How I know God is real and that He loves me and takes care of me:

Every sunrise, He gives me a fresh start to make of the day the best that I can. He paints the sky a different color ever day for me. One day, it will be bright yellow with the bluest skies and just a gentle breeze. Another day, he'll paint it grey and the clouds will let down rain to nurture plants, trees and animals that don't have someone to look after them. The rain also benefits me in many ways.

At sunset, He brings out his magnificent pallet and repaints the skies for me and if I watch closely, I can see Him constantly at work until the sun goes down beyond the horizon. Oh, yes. And He keeps this sun and this Earth and all the stars in the Heavens in just the right path so that no harm comes to His creatures, including me.

Of course, He paints the trees, the prairies, the oceans and mountains every change of the seasons. He causes the trees and plants to bring forth fruit so that his Creation may eat. Each plant and tree brings forth of it's own kind.

During the day, no matter what color that day may be, He meets my needs. When I was a young single mother trying to raise two kids by myself, I'd run out of money before I ran out of month. I would say to my God, "Lord if anyone owes me any money, it sure would be nice if I would find a check in the mail." Sure enough! The money would arrive just when I thought hope had also run out.

When my mother lay dying in the hospital after several strokes, her suffering and struggle for breath became more than I could handle. I called my minister. He came but before he prayed, he asked me a few questions. One of his questions was, "Will you accept the Lord's will in this, no matter what it is; no matter if he says, 'Wait a bit longer.' " When I responded to the minister that I had no choice, he didn't accept my answer. He said that I had to totally accept God's will with the knowledge that maybe God wasn't done dealing with my mother on a personal lever. If God didn't stop my mother's suffering right away, I had to wait without resentment or anger, but ACCEPT. After some brief thought, I could answer in the affirmative, because God knows better than I what my mother needed. We all prayed around my mother's bed and in 45 minutes, her suffering ended. My response to my mother's last shuddering breath was "How Great Thou Art!"

When my daughter was dating a dangerous man, although I had tried to talk to her and show her where the danger lay, she didn't listen to me. Soon after, I found myself visiting my mother's grave and I prayed. I also prayed for my daughter and I told God, "Father, I'm so afraid for my girl. I've tried everything I know how but she won't listen. I need your intervention in her life, Lord, in Jesus name." That week, my daughter came home to announce that she had broken up with this dangerous man and she felt good about what she had done.

About eight years ago, after having separated from my husband, I found myself almost homeless. My best friend offered me a place to stay until I found a job as well as a place to live. She made sure that I didn't get comfortable. She knows how I feel about "the dark side" as in vampire and witch shows and movies. She took to watching some shows that came on just about the time I got home from work. I couldn't stay in the house when these shows were on. One day, I was walking around outside waiting for the shows to be over and wishing desperately that I had a place of my own. I was working but didn't make enough for rent and groceries. From somewhere down deep inside me I called out "GOD!! OH, GOD!!" A couple of days later my oldest son called me and the long and short of it was that he had found a tiny little mobile home for sale and was going to buy it for me if I approved. It was what I affectionately called "my tin can." It was falling apart but it could be MINE. I approved and my son bought it for me. I had a place to live!

Not too long after, I filed for disability. I had to wait for three years because I had gone about it on my own, doing and saying things I thought were needed. I messed things up. It wasn't until my Welfare worker mentioned disability to me that the ball got rolling. I had most of what I needed as proof, but I had been downplaying my needs rather than being frank. This Welfare worker got in touch with a disability liason that put things in motion. I had an attorney that had helped mess things up. I prayed that God would lead, go before any and every meeting I had to go to. I told him "Lord, you know what I need. YOU handle this for me, put the right words in my mouth and also be with the interviewer." Two weeks before my hearing, I fired my attorney. I had six people go with me to my hearing. When I walked through the door of the office, I prayed, "Lord, you lead." When we were called into the judges chambers and the judge came in, he looked me straight in the eye and said "There will be no hearing today. I've read your records beforehand and know that you are disabled. I will write the necessary letters and you will start receiving your disability check shortly."

When my little tin can finally couldn't take anymore habitation, I found out that the city I live in has a program for disabled, low income people. When I first applied, I was told that the city was restructuring their program and I probably wouldn't qualify. I prayed "Lord, you know my needs. You provide as you see fit." A few weeks later, a man came to my house in a little red pickup with the city logo on it. He was there to inspect my "tin can." After he looked around, he told me, "I came with the intention of refurbishing this place, but now I see it's not worth it. What we can do is offer you a different mobile home." It turns out that some very pesky neighbors were moving out of state and the city was buying their mobile. It was just four doors down from me. The city refurbished that mobile and I was in it for my birthday of that year, something that I had playfully had had thoughts of. God relieved me of two bad headaches at once; the neighbors that were nickel and diming me to death and provided a wonderful new home for me.

There's a lot more stories I can tell but for the sake of shortness, I'll leave them out for now.

God IS love. He created us for His pleasure. Why wouldn't He loves us? In fact, He loves us so much that He sent his only Son to die to redeem us back from Satan and his will. God has a purpose for every single one of us, if we only listen. God only wants us to love him in return. He's our Heavenly Father and wants His childrens love in return. He created us with free will precisely because He wants us to love Him back because we WANT to, not because He makes us. He wants to know that what He's done for us is appreciated.

I know what my life was before I turned it over to God and I know what it's like since I turned it over to Him. I wouldn't go back for all the riches of Earth.