92 Days

Elijah:92 Days in Heaven.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of you and imagine how at peace you are. Each day that passes I think of how blessed you are to go straight to Heaven. A one way ticket, a free pass. How lucky my sister was to carry such a blessing for 9 months. God had his eye on you the whole time. Knowing what was to come. He made sure you gave us all hope and sunshine in a dark trying time during those 9 months. We didn't know how much we needed you during that time but God did. You served your purpose and it was perfect. You brought so much happiness and love. I wonder why I still cry over you, it's just because I miss the days we could of had. I miss the thought of you. It's just my own selfishness. How greedy of me to want you here when there is no peace in the world. Today, no tears. Just thankfulness of the way I can see a different side of  how your life was the perfect piece to a unfit puzzle and how you were so needed during your short life. Sometimes heartache is there in our road of life for reasons we don't know until the pain has already happened. It still may take a while to see everything but for now. I'm thankful. Thankful for you. I hope you're up there stretching and yawning while Jesus watches you as you rest. You're still our sunshine. Even on the cloudy days. You're precious feet left a permanent mark on our hearts. Happy 3 months in Heaven.
Love,
The Guffeys

Rooted In Christ

June 19th 2000. 16 years ago I was an 8 year old little girl who had bad dreams at night. Dreams someone was coming in my home to kill me. Paranoia of always thinking I was going to die over every little thing. It wasn't my time to die. I was just 8 but deep down I was afraid of where I was going if I died. My honest heart had not known much sin. Maybe a few lies here and there but I knew what sin was and I knew it was wrong. God wasn't happy with my wrong doings.  When I would lay down at night I would pray until my eyes couldn't stay open anymore.  I didn't even know how to stop that feeling even though I was raised in church. It was unfamiliar and scary. I was feeling condemnation. I was seven when I decided to dress like a modest girl. My mother let me cut my hair & wear whatever I wanted as long as it was in order up until I didnt want it anymore. My favorite use to be the colored Jean shorts with the short shirt with the tie above the belly button. 😁 Ya know, that 90's style.  I suddenly lost that desire to dress that way. I chose as a 7 year old girl for my mom to gather all my clothing and get a new wardrobe. My new wardrobe consisted of overly sized grandma clothes. 😂 I didnt care, it didn't even cross my mind as out of fashion. I would raise my hands to praise God in the mirror and make sure I was decent before God. I would sit on my bed to make sure my skirt was long enough to sit feminine. As a young girl I didnt have vacation bible school or youth church. I sat quietly in that old country church and respected the meaning of church. I mostly wanted to play with my cousins and friends in the back but that was a rare occurance. I remember singing those old songs in that tiny church my great grandfather and grandmother had started in 1932. (I believe that's right) My great grandmother had passed when I was 7. She meant the world to me. She would stuff my mouth with nursing home mash potatoes and give me a hand full of those orange candy peanuts. I didn't like them but she made me eat them cause they were her favorite.  When she passed it was like it opened up a new me. I wanted what she had when she died. It was so peaceful and her love was so pure.  I knew without a doubt she was going to Heaven! The year went on and I was still wearing my modest clothing and trying to live the best I could but something wasn't right. I would still go to sleep with the same pattern a year later. I spoke with my dad about it several times and he would just say pray about it. God knows your heart. At this time I didn't even want to go to church because I would be afraid of what I would hear in the church house. The testimonies would strike me like lightning. Revival was coming up and my mother tells me to this day she was honestly scared of me being so young & showing signs I was ready to give my life to God. She tells me that when I had changed my life she knew God was working with me and she didn't need to interfere but she questioned God. Will you protect her as she grows? When she falls, will you be sure to help her find the courage she needs to stand? My mother said she took us kids to a park and noticed I was walking towards the swings. She said she started fearing how could she swing in front of all these people in a skirt? She said God knew what she was thinking without her saying a word. Mom said I went to that swingset and sat on the swing in the opposite direction facing the woods. I was swinging with my back facing everyone. She looked at me swinging while everyone was forward facing and I was backwards. She said God told her... I will show her the way.  She lost the fear she had of me being too young. Revival came up and I loved revival. Lots of new friends and food! One glorious day God knocked on my heart. I was sitting on the bench I normally sat on with a friend I normally play with. This day I didnt want to play. I wanted to hear and watch everything. My heart was beating out of my chest. When they sang that song. I stood up and went to God. That glorious day June 19 2000, Jesus came into my heart and made me whole. He satisfied my soul. I had never felt so much peace and happiness. I cried so many tears I didnt know how to put into words. God had purified my soul. I had full faith in him. There have been many times when the devil would pull me astray but MY LORD never let go of my hand! I go to him in the deepest, darkest times of my life when Noone else knows what I'm facing and he is ALWAYS THERE!!  He gives me songs. He will put something in my mind and give me music to it in my head. I go straight to playing it on the piano. These songs aren't for others...they're for me! The words flow like a river as the waters of his grace purifies my darkness.
When I stumble and fall, he is there to lift me up. The thing I hold onto is the day I know I was saved. I was 8 but he knew what my road looked like. Rough and rocky. He needed my seed planted young so when the winds would blow wickedly, my roots would stand strong. He knew I needed to be young. My roots are now rooted in Christ by his grace. The only way for me to lose life is for me to choose life without him.

