We Became A Family

Dear Family & friends,

Our family has so many birthdays in the months of June, July, and August. We get really busy. I also spent two nights with my granddaughter Abigail. She was going to a youth dance where they were going to wear clothes from different eras, she picked the fifties, so we made a fifties dress. She had a wonderful time and won second prize! So grandma won some points on that note.

So in my last letter I told you that Leo and I had finally gotten married. Leo, my son Billy Boy, and I were now a family.

I need to tell you all how much joy Billy brought to my life. At the time that I had Billy, I was only 17 years old. I felt I had no one that loved me. Billy’s father abandoned me when I was 5 months pregnant. However, I felt now I would have some one to love me. I adored Billy. He made me laugh so hard. He was cute, funny, and he was all mine. I loved that kid so much, but I wanted him to have a daddy.

Well, Leo loved him so much, that right away he wanted to adopt him. So he made all the arrangements and adopted him.

A cute little side story; when we went to the court house to get our marriage license, we heard this commotion behind us, it was Bill still sitting in his chair (he was only 2 years old at the time) but he had all his clothes off and was stark naked. We laughed so hard. These will make great memories!!!!!!!

Leo was a very good father to Bill. Yes he made mistakes, we both did, but Billy was our first child. We had never done this before. I wonder if that’s why God says the first child is His and there’s a special blessing on that child. I bet that there are rewards in heaven for being the first child. God says the first child is holy unto Him. “So no matter what Billy you belong to the Lord! You can only run so long, but your strength can’t compare to His Love. He Loves you, so much, and so do I. I miss your beautiful smile. I miss your singing and dancing. I miss seeing you……MAMA LOVES YA!” (Of course I have tears running down my face now, I’ll be right back)

Back again, dried all my tears, ready to go on again; so we started living a normal married life. Leo worked at night in the clubs so he was home during the day. I worked as a hotel maid until Leo didn’t want me to work. He had a jealous streak in him, and didn’t want me around other men. So I quit work and stayed home. Things went great for about two years.

I became pregnant and was very happy about it and so was Leo. I would still go into the night club to hear Leo, but when I started looking really pregnant, I started having problems because, I felt I was no longer attractive to him. How could I compete with all the young groupies that were hanging on him. And his drummer was cheating on his wife, so I felt, “what if mine was too?”

So it was not good for me to go and see him while he was working. When he would come home at night if he was too late after they closed the bar, I would start drilling him, and he wasn’t able to convincing to me. So we would start fighting.

Well, this shook my world because my mother had married five times and I said I would never do that to my children! I would not do what my mother had done to us.

The place where Leo was working had just been sold and the new owner just moved to town. Leo, encouraged me to go out and meet his bosses wife. Believe it or not I was pretty shy. But I went anyway. We hit it off. I started going over to her house on most of the nights our husbands were at the club working. We played backgammon and a card game called “Spite & Malice”.

Then she started telling me about the Lord Jesus. Well, I knew I needed something because my home was no longer peaceful. I had great jealousy in my heart (Scripture says – Jealousy is cruel as the grave). So I went to church with her. It was OK. I believed in God, but I didn’t realize He had more for me.

The next week was mine and my girlfriends birthday too. So we decided to fly from Reno, NV. to Newport Beach, CA. and stay at Leo’s parents house. They had a bay front home and it was close to Disneyland. So we went to Disneyland, while we were standing in a line for ride “Pirates Of The Caribbean” there was a “Jew for Jesus” passing out tracks. My girlfriend Diane Economou was talking to this guy, and took a track from him. I didn’t want to talk to him. That night we went back to Leo’s parents house. The children were all tired, and so were we. My friend said to me, “If you go straight to bed and read this track, I’ll give all the kids baths and put them to bed.” That sounded like a good deal to me. So I got in bed, read the track, and prayed, “God, if this is you speaking to me, I believe in you, I love you!” Well that changed my life forever! I’ll be back with more.

Love ya,

Ms. Sandra

P.S. If you have never given your heart to Jesus you can simply do it right now. Don’t wait! You don’t know if you will get another chance, Jesus loves you so much and you can give Him your heart now. He will be the best friend you have ever had.

