Linda's Psalms

What is Our Love Story?
Poem by Linda Jacobson
Summer of 1997

What is our love story Lord, mom's and mine?

A deep dark hole comes to mind.

A sadness as deep fills my whole being.

You hold the key my precious King.

In my heart I truly know, she did the best she could ---so?

So, why with that truth is the pain, still;

The pain so deep; the pain, so real?

She lies dying now, as do I,

M o u r n i n g comes creeping by.

What must I do Father while life goes on....for she and I?

I feel the end is near,

Yet, the beginning is more the reality I hear.

What is our love story, Lord, mom's and mine?

"My precious one, the story will come in My time."

My mother was in ICU in 1997 when God downloaded the words to me and I wrote this poem in the waiting room of the hospital. The Lord said to me when I was on a mission trip in 1996 that "my mother didn't have much time". I didn't know if she didn't have much time to live or to be sighted or both because she had been diagnosed with Macular Degeneration and was going blind. Three years had passed after writing these words when my mother died.

How many of you, sons and daughters, want or wanted a closer more loving relationship with your parents? The reality is, there is always HOPE or you may never achieve your dream and the desire that is in your heart. It can be surprising or even shocking, as it was to me, how we carry childhood battles into our adult life. There is such a thing as a soul battle which is defined as a conflict within your soul that one continues to fight but it feels like you cannot win. As hard as we might try to win, by people pleasing, performing, striving for acceptance or approval, or praying for unconditional love we can still feel trapped, angry and hurt. That pain and hurt can stay alive forever. BUT GOD!

I know because I was 51 when my mother died at 72 years of age. I didn't experience the mother/daughter relationship that I had pictured or expected to have some day. My picture album was much different than I hoped for and just thinking about it now my brother's album was totally different and he was 5 years younger than me. My heart was always searching, seeking and desiring something more. After I wrote the poem and several years after mom died God told me I had a soul battle and I needed to surrender my mother to Him. In 2006 my friend Betsy confirmed that I will learn how to surrender God's way and stop the war within myself. In my heart I needed to be free and by releasing and forgiving my mother the legal ties would be broken. The ungodly soul ties were cut off between mom and me. A soul tie is a covenant binding two people together. God is a covenant honoring God and will honor all covenants, good or bad. Anything ungodly was gone and freedom was mine. The battle was God's not mine. Here is what He reminded me in His Word:

2 Chronicles 20:15 "This is what the Lord says to you: 'Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's. vs. 17 You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. vs.20 Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper." AMP Bible

What's been important for me to learn and accept is that my value and my self-worth are not based upon the outcome of my relationship with my mother or father. My value and purpose comes from God and my personal relationship with Him. For that I am grateful to God for naturally placing in me ways to honor my parents. I knew within me to appreciate them and be thankful for what they did for me; to accept their authority.

Colossians 3:20 "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord."

Ephesus 6:2 "Honor your mother and father, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

The poem "What is Our Love Story" was the beginning to an end and God holds the end. The outcome is His and promised me the story would come in His Time. It is happening just the way He said it would. I am now my mothers age when she went home to be with the Lord. I Love You Mom! I was blessed then and I am blessed now.

Billy Graham said - "MY HOME IS IN HEAVEN; I AM JUST TRAVELING THROUGH THIS WORLD."

Did I Ever Tell You About the Time When....?

Summer 1993

...I met an angel. It was summer of '93' and I was sitting in a fast food diner waiting for a friend..."

I met an angel. It was summer of '93' and I was sitting in a fast food diner waiting for a friend. I had my Bible open and I was studying the Minor Prophets for Bible Study Fellowship class. A man came in, sat down, at a single table facing me from just 5' away. He had grey hair and was wearing khaki pants and a plaid shirt. He looked to be 60 something. He said, "What ya readin?" I smiled. "The Bible!, I said. "Hmm Good book. Have you ever thought of being a missionary?" I thought Whoa this man is reading my mail! "Yes, as a matter of fact I've been thinking about it." Next, he asked "Where do you think you'd like to go?" At this point I stood up and walked over to him because I knew he was an angel sent by God. He proceeded to tell me about my heart and described me as kind, loving and caring. I asked "Where do you think I should go?" His reply, "Yugoslavia! The people there need someone like you." He got up & walked out. I was in awe. One thing for sure, he came to say AND ask the questions of me that he wanted to ask.

