AWAITING!! Watching & Praying

I grew up in a small town, Mckenzie, Alabama.  Some of my most fondest and

precious memories are the times I spent with my Grandma and Grandpa.  My

parents must have stayed so aggravated with me, because all I wanted to do

was spend the night at Grandma's house. My Grandpa and I were very close,

he was my Hero!  He treated us Grandkids so special and he was a

hardworking man.  When he was not at his job, he was at home hard at work. 

 He gave his family his all in all!  I remember that horrible morning at School,

 my Senior year.  They called me to the office to inform me my Grandfather

had died.  I stood there in shock.  No way, not my Grandpa, he was invincible,

 nothing was wrong with him!  On January 2, 1990 he had a massive heart

 attack at his place of employment.  I was so deeply devastated.  I loved my

Grandpa so, so much.  And I still miss him to this day.  When I feel lonely, I

envision myself sitting beside Grandpa on his doorstep.

The devastation of death would not stop there.  The year of 1990 was a year

 of doom and gloom for me.  The very year I had waited on for so long, the

year I would graduate from High School.  Oh course I was in love, what 18

year old girl is not?  His name was Michael J. Boggan.  And yes, I loved that

 man of mine!  In school, instead of taking notes from the Teacher, I was too

busy writing Mrs. Michael Boggan on all my notebooks and Tracey l/s

 Michael on my desk. (Sorry former Teachers)  He was so awesome, so

goodlooking, and such a thoughtful person. He treated me with the utmost

 respect and cared about my feelings.  We were always together and after I

 graduated from School I moved in with him.  Everything in life was great!  I

won a full Scholarship to attend a Technical College for Business and

Administration and I was in love with the best looking man in town.  This

 exciting life and plans I had would soon turn fatal.  The morning of Friday the

 13th July of 1990 would be the day of utter destruction of my heart and soul.

Absolute total and complete grief beyond recovery.  His Grandfather knocked

on the door that morning and told me to get down to his Parent's house.

  When I pulled up in that driveway, there was four or five State Troopers

 sitting in that yard. I had not a clue what was going on, until I got out of the

car. I shall never forget the words that were said to me, "Michael got killed

this morning."   I dropped to my knees.  There had to be a mistake, not my

 Michael, he was also like my Grandpa, invincible in my eyes.  Michael was

 driving down a narrow, country road on his way to work.  They said he fell

asleep at the wheel, when he hit head on with a log truck driver.  He was

killed instantly!  And no I did not get to see my Michael one last time at the

funeral home, for his head was completely bandaged up.  The last time I seen

 Michael was early that morning when he laid his sleepy head on my chest

and told me goodbye and that he loved me.  I remember that morning so well,

I watched him as he pulled out of the driveway to go to work. He drove a

white Nissan Pickup and it was loaded down with pallets that he built the day

before.  That would be the last time I would ever see my love. For years I

blamed myself for his death.  "If"  I had not let him leave that morning, "IF",

what any ugly word.

Well you can imagine the rest of my summer did not go to well.  My grief was

almost too unbearable.  I wanted to die and be with Michael so badly.  The fall

of 1990 I did not go to College as planned. I had to leave that town. 

December 2, at age 19 I would do just that.  This distraught, small town girl

would join the United States Navy. I attended Boot Camp at Recruit Training

Command in Orlando, FL.  It was very hard, I honestly did not think I was

going to make it. The emotional and physical strain was almost too much to

take. My God was watching over me!  I did make it through, graduated and

went on to Naval Air Station Miramar, San Diego, Ca. I had the coolest job in

the whole world,  Plane Captain Trainee. I always had a great love for

airplanes and here I was on the Flight Line surrounded by Fighter Jets.

Later I did fall in love again,  to a wonderful man,  Rick,  in which we have

been married for 16 years now.  On March 14,  1992,  we were wed in my 

home town and we've been unseparable since.   It was just the two of us for

the first six years until our beautiful baby girl came into this world.  The Lord

