She's Ready to Fly

"But those who hope in the LORD...will soar on wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31.


Dear Praying Friends and Family,

What a great afternoon to write. It's gently raining here in Alabama, on this Thursday afternoon, as i sit outside on my back porch in my Cabela's recliner. "Troy" our Malta poo is in my lap, the cats, Cuddles and Peaches are sleeping peacefully (well sort of...they're keeping a wary eye out for Troy) nearby, and Dixie and Midnight, our Golden Retriever and Lab, are sleeping on the back porch off of our bedroom. Thankfully, i have a roof over me so i'm not getting too wet....every once in a while i have to scoot over so the rain doesn't get on my computer. So why am i having trouble getting settled down to write? Maybe cause i wrote most of this last Saturday after my Daddy and i took Hannah Beth to the airport in Nashville and i'm putting off finishing it up. Only the LORD brings these writings together week after week, and if there is anything in them that is a blessing to you, HE gets all the glory and praise for what HE brings forth through HIS "scatterbrained" servant.
Hannah Beth has had a great week out in California visiting with our dear friends the Bakers and the Ferguson's and it's been mighty quiet around our household. Thank you for your prayers for her this week...they have had a great time. They've enjoyed going to the beach two of those days with Ashlie's family...Hannah Beth went from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean beach in a matter of days. For those of you on Facebook, you can check out her pictures, and the video she and Ashlie made of their "homeschooling days..." crazy girls, and fun times. What a blessing! Please remember Hannah Beth as she will be flying in to Nashville tomorrow evening...that's Friday evening. Also, our dear friend Greg Adams will be having surgery on his colon Friday morning. Please remember him and Wanda in your prayers. Tony and Taranda Greene (www.thegreenesgospel.com) are having their surgery this coming Monday. Taranda is donating her kidney to her husband. What an amazing story and you can read about God's faithfulness to lead them through this journey in their lives by clicking on their website. Also, our dear friends, the Carpenter's, are traveling out to California with their seven little ones for Mark to work for 9 weeks and GOD knows the other reasons. We sure will miss them and do appreciate ya'll remembering them as they travel this weekend.



Last Saturday morning, my Daddy got up at 3:30 a.m. to go with Hannah Beth and me to take her to the airport in Nashville, Tn. which is about an hour and a half up straight up Interstate 65. I thought to myself, "Whose crazy idea was this to leave so early in the morning?" Just the day before...GOD had made the way for her to go to California to see our friends, Ashlie and John Baker and their two little guys, Troy and Merrit, and Ashlie's Mom ,Mishel and her brother Zac Ferguson. The Ferguson's have been our friends since Ashlie was 12 and Hannah Beth was 6, and their homeschooling journey, though they lived in California, has paralleled our journey in many ways. We both went through the "blue jean jumper stage," and finally came to our senses and started wearing our shorts and pants again. I'm not putting down "dresses," i admire you who have a conviction. But for me and Mishel...ours was a passing through season of our homeschooling venture. We were both amazed when we got into bluegrass and southern gospel music, totally independent of one another. Zac started playing the violin about the same time i started the mandolin, and Hannah Beth the guitar and wow, has he far surpassed me in his playing!. We do so enjoy them coming "home," and going to the Fiddler's Convention with them here in Athens, the first weekend of each October. GOD has changed our family's and moulded us all along the way. We have shared our great joys with one another, and great sorrows. This year has been one of unthinkable sorrow for their family as their husband and Daddy, and Granddaddy, left their family in December. Yes, difficult things happen like this in the strongest of CHRISTian families..."Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I Peter 5:8. This is why it's so important that we pray for one another and encourage one another because none of us are above giving in to temptation.

Hannah Beth didn't asked to go out to California this summer. Some of you may remember she flew out there last year to help Ashlie with her two little ones, while John served our country in Iraq. Johnny had it on his heart and off and on all summer would bring it up from time to time about Hannah Beth going out to visit Ashlie. Hannah Beth took a Chemistry Class at our local junior college, so she only had a couple of weeks between school starting back and we went to Florida for a few days for our family vacation. After that, she stayed a couple of more days with our dear friends, the Jones, on their farm in Billingsley. In one afternoon, she went from para sailing at the beach, to milking a goat that evening...i'm not kidding! When Johnny brought her going out to see Ashlie again earlier last week, i thought there is no way at this late date that she is going to be able to go to California...well, GOD overruled my lack of faith, and even as i type this she is flying across country(this was last Sat. morning). She got her reservation on Friday morning for a direct flight, and thankfully we had "points" on our credit card to cover the cost of her ticket. Where GOD guides, HE provides. GOD is going to have HIS way, even when we have no faith. How can a man understand his ways..."Man's steps are ordained by the LORD,How then can man understand his way?" Proverbs 20:24

The night before she left Johnny said, "Am i nuts letting her go?"...after i had asked him why he wanted her to go. He shared with me his thoughts, and then later he asked, "Why did i let her go?" I told him because GOD put it in his heart... to accomplish HIS plans and purposes. I know that full well, so many times i stand in awe at the places i find myself, knowing that GOD has directed my steps to get me there and worked at all the details to make it happen.

My Dad, bless his heart, 82 years old, got to our house a little before 5:00 a.m. and we were on our way shortly after that. Nashville is an hour and a half up the road, and we got to the airport without any trouble. We parked the car, after Hannah Beth had offered for us to just drop her off out front. I thought, no way i'm not dropping you off out front, and leaving you. We unloaded the suitcase from car and Daddy pulled it into the airport for Hannah Beth. I thought we might be able to eat breakfast with her before we left...it was about 6:45 a.m. and her plane didn't leave until 8:15 a.m, but she was eager to get her boarding pass and go and wait inside the gate. Because of security we couldn't go with her...so she hurriedly hugged me and my Daddy goodbye. I said, "Wait, you're going to be gone a week, i want a real hug." She hugged me, and poof, she was off, through the security gate, flying by herself for the first time, across the country. Wow...just like that...she was ready to fly.

My Daddy and I had a special time together on our way home...and i sure am glad, it took my mind off of my little girl sitting in the airport by herself, and then flying across the country. Daddy and I both love our big breakfast so we found a Cracker Barrel not too far from the airport and enjoyed our selves very much. He loves his biscuit and gravy, and man did he and Mom make the best biscuits and gravy when we were growing up, yum, yum. He ordered eggs, biscuits and gravy and probably country ham, which he loves. I enjoyed the turkey sausage and whole wheat toast...and eggs and hash brown casserole. Amazing health my Dad has enjoyed all these years, eating those biscuits and gravy and country ham...wish i had got his genes:). My Daddy has always loved the country...and he and i both love the hills of Tennessee. We had a great time together on the way home. We went by the slaughterhouse where we used to get our meat processed before our freezer door was left open twice...now we buy our meat in smaller quantities:). I was checking to see if they had some bones for the dogs. Once when Hannah Beth was smaller, i took her and her friend Natalie up there with me to pick up the meat. Much against Hannah Beth's protest, we went on a tour of the slaughterhouse...i thought it would be educational for the girls to see how we get our meat...aah the joys of homeschooling, everything becomes a classroom! We saw how they hung the carcasses up to cool, and how they drained the blood from the meat...and of course where they cut the meat up. I don't think it had the desired effect i hoped it would, i'm not sure Hannah Beth has eaten beef since that "field trip:)...just kidding. I did manage to sneak a big box of bones in the car for the dogs that day...i kept them well hidden until we got home...i didn't want the girls screaming "bloody murder" over a few cow bones...oh well, maybe there was more than a few.

