There is a tree on our 180 acres in Hugo, Oklahoma. A cedar tree which Oklahoma has an abundance of. My husband keeps an immaculate place mowing, trimming and picking up endless fallen branches. He was looking across the pasture one day and saw this scraggly tree and said “I am going cut that tree down!” I looked out the window and said “It’s alive, leave it alone.” And so he did. The tree has struggled, a harsh winter broke many of it’s branches. It is forked into looking like two trees. Cedars trees don’t normally fork. It has been plagued by bag worms which my husband has sprayed to kill. I have looked at trees and wondered why aren’t they perfectly shaped? What in their life has caused them to lean one way, twist or die. My mother told me when I brought home a painting of a dead tree from school how she never thought a dead tree could be beautiful until she saw it painted. I think trees are like people, God didn’t make us perfect. Things in life happen to us that make us look or act the way we do. Some bad, some good. If we live for Him, God, He can take those events and care for them. Pruning and shaping our hearts to cope and recover.

“And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.””
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:5‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/100/rev.21.5.NASB1995

The tree I am speaking of is the tree which from behind Jesus spoke to me. A year later I was looking out across the pasture and said “Honey, have you looked at “The Cedar Tree” lately?” Which he said no, I said I have never seen it so green or so full. Even the trunk is like it’s been on steroids (no fertilizer has been given). Birds of many species have made their home in it. “It’s almost as if being in the presence of God it has been blessed!”

Here is a few of my life experiences on this subject. I am a product of a one night stand. My parents decided to keep me and get married, through a difficult time, they grew to love each other very deeply and would have been married almost 50 years if my father hadn’t died of cancer. My mother never remarried and still misses him daily.

I worked at Hertz rent a car data center for many years. I made friends with a girl there that was different, other women shunned her. I don’t know why except she talked a lot and wore thick glasses. She was sweet though, she reminded me of my mother. Her husband was rude and verbally abusive. She would make excuses for him. He told her he didn’t love her anymore and left her. She was devastated and tried to move on. She went on vacation and met a guy, slept with him and got pregnant. The guy didn’t want the child or her so she aborted it. She called me in the process of taking a night after pill, I didn’t know what to say. There was nothing I could do. Her former husband found out and committed suicide.

My husband and I were married when we were 18 and 19 years old, we didn’t have to get married. We didn’t have children until we were 24 and 25. I wasn’t ready still at that age and didn’t take care not to abort the child I was carrying by over exerting myself and lost it. My husband was devastated. I didn’t know the ramifications of what I had done until afterward. We quickly tried again and had a beautiful son. Then two more within three years. When I got pregnant with the 4th, I was exhausted. I had a bad cold and took cold medicine not caring if it effected the baby. My body painfully aborted it. That not only affected my husband to the point that he got a vasectomy, my sons for the loss of a sibling that never was but shame that has never left me. Our sons are extremely successful. What the world could have also lost by my selfish act is forever unknown.

My husband’s brother in the mean time got a girl pregnant out of wedlock. It was a new relationship, they were in high school. His father was a prominent figure in the community so they decided to abort the child. Then he lied about it and blamed someone else for 35 years. He came clean after he was admitted to a psyc ward. We knew he had taken his girlfriend to have the abortion but not that it was his. They broke up, he tried to shoot himself with a riffle and had a life in and out of treatment centers. Highly medicated most of the time which caused his parents unending years of struggles.

I see no good outcome from abortion only lasting consequences. It should forever come to a end for public health and our future. God forgive us. Psalms 127….

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭127:3‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.127.3.NASB1995

I have a dream…that’s how his most famous speech starts. What was the dream? According to brittanica.com his speech in 1963 spoke of his dream of a United States that is void of segregation and racism. I was born that year, over 60 years later we are still fighting battles everyday over these issues. How do we win these battles? Mr. King said with love. Love does cover a multitude of sins as the old saying goes but covering hasn’t made it go away. Special interest groups seem to have only put a focus on the subject, possibility making it worse.

What I have observed is that it will take viewing character over color.

Mr. King was a Baptist minister, the Bible reads in Proverbs 20:11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right…I have a dream.

“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.”

Isn’t God good! I started the day writing about a disappointment I had the day before. My husband, Kevin said he wanted to have communion under the tree where God spoke to me sometime that day. I was excited! What a great way to start the year! But, as the day wore on it got colder and colder from a storm moving in. We didn’t partake in the communion. I told the Lord, I didn’t want the year to go that way, with missed opportunities. Kevin spoke up and said “Do you need anything in Paris (Texas)?” I said “no, why?” He said he needed something from Home Depot. I said “I’ll never turn down a trip to Paris.” Lol! He said “What about going to FFC Church today?” That’s where some friends go to church and we haven’t seen them lately. I said “Sure!” I have always wanted to spend Sundays in Paris. Church, eat and shop. Even if it’s just for groceries. Upon entering the church our friend was in the foyer. He was so excited to see us! He said “grab a communion cup and go sit down front by my wife, just walk in like you own the place.” Communion cup? I just wanted to bawl. A second chance. Yes, God is good!

‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/100/lam.3.22.NASB1995