Thanksgiving 2017 - Life as it should be

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone; another year almost gone. Time just keeps on going; life as it should be. However, my life just doesn't seem to be as it should be. Yes, I am so very thankful for my children and grandchildren. They all live within a few miles of where I live. What a blessing that so many parents don't have! And I am so very thankful for my son and daughter-in-love who had it in their hearts to take me in to be an integral part of their family. And yet, there is always something missing. Life should be that I am living my golden years with my husband, who I always thought I would grow old with. Life should be that we are enjoying new relationships with our grown children, who have grown up to be wonderful adults. Life should be that we are enjoying our precious grandchildren together. After all, they are not just my grandchildren, but ours. Life should be that we get to enjoy the holidays together with the family that began the day we married and has grown to what it is today. Life should be that Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful together for all God's many blessings over the past 41 years. It should be a day Ken and I celebrate together the day he asked me to marry him. It should be a day of giving thanks to God and a romantic day remembering how He brought us together. I remember every Thanksgiving how Ken spontaneously asked me to marry him, even though he was planning to do it on Christmas. We just couldn't wait another whole month. We were too in love. Life should be that he is here to say those words I long to hear again, "I love you." But for now, I have to adjust to this life without him. I have to live as best I can as the Lord would want me to, and as Ken would want me to: counting my blessings and being thankful for each one. I have to say as Paul said, "for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I have to keep living this life for my Lord until God calls me home, and then life will finally be as it should be.