After Daddy and I left the slaughterhouse, boneless, they don't cut meat on Saturday, we stopped by the little town of Lineville, Tenn. There is a railroad track that runs through the little town, and a train museum at the depot, and an old fashioned "Soda Pop" shop that has the counter you can sit at and order ice cream or hamburgers. It's really neat, like something out of Andy Griffith, or "It's a Wonderful Life." There was also a fine leather shop that sells a lot of it's products to Country Music stars , the City Hall, along with an antique shop, and the bank. There's even a place out front to tie your horses up in front of the "Soda Shop" if you ride up on a horse...straight out of "Bonanza...", one of my Daddy and my favorite shows when i was growing up. It's an interesting little place to stop off if you're ever heading up or down I-65, Exit 27. Daddy bought me some unsweet tea at "The Soda Pop" shop, i was needing a little perking up after getting up at 4:15 a.m.and we headed on after walking and looking at the little shops. We drove on a little piece down Highway 31 and turned into "The Milky Way" farm. The Mars Company, who owns"M and M's," originally owned the land back in the 1930's i believe. In it's heyday, it was a fine place with several horse stables, a racing track, a large inn, and swimming pool out back. You can still see the old concrete swimming pool behind the inn, and imagine what it must have been like back in the 30's and 40's at it's height. This day, we rode through there, the grounds were more grown up than i've ever seen them. Looked like the inn was still in good shape, but the grass had definitely not be cut in a while. My Daddy told me later while we were picking figs together, that the owners had filed for bankruptcy...to the tune of $10 million dollars. I sure was sad to hear that...cause it really is a great place for a "bed and breakfast." After that, we rode just up the road where my cousin lived and i had no idea she lived so close to the Milky Way farm. Lisa Fowler Butler wasn't home, but their house sure is located in a beautiful place in the rolling hills of Tennessee. We continued on our journey, and rode through the little town of Pulaski. Their around the courthouse square there was a "Farmer's Market." I had just been thinking I wish we could get back in time for me to go to the Farmer's Market in Madison where they sell a lot of fresh, organic produce, meats without antibiotics or hormones, whole grain breads, goat cheese, farm eggs, etc. I rode by that Farmer's Market thinking they won't have any organic produce, and something... GOD, made me turn the car around. We went back, and the first thing i saw when we got out of the car was a booth that had a sign hanging out front," Organic produce" "No chemicals" Farm Eggs, Sausage and Beef Grown without Antibiotics or Hormones. Wow...i thought, thank you LORD. The lady who ran the booth appeared to be in her late 60's to early 70's and i was amazed at her energy and that she was an organic farmer. She told me she love to compost, used the manure from her 500 chickens and hogs to fertilize her raised bed gardens and now her front yard she has so much extra. I bought some farm eggs, pork sausage, and ground round from her, along with some green beans, yellow squash and zucchini. I was keeping my eye out for some muscadine jelly that someone special to me had expressed some interest in and i found two jars there at a booth on down the row. It was the only muscadine jelly in the whole market. I purchased that, along with some purple hull peas at another booth, and it was time to head home. Daddy was right there with me, carrying some of my veggies and meat for me. After we got back in the car....Daddy told me a few stories about my Granddaddy Fowler, how he was always telling jokes and could remember joke after jokes to tell. We both said we weren't blessed with that ability to remember jokes and stories like that. He told me about how good my Granddaddy was to the people that worked for him when he was cutting hay or whatever on the farm. I remember one guy, June, who worked for my Granddaddy when i was a little girl. Sometimes his hands lived on my Granddaddy's place, or sometimes he'd go pick them up where they lived. We talked some more, and talked about maybe planning some more trips together. What an unexpected blessing it was to me to get to spend this time with my Daddy...as a result of my little girl flying to California.

When i was a teenager about Hannah Beth's age...i wasn't ready to "fly" just yet. I had a life long dream to play basketball at the junior college just right down the street from where i grew up and GOD gave me that desire of my heart...and i was very interested in the young men during that time:). After two years, GOD provided a scholarship for me at the University of Montevallo, 2 1/2 hours from my parent's and then Johnny and i married at the end of my junior year in college. Wow, just like that I was married and had a family of my own. Hannah Beth dreams have been different than mine were...and she's "always been ready to fly," it seems. Though we home schooled, she loved the idea of going to school, and has always loved being with other people. This year, she was all to eager to start taking dual enrollment classes at our local junior college, and will continue that this fall for her senior year of high school. She has always wanted to go "off" to school...and we always planned for her to go locally. But as GOD would have it...HIS plans override ours sometimes, and this year, HE has gradually been softening our hearts to the idea of her going to the University of Mobile next year, a private Southern Baptist college in our state...six hours away. Just seems like lately, this is where HIS hand has been pointing. HE has already provided her a generous scholarship there for next year, and our friends, the Hembree's have offered for Hannah Beth to live with them her first year down there. We won't hold them to that...if she does indeed end up going there, but we are honored and humbled by their offer. This is something we have desired if we did consider letting her go away to school, a godly family to live with while she was there.

I had no idea how fast time goes from the time you're changing diapers, hauling your young un's around all over the place to soccer, softball, basketball, ballet, karate, fishing, guitar and piano lessons, horseback riding lessons, Teen Pact Survival Camp, kayaking, Bible Drill, and just a few gospel singings:)...to when they turn into a young lady, and start becoming interested in makeup, how they dress, driving, and dreaming about husband's and homes of their own one day. Now, i see that happening in my little girl's heart, who's not so little anymore... she'll be 18 this year in December and all of the sudden it seems, she will be flying away...and Johnny and i will have an "empty nest." Seems like yesterday she was struggling for her life with a growth across her windpipe and we didn't know if she would make it when she was 2 months old. After spending a week at Children's Hospital in Birmingham on two different occasions, the LORD healed her through a wonderful doctor, who removed the growth through laser surgery when Hannah Beth was 5 months old. Even then...Hannah Beth, when she was almost at the point of suffocating to death, would smile, and make you laugh...she has always been the "life of the party..." and when that time does come for her to "fly" we will miss her very much.

When we got back from taking Hannah Beth to the airport, I was talking to Johnny in his office, and I was telling him about Hannah Beth giving me a quick hug at the airport and she was "ready to fly." He said, "We're loosing our little girl." And i just started tearing up...as i'm doing now. I didn't expect the tears to come so easily but they did and i got all choked up.

What a privilege has been ours that GOD would entrust us with both of our children for such a short time, to try to train them up in the nurture and ways of the LORD. Wow, what a humbling job that has been...as our kids have gotten older, they recognize Mom and Dad's sins and weaknesses, and you wonder if they'll ever be able to overcome them. Thankfully, GOD gives us that wonderful promise in II Corinthians 12:9-10, that has become my life verse: "But HE said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that CHRIST's power may rest on me. That is why, for CHRIST's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."...and oh how very weak these two parents have been.

