Paradise

I love this picture!  Do you know why, besides the fact she is my beautiful little girl who is the sweetest person I’ve ever known?  Because it reminds me that God has good plans for us and dreams really do come true!

Through the entire time I suffered Celiac, I thought I was going to die, especially those first four years starting in 2012.  From 2017 until now it has gotten a lot better.  I didn’t think I would ever be able to do anything again, let alone travel out of state and go on vacation.

My wife and I had not been on a vacation in 13 years, and for the last 6 and a half of those years I have been suffering Celiac.  We met in college at the University of Northern Colorado.  I graduated in 2000 and she graduated in 2002.  After that we moved to the south metro Denver area and within a couple years we started a family.  We ran two businesses together for years, one of which is my wife’s piano studio that she still operates today.  We became very busy very fast, then the disease, then no vacations.

This summer was different!  I was finally well enough to travel, so in June we went big on a trip to San Diego, California.  They are just over the Rockies from us.  What’s up Cali!

We rented a beautiful home in the hills above San Diego that is owned by an Ophthalmologist.  The neighborhood was very close to the border with Mexico and we could see into Tijuana from the house.  We also had views of the ocean and downtown San Diego.  It was incredible after all of my years of suffering.  The avocados and organic chicken are delicious out there too!  They have so many gluten free options as well.

Did I mention it had a pool, and palm trees and the ocean breeze was incredible!  Yes, it was paradise, especially after a long winter in Colorado!  My point is not to boast.  It is to speak of God’s faithfulness to me and my family.

I thought I was done for, dead, over, see ya later, but God had other plans!  Instead I was at the beach with my wife to watch our children splashing in the ocean for the first time.  I was visiting cool places like the Midway ship, the San Diego Zoo, the Safari Park, and Sea World.  I was witnessing my children having dreams fulfilled and the magic in their eyes was beautiful!

My little girl has wanted to swim with dolphins since she was 4 years old.  She is 10, and the Lord fulfilled that dream for her!  I am so grateful to God for that, thank you Jesus!

There is a paradise waiting for us as well!  We are all stuck here in the valley of the shadow of death and we all suffer in different ways, but be encouraged, there is hope!  God has plans for us that we cannot even imagine, and an expensive vacation to California doesn’t even come close to describing how awesome Heaven is going to be.  You are going to want to be there for eternity, trust me!

“However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

1 Corinthians 2:9

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

There is hope!  God is answering your prayers.  Give it time.  He is working in His timing, which is nothing like our timing.  He loves us and He knows what we need.  His timing is perfect.  I just want to testify to that!

God bless you all!  Jesus truly does love you!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus speaking in John 14:1-3