Pitch your tent toward God

Pitch your tent toward God... not what is evil.

Over the weekend I heard a remarkable sermon about pitching your tent towards the good in life. I have never heard a sermon specifically about a tent. Who knew it would have such an impact on my current life?  It is very difficult for me to hear every sermon or testimony with kids in a small church. However, this night in particular, God opened my ears and allowed me to hear what was meant for me. It was definitely meant for me! I learned there is no time to settle! Don't settle and pitch your tent towards something negative that is involved in your life. There is time to move! As an example in Genesis 13, Abram pitched his tent in the wrong direction and ended up being tempted and losing his wife. In any circumstance in your life that is filling your heart with sadness or negativity... Just Turn your tent in a different direction! We should not settle in a place God has created for us to simply pass through. When we make decisions that limit God and his providence for our lives, we are building tabernacles in a land where God has called us to simply pitch a tent & grow! Your happiness is dependent on your outlook on life. Which can be toward the good or the bad. It's our choice! I chose to turn my tent around! Away from the evil that brings me down and doesn't bring me happiness. With my tent being pitched towards evil it  brings negative thoughts. It brings a disturbed mind & causes me to stay in this tent that is in the wrong direction even longer. Being pitched in the negative direction will cause my sight for the positive to get foggy. I will lose my FAITH and Hope little by little. When God sends a message and you have heard it with open ears and a desiring heart, GRAB A HOLD and DON'T LET GO! Move that tent! Don't settle and be destroyed little by little. Move your tent during the storms! Through the tears & fears! It's time to turn your tent around and Pitch it toward GOD! It's my turn!