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When I met Leo up at Lake Tahoe 1972

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GOD HAS A PLAN FOR US

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY,

Well here is some more of my life story. The story of my mob husband was over a span of 3 years.  I married him at the age of 18 and divorced just before I became 21 years of age. By the way I’m sorry that it took me so long to write another blog posting… I had a accident on a bicycle and got pretty banged up. I was bruised in several places and I just haven’t felt very good. But I’m back. I am very accident prone.

So back to my life story, I am getting ready to leave my mob husband, my plan has been made, so this is what I did:

I told him I was going to go and visit my mother in Nebraska. However, I really was going back to Reno, NV.  That’s where my brothers lived, and old boyfriends, in fact my first love (puppy love). I must tell you that my only true love is my husband of 37 years, Leo. Who is Pastor of Mission Valley Christian Fellowship.

So the time came when I was ready to leave. I hadn’t really thought things through.  In those days there wasn’t much security at the airport  so you could walk all the way to the gate.  If my husband would have done that, he would have found out, that I was going to Reno and not to Nebraska. UH OH, Boo-Boo, what was I to do?

Well God had it all planned out and worked out all the details. We rode to the airport in a limo; my husband brought this other gentleman with us. I was so afraid all the way there.  But when we got to the airport he paid this gentlemen to take care of my luggage, and asked him to accompany me to my gate. Well that took care of that!  All my fears were gone.

Upon returning to Reno, I met up with some old girlfriends. After two days of being back in Reno, I decided that I wanted to go out dancing.  So a girlfriend of mine and myself went up to Lake Tahoe.  We picked out a place called Smith’s Northshore Lake Tahoe Casino.  It had a nice dance floor and lots of people. I wanted to party, dance, and have a good time. Well this is where my story really takes a turn. God had a plan for my life even though I didn’t realize it. So here I am two days after being back from New York.  I walked into a casino that has dancing and Yours Truly (Leo) is up on stage, he’s playing the piano, the B 3 organ, and singing.  Just in case you didn’t know, he’s a very good piano player and singer.  And HE is really HOT on the B-3 organ too!

So I saw him and went WOW!  Not bad. So I started flirting with him while dancing with someone else on the dance floor. I turned my little tushy toward him and shook a little more than usual (of course I wasn’t a Christian at the time).

So when the music took a break, he came over to the table to say “hi”, and of course I ignored him.  When his break was over he would go back on stage and play… and the same thing would happen!  In the mean time he’s thinking to himself, am I imaging this? Wasn’t she just flirting with me or was I just imaging it?

I TOLD HIM LATER THAT I WAS JUST REELING HIM IN.

I WANT TO SAY AT THIS POINT THAT, GOD HAS A PLAN FOR ALL OF OUR LIVES. OF COURSE  IT  INCLUDES  BLESSING  US,  WANTING TO GIVE US A BETTER LIFE THEN WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED FOR OURSELVES.

He has all the pieces to the puzzle and can see the big picture. That’s why I’m glad I put my life in His hands, because He knows what is best for me.  He knows what is best for you.  If you would just Trust God, give Him your life, and say God I want your best.

It seems like a lot of times we want to run from our problems or pretend they are not there.  I ran away from home at age 16 and now I ran away from my first husband.  God said to ME “NO MORE RUNNING”!  Please tell me if you relate to my story??

God told me something very special this week, He said; “we let our fears control us and rob us from our joy and happiness.”  Jesus said; “I came that you might have life and that more abundantly.” God wants us to enjoy our lives!  Another thing we do is live in the past instead of the future. I always tell my husband “SHAKE IT OFF” MOVE FORWARD!

NOW YOU MAY BE SAYING. How do I do this? Jesus gave you a very important tool, it has power here on earth and in heaven. We say the prayers here on earth, Jesus does the work from heaven.  The Scripture says, He sits upon the right hand of the Father day & night.  He neither sleeps or slumbers.

I want to end this blog with a devotion that so inspired me. I HOPE IT WILL INSPIRE YOU, AND ENCOURAGE YOU!  The Bible teaches: WHEN WE PRAY UNTO GOD IN HEAVEN, HE THEN DOES THE WORK HERE ON EARTH.

The Privilege of Prayer

Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ^{JOHN 16:24}

What a privilege is ours: the privilege of prayer!

