Life as a Christian should be simple By Ann

Chapter 1 Pregnant in High School
Chapter 2 Prince Charming
Chapter 3 Found God
Chapter 4 Tithing is our life now
Chapter 5 Selling the Mobil home
Chapter 6 The new miracle garage
Chapter 7 God is awesome, my cup is always running over
Chapter 8 Moving again
Chapter 9 Low interests rates
Chapter 10 New Truck
Chapter 11 I can’t believe it! We are moving again
Chapter 12 The thief comes but to God be all the Glory
Chapter 13 Blessings Blessing and more blessings
Chapter 14 Home to be with our Lord
Chapter 15 Wrap up testimonies
Chapter 16 The world is broke/Communion



Forward

If you want to see a pattern of blessings in a married couple’s live, look no further than Butch and Ann Leidel. We have known them for over 15 years and cherish their friendship. Since this is Ann’s book and testimony, we will expound briefly on her walk.
Ann is on fire for the Lord. She is not shy in sharing her faith and telling of God’s love for us through Jesus Christ. If you need a person to stand in agreement in prayer or a prayer “warrior”, Ann is the one to call on. As a wife and mother, we see Ann seeking out and pursuing a “blessed life” for her family. Her enterprising nature and good business sense are gifts from the Lord. She seeks direction from God, moves forward in faith and makes corrective actions on the way.
This book is a testimony of blessings one receives by looking to God as your Father, seeking His direction and acting in obedience to His Word and leading.
Ann is on a journey of faith. Her testimony shows her trust in God and His Word and the manifested blessings that followed. This journey is a work in progress. We anticipate seeing many more blessings in Ann’s life as it continues.
A blessing for us is the friendship of Butch and Ann.
Jim & Cynthia
Visintainer


Introduction

Here is a book that is quite different. I have been a Christian for some twenty seven years now. God has so blessed me and I wanted to share part of my life with you. It is just simple baby faith. You will read testimonies about angels, prosperity, healing and much more. If you don’t think God can amaze you sit back and enjoy. He continues to always amaze me.



Chapter 1

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought. You chart the paths ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment, you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it. You both precede and follow me, and place your hand of blessing on my head.

This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe! I can never be lost to your Spirit! I can never get away from my God! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me your strength will support me. If I try to hide in the darkness, the night becomes light around me. For even darkness cannot hide from God; to you the night shines as bright as the day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!

How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

Search me, o God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Reference from Psalm 139:1-12, 16-17, 23-24 (TLB)

It is wonderful to think about what this Psalm is saying. God has examined our heart and knows everything about us. He knows how much we love Him. He knows when we sit or stand. He knows our every thought. He charts the path ahead of us, and tells us where to stop and rest. He see’s our every move.

Every moment God knows where we are. He even knows what we are going to say before we say it. God precedes us and follows us, and places His hand of blessing upon our head. He knows everything we are going to say before we say it and He blesses us.

Back in the 50’s when I came into this world big families were not uncommon. Being the second oldest of eight there was more responsibility on me than on the others. All of us were raised in a religious denomination and went to eight years of their schooling.

A religious school was okay I guess. Having a low self esteem I didn’t have any friends that I even remember.

Graduating from 8th grade I knew about the law of God. I knew nothing of the love of God. I went on to high school for four years and graduated.

In high school keeping mostly to myself I didn’t make a lot of friends. In record keeping class I sat between a very cute guy and the girl he thought was hot. Him and her ended up getting together and dating.

Then there was the popular guy in my junior year. We dated for a while. He took me the homecoming dance. That ended up being the only dance I went to in my school years.

Then there was Brenda. We spent a lot of time together. Just getting my driver’s license I use to get the car often. We would just ride around town having a ball. Not long after high school we went our own way so I didn’t see her anymore. Stay tuned to hear what God was up to.

In my senior year I met a guy. Brenda liked him at first glance but he had eyes for me. To make a long story short we went farther than we should have. The end result I was pregnant.

After graduation I started getting ready to become a young mom. Being kids ourselves we didn’t know anything about forever or marriage so even though we intended to marry we never did. Not getting married at that time in my life showed to be one of the times that God had been working in me before I ever made Him part of my life.


Chapter 2

In 1975 my daughter Jodi was born, this brand new life that counted on me to take care of her. Jodi was a beautiful baby. Having a baby and being a baby yourself makes you think that you won’t know what to do. To some of us it just comes naturally especially if you learned by caring for younger siblings.

Know matter how you have children in this world they are always a gift from God. God does intend for marriage before having children in fact no sex before marriage is His idea. Being older now I know that it is a good idea. Saving yourself for the man that you will marry that really loves you should be the greatest thing. Sex before marriage is sin.

There are many times I wish that I would have saved myself for my husband. There are a lot of smooth talkers out there that will say almost anything to you to convince you that you should have sex with them. Be careful for those traps. A real man that wants and loves you will respect your wishes and wait.

Jumping down about seven years I am going to skip telling you my in between story. God knows my in between life stories and He knows yours.

In 1981 when Jodi was six a wonderful man came into our lives. Watching him with my little girl I knew I found a gem. He was accepting her as his own from the start. He was so good to both of us. He was just what I needed. People say that God tends to work in your life before you ask Him to. Believing that was not hard for me because I saw it in action. After dating for almost two years we married in the Lutheran Church that he belonged to as a child. We even started attending there on Sundays.

Since this book is about testimonies I want to share a story. This wonderful man that I met almost wasn’t. He is a truck driver. He had an accident that was very bad. All I am going to say is this. They don’t know how he ever walked in one piece from that accident. Again God working before He was asked to.

Then right after we were married I was out with a friend. My oldest daughter was in school. We were on a country highway when an empty school bus ran a stop sign and hit the car. The back window just shattered into the back seat. At that time not being saved yet all I could think of was if my daughter had been with me she would have been in the back seat. That was God working in my life before I asked Him to. God is so good.

We stayed living in the apartment that I had already been living in. A good place to start out but very limited.

We were married three months when we received the news that we would be having a baby. We were all quite excited about having an addition to our family.

Buying a used mobile home seemed to be a good fit for us. You have to start somewhere and that’s what we could afford. The home was a nice size three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was a nice home for us and again we knew it wouldn’t be permanent. We moved in and made it home.

Right after we moved in we got a really good deal on a used washer and dryer from a friend of a friend.

When you first get married girls make sure your husbands know about how the washing machine sometimes gets unbalanced.

We had no sooner purchased the washer and dryer when one day I was out shopping. When I left there was a load in the washer. When I came home my husband said honey the washer is broke. As he is telling me what happened I walk to the washer and said are you sure it is just not unbalanced. He watched me as I straightened the load shut the top and it worked. He was amazed.

Chapter 3

Right before our second daughter Kimberly was born my husband and I had been spending some time with people that talked to us about God. We all know of God but they were talking to us about God in a better way. They were telling us how much God loves us that He sent Jesus to die for our sins so we could be saved and live eternally with Him while having a personal relationship with Him while we live on this earth.

John 3:3 says unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The way it was explained to us Butch and myself saw the need to do what it says be born again. We asked Jesus to forgive our sins and invited Him to live in our hearts. This has to be a heartfelt confession not just reciting it because someone told you to.

We went to Christian book store and bought ourselves some bibles. As I was reading my new bible I marked it all up with notes and markers. It was like being a kid again with a new coloring book. Later I will tell you about how I thought I lost that bible but the Lord told me right where it was.

In your traditional churches they have confirmation. That’s fine if you know what it is all about. Confirmation is not biblical salvation is.

Many children when they get confirmed just follow the program doing what they are told to do. My husband and I did just what we were told to do when we had our confirmation. Asking Jesus in your heart and to forgive your sins is a prayer that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The traditional churches don’t at all like the term born again. When you think about it though being born again is what they call confirmation.

Romans 10:9-10 says if you confess Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved. Some people say they found God when they get saved. God is never lost so how they came up with that saying I will never figure out.

Being born again is not so popular with the religious traditional churches. They have a lot of law or legalism in their way of teaching. They teach you that if you do good works you have nothing to be concerned about you will make it to heaven. This is far from the truth.

People struggle with a lot of things. My theory is I believe the after life is a big struggle for most. Ask a person where they will go when they die. Most will say to heaven because I am a good person. The sad part is while they are telling you that they really don’t believe it.

The bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 that you are saved by grace not by works that any man should boast. Now I have upset some of you but really you should let that truth you just heard set you free.

