Now I know that I'm known for making cookies, :-) but for the forth of July I was making a cake that looked like an American flag once you cut into it. It was going well. But 3 large cake layers ended up being destroyed.... [fell apart during transfer] So I made another batch of cake and finished my project. And it looked really good. And I was able to bless my family/neighbors with cake. Allowing some bridges to be built, Lord willing soon to be crossed with the Gospel.

     Now with the destroyed cakes I made cake pops and took them to church. Some of the little kids saw me bring in the bowl of treats, and of course they were interested in cake! So I told them that if their parents said okay, that they may have one after service. I “hid” the bowl and put it out after the sermon.

     Now unbeknownst to me the two kids who knew about the treats had told the whole children's church/nursery about them.. So after service all the little kids came up from basement, [where the classrooms are] And surrounded me. Then the 15 or so little children shouted in unison, “MISS DELANIEEEEE!!! Where are the cake pops? We've waited! It's after service! And our parents said YES!” It was too stinking cute! I just started laughing. Then helped them to get one.

     The whole congregation was enjoying them. And God bless my friend who was on cleaning duty that week. There were so many crumbs!

      So my “disaster” of a ruined cake turned out for a blessing to my church. And the finished cake was a blessing to my family. And the stress of making the new cake layers, really didn't matter in the end. God is so good!

     So when things go wrong, surrender it to God. Ask for wisdom to use it for His glory. Smile and sing a Psalm. Praising God that He loves us and works all things for our good.

Much love in Christ,

Delanie bee

I’m very thankful to report that I’m doing much better than I had been for several weeks to about a month where I had been unable to hardly eat and had been very ill with an ugly blood infection. God mercifully brought me through with the help of a very pleasant and helpful hospital. Again though I consider the harder times and how leaning on my faith made it more bearable.

Thank you for sharing this! What a great reminder that God directs our paths, and is with us through everything!

🙌 God did similar for us with similar outcome. Hang on, this could just be a stepping stone.

I'll try to keep this short. We believed that God had called us to a rural area. He gave me a job that allowed us to move and a house, as we were going to move in with my wife's grandparents and save all of us money and help them full-time.

June 2019 - My wife and I agree that I'm going to re-up with the Air National Guard for 4 more years, for the purpose of transferring my GI Bill to my children. Two weeks later my MIL passed away and devastated my wife.

August 2019 - A couple months later we are talking about moving from the cities to a rural area where my wife's grandparents live, now that their caretaker has passed.

March 2020 - We decided in Feb to sell and move and broke the news to local family in March. We put our house on the market and the ****demic begins.

May 2020 - God blesses us as our house closes and sells and we find ourselves in the rural area. Within 2 or 3 weeks the entire ANG is called to action for, what our governor called, peaceful protests.

August 2020 - November 2020 - We take care of grandparents and their property. Grandpa passes away from dementia in September and Grandma turns on us and decides we are disingenuous.

November 2020 - May 2022 - Grandma tries to use a certain news stations claims that show we are terrible people.

May 2022 - My wife finds out that Grandma just had a pacemaker put in and we didn't know about the operation. My wife confronts Grandma saying that it's clear she doesn't want us in her life. Grandma, humbled, cries and says she doesn't know why she is so mean to us.

May 2022 - June 2024 - The relationship is greatly strengthened and seeds are being planted.

June 2024 - Grandma sells her house and moves. We pack her up, help clean and clear her house, and set everything up at her new apartment an hour away.

The point - God "lured" us up north with a human's promise of no mortgage/rent and the ability to take care of grandparents. This got us to a rural area. Would we have listened otherwise? I don't know.

Instead, we were able to show Jesus to my wife's grandparents. Through thick and thin, we showed we weren't disingenuous and that we were there to help and not "take" from them.

My wife said it best, as she felt the Lord saying: "What if, you never get anything from your grandma but you showed up when she needed you most and she could lean on you and trust you? What if you gave her another example of a Christian?"

We aren't living in the woods, in a mortgage-free house, nor are we living in the town that I would've picked but we have made great friends, been blessed with ministry opportunities, and our children are growing up in a safer environment than we were living in the cities.

We didn't get what we "wanted" but we got what we needed. Praise God! Thank You for Your provision.