Greetings from Austin Street

TGIF Today God is First!  We here at 811 are giving thanks to God for victory over cancer in our young cousin Tatum. Final results came back to day and in the words of her extraordinary mother, “All is well.”  It is a day we have looked forward to for so long. This baby has fought this battle two times in her young life; she is only seven. She has fought with courage and faith since she was three years old. And today she was pronounced “well.”  We are so very thankful to God and His healing graces for the precious life of this young lady and her amazing family. This is the family from whom I stole the phrase, “God is good and love wins!” Tonight it is truer than ever!

Lord, in you is all my worth, glory, and joy. I thank you for accepting and loving me. Thank you for your words of encouragement as I become myself. Thank you for looking far enough in me to see strengths and skills I don’t know are there. I love you Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

I have been back at work in my current full capacity this week. This is how my day goes; I go and get a child from their classroom, we return to my room, the child and I engage in book discussion and reading, I return the child to their teacher. I have thirty minutes once a week to make a difference in the life of a child. In all honesty I thought at first that the ministry to which I have been called was being put on the back burner for a while, maybe a long while. I had begun to think that I had failed God. And then as has been my practice for over thirty years I have had my morning prayer time on the way to school. I followed a familiar path and learned to listen to the voice of God. It is not the location of the ministry that is important. It is the ministry to which I have been called that is important. God has called me to follow His will wherever I am. So as I listen to children read, or listen to parents and teachers talk I am on holy ground because God is present through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that causes me to respond in the most appropriate ways. Here is my new lesson to practice and learn. I need to listen to God while listening to others and allow the Holy Spirit to empower my listening and speaking. I pray that God will use me to be a channel of His Love, Joy and Peace by listening to Him while listening to others. Pastoral care is not a location, but a way of life to be enacted and for me to bloom where I am planted.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

Exodus 3: 5

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce and Gaylene

PS The hammering, drilling, two trips to Home Depot and Bruce’s decades of knowledge of my wonderful hubby are repairing the leaky faucet.  The faucet in our bathroom is not even made any more (remember we live in a really old house)so other accommodations have had to be made. I am so grateful that his abilities to repair are still intact and that he is willing to tackle the task. The job is not complete, but I have full confidence that all will be repaired.  I love my dear hubby. Grace and pieces, gc