In this world with people using the excuse I am to busy how would we ever do enough good works to get to heaven if that was what we had to do. Grace is a much better deal. God gave us free will to accept Him or not. My friend grace is the only way into heaven. If you are trying to be saved by works, look up the Scripture and read it for yourself.

Psalm 139 says you can never be lost to God’s Spirit. We can’t get away from God and once you know of His love for you who would want to. As a child I was taught a different God. The God of good works and of law wasn’t the God for me once I learned the truth.


Chapter 4

Everybody believes in God in some way or the other. Growing up I didn’t think about God that I remember or creation. My dad had records so I always wonder about them. They all looked the same except when you put them on the player different voices came out of all of them. How about flipping a switch and a light goes on. Turn on the faucet water comes out. Actually everything in this world is a wonder that God created.

Once we are older the biggest miracle I think we all get caught up in is that of a baby being born. If a baby being born doesn’t make you know there is a God I don’t know how you can be convinced.

Digging into the Word of God and going to church on Sunday was part of our new way of life.

Let me tell you that non demonational churches are much different than the traditional one you might of grew up in. The music is like nothing you have ever heard upbeat not boring. The songs are bible scriptures put to music. So much to choose from you might have a hard time choosing.

Christian TV another wonderful option we have. Christen TV has everything from cartoons to preaching to learning.

In today’s world the internet is very popular. That is alright because there is just as much on the internet to learn about God. We are without excuse to learn knowing God gave us all these different avenues.

Malachi 3:8-11 says Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of host, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.

After learning that Scripture we stopped robbing God. Tithing now was a part of our lives. Blessings are still coming so if the devil is stealing anything from you now you know why.

In 1984 Kimberly was born. After a few mild labor pains the hospital was the next stop. Butch was out of town working so called him to keep him informed. Once at the hospital I was having a grand old time all checked in, prepped just waiting for my baby to be born. Then around noon wow did the labor pains start to increase. Four hours of labor pains I thought would never stop. Then they came told me they would be doing an emergency C-Section. Never asked them what was wrong just begged them to put me out.

Then prep me again and as I am going under I hear the two doctors talking about the Packers. Oh good they are going to cut me open while discussing the packers.

When I woke up my husband is looking at me saying you couldn’t have waited a half hour. My doctor was going to let him come in so he could see the baby being born. He arrived at the hospital a half hour after she was born.

The reason for the C-section was the cord was wrapped around Kimberly’s neck twice. One of the names of God is Jehovah-Shammah meaning God is present. He certainly was present with all of us. The devil didn’t get his way.

Kim was born with her tear ducts not open. The doctor said they would have to do surgery if they didn’t open on their own. Are you all thinking what I think you are thinking? You are right with faith, prayer and my God they opened on there own. Surgery was not an option for the Lord this time.

At the time it wasn’t known to us but it is a testimony I want to share since that is what this book is all about. Anyway when her baby teeth came in she had the same space on her top teeth as her dad does. Being a girl I knew that she would care about that more than her dad does. Taking God at His word I just said a prayer asking that the permanent teeth would come in without that space. You know the answer right. They did.

God gives us doctors. Always remember though even if healing comes with the help of a doctor the Lord is still the healer. Medication is the same way. You can take it by faith but remember Jesus is healer He just used the medicine.

Kim and I stayed in the hospital six days and checked out.

We had our steak dinner in the hospital before we checked out that day. We had dinner and a baby instead of dinner and a movie.

Again another beautiful life put in my charge. This time it was quite different from the first time I had a baby. We were a family now it wasn’t just me and my baby as it was the first time around.

Nursing Kim was wonderful even though I thought it was just a way to save some money. Saving money was just a perk. A bond that God put there is created between mother and child.

Staying at home raising Jodi & Kim, taking care of the house while learning about God was wonderful. What a blessing. Life was good and I was learning how good God was.

Now this is funny. When I was washing a load of cloths the washer wouldn’t spin out the water. It had nothing to do with being unbalanced. So now the washer is broke. A friend of ours told us it was the water pump. He said go buy a water pump then he would come back and put it on. We did just that. He came back pulled the water pump off the washer and inside the pump there was a baby washcloth. He removed the wash cloth and put that old pump back on the machine. We took the new water pump that I am thinking was $60.00 back to the store and got our money back. God is so good. Need to tell you that washer and dryer lasted a very long time.

The working job force started for me when I was fourteen so not having an outside job was great. Taking care of the house, my husband and the children was not work to me. We had a simple life. We had everything we needed and didn’t go without anything. In today’s world both parents work because they feel they should or they need the money.

To all the moms reading this book if you want to stay home raising your own children just do it. You can afford it. Do you want your children bonding with someone else? Just ask God to show you how you can stay at home with the kids. God put man in charge anyway of bringing in the money. The things you think you need in life will come and they will come right when you need them. Sometimes I think we make life harder than it should be.

Working from my home right now doing marketing I wish I would have checked something like this out when my kids were young. My business is practical and profitable. So to stay at home moms you might want to check that out. There are plenty of company’s out there. I will say that my company is leading in the marketing industry. Look for more information later.

Payday came we wrote out our tithe check, filled the cupboards, the gas tank and paid the rest of the bills. Just a young married couple learning how to trust the Lord. People aren’t as content in the world today as it was for us back then. We didn’t mind staying home and watching movies and just being a family. We had everything we needed. Nowadays schedules are so busy some people figure it isn’t normal unless you have something going every night of the week.

Popcorn and soda was always a nice treat in the evening. Kim was too little for the hulls so Butch would eat the hulls off and give her the other part of it.

Knowing having a credit card isn’t always a good idea we applied for one. Credit cards are good if you are the one in control. Sometimes it is the other way around. Just make the decision you will control your spending.

We bought a camera using the credit card when the bill came we paid it. We have so many pictures now to look back at I am so glad we did that.

Times have changed now we have a digital camera. You can take as many pictures as you want and only keep the ones you like. That feature is wonderful when I am having pictures of myself taken. That is when the delete button gets used lots.

We started buying other things that same way. Not using the credit card but back in our earlier years ninety days same as cash with no interest was popular. Don’t be fooled though they just tack the interest on the price. Buying bigger items was nice with the ninety days. The bill was always paid when it came due.

We still used the credit card when we had to always paying the balance when the bill came due. That is how it should be done. A person should never live beyond their means. When you use faith to overspend it is not faith at all. Overspending is wrong be led by God.

Increase was on the move, we kept tithing and God kept blessing.

Knowing a VCR would be a very good investment we decided to purchase one. Now we were able to enjoy more Christian entertainment.

Coming into some money by selling some property Butch had before we were married allowed us to buy a used car along with some brand new furniture. The used car was great. It came equipped with a cassette player. What a blessing to play our own tapes.

One of my favorite things to do in the car was to grab a six pack of soda a bag of munchies and just take a ride. Rides were fun and very inexpensive. At Christmas time we drove around looking at the pretty lights. Jesus is the light of the world.

Now a day’s getting families together in one place at the same time isn’t the world’s way of doing things. Schedule’s are to full. Just grab your children a six pack of soda, some munchies lock them in the car and just drive. Have some much needed family time. Heads up don’t make the kids share a soda let them all have there own can.

Chapter 5

Having kids means needing more space so we put up a shed and built a new deck on the front of the mobile home. Doing whatever we could to add equity to the home knowing we wouldn’t live there long.

The deck was great. Kim just being a toddler we gated it in so I could let her play out there and have a ball.

There were not many kids in the area for the girls to play with. Jodi had a couple of friends that lived in the back of the court. Even though my children are nine years apart they enjoyed playing together.

After living in the Mobil home a year and a half we decided it was time to find a home with a yard. Maybe there would be playmates for the kids.

Selling on our own was the best fit for us. We put the ad in the paper saying a prayer. We asked God to sell it in two weeks by sending the right people. Now I am excited to go tell others what Butch and I were excepting God to do. As I would witness to other Christians I ran into some unbelief. They didn’t agree it could be done. It is okay that they didn’t agree with me I didn’t ask them to. One Christian friend at the time even said to me “do you know how many trailers are for sale in this town?”

God wants to honor your faith. He will meet you wherever your faith is. I wanted to move right away so that is what we believed God for. Two weeks later it was sold.

When a person gets saved or born again I think that God wants to show Himself with answered prayers quickly. God always answers prayers. As we grow in our faith sometimes it takes a little longer I think to get our prayers answered. We have to believe while having patience for the right timing. Some of my prayers didn’t get answers right away like the others. God has it all in control. They were answered at just the right time. It always turned out the way God knew it should be. Not the way I wanted it to. Remember God knows all He sees all. When you first get saved I believe He is just honoring simple baby faith.