Winter of '93' on a Saturday afternoon I laid down and began to pray. Two hours later I awakened and began to write what I saw and heard.

1st-I was working with youth. 2nd-I would be surrounded by water. 3rd-I would be in missions. Wow! How exciting but I had no idea what it meant. UNTIL....

Christmas of '95' God started dropping hints by bringing people to plant seeds.

One man at a dance said to me "You should go on the Mercy Ships!" "What's a Mercy Ship?" "They are hospital ships and go to Africa, South America and Asian ports."

Another time a lady asked me "Ever heard of YWAM? "No, what is that?" "It means Youth With a Mission."

Another woman said "Have you heard of the Anastassis? "No, I have never heard that before. "It is a mercy ship with YWAM, you should go."

Immediately I checked out the yellow pages and found the closest YWAM near me.

But God! All 3 visions were connected. I was aboard the Anastassis in South Africa in February of 1997. I feel God has moved 'heaven and earth' for me to be the oldest of 30 to attend the Discipleship Training School aboard this ship. I have learned to pay attention to messages that come in threes. To me it is possibly God speaking and it's a confirmation from Him. See some of God's Miracles below.

ISAIAH 60:22 "When the time is right, I, the Lord will Make it happen."

Miracle One - I had invested in water filters to sell and had a lot left. I had a yard sale to raise $$ for missions. I thought no one will buy these filters. A man came up to me and asked how much I wanted for the filter and do I have anymore? "Yes, I do". He said, "I will take them all. Will $500 do?" Yeah!! But God! Jeremiah says, "...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Miracle Two - I had a mammogram 5 days before I left for Africa and the doctors found a lump. They showed me the x-ray and took more pictures but before they did I called my prayer warriors. After the next x-rays the doctors said, "Mrs. H. we don't know how to tell you this but the lump is gone and we don't know why. You saw it and we saw it right? It is not there now." Well, I knew why! They wanted to see me in 6 months. I told them I will be in Africa on a mission trip. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Miracle Three - I needed to sell my "94' VW Golf. God led me to a VW Dealer by way of many people. It actually was like a road map to get to this dealer manager. Anyway the dealer said he would take my car for a spin and I waited in the sun on his lot for his return. A company van was parked in a space to my left with a young man at the wheel. The dealer was back with my car and pulled into the space where I had originally parked. Before he got out I watched him make eye contact with the driver of the van. What happened next is hard to believe. The kid in the van put the van in reverse and backed into my car with the manager still at the wheel of my car. The kid got out of van went to my car and said, "I saw you there. sir. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened." They exchanged more words.

I asked God, "Is this your way of selling my car?" The manager got out of my car and said to me, "It looks like I will be buying your car today." I sold my car for what I needed, was given a loaner car until the day I left for Africa. The Manager wished me well in Africa.

"Oh My God how You care for me!"

1 PETER 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you."

PHIL 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to GOD."

Miracle Four - After three months on board the ship the DTS students do an outreach. My leader Dan asked me "Where do you think we should go Linda to do our outreach?" My response was "Why are you asking me." Remember that was the same question the angel in the diner asked me. I asked God to show me while I slept where we should go and I saw an outline of a country in flashing neon yellow. Dan asked me, "Did you see or hear anything?" I told him what I saw but I didn't know what country it was, so Dan pulled down a world map. You guessed it - it was Yugoslavia! OMG!

My team left Greece on a bus and I might add we had tickets to return on a bus BUT we were run out of a town in Yugoslavia in the middle of the night and told we were to board the 1am train OR we would be jailed.

We were to be there for 3 weeks. It had only been 10 days. The authorities did not stamp our visas and that was our first clue, somethings wrong. So much happened in the time we spent there for me personally. What God did in 10 days was life changing for me and I believe for all of us.

