The “Gap”

I haven’t posted in awhile. Praise God. Things had to be switched and figured out. The “Gap”

I have been binge watching some sermons this morning.

Praise God for the space between the promise and the performance of that promise because grace lives in the “Gap”.

I Thank God for all the bad things that come my way. Because if I don’t have the bad things, I won’t see the good things He teaches me. My efforts fall short in all I do. But Grace lives in the “Gap”.

Between my effort to Gods requirement Grace fills that “Gap”

Things are happening in the “Gap”

Gods Timing

Gods timing

Boy has this been my summer. Parts of last 3 years too. Sorry for the delay in postings. I’m not so great about writing things down. But I wanted to put my journey out in your view. With extra work from my regular job and added (stress). The world pushes in.But that is OK. If I write down everything I go through every day than it will be in the Worlds view. Not Gods. God put us here to live. Trust Him have Faith and Love. Look back and Learn. That’s my best way to learn. Is looking back and see what He did. knowing that He is there during my storms(doubts/stress,anxiety). Not making them go away. But being there during them. So let us look back and see how He worked from my last post…

When I started my Leather Quilt Business. I thought it was going to loosen me of my stressful pool business. I was wrong. God gifted me with the pool business a long time ago. He trusted me with that business. I was foolish to think that I deserve a stress free non-agitated business. I of course started to make things work. Make things happen on my schedule. Not His. I made decisions thinking that He was leading me towards these decisions. I was just making my job and everything more stressful. I started to drink more wine. To relieve stress that I created. I started grazing (mindlessly eating) my afternoons. I deserved it. I have a lot on my plate. Of course I was still watching as many sermons as I can. Reading as many Christian books as I can. Talking,Praying and rejoicing unto the Lord. I was still getting small victories but still frustrated. So I kept going to The Lord. He gave me small answers with big outcomes. Being a Christian isn’t one big Ah Ha. You learn through your life living and by your mistakes and guided by The Holy Spirit. Of course all of my mistakes form into victories unto Him.

Second part of looking back….  I had these desires in my heart about this business. I had a desire of a big office work studio in the back yard of our property. I had been using my basement to start. I think I posted pictures on FB. That big office/garage was a great thing in my mind. It was fabulous. God had something greater. From that idea of a garage became an idea that my husband had offered to make our house garage into a studio/pool business office. ( The house became a mess with pool office papers. More stress seeing that in my living space.) So I thought the Lord is wonderful. But that wasn’t what He had for me either. He had something greater. You will find that out later.

Through all the busyness of the pool business and remolding the garage, I had a small time to work on my Leather Quilts. Sometimes I would have my doubts about this business. But He would always reassure me. Letting me know He is in this venture for me. Several times I would try to get it out of my heart and throw in the towel. But I would have this great sorrow on my spirit. So I would ask for forgiveness and move on…. I always go to God for direction.  I always go to God if I have a question about this business. If I need to figure out a problem with design, I would ask His help. The answers sometimes comes quickly. Sometimes they take months or even a year. As I read the Bible and look at how God works in all people of the Bible. He is all about creating. He requires excellent in everything. To be excellent in something. You have to have a gift in that something. You have to have a passion for something. God has a passion for us. He gives us desires,dreams,gifts and passion for something. About creating something. Its not about getting a job that makes the most money so I can buy the most stuff. Its Him being close to us in our everyday life. The more I live each day with His direction. The more I thirst for Him. To know Him more. Its wonderful.

So now the Third part of looking back. I originally didn’t think much about my past blood line-connection through my genealogy. That changed a few years ago. The Lord put it on my heart. He showed me all about how it was a major part of peoples lives. He would talk about ancestors and descendants.  Of course I came out of a long line of alcoholics and abusers( looking in through the worlds eyes) Than you look at Jesus Blood line. His blood line wasn’t so perfect either. Of course He was and Is. Than I have my future descendants. My beautiful grandchildren. My desire is that they will take this and put their spin on it when I am gone. Some of this connection will come later. Its so wonderful how He ties things together.

