Our beloved Travis Cottrell won a Dove Award last night for his musical Everything Glorious. Congratulations, Travis! We’re all so proud of you! We’re also very proud that a country boy from North Carolina rose to the challenge of presenting a Spanish language award. You are indeed multi-talented!

God is good, ladies. Let me tell you a few of the wonderful things the Lord did for our family over the last few days.

Exhibit A: Every single one of my mom’s brothers and sisters was able to be in Houston for the funeral and all of my cousins were there except for one. It had been 9 years since we were all together and you can imagine how wonderful the reunion was. Family members from Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, Arkansas, and California were able to join us. My sister, who is in the middle of writing her final papers for her Master’s degree, was able to come for 24 hours. It was such a joy and an answer to prayer.

Exhibit B: My grandfather was a retired Army major and was buried in the veterans section of the cemetery. During the planning, it looked like certain elements of a military burial were not going to work out, but God provided every single thing we hoped for. Each part was incredibly moving – from when the color guard saluted the flag-draped casket when it arrived by car to the cemetery, all the way up to the moment the folded flag was handed to Madelyn and she was thanked for her loved one’s service.

Exhibit C: The funeral service was a perfect mix of laughter, tears, spiritual emphasis, and sharing the personal side of who my grandpa was. My Uncle Wayne, who is a virtuoso pianist, played “I Come to the Garden Alone.” It was so meaningful for all of us. We were also very moved by how many people came to show their love for Daddaw and Madelyn.

Exhibit D: My mom was supposed to be in the Dallas area on Tuesday for a taping at Life Today. When Tuesday ended up being the day of the funeral, she thought she was going to have to cancel. Praise God, we were wrong about the date and the taping was actually on Wednesday! She has been at the studio today taping an interview with James and Betty Robison about Get Out of That Pit. She had a lot of trouble getting out of Houston because of the weather, but God opened up the sky for her plane.

Exhibit E: My Aunt Sassy (again with the nicknames!) brought me a picture of Daddaw with Thumper! We’re working on getting it scanned so that I can post it on the blog.

Exhibit F: I saved one of the best ones for last. When Madelyn was going through my grandpa’s desk drawer, she found a love note from my grandpa that she had never seen before. He had written it for her to see upon his death and it included a poem describing how she had been the love of his life. Could they have been any sweeter or any more in love? Wow.

There are many more things I could have listed. I believe we got an extra helping of God’s comfort and kindness because of your prayers. Thank you so much.

What I’d like to hear from you is one way that God has blatantly answered your prayers this week. If we can keep them relatively concise it will help me keep up with moderating the comments. Y’all are so awesome! I can’t wait to hear them!

With a tender heart I sit here thinking of a way to write this next sentence. The Lord welcomed home one of His good and faithful servants today – my grandfather and my mom’s father, Al Green. He suffered a massive stroke yesterday and died peacefully this morning with his precious bride and my aunt Gay by his side. Family members from all over the country are making their way home to say goodbye. Please pray for us as we spend the next few days together to cry, to say goodbye, and also to celebrate a life very well lived. Please especially remember his wonderful wife Madelyn in your prayers. They have spent the last eight years together fiercely in love and having great adventures.

Curtis asked me about some of my favorite memories of my grandpa and I’d like to share my answers with you. I’ll just go ahead and tell you right now that I call him Daddaw. I know it’s weird, but it was my first word. Okay, now I can get started. When I was a little girl, Nanny and Daddaw had a big backyard with a huge vegetable and flower garden. Somehow Daddaw managed to build a relationship with a swamp rabbit who regularly visited their garden to nibble on Nanny’s plants. He would go on the back porch and whistle and call out, “Thumper!” Sure enough that big ole bunny would come bouncing into the back yard. He would even let Daddaw hold him and feed him carrots. As an animal lover, watching that happen was one of the thrills of my childhood.

My very favorite memory was from the time Daddaw let me tag along with him to a soup kitchen. My dad had killed an elk that year and our freezer was full of more meat than we could ever eat. We loaded the meat into the car and took it to a place where Daddaw regularly served called Loaves and Fishes. It was such a neat experience to feed the homeless with my grandfather. I loved seeing him serve so selflessly and diligently. I will never forget how the other men treated him with so much affection and respect. I knew he was a big part of their ministry. I got the same feeling yesterday when I sat in his hospital room and visitors were streaming in and out to love on him and Madelyn. They are both so well loved.

The thing I will take most from my grandfather’s legacy is that you never retire from serving the Lord. He served with all his might until the end of his life. He was always willing to take any opportunity the Lord presented. That is something I would like to keep in my heart and remember. One day, God-willing, when Curt and I are old and gray and the only expectation the world has of us is to retire and do whatever we please, I want to remember my grandfather’s example. I want to be completely poured out on my last day.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me the chance to know my Daddaw. Thank You for the souls he fought for and the blood he shed in World War II and Korea, for the family he raised, for the church members he loved, and for the underprivileged he served. And thank you for all the memories.