Oh well, I like trains better than buses anyway.

You know I never had any desire to go to Africa. God put the desire on my heart. I was accepted to attend DTS on board the Anastassis and why this is important to mention is because I was 45 years old and DTS was for the young 20-35 years old. I should have attended a Crossroads School not the Discipleship Training School (DTS). God moved in me and used others too, to get me where He wanted me and to experience Him. But God!

There is more to this story that I will share later on regarding His Amazing Love for me. It's goes without saying, but I have to say it -- you too have a story, a testimony of what He has done for you, what miracles have occurred in your lifetime, and much more. Is it possible that He wants you to write about your journey with God?

PSALM 34:7 "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them."

PSALM 91:11 "For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways."

LUKE 4:10 "For it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning you to guard you carefully."

EXODUS 23:20 "See I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared."

God Changed My Teeth to Gold

Summer 2009

Unbelievable Right? But God! It was July 26, 2009…..God’s Glory in my mouth! He is alive and well. Here is my story.

We were doing ministry full time at Restoring the Foundations and we had one day off between ministries and God said, “Go to the conference at Chavda Ministries in Fort Mills SC. I told Brian and off we went. Bill Johnson from Bethel Church, Redding CA comes to Bonnie and Mahesh’s church every July. We had not met the Chavdas or the Johnson's yet but had heard great things about these 2 ministries.

When we walked in God said, "Pray for that woman" so I did. She looked like she may have Tourettes. Very early on this woman that I was praying for walked up on stage and said “I’ve been healed”. So God and Jesus and Holy Spirit were there and I prayed for hours for HIS GLORY to come. I prayed for healing, gold dust, jewels, gold teeth, angel feathers or anything else the LORD wanted to do.

I remember believing for gold teeth and I even checked all my teeth with my tongue while I sat there. I thought to myself those teeth feel smooth maybe they are gold but then immediately just dismissed that thought. I prayed all day long and asked for God's Glory to come for everyone and anyone just what they needed.

We had lunch with a few RTF friends and ministers. I was laughing and my friend Amy saw my gold teeth and thought to herself, How could they afford gold teeth?" She said nothing out loud. So by days end and after a wonderful day of fellowship and new revelations we headed home and arrived home at midnight. We went to bed and it wasn't until early evening we began to get ready for a ministry session. I was brushing my teeth and noticed I had 3 new gold teeth. I began yelling at Brian to check his teeth to see if he had any gold in his mouth. I found 2 bottom molars on the left were gold and 1molar on the bottom right. There was nothing wrong with those teeth. I joked with God that my 2 teeth with old crowns needed work. A little later I found 2 platinum were side by side top left.

Brian said he had asked God why did He give me gold teeth? "I know why God gave you Gold teeth, "So you'll tell everybody you know". A couple years later we were sitting at an RTF family BBQ and Mike said, "Linda I know why God gave you gold teeth. It's because you will tell every one you know." I believed that was my mandate from God. I have done that and I started with my own Restoring the Foundation family pictured here:

God has created opportunities to show people HIS GLORY in my mouth when ever the Holy Spirit leads. Divine appointments with dentists and many others for ten plus years have been my honor and my joy to show how God showed up and showed Off!!
Mark 16:17-18 "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well."
John 14:11-12 "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
John 21:25 "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

God woke me out of a sound sleep with a huge burst of bright light,
God's Light!

Then I heard Him say “You have a hollow grandmother!” I remember saying “No I don’t!” My grandparents on my mothers' side were Baptists and knew God, so it couldn’t be them. My Grandma K. loved the Lord and was a wonderful grandma and good role model of God’s love. I wanted to be like her when I grew up so it couldn’t be Grandma K. So I said to God, “No I don’t have a hollow grandmother. They know you and love you, Lord." Of course I was remembering my grandma in Iowa and grandma in California who both had passed away@ 89 several years earlier.