One of Johnny's favorite verses through the years has been Isaiah 40:31. It seems real appropriate for this time in Hannah Beth's life and ours:
"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Baby girl...as you grow outwardly into a beautiful young woman, we are most thankful for the inner work that CHRIST is doing in your heart, to develop "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in GOD's sight." I Peter 3:4 Our prayer for you is that you will always keep your trust and hope in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, as you gave your heart to HIM when you were just a little girl. By doing that you will surely "soar" to heights beyond anything you can ask or imagine to bear much fruit and bring much glory to CHRIST..."Now to HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work within us..." Ephesians 3:20. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD hath prepared for them that love HIM." I Corinthians 2:9.

As i mentioned recently, Hannah Beth and i had the great privilege of traveling up to Marion, North Carolina last year, for the Greene's Jubilee, and for "significant other" reasons as i've mentioned before....to be with a special young man and his dear family. This is just one of the many "girl" trips the LORD has blessed Hannah Beth and me with through the years...you've read about many of them in these emails. While we were at the Jubilee, the Hopper's (www.thehoppers.com) were there singing on Friday night. Kim Greene Hopper, sister to Tony and Tim Greene, married into the Hopper family and she and her husband sang a tear jerker song called "The Woman in My Little Girl's Room." It's not a hymn or even "Christian" song so to speak but, when you have a daughter that is on the brink of "flying" and turning into a beautiful young woman...it sure does put a lump in your throat. Listening to it while my girl was in California this week, sure did make me miss her, and i picked up the phone and called her after listening to it on my Ipod to tell her that. I found the song on "you tube" with Kim and Dean singing it...so hope you'll take time to enjoy it...and you might want to bring along some tissue:). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk635Lf_kjw Kim and Dean have a daughter, Carlye, who is not far behind Hannah Beth, so this song really rings true to them...


This afternoon (Thurs.), Johnny called me to his side to show me a text message he had received from Hannah Beth from out in California...it was a picture of a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Josh, her special young man, had sent her. Those words, "those lips that yelled for Daddy time again, will soon say "I love you," to another man," sure does seem to hit close to home these days, much sooner than we expected:). She is ready to fly...just not sure Mom and Dad are ready to let her go yet:). Thank you all for your sweet prayers for our family...and our loved ones. We love you and thank GOD for you.

With all HIS love,
mitzi


"The Woman in My Little Girl's Room" by Jerry Salley, Aaron Wilburn

Seems like last night, i tucked her in bed and we said our prayers,
I kissed her goodnight while she held on tight to her Teddy Bear,
I stopped for a moment to thank GOD once more,
I turned off the light and i closed the door.

With this morning's coffee and yesterday's news i woke up again,
She caught me off guard, LORD it hit me hard when she walked in,
A beautiful lady that i hardly know was my little girl just a short time ago,

Chorus:
Now there's a woman in my little girl's room
She's putting on makeup and wearing perfume
She seems more concerned about what she's got on these days
Than she used to
I turned my head for a moment
And she grew up too soon
And now she's the woman in my little girls room

Those small tiny fingers, sweet little hands that held on to mine
Soon will be reaching out to a love of another kind
Those lips that yelled for Daddy time again
Will soon say to "I love you," to another man

"Delighting in my FATHER's Sweet Love

"Delight yourself in the LORD...and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Ps. 37:4

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

I didn't know if i'd be writing anything or not this week, but with a fresh IV in my system, my brain is functioning a little better, so i'm going to give it a shot. Sure have been thinking a whole lot this week about "Delighting in the LORD...and HIS sweet love giving us the desires of our heart." This time last year, Hannah Beth and I were on our way to Marion, N.C. for the Greene's Gospel Music Jubilee. Well, that was what i was on my way to. She had another "desire" that she was looking forward to as well as seeing the Greenes. A special friend of hers, and his family "just happened" to be in Asheville, NC, that same weekend, and believe me the LORD worked it all out. Neither trip was "planned," in advance, and we all ended up up there on the "spur of the moment." That's how GOD seems to work in our lives. I'm always expecting HIM to do something and hold out hope til the last minute. Most of my desires HE gives me...and so many of those come through my husband's love, come at the last moment, when HE "parts the Red Sea" in my life...and then, i'm gone!

This week, the Greene's (www.thegreenesgospel.com) are having their Gospel Music Jubilee and part of my heart has sure been up there with them. Many of you know how very dear and special the Greene family is to me since i met Tim Greene. Tim and I share a similar "thorn in the flesh" where he suffered from mold poisoning, and me from pesticide poisoning. The LORD introduced us to one another in an allergy testing room at the EHCD (www.ehcd.com) in Dallas, Tx i think six years ago now. The Greene family is from Boone, NC, and has been singing for the LORD JESUS CHRIST for 32 years as a family. Their Daddy and Mamma raised them up singing in church, and then the LORD expanded their ministry around the mountains where they lived...and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. They have traveled and sang all over...singing the praises of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and sharing HIS wonderful salvation wherever they go. When i met Tim, i had never heard of the Greene's. I had heard of Bill Gaither, and the Cathedrals, but beyond that, i was pretty clueless about the world of Southern Gospel Music. Tim sent me a couple of CD's after i met him, and i'll never forget the first time i put one on to play from their "Glimpse of Glory" CD. I was in bed, listening to it...which i rarely listen to anything when i'm going to sleep, and i woke up hearing these words, "I don't have to know the reason's, I don't have to ask HIM why. I know HE knows what's best for me, best for my life, so i'll daily surrender to what HE has for me, I will keep on trusting GOD." I thought, wow, that is my life, my heart, where i struggle. A few weeks later, the Greene's were singing in our neck of the woods, over near Guntersville, Al, and i went to hear them for the very first time...Hannah Beth, and me, and our friends, Darlene and Natalie Anderson. The little church was full that night...and i wasn't even sure i would recognize Tim. I'd only met him and seen him once or twice. He was back on his first road trip with Tony and Taranda after being sick and unable to travel with them for months. I did recognize Tim when he walked in and he walked down the aisle and gave me a big hug...he seemed so proud to see me. That night as i was watched the Greene's, I sure was happy for Tim that he was able to travel once again with his family and sing the songs of the LORD he so loved to sing. Tim had almost died from mold poisoning and the LORD had used the doctors and staff in Dallas to save his life. Afterwards, we talked with Amy, his wife, and i met Taranda for the very first time. I remember the first thing she said, "You sure look good." I knew what she meant, to be sick like Tim:). Amy gave us a tour of their bus, and we talked a little while about "medical" stuff concerning Tim and me. I had no idea, that would be the beginnings of GOD invading my heart with love for the Greene family, and giving me such a desire to pray for this dear family who has been so faithful to proclaim GOD's love and faithfulness throughout all their trials. That first year, the Greene's sang in our area 8 times! I remember, i went to see them every single time...and loved them and loved the encouragment i received when i went to hear them sing. They were so transparent about their struggles, and it's from them i learned how very strong that GOD is through our weaknesses. I felt the power of GOD everytime they shared their weaknesses, and then sang the praises of GOD. They were not ashamed to let others see their struggles. I heard them talk about their jubilee that year that they have every year, but didn't really know about it too much. By the time the following year rolled around...i really, really desired to go but the door seemed slammed shut really tight. GOD did HIS wonder working power...and HE made the way, and our whole family packed up, and traveled up to Boone, North Carolina that August for the Greene's Homecoming Jubilee. I remember when we first got there at the sight of the Jubilee, we parked the car, and rode to the entrance on a hay bailed wagon pulled behind a tractor. Stephanie, the Greene's Nanny at that time, hollered at us, and said, "I know you!" and it sure did make me feel good. What a wonderful time that was for me, to get to travel up there, and get to meet so many of the Greene's family, including Tim's Mom, and Grandmother's, and so many of their relatives and Amy's parents and their church member's who all volunteer and help out with the Jubilee. The Greene women cook for this huge event, pinto beans, cornbread, fried chicken, pies and i'm not sure what all else...it's just all good! I was so honored as Amy introduced me to so many of their family and church members. Tim showed up that weekend for a surprise visit...he and Amy had to move away from Boone because of the mold, and Tim drove 5 hours to surprise everyone, including Amy . He sang a few song's with the Greene's that night, and then he was off...in an ambulance. I didn't even get to speak to him. The next morning, our family worshiped there under the big tent, with the mountains surrounding us....What a special, special time this week of Jubilee is each year, to worship and sing praises to the LORD, to visit old friends and meet new ones, and be encouraged in the LORD! That was such an amazing weekend for me...as GOD gave me the desires of my heart. I remember riding through that beautiful mountain country of Boone, early Sat. morning as i had gone to sauna at a nearby motel and Taranda was singing a beautiful song on her new CD then..."Holy, Holy, the LORD GOD almighty is HOLY...HOLY is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb, YOU are Holy...Holy." Tears welled up in my eyes at GOD's goodness in bringing us up there to Boone, NC and showing me how very much HE loved me.

