4.8.08

little miracles...

well, here i am, sitting in a lovely coffee shop in Knoxville, TN, waiting for my husband to finish with his conference for today so we can enjoy some time together on our mini-vacation

i’m especially thankful to the National Guard at the moment for providing us with complete compensation (even gas to get here!) to go on this trip for a week, so my husband can gain helpful training for dealing with his fellow soldiers in Iraq...as a chaplain’s assistant, his main job over there will be to minister to the men and women who are dealing with the realities of being in the midst of a war, away from home, from their families, from everything they know...i have an even greater admiration for Paul when i think about the fact that he will be dealing with these things himself while away, yet has offered his love and encouragement to the other soldiers at the same time...i’m not sure i could do that

i’m so proud of him...this weekend, Saturday the 9th, he is graduating from college with a Bachelor of Science in General Studies degree, with an emphasis on Physical Education

there is an amazing story behind this that i would like to share with you all on my blog...i can’t even begin to tell you how God has blessed this man of mine, but this is just a small glimpse (i wrote this a few days ago and shared it with friends on facebook, but i added some stuff to it:

Paul Michael graduated from high school 2 years later than he was supposed to. I graduated in 2001. He graduated the same year as I did, and he is 2 years older than I am. During his sophomore year of high school, he got into alcohol and drugs and began hanging out with the wrong crowd. His precious mother would beg him to go to church, but he felt like he was not good enough to be there (which of course is never the case...God wants us as we are before he changes us for the better). His mother continued to urge him to go with her (as he had done his whole life before now), but he still refused. As most of us in our teens, he sadly gave into the notion that "popularity is everything" and tried to fit in. As he got more and more into the "it" crowd, his grades began to suffer terribly. Several months later, he completely dropped out of high school, urged by his teachers and others to do so, as they told him he had no hope of anything else. It stayed this way for the rest of the year. Then, there was one night in which Paul got into a bad car wreck. He had invited his friend to ride in the car with him, but for some reason his friend refused. When the police found the car completely totaled, the passenger side was non-existent. If his friend had been in the car with him, he would have died. Paul realized this, and it changed his life. Knowing he and his friend could have died, he finally said yes to going back to church with his mother, where God met him face to face. The preacher talked about life being a vapor, and how quickly it can disappear. Paul knew God was directly speaking to him, and He committed to live his life serving the Lord no matter what. God told him to go back to high school, and he did, graduating with a grade average way above normal. Most of his old friends deserted him, and some of his teachers tried to make him fail, but he never gave up. After high school, Paul knew he wanted to go to college. God told Paul to enroll in the National Guard in order to serve Him there and to have college paid for. After many setbacks with the Guard, and a few deployments, he is finally graduating. He is the first and only one in his family to do so. He has worked harder than any man I know, and yet he still gives God every bit of the glory. He is absolutely the reason the name Paul means "humble."

it is not often (at least for myself), that one hears of a 27-year old, once high-school drop-out graduate from college, all the while managing two jobs, a new wife, and the National Guard...i am more proud of him than words can express, and i also give the Lord all the honor and glory for what he’s done with His child...i know that it is nothing short of a miracle

what "little" miracles has the Lord done in your life??? even if they are not obvious, if you look hard, you will find them...

1 comment:

Whitney said...

What a great little blog you have going here. Very cute and very fun! :0)