A Confident Winner!!!

Soooooo it's been a while now but I wanted to share with you an older memory. It was a Wednesday night at kids church, several years ago. My brother and his wife were doing this relay game with the kids where they had take M&Ms and put them into 4 different cups according to their colors and the first one done ✔️ was the winner 🥇 

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So they did 4 boys first and the boy that won got to go up against the girl that one in her group of four girls, WELLLLLL this girl Queen by far beat ALL the other girls...

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Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...

 OF COURSE one of the girls  noticed that within all the M&Ms she had split up, there were NO BLUE M&Ms. Weeeeeeelllllll, YOU KNOW KIDS, of course all the girls that lost were like, THATS NOT FAIR!!! 

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So Queen looks at her cups and then, INSTEAD OF BALKING BACK AT HER TEAM MATES, she is like, YOU KNOW WHAT, your right, I DIDN'T have any blue ones, I PROMISE I DID NOT EAT THEM, buuuuuut you guys are right, that wasn't FAIR, LETS PLAY IT AGAIN,

SO I CAN WIN FAIRLY!!!

Annnnnd that was EXACTLEY WHAT SHE DID!!! 

She played the game AGAIN and WON AGAIN....buuuuuut this time, FAIR AND SQUARE!!! Then she went on and played against the boy that won AND beat him too!!!

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 I couldn't help but think, WHAT A GOOD SPIRIT this little girl Queen had! She was confident enough in her ability to win the game, that she was willing to risk losing her prize AND PLAY IT AGAIN!!! 

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 When the other girls started complaining about her winning unfairly, she could have been like, NO I WON!!! And you know what, SHE DID WIN! It was NOT her fault that she hadn't been given any blue M&M's, AND my brother and sis-in-law would NOT have made her play again to prove it! But she CHOSE on her own accord to be fair to the other players and play again!!!

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AND it got me to thinking...

Are we CONFIDENT ENOUGH IN GOD, that He will do what is best for us, that we are willing to LOSE the prize we have been waiting for,  so he can teach us, TO REALLY TRUST IN HIM???? So He can prove to us that we can truly put our confidence in Him? If something is God's will for your life, you won't  have to manipulate a situation for it to happen, just stay in His will and GOD WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Do you trust God ENOUGH to say, you know what God, I'm willing to let go, SO YOU CAN PROVE yourself to me, SO YOU CAN SHOW ME, that you REALLY CAN DO IT! The right way! Without MY "HELP" and ON YOUR OWN TERMS!!! When we try to manipulate a situation, our confidence is NOT truly in God's ability, BUT IN OUR ABILITY TO MAKE GOD'S WILL COME TO PASS!!!

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Trusting in God is MORE than just believing that he is going to do what you think he should do, IT'S BELIEVEING that he is doing what's BEST FOR YOU, EVEN when He doesn't do what YOU THINK HE SHOULD DO!!!  Instead of pouting and saying but, but, but, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!! 

Instead we can say, Ok God, I thought you gave this to me, BUT my confidence in you, is high enough to say, OK, LET'S DO THIS AGAIN!!! I trust that you really do know what is best for me! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN REALLY DO GOD!!! 

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MY FRIENDS, He ONLY has GOOD PLANS FOR US, we're only human, but cast your doubts at his feet, You can put your confidence IN HIM!!! We can be so confident in God, that just when it seems all our dreams are finally coming true, they can slip from our fingers and dissolve to nothingness, YET, we can say with confidence, GOD IS STILL GOING TO DO IT!!!

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"For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." (Proverbs 3:26)

♥Mary Frances :)

When your line BREAKS!!!

Have you ever been fishing annnnnnnd...

Okaaaaaaaaaaaay, NO, I've never gone fishing, LOL!!! Buuuuut recently, one of my friends and my brother went on a deep sea fishing trip. They had a good time on the trip, but were slightly disappointed in the lack of fish they caught!!!

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But the thing that was even MORE disappointing for my friend then NOT catching anything at all, was the fact that at one point, he ACTUALLY had a BIG ONE on his line, buuuuut as he was reeling it in, HIS LINE BROKE, and that BIG ONE got away!!!

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And after my friend had relayed his disappointment, it got me to thinking about how so often, this very same situation happens to us in life. We all have hopes and dreams that we desire and wait for. Sometimes it can seem like your just waiting and waiting with your life fishing line sailing through an ocean of faith, your waiting and your waiting and your waiting for that BIG HOPE to finally get caught on your line.