Last year...GOD did it again, and although the Jubilee has changed locations, it was so beautiful up there above Asheville. Hannah Beth and I had a great time although probably for different reasons:). What a blessing to see Tim's wife, Amy and daughter Brittany, and the Greene's Mom, and their dear friend Steve . Tim sure wanted to be there, but wasn't able to make it last year, due to health issues. What a blessing to see all the little Greene girls playing around the grounds there...Belle, Josie, Brooklyn, and Lexi...and what a joy to see Taranda and Tony. Tony, just right before the Jubilee, had begun dialysis, and in between singing and doing all the things to be done for the Jubilee was having to get on the bus and do dialysis four times a day. Once we were walking behind stage, and Tony was sitting there with what looked like the wind knocked out of him. Someone had slapped him in the stomach playfully, where he was getting dialysis, not knowing that he was tender there, and he was in incredible pain.
This year when the Jubilee is over, Tony will be having a kidney transplant. I'm not sure if Taranda, his wife, is still going to be his donor, but that was the plan the last i heard. Tim, is planning to preach this year at the Jubilee...and i'm sure he'll do some singing too, while he's there. Please remember Tim in your prayers, and the whole Greene family. Earlier this week, Tony and Taranda's 26 16 month old daughter, Josie was run over by a golf cart, and they rushed her to the hospital in an ambulance. Thankfully, she is doing fine, i think. The doctor's said, a Higher Power was watching over their baby. Praise the LORD. Yes, i sure would love to be there...but GOD has been so very gracious to allow me to go twice, and this year, i will be there in my prayers for them. What a dear family this is...and how they have struggled and suffered, and continue to sing and declare the Praises of our LORD JESUS CHRIST...they are such an inspiration and encouragement of GOD's grace to all who meet them.What a special, special time this week of Jubilee is each year, to worship and sing praises to our LORD JESUS, to visit old friends and meet new ones who come from all over the US in their RV's, and to be encouraged in the LORD!

Instead of heading up to North Carolina, the Hembree's are going to be at their beach house next week and they have graciously invited us to stay with them a few days. As a Mom, i'm learning how GOD is also working in my daughter's life to give her the "desires of her heart." Hannah Beth and Josh met last March at a Teen Pact event, where they learned about the government, and their budding friendship began. In recent months, the friendship, has progressed, and well, we're not sure about all of this, except that it's "official" on Facebook:). Johnny and Josh had a long talk while he and his sis were up here camping recently, and he laid down the rules for a prospective young man interested in his daughter. Josh, a very fine young man, didn't run away, so he must be pretty interested or he doesn't scare to easily:). I am very happy for her and Josh... we love Josh and we love his family. We sure would appreciate your prayers as we are navigating in new territory. We hadn't planned on Hannah Beth having a special young man at this age...and we have steered away from dating, preferring our children to do things in groups at this stage of life. Not sure what the LORD's plans are for the future...but we're all learning to "Delight in HIM...and we see HIM giving us the desires of our heart...desires that HE puts there to accomplish HIS plans and purposes. I have admired Hannah Beth, and her honoring her Daddy's wishes, and being obedient, all these months. It's neat to see GOD honor her with her heart's desire and Josh is such a fine, godly, young man.

GOD has been so very gracious, teaching me to "Delight in Him." Everywhere i turn it seems, HE's teaching me that lesson...and wants me to get it right. "Delight in the HIM first and HE will give you the desires of your heart." I think HE puts HIS desires in our heart, as we learn to delight in HIM...to show us HIS love and accomplish the wonderful plans that HE has for us. That's a lot like, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and HIS righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Mt. 6:33.

GOD has used my "thorn in the flesh" to help me as i learn to "Delight in Him." I have a built in mechanism it seems that causes me to depend on HIM. I was thinking today, before i took my IV...i don't have to plan to fast...my body just does it naturally. I run out of my nutrients, though i eat the best of food, and take the best of supplements, and i have to refill every 2-3 weeks with IV nutrients. While i am waiting sometimes for that IV to try and stretch it out or whatever...it feels very much like i'm fasting, and i very much have to depend on the LORD. That's a real blessing, even though i don't like the uncomfortableness of it, because that is when GOD often reveals HIMself the most to me...when i am weakest. Earlier this week was one of those times...I had been really down Monday, and part of it was due to my nutritional status, and that very much colors how i look at the world sometimes. Johnny planned for our family to go out with my brother-in-law's family and all go meet John Mac in Huntsville. I tried to feel like going but just didn't feel up to it. I stayed behind and rested, and poured my heart out to my friend Wanda, who always seems to know what to say to encourage me. She is my Barnabas. Later on, I took Dixie and Midnight, our Golden Retriever and Lab, for a walk about dark. I have enjoyed many late evening walks with my dogs, and my LORD, this summer. What a special time this has been to me to "Delight in the LORD, and pour my heart out to HIM as i walk along and hear the crickets singing, the tree frogs making their noises, the moon shining, and the stars glittering in the sky...i have loved that special time with HIM, it is as if "GOD is Singing over Me," and HE is... ...."The LORD your GOD is in the midst of you, A MIGHTY ONE, a SAVIOR-WHO saves! HE will rejoice over you with joy; HE will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in HIS love HE will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them], HE will exult over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17.