Just think of it: You and I have the incredible privilege of approaching the God of the Universe, “the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy” ^{(Isa. 57:15)!} We can only do this because Jesus Christ has opened the way.

• We are to pray in times of adversity, lest we become faithless and unbelieving.
• We are to pray in times of prosperity, lest we become boastful and proud.
• We are to pray in times of danger, lest we become fearful and doubting.
• We are to pray in times of security, lest we become self-sufficient.

Pray, believing, in the promise of God’s Word that “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14).   ^{BILLY GRAHAM ©}

Please write me back and tell me a little bit about yourself. Share what God is doing in your life. If you want to know how to become a believer, or draw closer to God.  Just ask me!  I will be glad to pray with you, to help you as much as I can. I’ll say it again, it’s not that I have all the answers but I know who does and I sure would like to help you.

Yours Truly

Love,

Ms. Sandra

PS: We keep all email addresses confidential and I promise not to bug you with a emails, newsletters or junk mail. You write and ask me… I write back and share with you!

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God Watches Over Us

To all my dear friends who have been responding and letting me know that God is using me to speak to your hearts…  my story continues:

I found out my first husband was living a different life than what I knew about. He asked me to move to New York.  First we went to live in the Pocono Mountains. He would drive down into the city (New York) on the weekends. Because we were now back in his territory, he started confiding in me, telling some of the things that he was doing. I didn’t know this when I married him. All I knew was that we always had lots of money, and we went to the race track often.

I found out that the reason we didn’t move into New York City at first, was because he was trying to find out if it was safe for him to come home. Why? Because the reason he had left the city in the first place was because he had some guy put his hands on the dash board, and blew them off. So there was a vendetta on his life.

That’s why he left the city and moved to Reno where I met him. Now being back in New York I knew at this point, this is not the way I wanted to live the rest of my life. Sure, the money was nice and I got treated like queen, but as far as I was concerned it wasn’t worth it.

As a little girl I had accepted Christ into my life, and I knew that Jesus went around doing good to people, helping them, not hurting them. Healing & feeding them, healing their broken hearts, not causing them pain, & suffering  I wanted to be like My Lord Jesus. That seemed the best way to me!

Jesus truly loved people, he was good and honorable, to the point of laying down his own life.

So I started saving the money he gave me, laying it aside until the time that I could leave him, and start over.  He was very possessive of me and he definitely did not want me to leave him. So this would take some planning and precautions.

I’m being short and concise, so that you will want to keep following along with me and I won’t bore you. I will continue my life story later. I do want you to know that; this is my true life story, every little detail is fact!

I learned many important lessons during this part of my life. However, one that was very important was the fact that God was with me and leading me. He says when you give your life to him, he never leaves you nor forsakes you.  Any mistakes that I made during this time, God was still watching out for me, and he filled in the parts that I missed.  He’s a Good God! And he watches over me and all the little fine details of my life.  The Bible says, “His thoughts for me are more in number than the sand of the Sea”.  Somehow it doesn’t seem that I CAN LOOSE!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is, who was, and who is to come!

I love hearing from you! I read and want your feedback, and I especially love it when you open up and  share with me about your life and what you are going through. We can learn so much from each other! Please write back and let me hear from you!

Love Ms. Sandra… the other half of Pastor Leo!

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Dear Friends and Family

Dear Friends and family,

I’m back, I wanted to say hello and fill you in on some more of my life story.

Last blog I told you that I had decided I wouldn’t take any more beatings.    I had decided I would save my money and at age 16 I would run away.   Well in the summer of 1969, that is exactly what I did.  Without telling anyone, I packed my bags, bought a bus ticket and left.  When I was a little girl I used to go to Reno, Nevada for vacations, where my brother (we had the same mother) and his brother (who had the same Father) had a ranch with 9 horses.   I loved it there, so that’s where I ended up.  My brother said I could stay with him as long as I went back to school.  I had enough credits to go to school half day and work half day.

Eventually I got an apartment with a girlfriend.  I must tell you, at this time in my life I was a very responsible 17 year old.  I was a virgin, I worked really hard to finish school, and keep my apartment.  Then along came a boy who I was crazy about.  He totally manipulated me, and the next thing you know I was pregnant.   He wanted to live with me, but not marry me.  To me that meant only more trials with no security.

