They say...

That when God closes one door, He'll open another. I do believe that, and I believe in the power of prayer. I've had many doors closed in my face and many others opened. Many of the prayers I've prayed did not turn out the way that I expected them to.

My faith is what keeps me going. There are days that I certainly struggle with faith and have to pray for it to be increased. My prayers to save our house - by some miracle or another - did not come true. But, the miracle of having this place to live did come true. I've prayed for a job closer to home and applied for a couple that I was qualified for. I felt like one of them was really "my" job. That didn't pan out so I just have to be patient that since that door closed, God has another (better) door for me. Even though I know this, it was still very disappointing to find out. In fact, I would even say that I was really seriouslydisappointed.
Some people have said that because I 'say' I'm a Christian that I think I do no wrong. That is so far from the truth. The truth is that I know I do wrong every single day. The difference is that I'm forgiven. I have to ask for forgiveness every day. I have a personal relationship with Jesus and the Father and I go to them in prayer. I'm not one to do the "thee" and "thou" stuff... I talk in plain old-fashioned English. I don't always keep my cool. Sometimes, I'm downright angry. Bitter. Ticked off. But, I know that I know that I know... In all things His love and mercy will provide.

Take for instance, a prayer from this past weekend. Many of you will say that praying for a "thing" instead of a "person" is not appropriate. That could very well be true if the "thing" you're praying for is material greed. I was in a unique position here - not a good unique position, but unique just the same. I was having car trouble. I had my front brakes replaced in late March or early April and didn't have any additional problems. All of a sudden (over the last couple of weeks or so), my brake light would come on when I'd begin braking and come to a stop. Sometimes, it would come on when I turned a corner.

It was very odd and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Rex checked the fluid levels and they were all good. He took it out for a test drive. Couldn't find anything wrong with it. Then, this past week the light started staying on all the time. It only went out when I was at a full stop and even then, not all of the time. It was very odd.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I'm driving down the road to take Maisey to the groomer - 45 miles away (we haven't found one locally yet) and my turn signals start messing up. I turn on the left one - it flashes twice and quits. I turn on the right one and the LEFT one flashes. How strange is that???? I started praying for my car telling God that no only do I not have money for an electrical problem in my car, I really don't want to be stranded on the highway, either. I said I'd heard of other people praying for mechanical items and reported "healing" (correction of the problems) so I said that if He could and would do it for them, I was asking for the same.

When Ron and I went back to pick Maisey up that afternoon, I showed him what was going on. Mind you, the brake light is staying on 100% of the time now. We both prayed for the car again. Ron got out the owner's manual and read that if the brake light is staying on, it usually means that the brake fluid level is low. So, we went to the auto parts store and I asked the guy if he'd mind coming out to take a look. I said that Ron was an amputee and could not do it (he didn't have his leg on) and I had no idea where to look. He came out and said that I might be a little low, but not enough to make the brake light stay on. But, I bought the smallest container of brake fluid there was.

He put all the reservoir would hold in and there's still fluid in the bottle. I asked him about the turn signals and he didn't know what the problem could be but sounded like it was in the steering column. That doesn't sound cheap at all.

But... my car is absolutely functioning correctly. The brake fluid fixed the brake light problem and my turn signals now work correctly! Now, how's that for a miracle??? The brake fluid is in no way connected to the electrical or turn signal problem. All I could say was Thank you, Lord!

My Facebook status says this (which was borrowed from a friend and very true for all of us): God works His magic by giving us the strength to handle just about anything that comes our way. And for what we can't handle alone, He gives us friends and family.

And, He gave me blogging.