I think I argued with God for a week saying “No I don’t. YES YOU DO! No I don’t! YES, LINDA YOU DO!" Then one day I remembered my grandma from Iowa had come for dad’s funeral in 1971. She said to me privately, “By the way I am not your dad’s birth mom.” I was 24 then and naïve but I said “OK”. 20 years later, God awakens me to the truth. “Okay God, I get it. There is a woman out there that is my dad’s mother. She is hollow." I had to look up in the dictionary to see what “hollow” even meant. The meaning came from the dictionary and Holy Spirit: She is alone, feeling low, empty, in a deep dark hole. She has no one that loves her. She has backslidden from God. She is depressed and wants to die. She is lacking substance and value. Then I began to talk to God about it. "What do you want of me God? Do I need to find her? Where is she? What do I do first? How do I even begin? It sounds like a huge undertaking. Okay God, whatever you want." I heard “I’ll help you find her.”

My son Jeremy was in the Army and based in upper state New York, so I thought I would go see him first and even visit a friend in Baltimore. One day I was in the shower and I heard my dad’s voice say “Go there first!” Go where? I decided “first things first”; I gave my notice @ work, to my apartment manager, to my family and friends, and put everything in storage.

I checked in with my dad’s family to see what they knew about Grandmas whereabouts, her name or who knew her or knew of her. Needless to say, it didn’t go over very well. The question I heard from them was, “Why? You have a family that loves you. Why do you need to find this woman who left your dad as an infant in a crib?" The only thing my family told me was that her last name may have been Hoffman or Huffman.

God and I set out in my little red hot VW convertible on Memorial Day 1993 to find a grandmother I never knew. We (God & I) slept out under the stars every night. When we spent the night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming it got frosty and when I woke my sleeping bag, pillow and blankets were frozen with a layer of frost. So all bedding had to be put in the dryer before we hit the road again. I hadn’t planned on a laundromat.

I called a great aunt in Minneapolis to see what she could add. She said there was a man in Mason City, IA. He was a relative and my grandma and his grandma were best friends. His name was Dennis. I stepped into the post office in his town and told the postman who I was looking for and he said he owned a boot store just down the road a piece. Off I went to meet a man I didn’t know and who didn’t know I was coming. I walked into the boot shop and said “Hi my name is Linda and I am looking for a grandmother that I never knew I had. Her name is Gladys Hoffman." He said, “Come on in and sit down”. It was as if he was expecting me. (Hmmm! God said He’d help me.) Dennis said he would give me everything he could find in a trunk in the attic. "Come back tomorrow", he said, then added, “I think I heard your grandma died in 1984”. We set a time for me to be back tomorrow and I said goodbye. I knew in my heart, she wasn’t dead. God would not have brought me this distance and given me names, street signs, direction and people.

The next day I got post cards, pictures, letters and all kinds of memorable things that the two friends had exchanged over the years. He thought he’d heard that there was a man by the name of Joe P. who knew them both and he lived up in Lancaster, WI. God continued to give me words of encouragement and even street signs in brown and white. I even on 2 occasions with my aunt and uncle through this little town called Lancaster on our way to church camp out and I remember being very drawn to a nursing home and something was pulling me. But at that time I hadn’t met Dennis.

So one day I set out for Lancaster, WI from Forest City, Iowa. It was time to see what God had planned and purposed. I pulled into Lancaster during a heavy rain and electrical storm. I had been camping outdoors all the way from Oregon to Iowa and sleeping out under the stars in my sleeping bag but this night the electrical storm was not going to be my friend. I stopped at a little motel and asked how much it would cost? I said no thanks I didn’t have enough. The lady asked if I had friends or family in town. I said no that I just had a name of someone, Joe Pink. She said, “Oh yes Joe lives north of town”. She told me how to get to Joe’s or to the campground. So off I went and began to pray. "What now God? Do I go to the campground or go to Joe Pinks house?" He said “Go to Joe’s first”. Once again I am knocking on a door of an unknown person.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Joe opened his door. I said, “Hi, my name is Linda and I am looking for a grandmother I have never known. I believe her name is Gladys Hoffman.” Joe said, “Come on in and sit down.” So Joe began to go through each of the Hoffman’s in the telephone book and called them and on the last one, number 9, the person said, “Are you sure her name isn’t Gladys Huffman?" He said call her, she lives over on Pine Street. So we looked her up and called her and a man named Raymond answered and Joe told him we were looking for a Gladys Huffman and we had heard that she might have passed away. Ray said, “She’s not dead! She is in the nursing home. Call Louis he takes care of all her stuff.” So we called Louis and he was shocked because he said she never mentioned she had a son let alone a granddaughter. He said, “I want to meet you before I take you to see Gladys.” My best guess was to make sure I was who I said I was.