I had a little boy.  I felt in my heart, “Now I will have someone who will really love me. ”   My son brought me so much happiness!   And he still does.  I got a new job, one that paid much more.  I worked down stairs in a deli at a casino with tables where I got a lot of tips.  The next thing you know the manager of the casino was asking me to go out with him.   He bought me a Jaguar XKE, a Lincoln Continental and a Cadillac.  He also started giving me as much money as I wanted. He wined and dined me.   My thinking was “This is great!  What great security for my son!”   What I didn’t know was this man was in organized crime.  If I’d known this, I would have never married him.  I can remember one time my brother asking me, “How did you get those bullet holes in the hood of your car?” and I said, “I don’t know!”   When I found out about this secret life he had been hiding from me, I knew that changes had to be made.   Well, there is still more of this story to come…

The Scripture says, “Ill gotten gains turn to gravel in your mouth.”

Love,

Ms. Sandra

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God’s Help & Strength

Hi Guys,

Last time I talked to you, I talked about how people fail us.  I was reading the scriptures today, in 2 chronicles 16:9 “God wants to show himself strong on our behalf because we look to him and ask for his help”.  At that time, King Asa reigned 35 years in Israel. He got sick but he wouldn’t humble himself and ask help of the lord, so he died.  God wants to be our help to do for us what we can’t do for ourself.  He says, “I will be your God and you shall be my people”.  I think that says it all.

God wants to help us, He looks forward to helping us and He wants to show Himself strong on our behalf.  You see, it doesn’t do any good to get angry when people get mad at you or people mess up your life and you get mad at them.  We must humble ourselves and ask for help of the Lord, and he will help.  Even if it is asking for forgiveness of other people.  God wants us to worship no other god but Him.  It pleases Him when we come to Him and ask for his Help.  Then He wants to show us His glory, He wants to show us His power. When He says that He is a jealous God, it’s because He loves you.  You are His creation, there is no body like you, and He loves to have sweet fellowship with you.

He really wants to help you.  He wants to see you do good.  He wants you to see his power, and He wants you to praise him for it.  He is a good God.  He wants to show His power, after all He IS God and there is no one stronger than Him.  In fact, it says in the scriptures, there is none like Him in all the earth.

I was reading a devotion out of Billy Graham’s Devotional book and I felt that it went with this message and I am going to share it with you.  It’s titled May 15, “A Great Gift”.

“The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Ghost”. Romans 14:17

To the great gift of forgiveness God adds the great gift of the Holy Spirt.  He is the source of power who meets our need to escape the miserable weakness that grips us.  He gives us the power to be truly good as we yield ourselves to Him. He wants us to be good.  He tells us to be perfect as He is perfect and to be holy as he is holy.  But it takes His power to do that and if we ask for it He will give it.  We are to live a life of sanity in our modern world.  If we wish to be men and women who can live victoriously, we need the two sided gift God has offered us; first, the work of the Son of God for us, second, the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  In this way God has answered humanities two great cries; the cry for forgiveness and the cry for goodness.  As a friend of mine has said, I need Jesus Christ for my life and the Holy Spirit of God for my eternal life and for my walk with Him daily.  He might have added  so I can live my eternal life to its fullness. I came that you might have life and that more abundant. I think that says it all.

I really would love to hear from you!  What is going on, what you are going through and your prayer requests.

Love you guys,

Ms. Sandra

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Letting Go Of The Baggage

Dear Friends,

I am still sick with bronchitis but I just couldn’t stay away!  I do want you to know that periodically I am going to have different people who are in my life say hi to you.

I wanted to start off by going back to my life story and tell you a little bit more about it.  I think I left off with when my mother and father split up.  My father really wasn’t in my life a lot when I was a little girl.  My twin brother was spoiled by him and my mother spoiled me.  So when I got the big question “who do you want to live with?”, of course I said my mother.  At this particular time my mother had started drinking rather heavily.  I think I told you this, but we were 3 years without either my mother or father and that is where dear sweet Aunt Betty took care of us.  After my dad came back from Oklahoma, he married the woman he was cheating with on my mother.  He got custody of us children because my mother was drinking while he was sober and trying to get his life back.  I highly commend him for this.

