MORE PICTURES & STORY

The pictures:



The change that took place in David's heart on October 14th, when he became a new creature in Christ, is beginning to take place in the outward appearance on October 28th. THIS if our son and a child of the King!!

David and Nicole before church.

David and his dad horsing around and having fun. David is pointing to his new watch, but dad, Mickey will not be outdone!

One PROUD mama and her first born son

Now the story: Nicole called David at 9:30 pm, Wednesday, October 24th, informing him she was flying in from California the next day at 3. She was here for a whirlwind 5 days, flying out on October 29th at 4 pm.

The glory of it all........she arrived a sinner needing and searching for God........she left a sinner saved by grace, redeemed and a Child of God!!!!. We are rejoicing and praising God for HIS faithfulness and patience as He persues us. That He is a God who not only hears our prayers but answers them.

We covet your prayers for all of us, especially David and Nicole as they both make some of the most important decisions of their lives. BUT.....the most important decision has already been made. David Joyce and Nicole Joyce's names were added to The Book of Life in October, 2007. David on the 14th and Nicole on the 28th.

A NEW NAME IN GLORY

There's a new name written down in glory, And it's mine, O yes, it's mine.

And the white-robed angels sing the story, "A sinner has come home."
For there's a new name written down in glory, And it's mine. Oh yes, it's mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven. Never more to roam.
Words & music by C. Austin Miles copyright 1910

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David's wife, Nicole, flew in from California Thursday, October 25th. David witnessed non-stop to her, as did we. The 4 of us attended our Sunday morning services at Coweta Assembly of God. Nicole did not make a decision for Christ during the service but upon leaving she stated she would like to meet and talk to Pastor Gary Rogers. David called Pastor Gary, at his home, and they meet at 5 p.m.

Her life changed when she met Jesus and made Him her Savior, at 5:30 pm, October 28th. We have been praying for Nicole since first meeting her in May of 2004. We have been witnessing non-stop to both Nicole and David since their marriage on April 3, 2005.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER

PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME

SHOW & TELL #25 - David's Bible

Here we are again....Friday and Show & Tell time at Kelli's. Write your post and go here for Mr. Linky. Then join the fun and read ALL the other Show & Tell posts.

Many happy days and occurrences going on in our lives.

This is a great big one.

Monday morning David said he'd like to go purchase himself a brand new bible.

He was using a King James Version that had belonged to his Grandmother Errett

that I had given him several years ago and he brought with him from California.

David and I went to the Christian book store and I told him to take his time selecting his new bible.

This is the New International Version he selected. It has a soft leather cover in black with the edges of the pages silver. He selected block letters in silver for his name..

Believe me, this picture does not do it justice.

It is truly a beautiful bible.

Mickey & I purchased it for him as a gift.

We had already planned to do so for him at Christmas.

Another wonderful piece in the mosaic of his returning to His God.

David pointed out to me that the picture on my header for Penless Writer was one he had taken in 1980, at the age of 16.

YES, OUR PRODIGAL HAS INDEED RETURNED!!!!

Continue to rejoice with us

BLOG FRIEND FOREVER

"Presented to awesome BLOG owners who keep their readers excited about their posts. Their blog posts are interesting (NOT spammy) and worth reading and keep their subscribers looking forward to each and every post."

Karen passed this Blog Friend Forever along to me. As always, Karen, I thank you. I know you and I will truly be Blog Friends Forever!!

Because of all the WONDERFUL happenings that are going on in our lives right now I just don't have the time to pick and select, copy, paste, etc. that is involved in passing these awards along. David is currently sharing my computer with me and is on it a LOT for very important things: posting his resume' and job searching, So THIS TIME, if I may I pass it along to:

ALL of you to whom I leave comments

Trust me, your blog posts are interesting (NOT spammy) and worth reading

or I would not be commenting and my sincere trust and hope is that we will be

BLOG FRIENDS FOREVER!!!