So guess where I slept that night, in a comfortable bed in Joe’s home. He and his wife were so kind and caring. God had certainly gone ahead of me, all of the way. It was August 16, I had been on the road since May 31. I was to meet Gladys after I had my interview with Louis the next day August 17.

I passed his interview and he took me to the nursing home. (The nursing home that I had passed by a month earlier) But God... Right! It was August 17. I was going to go to visit a friend in Baltimore but God had told me to find my grandma first. Little did I know that Grandma’s house was going on the market to be sold at an auction scheduled for September 1st. So that was the urgency that I was feeling but didn’t have all the details. He knew who I would meet, where I would be, and when and what street signs I would see. All His plan!

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

1Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.”

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Part One of Two "Searching for Grandma"

New Meaning of Family Tree for Me

God Led Me to a Grandmother I Never Knew. He'll take us around the world to bring His Truth, His Healing and His Love!

Either to give or to receive.

Part Two "Finding Grandma"

BUT GOD! LED ME TO MY GRANDMOTHER GLADYS! It was summer of 1993. I remember when my friend Gayle set out to find her birth father just the summer before. God extended to me an invitation to take a trip with Him to find my "hollow grandmother". He was in all the details and went ahead of me. He never seizes to amaze me. He wants to do that for you too!

This is a partial story about the Grandma I found.

The day Louis took me to meet Gladys I walked into the nursing home and was met by my Gladys' nurse. She said who are you? I told her I was her granddaughter and that we have never met before. The truth is she didn’t even know that I existed. The nurse began to cry. She immediately poured out through her tears the things grandma had just said to her the day before “I just want to die because there is nobody who cares or loves me.”

Psalm 34:17-18 “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."

The nurse said she would come and get us as soon as grandma was ready. God had another reason for me to go there first.

I had brought with me pictures of my dad, her son as a teen and our family and letters and pics from her best friend, Myrtle.

I had been told that Gladys was in a wheelchair and had been in one since 1972 because she had a stroke 21 years ago. I walked into the nursing home room and Gladys was in her wheelchair so I sat down on a bed across from her. Louis introduced me and I let God do the rest. Little by little we began to talk. I asked her questions if she remembered her only child, keeping in mind that I was asking her to go back in her mind to 1925 when dad was born. She didn't remember. I continued with her friend Myrtle. I showed her a picture and a postcard that she and her best friend had written to each other. She said gruffly, “Where’d you get these?" I explained, "I have been searching for you and Myrtle's grandson Dennis gave them to me." An hour had gone by and I finally said, “I am your granddaughter". She sank in her wheelchair, in shame it appeared. With her head down she said, “They made me feel unwelcome and treated me badly.” That’s all she had to say.

Isaiah 61:7 "Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours."

I walked over to the wheelchair she was in and got down on my knees and looked up in her face and said, “You are my grandmother. I am proud to be your granddaughter and to know you. I love you!” The next moment she threw the best arm she had around my neck and held on.

1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen, and He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." We all cried, and were so surprised and grateful for this reunion. Only God knew the plans he had for us and the whole family. The next hour I spent with grandma was spent talking with each other as best as we could. I asked why she was in the nursing home and Louis shared she had cataract surgery and was recovering. Gladys said, “I want to go home but they won’t let me.” We talked awhile longer and I said I would come back tomorrow.

