The trail we choose, will greatly determine who we will become on the journey.”
                   –Dan Arnold  (Bear Creek)

       “So Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities of the valley and set up his tent near Sodom.”
                   –Genesis 13:11-12(HCSB)
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Choices are always with us.  There are always crossroads to take, forks in the road, situations that arise in the journey where we must make more choices.  One thing we find in reading the Psalms, especially in Psalm 21, is that David always chose to trust in the Lord.

    1 – Lord, the king finds joy in Your strength.  How greatly he rejoices in Your victory!
    2 – You have given him his heart’s desire and have not denied the request of his lips.  Selah
    3 – For You meet him with rich blessings; You place a crown of pure gold on his head.
    4 – He asked You for life, and You gave it to him—length of days forever and ever.
    5 – His glory is great through Your victory; You confer majesty and splendor on him.
    6 – You give him blessings forever; You cheer him with joy in Your presence.
    7 – For the king relies on the Lord; through the faithful love of the Most High he is not shaken. (HCSB)

Paul wrote that nothing can separate from God’s love.  His love is divine, His love is secure, a covenant love, His love is faithful.  Our obligation and requirement is to obey and trust.  Frederick W. Faber wrote,

         “For the love of God is broader
          Than the measure of a man’s mind,
          And the heart of the Eternal
          Is most wonderfully kind.”

Too often we look at the immediate, the need of the hour.  We often do not take the time to look at the larger picture, the long-range view.  We want our needs met and we want them met now, and in that thinking we make choices.  Many times this choices prove to be bad, but then, there is the wonder of God’s love.  Even in the bad choice He is still with us.
    We let others, whether friends or family, peers, society itself dictate what is true and right instead of trusting God.  I was talking to someone yesterday about how faithful God is.  Divorce is bad, no matter what people say today, and I lived with my Dad, my Grandma, and Aunt.  My Mother wasn’t bad by any means but she was not a Christian, neither was Dad, but Grandma and Bern (my Aunt) were and they made sure I was in church.  If I had been raised by my Mom I most likely would not have become a Christian, but God had other plans.  See, He was faithful in His love.
    God in omnipresent; He is already in the future and He sees the results of our choices–the good and the bad.  David was a person, the leader of the country, and his trust was always in the Lord.  My, my, wouldn’t it be nice that our leaders would turn back to Him instead of dismissing Him, or mocking Him.
    In the midst of your traveling down the road of life you will find yourself in all sorts of situations with all sorts of choices to make.  You will have dry places, and then at times the rains will come and the winds will blow.  You will struggle to climb mountains and you might find yourself in a valley of despair.  Get into God’s Word.  Seek Him.  Remember, don’t be short-sighted, but look at the circumstance with eternity in mind.  “Eternity gives us perspective on all of life’s valleys and mountaintops.” (George O. Wood)

They were gentle hands, strong hands, capable hands; they were the hands of a woman, a mother, a woman to walk beside a man, not behind him.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Taggart)

    “She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.”
              –Proverbs 31:26-27 (NKJV)
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The hardest job in the world is that of being a mother.  She has to be a person that can handle many tasks.  As in the quotation she has to have gentle hands, yet strong hands; hands that are capable of handling an unruly child yet hands that can soothe a sick one when she runs it along a fevered cheek.
    I especially remember the hands of my Grandma Adkisson.  She took in washing and did ironing for a living.  Her hands would break out due to the harsh soap.  At night she would rub a black ointment on the raw spots.  Yet she never complained.  Those same hands would be out in the kitchen getting my breakfast ready and while I was at school would be busy making something “good” for me to eat.
    A mother is meant to be the nurturer of the home.  She is the one to clean and bandage the wounds; to wipe away the tears.  She raises a son, and weeps when he leaves in the service of his country knowing that he may never return, yet she knows she must let him go.  However, she will hold him in her heart and pray for him.  She is the one who raises a daughter, teaching her how to be a proper, virtuous lady then watch as her husband gives her away to some young man at the altar.
    Over the years I’ve watched my wife be a mom to our girls.  All during their years of growing up she was there, sometimes being called the “meanest mother in the world” she never wavered in her responsibility before God and to her daughters.  She taught them how to be domestic, how to look at the world with a proper attitude, and how to willingly and faithfully serve the Lord.  Even though they are married and no longer at home she continues to be a “mom” to them.
    Now, my daughters are following in her footsteps and example.  They are mothers and are facing the turmoil of a new world.  I see them instilling the love of God in their children.  As the storms have come to their lives they faced it with unyielding trust in the Lord, therefore, instilling that same faith and trust in their children.
    No matter what this postmodern society says about womanhood and feminism, they cannot shake the faith of a real mother.  I have been fortunate to be surrounded by ladies who understood the duty and responsibility they had as a mother before the Lord.  All I can say is thank the Lord for godly mothers!
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  The Mexican army reaches the Atascosita Road at Victoria.

But to think and brood and grieve would be fatal.  Let him watch and listen.  Nothing in that wilderness was trivial.”
              –Zane Grey  (Stranger From the Tonto)

    “That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness.”
              –Zephaniah 1:15 (NKJV)
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Dark clouds!  That’s all I’ve seen for several days now.  Only a time or two have the rays of the sun penetrated through those ominous gray and black.  Rains – they pour, flood, devastate the homes of people.  Whether it’s a “Harvey” or one of those dark swirling clouds, they can bring havoc and destruction.
    But wait, dark clouds are not just physical and of the natural world.  There are other types.  We know about the dark clouds of hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, and thunderstorms, but there are others, perhaps even more dangerous.
    There is the dark cloud of financial pressure and ruin.  Sometimes that cloud hovers over a person and they worry and stress over making payments to the bank or the mortgage on the house.  Land can be foreclosed on, personal property can be taken away because of the cloud of bankruptcy.
    Maybe you know someone who faces the dark cloud of depression.  Wherever they walk, that cloud just seems to hover over them.  There is little sunlight that can get into the soul.  Whatever the reason, they can’t seem to get out of the cloud of despondency.  Some of these people suffer from one of the initial words–PTSD.  They get out of the storm, and all of a sudden it comes back.
    Storms of life come upon people–all people, and there is no distinction of race.  There are the storms of abuse, drugs, alcohol, divorce, neglect.  These storms bring anguish to the people who face them directly, but the dark clouds continue on and hang over their friends and family.
    One cloud that will one day loom over us all is that cloud of Death.  However, even then, there is not time for wailing, for death has been defeated.  Death may be a cloud but it is like every other cloud; it is only a vapor.  It is now something, because of the resurrection of Jesus, that we only pass through to life everlasting.  

              “The dark clouds only last a while
               So patient be, and gently smile.
               Change can come so swiftly now,
               No need for sad and furrowed brow.
               Life may be not what you planned,
               Frustrations hard to understand,
               But Providence reigns up above
               So smile, and offer up your love
               To One who knows when crosses come,
               The best prayer is:  ‘Thy Will be done.'”
                       –Thomas Foy

    Many people actually enjoy the darkness they walk in.  They glory in their infirmity, not for the sake of Christ, but to show that they suffer, or maybe they think they are doing penance.  One of the real problems with those facing the dark clouds of life is that they often reject the One who can help them.  They turn inward, or they try to escape into a world of liquor and drugs.  Turn to Christ, bring Him into your heart; then the Light can shine through.  He will be with you through all types of storms.  So when the dark clouds begin to roll–look to Him.