The Fourth part of looking back. Stress. Of course it was in on other parts. My house isn’t such a relaxing place. Because the whole time I am here. I work. I do take short breaks. My office romance is my husband. All he does is talk about work. Pool business. Every time I close my laptop, I have to open it back up. Always work. My marriage was in trouble. Marriage is a lot of work. It’s never going to be perfect. Everyone’s marriage is different. But we all have to work at it. Over the years it becomes less exciting and more hum drum. It is especially hard when your working with each other. We sometimes take it out on one another. I was desperate for a change. I didn’t know how to get it…..I loves Florida. So I was thinking about getting a piece of land to go camping in Florida in the winter. Mind you…. we don’t vacation together. We always said we would wind up in Florida. But we never took time to go. We always worked in the winter time. Here I was trying to make things happen. The more I looked the more I got anxious. I found a place. It was perfect. But something hit me. I was having all these ideas of how to make money off of it while we can enjoy it. Than……I don’t know what it was. Something shifted. With the Lord telling me to stop. I just shifted my thinking. I thought why am I buying something so far away. Am I buying this to make us come together. Why does it have to be in Florida. We bought this nice used Motor-home over 10 years ago. We love camping. We try to go. But with 2 German Shepherds in tow. It was difficult to find a spot kind of private without a lot of people. We were going often several years ago. Than it got more difficult renting a spot. With all the fall festivals and we need a sky spot for satellite. (Football) (Hubby cant stand no TV) Than all the campsites close down Oct 30th. If the winter is mild enough. We would go all winter.  So I started looking. I looked over a year. Just looking. Saving my choices. Thank it was late summer going into the fall of 2016 that I started going on the weekends. Checking these places out. I needed to get out of the house anyways. Looking at the fall colors. The mountains. It was so relaxing. Going up 29. Gods Beauty.

Sharing some Pics of the different places I checked out. I believe I checked out 5 every weekend. It was fun. I talked to God and Praised Him. It got to be relaxing. So as I was disappearing every weekend. My husband started to tag along. We loaded up the hounds in the van and took off checking places out.

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We had a great time. I think I am going to end this post. I will continue in the next post of our venture.

I had a dream…..

It’s coincidental of the tile for this blog from the Holiday we had yesterday. But if you looked deep inside of me you will find I too have a passion that I hope all people have. A passion to look inside for change for the better. To better humanity and themselves. Like Mr. King had.

I want to tell you about my dream. To put it down permanently. I keep pondering it. So I will tell.

I dreamed of a train. I was getting rides on a cargo train. It wasn’t a passenger train. I could see the doors and cargo where we where sitting. I had a companion with me. I couldn’t tell who it was. But He was familiar.  We payed our way from destination to destination with water or cigarettes and booze. Money wasn’t worth payment where we where.

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I can remember riding and knowing I was going somewhere. I had faith that I would get to my destination. Each stop was an adventure. I had to find a way to get the payment at each destination.

I remember we arrived at a place where my traveling companion knew. It was like a relative of my travel buddy. We came up to a white adobe House. Very bright white.

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No one was home. My travel buddy went to the frig and took beer. So we can pay for our next ticket to our next destination.

I remember colors. So bright and wonderful. So vivid. I see yellows, oranges, reds, blues and so on.

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I googled the words of the things I seen. I picked out the pictures that resembled what I remembered.

My interpretation of my dream………

I believe that with my new adventure God is confirmed my ticket to my journey. At each level I take I learn so much. It’s not about the end result. It’s about the stops I take along my route. I believe the Holy Spirit is my companion. ( Now don’t get literal and put God in a box of your idea of what God does and does not do. I know in our human thinking minds that God does not pay with beer. I don’t know what the beer symbolizes here. But I didn’t see The Holy Spirit drink the beer.) I believe when we went to the the white adobe house I remember it being so white and bright. It was a relative of my companion. I don’t know if their will be beer in Gods House. Hopefully it will have wine there. LOL.Hey Mary told Jesus to do the miracle of turning vats of water into wine at a wedding because they ran out. But anyway…..

