It's The Little Things

I Thessalonians 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

When God answers a prayer, we should always give him glory and praise for it.  Whether it is answered the way we hope or not.  Give Him thanks because He knows what's best. 

I want to give Him thanks right now for something He has done and continues to do for me.  It's a little thing, but special to me, none-the-less.

Many times I have asked Him for something and He has granted that request and I have taken it for granted.  Later, having to ask Him to forgive me for not saying thank you.  We've all done it, right?  But he deserves our thanks and our praise.

I think I've shared this before but wanted to share it again, along with something that happened yesterday.

When Justin and Hannah were still car seat age, I never really cared about getting a parking place closest to the store.  I always wanted one next to the buggy rack so I could load them in the car and put the buggy back without actually having to leave the car.  So one day, while going grocery shopping, the parking lot was packed.  I asked the Lord to please give me a parking place next to a buggy rack.  He parted the Red Sea, folks, remember?  As I pulled around to another lane in the parking lot, what do you know happened?  A car was backing out of a space right next to the buggy rack.  "Thank you, Lord!"  I was happy.  That was almost twenty years ago and to this day, I can go grocery shopping and always find a place next to the buggy rack.  Some people may think that's a silly thing.  But I think it's a God thing.

Yesterday while I was at the grocery store, while the girl was ringing up my groceries I looked outside and there were very low, BLACK clouds rolling toward home.  I asked the bag boy if it was raining and he said not yet.  So as I walked out to the car, with the winds beginning to blow hard, I said a simple prayer to the Lord, to please hold off the rain until I got the groceries in the car.  And what do you know happened?  As SOON as I picked up the last bag and placed it in the car, those first drops of rain began to fall.  I put the buggy in the rack (which I was parked next to), and jumped inside the car.  Pulling out of the parking lot, the clouds opened up and the buckets of rain fell hard.  I just looked up and said, "Thank you, Lord. You do it every time!" 

It's the little things, sometimes, that let me know He's really up there listening and caring about me and my silly requests. 

Another blessing that happened yesterday was when I got home, the winds and rain were pretty fierce.  There was lightening and the thunder was rolling.  LOUD.  So I pulled the car right up in front of the house.  Hannah and Harry came down the steps with the umbrella and took turns carrying the groceries in.  When they were finished I pulled the car back around to the driveway.  I didn't have an umbrella so I was gonna make a run for it.  But I didn't have to.  My sweetheart of a son (Harry) ran down the steps to the car with an umbrella and walked me into the house.  Again, I just had to thank the Lord for such a young gentleman.  I'm also thankful for a husband that has set a good example to his boys on how to treat a lady.

I am blessed. 

D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia

Before the ride home from the Senior Saints trip, we headed to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. 

To my surprise, this is not a government funded memorial.  There are organizations that do care about our WWII veterans that died on that day and during that war and they contribute to this memorial to keep the truth of the war out there for younger generations.  I liked that, depending on their guest book signatures, these organizations are willing to match dollar for dollar, what they pledge.  So if you're ever near the memorial, drop by there, take a tour of the memorial, and make sure to sign their guest book.  It takes about an hour to walk it.  They have umbrellas for you to help keep you shaded and they are very nice people, ready and willing to share any information they can with you about D-Day and WWII.

Around the English Garden, were the busts of the six top leaders that were directly under Dwight D. Eisenhower.  That's his statue below.

They were all great men. Some not having the greatest of personalities, but wise men, none-the-less.

Where the names of the fallen soldiers were displayed on plaques, were hundreds of flags representing the countries of our fallen allies.

And our American soldiers.

 I wish Bruce or Justin were home.  For the LIFE of me I can not remember what these are called, but there were hundreds of them placed in the ocean around the beaches so when the Americans and allies came close to the beach it would tear up their boats.  They were hidden in the water and difficult to see if the waters were high.  They ended up having to wait for the tide to be low before trying to get to reach the beaches. 

If you've seen movies or documentaries on WWII, you probably recognize the boat in the background there.  This one is made to scale.  They could fit between thirty-two to thirty-eight men in them.  The door would drop and the soldiers would run out.  Many of them never touched the water with their feet, before they were shot to death by the enemy.

This statue represented what was important to our soldiers.  If you'll look closely, there is a fallen soldier with a Bible by his head. 

When they were cleaning up the beaches after D-day, there was a Bible found, wrapped several times in plastic.  It was unharmed, and the family name was written clearly in the front cover. 

The owner of that Bible had died on D-day.  But the Bible was taken back to the states and given to the family of the fallen soldier. 

We missed seeing and meeting her, but the sister of that fallen soldier had come to the memorial the day we visited and told the memorial staff that she had willed the Bible to them upon her death.

Statues representing our soldiers storming the beaches.

Statues representing our soldiers climbing the cliffs on the beaches.  They had to conquer a lot in order to conquer the enemy.  Well over 4,000 American soldiers died on those beaches that day.

 My mom and I were humbled by this tour.  To see and hear what these brave men went through on that day was overwhelming.  Knowing that my grandpa was there, explained to us why he never would talk about it.

Me and my mama.

My and my buddy, Dana.

Mom bought a flag, wrote grandpa's name on it, and placed it in a flag memorial.

It was very emotional for her.

I love this picture.  Someone else that saw it said it reminded them of Little House on the Prairie and I had to laugh, because that's exactly what it reminded me of.

This was a beautiful memorial and one that everyone should stop and visit if they're traveling through or near Bedford, Virginia.  It is well worth the tour.