God blessed me in "due season."  For the birth of my first child would be the

last.  When Katie was two years old my health began to go downhill.  From

February of 2000 until September of the same year I was getting worse.  The

Doctors could not find what was wrong.  I came very, very close to death, so

close in fact, it is almost to scary to retell. On one particular night, after we

had already went to bed, death came into that bedroom.  I was almost taken

that night.  I remember trying to wake myself up and there was no life in me. I

had to literally grasp for breath as I tried to rise up and shake it off. At that

time I did not realize my heart was stopping.  So many tests were done on

me, they checked for everything except my heart.   On the tilt table test my

blood pressure dropped to 64  over 32, in which they could not pick up a

heart rate. With no explanation for my symptons they sent me home. Yes,

sent me home with a two year old, and an event monitor hooked to my body,

and a husband who had to go to work, on night shift at that!  I can remember

sitting on my couch and it was as if the TV was going off.  I would ask little

Katie to give me her juice cup so I could revive myself.  On September 27,

2000 they finally diagnosed me with Sick Sinus Syndrome.  They said my

heart's natural pacemaker just stopped working right.  The event monitor

showed my heart had stopped beating for 15 seconds and multiple 4-5

second pauses.  Again God was with me!  On September 28, 2000 at 28 years

old, they implanted a dual chamber pacemaker inside of me.  The following

year I underwent a Tubal Ligation. 

After being in Church for almost a year,  the devil would attack again!  On a

Wednesday night,  while I was at Church,  the enemy would break into my

home.   On April 21, 2004,  my daughter and I was at Grand Bay Church of

God and I was helping out that night doing something very special for our

Pastor,  whom I love and admire.  We pulled up in our driveway that night and

I seen my bedroom light was on.  Not thinking a whole lot about it,  my

daughter and I came inside our home.  Nothing was out of place!  I walked

from the den, to my bedroom,  not knowing what I was about to discover. 

Thank Jesus,  little Katie was right up under me.  As I was reaching down to 

 to undress,  I looked on my dresser to discover my jewelry box

was empty.  It was still standing like I left it,  except everything was gone!  It's

hard for me to describe the feeling that came over me.  It was horror!  I knew

and felt something was wrong.  Katie was loudly telling me she was hungry. 

I did not say a word.  It was like slow motion as I approached my night stand. 

We kept a loaded .38 pistol in the drawer.  ( for my husband works night

shift)  When I opened the drawer,  the gun was gone.  From there on I felt

complete evil in my home.  I quietly and quickly grabbed my daughter by the

hand,  got my telephone and got out of the house.  My first instinct was to

call my husband.  I informed him we had been robbed.  As I was sitting in the

car,  I seen when my front door was shut.  I quickly backed out of the

driveway and pulled in a church parking lot next door,  waiting for that Pastor

to come out.  My head lights was facing my back yard and I seen what looked

like a light the size of a flash light hit the barn from the back yard.  That was

when the robber went out the back door,  the door he busted down.  It was

not until after the sheriff's deputy came that I saw my kitchen back door.  He

kicked it wide open and busted the lock all to pieces.  It was so horrifying! 

We discovered he was hiding in my master bedroom closet when Katie and I

got home.  My daughter and I was so close to evil that night,  so close to be

taken away.  If she had went into my bathroom,  well you can imagine the

rest.

With all that behind me, my God has me here for a reason!!  The enemy

continuanlly tries his level best to destroy me.  But Jesus Christ saved my

soul and has given me a love and understanding of His Word and it's my

hearts desire to share that knowledge with other people.  Due to my

experience's,  God has given me a "good taste" of Heaven,  but yet I carry  

on.  He has showed me I must redeem the time! 

The days we are living in are evil and I must protect my daughter and bring

her up in the ways of the Lord.  I have so much to be thankful for.  First of

all my life,  my husband and child,  and the Lord Jesus Christ!  I give the Lord

all the Praise and Glory,  He saved my soul by sacrificing Himself and going

to the Cross,  He gave me the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and He gave me

the love of reading His Word.  I pray someone, somewhere will

receive the answer you have been searching for and live

 the rest of your life in God's Peace and Joy.  And I want

 to close with Scripture that is very close to my heart. 

 You see I believe in the Rapture of the Church and it is

coming quickly!  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: 

Jesus is going to take us out of this world.  He said, Behold I

come quickly. If you are lost and without Jesus, get

saved and be ready!   All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the 

Christ,  the Son of God and He was Resurrected from the dead.  The Great

Tribulation that will take place on this Earth will be like nothing that has

ever happened before.  Nothing can be compared to the

horror that will take place.  Just read the Book of

Revelations and you will see.  But for now, take comfort

 in this...

1Thess. 4:13-18  But I would not have you to be

ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,

 that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even

so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with

him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,

 that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of

the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For

the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a

shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the

trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up

together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in

the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

                               God Bless You

                               Sister Tracey