I believe the vibrant colors represent..fun, joy, laughter, and excitement. The different people I will meet. I have been studying about the Holy Spirit again. I feel I have to get to know Him better if I want His direction. He is my comforter and helper. He is God in the trinity. I try to read all I can on the Holy Ghost. Joyce Meyer is doing a teaching on Him this week. She is one of the many teachers/preachers I listen too.

I will end this post with something to ponder on. Look deep inside you to find what your passion is. So you can live this life on earth with joy and happiness. I still have problems. But I am depending on God.  I could have went the other path a few years ago. Taking the path of depression and sorrow. Living alone in my little world with my comforts becoming an alcoholic hiding behind food and liquor. I decided to go to God. Asked Him for help. Listening to Him. Getting into the word. Looking inside of me to see what talent God gave me. Listening and asking. Every time I did. He answered. Or if I do something that I may be making a mistake. I feel it in my soul that its not right. I don’t do it. Now you wont hear a lot if your living in sin. He did touch on me a few issues ( sins) I had. I didn’t know that it was a problem. You have to not listen of the world. News is bad news. It scares me and puts a anger thing on me. Makes me have anxiety. You have to cut out some things that drown out God. Put more good things in your sight and ear. For an example. I wanted my product Amarican all the way. Than I had my experience with trying to get fabric from America. I paid a lot of money for samples that didn’t hold up to my standard or production. I looked into getting my fabric made. Pretty much all fabric is from overseas. So I looked into getting my personal selection made for me. It has to be the best. My fabric guy sent me a whole box for free. It was so much more than all the samples I bought put together. I made a transition from oversees with a fabric manufacturer when China was getting dumped in the the stock market. I asked God for direction for my fabric for my blankets and He sent me this guy. I don’t even know where I found Him. During our process and transaction. He made his own company. That was scary. I asked God about it. In my own thinking I wanted to bail. But God said trust Him. So I did. My fabric guy has been very nice and there for me all along. I got so many examples just like that one. I am going against what I am used to. I am rubbing against the grain on my abilities. But with God with me all the way. It’s going to be so much fun exciting and new. I see colors, faces,adventures and a lot of learning…..

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He is with me. I am someone special to Him. He is everything to me. I didn’t get a lot of excitement or support when I decided to do this. Except from my sister Debbie. She is a great supporter. I am running on Faith. The unseen and promises.

 

