Bunco Bash June 29th

One week & counting---

CATB Ladies Summer Bunco Bash

Friday, June 29th @6:30

If you'd like to join in the fun & have not RSVP'd yet,  

please do NOW

Great opportunity to bring a friend

All details found in earlier post

You Don't Owe Me Anymore by Pat Morley

 That was the message Pastor Hal gave a few years ago. 

That message was for me. 

God was speaking to ME.

It had been about 20 years since I had talked with or seen my father. 

Growing up I always knew something was not right with our relationship. There were times when he hardly spoke to me, depending on what mood he was in. There were even times he didn’t even acknowledge that I was in the room. He didn’t show much love for me, if any at all.

I've often thought, “This is not how a father is supposed to treat his daughter.” 

My sister was a little closer to him. Not sure why, maybe because she was the oldest.  My father never showed up for my school activities to support me.  My mother was always there – always!  I was very close to my mother. 

There was a point in my life, while I was in college, when I really needed him. I needed his support, and he turned his back on me. What little relationship we had, became even more distant. We never talked. I never called him on the phone. He never called me.

Then one day, a few years ago, God spoke directly to me through Pastor Hal's Sunday message.

I knew I had to forgive him, but it’s especially hard when someone doesn’t ask for forgiveness......even harder, when it’s your own father.

  "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. 
Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  
 Colossians 3:13

It was time for me to be the better person, to step up, and to forgive him. 

I called my sister and told her I was making the trip to Texas to see our father. She picked me up the airport and he was waiting in the car. I went up and gave him a hug. It felt strange, but, yet, it felt right. I was doing what God wanted me to do. It had been 20 years! We talked, but didn’t bring up the past.

The past was over –

done with –    
               gone.

We were on a new path –

a new start –
                a new beginning.

My father is 88 years old now, and I make a point to go see him once a year. He had surgery a couple of months ago and I was there with him, along with my sister.   I call him frequently, on his birthday, and now coming up, I will talk with him on Father’s Day.

"You don't owe me anymore..."

Happy Father's Day!

Your sister in Christ,
Pat

Ladies Summer Bunco Bash

Alleluia, Summertime is here!

Time for the ladies of CATB to celebrate with a night out together.

 

Come on over to Sue Gossett's home 

for a summertime meal & several fun rounds of bunco. 

No experience or skill needed.   

Prizes will be awarded in the end.

Friday, June 29th

6:30-10pm

16511 Turnbury Oak Dr ,Odessa, FL 33556

(Eagles subdivision/check in with guard)

 

We look forward to your RSVP, click HERE

Please include if you are bringing a friend.

 

contact #: 813.663.7125

From the Worst of Times to the Best of Faith

You know that saying, “Be careful what you wish for?” 

The year was 2007.  I had been attending CATB for over a year. I joined the first women’s home team and met some truly inspiring women – Christ-following, Christ-loving women with a passion for honoring God.  Peace and joy seemed to radiate from them.  I wanted to be like them.  I wanted to know God the way they knew Him.  I wished for a closer relationship with Him.  

But then…

Tragedy struck my family.  Not once, but several times in a row.  Before we could catch a breath from one blow, another hit came even harder.  In a span of six months, my mother (already disabled from a previous stroke) had emergency quintuple-bypass surgery, my father was diagnosed with a debilitating disease, then he lost his job and was caught up in the legal battle of his life.  I watched in horror as his spotless reputation was dragged through the mud and every dollar he had (and borrowed) was consumed for his defense. 

Why so much suffering?  

Why, of all people, was my father being attacked?  This selfless, generous, naturally joyful, Christian man who always follows the rules.  Why was he now made to endure such injustice?  The questions mounted, but answers were not forthcoming.  As the ordeal wore on, my parents’ funds completely disappeared, my efforts to help put my own finances at great risk, the stress made them even sicker, and the whole family looked to me to find a way out of the nightmare.  I felt helpless to stop the avalanche that threatened to bury us all.  

And then…

I got an answer.  I finally stopped just talking to God and listened for His response.  He didn’t bother with why, He simply answered how.  There I was, all that time praying for a closer relationship with God, for stronger faith, to experience that peace which passes all understanding, and here was the perfect opportunity to really trust in Him.  At last, I gave it all up to Him -- the burden, the fear, the control (I never had that anyway) --- and took a giant leap of faith that our Almighty Father would see us through, and He absolutely did.  

Why it happened didn’t matter; HOW we survived was all that mattered.  

And, though much damage was done to my parents’ finances and my dad’s reputation (we learned who our true friends are!), my dad ultimately received a better outcome in court than we dared hope, his disease went into remission for a time, and my mother’s health improved significantly. 

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

In essence, I got my wish...I gained a closer relationship with God.  I know He never left us alone in these events. I know our faith in His will and His way got us through.  Today, we face life with grateful hearts and no bitterness.   

The year 2007 brought me to my knees in more ways than one.  And while I may never know why we had to suffer such anguish and adversity, I know I have nothing to fear ever again.  If I could survive my worst fears, I can survive anything with God at my side.  What a gift He has given me, freedom from fear!  I am comforted like never before by the words of Psalm 23, verse 4 (KJV): 

“Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.”  

Even in the darkest of times, I am blessed with God’s unconditional, unending love.  

Truly, “My cup runneth over.” (Ps 23:5),

                       Tina Rodriguez