Tuesday morning, after having such a down evening the night before, i got up, and GOD just blessed my socks in my Quiet Time that morning. Everything i read spoke to my heart about what i was dealing with...and i was reminded that when things are darkest in our lives, GOD shines the brightest to us...and HE sure was encouraging my heart that morning. Talk about "Dry Wood on a Rainy Night," GOD poured HIS healing balm in my soul, and reminded me once again how very much HE loves me...and how very patient and kind, and loving HE is with me when when i am unlovely and have "bad manners." HE is teaching me that HE delights in me, even when i'm unlovely, and HE wants me to love others as HE loves me...unconditionally.

Some of that "Dry Firewood" from last Tuesday included:

"But they and our fathers acted proudly,
Hardened their necks,
And did not heed YOUR commandments.
They refused to obey,
And they were not mindful of YOUR wonders
That YOU did among them....
But YOU are GOD
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them
Even when they made a molded calf for themselves
And they said, "This is your god
That brought you up out of Egypt,"
And worked great provocations,
Yet in Your manifold mercies
YOU did not forsake them in the wilderness.
The pillar of the cloud did not depart
from them day by day,
To lead them on the road;
Nor the pillar of fire by night,
To show them light,
And the way they should go..."
Nehemiah 9:16-19


From Daily Light:

"Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,"-Luke 6:35
"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles. Proverbs 24:17
"Do not repay evil for evil or reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you might obtain a blessing."1 Pet. 3:18
" If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."Rom. 12:18
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as GOD in CHRIST forgave you." Ephesians 4:32



From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening:

"So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.-Psalm 73:22

"Think of your doubting GOD when HE has been so faithful to you. Think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my FATHER," when HE crossed HIS hands in affliction to give you the larger blessing. Think of the many times when you have read HIS providences in the dark, misinterpreted HIS dispensations, and groaned out, "All these things are against me," when they are all working together for your good!


Oswald Chamber's Words from My Utmost for HIS Highest:

"We are apt to imagine that if JESUS CHRIST constrains us, and we obey HIM, HE will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as GOD's purpose for us. HIS purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that GOD is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; HE is not...what we call the process, GOD calls the end. HIS purpose is that i depend on HIM and on HIS power now. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to GOD...GOD's training is for now, not presently. HIS purpose is for this minute...GOD's end is to enable me to see that HE can walk on the chaos of my life just now. "


A very powerful poem from Springs in the Valley about pouring out our hearts for others even when that love isn't returned... GOD has not wasted it..."Love never fails. "1 Cor. 13:8


"Pour out thy love like the rush of a river,
Wasting its waters forever and ever,
Through the burnt sands that reward not the giver:
Silent or songful, thou nearest the sea,
Scatter thy life as the summer's shower pouring;
What if no bird through the pearl rain is soaring?
What if no blossom looks upward adoring?
Look to the life that was lavished for thee!

"So the wild wind strews its perfumed caresses;
Evil and thankless the desert it blesses
Bitter the wave that its soft pinion presses;
Never it ceases to whisper and sing,
What if the hard heart gives thorns for thy roses?
What if on rocks thy tired bosom reposes?
Sweeter is music with minor-keyed closes,
Fairest the vines that on ruin will cling."


Another "dry log" from Streams in the Desert stoked the fires of my heart :

"Have you asked to be made like your LORD? Have you longed for the fruit of the SPIRIT, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the "afterward."
-Henry Ward Beecher

The flowers live by the tears that fall
From the sad face of the skies;
And life would have not joys at all,
Were there no watery eyes.
Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring
Its own excuse in after years;
The rainbow!-see how fair a thing
GOD hath built up from tears.
Henry S. Sutton




Not only did GOD send HIS sweet presence to me to encourage me that morning and warm the fire of my heart, but that very evening, HE encouraged me greatly by sending me the sweet "desire" i had so longed for earlier before i went to bed. Talk about "misinterpring HIS dispensations, and groaning out, "All these things are against me," ...i had done that once again, and the LORD was so sweet to show me what i was thinking wasn't true. HE did that for me and HE does that for you because HE loves us so very much.. "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness..."Jeremiah 31:3
Once again, HE is teaching me to trust in HIS love, when i can't see what HE is doing in the "Garden Behind the Wall."

Then, HE sent these sweet words from Charles Spurgeon's, Morning and Evening the next morning,to reassure me of CHRIST's sweet love for me:

"Nevertheless, I am continually with thee." Psalm 73:23

"Nevertheless, since I belong to CHRIST, I am continually with GOD!" This means that I am continually on HIS mind; He is always thinking of me for my good. I am continually before HIS eye; the eye of the LORD never sleeps, but is perpetually watching over my welfare. I am continually in HIS hand, so that none will be able to pluck me from it. I am continually in HIS heart, worn there as a memorial, even as the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes on his heart forever. YOU always think of me, O GOD. Your love continually reaches out to me. YOU are always making providence work for my good. YOU have set me as a signet on YOUR arm. YOUR love is as "strong as death" (Song 8:6). "Many waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown it." (vs. 7)...YOU see me in CHRIST, and , though in myself abhorred, YOU behold me as wearing CHRIST's garments, washed in HIS blood; thus, I stand accepted in YOUR presence. I am continually in YOUR favor-"continually with thee."



HE didn't give me the "desire of my heart" to go to the Jubilee this year, and believe me, i tried everyway in the world to talk Johnny into it. But that's okay...HE's teaching me to "Delight in HIM for who HE is and not HIS gifts," and "in acceptance lieth peace." I can sure be there through my prayers for the Greenes "Across the Miles." Through the miracle of Facebook, i can see pictures of sweet Belle and Josie and hear about what's going on. One of the songs, Taranda and the Greene's sing so beautifully was inspired by the Scripture above out of Zephaniah 3:17. It is a beautiful song, called "GOD is Singing over Me," and it tells of how very much our FATHER loves us...delights in us, and HE sings over us with HIS goodness and favor in our lives. I sure wish i could let you listen to Taranda sing it...but i couldn't find it on the internet. It's on their "Far Down the Road," CD...check it out on their website (www.thegreenesgospel.com).

"GOD is Singing Over Me" by Jeff Ferguson, Regi Stone, Sue Smith

Around the throne of Heaven
A sea of the redeemed
Are bowing and proclaiming
The praises of the KING
Yet HIS WORD has promised
There's a song of love
GOD HIMself has written for each of us.

Chorus:
GOD is singing over me
My soul can hear the beauty of HIS melody
I feel the glory carried on the breeze
It lifts my spirit up
GOD is singing over me

When my heart is broken
Heavy with despair
I wonder does HE love me
Or why He'd even care
Suddenly there's something
Like a sweet perfume
Music from above me is in the room

My GOD rejoices with a song of love
I'm overwhelmed I'm the one HE's singing of




Our FATHER is preparing a time for HIS children when we are going to enjoy an endless Jubilee for all eternity with our LORD JESUS for all who have repented of their sins and trusted in the LORD JESUS as their SAVIOR. HE poured out HIS life to death for us on the cross at Calvary because HE loves you and me so very much so that we might be forgiven of our sins...and enjoy the endless Jubilee of HIS fellowship and our brothers and sisters in CHRIST forever and ever. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Hark! Hark! a louder sound is booming
Oe'r heaven and earth, o'er land and sea;
The angel's trump proclaims HIS coming-
Our day of endless Jubilee.
-Springs in the Valley, July 31


You all are such a dear blessing to me.. I love hearing from different ones of you week after week. Thank you so much for your encouragement and asking me to pray for you. Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and your encouragement to us. Please remember us as we travel to the beach next week...it's always an adventure when i sleep in another place:).