We went to live with them after they got married, living in her home in Norwalk.  Everything was fine for awhile.  By this time, all my older brothers and sisters were gone so it was just my twin, little sister, and I.  She also had a son that was the same age as me and my twin.  I really considered myself a good girl, I tried to do everything to please them.  Both my dad and step-mom worked, so I cleaned the house on weekends, I would help cook a little, I always set the table, and I did the dishes.  I also took care of my little sister when they were both working.  I didn’t know at this time that my dad had a bad temper until he started to take it out on me.  I believe my step-mom was a little jealous of me as she was always getting me into trouble.

I remember one time her coming home from work, I had asked “What are we going to have for dinner?”.  She said “waffles”. I said, “Oh no, not waffles again”.  Well, I didn’t think anything about it, but later I was in my room doing my homework when my dad came home from work.  He came into my room took his belt off and with holding the belt at one end and the buckle on the other started swinging it around.  Then he started beating me with belt end that had the buckle.  I was really confused as I still didn’t know what I did wrong.  Now if it were my kids, what I feel she should have done is approached me and said “Listen, if you don’ t like dinner, you don’t need to eat tonight. I don’t need to hear any of those comments from you again”.  Instead of confronting the issue, she told my dad, so I got beat.  My legs were so bruised that I was ashamed to go to school the next day and dress down for P.E.  So I skipped school that day, I had never done anything like that in my life.  Another time I was out playing baseball in the street with my brother and all his friends, as I was a little tom boy.  They always loved to have me play on their team.  My dad wanted us in by dark.  That day it got dark before we came in.  I came in the house about 10 minutes late through the back door.  Off came the belt and he started swinging again and screamed at me “If you ever get pregnant you are going to end up in a girls home!”.  I never even known how to get pregnant, as no one had told me.

So these are the kinds of things that I dealt with for about 3 years.  After the second beating I decided that I was going to save all my babysitting money, and once I was 16, I was going to run away from home.  Which I did.  I am going to stop right there for a moment to tell you a few other things.

A couple of years ago I took a trip with my little sister to Oklahoma where my dad grew up.  I have an Uncle Sam that is still alive.  My father and mother have both passed away but I wanted to see where my dad grew up and what it was like for him.  After going and seeing my Uncle Sam, he filled in all the blanks.  I found out that my dad was an orphan at age 15 and was too old for an orphanage.  His father died when he was 13 and his mother died when he was 15.  Knowing the hardships that my dad went through caused me to realize why he was the way he was.  This realization brought a lot of healing to my life.

As for my mother, I never had her through all my teen years when a girl needs her mother the most.  She never explained to me anything about the female body or about life itself.  She was an alcoholic for 17 years and my dad was her 4th marriage.  I took a trip to Montana, to do the same thing I did with my father, find out all about her life as she had two sisters still living.  The same thing happened.  Her mother and father died when she was 15.  She tried to find love in all the wrong places.  It made me have great compassion for her life.  That’s what God wants us to have, is compassion for one another.

I want to encourage all of you, if you have ever been in this kind of a situation to look back and realize that we are all just broken vessels.  The fact that my dad was trying to get his life back together and make things right helped me to see that the efforts he made were his very best and that was all he could do at that time.  Learning these things, helped me to have forgiveness in my heart.  It helped me to drop a lot of baggage in my life.  I would like to hear from some of you and even talk to you about it if you have ever gone through any of these kind of situations as I would like to put you on my prayer list and pray that God does for you what he did for me.

I am going to leave you here and ask you, so what’s going on in your life?  How are you doing with some of these issues?  Please write me I would love to talk to you.

God wants you to let go of a lot of the baggage in your life!

God bless you and I love you!

Ms. Sandra

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God’s Blessings

Hi!

My name is Jackie Fromang. As I spoke to Sandra today she mentioned that she has been under the weather  and asked me if I would please post on her blog for her this week. I told her it would be my privilege but I have to let you guys know that I have never even visited a blog site before.

For those of you who don’t know me I am married to Glenn Fromang one of the assistant Pastors to Pastor Leo Giovinetti.  We have been married for 24 years and have two daughters; Antonina and Francesca of whom we are very proud of.  You may know Antonina by sight as she sings worship on Sundays.  Next time you see her tell her hello. Let her know that you know her by reading the “blog” her Mom wrote.  She may be impressed??

