TRYING TO ANSWER "WHY?" and DEALING WITH PAIN

"We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."  C.S. Lewis

I had copied this quote down some time ago (wish I had dated it!) and this morning as I was pasting another quote onto that page this JUMPED out at me.  Nor do I know how long ago C.S. Lewis penned those words.  What I do know: no words could, at the moment, better express my thoughts and feelings as I try and reconcile my strong faith and belief in my Triune God and His Written Word and the pain I am feeling with my precious Suzette being taken to Heaven at this time.

I KNOW that God's plans and purposes are perfect and that He desires nothing but good and the best for His beloved body, of which I am a part.  I also know, as one of the condolence cards I received so aptly said, that when I get to Heaven I will no longer ask "why" but say only two words, "of course". 

I also KNOW that it is totally foolish to even ask "why" because that is the one question God never answers.  Even when Christ asked "why have you forsaken me" on that Cross.....no answer came from God.   Yet as human beings we always seem to not only ask "why" but believe somewhere, some place, some how we will get an answer!!

Yes, God's best for me at this time is undoubtedly THE most painful thing I've ever been called upon to go through, and yet I do and will trust. 

How could I not when I serve such a God and have seen His hand, direction and work in my life these many long 73 years?



TEN WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE MAN IN MY LIFE

Saw this on another post and thought it would be fun.

1.  Dependable

2.  Friendly

3.  Industrious

4.  Loving

5.  Family

6.  Christian

7. Patient

8.  Kind

9.  Gentle

10.  Thoughtful

This was harder than it looks becauseof having to  keep it to one word.  I wanted to elaborate on each word because:   1) there is such depth to my man & 2) I am a very "wordly" person!!

Give it a try and leave me a comment to let me know you are!!

Have a wonderful blessed day.  We're going to.  Grandson Aric is spending 4 days with us!!

A friend shared this article with me and I want to share it here and say "Thank You" to each of you who are truly my friend.

Why so I have a variety of friends who are all different in character?

How do I get on with them all?

I think that each one helps to bring out a "different" part of me...

With one of them I am a polite, nice person.

I joke with another friend.

I sit down and talk about serious matters with one of them.

With another I laugh at every silly thing.

I shop with one and dance with another.

I listen to one friend's problems and give her advice

Then I listen to another advising me.

They are all like pieces of a jigsaw.

When completed they form a treasure box.

A treasure of friends!

They are my friends who understand me better than myself,

who support me through good days and bad days.

They are like colorful anti-depressants that I take on different days.

Doctors tell us that friends are good for our health.

Dr. Oz calls them Vitamin F (from Friends) and counts the benefits of friends to our well being.

Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes.  If you take Vitamin F constantly you can be up to 30 years younger than your real age. 

The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your tense moments if decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%.

I am so happy that I have a stock of Vitamin F!

In summary, we should value our friends and keep in touch with them.

We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together,

not forgetting to open our mouths big to swallow the floating vitamin F !!!

Thank YOU for being one of my vitamins!  And part of my treasure  box.

FATHER'S DAY 2011

The card below was given to Mickey by our youngest, Marc, on Father's Day June 19, 2011. 

 

The long typewritten letter that was enclosed, and read to the family by Mickey himself, was so touching and awesome.  I am so very thankful for the openness and love that our family has one for the other.  I'm thankful for children who are open and able to express their love for us and each other.  I'd love to share the letter here but I know that doing so would embarrass Mickey so I'll refrain.

Yesterday was our first Family Holiday and Celebration since losing our Suzette one month ago on May 19th.  We had a rough week dealing with our tears and emotions during the proceeding week but as we celebrated together it was wonderful, as it should be, and as we knew Suzette would want it to be.  We know that she was looking over the banisters of Heaven enjoying it with us!!! 

 Those present were:  Mickey & I (who hosted with a wonderful Ham dinner), Jacque, Benny, Marc, Oksana, Aric, & son-in-love Dave.   I intended to take a group photo and completely forgot. 

