| I know it has been a couple months since I have done an update. Please forgive me, but consider this a good thing. We have been very busy with ministering. We have also been very busy enjoying life. We are so grateful for each new day of life. Many of you have asked me about my garden. Well....it is quite pitiful this year. With Brad being so sick for much longer this year it was hard to get all the schooling done. Thus I did not get time in May to plant. Brad did however. He planted all the garden on his own. It was great therapy for him. The garden looked more perfect and beautiful than ever. Rabbits found our little garden and enjoyed it just as much as we did. So much so they ate much of it before it could grow enough for us to enjoy it. It is July now and just yesterday the boys and I had fun planting myrtle that was given to us. This is a viney plant that grows as a good thick ground cover and shows off pretty little purple flowers in time. It was given to us in patches much like sod grass in squares. We dug down through mulch and broke through the plastic and laid our first patch of myrtle. In trying to see how to have it look just right we went ahead and laid some more without digging down through the plastic. This plastic was placed beneath the mulch and around big bushes so weeds would not grow. Well I got so excited about how it looked I didn't want to move it again to get down through the plastic. Long story short, I must go out and do the job right, today. In effort not to work so long and hard I made myself another day of work anyway. See, if I don't get through that plastic the plants will not be able to get their roots down deep enough to grow. Yes, I will humbly take this opportunity to explain to my sons my silliness. I have to let them know it is important to do a job right the first time. More importantly I have to let them know that those plants are being cheated if I don't provide them with the right environment in which to grow. The boys need to know when they lead someone to Jesus that they must be thorough in their planting. They must make sure the people they minister the gospel to know beyond a shadow of doubt who Jesus is. That He is holy and perfect and was the perfect sacrificial lamb and is the Redeemer of our soul. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life and no man comes to the Father but by Jesus- (John 14:6). They must cut through a plastic overlay of pretty bloodless Christianity and make sure people know the cost Jesus paid for their salvation. They must enable them to truly see and get to know Jesus. Thus their roots can then grow deep. Brad is doing well overall. He struggles with what to eat because everything causes him to bleed. He has had pain again. Just last week he had another scan. So far they say all looks okay. He'll go soon for a small bowel study. We pray this too will turn out okay. How to pray for us??? Brad has been quiet in enduring. I can tell he is fearful. I think he can sense my fear and feels he needs to be careful in how much he tells me. We are coming near the season of heartache again. For the last three years the fall season has meant many tears. Thus it is hard for us to know if our feelings are gut pangs of sad memories brought on by familiar smells, sights and sounds of the season or if the Holy Spirit has been gently preparing us once more. I'm just not certain. Lastly, pray in a new way. I lay awake about a week ago with God speaking to me. He was saying He wants me to write. "Aargh"... I told Him. I just don't have time and energy nor do I have true ability to write a book. None the less God would not allow me to sleep until I said, "Okay". So my next question was, "about what do you want to write?" God wants me to write about our family going through the storms of life. This is the rough draft introduction to the book. Please pray that God continues to give me strength as I pour my heart into this book. |
| July 2009 Update |
| I Got You Through heartaches and trials it’s so good to know We’ve got God to get us through! We, the Kerstetters, have sung many songs over the years. We do our best to make sure the songs we sing bless our own hearts first. We know if a song blesses us, it will bless you. This particular song I Got You, is a song Brad has sang many times since the beginning of his battle with cancer. Each time he sings this song I get the opportunity to watch my husband pour his heart out to you. As he sings, pictures of all we have been through go through my mind as a fast shutter camera capturing the essence of our life. This book is an attempt to display these snap shots to you, pictures of pain and tears turned to joy and laughter. Photo’s of our life’s journey and what we have learned about a loving gentle God. May seeing our life bring comfort and encouragement to your life. May you know you are never alone. There is a Creator who loves you more than His own life and that is why He laid it down. Though He knew what man would choose He created us and from the beginning He made a way of salvation. A way to buy us back from the penalty of our wretchedness. He is our Redeemer though we are unworthy He finds us as precious jewels. Who can measure the love of God? We live in a sin stricken world where daily we die. It’s not for this world we live. For a time as we die on earth we suffer, but for eternity we will walk with Him if we choose to love Him. |