Good Things

by Everett Forehand, McAlester, OK
Monday, August 1, 2011

GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. - Psalm 98:7-9(New International Version).
GOD'S PROMISE TO US FROM HIS HOLY WORD
28 Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28(New Living Translation).

A QUOTE
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. - Dorthy Law Nolte -

THOUGHTS TO REMEMBER
A happy person is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night. - From Reminisce Magazine - God places no demands on us that He does not enable us to do by His grace. - From Reflecting God - It's not enough to acknowledge another's achievement. Celebrate it! - From Reminisce Magazine - Live with eternity in mind. - From Lists To Live By -

NOTES
I had lunch today with my brother, Charley, and our friend, Bill Derichsweiler. I went by the post office to pick up my mail. I came home and stayed inside the rest of the day due to the hot weather. I took a nap this afternoon. My cat, Smokey, was with me part of the time while I was napping. My house cleaning lady came at 5:00 p.m. and cleaned my house. I went out to the back yard for about 10 minutes at 7:15 p.m. to put out fresh water and food for the outside animals. I have a satellite for my television. It has every kind of music you want to listen to. I always listen to the big band music from the forties. I have been listening tonight and a little while ago I heard Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters sing "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" I had to stop typing and lean back and look at Flonnie's picture while that tune was playing. I know I am rambling again. Today has been mostly sunny with high temperatrue of 107 degrees. Low temperature this morning was 78 degrees. I received another interesting letter from Debra Schock. There were three paragrphs that would have been good to share with you, but I will only share one paragraph at the end of the Good Things. The picture tonight is my great-grandson, Jack (Carissa's baby). He is almost 11 months old now but I am not sure how old he was when this picture was taken. The cats are fine. I have seen all of them today. Leo just came in and is giving me some attention. That is unusual for Leo. Litle Girl is on a little filing cabinet at present. Friendly also just now came in and looked at me and meowed. Rascal has been in a time or two also. At 10:15 p.m. skies are partly cloudy with a temperature of 95 degrees. I will see you next time, probably on Wednesday.
In Christian Love, Everett.

Here is a paragraph from Debra's letter.
I had heard a "rumbling" noise outside of our door, at home and I first looked through the "peep hole" and then opened the door, even turning on the yard light and saw a raccoon getting into our garbage cans! As the light did not alarm him, I stood at the door and watched the "bandit" and he turned one of the trash cans over and knocked down then the other one has a handle you lift up and it locks the lid in place - well the "bandit" with his black masked face - he crawled up the backside and took his paws and laid them on the handle then lifted himself up enough to leap forward and push that handle down and popped off the lid - amazing!! Of course, then I had to open the door and get him to leave before he had trash all over. Once again, we think of these animals and the many instincts that God has blessed them with. Who would have thought this raccoon would have the knowledge to know how to get that handle down and into his own "treasure" of the trash! God can show us his own sense of humor in our frustration!

Nan's Calendar

by Nan Forehand, Statesville, NC
Aug. 1, 2011

Thank you all so much for your prayers concerning the health of my brother, Woody. It has been nothing short of a miracle how rapidly his condition has improved. As I understand it, there is no talk of a heart transplant at this time. When I arrived at Duke University Hospital last Wednesday, the word from his wife and daughter was that his condition was listed as grave. His heart and kidneys were not functioning properly. His body was filled with fluid and toxins. Once the medical staff began to remove the fluid and toxins, a miraculous change occurred. I was with him all day, along with my brother, Lin and his step daughter, Kathy and before our eyes, he began to improve. Throughout the day he just got better and better and better. In recent days, he has been up and walking up and down the hallways. Hopefully, he will come home tomorrow or Wednesday. Once again, thank you so much for your prayers. Today marks the fourth anniversary of Nan's Calendar, which began as writings in a journal of inspirational quotes and special Bible verses. It moved on October 21, 2007 to the email format to family and friends. Gradually, God led me to begin writing short devotionals and on September 30, 2009, my husband created this blog. It is connected to Facebook and is available there for reading, as well. My poetry is published at www.wordchimes.com and the administrator of that site, Quentin Clingerman, posts these devotionals there, also. Do yourself a favor and take time to visit this wonderful site filled with inspirational poetry from dedicated and gifted people who write for the glory of the Lord. My eternal thanks goes out to the late Mr. Bob Pointon who gave me a 365 day devotional calendar in 1993, which I actually received from his wife after his death. He wanted to give it to me for my birthday in September, but had to go into the hospital and died on Oct. 10th. To this day, the calendar Mr. Bob gave me is on my desk at work and I continue to read the quotes and Bible verses daily, sharing them with others who come into my office (when the time is right). When you give a gift out of the goodness of your heart, you never know the lasting impact it will have on the recipient and others as well. You are reading this message today, because of the love of God and the love of Mr. Bob and his gift to me of a beautiful calendar. Nan's Calendar is my gift to you. I expect nothing in return. I want to thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to read these devotionals of faith, hope and love. This is my legacy of love to you. Always, Nan