Providence

Good Morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Well, it's kind of overcast today , but still very warm, with sunshine peeking through the clouds. We had a beautiful weekend with lots of sun.. The street gutters are still full of water from the rains last week and water is still draining from the yard, which gets very wet down in front. I watched the wind blowing through the branches of the oak trees last week when the wind was so high from Debby and was happy that I had the trees trimmed last year, just for that reason. I think when the wind blows through the branches, it keeps the force from affecting the trunks so much. Of course, the trees are so huge. I am hoping nothing can uproot them unlike some of the trees which fell over and are still being cleaned up.

The crepe myrtle trees are blooming beautifully at church and all around town. White, lavender and pink are the colors I see most often. There is even a pretty one at Sawgrass Park, along with a blooming magnolia tree. I saw anhingas drying out wings and ibis pecking. as usual, and egrets hopefully fishing. There were a few people at the park both days I visited and the tree people were there to thin out the branches of the many trees and to clean up the ones that fell. Lots of work, but God is good!

From the devotional Quiet Moments with God:

I have raised you up for this very purpose
that I might show you my power and that
my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Exodus 9:16

Feb. 26, 1844, is one of the most infamous dates in the history of the United States Navy. The most powerful warship of that time, the Princeton. was taking the president of the United States, the secretaries of state and navy, members of Congress, and other government officials down the Potomac.

For the entertainment of the guests, the great gun on the Princeton, the Peacemaker, was fired. At the second discharge, the gun burst apart, killing the secretary of the navy and a number of others. 

Just before the gun was fired, Senator Thomas Benton of Missouri was standing near it. A friend laid his hand on his shoulder. Benton turned away to speak with him, and much to Benton's annoyance, Secretary of the Navy Gilmore elbowed his way into his place. At precisely that moment the gun was fired, and Gilmore was killed.

That singular moment of providence has a great impression upon Benton He was a man of anger and feuding and had recently had a fierce quarrel with Daniel Webster. But after his narrow escape from death on the  Princeton, Benton  sought reconciliation with Webster.

He said to him:

It seemed to me, Mr. Webster, as if that touch on my shoulder was the hand of the Almighty stretched down there drawing me away from what should have been instantaneous death. That one circumstance has changed the whole current of my thought and life. I feel that I am a different man; and I want in the first place to be at peace with all those with whom I have been so sharply at variance.

Few of us ever know the many times we are spared from death, but in reality each day we live is a gift from God. And no matter how long you live, never waste a day in anger or unforgiveness. Live each day in peace with God and all people.

                                 FORGIVENESS IS A FUNNY THING--

                                  IT WARMS THE HEART AND COOLS THE STING.
                                                            WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs, 
Amaryllis