The home sold so quickly we hadn’t even begun to look around. God wasn’t going to leave us with know place to go so I knew He must have a plan. God always has a plan never be mistaken about that.

My other half thought we could move twice. He was okay if we had to rent an apartment while we looked for a house.

What is it about men they think they have the hard job? When it comes to moving the women have the harder part. The packing the unpacking the putting everything away, washing what has to be washed, cleaning whatever is dirty. Move twice I don’t think so. The same God that sent the buyer for the mobile home knew where we were going. Remember He knows all even before it happens. He planned your days while you were in your mother’s womb.

We were visiting with some people that told us of a home for sale on the west side of town. The woman selling the home was discouraged because a couple of people that had wanted to buy it backed out at the last minute twice.

The place was vacant ready to move right in. Also the people that told us about the home knew the seller personally. They told us she will never let you move in before papers are signed since she was burned by a couple of people prior. Getting on the phone making the appointment was easy. With the appointment set we needed a divine intervention. Before we left to see the home my husband and I said a prayer asking God for a miracle if the place was for us. We knew He would make a way where someone told us already that there was no way.

The house was great. All the woodwork had just been redone. You could feel the coziness of the home. Trust me God will save that which is meant for you. This home had our name on it and I knew it. God saved it for us.

The seller knowing we needed a place to go right now told us if the bank told her with there mouth we have the loan we could move into the home when we needed to two weeks later. A few days later the bank confirmed with her that they would give us a loan. She did not even make us wait the two weeks we started moving right away. God made the way.

It’s funny to think about it now that I am older because we got excited when the bank said yes to the loan but what a rip off with all the interest.

Moving in getting settled we made it home. It was exciting even though moving isn’t always fun.

The bathroom and bedrooms were hardwood floors with the bathroom in between the two bedrooms. The bathtub was one of those old fashion ones with the slant so when you took a bath you could just lay back and not get a neck cramp.

The basement was finished except for a ceiling. For the ceiling they draped material to make it look complete. With electric heat already installed it was a wonderful play area for the children.

On the front of the house was one of those big huge old porches screened in with storms for the winter. The porch was very useful. It could be used three seasons of the year. Kim was younger so she could play out there unattended. In the summer when the windows were opened it was like she was outside. The kids made forts and whatnot on that porch loving it. The two windows that were on the porch side didn’t have screens on so the kids could be on the porch and crawl in and out of there bedroom window and play.

The back yard had a row of mature pine trees that made it a little more private for us. It was a cozy home for the four of us. To God be the glory.
Chapter 6

Psalm 112 says that God will give us the desires of our heart. A lot of Christians don’t believe or understand that promise.

God knows our wants and He wants to give them to us. We need to take God at His Word.

When you give into God’s kingdom He made the law saying it will come back to us good measured pressed down running together men will give unto us according to Phil. 4:19. You will never out give God the blessings keep coming.

The devil is a thief so don’t let him keep stealing from you. For a season butch took care of his boss’s big yard. We would rake spring and fall and in the summer cut the lawn. We had a chance to buy a used computer. We were going to use the money from the fall raking to pay for it. Well we had a light snow earlier than we should have. The raking hadn’t been done yet. All I could think of was devil you will not steal that computer from me.

Determined I went over there and started raking over the snow. Later that day my Lord put the sun bright in the sky so the rest of the snow melted.

Romans 4:17 God said to Abraham “A Father of Many Nations Have I Made You” in the sight of Him whom believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

Our home had a one stall garage. My husband wanted to put up a bigger one. That Romans scripture was a very interesting to me so I started using it.

At that time a neighbor was building a new garage. He had his wood for building sitting in his yard. Every time I pulled in or out of my driveway I began thanking the Lord for our wood pile. By faith I called into being that which did not exist. In the natural the only way we could put the garage up was to take a loan.

Psalm 139 says God planned your ways and knew everything about you before you were born. Ever heard that saying God works in mysterious ways. God always works behind the scenes.

Butch had taken out a life insurance policy when he was younger. The insurance rep. kept calling wanting to meet with us. He was very persistent. After the third call I made an appointment with him and he came over. He was telling us that the policy that my husband had taken out when he was much younger before we married was over paid two thousand dollars. Let me tell you I did what any other woman would do I held out my hand and said give it to me. That night we took out a family life insurance policy canceled the old one and received the money.

Knowing we had the money now the demolition started on tearing down the old garage. That wasn’t to hard at all because you put a crowbar in any guys hand he is ready to go.

It didn’t work the same way when we went to remove the concrete slab the garage had been set on. Of course I said just leave it we can add concrete to it. The last word wasn’t mine though. We had hired someone to do the job so we were at his mercy to remove it. It was very thick very deep. The guys that came to help us left one by one after feeling defeated. The job got done we were ready to build.

On a Saturday a bunch of our friends came over the garage was up. Butch had been off Friday so he with the help of a friend framed the walls for the garage. They were too heavy to be lifted so they were left lying on the ground until more helpers came. On Saturday when the helpers got there the framed walls just had to be lifted up secured and nailed. Before long the roof was on, windows and service door all in working condition. The end of the day the biggest part of the job was done. The garage was now standing and looked great. There was finishing work to be done along with the main door being installed. My husband finished it working on it when he had time. The garage was a huge 24x32 blessing to us. Everything fit in it.

That Scripture proved to be a very powerful one. Calling into being that which does not exist. God means what He says.

Early Monday morning Butch woke up in some pain. He had been finishing up the shingling on the garage roof that day. It was quite hot and humid and he wasn’t drinking enough water. We took a trip to the emergency room to find out the problem. He had a kidney stone and they checked him in. They said that if it didn’t pass they would have to remove it by surgery. Heard that before? Anyway the next morning he passed it.

We had been invited to a swimming party prior to this happening so we decided to go. Some of our Christians friends that were with us at the party were concerned at Butch jumping off the diving board after just being released from the hospital.

Jehovah-Rophe which means God our healer performed the miracle so we weren’t concerned.

What happen is while doing the garage roof he got dehydrated. Most men don’t drink enough water. He tries a little harder now to drink more water and less soda.

It says in John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus says that He comes that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

The kidney stone was an attack from the devil because the night he spent in the hospital was his first day of a two week vacation. It was an attack on our finances as well as our time. God interceded and to Him be the glory. The enemy comes you just have to know that you have authority over him in the name of Jesus.

Don’t fall into that lie that God gives and He takes away. He didn’t give us the provision for that beautiful garage and then try to take the joy of it away by making a trip to the hospital.

God takes things away from us that are bad like drinking, smoking, overspending, or overeating for example. Just don’t believe for one moment that He provides for you then takes it away. Sometimes it isn’t even the devil to blame. We ourselves sometimes do things that are stupid or self inflicted. I will talk about that later.

It is more blessed to give than to receive so when God blesses you with anything and you choose to give it away that is a different story. The Word says that God is a good God that will never change. God doesn’t lie.

God said on this earth we can do anything that Jesus did so that means we can lay hands on the sick and they will recover, cast out devils, make the wind listen to us and so on. It doesn’t work if we don’t believe. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So read your bibles and learn.

Chapter 7

Since I was making extra money babysitting we talked about buying a brand new car. Know sooner than we talked about it they didn’t need me to babysit anymore. We wanted to still buy the car and we had been looking so I just put an ad in the paper to get another job. Now it was up to my God.

Meanwhile we went and brought ourselves a 1989 Pontiac Grand Am. That was an exciting moment for both of us. The car was great and the first time either one of us had owned a brand new vehicle.

When no calls came on the babysitting ad I wasn’t discouraged about it. Standing on faith isn’t always easy but it will always work. When waiting on God for anything be careful because the thief may interfere with thoughts of doubt. The Lord always provides. Remember doubt comes just keep speaking faith words. Whatever is in your heart will come out your mouth.

Ruth chapter 2 says that Ruth went to the fields to glean among the ears of grain. The owner of the field Boaz saw her and asked who she was. They told him and Boaz told his servants to make sure that it wasn’t hard for her to find food but to leave it right out there so she could easily find it.

God has given all of us a Boaz maybe more than one. You just have to pray for God to send yours. Little did I know mine was on the way.

