Special Grocery List

Special Grocery List

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store.

She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries.

She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.

Visualizing the family needs, she said: ‘Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.’

John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family. The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, ‘Do you have a grocery list?’

Louise replied, ‘Yes sir.’ ‘O.K’ he said, ‘put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.’

Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled some thing on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down.

The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, ‘I can’t believe it.’

The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.

It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:

‘Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.’

The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence.

Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said; ‘It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.’

THE POWER: When you receive this, say a prayer. That’s all you have to do.

Just stop right now, and say a prayer of thanks for your own good fortune. Then please send this to all your friends and relatives.

I believe if you will share this testimony with prayer in faith, you will receive what you need God to do in you and your families’ life.

So dear heart, trust God to heal the sick, provide food for the hungry, clothes and shelter for those that don’t have as we do. Amen & Amen!

Share this, please.
Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.

There is no cost but a lot of rewards.
May you always walk with Angels
God Bless!
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I AM CLAIMING THIS FOR YOU
Three things will happen to you this coming week:

(1) You will find favor with someone you don’t expect;

(2) You will be too relevant to be ignored;

(3) You will encounter God and you will never remain the same, Amen.

My prayer for you today:

The eyes beholding this message shall not behold evil, the hands that will send this message to others shall not labor in vain, the mouth saying Amen to this prayer shall laugh forever. Remain in God’s love as you send this prayer to everybody on your list. Have a lovely
journey of life! Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will never fail you because He is Awesome!

If you truly need a blessing, continue reading this:

Heavenly Father, most Gracious and Loving God, I pray to you that you abundantly bless my family and me. I know that you recognize, that a family is more than just a mother, father, sister, brother, husband and wife, but all who believe and trust in you. Father, I send up a
prayer request for blessings for not only the person who sent this to me, but for me and all that I have forwarded this message on to. And that the power of joined prayer by those who believe and trust in you
is more powerful than anything. I thank you in advance for your blessings.

Father God, deliver the person reading this right now from debt and debt burdens.. Release your Godly wisdom that I may be a good steward over all that You have given me Father, for I know how wonderful and mighty you are and how if we just obey you and walk in your word and
have the faith of a mustard seed that you will pour out blessings. I thank you now Lord for the recent blessings I have received and for the blessings yet to come because I know you are not done with me yet.
In Jesus name, I pray, Amen

It only takes a few seconds to share this link and within hours, you will have caused a multitude of people to pray to God for each other. Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life for doing the thing that you know He loves. Remain Blessed!!!

Peace and Blessings…

The Cat In The Bag

The Cat In The Bag

by: Arnold Fine

Aunt Faye and her cat Sophie were inseparable. In fact, though Aunt Faye never had any children, Sophie was like a child to her.

I have to admit that the cat was amazing. Sophie always knew when Aunt Faye wasn’t feeling well. In fact, Sophie even knew when Aunt Faye’s feet were cold at night. Because that cat would snuggle up at her feet in bed, Aunt Faye used to call Sophie her “bed warmer.” My aunt was sort of hard of hearing, so when anyone came to the door of her apartment, Sophie ran to the door to alert her.

Good old Sophie the cat was getting on in years. My aunt would call me from time to time to ask me to drive Sophie and her to the veterinarian. In fact, I think she took better care of Sophie than herself. If Aunt Faye didn’t feel well, she wouldn’t go to the doctor; she would just take an aspirin. But should Sophie sneeze or cough with a hairball in her throat, we were on our way to the vet almost immediately.

So it came as a bit of a shock when Aunt Faye called me crying hysterically  “Sophie is dead! My little Sophie is dead!”

Between sobs, Aunt Faye explained, “You know I don’t sleep so good at night. So the doctor gave me some sleeping pills. I didn’t like the way they smelled so he told me to put a drop of vanilla extract into the bottle to make the pills taste like candy. So this morning when I was cooking in the kitchen, Sophie got into my bedroom and accidentally knocked over my bottle of sleeping pills. They must have smelled good to her because she ate almost every last one of them. The empty bottle was on the floor next to her.”

Aunt Faye was still crying uncontrollably. “You know how long my Sophie and I have been together?” Not even waiting for my answer she said, “We’ve been together for twelve years. Yesterday, I even bought her a new cat food. They said this cat food was softer for older cats…her teeth have started to fall out like mine. Do you know how much Sophie meant to me?”

I sympathized with her.

“Now what can I do?” she sobbed.

“I’m so sorry, Aunt Faye, there isn’t much you can do. Put Sophie’s body in a paper bag, and place it in the garbage can in the basement. The sanitation department will take her away.”

