Twenty-Three Years Ago Today...

I was waddling around the third floor of the Polyclinic Medical Center in Harrisburg, Pa, waiting for our firstborn child. I had no idea whether it would be a boy or a girl, but I knew for certain that the Lord, in His kindness, blessed my husband and I with someone special.

Many times, even now, my mind goes back to the first time I found out I was pregnant with my firstborn. I was working at a bank at the time, and it was Friday. Since the bank was open until 8:00pm on Fridays, I had an hour for dinner as well as my half-hour lunch break. Usually I brown-bagged it twice on Fridays, but for this special day, I decided to go to Godfather’s Pizza and get a personal pizza.

While waiting for my food at the restaurant, I stared at the mosaic in the table. I absentmindedly traced the grout between the tiles, thinking how very blessed I was. To think, I mused, God has actually blessed ME with a baby! Oh Lord, I prayed, please help me to be the mother You would have me be.

Just a few minutes before midnight on March 31, 1986, our lovely little girl, Kathryn Elizabeth, was born. I was thankful for her then, and I am thankful for her now.

Now she is a grown young lady with two children of her own, serving the Lord alongside her preacher husband in a church in Michigan. She has been one of the greatest blessings of my life, and I thank the Lord for her!

Love you, Kath!

Our Amarillo Trip

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written anything. Last week I was sick for most of the week, with The Five Day Sickness. I was awful to be sick while on a trip. I worked really hard the Friday and Saturday before, trying to get all ready to go, and then once we got on the road the illness hit me full force. I was in bed from Sunday to Wednesday, all during the Missions Conference we were scheduled for in Dallas. Everybody said it went great, so that’s good.

Wednesday night we went to a church in Oklahoma, and then pulled out on Friday and went to Amarillo. On Saturday we discovered that the bus wouldn’t start again. With some testing, we discovered that we needed two new batteries. Now, these aren’t regular batteries, mind you, they’re monster batteries, weighing about 150 pounds each and costing that much in dollars!
Well, the Lord provided them both through a man at the church there in Amarillo. Thank You, Lord, and bless that man in a special way.

On Sunday we went to a large church and sang before a crowd of about 500 or so people. Unfortunately, I still had junk in my throat from the sickness, so my part was a little strange. Other than that, everything went well.

Sunday night after church Jonathan, Stephen and Sharon left to go to Pastor’s School in upper Indiana. They drove all night and most of Monday to get there, arriving safely at around 3pm. We left Sunday night as well, and drove until about 2am and then started out again at 6:30am. We got home at around 10:30 in the morning!

It was really good to be home, but boy, did I have a lot of work to do. My hubby had injured his back, so it was just the little kids and I unloading the bus. I just finished up today. I’m also washing up all the bedding and towels today, too. It’s a big job, but I’m glad to have the bus when we travel.

Well, there you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen. Maybe you’ll hear from me again sooner next time! 

What “Giving My Life to Christ” Means to Me

When I gave my life to the Lord, I took Him as my Master, and I became a servant. As a servant of the Master, I relinquished all my rights to have things my way, and committed myself to doing things His Way.

That means several things. First, it means that I will always have something meaningful to do. I will always have a work for the Lord to do that will have eternal results. My life here on this earth is not meaningless; it is full of purpose, for I am a servant to the King! He gives me something to do that will benefit myself and others around me, perhaps even an entire generation. Truly, working for God is a big thing.

Second, being His servant means that He will provide my needs. Just like an earthly master would give his servants jobs to do and meet their needs, my heavenly Master will meet my needs as well. The benefits of being a servant are things like good co-workers, good work environment, a “retirement plan” that’s out of this world, and health benefits. As I serve Him, I don’t have time, nor can I afford to have bitterness and its corresponding health problems.

There are some things I need to understand, however. Being a servant means that I have relinquished all rights to have things my way. I live in the home of God’s choosing, which right now happens to be a motor home. I live in the place of God’s choosing. My needs are provided as He wills, not necessarily as I will. My meals may not be steak and potatoes, but if He provides beans and rice, that is good for me, for I am His servant.

I realize that I relinquish the right to be treated the way I think I deserve. That means that, as a servant, I don’t have special privileges.

I also further realize that anything the Master sends my way is for my benefit and edification, even the trials and testing. Health problems, setbacks, financial straights, and breakdowns are all part of His plan. I am His servant, He can do with me what He Will and mold me into a better servant for Him as He sees fit.

Many times God uses offenders as agents of His Will, who, like sandpaper, rub off my rough edges. These people are those who I don’t understand, who I can’t seem to get along with, and who rub me the wrong way. God sends them to me for that express purpose, not that I would get mad at them and bitter, but that I would see them as His messenger to teach me some very valuable lessons of life.

I don’t have to worry when I get treated poorly, for I am a servant, and who treats servants like kings? My Master, however, blesses me abundantly. The richness of His love are poured out to me through His treasures of mercy. I am blessed beyond all measure! I have the best of His Plan for me, and I know I can enjoy His smile, which is brighter than the sunshine in my heart. Many times I feel like He loves me like I way His only child!

Why? Because I am His servant. I am His, and He is mine.

Some Exellent Points...

My daughter Kathryn wrote a letter to the Editor which was published the other day in Escanaba, Michigan. Using carefully chosen words, she cuts straight to the heart of the effects of Obama’s policy against babies. Pray for America!

EDITOR:

Is it now a crime to survive?

President Obama’s signing of an executive order funding international abortion is another nail in the coffin of unborn babies everywhere.

The same people who are screaming about “America is not the world’s policeman,” and “the war in Iraq is just a mass murder of innocent civilians” are the same ones who voted this anti-life president into office.

And, on the first day of his presidency, he declared war on innocent
babies worldwide. Incidentally, there were 539 soldiers killed in the first year
of the war in Iraq – this is the equivalent death toll of just six minutes worth
of worldwide abortions. Now that gruesome number will be increasing
dramatically, thanks to the sponsorship of the United States.

Obama’s signing of this sadistic order should not come as a surprise, however. After all, this is the man who, as an Illinois legislator, voted not once, not twice, but three
times against the passage of the Born Alive Infants Act. (It finally passed the
fourth time – only because Obama walked out.)Most abortion proponents tout their
reasoning that “it’s not a baby unless they want it.” Until the BAI Act passed,
a baby that was born after an abortion and survived was just tossed into a
corner and left to die on its own. These babies were just as alive as any newborn down in the hospital nursery – the only difference is, one was wanted, and the other wasn’t.

If that is our criteria for children, perhaps we should start clinics where parents who don’t want their kids any more can drop them off to be euthanized! (After all, we are seeing more and more crimes where overwrought, mentally-imbalanced parents are murdering their children, often in horrifying ways – maybe we should legalize it so that it can be regulated and done humanely.)

We spend millions of dollars to save the lives of soldiers who have been terribly wounded on the battlefield – and yet if one little baby has the audacity to survive its attempted murder, it is tossed aside and left to die as if the baby itself had committed a crime.

This is the twisted mindset that President Obama is now promoting across the globe, using yours and my tax dollars. And we were worried about what the world thought of the U.S. before?

Kathryn Siegwart, Gladstone
Published in Daily Press, Escanaba,
Michigan, February 3, 2009