Since know calls came in on the babysitting ad I decided to go another route. House cleaning was another route that I had been thinking about. Since we were enrolling Kim into a Christian school the following year they let me run the ad in there school paper. It wasn’t long I received a call from a builder that had some new apartment buildings where he needed to have the hallways cleaned once a week. Accepting the job he offered me I went to work for him. He wasn’t looking for an employee he was looking for a business so I started my own cleaning business. God sent my Boaz. My own business I felt so prosperous.

Kim went with me to work. There was this young women Holly that lived there in one of the apartments. We would visit with her often. She offered that Kim could stay with her when I was cleaning. It sounded good to the both of us. Holly was always doing things with Kim and they both enjoyed it. She was a blessing to both of us.

When I started cleaning the hallways there was only three apartment buildings that needed to be cleaned. Payday was once a month I would pay tithe and car payment. The builder was still building and every time a building was completed I would clean it.

When Kim started Christian school I paid tithe, car payment and school payment. Soon there was enough cleaning that once tithe, car payment and schooling was paid for I could do whatever I wanted to with the rest of the money.

Owning your own time by owning your own business is a good way to go when you have young children because you set your schedule to the school schedule. It freed me up to be able to do field trips, have lunch with the kids or whatever came up.

In the end the builder had twelve apartment buildings in all. He also built new homes and duplexes which I cleaned with the help of my wonderful husband.

Apartment hall ways were easy. The hard part was transporting the equipment. That is where a cute little red wagon came in handy. Pulling all my stuff was easier after I purchased the wagon.

God opened the door for prosperity while I enjoyed what I was doing. Meeting a lot of people that lived there was fun also. It is always nice making new friends. Increase and blessings just kept coming.

Those apartments are still there. Occasionally I drive by them. I rejoice in how God planned for that builder taking me under his wing.

God is so good and so providing that I received a call on that old ad that I had run for the babysitting long after I ran the ad. The woman was looking for a babysitter for her child. Her child was the same age as Kim and lived right in our neighborhood. My God had it so she still had the newspaper with my ad in it. God will move heaven and earth for you if that’s what you believe. Since I love to clean and my daughter needed a playmate none of this was really work yet I got paid. Praise my God! I worked in the morning cleaning hallways and was home in the afternoon with the children.

The money was used to update some things in our house. We put in a new furnace with central air, new windows, one being a bode window that someone had given us, built a bedroom in the basement, new carpet, we bought a new stove, refrigerator and dishwasher, some cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom, ceiling fan, a shower in the bathroom and painted some walls.

The house was great before we did all this but the dishwasher was broke and the stove and refrigerator that came with the home when we bought it was quite old. Anything you do to a home increases value in it for resale.

My husband has always wanted a Terry Redlin print. Window shopping for one of them was done quite often. Christmas was coming which was a perfect time to get it for him.

We went to look at them again. The salesman was clued in on what was going on. He just had to listen as I asked my husband how he would frame his Terry Redlin when we bought one. My husband said exactly what he would want. Leaving the place together I made an excuse to go back to tell the salesperson to do it just like he just said. Asking God to bring in the money I knew it was a go for sure.

When I was at work cleaning the hallways some of the people that I had gotten to know asked if I would clean there apartment one time for the Christmas holiday. Most of the money I needed was raised doing that but I was still a little short. Let go and let God. To my surprise the money I was short came in through my husband’s Christmas bonus. God has such a sense of humor.

We brought our second brand new car another grand am. We really didn’t need it but traded in the first one when the mileage was still low. We now keep our vehicles a long time because we purchase them brand new and we take very good care of them. They last us a long time. It isn’t smart to spend all that money on interest.

After a while the cleaning business started to be to much physical labor and when people wanted my services I found it hard to say no so decided that rather than get into the hiring people part I moved on. Maybe that’s not what the Lord had for me but to tell the truth I never sought Him on what I should do. Maybe I was meant to keep it and hire a team.

It wasn’t hard to find other jobs. God always had a job for me whatever I needed. Actually jobs just seem to drop in my lap which was a good thing because I get bored with one and want to move on to another.

Getting a job at a fast food restaurant didn’t sound like fun but I have to say I did enjoy it. After working there for a while I quit because of the pressure. You were expected to do the work of sometimes three people.

Butch got his first cell phone and what a blessing that was. Being able to talk to him on the road was wonderful. He was so proud walking around with his new cell phone. It was nice to know where he was most of the time. Nowadays it isn’t normal unless you have a cell phone hanging on your ear.

Our times at this home were just the best. We met new friends, had good times and we have many memories.

We had a friend that we didn’t invite. The funny part was is it was our guest long before we knew it.

One night after going to bed my husband says what was that noise? Since I didn’t hear it I couldn’t help him out. It was a bat because of those pine trees.

He got out of bed got the broom oh yeah he put a hat on. What a sight he was standing there in his underwear with a hat on and a broom in his hand.

He wanted me to help him. I was willing to do whatever I could do to help from under the covers. Bats are hard to find when you turn the lights on they disappear. He did find it after pulling down the curtains and blinds in the room.


Chapter 8

We decided we wanted to live in East De Pere so we put the house up for sale by owner. Deciding to sell on our own wasn’t a hard choice. That is your money and why should you give it to somebody else while letting people tramp through your home when you are not there. Anyway we sold the home and doubled the price we had bought it for.

It says in the bible in 1Tim 6:10 the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. When we put the house on the market some pretty greedy realtors stopped by. One realtor said we could get much more than we were asking.

When you seek God for your price you should stick to it you will be blessed. As a Christian you are responsible on how you live in this world and the choices you make. God’s bible gives us all kind of instructions for Godly living.

It was six months before God sent the buyer for the house just in time to rent a beautiful duplex in East DePere. We would buy another home but not right away.

At the time we sold the home you had one year to reinvest the money or pay capital gains tax. That just wasn’t right. What about those that don’t want to reinvest it or can’t because they need the money. (I put that capital gains tax later in the Lord’s hand because it wasn’t right and as I am writing this we don’t have it anymore).

Choosing a duplex verses an apartment was a smart choice since we had so much stuff. The duplex was quite nice it was something I always wanted. The bedrooms were upstairs which I liked because if you had company you still had privacy because there was no need for anyone to go upstairs. Yes I still made the bed in the morning and kept it clean.

So far living in DePere was fun except they had very hard water. The landlord let us purchase a water softener.

We were going to buy another home but we were going to wait for a while and look around.

The first day we started looking around I wanted to lie down and cry when I saw what East De Pere had to offer. Looking at homes we found they were priced higher than what we had just sold our home for. It would have been okay except they weren’t better than the one we just sold. They were just crappy overpriced homes. I am so thankful that God is always on the throne.

The bible says that God never sleeps nor slumbers. It was time to write my faith confession and believe God.

Romans 8:28 says that everything works to our good if we love God. Knowing there was a home for us I just had to find out where it was. My faith confession included everything I wanted the home to be and the price range we needed. Reading it everyday strengths your faith.

There were two spec homes that were built in an older neighborhood in East De Pere so we went to look at them. One was finished one was not. The house that was finished was nice. We liked it except for the island they put in the middle of what was already a small kitchen. The price was right though so we had something to think about.

We went and looked at the other one even though it wasn’t completed yet. There was an eye sore of a home next door so Butch said no.

A little bit of time went by. The house he said no to was now finished. We went through the house again. Half an hour passed when we decided to buy the home. The home had sat on the market for one year so the price kept coming down right to what we needed it to be. God saved it for us. Heard that before?

Neighbors told us that the price started out at almost a hundred thousand dollars. We needed to buy a home in the eighty thousand price range.

When we looked at the home they were asking eighty three thousand five for it and we offered eighty thousand. They said they needed eighty one thousand. It certainly was worth that much.

After we purchased the home I would go over there every day before we had moved in just praising my God. They gave me the garage opener so I could go in and out. One day when I was on our patio the woman from the eye sore home came out. She was telling me that the house had been condemned it would be torn down. It was rental property.

Phil. 4:19 says my God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. God took care of everything as usual. These are my prayers I didn’t pray but God knew. Just so you know the house was bad and needed to come down. The people living there didn’t seem to care that they had to move. I would never want someone to be homeless.

Moving day came on June 9th 1995. A bunch of our friends came to move us to our new home.

The home was two bedrooms, one bathroom ranch style. We had a front driveway even though the home had an alley. Our first brand new home in an older neighborhood with lots of trees.

We went to work making this new house our home. Every night when Butch would get home from work he would say okay honey what has to be done. I would tell him and he’d get it done.