“What?” she screamed. “My Sophie in a garbage can? She was like my child. Since your uncle passed away, she’s been my closest friend for all these years. I can’t just put her in the garbage!”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m working very late tonight so I won’t be able to get over to your house. However, if you’ll feel better about it, take a taxi to your veterinarian and ask him to have Sophie taken to the animal cemetery. I’ll provide the money for the plot and the burial.”

The tears continued. “Will I be able to visit her from time to time?”

“Sure. I’ll take you to the pet cemetery any time you want to go.”

“How can I take Sophie to the vet? Her carrying case fell apart a few years ago.”

“Put her in your old suitcase. It’s not too big and Sophie will fit perfectly.”

“Will there be a funeral?”

“No, dear. The vet calls the people from the pet cemetery. They’ll put Sophie in a little casket and take her to the cemetery.”

“Okay,” she muttered with a broken heart. “It will be dignified?” she asked.

“Yes, it will,” I said.

That was it. I felt bad for her, but there was nothing more I could do.

About six o’clock that evening, Aunt Faye called me at my office. ” Arnold , I have something to tell you.” Strangely, I sensed excitement in her voice.

“Did you go to the vet?” I asked.

“I did just like you said. I put Sophie in my suitcase. I was standing by the bus stop waiting for a cab, so I figured, Why spend money for a taxi when I could certainly take the bus? So I put the suitcase down next to me and started to look into my purse to see if I had the exact change. While I was looking in my pocketbook, some teenage boys came up behind me. One threw me to the ground and grabbed my suitcase with Sophie inside!”

“Oh no, Aunt Faye! Did you get hurt?”

“Just a few scratches. Nothing serious. I yelled for the police, but nobody came. So what could I do? I figured this was the way my relationship with Sophie was supposed to end. So I went home.”

“I don’t believe this!” I said, trying to hold back my laughter. “Can you imagine the expression on those kids’ faces when they opened the suitcase and found a dead cat?”

She started to laugh. Aunt Faye was actually laughing!

“Wait, wait — that’s only part of the story. Sophie came home! She really wasn’t dead! I only thought she was dead because she was lying so still when I found her in the bathroom this morning. Being jostled back and forth in that suitcase must have finally roused her. When I got back to the house, she was waiting at my door!

” Arnold , thank you for all your help. I prayed for Sophie to enter heaven, and she came back to me.”

The next time I went to visit Aunt Faye, she had a little sign on her front door that read, “This is heaven.”

SOURCES: BeliefNet

Smells Like Rain

Smells Like Rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24 weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean to deliver the couple’s new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.

Still, the doctor’s soft words dropped like bombs. I don’t think she’s going to make it, he said, as kindly as he could. “There’s only a 10 percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one.”

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

“No! No!” was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would live, and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter’s chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his wife with the inevitable.

David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers, ‘I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn’t listen, I couldn’t listen.’ I said, “No, that is not going to happen, no way! I don’t care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!”

As if willed to live by Diana’s determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae’s underdeveloped nervous system was essentially raw, the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn’t even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later – though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero.

Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted. Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, what so ever, of any mental or physical impairment.

Simply, she is everything a little girl can be and more – but that happy ending is far from end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother’s lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother Dustin’s baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other   adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, “Do you smell that?” Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, “Yes, it smells like rain.”

Danae closed her eyes and again asked, “Do you smell that? ” Once again, her mother replied, “Yes, I think we’re about to get wet, it smells like rain. Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, “No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.” Tears blurred Diana’s eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter’s words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will happen. It is the evidence of what we cannot see, so you see it is impossible to please God without is.  Believe in the Lord by faith and don’t doubt it. If you want to come to God you must believe that He exists and that He rewards the ones who come to Him by faith.
~Hebrew 11:1&6~

NOTE: Verified on Snopes to be true

also quoted there was:

Sachi

by Dan Millman, 1993

Soon after her brother was born, little Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby.  They worried that like most four-year-olds, she might feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no.  But she showed no signs of jealousy.  She treated the baby with kindness and pleas to be left alone with him became more urgent.  They decided to allow it.

Elated, she went into the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack — enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen.  They saw little Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly, “Baby, tell me what God feels like.  I’m starting to forget.”

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Kindergarten Teacher Observes Drawing

1999

A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew.  She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s artwork.  As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.  The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.”

The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

SOURCES:

Chicken Soup For the Soul

Miracles in Our Midst

New Pledge of Allegiance

WRITTEN BY A 15 yr. old SCHOOL KID IN ARIZONA:

New Pledge of Allegiance
(TOTALLY AWESOME) !

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord’s Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore
Because the word ‘God’ is mentioned….A kid in Arizona wrote:

NEW School Prayer:

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That’s no offense; it’s a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God’s name is prohibited by the state.