I especially want to say thank you to some brand new people who came out of lurkdom and left a comment after reading my last two posts regarding the return of a Prodigal.

They are: Kimmie, When We Were Young, Charity Grace, Kansas Bob, Karen (a new one!), Cheryl, Anonymous (who ever you are!), Cherdecor, Monkey Giggles, Musicaljean, Johnnie, Folded Wings, Barb (a new one!) and Patriot.

Our prayer, in sharing David's story, is that it will touch lives and encourage you to never give up in your BELIEVING and FAITH as you hold fast until your prayers come forth from the invisible realm into sight. You 14 new commentors encouraged me greatly in this regard and I truly hope you will become my Blog Friends Forever!!

MORE ON HIM MONDAY #2

Diana, at Sunshine On My Shoulders, hosts More Of Him Monday. It consists of two choices to write about: Scripture Speaks and Him In My Life. I participated in writing on Him In My Life the first week.
I had chosen Him In My Life for that first one because I KNOW God was very much at work in our lives. Now I am choosing to write about Scripture Speaks.

You can go here to read my Him In My Life.

The instructions for Scripture Speaks are: share a specific piece of scripture that has spoken to you this last week. Share what you feel God is telling you through that passage and how you plan to apply it to your life.

If you will forgive me, Diana, I am going to bend the instructions a little. This is not a scripture that God spoke to me last week but many years ago and I have been standing firm on it. Because I have witnessed, in the past three weeks this scripture being FULFILLED I want to share it and my story with you.

I posted The Prodigal Son Returns here Saturday.

When David first disappeared from our lives, in 1986, I began to stand on and cling to, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

This is a very familiar verse that most mothers claim as they are raising their little ones. I know I did. Then when David left it became even dearer to me and I stood in faith on the words "when he is old". Believing with all my heart that the final chapters had not yet been written in any of my children's lives.

Then on January 1, 1987 the Lord gave me a new verse:

"Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for they work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border." Jeremiah 31:16 & 17

The part that REALLY spoke to me was, "they shall come again from the land of the enemy." and "thy children shall come again to their own border." I knew that my children were in the land of the enemy but they would come "from" it and return to "their own border", come back to God.

I stood firmly on these two scriptures from that point: Proverbs 22:6 and Jeremiah 31:16-17.

Then on May 13, 2001, as I was meditating on Jeremiah, a piece of the scripture just jumped off the page at me. "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears"!!!! Don't you just love the way you can be so familiar with scripture and then the Lord gives you totally new revelation on that very scripture? What a God we serve.

As these words jumped off that page I KNEW what God was saying to me was, "you have been crying to me about this for 14 1/2 years......quit crying, wipe your tears and begin rejoicing in what I am doing". WOW!!!

Can I tell you that in the following 6 years I never shed a tear over David and my other 3 children? No! But I can tell you they have been few and far between and when I prayed I was no longer weeping and pleading before the Lord, but was indeed rejoicing, thanking him and standing firm on "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT SEEN" Hebrews 11:1

I trust the Lord has lead me to share Jeremiah 31: 16 & 17 and my story with you today. To all of us, who's children are not making Jesus the LORD of their lives, I know the Lord is saying, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to STAND." Ephesians 6;13

IT IS ON GOD'S WORD AND GOD'S FAITHFULNESS THAT I STAND

Thanks to Diana, at Sunshine on my Shoulder, for hosting More Of Him Mondays. Clink on her site, check it out, write your post and then go back and sign up with Mr. Linky and bless the rest of us with what God is doing in your lives

THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS

On February 22nd I wrote a little about raising our wonderful first born son, David. Please go here to read a little of our background in this venture.

From an early age I always felt God had a special calling on David. In December, 1975, at the age of 11, he made a profession of faith and was baptized on January 2, 1976.

As the years went along David began to act out and behavior problems arose. David is going to write his own story, so I am not going to take his thunder but only report where we are today.

