a story and some Bible verses and a prayer request

Remember at the end of my post yesterday, I said I had somewhere to be shortly after?  Well, it was the greatest morning ever.  My dear friends Abbey, Missy and I went out to a camp nearby to us, The Grove at Red Oak Lake and toured a bit and met with the man who runs it with his wife, Matthew.  We went there because in a month, that is where the girls retreat will be held.  Abbey had asked if anyone wanted to go, and of course without either of us knowing the other had volunteered, Missy and I both said we would go.

We don't always tell each other we do stuff like that, because we don't want anyone to think we're exclusive, but then we both go and do the same thing.  It's so funny.

We met Matthew in the conference room and talked for a few minutes, then we got the tour started.  We walked outside and he turned to Missy and me and asked if either of us knew how to drive the utility vehicle.  I kinda felt like Missy was waiting on me, so I shrugged and said, "Sure."  (It was a glorified golf cart, essentially.)

My dear husband has rubbed off on me, it turns out.  He always says he knows how to do things he doesn't necessarily know how to do.  He figures he'll be able to learn quickly.  It was the same for me yesterday.  We had WAY too much fun on that thing!  We stopped close by where we would be staying and when I asked what this adorable little building was, Matthew offered to take us inside.

He ended up telling us his story and how he got to where he was today (It was amazing, with God's hand prints all over it!), and somehow I mentioned my older boys and Matthew told me they are hiring for the coming summer.  He later gave me a card and told me to tell Graham to call him.  I am really excited about this possible opportunity for them, and I'm especially excited for Graham, because I feel like much of Matthew's story will resonate with him.  He's going to call him today.

It was such a fun and wonderful morning, and somehow, it was all very refreshing.

I love times like that, and I am super excited about the girls retreat the first weekend in November.

That leads me to this morning.  I pray for my boys every morning, with very specific Bible verses and I want to share what the Lord showed me this morning in my quiet time.  The verses are out of Psalm twenty-two, verses twenty-five through thirty-one.

I will give praise to the great congregation because of You; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.  

The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him.  May your hearts live forever!  

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD.  All the families of the nations will bow down before You,

for kingship belongs to the LORD; He rules over nations.

All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him--even the one who cannot preserve his life.

Their descendants will serve Him; the next generation will be told about the LORD.  

They will come and tell a people yet to be born about His righteousness--what He has done.

The part that was particularly beautiful to me this morning was verse the last two verses you see above, verses thirty and thirty-one.  "Their descendants will serve Him..."

I cannot get that out of my mind today.  I pray every single day that my boys will not stray from God, that they will serve Him always and walk closely with Him their whole lives.  I did stray at one point, and many do in their later teenage years, but I do not want them to follow in those footsteps.  I certainly don't expect them to stray and I am trying to hold them to a really high standard.

I think that serving the Lord in various ways helps.  For one thing, it keeps them closely in tune with Him.  When they have chances to serve, they are constantly praying and reading God's word, seeking wisdom.  Serving keeps them humble, too, which is another thing I always pray for them.

All this is on my mind this morning because they have an opportunity to do just that in the coming days.  Our church has been working with a church in Louisiana that was severely affected by the flooding that took place in that area recently, and they are rebuilding what was destroyed.  Graham and Drew, along with a team of people from our church family, are leaving tomorrow afternoon to go and work for a few days alongside them.  They will work all day Saturday, part of Sunday, all of Monday and part of Tuesday and will return home late Tuesday night.

Will you pray for them all, as they go?  For protection and health and safety as they travel there and back, for also for good attitudes, willing and able bodies and for the joy of the Lord to shine through them?

I would greatly appreciate your prayers for them all, not just for my boys.  For my boys, though, I pray that they're quick to serve and jump in and do whatever is needed of them.  I pray that they'll help be leaders on this trip, doing so by the example they set to the others.

And because I love a good visual when I pray, I'll leave you with one of them.

(I tried to upload one of just them, but the computer is acting dumb this morning.)

Thanks, in advance, for your prayers for them all in the coming days.

Love to all.