We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They’ve outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the ‘unwed daddy,’ our Senior King.
It’s ‘inappropriate’ to teach right from wrong,
We’re taught that such ‘judgments’ do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It’s scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school’s a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

If you aren’t ashamed to do this,
please pass this on.
Jesus said,
‘If you are ashamed of me,
I will be ashamed of you before my Father.’

Not ashamed. Pass this ON!

Meaning of Color and Your Birthday

Meaning of Color and Your Birthday

Don’t cheat, If you are honest, this tells the truth.

It’s pretty good. Write your answers on a piece of

paper, and NO cheating!! The answers are at the bottom.

1. Which is your favorite color out of: red, black, blue, green, or yellow?

2. Your first initial?

3. Your month of birth?

4. Which color do you like more, black or white?

5. Name of a person of the same sex as yours.

6. Your favorite number?

7. Do you like Flying or Driving more?

8. Do you like a lake or the ocean more?

9. Write down a wish (a realistic one).

When you’re done, scroll down.. (Don’t cheat!)

Answers

1. If you choose:

Red-
You are alert and your life is full of love.

Black-
You are conservative and aggressive.

Green-
Your soul is relaxed and you are laid back.

Blue-
You are spontaneous and love kisses and affection from the ones you love.

Yellow-
You are a very happy person and give good advice to those who are down.

2. If your initial is:

A-K
You have a lot of love and friendships in your life.

L-R
You try to enjoy your life to the maximum & your love life is soon to blossom.

S-Z
You like to help others and your future love life looks very good.

3. If you were born in:

Jan-Mar:
The year will go very well for you and you will discover that you fall in love with someone totally unexpected.

April-June:
You will have a strong love relationship that will not last long but the memories will last forever.

July-Sep:
You will have a great year and will experience a major life-changing experience for the good.

Oct-Dec:
Your love life will not be great, but eventually you will find your soul mate.

4. If you chose:

Black:
Your life will take on a different direction, it will seem hard at the time but will be the best thing for you, and you will be glad for the change.

White:
You will have a friend who completely confides in you and would do anything for you, but you may not realize it.

5. This person is your best friend.

6. This is how many close friends you have in your lifetime.

7. If you chose:

Flying: You like adventure.

Driving: You are a laid back person.

8. If you chose:

Lake:  You are loyal to your friends and your lover and are very reserved.

Ocean: You are spontaneous and like to please people.

9. This wish will come true only if you Believe it has already happened!

To Those of You Born 1930 – 1979

To Those of You Born 1930 – 1979

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno.
If  you don’t read anything else, please  read what he said.

Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren’t overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing…that’s why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, share it with your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?

~
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
‘With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us…go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us…pass this on.

Crooks and cell phones

A MUST READ

ALL FAMILY MEMBERS SHOULD READ THIS, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN!

These crooks are getting very good!

A lady has changed her habit of how she lists her names in her cell phone directory after her handbag was stolen.

Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, purse, etc.., was stolen.

Twenty minutes later she called her husband, from a pay telephone telling him what had happened.

Her husband said, ‘I have just received your text message asking about our pin number and I have replied a little while ago.’

When they rushed down to the bank, the staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.

The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text her husband listed in the directory and got hold of their pin number.

Within twenty minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:

Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people on your call list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Mom, Dad, etc.,

And very importantly, when sensitive information is being asked for through text messages, CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when you are being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them.

If you do not reach them, be very careful about going places to meet ‘family and friends’ who text you.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON.

I never thought about THAT!

As of right now, do you have ‘home’ listed in your cell phone directory?

English Class

English Class–Mexican words of the day

1. *Cheese*
The teacher told Pepito to use the word cheese in a sentence. Pepito
replies: Maria likes me, but cheese fat.

2. *Mushroom*
When all my family get in the car, there’s not mushroom.

3. *Shoulder*
My fren wanted 2 become a citizen but she didn’t know how to read so I shoulder.

4. * Texas *
My fren always Texas me on my cell phone!

5. *Herpes*
Me and my fren ordered pizza. I got mine piece and she got herpes.

6. *July*
Ju told me ju were going to tha store and July to me! Julyer!

7. *Rectum*
I had 2 cars but my wife rectum!

8. *Chicken*
I was going to go to the store with my wife but chicken go herself.

9. *Wheelchair*
We only have one enchalada left, but don’t worry wheelchair

10. *Chicken* *wing*
My wife plays the lottery so chicken wing.

11. *Harassment*
My wife caught me in bed with another women and I told her honey
harassment nothing to me.

12. *Bishop*
My wife fell down the stair so I had to pick the bishop.

13. *Body wash*
I want to go to the club but no body wash my kids.

14. *Budweiser*
That women over there has a nice body, budweiser face so ugly?