In 1986 at age 22 David began to get into serious trouble with the law and he literally disappeared for 10 years. Friends use to talk to us about how we stood not knowing where our son was, or what he was doing. It was indeed ONE of the most difficult periods of our lives. We always knew it was God David was running from and not his family!

In December, 1996, at a very early hour, we got a phone call from David. 10 years we had not heard from him. He returned to Tulsa and his family just prior to Christmas, 1996. What a wonderful and joyous day that was!!!

After being in Tulsa for 1 1/2 years David moved to Northern California. He continued to harden his heart against God & Jesus and chased various "other" beliefs. After moving, David was finally diagnosed as being Bipolar and for the first time in all of our lives, including his, we understood why he was having some of the problems he had.

In May, 2004 we visited David and his roommate, Mal, and met Nicole, the girl he was dating. During this visit we took David to see Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ. David was very moved and driving home that evening he made comments such that we knew God was working in his life.

In April, 2005 he married Nicole. It was his first marriage. Nicole had three sons that entered the marriage with her. Two teenagers and one pre-teen. Our entire family was at the wedding and so delighted and pleased.

On August 27, 2006 David had a dream that disturbed him and he could not get it out of his mind. He asked if he could e-mail the dream to me, which he did. The moment I read the dream I knew it was a Spiritual Dream and I called him on the phone and began to translate the dream to him. I didn't get too far into it when he said, "Oh, my God". He began crying and turning back to God after running from Him for over 20 years.

Then the attacks of the enemy really began. Finally, on Sunday, September 30, this year David returned to his family and Tulsa. I posted about his return here.

On the following Sunday, October 7th David was in church with us and also with a commitment to attend church with us every Sunday. He was so touched during the sermon, and with our wonderful pastor, as we left the church that morning he said, "I want to talk to that man". He called and made an appointment and met with the Pastor on Thursday, October 11th.

On Sunday, October 14th David Wayne Joyce, at the age of 43 years old, returned, not only to his family, but to HIS GOD.

His father and my prayers of over 27 years were answered. I ALWAYS KNEW THEY WOULD BE. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11: 1

Will the road be smooth......no, he will be tested......but he will pass the test and fulfill the destiny God has had for him from the beginning as that small child. His days of running from God are over.

No matter what it is that you are believing for. No matter how many years it has been that you have been believing. DON'T GIVE UP!!!! God is faithful to HIS word and HIS promises to us. In a future blog I will post about dreams that God gave Mickey & I during that 10 year period when we never heard from David and I will also post the scriptures that we stood FIRM on during these 27 years.

David will write and post his own testimony and story in the near future for all of you to read and share.

For now we ask that you 1) rejoice with us that one of God's prodigal sons has returned, 2) pray for David, 3) pray for Nicole, who is not a believer, and is reeling with all that is taking place, and 4) pray that David submits to the calling that God has for him.

ALL four of my children WILL serve the Lord and love HIM with all their heart.

I BELIEVE!!!!!!!

SHOW & TELL #24 - Wallpaper border

Friday AGAIN - Where or where does the time go. Being Friday it is time for Show & Tell at Kelli's. So drop over there and participate by putting up your Show & Tell for this week on Mr. Linky. Be sure and drop by and visit all the other Show & Tell postings for this week.

My Show & Tell for this week may seem a little odd but I love wallpaper border and thought I would share with you two that I have in our home.

Everyone knows my love for angels!!!!!

These little angel cherubs adorn the upper walls of our master bathroom. The minute I saw them I knew I had to have this border. The walls are painted a very, very delicate shade of pink and the tub enclosure is a delicate shade of pink marble like material. I am very pleased with the look and effect.

This is the wallpaper border in my office where my computer is. You can see the wall paint is green. Being a lover of books this border appealed to me. Please note the inkwell and quill. Very appropriate for Penless Writer :o)

Thanks for letting me share a little bit of our home decorating with you.

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LOTS of exciting things going on in our household and with our family that I will be sharing shortly!!!!!

God's faithfulness never ceases to amaze me.