Missed phone call from #1 son, David, in San Francisco before we got home from church but he called back and had a nice Happy Father's Day talk with his dad before the others arrived for dinner at 2. 

I pray your Father's Day was as blessed as ours.

I am so thankful for the earthly father, Henry Harrison Errett, that blessed my life and who I loved and adored.  He is the one, from the earliest of age, who taught me integrity and honesty as he not only talked the talk, but walked the walk every day before me. 

I am so thankful for the father of our children, Mickey Wayne Joyce, who loves them with his whole heart and who walks out, on a daily basis, the values he holds dear and lives by.

I am most thankful for my Heavenly Father who has held my hand, and my heart, these many years since I made Him mine at the age of 18.  There is no Father like our Heavenly Father but I have been triple blessed to have and share in the lives of the all these fathers.

A FABULOUS GIFT

What a wonderful gift I just won from a free give-away that my long time blog friend, Barbara, from London did.  How blessed I was to win this, as it is certainly an item I would NEVER have had otherwise.

Barbara and I became friends soon after I began my blog way back on January 21, 2007.  Wow, hard to believe that has been 4+ years.   Be sure and check our Barbara's blog, Ramblings From An English Garden from the link above.

Thank you Barbara for such a great give-away and for drawing my name.  I will certainly treasure this very English tea towel gift of Catherine & Prince William. Trust me it will NEVER dry a tea cup!!!

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HE MAKETH NO MISTAKE

This morning this little poem, which I have carried for YEARS, fell out of my Bible onto the floor.  It truly was No Mistake and I felt the need to share it here for you.  One of the words and comfort I received during the 4 day Holy Ghost conference I just attended at Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks was that Suzette went home to the Lord because the work God intended for her to accomplish has been accomplish.  I know that is true, and while she was in the hospital she confirmed that truth to me.  Then today, this little 2 1/4" by 4" poem falls out of my Bible!!!

HE MAKETH NO MISTAKE

My Father's way may twist and turn,

My heart may throb and ache,

But in my soul I'm glad I know,

He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astray,

My hopes may fade away,

But still I'll trust my Lord to lead,

For He doth know the way.

Tho night be dark and it may seem,

That day will never break,

I'll pin my faith, my all in Him,

He maketh no mistake.

There's so much now I cannot see,

My eyesight far too dim,

But come what may, I'll simply trust

And leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift,

And plain it all He'll make,

Through all the way, tho dark to me,

He made not one mistake. 

A TIME OF REFRESHING

 June 7-10, 2011 - 3rd Annual Holy Ghost Conference at Prayer Mountain near Branson, Mo.  Speakers Joe Jordan and Ron Smith. 

Wantha was going to attend this conference and her daughter and son-in-law have a time share in Branson.  I had been given a gift by my forever friend, Joan, who said "go and celebrate Suzette's life".  I knew of no better way to celebrate than to attend this Holy Ghost Conference.

Joining us were Sandra, Norma and Norma's daughter, Wendy.  I won't go into all the details but we did not get away from Coweta until 5 p.m. on the 6th because Wantha had taken her car in to have the tires rotated and after picking up the car something was wrong.  She went back and the shop worker assured her everything was ok.  We load up the entire back end of the car with luggage and more luggage and all of us and off we go. 

Not too far out of Tulsa, Sandra who was driving said, "Did you hear that?" as we heard a kind of pop sound.  Sandra later told me she was concerned the entire 225 mile drive because she felt things were not right.  At 9:30 we finally pulled up to the condo office with the sound of metal against metal.