Destiny Born

      I want to start a journal of this chapter in my life. Its almost like starting a book on Chapter 5. I would like to start in this Chapter because I think its an important one. I don’t know where it will lead. But I want to document it.
      I want to let you know that I am a christian (Southern Baptist). Yes I get a little crazy with the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes. I try to find God in everything. For example  I found God in lyrics in Van Halen songs. I had several times in my life where the Holy Spirit was leading and than there where times I thought “Where are you God”  I have been called “Holy than thou Val”. I didn’t mind it. I’ve been called a prude. No problem there either.  So long story short for the last few years I have been under a lot of stress with my husbands business. Really burnt out. A Lot of things changed of how we operate the business. Although our business was a blessing, I felt that it cant last forever because of our ability to run it. We aren’t getting any younger. It defines me to a desk without any communication to the world. Working on computer like crazy. Being a home body, avoiding functions, and people and vacations. Packing on the pounds. So a few years ago I have been calling on The Lord to ease my stress. I studied again about the Holy Spirit. Prayed listening to several TV preachers/teachers. Reading all the Holy Spirit books. I knew about the power of the Holy Spirit, when you let go to make Him work in your life. I was learning how much you have a destiny in this world. You have a uniqueness in you that the world didn’t give you. God did. I started recognizing when He was speaking to me. I get a fire burning inside. There is something about letting go of the world standards and letting Him speak to you and guide you in everything you do. I started asking questions and He would answer them through scripture,preachers,people I talk too.   I started to value who I was in Him. I looked at all the ways the Spirit moved since the beginning of man. He still is working in the world and people.  It changed my thinking of who I was. I am worth Him dying for ME. That is a big deal. If you knew my growing up story you will agree. I had very low self esteem. Still battle that. But getting better.  Boy I am a wreck sometimes. Over the years I find that God has always been there protecting me. ( Which my childhood would be a good Nancy Grace episode). That story will come later.
     I was concerned about the future of my business. How do I keep it going when we get older. We cant do all this when we get older. Plus I want to do something I love. I branded my husband as far as I can. He can do so many pools in a year. He can do so much work in a certain area. I was limited. My husband is our business. I have always desired to get my own thing going.I am an artist at heart. Of course I had a few failures and money lost in my younger years . Just because I was inexperienced and jumped the gun. Lesson learned. I prayed and prayed and was worried and stressful. I knew I had favor with the Lord. He has been watching over me my whole life. I just touched the surface with all the wonderful ways God has guided me. I even asked for my husband. I went out on a date with him and said “I thing that’s him Lord. He blessed me with him.
     So to tell you how this 5th Chapter in my life started….here goes. Over a year ago my husband and I set out on a beautiful weekend. It was a crisp day. I had a slight tan and I recently lost a few pounds. You know how it is ladies. I was feeling quite good. Being with the love of my life ( Believe me girls I am not talking about puppy love here. It takes a lifetime to have a love of my life kind of fella).Anyway back to my story.  I think it still had some snow on the ground.We set out for a weekend visiting the local wineries. I love visiting wineries in Virginia. The rolling hills of horse country in Fauquier County where beautiful. Old houses dating back to the 1800s. Just stunning scenery.  But it was warm with the sun glaring. The scenery was beautiful and romantic. Of course some great wines and people too. I will definitely have Virginia Wineries in my blogs and visits in the future. We were heading home and I was a little cold.  My husband is a little sensitive with the heat on. So he pulled his leather jacket from the back seat and handed it to me. I threw it on my lap. Enjoying the warmth of the leather and inside lining was nice and soft and it was quite warm. So we talked and listened to music on the way home with wine in tow and me warm and toasty.
     Monday came along and we went back to work. He started out to install another in-ground pool. I went back to the books. As I was online doing whatever for the business. I thought back on the nice weekend I had. When you do that… you want to always relive it. You want to relive great moments in your life. So I am the famous Amazon.com Queen. I discovered that you can order almost anything on Amazon. Except what I wanted. I was kind of shocked. “What no one has a leather throw?” I looked on other sites. I Google it. Nothing. So a little time went by. I don’t remember if it was me or my husband suggesting that I should make one. So as I was studying and praying. God put it on my heart to create a business. I learned so much on the business I have. This is very creative and artsy. I prayed so much asking God if this was what I should do. He answered every time to all the questions I had. Every Time I talked about it people would be so amazed how I lit up telling them my idea. I have so much passion.
      So as time goes on…. This is an industry that I have never experienced. All these questions came about. I started designing the blanket. I wanted it like a leather jacket. With all the cuts and sewing pattern. I wanted a flat leather jacket to go with my idea. It was hard. I emailed so many people trying to get a blanket together. Ordered books, read blogs and really immersed myself into the making of this blanket. I was obsessed. I kept going back to God for direction. I had some tough days. Ask my sister Debbie. She has been my sounding ear through this whole thing. She gets excited when I get excited. She counsels me. It’s just nice to have a friend that is there for you. So through some redesigning after learning about the industry and how much it cost for more sewing. The more peoples hands on it the more the blanket cost.
PS> I am going to publish this. Throughout writing this I have been saving but I hit a button and nothing. I thought I lost all of it. So I will continue after this post is published. I still have a lot to learn with all this.