I have had the honor and privilege of working in the Women’s Ministry and along side Sandra for the past 17 years. (That’s a long time!) I am blessed to call her my friend.  She is not just a pastor wife, she is truly a Godly woman whom I have personally learned from.

Here is a little something on the fun, more light hearted side of  Sandra. Did you know that she is one of the most crafty people I know.  She puts Martha S. to shame. She sews, paints, plants, mosaics, quilts, decorates, gardens, and creates all the time.  She does all this, along  side reading and studying the bible for at least an hour a day!

What can I tell you today?  I think it’s just that we are only promised this moment.  We have no idea what tomorrow may bring.  It’s about us living everyday life, as christian women, in today’s world.  It’s about taking a moment to remember that the bibles states, “every good gift comes from above”.

Have you stopped and pondered how Jesus is blessing you today? Have you looked around and taken a moment to see Him working in YOUR life?  He is the author of life, it is He who gives you breath today.  If you are having a tough day don’t forget to ask Him for help.  He said He is the lifter of you head and states to YOU specifically, that He will give you strength.  In fact, if you are burdened, He invites to go to Him and He will give you rest, because He is gentle of heart and really, truly, honestly LOVES YOU.  He is able to do for you abundantly more than you can think or ask.  Wait on Him, seek Him and His will for you today.  Let Him direct you, then stand back and see what a difference He can make in your life when you put Him first. Blog us and let tell us what He has done for you today!

Remember to keep Ms. Sandra in your prayers.  She wanted me to tell you that  she plans to be back with you next week.

May Our Lord and Savior pour out His many blessings on you today.

Love you, Jackie

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1 Corinthians 16: 13 -14 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.

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You’re Not Alone

Hello Gang!

I woke up this morning and I was totally exhausted.  Last night we had a women’s outreach at our church where women bring other women who are unsaved (don’t know the Lord).  Our goal as a group of women is to give the gospel… the good news of Jesus Christ!   We want women to know the Lord, we are following the Lords commandments, he told us as a church to go out around the world to share the gospel.  As people receive the Lord they are to be baptized, our part is to share the gospel.

Many people think that sharing the gospel is easy, I want to share with all of you from experience that afterwards you feel totally drained.  You feel like you have been working for a week without rest!  One thing that I want to remind you – is to be thankful for your pastor!  They do work hard and need prayer!  The scriptures say, a pastor is there to watch over your soul.  They are also on call 24/7.  I just so happen to think that my husband Leo is a good pastor, in fact, I think he is a great pastor!  He labors in teaching the word and praying for all of you.

As I am praying daily for this blog, I pray for you.  That God would give me a word that would encourage you, that would strengthen you.  It says that wise words can keep a man standing on their feet.  Which makes me think of a pastor who just this last week committed suicide.  I wonder how many people from his congregation prayed for him and realized that he had needs as a pastor.  But I also want to say in this conversation with you, there is a great joy being in the ministry!  Watching people find the Lord and having a relationship with him.  It’s a great joy to see people grow and know that because of their relationship with Jesus Christ they are bearing good fruit.

Last night when I was talking to the women, I talked about the joy of the Lord.  In John 17, where Jesus is praying for the saints, which are you (those that would be believers) before he went to the cross.  He was praying to his father in heaven that their joy might be full.  God’s desire for us is that we walk in joy, that we realize we have hope, that we don’t take this journey alone.  Jesus said to his disciples and all who believe afterwards “… lo I am with you always even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20), “… I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Our faith is built upon His faithfulness not ours.  I can’t remember right at this moment where I left off on my life story, but I will get to that on the next blog as I am getting ready to go to my dental appointment.  Please pray for me, I don’t know about you but sometimes it seems like everything is breaking; the washing machine, the refrigerator, the garbage disposal, and now my teeth.

But I want to leave you with this one thought.  As a new believer in 1974, I was driving down the road and I was crying because we couldn’t pay our rent, our house was going into foreclosure.  I had three children and my husband couldn’t find a job.  The Lord said to me, it won’t always be like this.

God bless all of you, I love you and I am praying for each person who reads this blog.

Love,

Ms. Sandra

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Let’s Give Thanks!

