Nature of the Beast

This post is for our precious Spicy Family (under White Swan links as Hunan Spice). They are going through a very difficult time right now. We adore them. When God introduced us to them it was nothing short of a Divine appointment. I mean, we met in Home Depot for crying out loud and then went on to find out many things similar to the other. One of the things that is the same is that both PandaPop and DaddySpice are ministers....Children's Ministers to be exact. Yeah, I know, crazy. The road they got thrown onto last Friday is a road in which we have traveled as well. Yeah, I know, crazy. Part of being in the ministry means dealing with the decisions of other people. I know most jobs have this aspect, but there is a tremendous amount of emotional ties to being a vocational pastor and when those ties are stretched beyond what they can do...well, it makes for another valley. If you decide to go over and see what I am talking about then please know that being in vocational ministry has many blessings, but it also holds a side to it that most don't see. Being a minister's wife also carries MANY blessings, but having to watch your husband reap something negative from someone else is very depleting to the soul of a woman. PLEASE don't be disillusioned by God or his "church". God is good---all the time. People, however, well, people are humans and make terrible judgment calls from time to time. In this case the bad call effected our friends. When PandaPop and I were about to get our referral for PandaGirl (the pictures and paperwork to either accept or reject her) we found ourselves in the EXACT same position as the Spicy Family. We almost didn't get to go to China to get our baby. That is a whole post on its own. During that horrible valley we grew so much closer to the Lord and this song, "I Still Believe" by Jeremy Camp is one of the songs that carried us through. We knew God was in control and "had our back", but we still had to get THROUGH the valley to see some light. Praise God that we don't depend on human strength to get to heaven or to even experience joy here on earth. My dear friends, we love you and you know that. God is good---all the time. Much love. (Someone else made this video so don't be distracted by the iStock photo with the copywright on it...just listen to and read the words. They are the message to be conveyed.)