Love & Prayers

Brenda

Genesis 13-19

With GOD all things are possible

Today I'll share a testimony from 2015. This year was my daughters first year of public school. We had many struggles this year with sickness. Our son had also just turned one. He was young and his immune system was fragile. Yet it seemed we only of had a few weeks of wellness and health in our home throughout the whole school year! We went to God in prayer every time our children got sick. However, our FAITH had grown weak and our trips to the doctor had grown larger. Our nighttime prayers began with, "God you know seeing our children constantly sick hurts our hearts so much." Instead of our usual, "God we come to you tonight with love and thanks for our children". How did I forget to be thankful no matter the situation? It's true, I did. I had forgotten how to Thank God for the good things even with the bad. It caused our house to suffer spiritually and physically. We had missed church quite a bit due to our children being so sick. My husband and I were questioning what we were doing wrong. We began to seek him for answers and relief. We began to take our kids to church even when they were sick and sat them on the front bench requesting prayer at the beginning of service. If God didn't come by like a mighty rushing wind, we still were looking for the small things that happened in church to give us FAITH that something good was coming. The children were still constantly sick and our FAITH was struggling.
One particular morning, during this trial, my husband calls me with disturbing news. This new job he had been at for 2 months was making him retake a test from his college years in order to secure his job. This test was one you normally take a whole semester to study for. One that wasn't suppose to be retested for another few years. Here we were at another crossroads. They gave him one week to study and test. If he did not pass within this deadline, it would cost him his job. When my husband told me the news my heart dropped to my feet and I instantly called out to God. I told my husband, there is a reason this is happening. I'm not sure why but I know for sure God wants us to be closer to him or he wouldn't give us all of this to deal with. He wants us to draw nigh to him so he will draw nigh to us. My husband was in agreement. Something had to change. My prayers started changing from here and there throughout the day to every. single. second. of the day!! My Bible was opened all day, not just when I had time! I was seeking for his guidance!! I was desiring for his presence!
My husband had to study all weekend so I was taking care of my sick kids by myself with little to no sleep. My house was hard to live in with a studying husband in one room with two sick kids in the other. There was no time for cleaning. The weekend was here and my husband had barely came out of the room from studying. It was church time on a Saturday night. I thought for sure he would stay here to study, it is a 90 minute long test. 5:30 comes by and he walks out of the room. Let's get ready. We're going to church! I happily get my very tired and weak kids ready and we head out the door. We walk in the church doors filled with FAITH and determination. That night service was great! We gained FAITH and encouragement. That next night, Sunday, we was off to church again with sick kids and a very exhausted husband from studying all night and day. Our desire was still there. God came by and gave my husband a wonderful blessing. I cried and cried while holding both of my children. It was beautiful seeing God bless him. When I thought things were looking up, I was wrong. After church, my kids hit rock bottom. My sons fever was reaching 105 and started to have the shakes. I was crying out to God. "What else can I do?" "Where are you?" That day was the day my husband had to take his test. He had left early that morning and told me he would call me when he was done. We had many prayers going up from loved ones for him and my children. That morning I packed my kids in the car and drove them to the doctor that was 50 minutes away when God was right there the whole time. I left that doctors office with antibiotics and no answers. I was so frustrated. I drove home with my sleeping kids in the backseat. My dads testimony came to me. When God spoke to him when he was driving me and my siblings home from a singing one late night. My dad looked in his rear view mirror and saw us sleeping. Dad said how can they be sleeping on a night like this? When it's late and cold and I'm tired and miles away from home. He said God told him just as you have faith in me, your heavenly father, that I will guide you safely through this life to your heavenly home. So do your children trust you, their father, to take them safely home. Tears were falling down my face. It was like God had opened my eyes. I had to fully, FULLY, give it to him. All of my cares, worries & doubts. I was still holding onto them but wasn't aware of it. I needed to TRUST him! I needed to have FAITH that my God knew exactly what he was doing. I pulled up in my drive way. Put my kids in their bed. Opened up my bible and walked outside on my front porch. I sat there and cried. "God, where are you?" After I said that, I had a out of life experience that I had never experienced before. It was like God had cleaned my mind within a second after asking him where he was! I had tears of doubt on my face but my mind had stopped. God had took my mind, my eyes & my ears to show me PEACE. My eyes were clouded but my ears had opened. I was hearing the birds singing. I was hearing the wind gently hit the limbs on the trees. My eyes looked up to the trees swaying and birds and leafs falling to the ground. That's when God spoke to me through this experience of nothing else existing but his creations. "I've been here all along. I'm in the breeze that moves the trees. I give the birds their song. I tell the sun when to shine." I am not  stretching the truth! This is a REAL experience that happened to me!! My mind had never been so at peace before. God had renewed my mind. I knew God had just gave me the answer. He renewed my FAITH! I look down to my Bible. Guess what it was on? Matthew 19. My eye hit Matthew 19:26.  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
I about shouted the house down. I went inside to my home with sleeping kids waiting for my husbands call. I get out a notebook and pen. God was giving me words to a song. How do you know that it was God? I'll tell you. I didn't have to research words. I didn't have to put any music to it. It was coming to my head faster than I could write it. The chorus was: He is the God of all things possible. He gives me hope for tomorrow. He will NEVER forsake me. Through the fire and the flames. He brings the rain. I know God is in Control. He is my stronghold. I was stepping on the clouds that reach the mountains of Glory when I got the call from my husband. HE PASSED!!! Praise Jesus and his glorious name! How did I ever doubt him? My kids woke up with a different demeanor to them. It could have just been my own demeanor that changed! HA! I wasn't looking for sickness. I was looking for healing. That's just what God gave me. He allowed my children to get well and not just for a day or two.
That song that God gave me was one of the last ones that was recorded for my families written CD.
www.thebirdsongfamily.org/music.
One of the easiest and quickest songs we had yet recorded. God blessed us with a great CD that brought us many blessings. Testifying to his children of what God has done for us.
To God be the Glory.

Love & Prayers
Brenda

Great is thy FAITHfulness

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

FAITH...such a huge word. Faith has many definitions. Faith, to me, is a personal relationship and something I need everyday. I desire to have peace, happiness & faith in all things, good or bad. I find peace in expression. Writing & discussion. Such as songs, poetry & journals. So why not a blog? Worth a shot! 
Your story could be the key that can unlock someone else's prison. So let's share our testimonies! This blog will most likely touch base with all factors in my life that involve struggles, learning & faith. I tell myself many times throughout the day, "Have Faith" or "It's ok". I always find myself back at "The Rock" that is always higher than I! Great is thy FAITHfulness! I hope you continue to join me as I relate my life to my relationship with Faith.

Love & Prayers

Brenda