My Father's words . . .

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity - to give you a future and a hope."

(Jeremiah 29:11)

This is a blog in which I wrote about my dad's - and also My Father's words. It isn't the usual Weekly Word. But I felt as if I needed to share it here as well. I hope each and every one of you are doing well. My dad passed away on Oct. 13th. The weeks and months that led up to that were full of so much stress and emotion. I am just starting to get back to thinking about writing. Until then, I wanted to share this:

Listening to my father . . .

The other day I was talking to Ted about our personalities. I have to admit, I am one of those people who are passionate about certain things, and I tend to speak before I think about it. Most of the time, it is about the ones I love or about the Lord - that really gets me into trouble.

The things I don't discuss or debate with people - are my feelings about politics or the government. The only person I ever debated with about those was - well . . . my dad. As a teen-ager, I was just like everyone else. I believed I knew EVERYTHING! I didn't talk about much with my mom - we had that mother/daughter thing going on. But I did discuss a lot of things with my dad. He would read a lot, research things - and he would listen to me. Even though we were from Massachusetts, my dad would listen to my thoughts about politicians and things that I believed in.

I still remember being 16 years old and telling my dad that he should vote for Nixon! He listened and didn't say much. When the election was over, Massachusetts was the only state that didn't vote for Nixon! And they were the only ones that kind of strutted their stuff - when Nixon left office two years later. My dad never said much, but I knew that he hadn't voted the way I had told him he should!

I have a feeling that my dad made it much easier for me to become the person I am now. He let me express my passions, and my beliefs. Because of that, I was able to become a minister and counselor - passionately telling others of my beliefs and the things I love!

As I got older, the times of discussing politics and such got less and less. I was busy with being married, having children, and then being a grandma. I was living my own life, and my dad was busy with his. And then my dad became very sick. Ted and I started to spend more and more time with mom and dad. We visited more, and helped out more. And because of that, we had more time to talk - - - and to listen . . .

My dad started to talk about politics again. He had always voted democratic, but now he wasn't sure what he thought about each candidate. We talked about each, and he expressed his concerns. As he talked, I found myself filing away different things that he had said. And then my dad stopped talking . . .

I guess the reason I am writing this is that in the middle of taking care of mom and dad, I found myself getting so exhausted one day - that I decided to take a nap. Just as I got to that place where you are not quite asleep, but definitely not awake - I heard something. These are the words I heard: " America is going to be tested"as I heard those words, I tried to wake up. But I couldn't. And then I heard more: This country was founded on Godly principles, and now it's people need to decide what is Godly, and what isn't . . ." At that, I made myself wake up. What did this mean????

When I heard those words, I told Ted about them. We wondered about the election, or things going on in the country. And then our energies were back to taking care of mom and dad, and I let go of what I heard.

Then this past week I was cleaning out some of my parent's house. As I did, I found all sorts of things taped to the walls. One was an article that my dad had written many years ago. The article was titled - "Our Danger comes from within". It was an editorial my dad wrote about this country, and about God being part of it. This is the last paragraph of that article:
We either have to choose to be a God-fearing nation or kick Him out entirely. Let's wake up and make this country what our forefathers meant it to be. Otherwise our downfall will come from within, not from without. Robert C. Hohler

My dad wrote those words so many years ago, but it feels like it is about today. I don't want to tell anyone who to vote for - after all, my dad never did! But I do want to ask each and every person to pray - ask God who will keep this country One Nation under God!

My dad died two weeks ago, but his words and thoughts live on through all those that he spoke with and shared his passions with. Now I am sharing them with you. Please pray before you go vote this coming week. And if you want to share this blog, feel free to.

God bless, and thanks for reading this.

In His Love,

Debbie Ayers