With these blustering March winds and temperatures taking a dive back down near freezing, it’s hard to picture that spring will come a’callin’ next week. But oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be when the sun warms our souls and the glory of God’s creation lifts our spirits to the sky! Spring, summer, winter or fall, God is faithful over all!

In this issue of our newsletter, you’ll find a recap of our Along Side Her Widow’s Ministry brunch. Mary Clark shares her love for spring and the joy she finds in nature’s glory around in her very own yard. There’s a recipe for the perfect spring salad that you will enjoy. Patti’s “View from the Pew” is kind of long, but maybe you will be blessed by her story “From Dixie to the Heartland”.

Your Women’s Ministry Leadership Team stands ready to pray for you, praise with you and encourage you in any way. Just reach out to us – we’re here for you!

~Your Women’s Ministry Leadership Team

Gayle Bryan, Kelli Clark, Mary Clark,

Ester Hicks, Kathy Jordan, Jessica Minter,

Patti Rigal, Melissa Shackelford, Sarah Terral and Nichole Thornell

The widows of Cedar Crest were honored with a Saturday morning brunch in early March. They were treated to a variety of salads and some delicious desserts!! Everyone got to experience a few games with lots of laughter and fun door prizes! Speaker for the morning was Kathy Nelson who shared the stories of encouragement from five widows from the Bible. Everyone left with smiles, arms of goodies and hearts that had been encouraged!!

I absolutely LOVE spring! I love seeing the tiny shoots of green grass popping up through the dead grass of winter. I love when I first spot the leaf buds on the bare trees one day and the next, they are adorned with shiny green leaves. My most favorite thing is when the flowers start blooming. Oh, my …… the daffodils, irises, the azaleas, bridal wreath! I could go on and on. There is nothing else that speaks to me of God’s glorious creation that we are honored to live among than all the beautiful colors of spring.

The picture accompanying this article is a picture of my clematis. It looks like a dead tangled mess. Every year Greg asks me, “Are you sure you shouldn’t cut this back?” And every year I just tell him to wait and watch. Do you see what is coming out of that dead tangled mess? New life!! In a few weeks it will be full of green leaves and flower buds. The flowers are a deep purple. It will no longer look like a dead tangled mess.

Isn’t that just like what God does for us? He takes the tangled mess of our lives and through His promise of eternal life makes us as bright and shining as the spring time. Not only that, but when we have a “winter” season, God sees us through to the spring filling our hearts with new hope and joy!! So, if you are in a difficult season, hang on!

John 15:5 says, “I am the vine and you are the branches: he that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. Keep abiding in our gracious Heavenly Father. You are his beautiful creation and He will enable you to bloom and thrive!

Spring in a pretty bowl

Marinated Vegetable Salad

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (16 oz) can French-style green beans, drained
• 1 (16 oz) can Sweet English Peas, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked frozen peas
• 2 (14 oz) can Shoepeg Corn, drained
• 1 (2 oz) jar diced pimento, drained
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 green bell pepper diced
• 1 bunch green onion, chopped

Preparation:

Mix 1 cup sugar, vegetable oil, pepper, and salt in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cool. Toss dressing with remaining ingredients.

Mix and chill for at least 8 hours. Serves 8 to 10.

His name is Lin. With an “I” and one “n” he told me. Lin Thomas. Turns out, we are the same age. Our paths crossed almost nine years ago when I literally stumbled into his life trying to get to my seat aboard the Amtrak Texas Eagle heading for Chicago slap dab in the middle of the dark July night. 

He was wearing sunshades, so I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. The aisle seat had been left with the foot rest out by its previous occupant and I couldn't find the doohickey that operated it. I had to straddle the whole thing and try to hoist myself back into the seat as quietly as I could. Frustrated and exhausted, I gave up and plopped there in an awkward prone position trying not to disturb the man sitting beside me. Just as I began to calm down, his voice cut through the darkness and asked if I was going to be alright. I assured him I was and told him I was sorry I had bothered him and bless his heart he was kind enough to say that I had not when I knew good and well that I had.

I must have finally drifted off to sleep for a couple of hours when suddenly a woman’s voice announced the time from what appeared to be his wristwatch. It was then I noticed his cane and that indeed he was blind. Well, that and then when he TOLD me he was blind in case I couldn’t figure it out.

Dawn broke and after freshening up a bit, my Pilot companions and I headed to the dining car for breakfast. As I was getting up to leave, he asked me if I minded getting him something to eat. Of course I didn’t mind and asked him what he would like. He said a hamburger would sure taste good. I told him I would see if they had one but if they didn’t, I’d bring him a sausage biscuit if that was okay. In the diner car I mentioned to our server that I needed to get something “to go” for the blind gentleman sitting next me. He said he couldn’t do that but to tell the porter assigned to our car and he would take care of it.

I really felt bad, that I had somehow let him down. But I found the porter and brought him to my seat mate and he asked for his breakfast order. Sure enough, it wasn’t breakfast he wanted, but a good cheeseburger and some chips and the porter complied and said he’d be back shortly with his burger and a bag of Lay’s. We exchanged pleasantries and visited a little and it wasn’t long until his much-anticipated breakfast arrived. He ate quietly while I was busy checking emails, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. When done, he wiped his mouth and clumsily tried to find a place to dispose of the wrapper and empty potato chip bag. I told him I would take it to the trash and when I returned to my seat he said “Hi, my name is Lin, what’s yours?” And for the next seven hours he shared his story.