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Then it happens, what you have been waiting for, IS FINALLY biting on your line, its hooked, and you begin reeling it in, but as your reeling it in, the worst thing possible happens, YOUR LINE BREAKS and before you could reel it in, what you've been waiting for is GONE!!!

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Your sooooo disappointed!!! You wish that you had never even thought you were about to get what you had been waiting for in the first place! You feel discouraged and your faith is down. What happened??? Why did your line break??? We can't always explain or understand the way things happened, maybe you weren't ready, you needed a better fishing line, it wasn't time and God just wants you to keep trusting him, or maybe God has something even bigger for you and you need to just keep waiting.

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Just remember while your waiting that God IS in control! He is all powerful and he knows what he is doing. WHEN YOUR LINE BREAKS, you've got a God that knows WHERE ITS AT!!! You can be like the disciples, fishing ALL NIGHT and getting NOTHING, buuuuuut one word from Jesus, "Cast  your nets on the other side", and your net is so full you can hardly even lift it!!!

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Don't give up my friends!

You've got to just keep trusting and waiting and listening!!!

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

♥Mary Frances :)

Underneath the green grass...

This past week, while at A Mountain Apart Camp, I found this secluded, peaceful little spot underneath this beautiful weeping willow tree near the pond. It was soooo pretty and quiet I just liked to sit there sometimes and think and just contemplate on things. 

Weeeeelll the spot that I was sitting on the ground beneath the tree was really dry and barren of much grass. While I was sitting there, I looked out and saw this BEAUTIFUL, tall green grass just blowing gracefully and I thought that I might like to move over there and sit in it and enjoy its luciousness, but then I changed my mind and thought NO I like it where I am all just stay where I am, but the WHOLE time I kept looking out and noticing how pretty that grass over yonder was.

After a few minutes, someone on the little bride across the pond saw me and yelled out to me. So rather than have a conversation yelling across the pond to each other, I jumped up and started walking over to her. As I was walking around the pond I thought, OH, I'm going to walk through that beautiful, willowy, green grass, just so I can feel it against me.

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 Well as I began walking through it, much to my dismay, I felt a wetness and as I continued to walk, my feet began to squish into mud! UGH...all over my ADORABLE flip flops...YUCK!!! And     I tried to get out but I kinda sunk a little and even started to slip before I got out of it.

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Once I got out and I was walking over to talk to my friend I thought MAN, that grass looked sooooooo pretty but it SURE was a BIG HASSLE walking through it. Really, it was NOTHING but a buncha trouble. It had looked soooooooo pretty  and perfect from the surface, buuuuuuuut I had NO way of knowing what was underneath.

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Meanwhile, my hard, dry little spot across the way seemed like it truely was the perfect little spot. Because, despite, its dullness and hard barren ground, it was safe. 

ANNNNND of course it got me to thinking about life. Sometimes in life, the ways that are right can seem sooooo boring and dull. You can look out and see something in the world that just seems like it is oh so beautiful and perfect and you want it. Maybe it goes against everything that you have been taught...but all you can see is the surface beauty of the matter, underneath there is MUCK but you can't see it because its covered by the beauty. 

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The Bible says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 16:25) You can't see what's underneath. You have NO IDEA the harm that the choice can bring you. Its a slippery, sinking path. Your gonna loose your footing and its going to bring you down.

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I'm telling you, if any choice your considering to make, it doesn't matter HOW wonderful it may make you feel, IF it EVERRR goes against the word of God, it  is wrong! It is wrong! IT IS WRONG!!! Don't leave the safety of God's haven. No matter what you may be seeing out yonder, God's ways are ALWAYS right. God's ways are strong. His ways may not be glamorous and pretty but they are safe and secure. The ways of God will keep you. You can depend on God's way. God's way will NEVER fail you. 

You know what I did WHEN I was done talking to that friend?

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I WENT BACK!!! I went back to my safe little haven beneath the beautiful willow tree. BUUUUUUUT...This time I WALKED AROUND the tall willowy grass and I thankfully and happily sat down on a dry, bland, rather UGLY ground...BUT it was secure and it was SAFE!!!