Planting a yard wasn’t much fun but we made the most of it.

We needed to add some things to the home that it didn’t come with. We brought a front storm door because for whatever reason new home builders don’t put them on.

One of the things added to the home we didn’t want. When the cable guy installed his stuff he failed to cover the hole he drilled to push the wires through.

You guessed it we had a rodent. We had it for a while again before we knew about it. One night my husband was out of town. There was a noise coming from the basement. It sounded like a mouse to me. I shoved a rug by the door till he got home the next day. He went down there he found nothing.

Then one day I was down there and there was a big pile of poop on top of my freezer. When I opened the freezer it fell off of course.

He went down there he found nothing. Then I got serious I told him there is something down here find it. He got on a stool and checked the ledge around the freezer. There he found the tracks of a rodent.

The way it came in the rodent only had this little space to run back and forth. It had been there so long that the installation was just full of poop. That is why it dropped on the freezer.

My husband had to replace all that installation in that area. He set a trap to kill it. We were in the basement one night doing laundry. He heard it so he got on a stool he killed it.

We bought ceiling fans for the bedrooms. My sister was selling a window air conditioner so we bought it. The way the house was set up the window air conditioner cooled almost the whole house. It came in handy for a season.

As time went by we added some stuff to the house like central air, a privacy fence, a pond in the backyard, lots of flowers and shrubs. We had brought all new appliances when we moved in. We also added another pantry in the kitchen for storage.

Someone gave us a bread machine as a house warming present. We put up some drywall in the garage along with paneling in the basement. My husband had bought some new tools so he could build me some beautiful shelves over the patio door. They looked so nice he then made me a couple for the bedroom windows. God gave him such a blessing working with his hands. He also built me a shelf for the microwave. We brought our first new computer at this house.

It was great living in this area. We could walk to the movies, for ice cream, to Shopko, or the park. The park was on the water it was beautiful. Life was so simple we had everything we needed when we needed it. God is such a good and loving God. The more you know God the easier it is to live in this world. Knowing what I know I wouldn’t choose to spend one day without Him.

The children wanted to get a dog. One day my oldest daughter and I went to look at one. We ended up buying her that day. We named her Ali.

Having a fear of dogs and knowing according to 2Tim 1:7 God says that He didn’t give us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind I thought that if we got a dog when it was a puppy it could grow with me. Dogs that I don’t know I am still careful of but thanks to Ali I have learned a lot about the animal. God also made sure we bought the right dog. Ali was the runt of the litter. That I believed made her a gentle dog. Ali, a shih-tzu and she love’s to go in the car. We brought her home on Friday headed out of town on Saturday so I believe that’s why she loves the car so much.

The mail lady was afraid of her which was really funny because of her small size. One day though the mail lady came to the door. While answering the door Ali got out. The mail lady was surprised to see that all Ali wanted to do was smell her. The dog helped both of us I guess.

Right before we moved to this home I had decided to start the cleaning business again but a little different this time. I was going to clean homes but just enough that I wasn’t overworked or over pressured physically. Friends of ours offered me the first job to get me started and God added the rest.

We lived in DePere so I decided that is where I would only accept jobs. I ran an ad in the journal which at the time was the only DePere paper. Taking one job for each day was just right for me.

Working in the mornings and being home in the afternoon was great. Having just what I needed I was content. If a person quit me God would replace it. Word of mouth was always the best advertising.

Being home in the afternoons doing my own cleaning along with other things before the kids came home from school was a real treat.


Chapter 9

You know the story though I didn’t clean homes for long. Yes I got bored with it.

Moving on I worked at a place where my job was to take care of babies. It was a home for young moms that had been in trouble a time or two. Watching the babies was fun. I enjoyed it very much.

In the summertime when the moms were home for summer vacation they took care of there babies so they found odd jobs for me to do in the office. They just kept telling me what they wanted done and I would do it. It was while I was sitting in that office that I said you know Lord I could get use to this office work. My jobs had always been physical jobs.

We brought our third brand new car but this time we went with a Chevy. It was a bigger car than the two Grand Am’s we had and it was wonderful. One of my kids learned to drive using that car.

Here we go again time to switch jobs. The babies were great but the moms were a whole different story. Teenage mothers shouldn’t be allowed to talk to adults the way some of them did. My children never talked to me like some of them did so I quit.

When I was looking for a new job I applied at two places. A candy store three blocks from my home along with an insurance company. When I went to fill out the applications I walked into the insurance company. There were a lot of people along with lots of chaos. Deciding I would still fill out the application I left knowing it wasn’t for me. This would have been an office job.

Walking through the doors of the candy store was a whole different scenario. According to Phil 4:7 the peace that passes all understanding,

God’s peace was there within me. The candy store was looking for someone to work on there candy line.

Both jobs called me. Between the two of them I had to accept the candy store one. Knowing it was God wasn’t hard because of the peace I felt. Only four blocks from my home was nice also.

Even though the store was looking for someone to work on there candy line they decided to put me in there office.

Is anybody seeing a pattern here? Remember when I had said Lord I could get use to this office work. The job also was supposed to be seasonal. Having peace I knew if I was meant to stay after the holidays the Lord could do it. Someone in the office quit which made room for me to stay. God is so good He knows our wants desires and He wants to give them to us.

While working there the owner was talking about how low the interest rates were on mortgages. God will talk to you through others if He has to. Mortgage isn’t my department as far as knowledge goes so I went and asked him some questions. After talking with him I knew we should rewrite our mortgage.

We went from a thirty year loan to a fifteen year and the payment stayed the same. All kinds of interest although was lost. Someone shout glory. Some Christians believe that you shouldn’t have a mortgage. You have to live somewhere. When you rent you are throwing away all your money. In the end you own nothing. You may pay interest but in the end though you own a house.

I might have done things different knowing what I know now being older but debt free including the mortgage is up to you. Mortgage is the only debt that we have because I won’t pay that interest anymore on vehicles. Too many dealerships offer no interest on certain vehicles that you can make a payment if you must but with no interest.

Many testimonies are being heard about mortgages being paid off. The glory all goes to the Lord. We will own this beautiful home that God gave us in twelve years according to the bank. We have decided it is time to pay it off early. We always trust God to pay off our vehicle loans early and we trust Him for all our other needs and mortgage is no different.

One year later I heard the same talk in the same office about low interest rates. Asking him again about the rates I ended up at the bank to rewrite the loan. While waiting for the appointment there were flyers laying there that said pay off you home in ten years at ninety nine dollars closing cost. Inquiring about this I decided that was the route to go. This home will be ours in ten years. Somebody shout Praise my Lord!

The candy store job lasted four years. That is the longest job I think I have ever had. Deciding to go for a different job I applied at a dealership that a friend of mine worked at. The hours were a bit more stable than the candy store with no long hours at the Christmas and Easter holiday. Needing a change I went for it. The dealership was something totally different for me. Not use to working with mostly men was something different for me. Office work again.

Chapter 10

We brought our fourth brand new vehicle this time Butch got his truck. Just so everybody knows I started confessing and thanking the Lord for the truck long before we went and bought it. Confessing that it wouldn’t be one day late either.

My husband got his Ford Ranger. He is a ford man. Its great and of course just like all the other vehicles we brought God helped us to pay it off long before the bank said that we were due. The sad part buying this one was I missed God which made us miss out on a blessing. The job at the dealership was mine because I knew that God had sealed the deal. They just had to call and confirm.

We bought the vehicle after I had applied for the job because I figured that there must be a waiting time once you work there before you can buy a vehicle. Guess what I was wrong. You can buy a vehicle and get the employee discount the same day you start the job if you want. We got a great deal anyway we just didn’t get the best deal. Oh well.

When we buy vehicles we never take that insurance that they offer in case something happens to you. When you have that insurance they make the payment if you can’t. When the salesman said do you want the insurance my husband who isn’t always the decision maker quickly blurted out yes. It must have been meant to be so we took it.

We were told that we can get some of the premium back if we pay off early and since I knew that we would be paying off early we would get some of the money back. Hang around we are going to talk more about this deal later. We did pay it off in two years.

We sold the grand am that my husband had been driving out right and bought a new computer. It crashed a couple of times but it was brought back to life. The last time it crashed the person fixing it said it was a very good computer we should add some more memory.

My husband has always been good working with his hands. God does say that He will bless the work of our hands. When he was in high school he made a beautiful desk in shop class.