He hailed from Dallas but was headed to St. Louis for a visit with his sister. He handled himself with such quiet dignity and ease befitting someone who had been blind for a lifetime, yet it had only been two years since glaucoma had left him completely blind and changed his life forever. A career truck driver, at the age of 57 he lost his home, his job, his truck – his very way of life. Yet seated next to me was not a defeated man, but a man of peace, humor, confidence, and grace. I just had to come right out and ask him how it was that he could lose everything and yet seem at such peace with his circumstance. His reply? “Isaiah 42:16. Do you know it?” I ashamedly admitted that I did not right off the top of my head and before I could even Google it, he commenced to reciting it emphasizing each word as though the prophet had written it just for him. And maybe he had.

There he was homeless, jobless, hopeless, afraid and alone when he wound up in a mission somewhere in Dallas where if you got your hot meal and a warm place to sleep, you had to listen to the chaplain and his staff tell about Jesus. Lin said he was there about a month before the words and prayers of the chaplain and church volunteers finally began to sink in. One of the volunteers was the young vibrant pastor of Munger Place Church in East Dallas who Lin says literally saved his life. Pastor Forrest took a particular interest in Lin and seeing the pain, anger and despair deep in the depths of Lin’s soul he began to tell him of God’s grace and love. It was these words of Isaiah that finally reached him and he gave his heart to Jesus.

As the train came to a stop at the next depot in the middle of absolute nowhere, we were both quiet for a few minutes. I took a few minutes to dry my eyes a bit and take in this incredible story my new friend had shared with me.

I found his humor charming. As the train chugged along toward St. Louis, we both got quiet again listening to the faint whistle off in the distance. I got out my book I intended to read but to tell the truth Lin’s conversation was far more compelling. Nevertheless, I thought he might need to rest a bit. I looked around and said “it sure is dark in here” to which my friend Jo Ann from her seat two rows behind reminded me that there were those little lights above us like they have on airplanes. I blurted out “but I don’t want to disturb him” pointing to Lin. Lin piped up and said with a hearty laugh “heh heh, heh, it sure won’t bother me – I can’t see a thing!”

I couldn’t concentrate on my paperback novel so I checked to see what was going on Facebook. Something I read tweaked my tickle box and Lin asked me what was funny. I told him I had read something amusing on Facebook and he said “Oh I sure do miss Facebook. I haven’t been able to be on it for nearly over a year. After I became saved, Pastor helped me with my posts and I used to write some poems and little stories. Oh I wish I could read some of them again.” Oh my, I couldn’t stand the thought that I could no longer read my words that I share on Facebook or in my journals and this just about broke my heart. So I asked him if it would be okay if I found his page on Facebook and read some of his posts. He nearly jumped out of his seat with excitement! I had a dickens of a time trying to find him but I did; yet in order to see all of his posts I needed his user name and password to log in. Bless his heart, he was so hungry to be reunited with his written words that he gave them to me and I was touched that he trusted me so. I keyed in the info and BINGO! We were in bidness! I scrolled until I found some of his writings. They were little poems and they were so wonderful and uplifting. Incredibly uplifting – especially knowing that they were written by a man who had lost everything that mattered to him.

We spent the rest of the journey talking politics, solving the world’s problems… Lin quoting scripture, I giving romance advice and encouragement, and we even sang a line or two of a few old hymns while I tried to describe some of the passing scenery.

When the train finally rolled into St. Louis, you could sense both his excitement and anxiety thicker than BBQ sauce. I jumped up and got his luggage down and took him to the steward who was to help him get off the train and take him to his awaiting family. I patted him on the back and wished him well, to be sweet and to be sure and have a rib or two for me. He stopped and turned and said "thank you Patti for being so nice. I'll never forget it". Well I will never forget you Mr. Lin Thomas of Dallas, Texas. There’s hardly been a day that has gone by that I have not thought about him, prayed for him, and wondered how he was getting along. And when my day seems hard and I struggle even in the slightest way, I think of Lin and what he faces every single day and I’m reminded of my favorite “Lin-ism” of them all: “With God behind you and His arms beneath you, you can face whatever lies before you.”

I think God places folks in our lives to bless us, teach us, and use as an opportunity to minister grace. That's sure what He did on this long, arduous train ride through a kind, funny, black man who, though sight impaired, saw more clearly than most people I know and for whom the words “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost and now I’m found, twas blind but now I see” are his living, breathing testimony that I was so blessed to experience aboard an Amtrak train on my journey from Dixie to the Heartland.

Well, that’s my view from the pew. I’m thinking about Lin a lot these days as I face surgery that will leave me permanently sight impaired by the removal of my left eye. I pray that I can see with my heart as Lin did and live my life with the same dignity and grace, humility, humor and kindness and that I will have a glory story of my own to share…and if you know me, I’ll probably be wearing a snazzy leopard-print eye patch of course!

Your Women’s Ministry Leadership Team:

Gayle Bryan, Kelli Clark, Mary Clark,

Ester Hicks, Kathy Jordan, Jessica Minter,

Patti Rigal, Melissa Shackelford, Sarah Terral and Nichole Thornell

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Contact: Melissa Shackelford 381-5449