 Our guardian Angels had worked overtime is protecting us on that long and at the end very mountainous drive.  Also, in sending us to the repair garage where these 2 gentleman put Wantha's vehicle, and our situation, above their other work.  We spent the entire morning of the first day of the conference waiting at a convenience store across the street, where we could get a booth to sit down and be out of the 90+ degree heat as new brakes, etc. are put on the car as extensive damage had been done the day before at the other shop.   (We laughed as these booths were off to the back of the store and behind mountains of liquid boxes and bottles!!!!)  We finally arrived at Prayer Mountain, 25 miles and about an hour later, as we had difficulty finding the turn off, at 2 p.m.  

Satan tried everything he could to hinder us from attending this conference.....BUT our God is greater and his schemes did not work.

The conference went from 10-noon. From noon-2 we had a wonderful catered lunch under a large tent outdoors and time to visit the bookstore.  The afternoon session was from 2-4.

The Lord did such a wonderful work in ALL of us during this time of teaching and refreshing.  And at the condo each evening as we shared, laughed, cried, and were blessed and touched beyond measure.  Norma and Wendy were especially blessed and I received the refreshing I so badly needed.  Yes, celebrating Suzette's life!!!!

Taken at a steak house in Branson. On the left-Wendy & Susan.  On the right-Norma, Sandra & Wantha.

Wantha, Sandra, Norma & I are all original attendees of a Bible Study Sandra held in her home for a couple of years called "Third Day Sisters".  Now these 3 woman, plus 9 other regulars and various visitors attend the WOW Woman Bible Study which I began holding, every Tuesday, in my home on January 18th of this year. WOW stands for Woman of the Word. WE ARE!!! 

Wendy, Sandra, Wantha, Norma

We marveled each morning that 5 woman could all get showered, make-up on, dressed and out of the door by 8 a.m. each morning.

                                                       Susan, Wendy, Wantha, Norma

                                        Waiting for our table at Olive Garden the last evening.
                                                        Norma, Sandra, Wendy, Wantha

Wendy, Norma, Sandra

Wantha & Susan

As you can see we had plenty of time in the evenings to have a lot of fun.  This is the special treat that Sandra & Wantha made possible to me as we became Southern Bells!!!

What a blessed, wonderful time.  Thanks to ALL those who made it possible for me to attend.  Most of all, thank you to Jesus who meets all our needs and loves us beyond measure.

SISTER'S - Suzette & Jacque

I always said it was like having twins the hard way!  Sisters separated by only 1 year and 9 days in birth.

 The very last picture ever taken of Suzette was this one on March 6, 2011 at the Rib Crib when the family celebrated Benny's birthday. I honored her request not to take pictures in the hospital or after she got home and was so ill.  Suzette and I were the ones who organized all our "get together" times and various holiday celebrations.  It was Suzette who wanted us to get together to celebrate Benny's birthday (she was getting so ill we were going to skip it this year.)

 Suzette meeting her baby sister for the first time, December, 1955.

 Jacque and Suzette at their maternal Grandma and Grandpa Errett's house in Santa Fe, NM. 

 Another picture taken at Grandma and Grandpa Errett's.  The girls loved and adored them.

 Mickey, Pauline and Henry Errett, Suzette and Jacque.  Mickey and I had just returned from our honeymoon in October, 1958.  The girls were 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old.

 Suzette and Jacque in the front yard of our home in Albuquerque.

 From the candles you can see it's Jacque's 2nd and Suzette's 3rd Birthday.

 Grandma Errett was a wonderful seamstress and made adorable outfits for Suzette and Jacque.

 Our adorable girls!

 Clowing around.

 Taken at our home in Denver, Jacque was 7 and Suzette 8.

 Probably Easter Sunday in Denver 1963.

 Always doing everything together.

 Adding new baby brother - 11 1/2 - 2 - 10 1/2.  Easter Sunday after we moved to our new house in Tulsa.

 Dance recital time.

Taken October 4, 1988 when Mickey and I renewed our vows at 30 years.  Suzette age 33, and Jacque 32.

These two sisters were so very close.  Jacque says, "I not only lost my sister but my very best friend."  She did.

Our family has lost a jewell, but Heaven has gained an Angel!!!