Very early in the morning…

Mark 1.35 ~ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up,

left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

As I sit on my front porch looking out, (this has a country song sound to it) I am thinking about how truly blessed I am to be sitting here at all.  God is truly an amazing God. He has orchestrated so many incredible things in my life that can only be attributed to HIM.  As I have said in the past, I can’t wait to get to heaven and turn the tapestry of my life over and see how all the threads meet up.  There are no coincidences in life….just Godincidences. I have used this term before and will continue to use it.  It would take me days to piece all of my crazy journeys together and how little things had to happen to make it work and they did. That is all God!

Luke 1.37 ~ For nothing is impossible with God.

My devotional scripture reference for today was:

John 10.  ²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.” ³¹ Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, ³² but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”³³ “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. ³⁸ But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹ Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

As I read the scripture above, it made me think of all of the Godincidences in my life…they are God’s miracles being performed for us! Do we see them as the hand of God? or do we dismiss them as chance? I know without a doubt I am where I am right now because of His love and mercy.  The bumps in the road, the mountain tops and the flat roads have all led me here…now!

When Facebook and I first got acquainted, I was in the mode of filling out the random questionnaire.  My mind went back to one as I continued to ponder the thought of God’s hand and daily miracles in our lives.  Here is a portion of one I filled out when I first moved to Tennessee…It is was titled 25 random things…(I have deleted some of them…;))
1. My first love is the Lord. He found me at age nine. I am very thankful for His never-ending grace.

2. I had a lot to learn on my own before the Lord sent me my second love…Mike. I found him online a little over two years ago(I was 37) and we haven’t looked back. I am still amazed how we met b/c of Mike’s total dislike for the computer…it is only proof God is still in the miracle-working business. Mike is my best friend and am so thankful the Lord allowed our paths to cross in the crazy way it did!

3. I am honored to have been raised by parents who are still happily married and love the Lord with all their hearts. I am Trish b/c of Eddie Lou and Frank. Thanks, mom and dad …I love y’all! I also have an amazing older sister and younger brother…Lisa and Rob. I thank the Lord for my awesome family!!

5. In my almost 40 years(43 now…as of yesterday) I have lived in over 35 different structures in 5 different states ( AR, TX, CA, GA, and TN) and two countries (USA, UK). Whew…I am thankful to finally have a permanent home. 🙂

6. I have been blessed with many, many life long friends all over the country and in England. They have made me who I am today!

7. I am the very proud mom of two children – Chase(17 soon to be 18)(NOW 21! and getting married) and Brittany (20 soon to be 21)(now 24 and getting ready to have a baby). God knew what He was doing when he gave them to me at an older age. They are still alive and I am not crazy…yet. 🙂 I love them like they are my own…b/c they are!

8. I have testified in front of the Texas Senate and House of representatives for a character education bill.

9. I LOVE college football…Go Hogs! It is hard to be Hog surrounded by Vols…but I am doing my best.

10. From the time I was 18 I visited California every year until two years ago. 😦

11. I love to travel and in my 3 1/2 years living in England I was able to visit at least 16 countries. I was truly blessed during my time over there. I had an awesome church and great friends/family.

12. I love to be outdoors in God’s awesome creation. I know that is why He saved TN for last…I have water and mountains all within 10 minutes from my home. I love it! (this is why my birthday present was just perfect!!)

15. I worked for an incredible photography studio in CA. They shot million dollar weddings while I played gopher collecting the bridemaids and groomsmen. It was a fun job!!!

16. I own an English cat named TJ. He flew back over the ocean with me. I adopted him while I lived overseas.

18. I have run 5 marathons. 2 in CA, 1 in London, 1 in Bermuda, and my last one was in Prague. I am training for a 1/2 now. (This is the big change…I will run number 8 in 10 days!!! I will have run the past three within 10 months of each other…whew, my legs need a break…but all because of HIM!)

19. I love chocolate…but that is not random at all!!!

20. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe something in the fitness field!

21. I went to Ouachita Baptist University. I followed my parents, grandparents, sister and then my brother came too. It was an amazing chapter in my life. I have many lifelong friends from that great time in my life.

22. I don’t delete my emails. I guess I am the laziest person ever. It is amazing I am doing this! 🙂

23. I was on Wheel of Fortune. I didn’t win any money. I did get to call the Hogs on national TV…but I walked away with the $500 consolation prize and the other two won over $30.000 each. 🙂

24. I can build a fire in our wood stove and I have chickens out by the barn where I can go get my eggs. It is great to live in the country. We also have a 4500 gallon Koi pond that my VERY talented husband built. He built our house too…among many, many other things in the house. How did I get so lucky??? I didn’t…the Lord blessed me way beyond my wildest dreams.

25. My life has a new direction now that I am a wife and a mom. I love it and can’t wait to see how it unfolds day by day. The Lord is my strength and my helper…I need all I can get! 😉

As I reread this…I am SO very thankful the Lord has blessed me in so many ways.  But most of all I am thankful that HE died for our sins and set us free to live with HIM in eternity.  As Easter approaches, don’t forget His sacrifice – the ultimate sacrifice – Jesus’ life and God’s only son!

Thank you Lord for loving us so much no matter what we have done or how awful we think we are!! You sent Jesus in our place.  If we believe and accept you as our Savior, we can say with a confident YES we will see you in heaven.  AMEN! And while we are here on earth help us to see your hand working in our lives through everything….everything….everything!!!

WE are More Than Conquerors because….

 Romans 8.28 ~ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who

have been called according to his purpose.

Philippians 1. 6 ~ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 15.33 ~Before honour is humility.

HUMILIATION of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self God will fill them with His love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” Stoop if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, “He descended that He might ascend”? so must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” with all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what it is safe for Him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in His holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

from Streams of the Desert Devotional – borrowed from a friend. 🙂 (another example of God’s perfect timing and Godincidence!!!)

Running Blessed and for HIM!

Trish 🙂

10 days 1 hour 10 minutes…until my 2012 Boston Marathon official start!

Okay…how for a Godincidence happening as I type the last words of this blog…

The doorbell rings…and guess what is HERE??? God is so good…this is His perfect timing once again. I am headed out the door in one hour to do a TV interview about this God-given journey with a local TV station…and now I get to wear my entire Team Hoyt warm-up!!! Woo hoo! Thank you Lord for the little things that are oh, so BIG!

To Him be the Glory…GREAT things He hath done!!!