With all HIS love,
mitzi

"Seek your LORD, for HE is near. Embrace HIM, for HE is your BROTHER. Hold HIM fast, for HE is your HUSBAND. Press HIM to your heart, for HE is of your own flesh."
-Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening July 31

"The Appreciation Room"

"I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart. I will tell of all the great things YOU have done. I will be glad and full of joy because of YOU. I will sing praise to YOUR name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

I have been trying to write this particular email for several weeks now, but just could not get it from my head to the computer. I guess the LORD had some more lessons to teach me about this, and will continue to for the rest of my life. I pray that HE will allow me to share some of the thoughts HE has brought to my heart in a way that will encourage your heart as HE has mine.

I few weeks ago i shared with you about The Love Dare book that i got my husband for our 26th wedding anniversary. Before i got the chance to give it to him I felt like the HOLY SPIRIT was nudging me to read it and give it to him by my actions instead of giving him the book. Well, i wish i could say, i've been passing with flying colors my "Love Dare" challenge but as a "sinner saved by grace" i have certainly failed many times since i shared this with you. But...as i have slowly read the first few chapters, i can say the LORD continues to help me learn to love my husband and appreciate this wonderful man that HE provided to be my life mate 26 years ago.
One of the chapters i read, entitled "Love Believes the Best," just keeps coming to my mind. In that chapter the writers challenge us to love our mates by focusing on their strengths instead of their weaknesses. They give a great illustration of this in what they call "The Appreciation Room." The more i think about this all important room, the more vital i see how this concept is scriptural and crucial to the success in our marriages, in our relationships with our children, our extended family members, our coworkers, friends and enemies,and most important of all, our heavenly HUSBAND, the LOVER of our SOULS, our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

"The Appreciation Room,"
as Stephen and Alex Kendrick so beautifully share, is

" a room in the deep and private corridors of our hearts where our thoughts go when we encounter positive and encouraging things about our spouse. On the walls are written kind words and phrases describing the good attributes of your mate...they are things you've discovered about your husband or wife that have imbedded themselves in your memory. When you think about these things, your appreciation for your spouse begins to increase. In fact, the more time you spend meditating on these positive attributes, the more grateful you are for your mate." They go on to say that "Most things in the Appreciation Room were likely written in the initial states of your relationship. You could summarize them as things you liked and respected about your loved one. They were true, honorable, and good. And you spent a great deal of time dwelling on them in this room...before you were married. But you may have found that you don't visit this special room as often as you once did. That's because there is another competing room nearby.

Down another corridor of your heart lies the Depreciation Room, and unfortuanately you visit there as well. On its walls are written the things that bother and irritate you about your spouse. These things were placed there out of frustration, hurt feelings, and the disappointment of unmet expectations. This room is lined with the weaknesses and failures of your husband or wife. Their bad habits, hurtful words, and poor decisions are written in large letters that cover the walls from one end to the other. If you stay in this room long enough, you get depressed and start expressing things like, "My wife is so selfish," or "My husband can be such a jerk." Or maybe, "I think i married the wrong person."

Some people write very hateful things in this room, where tell-off statements are rehearsed for the next argument. Emotional injuries fester here, adding more scathing remarks to the walls. It's where ammunition is kept for the next big fight and bitterness is allowed to spread like a disease. People fall out of love here." The Kendricks warn us that "spending time in the Depreciation Room kills marriages. Divorces are plotted in this room and violent plans are schemed. The more time you spend in this place, the more your heart devalues your spouse. It begins the moment you walk in the door, and your care for them lessons with every second that ticks by."

The writers acknowledge that "these things may be true...but so are the things in "the Appreciation Room." Everyone fails and has areas that need growth. Everyone has unresolved issues, hurts, and personal baggage...we have all sinned. But we have this unfortunate tendency to downplay our own negative attributes while putting our partners failures under a magnifying glass.

Let's get down to the real issue here. Love knows about the Depreciation Room and does not live in denial that it exists. But love chooses not to live there. You must decide to stop running to this room and lingering there after every frustrating event in your relationship. It does you no good and drains the joy out of your marriage.

Love chooses to believe the best about people. It gives them the benefit of the doubt. It refuses to fill in the unknowns with negative assumptions. And when our worst hopes are proven to be true, love makes every effort to deal with them and move forward. As much as possible, love focuses on the positive." The writers go on to exhort us to "let love lead your thoughts and your focus. The only reason you should glance in the door of the Depreciation Room is to know how to pray for your spouse. And the only reason you should ever go in this room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE" in huge letters across the wall.

It's time to move into "the Appreciation Room," to settle down and make it your home. As you choose to meditate the positives, you will learn that many more wonderful character qualities could be written across these walls. Your spouse is a living, breathing, endless book to be read. Dreams and hopes have yet to be realized. Talents and abilities may be discovered like hidden treasure. But the choice to explore them starts with a decision by you. You must develop the habit of reining in your negative thoughts and focusing on the positive attributes of your mate. This is a crucial step as you learn to lead your heart to truly love your spouse. It is a decision that you make whether they deserve it or not."

Wow...just this one chapter keeps growing in my head...what i mean by that is the more i think about it...the more the LORD shows me how much HIS desire for me is to live in the "Appreciation Room," of my heart, beginning with my relationship with HIM foremost of all. When i linger in "the Appreciation Room" of gratitude with my heavenly HUSBAND JESUS CHRIST, HE enables me, HIS bride, to focus on the positive attributes of my earthly husband.

A few weeks ago, my husband and i returned to Dallas, on June 8, to celebrate our 26th anniversary and have some further medical treatment. GOD answered some very long time prayers and desires of my heart while we were there that i have been praying for years. In that evening's devotion in Morning and Evening,by Charles Spurgeon, the Scripture reading was "Thou shalt see now whether MY words shall come to pass unto thee or not." -Numbers 11:23. I honestly just wanted to fall on my knees and worship the LORD and say, "Yes, LORD you have just shown me in a dramatic way that YOUR WORD is true...by answering this "impossible" prayer and heart's desire of mine. I didn't fall down on my knees just then, i was sitting in a swing outside at the peaceful apartments where we were staying at Earl Remmel's (www.safehousingdallas.com) when i read those words, but my heart was and still is in awe at what GOD had done and is doing to continue answering this long time request. GOD did bring HIS WORD to pass... and after much asking, and delighting in HIM, 'HE gave me the desires of my heart." Ps.37:4.

