Saturday, May 14, 2022
Watching Miracles Grow
Thursday, March 24, 2022
One Year Ago Today, March 24, 2021
Monday, January 31, 2022
It Has Actually Been A Great Year!
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Visual Journey
This is Odie reporting in today. I hope you are doing great this weekend. Can you believe that we are speeding through April 2021? Time seems to be flying by faster with each passing day.
Seven years ago this month, in the blink of an eye, my life suddenly changed. If you are a new reader click here to see the full story. It was an extremely terrifying time.
Many of you remember that time in our lives. You helped pray me and my parents through that season. I will forever be grateful to all my brothers and sisters in the army of God! You rallied around my family and went to war on our behalf!
Visual Journey
Here is a brief recap of my vision history. My first visit to an eye doctor was back in 1999. The doctor prescribed reading glasses. Once I had my reading glasses I found that they were extremely helpful.
I no longer had headaches every day after school. Turns out all of the headaches were not Algebra or Science related like I had thought. My reading glasses saw me through both junior high and high school and into my twenty's.
By 2006 I realized that I was wearing my glasses most of the time. I could feel my eyes straining without them. I decided it was time to get my eyes checked again.
I made an appointment with an eye doctor in Pittsburg, Kansas. That doctor gave me the expected eye exam. Then he also expressed some serious concerns that worried him. He encouraged me to find an Ophthalmologist and have some specific testing done.
That was the beginning of my in-depth eye journey. The concerns that the doctor in Kansas voiced really worried me. Our precious friends at Faith Tabernacle in Weir, Kansas prayed for me that night. I remember that God visited me with a special blessing during the revival service.
A few months later we were home and it was time to get the tests done. We spent many hours at the eye doctor as they performed a series of tests.
The conclusion: My eye pressures were high and my optic nerves are misshapen. I was given the title of a Glaucoma Suspect at just twenty years old. They decided to just keep checking routinely and watch for changes. The doctor said that the anomalies in my eyes might be Cerebral Palsy related and might not give me any problems.
Then in April 2014, my life changed! I woke up on a Sunday morning to find my vision was gone in my left eye. I felt like I had a massive black smudge over my eye. Suddenly we were navigating uncharted waters. We were trying not to drown in worry and fear.
Every moment that we walked this unknown road we prayed and believed for a miracle from God. On the ninth day, God began to answer those prayers. My vision began to return! It was a real miracle! Within a few months, my sight was better than it had been before it left!
During my time of vision loss, I prayed for God to heal me and or direct me to the correct doctors that I need. I can honestly say God answered both of those prayers.
The doctors diagnosed me with Optic Neuritis, which is where the Optic Nerve is inflamed. Optic Neuritis is a strange ailment. It is hard to pinpoint the actual cause and impossible to prevent it from happening again. There is not a promise that vision will return after Optic Neuritis, most likely never fully return. Praise God I am completely better!
The Optic Neuritis does not seem to be connected to the existing issues. The Glaucoma Suspect worries are probably linked to trauma at birth or Cerebral Palsy.
We personally say that my sudden vision loss in 2014 was an attack from the enemy. We rebuked the enemy from attacking my life while praying with a friend, and we pled the blood of Jesus over me. My vision instantly started to return.
I have continued to routinely have checkups with my fantastic eye doctors. I am blessed to have Dr. Amy Kopp on my team. She is genuinely concerned about my vision health. She is not afraid to say that God has worked a miracle in my case.
Last month I went in for a checkup with Dr. Kopp. They did the routine vision checks. My prescription changed slightly. My eye pressures were perfect. The pictures of my optic nerves were unchanged. We will continue to monitor things with the checkups.
All of the periodic tests are normal to me now. I do always have a knot in the pit of my stomach when I go for these visits. Getting the good news helped me tremendously. I value my sight. I thank God every day that I wake to find my vision to be clear!
Odie
Monday, March 29, 2021
Yes, Best of Times and Worst of Times
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Testimony Time
Hey Friends,
This is Odie reporting in. Today is a big day, spring is officially here! We have survived another winter season! Cold weather and snow could still be in the forecast, but I am happy for most of it to be behind us for now. I love warm weather!
Testimony Time
I am rewinding to 2005 for this testimony. Dad and I have both wrote about this time in the past. I feel the need to share this part of my testimony again. I do not want to forget how God carried us through this valley!
Several of you helped pray us through this rough battle. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I will never forget the family and friends that rallied around us during this time!
I had a lot of health problems in January and February of 2005. I was in excruciating pain on several different days. It was an extremely scary time for us. We thought that I was having kidney stones. I could get no permanent relief.
We were in revival the last week of February at Beams of Light in Cantonment, Florida. Pastor Philip Deane and his church rallied around us in our trouble. I believe we were in the right place at the right time. God used His saints to encourage us so much!