Through the years he has made other things like I mentioned in other parts of the book. When the kids were younger I had saw this nice bunk bed set at the store. Wanting to buy the bunk bed set I took him to the store he said no. It isn’t study enough was his complaint. He went home drew a picture of what he saw and made them. He has a real gift from God.

He decided to start making cremation urns from wood. With his job delivering Caskets he is in the funeral homes everyday. We will sell to anybody although the funeral industry is where we sell most of them.

We decided to put up a garage on the alley for him to do the woodworking. He was left some inheritance money so we built a two stall garage. The inheritance money was of course another blessing because he had no idea that his dad had that money. Even after splitting the money between five siblings it was quite a chunk.

Again a bunch of our friends got together and helped us build that garage. It was wonderful for him he loved it. He put heat in it and he even put a window air conditioner out there. We used it for the woodworking as well as storage and the boat. Butch enjoyed the garage. We built the garage not knowing that we did it for resale value. He didn’t get to enjoy it very long.

Chapter 11

I assumed that this home was our retirement home since it was just the right size for four of us I knew two of us would fit perfect. God had different plans and we sold the home.

The reason we were moving was because of rental property in our neighborhood. It was getting bad. Praying and praying didn’t get rid of the problem so I knew the Lord was showing us to move. Life isn’t always perfect and doesn’t always go your way. It was kind a sad when we made that decision about moving.

Another sign went in the front yard. Right after we did that we were approached by a man that advertises your home for you on the internet. He takes pictures to put on the website. Our phone number goes on the site so we handle everything else. Not costing much we decided that was the route to go. Two weeks later it was sold.

We enjoyed nine wonderful years at this home and it would have been hard to move on but knowing God has it all in control is such a blessing.

This time though we had forty five days to find a new home before closing.

Jeremiah 29:11: I learned many years ago that God has a plan to prosper you and not to harm you and I am so glad that I am His child and I know that plan.

We looked in one subdivision saw a few homes. Since my husband had to go back to doing his woodworking in the basement it had to be just right for him. We walked into the third house in the subdivision and said this is the one.

We have best friends that live out of town. They came to look at the house with us. They also knew it was perfect for us. So we bought the home 8 days after selling Erie St.

My Lord knows how to give great birthday gifts. Sold one home on my birthday bought the new one on his birthday.

When we refinance Erie St. twice I had no idea that the money we saved on interest would open the door to be able to buy this beautiful new home.

This house cost more then I would have thought we could afford. We made a lot of money on the sale of Erie St. It is always a good idea to add as much equity as you can to your home because that is what made us able to get so much for it.

We tried to get them to go down in price on the new home. It hadn’t been on the market long so they didn’t budge. Who could blame them they knew the home was worth what they were asking. They did however throw in central air conditioning. The same builder built the neighboring homes and none of them had central air thrown in.

We bought the new home in Bellevue and words will never ever express what I feel in my heart. This house is beautiful. We had a good down payment on this home so even in the natural it will be paid for quickly.

We moved in on May 21st 2004. Moving day was so exciting we had a lot to do but we had fun. The weather was a little rainy and cool but nothing could take our joy away. I did panic just a little when we were at the bank.

I planned the closing of both homes a few hours apart. That was okay but when we went to the closing on the new house the money hadn’t been wired yet from the other house sale.

Apparently that is not uncommon and the guys at the bank said it will be fine the money will be wired. We started to move things and I asked them to call me when everything was legal and they did but it was quite a bit later. God is always in control.

Planning everything for moving day might not have been the best idea. We had the cable guy here, the water softener was being installed and four new appliances being delivered. Not to mention we were trying to unload the truck with all our stuff in. Oh yeah the pizza delivery dude too. There was ciaos but fun ciaos because in the end the prize was mine this beautiful home.

We didn’t learn our lesson yet though. The cable guy again left a gap after installing wires. This time we had crickets. They were in the basement. Asking my husband can they come upstairs he humored me and said no. Thinking about it later I knew they hopped. Our basement stairs are in the living room. One night I heard something turned on the light there were three crickets heading up the stairs.

Another night I woke up hearing one thinking that sounds to close for comfort so I got out of bed and found it in my bathroom. Kim had one in her room also.

Men are so funny about this kind of stuff. They don’t care who they live with. My husband took his sweet time finding out where they were coming in. He found the gap and the crickets were outside again where they belong.

It was around eleven o’clock that night and everything was unpacked and put away except the kitchen needed to be unpacked yet. Wanting to call it a night my youngest daughter said come on we are almost done. We made the kitchen a working kitchen and went to bed.

Our dog Ali was a little stressed because she spent a lot of time at the other home in the basement. I cleaned the basement a few weeks before we moved and nobody was allowed down there unless you were doing laundry. Ali didn’t like that one bit.

Then on moving day we left her until the last load came to the new house. She was so stressed not knowing what was going on. Kim quickly fixed her room then Ali was at home again.

The new washer didn’t work properly so I went back to the store and told the woman. She said we will bring you another one but it won’t be for a month. That was okay with me because the washer at least worked but the dial didn’t move on its own so I just had to move it along myself when I would wash cloths.

When the month was up they brought the new appliance. They brought me a dryer. Explaining to the delivery guy that it was suppose to be a washer he told me he would take care of it when he returned to the store then he would call me.

Do you think I waited for that call? You are right I did not. Calling the store as soon as the delivery guys left I told the story to an employee who told his manager. They called me back and said that they didn’t have the model anymore that I had purchased but they would bring me the new model that day yet.

Taking a lot of time to pick out my appliances I picked a dryer with a buzzer. Never had one like that before I was so excited.

The new washer they brought me has a buzzer also. My friend that is the favor of the Lord according to Psalm 90:17. Don’t ever think that God doesn’t care about the little things. God is a God of detail.

We had started moving things to a storage shed when we knew we would be moving. If we wouldn’t have done that moving day would have been overwhelming.

We moved with a boat that my husband had purchased when he was eighteen. It had started getting used less and less so we sold it. We didn’t have anywhere to store it anyway.

It was in such good shape and came with all the accessories that he sold it for the same price he paid for it many years ago. The boat was over twenty five years old.

God supplies all our needs.

A funny story along with a testimony is right before we sold the boat we decided to take it out one more time. There weren’t many other boaters around that day.

We are in the boat and my husband is having a hard time starting the motor. At my suggestion once it was running we stayed close to the shore line. All of a sudden the motor stopped. The water pump had broken.

Butch pulls out the paddles to put them in the water. As he is putting the paddles in the water the paddle part fell of into the water. Happy I had on sun glasses he didn’t see my facial expression. It was funny.

To God be the glory. It must have been Him telling us to stay close to the shore line. We had to replace the water pump before we sold it. God supplies all our needs.

We also moved with a piano and sold it since it didn’t get played once the kids moved out and actually not much when they lived here either.

We used that money to buy a riding lawn motor after we planted a yard. The rider is great.

Every single day and even today almost seven years later I still wonder if it’s a dream. This home has three bedrooms and two baths. Also has the gas fireplace I have always wanted. Since the children are grown we use one of the extra bedrooms for a den. The other one is the spare bedroom. It also has first floor laundry. As I said God has outdone Himself.

We had to build a shed to keep the rider in along with our other stuff. The garage just holds the two vehicles. We settled for the smaller garage because we loved everything else about the home when we saw it.

We get to see the sunrise from the front of the house the sunset from the back of the house.

Missing when the children were young I wish we could all live here. The children have there own lives to live. I have so many found memories of every place that we have lived.

As I write this my youngest daughter is living here again. It is nice to have her here but I know she doesn’t want to be here long. Both my kids have lived back here for a season and it is such a blessing to me that they always know where home is.

All I have to say is I can’t wait to see the next home that my wonderful Lord has for us.

Chapter 12

In John 10:10 Jesus says that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. People don’t realize that the devil is alive and well in this world working. God loves you the devil hate’s you. It also says that Jesus gave us authority over the devil.

In Psalm 91 it says that God will give His angels charge over you to keep you safe.

Four months after we moved in Butch was on a ladder and fell. It was self inflicted because he knew the ladder was too small for what he was trying to do.

Some people believe that God allows bad things to happen to you. Don’t believe for one moment that is true. We allow them.

Anyway when he fell of the ladder he broke his arm. Remember the truck we brought and we took the insurance on it well they made three payments for us. We still paid it off early and received some of the premium back.

Our Lord who sees all knew that was going to happen and let it be known I didn’t say made it happen. God is a good God and doesn’t do bad things to test you.

