A weekend of special blessings

I write often on this blog about how blessed I am. This weekend the entire Fortney family is home with Sherelene and I. My oldest son Scott and his wife Diane, and their children Hannah and Ben,
My middle son, Wesley, his wife Rhonda, and their children Elijah, and Abigail, and my daughter,
Catherine and her husband Clint and their children, Cassidy and Cade. So I’m enjoying all six of my grandchildren, and my six children (yes the spouses are my children too), all at once! We always have a great time when we get together and this is going to be a wonderful weekend for us. My sister-in-law Terri is a great, and I really do mean great, portrait photographer, check out her work at http://www.fortneyphotographystudio.com/ . She will be coming down Sunday to do a family portrait of all of us, I will share that with you guys after she gets it back to me.

Of all the earthly treasures God had blessed me with nothing is more important to me than Sherelene, and the family we’ve had together. Every time we get together I burst with joy at seeing what they all have become. Family is a wonderful centering point for my life, after a little time with them I realize again how deep the love and roots go. In a real sense your children and grandchildren, will carry on everything you lived for and believed in. When we go to be with the Lord, they are the evidence that you were ever here. When I’m with them looking across the group I realize how I could never bear to allow any harm to come to any of them, if I could prevent it.
Then I think how incredible it was that my God gave up His “only” Son so that I might be forgiven for my life of sin. Could I give up one of these precious ones for the multitude of the world’s sins? That’s one of many, many, many, reasons I’m not God……..

As if this were not enough blessings for a weekend, I got an email this morning from a long time friend, that I love dearly, thanking me for helping him work his way back to God. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. First, let me be clear, the most I may have ever done is encourage others to know my Heavenly Father and accept Him. I do not have the power to save anyone, but it is an honor, and the greatest pleasure in life, to just point the way. I will not divulge his name, but I would ask everyone who reads this blog to lift him up in your prayers. He’s from up north, so we will call him the northerner, God knows who he is, He is standing right beside him.

Make no mistake about what happens here. I love my Heavenly Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though very human, I strive to live in a way that will honor all of them. My mission is to be the best Husband, Father, and Grandfather I can be, which is only possible with His help. I want everyone I come in contact with to see God’s character in me, and pray that it leads them to want to know Him. That He will get all the glory is what I desire. Look at the picture above again, I’ve already been paid in full for what little I’ve done in service to Him…….

In Him,

the pilgrim

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you continue to get blessed here………

*Photo Note: Nikon Coolpix P300.