But just as the prophet Elijah had the great victory over the Baal worshippers when the LORD burned up HIS sacrifice and not theirs in I Kings 18, and then fled for his life from evil Jezebeel and went and prayed that he might die under a Juniper tree, i found myself lying across the bed in the apartments where we were staying just a few hours later after that great victory struggling with feelings of depression and defeat. It was there in the quietness of that bedroom that the LORD brought the words from the the "Appreciation Room" to my heart, and applied them to my relationship with HIM. You see, i do HIM the same way i tend to do my husband, and instead of staying in "the Appreciation Room," i wonder off into the "Depreciation Room," and start grumbling and complaining about HIS ways with me. HE reminded me, " In everything give thanks, for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you." 1 Thess. 5:18.

I have really struggled with depression since i took an antibiotic, a few weeks ago...and it left me feeling like "doom and gloom" for several weeks, along with some other head issues that have continued to plague me. I knew that what i was feeling was from a physical cause, and eventually this too would pass. Well i wasn't sure it would pass...and at that time on the bed...and several times in between, i have had trouble staying in the "Appreciation Room" and giving thanks for it. I don't like feeling depressed, or my head feeling like it has sand paper in it, ...or that i am about to cry at the drop of the hat, but it was where the LORD JESUS has allowed me to walk, and is teaching me to trust HIM in "the Appreciation Room," of my heart...to "walk by faith not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Like you, i struggle at times "giving thanks in everything" for things that i don't understand how they are going to work for good...but my LORD JESUS is teaching me, minute by minute, day by day, month by month, year by year,that HE is indeed trustworthy. As i look back in some of my prayer journals that i have written in through the years, i am amazed at prayers that HE has answered, that often i forgot even about praying about. When i look back and see prayers that i've prayed for years...and see how even in the midst of my suffering HE has granted me the desires of my heart, now that really builds my faith..."Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been granted in what HE ordaineth?...." It helps me to be able to trust HIM for the other desires in my heart that HE hasn't answered yet..." but HE is working on them:). It takes GOD time to grow an oak tree, and it takes HIM time to answer some of our prayers...especially those that seem impossible. But HE says, "With GOD all things are possible," Mark 10:27, and i am learning HE is indeed the GOD of the impossible. HE is true to HIS WORD...over and over and over again.

Earlier this week i read a quote in the June 30 Springs in the Valley devotion book that made me think about GOD's "Appreciation Room. " It is through our Quiet Times with HIM where we spend time with HIM in prayer and Bible study, that helps us to stay in the "Appreciation Room" where we praise HIM and thank HIM, instead of the "Depreciation Room" where we grumble and complain at HIS ways in our life. The quote from Springs said:

"In the silences I make in the midst of the turmoil of life I have appointments with GOD. From these silences I come forth with spirit refreshed, and with a renewed sense of power. I hear a Voice in the silences, and become increasingly aware that it is the Voice of GOD."

O how comfortable is a little glimpse of GOD!
-David Brainerd

This summer, GOD has given me a new place to meet HIM in the "Appreciation Room" of my heart, and i have enjoyed walking along a beautiful trail not far from where we live along Swan Creek. As i have walked along that trail early in the morning, enjoying the creek running over the rocks, and the trees overhead, GOD has met me there over and over to refresh my spirit and renew me with HIS power. I have one place in particular that i like to stop at where the water is running gently over the rocks and i am reminded of the words to the great hymn "How Great Thou Art:"
"When thro the woods and forest glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When i look down from lofty mountain grandeur, And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze; Then sings my soul, my SAVIOR GOD to THEE, how great THOU art! How great THOU art! "
...it's real easy to spend time with the LORD there and spend time in HIS "Appreciation Room," thanking HIM and praising HIM for how very great HE is...HE has proven HIMself over and over in my life and yours...and i see HIM the most in my darkest hours.
Elisabeth Elliot (www.elisabethelliot.org) wrote in her book A Path Through Suffering:

"Through my deepest waters, hottest fires and darkest valleys GOD has taught me the deepest and the most eternal lessons."

"YOU who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth." Psalm 71:20.

I am finding that it is easier to stay in "the Appreciation Room" with my husband and others, when I have spent time each morning in the "Appreciation Room" of my heavenly FATHER and HUSBAND. When HE renews my heart and mind day by day through HIS WORD, HE gives me HIS love to love others unconditionally as HE loves me. "But GOD demonstrates HIS love for us in that while we were yet sinners CHRIST died for us." Romans 5:8.

Oswald Chambers says in his Feb. 23rd reading of My Utmost for HIS Highest:

"When we realize that JESUS CHRIST has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to save men for HIS sake."

When i look at the "log in my own eye," it helps me to not be so quick to look at the "speck in my brother's eye" whether that be my husband, child, or whoever CHRIST has called me to love. I can only do this by abiding in CHRIST, HIS WORD and HIS power through daily prayer and taking time to think about what HE's sharing with me. This means carving time out of the day to spend time with HIM...and that takes a conscious effort on all of our parts. There is always something to steal away the time that GOD has given us and desires us to spend in fellowship with HIM. HE loves us so very much and longs to have that intimate time with us in fellowship that we wives desire to have with our husbands...HE is our HUSBAND and HE wants that time with us...HIS Bride. With that time, we thrive in CHRIST, and HIS Living WATER washes over our minds and hearts, and renews us so that we can have HIS love, HIS joy, HIS peace, and HIS forgiveness. Without that time with HIM we dry up and wither away, and our lives our often characterized by "grumbling and complaining," bitterness, and anger, over HIS ways with us. I know, because i struggle with this when things don't go my way. It takes a conscious effort for me to stay out of the "Depreciation Room," dwell in "The Appreciation Room" and be thankful in everything, including depression.

Out in my flower garden, where the LORD is teaching me to love to spend time with HIM, HE has many lessons to teach me from nature. One of those came from my neglect recently of a beautiful red rose bush i had planted a few Mother's Day's ago, in honor of my two children. That "Double-Knock" out rose bush has bloomed profusely and it brings me great joy to see the beauty of it...and how i pray my children will bloom for HIM like that rose bush. Recently, when the Japanese beetles started showing up, i thought about spraying my rose bush with a product called "Surround," to protect it from the beetles. "Surround" is not a pesticide, but it works as a cover to protect it from the beetles eating the leaves and buds. You just mix the white power in a bottle with water, spray it on, and it covers the plant with a white protective coating. I have used it in past years, but I hoped the Japanese beetles wouldn't be too bad this year and i never got around to spraying my rose bush. I was wrong, the Japanese beetles had a field day, and ate holes in the leaves of the rose bush, and ate the blooms too. All because i was too lazy to cover my plant with "Surround."
When i reread the chapter above about the "Depreciation Room" and how it should have a sign above it that says, "Covered with Love," i thought about my rose bush. That "Surround Covering" is like the Grace of GOD, that enables us to "Cover with LOVE" a multitude of sins. Had i "Covered with Surround" my rose bush to start with, the Japanese beetles wouldn't have been able to eat it up. When we abide in CHRIST spending time with HIM daily,HE gives us the grace to "Cover with the Love" a multitude of sins and keeps them from eating away at our hearts...and defiling many. "See to it that no one misses the grace of GOD and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many" Hebrews 12:15. Instead of bitterness and anger and negative thoughts pouring out of our hearts and minds, HE helps us to forgive, and forget. HE enables us to have HIS loving and forgiving heart for our husbands, and children and others that wrong us as it says in Psalm 103:10-13"HE does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is HIS love for those who fear HIM; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression from us. As a father has compassion on HIS children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear HIM."

