A Great Sunday

It's been a long time since I've been on my Blog. I guess I got too busy with other things and the Blog just got lost somewhere. But, I had such a great day at Church yesterday, I wanted to share some of the blessings.

I drive the Church van on Sunday morning and pick up children and today, 2 adults. Candi rides with me-she navigates-and I enjoy that time with her. It's interesting to see the faces of the children as they wait to be picked up. Sometimes they are smiling, ready to go and other times you can tell by their faces, it might be a tough morning. We picked up a boy yesterday morning that looked almost angry when we picked him up but once we got to Church and the Pastor spoke to him, his frown disappeared and we saw a smile. I think he really likes Pastor Tyler and it definitely showed.

I had the blessing of teaching the toddler class for Robin yesterday. We were studying Cain and Abel and I had to explain why God always expects our best and why he wasn't happy with Cain's offering. The class went well; Charlie and Hayden paid close attention, answered the questions and at prayer time, both asked me to pray for their sisters. For our activity, we had to color pictures twice. The first time we had to color fast and be very sloppy; the second time we had to take our time, staying in the lines and coloring neatly. This was a good way for the children to understand the difference between just giving God an ordinary, not very nice offering and giving him our best. I've always loved to color so I took part in this activity too. Thanks, Robin, for asking me to substitute for you. I really enjoyed it.

My Pastor is a great preacher and puts a lot of work and study in his sermons. They are almost like lessons and I really like that. I love to take notes and have many filled notebooks from many years and many preachers. Our morning worship service was good but I especially enjoyed the evening service.

Pastor Tyler used Psalms 103 as his text and brought out several pertinent points. He explained why we should bless the Lord for all the things he has done for us:

• forgives our sins
• heals all our diseases
• redeems our lives from destruction
• crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies
• satisfies our mouths with good things so our youth is renewed like the eagle's
• shows us mercy and grace; slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

Then he explained why we should bless the Lord for all the things he has not done for us:

• does always chide us and will not always be angry with us
• has not dealt with us after our sins and not rewarded us according to our iniquities (thank you Lord)

The most important point Pastor Tyler made (as far as I am concerned) was found in verse 12: "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us". I wonder how many people comprehend how truly awesome this verse is. "As far as the east is from the west" is an unmeasurable distance. East and west can never meet. This a symbolic portrait of God's forgiveness. When he forgives our sin, he separates it from us and doesn't even remember it. We never need to wallow in the forgiven past, for God forgives and forgets. We all have a tendency to dredge up the ugly past, but God has wiped our record clean. If we are going to follow God, we must follow his model of forgiveness. When we forgive another, we must also forget the sin. Otherwise, we have not truly forgiven.

This has been a tough summer for me. I am so thankful God has forgiven and forgotten my sins. He has brought me through a lot and was right by my side every second. Thank you Lord.

It's time to get ready for my work day. I hope all of you have a great day.

"This is the day the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it."