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to thank you for your responses and encouragement!  This morning I slept in, often times when I do that I feel like half the day is gone.  However, God says that he gives his children rest.  So I figure I wasn’t just being lazy but the body and mind needed rest.  The Lord said to me, this is the day that the Lord has made I will be glad and rejoice in it.  God spoke to my heart and said well you still have time to praise me, to read your bible and get to know me better, so there is nothing really lost.

God does say to make the most of our time because time is short.  Jesus said that he was coming back soon.  Who knows within the next hour we could be with the Lord forever!  Jesus said to always be watching and waiting.  There is a prior stipulation to being with the Lord when he comes back, we must be holy.  You might be asking the question; How do I become holy?  It’s a lot easier than people think!  There is an old saying Rules and regulations without relationship ends in destruction.  The reason I bring up this scripture is because people and many churches say there are several things that you have to do to earn your way into heaven.  However, the scripture says that we can’t earn our way to heaven.  There is nothing we can do to make our selves holy but to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Accept what He did for us on the cross and believe that He rose from the dead.  If we believe in the name of the Son of God it says that we will be saved.

Now you also may be asking; What are we going to be saved from?  The first time Jesus came to this earth, His plan was to make a way for salvation so that we would have a way to heaven.  This second time He comes it says He is going to divide His sheep from the goats.  His sheep are going to be safely with Him while the goats are going to receive His wrath.  So watch and be ready!  If you’ve never given your life to Christ, you can do that this very moment!  See God is not angry with you, He went to great lengths to save you!  By receiving Him, it washes all your sins away.  The bad things you’ve done or the bad things you are going to do!  It says that He cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness, when He makes us holy He also gives us eternity.  We are filled with His holy spirit and therefore we always have on the robe of righteousness which He has given to us for believing in Him!

Now, getting back to what I first started talking about….  I wanted to tell you a little story.  You might be thinking that you deserve nothing.  That maybe you’ve gone too far.  But salvation is a gift from God to mankind.  So the title of the story ‘God Is A Great Giver’.

The Story

There once was a king who wished to express his thanks for a soldier in his army.  So he decided to give him a richly jeweled cup.  In fact, it was the kings very own personal cup.  The soldier stepping forth to receive the gift explained shamed-faced, THIS IS TOO GREAT A GIFT FOR ME TO RECEIVE!  The king replied and told the young soldier; well, it’s not to great for me to give.

God is a great giver, let us be great in giving thanks!  When the Lord told me to praise Him today and to thank Him, God put this little story into my hand to pass along to you.  There is nothing too hard for God, He is our mighty God!  All things are possible with Him.  How about you and me take today and just be thankful the whole day.  Let’s thank Him and give Him praise for all the good things in our lives.  I don’t know about you but when I praise my God it tends to lift up my head from hanging down.  To relieve me from depression.

I also know that it pleases my God when I praise Him.  Jesus said in the last generation, that people would be unthankful and unholy.  That they would be lovers of themselves more than lovers of God who created everything.  He even gives us our breath, the breath of life!  It says that God breathed life into Adam and Eve and they became a living soul.  If you feel that you have nothing else to thank God for, you can thank Him that you are alive, you can thank Him that Jesus is alive, and that we have a friend with us always.  Let’s just love our God today!

So I told you in my last blog that I would continue to tell you a little bit about my life.  So I left off with my parents splitting up when I was 11.  At that particular time, my father left for Oklahoma, my mother started drinking and completely left us.  So from age 11 to 13 we had no parents that were involved in our life.  So guess who took care of us…  Aunt Betty.  I just want to say thank you to all the Aunt Betty’s out there who take unwanted children into their homes.  I personally appreciate all of you!  Jesus says to allow the children to come unto me and my Aunt Betty made sure I was fed, happy and went to church.  She also would buy us hershey bars once in a while!  So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who love and care for children who are under-privilege or who have had trials in their life.  Jesus took time for the children and it pleases Him that you do too.  You will be rewarded greatly for it!  Who knew that that unwanted little girl would some day be able to serve the living God by being a pastors wife!  I feel so loved by our congregation, there is a scripture that says I’ll make your last days better than the beginning of your days.

Thank you God for precious promises.

Love,

Ms. Sandra

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