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Wind Beneath My Wings
The wind beneath my wings began the day I first arrived at Naznet. I arrived knowing that I would enjoy conversing with new people; however, I was very determined to keep the walls high and not let anyone get really close to me. Forever, I will remember GC welcoming me to the board and encouraging me to introduce myself. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that I was asked to give personal information out about myself. I had been on the net for many months and had made many friends. However; there had only been one friend with whom I had been able to allow to know the real me. As I settled into the world of Naznet the friendships and trust grew. Then, being the curious person I am, I began to play around with html. Oh, how I struggled just to change the color of the font. It was a really BIG deal when I learned how to make my font dance, (blink). *smiling* Those days seem like yesterday to me. The beginnings of the wind beneath my wings. You gave me permission to fail. Oh, yes, I was teased when I needed nine posts to learn how to copy and paste one graphic. You never criticized me, though - you gave wind beneath my wings. You pushed and encouraged me to reach even higher to stretch - to get out of my comfort zone. The wind beneath my wings. You see, when I arrived at Naznet, I arrived bruised and battered. My wings had been clipped. I had quit flying. In so many areas of my life, I was so scared to fly again. Frozen in time and space. As I took courage to learn something new, you continued to blow the breeze of encouragement to lift me higher and higher. What began as a simple post would push me to produce my own web site. I fought that idea. I was too busy. I had nothing that anyone on the net would want to see. So many reasons why not. Plans in my life changed and suddenly, I had time. Time that needed to be focused on something new and positive. So, my web site was born. You blew again. Lifting me even higher. I am flying, today; because of YOU. The successes of the internet are over-flowing to other areas of my life. I am taking courage again. I am daring to try. It may take me 9 tries, but I KNOW I can do it. You have been Christmas to me; all year long. You gave me the best gift of all: friendship. You were able to do this because you didn’t love me with human love. You loved me with the love of Christmas. Love that gives freely. You have been Christ’s hands, feet and love in my life. It has been a great joy and honor to produce this Celebration. Thank you for entrusting me and once again blowing the wind beneath my wings. First - I want to thank the Babe of Christmas. I don't believe there are any accidents. I thank the tiny Babe of Christmas for loving me enough to care about the things that are closest to my heart. He has been with me each step of the way. He allowed me to feel the wind you were blowing. He enabled me to find the strength and courage to trust - love - celebrate - explore - learn - develop - once again. My story can be your story, too. The same Babe of Christmas came many years ago - not just for me but also for you. He desires that you fly. He may not use Naznet and HTML to blow beneath your wings. Your needs are different from mine. But, He loves you and desires to blow in a way that will lift you higher and higher so you can fly, too. - Accept that He is the Son of God. - Believe He came to be born and die for you. - Confess you have not had a relationship with Him and you need Him as a friend, brother, Redeemer, Judge and Savior. Ask Him to forgive your sins. Sins are the things that we do that hurt His heart.
This project wouldn't have been possible if the authors had not been willing to blow the
wind beneath new wings. To reach out to others; like they reached out to me. They are as
follows: Nelson Bradford, Mary Oberer, Glenn Porter, Marcia Mitchell, Joe Hittle, Benjamin
Bristow, Anita Henck, Kim Hersey, Paula Karr, David Lyons, Diane Reynolds, Barbara
Moulton, Gary Swartzlander, Jennifer Blackburn, Pete Vecchi, Jim Monck, Carolyn Franklin,
Ruthie Richards, Roland Hearn, Brad Mercer, Gord Evans, Marsha Lynn, Ron Pruitt, Debi
Peck, Gina Stevenson, Mark Armstrong, Joe Talhelm, Wes Smith, Chuck Wilkes, Arthur
Knights. Thank you for sharing your hearts. Special thanks to Wes Smith, Anita Henck, Gina
Stevenson and Joe Talhelm and Joe Hittle for writing extra at the last minute. Thanks to Wanda for reviewing the devotionals for grammatical errors before I put them into html. It was a wonderful to just copy and paste into the documents. Angelina, thank you for heading the prayer group and all your prayer partners. I love you. Scott, your support and the writing of the introduction to the menu page was very meaningful to me. You explained it so clearly. Thanks. Mary, It was a load off of me when you volunteered to contact all the background and midi providers. I was under time constraints and I appreciate your efforts. I am also grateful to the hours you spent helping to edit the html for the final production of the pages. My two right arms were Gord and Joe. They encouraged me, gave me links, edited pages, prayed for me, sent extra devotionals to sit in my mailbox in case I needed them. They both gave literal hours to the project. Special appreciation goes to Joe for writing the prayers for the devotional pages. Dennis, thanks for offering the site that became the home for the project. Your encouragement meant a lot to me. I can’t forget to mention Byran Merrill and Dave McClung for providing Naznet for us. Without you, I don’t know if I would be flying today. Because you gave - I am a life that has been changed. Thank you - For Giving to the Lord. Hugs and thanks to my family for allowing me the space and freedom to fly. Humbly Submitted,
Yvonne Edwards More Acknowledgments: Because she is the person she is, Yvonne would never take much credit for this Advent and Christmas Celebration. But without her vision, tireless efforts, and gentle prodding, these pages would never have made it online. If you have read Yvonne's testimony above, you have probably realized that she is a very special person. Her humor, her gentleness, her *smiles*, and her willingness to ask tough questions and not settle for easy answers have endeared her to the hearts of many people on NazNet. She spoke about how the people on NazNet have helped her to soar again. Rarely is something that special so one-sided. If God brought Yvonne to NazNet, it was probably as much for the rest of us already there as it was for her. She has brought as much wind beneath other's wings as she has received. And after all, that is the real purpose of Christian community, to love and care for and nurture each other as God gives of His strength so that we might all be stronger together. So, I think I could speak for all of the several hundred participants of NazNet and simply say, "Thanks, Yvonne!" Dennis Bratcher |
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