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Don't leave God's way, BUUUUT if you have, If you've messed up, made a mistake, made a mess, you don't have to stay there stuck in the muck, JUST GO BACK. Go back to what is right. Go back to the safety of God. 

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure..."

(2 Timothy 2: 19)

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: 

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the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

(Proverbs 18:10)

♥Mary Frances :)

CURED!!!

Yesturday, my brother went to Oncologist for his routine check up and the doctor said that he was officially considered CURED of cancer. I was soooo happy when I heard this! I can't believe its been FIVE years now that he has been in remission!!! He ONLY had a 40% chance of surving with chemo and if that didn't work he had a 10% chance of surviving with a bone marrow transplant....BUT here we are TODAY!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!! God is sooooooooooo GOOOOOD!!!

For so long before John was even diagnosed he was VERY SICK! I remember on his 16 birthday, he was getting this beat up pick up truck he wanted and we played the song, Something Woman like about a Pickup man or maybe its just called "Pickup Man"...LOLOL... I ♥ that song!!! BUT he was soooooo sick he couldn't even go out and drive it!  :( BUT he still managed to tell us that if he wasn't plannin on it BUT if he did die, that he didn't want a casket, he just wanted to be sitting at the wheel of his pick up in the drivers seat and buried like that...I was like OKAAAAAAAY seriousley?!?! Guys are sooo WEIRD! LOL

I remember when I first realized that my little brother might die. My heart felt soooo crushed. I remember just being at work and sobbing. I couldn't imagine life without one of my siblings. But you can't cry forever and so you just find the things to laugh at!

I think we really managed to have some "Good times" in the hospital, despite the circumstances. I guess i'll do some pretty STUPID things just to make people LAUGH! Like, dancing in the hospital room @ 2 am...HAHAHAHA!!! Ask my bro about that!!! Sometimes my brother would wanna switch beds with me cause he was bored with his hospital bed and felt like sleepin on the cot and the nurses would come in  just lookin, like they didn't like it BUT they weren't gonna argue with the patient! AND then a new nurse would come in and she would be ALL confused about who the actual patient was!!! HAHA! AND it would get CROWDED in that hospital room!!! HAHAHA! Imagine ALL the Ginty's, Bishop Abbott, the youth group...it got cRaZy!!! LOL

And when John's hair started falling out. Our big brother buzzed his whole head and I remember NO one was upset about it Including John, EXCEPT for my mom, she was crying!!! We're like uh mom, its NOT that big of a deal...HE IS A GUY!!! HAHAHA!

Oh and I believe it was in the hospital that I FINALLY told my little brother the WONDERFUL thing I used to do for him as a child. Okaaaaaay so my mom has this thing that the little kids couldn't have any sort of tortilla chip cause they would "CHOKE" on it!!! Lil John would say to me, "Mammy, I want some, peeze!!! Soooooo being the OH so luvin and kind big sis that I was I would get the chips, chew them up, then give them to him AND he LOVED me for it!!! "I wuv you Mammy!" He didn't seem to think it was quite soooo nice of me at 16! "He was like, I CAN NOT believe you did that to me!!!" I was like okaaaaaaaay you know what, I COULD HAVE EATEN those chips, BUT no, I SACRIFICED them for my lil brother!!! He was like, "Yeah and I bet you sucked ALL the flavor out of them before you gave them to me too!!!" HAHAHAHA! I soooooooooo DID!!! I'm SUCH a good big sister!!! :)))

Then this past April, John started feeling continually sick again! We were all soooo worried that it was the cancer again. I was ready to start packing my stuff to start spending the nights with him in th hospital again...Thankfully it was ONLY Mono!!! You thank God for things like MONO when it coulda easily been CANCER!!!

I think my little brother is SOOOO brave! The other day I was sayin something about how everyone better be puttin on sunblock so they don't get skin cancer and John just looks at me and says, "I'm not exactley worried about something like cancer!" I was like, awwwwwwwww! (But I only said the awwwwww in my heart cause he woulda said I was dumb if I had said it out loud!!! HAHA!)

But here we are FIVE years since remission, and we're all STILL here...in fact the Ginty's have NOT declined but are INCREASING quite rapidly! HAHAHA!!! Sooooo much has happened but what more can you say then, God is GOOOOOOOOD!!!!

Read John's story HERE I think its time to do an UPDATE on this story!!!