Broken Vessels

My friend Joe and I was talking about being broken today and why some of us stay broken while some of us are mended over time. His answer was such good analoge about being broken. He said "it is like when you take two bottles and drop them to the floor at the same time. One bottle might be shattered while another bottle could become a weapon or enough left to be a vessel. I have been in that shattered state where I thought this is too big and I am unfixable. I did not think at one time that the broken me could be anything but laying on the floor in a thousand pieces. That I had nothing left that could be used for anything. Yes, I did talk to God when I was broken all of the time. Sometimes it was the mad talk, sometimes it was the I don't understand talk, sometimes it was the I can't even come up with adequete words to say to God and sometimes it was just begging for mercy. But now I see while I was talking to God, he was gathering up Vickie pieces. God knew more about me than I did about myself. I even believe now that there was pieces that I did not even need. The pieces that I pick up along during my life. God does not want to put new wine in old wine skins. So he gave me new wine skins and filled me up with new wine. I am so thankful that God does not feel the same way that I felt back then. I am so thankful that he did not say, I am sorry Vickie but you are too broken and you have nothing left to offer. Don't get me wrong, I still struggle, I still miss and love Ej. I believe that he left that hole in my heart to remind me of the gift he gave me. It is not a gift that can be taken away. But it is the gift that I look foward to seeing again someday. I do have my priorities...First stop in heaven at the feet of Jesus...Second stop in heaven I will be running to see Ej.  So if you have brokeness talk to Jesus..He is the potter you know!!!!

Keepsakes from my past......

As I get older, I cherish memories and things that remind me of my past. This picture is a picture of old fishing lures from my dad's tackle boxes. I got the fishing display board from a little store by our home. The ironic thing is that the little store was a store that I know my dad stopped at before he went fishing in the morning while we was on vacation here at Lake Cumberland. The store was called the Kracker Barrel and while it was in the process of being tore down, I stopped one day and ask if I could have a something from the building because I am sentimental like that. The girl said we have this display for fishing stuff that we was going to throw out. I took it not knowing what I was going to do with it, besides hang it in the potting shed. I have had it for a little while, when it dawned on me to go through Dad's fishing lures and hang them on the board. It just worked out so great and I am thankful that it all came together. I will have to admit that I cried while putting the lures on the display board. But it was only because I was so glad that I kept dad's fishing lures. It was such a big part of how much he loved to fish. That he taught me to fish and also taught Tiffany and Ej to fish. Those are the same lures that we all fished with. So thanks dad for that memory.  I do have a few things from my parents when I was younger but I wish I would have kept more. So for my younger friends, believe me that it may not mean much to you now but if there is something special that your parents still have, do not get rid of it. You will be glad you kept it. Now with that being said, you can't keep everything but special things will mean lots to you later on. I just don't want to be a throw away kind of person.