Vinny wrote off line and asked so here is my reply to him.  I thought the
whole list would like to read the latest about Gretchen.


----- Original Message -----

> Vinny,
>
> By way of follow up, Gretchen is doing amazingly well.  She is praying
like
> nobody I know, she worships the Lord all the time, she is really showing
> humility, she talks about the Bible all the time, and she is getting on
> fabulously at the church home she is living in.  She has a good 8 and a
half
> months to go in the program but they are letting her come home all day
> Saturday now and soon they will allow entire weekend visits.  She told me
> she thinks maybe some day she will be in this type of ministry working
with
> addicts.  She prays so much, the home leaders come and awaken her during
the
> night to come and sit and pray with the new girls just admitted to the
home
> having drug withdrall problems and homesickness troubles.  There isn't a
> weekend she doesn't come home that she doesn't read a new Bible verse to
me
> that the Lord has given her.  It is nothing short of a miracle and we
praise
> the Lord for it.  How well I remember last November when I was in the
> hospital with pneumonia and the worst flue Colorado has seen in decades.
> when the Lord spoke to me one night during a time of deep depression, He
> clearly told me I was in the hospital for one reason only and that was
> because He was asking me to give Him Gretchen unconditionally.  I finally
> did but it was very difficult to do.  The depression immediately lifted
when
> I submitted her fully to the Lord.  It has been worth it all.  Her divorce
> should be final mid June but it keeps getting pushed back by the courts so
I
> keep doing spiritual warfare every day that God will keep their marriage
> together.  Furthermore, another note of praise is the diversionary
probation
> program she is on through the county.  Her case officer is a woman and
this
> lady, Gretchen recently learned, is a born again Christian.  More than
that,
> the diversionary board has granted her a two year extension to get the
4200
> dollars paid back to the county for the program she was supposed to be on.
> Nothing but the grace of God once again.  When she gets clear in about 9
> months, her police record will be erased from the police computers and she
> will have no felony record at all.  Praise God.
>
> Phil.
>
>