With Love To My Family

WITH LOVE TO MY FAMILY
#2 - 09/06/04



Dear Beloved,
I'm so sorry it has taken almost a year to get this 2nd family letter written. My only excuse is that this year has been so busy, and I've been trying to get back on the right path, so I will not waste the precious time I have been given. Life is a gift entrusted to us. We only have so much time to do what needs to be done. In that time , we need to figure out what our purpose is ,and get it accomplished. Sounds so easy, but not when we have so many distractions and have not read the instruction book on how to finish the task.
But before I go any farther , I want to say I enjoyed our family trip & Traci and T.J's Wedding Day , tremendously ! Traci , you were a beautiful bride and Falon looked so precious ( as she is ) in her pretty purple dress and fancy shoe's . T. J. you were handsome in your tux's and the setting with the falls behind you was beautiful. I will hold that memory of time and week , dear to my heart forever. I just wish time wouldn't vanish as quickly as it does. The gift of time is precious ! But someday , time will have no meaning . Because of what Jesus did for us , someday we will have eternity . LIFE WITH NO TIME ! Then we will be able to enjoy all the good things of God! But until that time , we were given life with time. Life here on earth was give ( entrusted ) ,for a reason ( purpose ) . We get mixed up some times , and forget why we are here . We forget it is not about us . We want to do it our way . We want to enjoy our life now! We know what is best for us. Nobody can know how we feel . So who else , but us , can do a better job at making choice for all the decision life throws at us . We don't need a instruction book to lead us through life . We will create our own life and destiny . Well , I say good luck, you'll need it. This month I'll turn 50, and all my life , I did just that . I did it my way . Even thought I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior at twelve years old , which meant I had given my life to God and Jesus , I still did it my way . Whatever suited me and myself and I . Well now that I have lived maybe over half of my life , I can look back and see where I made mistakes and if I had been following the instruction book of life, my life might have been easier, better or happier . Maybe my children would have happier lives and so own . But the bible tell us God knows what we are going to do before we do it . Before we are born , he knows how our life is going to be played out and the choices we will make . He knows our life stories from beginning to end . Isaiah 46:10 " I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say : My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." So God knew before I did, that I was going to make all those mistakes . Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." So he also knew before I knew , I'd be doing these family letters for you. What a GREAT & AWESOME GOD we have!!!!! He took my mistakes to help others hear the word of God. When I started this letter I had a totally different message to send. My bible was all marked with different scriptures I planned to use. But before I started to type this letter , I ask God to please help me , and for me to write what he wanted to be said . I also ask that I not write anything that he didn't want said. And this is what I ended with. I guess , I'll save my message for next time . Unless God has something else on his agenda. So I guess what God is trying to say is Please come to me and I will help you. Jeremiah 29: 11 says " For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. " Psalm 139:16 King David says , "your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be ." Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:27 says " God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. " Well I defiantly made foolish choices and was always weak and never standing tall with confidence . Always following the crowd even when I knew better because I wanted to fit in or be accepted . So now you are saying ," Why do I need the instruction book , if my life is already played out and known by God . Well , because you don't know how it is going to be played out . We are not puppets on strings , God gave us choice's to make with our free will . God is all knowing , not a puppeteer . I believe God made you because he knew you and how you would grow and react to life's decisions and you would change the would for his purpose . Psalm 139 : 1 ," O lord, you have search me and you know me. You know me when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar . You discern my goings out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord . " And Psalm 139:13 says , " For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. " So although God created you and knows you threw and threw and knows how your life plays out , he still gave you the choice to make your life the way you want ! So now we get back to the instruction book . In Hosea 4:6 it reads , " My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge ." Last year Cedar Christain Church , the church I attend , with mom and my family , pushed the congregation to read the new testament , and this year the old testament . I remember years a go, I read the bible from front to back ,and because it was so difficult to understand and boring in some places , I found myself just reading the words with no understanding . I just wanted to finish it , to say I read the whole Bible. So this time , I've been taking my time , and really trying to understand the word and what God wants us to know . It has help me also , that I listen to Kenneth Copeland Ministries and Creflo Dollar's Changing Your World , daily before going to work . I hope you keep an open mind and at least read these letters . I'm not saying you have to believe a word I say , it is just my opinion and believing Gods leading me to write this for who ever will contemplate it . Lastly 1 John 2: 17 states , "The world and it's desires pass away , but the man who does the will of God lives forever ." I feel this is God will , for me to help those who I love so dearly , because he loves me so dearly . The more I grow in the word and truth of our Lord , the freer of worries I become and the more at peace I am . I just want to share this great love that is available to us all . In closing , I'll read something , I read . " Only in seeing his maker does man truly become a man . For in seeing his creator , man can catch a glimpse of what he was intended to be ." The only way you can know our maker , is to spend some time reading his words and thoughts in the instruction book , the Bible . I hope these letters will help you get to know our maker just little bit better and realize he only wants whats best for you .




With sincere Love Diane
LaFontaine