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Have  you ever thought that it’s up to you whether 2016 is a good year or not.  Oh things can happen that you don’t particularly like, but your attitude can still be optimistic anyhow. And  your life can be peaceful too.

It all depends on how you look at God. If you look at him as real and walk with him each day, you will know how much he loves you and that he is in control of all things. So, no matter what, he knows about everything that can happen. Why then do we worry about IT!

I have found out that it is best to trust God in all things. If you have read my book, “He Leadeth me”, you would know the story, but I’ll tell it anyway. I was lying in bed listening to the radio when I recognized the song,”He Leadeth me” being sung by a man with a beautiful tenor voice. My grandfather used to sing that song accompanied by my dad at the piano. I was so engrossed  in the song and memories of grandpa andf dad and didn’t want the song to end but I did’t hear the last part because a harsh noise sounding like a big tree was going to land on my house, or better still, on my head. My house is in a beautiful place. A forest of big fir trees is just to the north of my house and there are big fir trees in my property and to the south and east of me.

I didn’t see the tree because it was a rainy, windy night, but I surely heard it! It sounded like it would hit awfully close to where I was lying. And it did…..But a big tree near my house steered the tree just enough to the west  so it landed there. In the morning I saw the 150 foot tree had landed close to my bedroom window  and had done very little damage, just a little scrape on the side of the house.

Now, because I trust God and know that he loves me, I wasn’t worried. If he wanted to take me home it was okay with me. If he wanted me to live, that was okay too. And if this littl;e tale becomes your teacher, that’s what I would like to see.Happy 2016  to you.

 

 

 

 

I have never celebrated New Years eve. The ball comes down in New York at 6 pm our time. I watch that and go to bed at my regular time so I am usually sound asleep when the magic hour of midnight comes. The year changed without all the hoopla the world goes through.

One year was different though. That one was when we changed from 1940 to 1941. It was announced  by my dad that I was old enough to stay up and go to the New Years eve service at our church. I was excited about that, probably not because of the service, but because of the cookies that would be served after the service! My brother and sister were already asleep at home.

About half way through the service the fire house bell started ringing and  as soon as that started, the Catholic and our bell started ringing too. I hoped it was only one of those training things we were getting used to after the December 7th attack on the United States but they never happened at nearly midnight. The men quickly turned off the lights in the church. We all sat quietly, nobody moved. Then Daddy started praying for our country. Soon the firetruck came by the church with a man yelling through a bullhorn, “This is is a test. Keep your lights off for five minutes more.”

You could almost feel the relief people felt after that. I don’t know what Japanese planes would be doing coming to bomb this little Minnesota town but we honestly thought that test was real! Our cookies, coffee and punch was a real celebration that night.

We didn’t have far to walk home, our house was the parsonage sitting right next to the church, but as we trudged through the snow, Daddy was preaching about taking these tests seriously because it could be a bombing mission. “It’s always good to follow orders,” he said.

I imagine some of you are smiling at a bomb test in rural Minnesota but today Issis could be anywhere. We read that they are in every state and we are getting nervous hearing about all the attacks going on in our country. It’s a trying time these days and we should all be praying that 2016 will be a good year for all of us. That is my wish for all of you and our America too.

 

 

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