While I was waiting at a stop light right here by the house the light turned green for me to go but since I was messing around with my cassette player I hadn’t seen it change to green. When I did look up and knew that I could proceed just as I was going to go this car came from my left and proceeded to run the red light going very fast. If I had proceeded through the light he would have hit me. Psalm 91 was in action, angels were taking charge of me, Gods special agents.

My daughter Jodi was painting for a friend of hers that was out of town for a week. She fell off the ladder. She said that she saw the angels push her away and keep her from falling down a flight of stairs and since she had been there alone she would have laid at the bottom of the stairs helpless.

We had to believe for some healing but God is always faithful. Later I saw the stairs and she explained how it happened. It makes me cry to think about how much God loves us and takes care of us if we believe.

My husband came home one day and found my wedding rings on the ledge in our back hall. They are so precious to me. The funny thing is I didn’t know they were missing because I never took them off. When he said to me do you want these? He opened his hand and I saw my rings. Like I said I didn’t even know they were missing. I looked down at my fingers then at that time noticed they were missing. Angels are always on the job.

A little tidbit for all of you though angels aren’t fat little naked babies in diapers. The bible says they are mighty in strength.

Chapter 13

Phil 4:19 and my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Way back our daughter wanted a silk blouse. They were quite costly and we didn’t choose to spend that much money on one.

One night when Butch was out of town overnight he found one under the bed at the motel. He was excited to bring it home for her. She didn’t care for the style but she did wear it for a while.

One time I was given a 50.00 dollar grocery card from another Christian. She said God told her to give it to me.

Butch found forty dollars one morning while taking his walk. God sent him where the money had fallen from someone’s pocket.

When I go shopping and buy things the sales clerk will tell me to come back on a certain day. They say what you just bought will be going on sale so I can get money back if I bring in my receipt. The blessings never stop when you do it God’s way.

We had purchased a stereo surround sound system. Without saying to much somebody pushed the wrong computer key and we ended up getting for free a one thousand dollar unit.

All I will say is we knew we owed the money. We went to the store and told them how much we owed them. They just kept saying our account is paid in full. What a blessing.

This was our second stereo system. With the first stereo I would make or dub tapes for people. God saw that seed in the ground. He blessed us with this new stereo system. Some of you unbelievers are saying God doesn’t work that way oh yes he does. Just remember God owns this whole world and everything in it. God never forgets a seed sown.

I could go on and on about the blessing of my God. This is a taste of what He will do for you. Just ask Him.

Chapter 14

My Grandmother at the age of 81 was a very Religious person. She didn’t pay much attention to what God said about being born again. Being religious is alright if you still know the truth about what the bible says in Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

A lot of people believe that good works save them or going to church all the time. The bible clearing states that it is only God's grace. Also just believing in God isn’t enough to get you into heaven as you can clearly see in the Scripture.

In John 3:3 Nicodemus the religious leader came to Jesus saying what must I do to be saved? Jesus said you must be born again. We are meant to have our own personal relationship with God not have man tell us what they think.

Anyway she was in the hospital and it didn’t look so good. My sister and I decided that we needed to get to the hospital and confirm where she would spend eternity.

We walked into a room full of people. We went in and just waited for the Lord to tell us what to do next. It didn't take long one by one everybody left leaving just us and grandma.

We had talked to grandma so much about being born again that I went a different route telling her that in Romans 10:9-10 it says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. Asking her if she wanted to pray she said yes repeating a prayer after us.

In that Scripture it says believe in your heart. That is sometimes the hard part. We all have head knowledge of God but the heart knowledge is more important. There is 18 inches between the head and the heart. We need to know the difference. The heart needs to know Jesus.

My daughter Jodi came to me (she was 16 at the time) she wanted to know was Grandma going to die? After telling her yes Jodi asked if we could go see her so she could say good-bye. I didn't have any idea what we would do when we got there but we went. Grandma was just there in body. She wasn’t communicating anymore.

The bible says that we have authority in the name of Jesus. Taking grandma’s hand I said something like Father it is important for my daughter to say good bye so in the name of Jesus grandma wake up. When you pray a prayer of faith like that you better be ready for what will happen next.

Grandma opened her eyes. I said hello to her and told her Jodi had come to say good bye. Grandma looked over past me to look at Jodi and she said hi Jodi. Jodi said I love you grandma and grandma closed her eyes. I tried to get her to wake up again with the same prayer it didn't happen. This miracle that had just happened was just for my daughter.

When we left the hospital that morning I told grandma in her ear that I would see her on the other side. Shortly after that visit she was transferred to a nursing home. Like I said she was just there in body. She wasn't responding to anything.

Now I was praying and believing for God to take her home. A week went by and I reminded God about taking her home. If the devil had a chance he would steal all of my mother’s inheritance if grandma had to remain in the nursing home. About a week later on Sunday she went home.

The funeral was a full church and I said the eulogy. My notes got all mixed up so I just started talking about God and heaven. God was applauded that day all the Glory went to Him. Surely some got saved that day or as some say they found God.

God cares about even the little things that we think He wouldn't want to bother with. He wants our fellowship and He wants to take total control of our lives. He wants to help us live a successful life on this earth. It’s us that need to give Him the control. The bible will tell you everything you need to know about our wonderful Creator.

Chapter 15

Deciding to retire from working at the dealership in Sept. of 2007 I was at home for three weeks having a ball painting and what not.

The candy store I use to work at called me and asked me to help them out. Going back to work there was different but actually I enjoyed working there.

When I quit it wasn’t because I didn’t like it I had other reasons. They needed help so I decided to help them out. They let me choose my own hours. Three days a week with banker’s hours was my choice. My God must have known the extra spending money was going to be useful.

At this home we had to put our loving dog Ali down.

Ali was a wonderful dog and we had her for 12 years

or so. It was a sad day especially for me since I spent the most time with her. Missing her will never stop.

About one year later we got another dog Gracie. Gracie is a challenge because I forgot the puppy stage.

She is full of energy. She is two now so she is settling down a bit but not enough. For the good of Gracie I decided to give her to people that I boarded her with when we were gone overnight. They have more to offer her already having two dogs and four children.

A couple of times I went to visit Gracie. She shows me she is very happy there even though she is missed here. She was a nice addition to the family for a short season.

The woodworking business is still going strong and I help now by sanding Urns. When my husband wants to I will learn how to do other things. We had some dry spells but I just got on my confessions of faith. God did what He always does He is faithful. God isn’t just kidding around when he says in Deut. 28:12 that He will bless the works of our hand.

After a year and a half working part time at the candy store I have again hung it up. I really enjoyed my work there and sometimes still miss it.

Now I need to tell you about my new business. After all the blessings God has given me and will continue to give me my new business is helping others succeed in life financially. It is practical and profitable. You can build a business on things you use everyday and get paid to do it. It’s a no brainer.

The president of the company is a Christian man and this business is his vision. I know that his vision comes from God so it is a business that can’t fail. Of course I am always ready to tell everybody about Jesus because He has changed my life and I wouldn’t want to live a day without Him.

My husband is still in the job that he has done for 35 years now. He also still receives a Christmas bonus when most companies have cut back because of what the world says is bad economy.

Right after we got saved I purchased a bible. Reading it while marking it up it was my favorite bible.

Taking the bible to church one Sunday I had left it in the car when we returned home. Later I went out to get it. Not finding it didn’t make me happy at all. Some time went by and I said Lord where is it. The Lord told me that it was in the car. Even though I searched the car over and over again I grabbed the flashlight to go look again. Not finding it I said again Lord where is my bible. He said it’s in the car. Grabbed the flashlight again and to the garage I went. Looking under the seats again I found no bible.

We don’t have bucket seats in our car but there is a gap kind of like bucket seats but it is a tight gap. Squeezing my hand down that area I came up with my bible. It was hard to believe that my hand was able to get in there. The funny thing was when I was looking under the seats with a flashlight it couldn’t be seen. God knew and He cared enough to help me. That bible is still blessing me today with all the notes and markings

The children are grown and living on there own. Someday I will have Sons-in-Law and grandchildren and according to the Word of God they will not be one day late.

We have all new furniture though out the house because we gave the other stuff that wasn’t very old to one of our daughters.

I still have that first camera that we charged years ago. Sentimental value so I keep it.

The Terry Redlin is worth eight times what we paid for it.