Hey, Darling Ones. I know that the Virginia Tech tragedy is what is utmost on our minds today – even mine as I wrestle to stay focused on my lesson for tonight – but I wanted to do as I promised. A number of you who attended the LPL event in Columbia asked for a copy of the words we spoke over one another at the conclusion. I didn’t have it at work with me yesterday but I have it now. Here it is! May God manifest His tender mercies to each one of you today.

Count it a joy, Dear One
When life gets hard.
God is doing something huge!
He is also proving
That you are NOT a fake.
Be brave, Mighty Warrior.
Your God is with you!
When waves are crashing,
Stand to your feet,
Throw your head back
And feel the wind of the Spirit!
God is painting a masterpiece
With multi-colored trials.
Go forth and display
Divine special effects
To the great glory of God.
YOU CAN DO IT!

PS. If you get a moment, would you be gracious enough to pray for us in our Houston Tuesday night Bible study as we conclude our series on Proverbs tonight? God has been speaking a fresh word to me about prayer recently and I am more convinced than ever that certain things will happen in our individual lives only as a result of our prayer. I believe if you’d stop and pray, God will accomplish some things tonight among my beloved home girls that we’d otherwise miss in our here and now. Thank you so much!

“But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me” (Psalm 86:15-17).

Shocked. Baffled. Sickened. Overwhelmed. Horrified. Saddened. We are all grieving over the Virginia Tech massacre – not only the worst campus shooting, but THE worst shooting in United States history.

We have been on our faces crying out to God over today’s events. We, along with all of you, are praying for everyone affected. May Jesus Himself be their peace and comfort. Lord, have mercy.

In case you don’t have your secret decoder ring nearby, here’s the key to those abbreviations:
PDLAM – Please don’t laugh at me
DSFX – Divine special effects

My beloved Columbia girls, I am sitting here in my office in tears over your blog entries. I have so much studying to do for Bible study tomorrow night but I felt the nudge to glance at the blog. I believe it was from the Lord so that I could thrill to the thought that no one got in His way this weekend in Columbia, S.C. (that would be my worst nightmare) and that He was seen and experienced. I was overcome. One of the hardest things about serving in a really large arena is that so many faces are beyond my sight and so many necks beyond my reach. I am so grateful to God that He, on the other hand, is intimately working in every life in the crowd and His Holy Spirit interceding the entire time for each one according to the will of God. (Romans 8)

The part that makes me most want to bawl is that you got the DSFX part! YOU GOT IT! The thought of the wild drama playing around us in the unseen world as our faith is tested and proved really ministered to me in my preparation but I didn’t know if I could explain it adequately. I am full of praise that God brought it home! I can’t even count to you how many we’ve heard from in that group that have battled cancer and debilitating losses and unexplainable circumstances. Even very young people. Their faithfulness is not in vain! Neither in yours. Not only are they – and you – living amid the wild work of God but those who bravely endure will be profusely and publicly rewarded on the glorious ground of a vivid Heavenly City teeming with life. Jesus will meet each one at the finish line and adorn their victorious heads with the crown of life that God has promised to those who LOVE HIM. Glory to His magnificent Name!

I am so glad you wrote in. My system is weary but happy this morning and suddenly charged with a lightning bolt of the Holy Ghost to head back to the Scriptures and seek God’s face for another class tomorrow night. I did not bring a copy of the commissioning we did at the end of the conference to work today but I will make sure it gets on here tomorrow.

Sistas, I love you so dearly. Keep following hard after Jesus and keep taking Him at His Word. Be brave! This battle is going to be so much MORE than worth it.

Our weekend got started with a bang tonight. There were crazy storms going through our area and the Jones family, eighty-pound golden retriever included, spent an exciting hour taking cover in the church basement. I was pretty freaked out with the tornado sirens wailing and all, but once we got down there I calmed down. Jackson and Beckham had a big time exploring a new space together. The storm just missed us, but I’m sad to say there are some other families in the area who are having to pick up the pieces tonight.

I just heard from our friend Rich who is at the Living Proof Live event in Columbia, South Carolina, this weekend. (Rich is the one who so faithfully provides the recap videos for us.) Here’s what he had to say:

Amanda, here is a photo from tonight that you might want to post on the
blog for the sisters that are praying for this event. I have been to many
events like (58 I think) and I have never felt so much of the presence of
the Lord as in the arena this afternoon.

Praise the Lord!

Beth is going to touch base with us tomorrow. In the meantime…

Sometimes I have really intense bed head.

Mama’s rollers are my new hobby.

My first Easter egg hunt was in the church nursery. It was snowing outside.

I had so much fun!