The end of that week found me in the hospital in Pensacola, Florida. Tests showed the doctors that kidney stones were not my problem. The first thing they found was a large mass of old blood. After draining that, they discovered the main problem.
The doctors found that the source of the old blood was a big ugly abscessed tumor had consumed an organ.
In the blink of an eye, we were overwhelmed with the surprising developments. At 19 years old I was now facing emergency surgery and a distinct possibility of cancer. There was a chance that I could lose several of my organs in the initial surgery.
I never imagined that I would be facing a possible cancer diagnosis, especially as a teenager. My whole life was possibly changing. I was terrified of the unknown!
God was working the entire time. I could not clearly see how He was working everything out. It felt as if I was struggling to keep my head above the water. Now I look back and realize that I was securely in the palm of His hand.
March 1st was the day reserved for surgery. I do not think that I will ever forget that day. I was so scared to have surgery. I had never had to be put to sleep and I was worried about what the doctor was going to find during surgery
I remember Dad encouraging me that day. He stood by my bed and reminded me that even though we do not know how this situation will end, we do know that God is still with us. God was still God no matter what the outcome. We were determined to praise God through it all.
Dad encouraged me to quote Psalms 23 as I prepared for surgery. I will never forget the comfort that this passage of scripture gave me on one of the toughest days of my life. It was the Word that I needed in my distress.
God answered multiple prayers related to the surgery. I believe God handpicked the doctor that performed my surgery. We really liked the cancer doctor that was going to be on standby. At the last minute, the surgeon that was scheduled to actually do my operation was nowhere to be found. The cancer doctor had to step in and do the full surgery.
Dad says the doctor assured him multiple times that he was qualified to do everything that needed to be done. My Dad was trying to keep from shouting right in the hospital. He had prayed that morning for God to put the correct doctor in place to do the operation.
The surgery was a success. The doctor only had to remove the tumor and the one organ that was affected by the tumor. The best news of all, the tumor was benign! Sixteen years later I am still praising God for the miracle that he gave me that day.
Current Events
March 1, 2021, passed by a few weeks ago. I was thanking God for what He brought me through in 2005. I was once again overwhelmed with gratitude and praise! 16 years later the full picture is much clearer than it was in 2005. God's faithfulness is very evident to me now more than ever.
As I reflected on this specific incident in my life, I felt a gentle nudge in my spirit. I felt that God was telling me, I brought you through the unknowns of that battle. I am aware of your current life events. I will bring you through this time too!
I am choosing to hold on to that reminder that God placed on my heart. It puts a smile on my face and sparks joy in my heart. I have claimed that promise many times in recent days! I praise God in advance for what He has planned for me now.
I wanted to share my encouragement with you. Friend, God knows exactly what is happening in your life right now! He will see you through as well. Please remember that God loves you!
I encourage you to praise Him for what He has done in your life in the past. Then look ahead to the future and remember that He has a plan for your life.
Thanks for visiting with me today. I pray that God moves for you this weekend. I look forward to seeing you next Saturday.
Odie
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Amazed By God's Provision
Monday, April 1, 2019
Road Life = Prayer Life
First, a reminder of why we constantly pray as we travel and why we ask you to pray for us too. This bus below belongs to the Southern Gospel group, The Perry's http://www.perrysministries.com/
The crash was unavoidable for the driver of that bus. The tire was probably in his face faster than a human can react. That is why we must have the help of the Lord. This is a horrible mess, inconvenience and expense for the Perry's, but they are thanking God and we are thanking God for them that it was not much worse. It could have easily been a life ending tragedy.
I have also been thanking God for all the people in cars and pickup trucks behind the Perry's bus. Without the bus in front of them to take the hit, some of them would likely have been killed.
One friend text me and said, "I had to stop and thank God audibly for constantly keeping His hand of protection on you all after reading about the Perry's bus accident."
Amen! Amen!
A Little Bus Work
After leaving Easley, South Carolina we had a couple of projects completed on the BoggsMobile in Vonore, Tennessee. It feels like home when we pull into Jeff Rowe's place. They make us feel at home and always take care of us top notch.
We pulled into Tennessee Luxury Coach on Thursday last week and in a few minutes, they had removed the original tail lights from the bus.
This picture is taken looking up from laying on my back directly under the front seat and floor area.
I am working on another thing or two, but nothing major. Things that need to be completed are just enough to keep us praying.
Thank you for joining us today.
Davy
1995 Prevost XL
1996 Vantare Conversion
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Preparing For My Miracle
I have been so blessed to have a ton of amazing experiences in life. I think it would be great to go back to revisit some places with the ability to walk. I have a few things that I would like to do that are practically impossible in my current physical condition. Today I am dreaming big and I am preparing for my miracle.