

Mrs. Katherine Nicole Wilson - lace from my wedding dress sewn into the hem of hers

Dearest Daughter,
I have struggled with what to write to you about marriage.  As I look around, I see the struggles that marriage brings to so many families and so many don’t cross the line of “ til death due we part.”  There isn’t any judgment toward those who don’t keep their vows for a lifetime...life can really be hard.  However, I do look to those who have been through many, many of life’s struggles and continued their journey in marriage.  For me, this heritage is mine through my grandparents, Bill’s parents, my sister-in-law and my own parents.  Each could write books of the struggles their marriages have walked through and, at times, crawled through.  As Deanie once said, “you just didn’t leave each other in my day. Even if it got hard, you stayed.”  There is something so simple about that and yet so true.

As we approach Christmas, I think of Joseph and Mary.  Their journey of marriage couldn’t have been easy from the beginning.  Joseph had to hear the word of God himself and he had to be obedient...taking his wife and newborn child away from danger.  Through all the years, they heard the voices of people who had to have believed that Jesus was a child from another man that Mary had had relationships with before marriage.  Their union couldn’t have been easy...and they were human just like all of us.

So my words of advice....you are in this for the long haul.  There will be seasons of complete excitement in which you feel your feet never touch the floor.  There will be seasons of complete struggle that only leaning on the Lord will keep you together.  There will be seasons that you really like each other and seasons that you will not like each other.  Each season is a time in which the Lord takes two people and molds them into one.  Any two different materials molded into one only happens through some form of heat or pressure... or both.  Your wedding bands were produced through heat and pressure.   The scratches and worn places on your rings through the years will testify to the process God is doing in both of your lives, as He molds you into one.

I look back on my grandparents and Deanie and Lefty...they were one when the Lord called the husbands home.  I look to my parents and Betty and Gerry...both couples are one...this didn’t happen overnight... they both share 50-plus years of marriage.  I look to your Dad and I and see God still adding pressure and heat to make us one...my prayer for us and for you is that you will allow the Lord to add the pressure, the heat and the unbelievable joys and challenges that it takes to make you one.  Don’t give up until you see His reflection in your relationship.  I see His reflection in the relationships that are yours and my inheritance.

I leave you with poems from Ruth Bell Graham..another one who walked through her marriage journey until the Lord called her home.


God,
let me be all he ever dreamed
of loveliness and laughter,
Veil his eyes a bit
because there are so many little flaws;
somehow, God,
please let him see
only the bride I long to be,
remembering ever after-
I was all he ever dreamed
of loveliness and laughter.


Here are more of Ruth Bell Graham’s words and  her prayer on her wedding day....they are my prayer for you also, my only daughter.


“With this ring I thee wed…” your strong, familiar voice fell like a benediction
on my heart that dusk; tall candles flickered gently, our age-old vows were
said, and I could hear someone begin to sing an old, old song... timeworn and
lovely, timeworn and dear.  And in that dusk were old, old friends – and you,
an old friend, too (and dearer than them all).  Only my ring seemed new – its
plain gold surface warm and bright and strange to me in that
candlelight…unworn – unmarred.  Could it be that wedding rings like other
things are lovelier when scarred?


Never let it end, God, never – please – all this growing loveliness, all of these
brief moments of fresh pleasure – never let it end, let us always be a little
breathless at love’s beauty; never let us pause to reason from a sense of
duty; never let us stop to measure just how much to give; never let us stop to
weigh love; let us live – and live!  Please God, let our hearts kneel always,
love their only Master, knowing the warm impulsiveness of shattered
alabaster: I know You can see things the way a new bride sees, so never let
it end, God, never – please.