Imperfect And Wonderfully Made

I'm a little late in getting my blog together tonight, because I just couldn't think of a topic to write about. For some reason, my body got out of sync and I had kind of a not feeling myself day. But as I was sitting here thinking, my family connections came to mind. I was thinking about how at one time all my family lived very close to one another. The one family member who lived furthest away from me was my brother's second family -- they lived eight hours away when my family lived in Southern California. At one time, they too lived in Southern California. Today, I live about four hours away from them, my eldest children and their families live about seven hours away and my youngest twins still live in my primary home which is about two and a half hours away. Southern California was primarily my home up until 2014 when I retired. Then I moved my family to Washington for four years. I relocated back to Central California where for a few years I had all my children living ...

So I'm just going to put this out here, because it is something that I've struggled with for years and I finally got my answer. The answer came through discernment -- the ability to judge well or (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual guidance and understanding. My answer came through the second definition. I have been very prayerful about my understanding of what my obligation is with regarding to church attendance as a Christian. I've attended in a building structure up until about 4 years ago and then it became a combination of being a floater between a community church(es) I was attending (that wasn't/weren't fulfilling my spiritual growth) and online (through Harvest Christian Fellowship, which has been consistent in fulfilling my spiritual growth). During Covid I used both online platforms from Our Father's House and Harvest Christian Fellowship.  Then my life changed drastically after 24 years of m...

I was contemplating concluding my blog as I thought I was only allowed 100 posts in a blog in Blogger, however they allow 100 Blogs Per Blogger account with an unlimited amount of posts. So today is my 100th blog. When I first started my testimonial blog, I couldn't even fathom how I could possibly think of 100 different posts pertaining to my testimony, but here we are on number 100. I could think of maybe a couple more subjects pertaining to my testimony, but I think the amount of information I shared regarding my God blessed life has been substantial and I've probably spoken of the peak points in my life where I experienced some challenges and how God through Jesus Christ brought me through those situations. There have been some very influential people who I briefly spoke about while doing my blog who I think I could elaborate a little more about as they were very instrumental in mentoring me or having a life changing impact on my life's journey. I have three people in m...

As you read my blog, you have read about the misfortunes I have experienced in my upbringing by my parents. I can’t even begin to try and analyze some of their reasoning behind the dysfunction, but unfortunately it was always there and it’s what was familiar. I’m glad it is in the past and that forgiving them on my part is what has given me peace in this area. I lived the life they provided, but their memory of their shortcomings escapes them and they always have excuses as to why things happened. Setting aside the disappointment, there are actually silver linings to their existence and I’d like to take the opportunity through this blog to honor them. My biological father. I have his mother’s face. I resemble a bit of my Mom, but after seeing a picture of my grandmother on my biological Dad’s side, there is no question that I took the Grenier side in my facial features. I really didn’t get the opportunity to get to know my father. My parents divorced when I was a toddler to very small ...

I got a text from my little sister today informing me of her prognosis for a finger that had developed a painful lump on it. I thought she had inherited the same bent finger as my mother. My Mother doesn't know what happened with her pinky finger, but it is permanently bent and at one time she thought her mother had slammed it into a door or cabinet - for some reason my mother remembers a childhood no one in her family remembers. Anyways, so I prayed over my sister's finger that her prognosis wouldn't come back positive for something bad -- as on her father's side of the family, they have strains of cancer. I asked God to please not let it be that. So in a strange about way, the Lord answered my prayer, but it came back as osteoarthritis. You see, I can live with that prognosis, because I have been living with that prognosis since I was eight years old (it all started in my knees). I texted her back and told her she can thank our Buelita for that. My Buelita used to alw...

If you ever are wanting to write a blog and want to receive inspiration to a topic you have been contemplating, but were trying to find the right words to use -- go to church. For the most part in writing this blog, I have found that a lot of my inspiration sometimes comes from something that is shared through a message while going or listening to a Pastor from church. I believe I only have four or five more blogs left before I reach my maximum number of blogs that Blogger allows a person to use on their server. When I first started this blog of my testimony, I said to myself, how could I possibly write 100 blogs regarding my life? I can't believe it has already been about 100 days since I was first inspired by Pastor Greg Laurie to share my testimony.  Along with being able to share my testimony, it has also been therapeutic for me to recall several of my life experiences to share. I'm not sure I will be able to keep going at the pace I have been for the past 90 plus days or i...

I've never liked thunder and lightning. I think it stems entirely from childhood. My Buelita during a thunder and lightning storm. would have us move away from windows. Sometimes she would cover up the mirrors. She would say that the lightning could come through the window and kill us. Also, we weren't allowed to use the telephone, because she thought the electricity would come through the phone line. For the longest time, I thought lightning could come through the shower head if you were taking a shower, so I would always hurry up and get out of the shower if I heard the thunder and lightning approaching. in latter years I also heard that you don't want to be on your cellphone during an electrical storm. The worst thunder and lightning I ever experienced was when my family was vacationing and we were driving through the mountains. You could see huge lightning streaks light up the sky and the thunder was super loud. When my parents lived in the country, it was quite common ...