A debtor - high and wide!

COME THOU FONT OF EVERY BLESSING

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

What a  wonderful hymn.  Those oldies are truly goodies.

I was thinking of how great a debt I owe His grace and I began to thnk of the people he has brought into my life who have been consistent sources of His encouragement and strength.  Of course I’ve written about my Grandmother, Grace Sanders, but the other side of the family gets equal time.

My aunt Jean and uncle Marvin (uncle Mama) have been a source of example, encouragement, challenge and hope.  If I was even to attempt to chronicle all the ways they have served Him and the difficulties they have faced it would be much too long for a mere blog.

Suffice it to say that as I look back I see their influence even when we were far apart and in little communication.  When the phone rings and Caller-ID displays their name my heart leaps and I grab the phone.  I know it will be a blessing.

Their “ministry” will probably never be recorded anywhere and platitudes may not come their way but I know in heaven they will know, more than they know now, what a blessing their faith has been to many in many ways.

You know it’s funny how in looking back for blessings the detail I can remember of the ministry in my life.  I was enfolded by Jean and in awe of Marvin.  Their witness in my life is perhaps one of the most consistent and comforting.

They always believed in Him “for” me.  What I mean is that no matter mess I found myself in I KNEW I was always in their prayers – even when I kind of resented it.  I also knew that no matter “how” I was, I always had a home to run to and be cared for.  For a long time as I tried my best to outrun God I kept running into them – they were kind of His angels in my life.

Jean gave me a Bible once (of course at the time I scoffed).  In the fly-leaf of the Bible she wrote:

The inexhaustible supplies of God

Are available

To the man who is available

To the inexhaustible supplies of God

I cannot count the times that quote has come to my mind and refreshed and steadied my heart.  Although at the time it bore little significance to me its hope and promise has come to mean more and more as Patti and I serve Him.  One thing it has done it to make me aware that He knows what of His inexhaustible supply I need – I usually don’t.

So, I thank my God for them.  I praise my God for them.  Though they may not know how very much He has done through them in our lives, we and He do.  Certainly I first thank and praise Him but I am compelled to thank and praise them – for being willing and determined to be part of His inexhaustible supply to Patti and I.

So, as they are a part of His grace in our lives, our debt grows higher and wider.

Thank you Lord for Aunt Jean and Uncle Mama ;-}}}}!!!