Thanksgiving already?

It is so hard to believe that it is already Thanksgiving. I can not believe how quickly the year has flown by. I have enjoyed life this year. Besides having another year behind me for college I have been given the opportunity to live. Sometime I feel as though we forget that living is a gift. We forget that the air we breathe it a gift, the food we eat is gift, the house we live in is a gift, the family we have is a gift. The Creator of EVERYTHING is a gift. Having the opportunity to serve the Creator is a gift and the opportunity to live with Him forever is a gift. I pray that this year you will not let the "gets" of life cover the "gifts" of life. I want everyone to know that I am so thankful for the gifts in my life. The first gift I would be thankful for is the love of Christ Jesus! It is only by Him, that I am where I am today. The next gift I am thankful for is my amazing husband! I love him with my whole heart! Someone said the other day "you are obsessed with him" and my response was I hope that I always will be. It is so nice going to bed at night and waking up in the morning with the one that I love with all my heart. The one that makes me smile, the one that will do anything that he thinks I need. Dusty is the very best husband, friend anyone could ever ask for. I love you so much! I would then be thankful for my family! Both sides The Williams side and the Wise side. Both have very different personalities but both are tons of fun to be around. I am thankful for all my friends, I have gone through so much with so many of them, and wouldn't take anything for any of them. I am just thankful for everything life has to offer, the good and the bad. I love life, I love people, I love God! So to you, this Thanksgiving remember what you are thankful for!!! May God Bless you abundantly!

Buy some!!

Dusty and I, as most of you know, are trying to raise money for our mission trip to Reunion Island. We are now selling platters, cups, chip and dip sets, etc. custom painted just for you. If you are interested in buying any please let me know. Here are a few pictures to show you how big they are... REMEMBER these are unpainted and have not been fired yet, so they look dull. Once they are glazed the two that are painted will be bright and beautiful. Please buy as many as you would like. Just email me if you need prices... the prices really depend on the details of the request. My email is rdw@muw.edu

Thanks!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Chirstmas Tree

Well, we are ready! Here are some pictures of our trees! The small tree holds ornaments from when I went to Africa.

Our big tree is non other than ALABAMA!!! ROLL TIDE!!! All of the Alabama ornaments my mother-in-law painted!

Well not this one...

Yes, this elephant is the BEST!! My mother in law painted it last year! It is the biggest ornament on our tree and hangs at the top! We love it!

Our beautiful tree!!!

Christmas so soon?

Well, our Christmas tree is up! I can't believe I have already put it up but my mother in law is going to put hers up and I wanted them to be up at the same time. That was a lot of ups. Anyway, Dusty and I are really excited about Christmas this year. Not only is it our second Christmas as a married couple we have decided that we are not by any means giving each other presents. I feel as though you get what you need and most of the time what you want all throughout the year why spend money that you don't have on stuff that you don't need? Well, we are not doing that this year, or any year after this. It is important to us that we remember and once children come along that they are reminded that Christmas is NOT about if you got everything on your Chirstmas list or not but that Christ is the only, true Christmas gift. I think people find themselves so wrapped up in getting, getting, getting, giving, giving, giving, that they miss the meaning of Christmas all together. So I urge you this Christmas to lay aside the wants and focus on our need... CHRIST.
I love you all! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
~Rebecca

Frustration

Tonight I am purely frustrated. I am frustrated that life does not go smoothly all the time, I am frustrated that Christians are okay with sitting on the sidelines of life. I am frustrated that people allow people to control how they act and respond to situations. But what I am the most frustrated about is that people miss the whole picture that God is still God no matter what.....

Why Wait?!?!?

Well, today makes two years since my grandmother passed away. So it has been a day of remembering the good and remembering the sad (I have NO bad memories, Praise God). My grandmother was the very best thing that I was ever given. She always was interested in what was going on in my life and wanted to know my everything. She was my number one supporter and encourager. My grandmother gave life her very all. Even in her dying days she lived life in such a way that you would have thought she felt perfect. You see what made my grandmother different was the love that she had for Christ. She loved Him and served him with her whole heart. She spent time with Him, and fully understood that this life here on earth is just a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. I feel so blessed to have been able to have her for the 19 years that I did. Oh, how I wish it would have been longer, but that is the human side of me. I wanted and thought I needed her more than Christ needed her. Christ gave her to me and she was His to take whenever He thought was good. Throughout her dying days, she would have such a bad day that I would say, "Okay, Lord I am ready to let go" then with the next breath I would say, "I was only kidding, I am not ready yet". Well when November 2nd, 2006 came, I was NOT ready. I thought I would get married and have children all before Christ decided to take her home. I wanted so badly to change places with her. I did not want to live without her... I wanted her healed. Well, November 2, 2006 God healed her. He called her home, she was ready I was not. I was not ready to let go of my best friend, but it is through her death that I have learned who God is and that no matter what He is still on the throne. He still loves me and needs me to show His love to the people here on earth. He wants me to use what I learned from my grandmother to show others the way to Christ. I read the book "Wait" during this time for strength. I wanted her healed to live here on earth with me but God was saying "Wait" I WILL heal her... just "wait".

God NEVER gives us more than we can bare. Sometimes, through the pain and the mist of everything we feel as though we have been given way too much, But we must remember God will never give us more than we can bare.

On a different note do you ever remember when you were a little child and you asked your parents for something and they told you, "NO!" or "wait"? Like when you wanted a new bike and your mom said wait and see what Santa brings, or you wanted that bag of candy and your dad said not until you eat your dinner. Well, I have had several of those moments throughout my life, and believe it or not, God is like that too. Sometimes He tells us either "NO" or simply wait. I have asked for something and God has openly said this is not your time... and unfortunately I have no other choice but to be 100% satisfied with the fact that God knows exactly what he is doing. And as was said by my friend, Paula Britt, sometimes it takes situations to fully see who God is and what He is doing in your life. Let me tell you... God is amazing, He never ceases to amaze me. When I wake up in the morning I am reminded that it is God who allowed me to wake up and get out of bed, and it is God that I am to Praise for that. It is God that knows the stars by name, and it is God that knows the whole story of my life, He not only has already read my life story book from beginning to end, it is GOD that wrote my life story book. He knows what will happen in the next 2 minutes and the next 200 years. Now that is amazing! So in the mist of my waiting period I am once again reminded of the book entitled "Wait" by Russell Kelfer. This book is the reminder that I need when God tells me to wait. Here is the book.....

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; quietly, patiently, loving, God replied. I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate... and the Master so gently said, "Wait." "Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply. "Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!" Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard? By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word. My future and all to which I relate hangs in the balance, and you tell me to Wait?" I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign. Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign. You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, We need but to ask, and we shall receive. Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry: I'm weary of asking! I need a reply. Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, as my Master replied again, "Wait." So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, and grumbled to God, "So I'm waiting... FOR WHAT?" He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine... and He tenderly said "I could give you a sign. I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run. I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know ME. You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint. You'd not know the power that I give to the faint. You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair; you'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there. You'd not know the joy of resting in Me when darkness and silence are all you can see. You'd never experience the fullness of love when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove. You would know that I give, and I save, for a start, But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart. The glow of My comfort late into the night, the faith that I give when you walk without sight. The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask from an infinite God who makes what you have last. You'd never know should your pain quickly flee, what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee. Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true, but, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you. So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me. And though oft My answers seems terribly late, My most precious answer of all is still.... Wait"