Our Ford Ranger is still the best looking truck and is almost seven years old. To me it is still our new truck. We have low mileage on it so it’s like new. On a snowy morning I had a little fender bender by running into a guard rail. Most of the day I cried just thinking about how it could have been much worse. God was there with His angels and there were no other vehicles involved.

The Chevy has over 115,000 miles on it and is running great. Some will say it is just broke in. We replaced a few parts on it when I was working at the dealership.

God is so good twice when it broke it was in the garage and just didn’t start for us. The first time was the fuel pump and the second time was the battery.

Once I said that I would drive my car until it quits with God that could be a long time. What a blessing. I do love this car so it will be hard to part with it. They just don’t put big comfortable seats in cars or SUV’s like they use to.

In my business I will be getting a free Lexus so the Chevy will be done when that happens.

Thinking about the car being broke reminds me of a story with a testimony from long ago. We had a different truck when we got married and one day it was making a noise. Money was tight back then but we were tithers already. Butch said just leave the truck in the garage and we will fix it on payday. My way of thinking had already changed so I told him lets just fix it now it is probably something simple. After he went to work one day I decided that I would just take the truck to his uncle’s gas station and have it checked out. The part that his uncle put in the truck to get rid of the noise was under five dollars. He didn’t even charge me. The truck was running fine. God is so good.

This computer is 7 years old. As I said someone told me it is a very good one. Why do we keep some stuff longer than we keep other things? Everything I have is given by God. Some of the things are just more precious to me. We have a laptop now and it’s great because as you would know we can take it anywhere. Someday we will get another one and replace the PC. Laptops are great no wires to look at.

God also put my high school friend Brenda in my path after all these years. We don’t see or talk to each other a lot but I know where she is and she knows where I am. It was working the second time at the candy store that I caught up with her again. God cares about everything.

Remember the kidney stone Butch had when we built one of the garages. He has had four since then. We don’t go to the hospital with them anymore in fact he passes them as quick as they come on him. He gets the sharp pain and out they come. That is the power of God because I know others that take a lot longer to pass sometimes weeks.

1Timothy 6:6-8 says “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these shall we be content.

This is one of my favorite Scriptures. I am content in this world serving God. You know what though God is never content. He always wants to give more. True we can’t take it with us but we can share what He gives us. God has always given me better and more than I have asked for. That is His way.

Serving God is the only way to survive in this world. A day without Him I don’t think so. Do you know Him today?

Jesus was born at Christmas time. People forget Jesus isn’t just a Christmas gift. The gift goes on through the year. God has done wonders in my life and the life of my family. You just have to trust him. Let Him have control. He loves you more than anyone else ever could.

He also sends people to love us in just the way we need to be loved. He wants the best for every person but every person has to ask Him and invite Him in.

Twenty seven years ago I married the man God sent to me. He will always be the best thing that ever happened to me with the exception of my two beautiful daughters.

Some day as I said I will have two son-in-laws and grandchildren. As I go on with my life I know that my Lord has it all planned out. He promised me long life in Psalms 91.


Chapter 16

Here is what I have learned over the years.

God gave us financial favor in this world if we would just ask Him. The only way we can claim that is to establish Him as our only source. Education is good but it’s not our source, nor is our job, nor our rich parents but God alone.

Phil 4:19 says that “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” His own resources are His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. His resources are more than we can ever get out of this world. You have to be a giver in this world to get what God promises.

In Malachi 3:11 God talks about tithing but we have to give offerings also.

We also have favor in everything else whatever you need. You would be surprised what people will do for you if God is behind it.

Just recently I mentioned to someone a piece of exercise equipment I wanted. She told me she has two of them. She gave me one.

Another time we were suppose to go to a fundraiser. When it came time to go we couldn’t make it. We donated some money to it even though we weren’t attending. The person that was in charge of the event took that money and he put our name on a silent auction item that he knew my husband would like. Also we were given a gift certificate for a restaurant.

Back when we were a younger married couple sears had a drawing to win different things. You had to go to the store and ask for a ticket. It was free so no gambling involved. Anyway I told the lady that day that I wanted the winning ticket.

Butch said that he was going to win the lawn motor. At the time I had been trusting the Lord for new carpet. We arrived at the store going to the different locations to match our number with the others. Our number was always one number off.

After looking at all the numbers including the carpet I sent Butch to look at the lawn motor by him self while I shopped.

After awhile I went to look for him and didn’t find him by the lawn motors. My thoughts were he won the lawn motor. Sure enough he had been putting it in the truck. He was just tickled to have won such a gift. A sears craftsman lawn motor now belonged to us with no money changing hands.

The funny thing about it is I don’t think anyone was meant to win anything because when my husband told the store guy he had the winning number the guy looked at him like really.

He also won a twenty seven inch TV at a hunting show. In order to win anything at this hunting show you had to buy raffle tickets. He spent twenty dollars. It was for a good cause so it was alright.

My husband being a truck driver now for some thirty five years has to stay overnight sometimes. He has met some friends along the way. At one of the motels the owners are friends but friends he doesn’t see much. The employee’s at this motel know that he gets this nice suite every time he comes and gets it at the same price a room would cost. God is good.

We have God’s favor in this world as Christian’s. We need to have financial favor with God in this world in order to live.

You have to remember that Jesus is the high priest of our confession. You have to be opening your mouth to receive blessings. If you are talking negative you tie Gods hands. Your blessings will be hindered.

Jesus makes daily intercession on our behalf. Are you telling Him what you need? Open your mouth tell people what God has done in your life. You will have more blessings in your life. It’s like power of attorney with the words of our mouth.

Also remember to always walk in love or you can hinder your blessings.

In Psalms 103 it talks about ministering sprits (Angels) performing Gods word on our behalf. It can’t be said enough open your mouth. Confess who you are in Christ. Use scriptures to call in your blessings.

God is never out of money. He owns all the silver and gold of this earth.

He made Abraham rich in faith. He is no respecters of persons, so He will do the same for you. If you are living by faith when the world says times are tough you won’t have to change anything because all the time you have been living by faith trusting God instead of your paycheck.

As Christians we shouldn’t only have a trickle, stream or river but we should have a flood of blessings. God wants to give it to us. God doesn’t want us just to get by in this world.

You need to put your foot in the water and trust God. You can believe God for a hundred dollars just as quick as you believe Him for a thousand dollars. It is all the same to Him. A need is a need.

We need money to live in this world. God says that it isn’t wrong to want riches just be careful what you do with them.

God wants to hear your dreams so write them down then read them to Him.

You and Jesus are together and unbeatable miracle team.

Deut. 28 says it all, what you get if you’re a Christian and what you get if your not. Let me tell you the curses that you will have not being a Christian is longer than the blessings you get when you are a Christian.

As I am writing this the world’s financial system is broke down. As far as I am concerned I am not going to get into living with stress wondering where my next meal is coming from or anything else.
In Psalm 118: 8 it says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” In Isaiah 40:8 it says “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.”

Just have faith. Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.

Some Christians don’t realize it but communion can be taken anytime. You don’t have to be in church to do it. I take communion anytime that I need to believe for something and it’s not happening.

When you take communion you are proclaiming Jesus’ death all over again until His return along with everything else Jesus died to give you. Remember Jesus didn’t die just for our sins. He took our sickness as well as our poverty. The devil doesn’t like when we take Communion because we remind him of that. Communion works for healing, prosperity, your wayward children whatever the problem it works.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the {action of His} power that is at work within us, is able to {carry out His purpose and} do superabundantly, far over and above all that we {dare} ask or think {infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams}. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (So be it). That’s heavy and a promise.

Isaiah 30:18 And therefore the Lord {earnestly} waits {expecting, looking, and longing} to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy fortunate, to be envied) are all those who {earnestly} wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him {for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship}!

God is looking for someone to bless and why shouldn’t it be you. Take from God’s barrel it has no bottom. Take the limation’s that you set on yourself and on God off and expect more.

God said on this earth we can do anything that Jesus did so that means we can lay hands on the sick and they will recover, cast out devils, make the wind listen to us and so on. It doesn’t work if we don’t believe and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So read your bibles and learn.

Keep tract of your blessings. I write what I call Dear Jesus letters. Every so often I just sit down and write what is going on in our lives, what I am praying for and our blessings. I reread them and it makes me want to cry at God’s goodness. The Creator of this world loves you more than you know.

In this book you just read some of my testimonies. There are many more.

I pray that my book has been a testimony to what God can do in a person’s life. I always enjoy giving God the Glory. Reach out to Him He is waiting just for you.


Bible translations are from the Open Bible as well as the Amplified Bible.