Happy Birthday, August 18, 1952, - Happy Heavenly Birthday, August 18, 2017

Kenneth Eugene Davis was born in Seminole, Texas, at 11:15 pm on August 18, 1952, weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz. Happy Birthday, Ken! After a few days, his parents, Omar Eugene and Doris Davis left the hospital with their new son. Kenneth Eugene Davis was now home. Five years later, he become the big brother to little sister, Karla. He graduated from Seminole High School in 1970 and enrolled at Southwestern Assemblies of God Bible College the next Fall. He met and fell in love with Linda Jean Gibbs in June of 1976, and they were married February 19, 1977. A few months later while attending a revival service at their church, Ken and Linda together felt God calling them to serve Him with their whole hearts and lives, and they answered the call to prepare to be ministers of His Gospel. In April of 1978, Ken finished his first step to becoming a minister with the Assemblies of God when he received his Christian Workers Permit. Ken was asked to be Associate Pastor at First Assembly of God in Seminole, Texas, their home church, where they served as Youth Pastors, Children's Pastors, Bus Ministry Pastors, as well as assisting the Pastor, and Linda was Pastor's personal secretary. During that time, in April of 1980, Ken finished his second step of ministry and received his License to Preach. A few weeks later, on April 19, their first daughter, Rebekah Jean, was born. They faithfully served at First Assembly until October 1982, when they accepted the pastorate at Imperial Assembly of God in Imperial, Texas. A year later they were expecting a baby to be born in July. But Linda suffered a miscarriage in January of 1983. Several years after this devastating loss, God revealed to both Ken and Linda that the baby was a boy, and they named him Joshua Eric. In April of 1984, Ken was Ordained as a Minister with the Assemblies of God. In August of that same year, they were again expecting a baby, and Stephen Kenneth was born on May 25, 1985. God began speaking to the couple's hearts about a new area of ministry, and a few months later, they resigned as Pastors. In December of that year, they accepted the pastorate at Stecker Assembly of God in Stecker, Oklahoma. It was quite an honor and a privilege for Ken to pastor this church, as his great-great grandfather had pastored it as a circuit-riding preacher many years before. Three years later,in September of 1988, God again spoke to Ken and Linda's hearts that it was time for a new area of ministry, and they resigned their pastorate. It was quite exciting when Ken's great-uncle, Rev. Louie Earl, who pastored a church in Louisiana, called and asked Ken to come serve as his Associate Pastor for a year while he transitioned into retirement. They happily agreed, and moved to Plain Dealing, Louisiana, to help Rev. Earl at Plain Dealing Assembly of God. This was a very special year for them getting to work with Uncle Louie, a man that Ken greatly admired and looked up to. He and Aunt Eileen become very special to them and their little family. Uncle Louie did indeed retire the next year, and it was time to move on to their next place of ministry. In September of 1989 Ken and Linda accepted the pastorate at First Assembly of God in Harlingen, Texas. It was a great blessing to pastor this church. The church provided a lovely home to live in, and the people were very loving and caring. Rebekah and Stephen were able to attend a wonderful Christian school, and they were only about 30 minutes from South Padre Island. It was an exciting time in their ministry. In 1992, God surprised and blessed the family in another way when Bethany Lynnette was born on October 21. The family went through a difficult time when Ken's father died in December of 1993. The kids missed their papa, and Ken, as well as Linda, had to deal with a time of grief. It was during that grieving that the church began to enter a time of turmoil. After much prayer and seeking God, Ken and Linda felt God giving them the choice to stay, and He would help them battle the devil who was bringing that turmoil, or to move on to another place of ministry where He would bless them there. They felt that they were in a vulnerable and weak place in their lives, needing to be loved and built up, so God released them from their place of ministry. They resigned as pastors of the church and began seeking God for where He wanted them to be. God led them to El Paso, Texas. After talking to Pastor Eddie Lee at Harvest Christian Center, he invited them to join his staff. There was only one catch - the church already had an associate pastor who was working part-time, and had no more money to take on another staff member. After much prayer, however, they felt that El Paso was where God was calling them, and He would provide the finances. So Ken started looking for a job. It was August of 1994 and time for school to start. Rebekah was entering her first year of high school. They felt it was important to be settled somewhere when school started so she wouldn't have to change schools later. Ken prayed and asked the Lord to provide him a job in time to get Rebekah registered. On the day before she was supposed to register, he got a job offer. They knew they were where they were supposed to be! This was the beginning of many financial and provisional miracles God provided for them during this time. Ken worked at his job and worked with Pastor Lee to help the church grow until eventually they were able to pay him as a full-time Associate Pastor. In 1998 Rebekah finished and graduated from high school. She enrolled in the School of Ministry at Harvest Christian Center where her dad was one of the teachers. She earned college credit during that time and went on to graduate from Southwestern Assemblies of God University, her dad's alma mater (now a university). In 2001, she married her high school sweetheart and fellow School of Ministry student,Peter Jordan, and the Davises gained another wonderful son. Ken ministered in a lot of different areas as an Associate Pastor. One of the things he and Linda did was lead a missions group every summer to Whitehorse, New Mexico, to minister to the Navajo people. They found that every year was like starting over leading the people to Christ because they did not have consistent help and encouragement to keep living for the Lord. They began to pray that God would send someone to live and work with the people. For many years this went on. God began dealing with Ken and Linda to be the ones to go live with and work with the Navajo people. After a year or so of praying, they felt for certain that God was calling them to go. They shared this with Pastor Lee and with the New Mexico District Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, who appointed them New Mexico District Missionaries. So in April of 2005, after 11 years serving as an Associate Pastor at Harvest Christian Center, Ken and Linda and Bethany moved to Gallup, New Mexico, to become Missionary Pastors at West Mesa Assembly of God, a Native-American church. By this time Stephen had graduated from high school. He soon felt God wanted him to go to Gallup, also, and he devoted a year of his life to help with the ministry there. Rebekah and Peter had their first child on March 8, 2007, Genesis Naylanah, and Ken and Linda became grandparents. Working with the Native Americans was a very exciting, but very difficult ministry. There is a lot of spiritual oppression among the people, which requires diligent and energy-zapping spiritual warfare. After 3 years of this seemingly non-stop battle, some health issues that Ken had been dealing with for several years began to worsen, and he felt like his ministry was being hindered. After seeking God in prayer, he felt God releasing him from this ministry. Linda also felt God releasing her from the call He had placed on their lives a few years earlier when she felt like God told her that she had faithfully ministered to other people's children for many years. It was now time to minister to her own children. The Davis family then returned to El Paso, where Bethany began her first year of high school. Rebekah and Peter had their second child, Azariah Kemayu, on June 29, 2008. Ken and Linda now had a granddaughter and a grandson, whom they adored. God opened the door for Ken to become the Chaplain at Del Sol Medical Center. The staff and patients came to love and adore him as he faithfully ministered to their needs, so much so that several years later the hospital dedicated their chapel to his memory, naming it The Ken Davis Memorial Chapel. On January 21, 2011, during his lunch break, Ken called Linda to chat a little before going back to work, something he did quite often. During that conversation about celebrating Linda's birthday, which was coming up in a few days, Ken's end of the line suddenly became silent. Linda tried without success to get a response from him. She then called the hospital switchboard and asked them to send someone to his office to check on him. When a security guard reached him, he found him slumped over his desk with no heartbeat and not breathing. He immediately called a Code Blue and began CPR. A team of medical personnel arrived within a few minutes. They revived his heart and got him on life support to keep him breathing. Ken had suffered a major heart attack. The doctors and nurses worked with him for several days in ICU, but were unable to revive him. On January 25th, Linda's birthday, the family sat down with the neurologist who told them that he had administered all the tests and done all he could, but Ken had been without oxygen for too long and suffered severe brain damage. The family then made the heartbreaking decision to remove him from life support and trust God for the outcome. The morning of January 27, 2011, with Linda and their children, his mother and sister, his pastors, and a few very close friends gathered around his bed worshipping in song the God Ken had taught them all how to love with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, God once again called Ken. He called him one last time to be with Him in Heaven. And Ken answered that call as he looked with eyes of love that spoke farewell to his beloved wife, Linda. Kenneth Eugene Davis was now Home. I have given you just a little synopsis of the "-", meaning "to" in the above title and printed on tombstones listing a person's life from when they were born "to" when they died. It represents a persons life on this earth. There is so much more in between the beginning and the end that is not listed here. Ken packed a lot into his "-" and used it to love God, love his family and love others. That love touched countless lives for the Kingdom. Think about how much is in your "-". How are you using your life to impact others for the Kingdom? I am reminded of the Scripture in James 4:14, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Our life is so short in the light of eternity. It is just a mist, here and then gone. It is just a "-" between the beginning and the end. Lord, help us to be like Ken Davis and make a difference for You in the moments we have to live our life on this earth! From 2011 to August 18, 2017, a lot has happened in the Davis family. In 2011, we gained a new daughter when Stephen married his sweetheart, Amanda, in April. Bethany graduated from high school in June. On July 22, Rebekah and Peter had twin boys, Zion Nehemiah Dameraye and Zaran Nathanael Tsay. In 2012, Stephen and Mandy had a baby girl on January 18, and named her Samantha Harmony. In April of last year (2016), we found out Mandy was expecting twins also. A few weeks later we were told they were girls. Due to growth restriction issues and concerns for their lives, the babies had to be delivered prematurely. On October 7 Ember Serenade entered the world weighing a little over one pound and Zuri Cadence came in weighing a little over 2 pounds. Such tiny, little babies, but God's miraculous hand was on them helping them grow and develop. After nearly 3 months in NICU, Zuri came home the middle of December and Ember on Christmas Eve. It has been a bittersweet six years without our loving husband, father and papa. Bittersweet because these are all joyful, sweet occasions, yet bitter with the sting of not having that husband, father and papa here to share in these occasions, of not having him here when we need his spiritual wisdom and his faith-filled prayers or his Biblical advice, or his loving embrace. But we have all persevered, because that is what he taught us to do: to hang on to God with everything we have and not let go. Thank you, Sweetheart, Dad, PaPa,for teaching us with your words as well as your life what serving God should look like and instilling in us the faith to always trust Him. Today, on August 18, 2017, we say, Happy Heavenly Birthday, Ken! We love you!!