Within 45 minutes of our time together the Social Worker called me and asked me to come to her office. She interviewed me. Basically asking, "what are your intentions?" I was offered an opportunity to take Gladys home, live with her, become her care-giver and they would pay me for it. Well God, that was fast. I said I would pray about it and I did; and God said “Stay”. Within a couple of days grandma and I were in her house and settling in. I met Raymond her housemate. He was a gentle giant and very caring of Gladys. She wasn't the same towards him.

Grandma’s house was rescued and did not go on the auction block. It is across the street from a wonderful park and just 3 blocks from the main street in Lancaster. Her house was an incredible house in it's day but had become weathered and worn. It's a 3 story house, with a basement and a cellar, a garage and barn combined. I took a bedroom on the second floor and our relationship began. It had its challenges. I took another part time waitress position in the village steak house and took on more homeward bound people as well as Grams.

I accompanied Gladys to doctors visits. In fact I had a meeting with her doctor to get a history for my benefit. We also had a recorded interview by a Psychologist. He did ask questions of both of us regarding how we found each other. I feel I had to do a lot to prove to the village people that I was who I said I was. That sounds like Jesus’ story doesn't it. He asked the disciples, “But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 16:15-17 & Mark and Luke

I lived in Lancaster, Wisconsin with my grandmother from August until the next Memorial Day 1994. The road sign read "Welcome to the Village of Lancaster- population 1,629." I said to myself "Not anymore it's 1,630." There is another whole book about that time which will uncover "Our Love Story Grams and Mine". I have 5 journals of unbelievable experiences in the whole journey. I was so confident and trusting in the Lord all the way and all the time. Other's didn't understand why I was doing this. Some were concerned because I hadn't been a Christian very long. Some said, ""You are just a baby in Christ" or "I hope you find what you are looking for". Just to name a few question marks that other's had. But that's more than Okay. I said to them, "Thank you enough for caring" or "God spoke to me and said Go".

I am so glad I did, and still do, follow His lead. Being spirit led is fun and exciting. I have mentioned that I felt there was some urgency to go to find Gladys first. The most incredible and amazing gift of all was to share "our inheritance" from God. Grandma Gladys had backslidden, for how many years I don't know.

I had gone out to see her 2 memorial days after I returned home. It was the third year after I found her that she had rededicated her life to Christ after moving to the nursing home.

2 Cor 6:18 will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.;

The nurses were wonderful to allow grams to fax me and send cards for her. The Sunday she attended church and asked Jesus back into her heart they called me to tell me everybody was rejoicing with Gladys. That was God's plan. It was then that I was able to better understand God's bright light and His words "I have a Hollow Grandmother". WOW!! He cares and loves us so much.

1Peter 1:4 "In the Father's great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you."

There were many firsts for grandma and I that we celebrated together. I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day because I didn’t know I was Irish. Psalm 40:17 "As for me, I am poor and needy but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!" Grandma Gladys had 1 child, my father, and left him in a crib at 3 months of age. She never celebrated Mother’s Day and Grandmother’s Day. We celebrated Memorial Day, April Fools Day and Gladys 88th Birthday, born March 14, 1906 & died March 31, 2000. The day of celebration that I will never forget is the day that we were looking at box after box, bag after bag, purse upon purse of pictures, letters, calendars, books, receipts and bills etc.; and while doing that together, I was always looking for the final puzzle piece that was my father's name or a picture of him as a baby.

Isaiah 40:4 "Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain."

Isaiah 40:11 "He tends his flock like shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young."

One day we were going through a drawer in the dining room hutch and I found in a box, a small green leather bound "Birthday Journal". I turned to the day of my father's birth and there he was remembered, October 8, 1925. For me this was a completion of the puzzle or the new family tree that God had established. Grandma and I wept and hugged each other. It was finished. Come to find out the birthday book was not Gladys' it was her mother's, my great grandmother. She remembered in her journal, my father, her grandson.

The Lord gave me two scriptures before I left Oregon: these scriptures were Gold to me then and now.

Matthew 10:6 “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town.”

Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised-land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

His Heartministers