February 19, 2017 - 40 years

February 19, 1977 - 40 years ago - one of the happiest days of my life, the day I married the man I had waited for,the day I married the man I had prayed for, the day I married the man I had saved myself for, the day I married the man God sent me, the day I married THE man I loved more than anything in the world, the day I married my soul mate, the day I married a man who loved God as much as I did, the day I married my best friend on earth, the day we started our own family, the day I married the man who loved me more than anything in the world, the day we become one flesh, the day we promised to take each other for our own, the day we became husband and wife, the day we became a team,the day we promised to cherish each other, the day I promised wherever you went I would go,the day I promised where you stayed I would stay, the day I promised your people would be my people, the day I promised your God would be my God, the day I promised where you die I will die, the day I promised where you are buried I will be buried, the day I promised the Lord would deal severely if anything but death separated you and me, the day I meant every word with all my heart and still do on this day, February 19, 2017. I will always and forever love you, Ken Davis. Happy 40th Anniversary!

JANUARY 27, 2017

AnotherJanuary. The years just keep going by. I can hardly believe I have lived 6 years now without my sweet husband. It has not been easy, but God has been faithful. He is always with me and always helps me. Ken made sure I was taken care of and provided for this past six years, and God has and will make sure I am taken care of for however many more years are in His plan. That's how God is. That's how He has always worked in our family. From the day we married and formed our own family, almost 40 years ago, God has seen that we had what we needed, many times in miraculous and unexpected ways. I have learned I can trust Him completely,so have never worried how I would live. There is such freedom in knowing you don't have to worry, God will take care of you. I learned much of that from my husband, as we lived for God together. How I thank Him for the Godly man he gave me. the Godly man I asked Him to send me from the time I was a teenager! Thank You, Sweet Jesus! This evening my kids and grandkids and I will get together to celebrate this man God gave us as such a great example of Godly husband, father, and grandpa (PaPa). We want the grandkids to always have good and happy memories of him, so try to do something fun with them and remember something special about him. Tonight we are planning a game night. Ken and I played games with our kids when they were little, so it is only fitting that we remember him like this. We are each bringing something Ken liked as a snack. We are making what we bring a surprise though, so we can talk about how we remember it. Even though you would never be able to tell it, he was a big snacker. I used to call him a cookie monster. It should be fun to see what everyone brings. Will it be Snickers or Nutter Butters, or potato chips or tortilla chips? Maybe a whole pot of coffee or his beloved Dr. Pepper? How about brownies, or vanilla ice cream and rootbeer to make a float, like he would surprise us and bring home once in a while when he had a craving? It could be so many different thing because, like I said, he was a big snacker. I wonder what he may be snacking on in Heaven? I wonder if he celebrates this day, January 27,the day that he made it to his Heavenly home? It must have been such a great day for him, even though it has become the worst day of the year for me. I am happy to think he's where he always wanted to be, with his Best Friend, in Heaven - the place we are all striving for and looking for in the end; but my earthly, human self misses him so much I think I won't be able to stand it another minute. As I sit here writing these words to help us all remember him, because he deserves to be remembered, the tears are streaming down my face as I remember what a great man he was, not perfect because no human being is, but one of the best, none the least, I am grateful I don't have to be reminded how much I love him, because I remember every day. I think when we said to each other on our wedding day, ""Till death we do part," we should have added "and then together with Jesus forever!" That's exactly how long I will love you, Ken Davis!!!!