In this 46th year of my life, GOD amazes me with how HE continues to give me HIS love where i could not begin to love...to teach me to "Cover with Love" a multitude of sins, to dwell more and more in the "Appreciation Room" instead of the "Depreciation Room" in all of my relationships. I know that HE is doing this through me, little by little, day by day, as HE draws me into HIS Appreciation Room and teaches me to give thanks to HIM in everything.

As i thought about the song for this week, the beautiful old hymn, "In the Garden" came to my mind. This hymn was one of my dear, dear Grandmother's favorites who loved JESUS, loved every one she met, and loved her flowers. My Grandmother was one who could have been bitter about the events of her life...her first husband died at 27 leaving her with a 5 year old and 2 year old, and then when she did remarry many years later, her second husband was a heavy drinker, and she had a difficult life. But my dear Grandmother, lived by GOD's grace, and she "Covered with Love" those things in the Depreciation Room, and chose to live in "the Appreciation Room." Seven years before her husband died, the LORD JESUS saved him, and he became a new creature in CHRIST. He stopped drinking, went to church with her, read his Bible, and was a different person because of what CHRIST had done in his heart. My Grandmother was truly an example and inspiration to me and all who knew her of GOD's grace. She was able to "Cover with Love" a multitude of sins because she was covered by the blood of JESUS and spent time "In the Garden" with her SAVIOR.

"In the Garden" by C. Austin Mills (1868-1946)

"I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses;
And the VOICE I hear, falling on my ear, The SON of GOD discloses.

Chorus:
And HE walks with me, and HE talks with me, and HE tells me I am HIS own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.

HE speaks and the sound of HIS voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that HE gave to me Within my heart is ringing.

I'd stay in the garden with HIM Tho' the night around me be falling;
But HE bids me go; thro' the voice of woe, HIS voice to me is calling.




The older i get, the more i do love to spend time in my flower garden, like my Grandmother and Mother. JESUS, our HUSBANDMAN , loves to spend time with us alone in the Garden our hearts, where HE produces beautiful fruit and fragrant flowers that brings glory to HIM. In John 15:5 JESUS tells us, "I AM the VINE, you are the branches; he who abides in ME, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from ME you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in ME, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in ME, and MY words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." John 15:5-7.

HE knows just what needs weeding in my heart and just what needs pruning, how much rain and how much sunshine to bear the most fruit for HIS honor and glory. As i remember that, it helps me to rest in HIM, when HE allows those seasons of discipline that hurt...and i recoil at the pain. Spending time in the Garden with HIM, helps me learn to Appreciate my HUSBANDMAN's way with me...and helps me learn to stay in "the Appreciation Room," while HE patiently works in my life and the lives of those i love to accomplish HIS will.

"Why should I start at the plough of my LORD, that maketh the deep furrows on my soul? I know HE is no idle husbandman, HE purposeth a crop."
Samuel Rutherford


"The Appreciation Room" is a wonderful place to dwell, a bountiful and overflowing garden of the richness and beauty of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. In HIM lies peace and in HIM there is abundant and overflowing love to cover a "multitude of sins," including our own. "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...If GOD is for us, who can be against us? HE who did not spare HIS own SON, but gave HIM up for us all-how will HE not also, along with HIM, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:28,31,32


Thank you for remembering my friends Greg and Wanda Adams in your prayers. It's been a rough week at the hospital for them with complications from chemo, but they will both tell you that GOD has brought such wonderful blessings in their lives through their trials and they wouldn't trade this time for anything. Greg is home for now, and Wanda is his full time nurse, lovingly caring for her husband...so please continue to remember them. They live in that "Appreciation Room," with our SAVIOR and HE is revealing how very sweet HE is in their darkest days just as HE does ours. Truly our PROMISE KEEPER does keep HIS promises "Thou shalt see now whether MY words shall come to pass unto thee or not." -Numbers 11:23.
"YOU turned my wailing into dancing;YOU removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to YOU and not be silent. O LORD my GOD, I will give you thanks forever." Psalm 30:11-12.

I love you and wish you and your family a happy 4th of July weekend. What a debt of gratitude we owe to GOD and to those who have laid down their lives for us that we might enjoy the freedoms that we still have. It certainly is a time to reflect and pray and asked the LORD to help us during these perilous times and grant us courage and wisdom for the days ahead. A friend of mine said her family was going to read the "Declaration of Independence" together...i thought that was a great idea.
I read these quotes yesterday from Chuck Missler's email newsletter ( http://www.khouse.org/ ) on Freedom and wanted to share them with you:

Throughout world history, the power-hungry have constantly fought to overpower and dominate others, whether overtly or through sneaky politicking. Freedom - whether political, religious, or spiritual - is wonderful to enjoy, but at the cost of great sacrifice and vigilant protection. In America, we are the heirs of great sacrifices made to give us a heritage of freedom. Let us guard and protect this inheritance, and not squander it like ungrateful children. To keep our freedoms, we need to appreciate the cost. We need to be willing to understand the sacrifice ourselves, so that we have the same legacy to hand our children: On Freedom:

"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will." – Frederick Douglass
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine
"A right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one can take from you." – Ramsey Clark
"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free." - Clarence Darrow [That is, even if you don't like what your neighbor believes in, it's still vital to protect his freedom.]
"So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men." - Voltaire
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." - Wendell Phillips
"Freedom is never an achieved state; like electricity, we've got to keep generating it or the lights go out." - Wayne LaPierre
"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." - Somerset Maugham
"The land of the free will cease to be when it's no longer the home of the brave."- Rick Gaber
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government." – Thomas Jefferson
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." – Samuel Adams
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." - Thomas Paine
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." - Galatians 5:1 When something is rare, it has more value, which is why gold and diamonds are valued more than sand. Freedom is growing rarer again – but it must be sought after, dug up, and cherished like the treasure it is. We have readers from around the world – many of which value freedom way beyond those of us who have an abundance of it.

Remember – "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" - Luke 12:48



You are such a blessing to me...and i thank GOD for you and the love you have shown me and my family. Thank for taking time out of your busy schedules to spend this time with me this holiday weekend and our dear SAVIOR who gave HIMSELF that we might have eternal life and be free indeed. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." – John 8:36 "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

With all HIS love,
mitzi

"Simple gratitude helps us to experience GOD at work in every moment of every day."
-Harriet Crosby
The Bible Promise Book for Women

When GOD Stirs Our Nest

"Hear my cry, O GOD; attend to my prayer.
From the end of the earth i will cry to YOU,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For YOU have been a shelter for me,
A strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in YOUR tabernacle forever;
I will trust in the shadow of YOUR wings." Selah
Psalm 61:1-4

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for praying for Johnny and his surgery on his hand this week. His surgery went very well, and he returned to work a couple of days later. Thank you for praying for me and our "termite turmoil." I am still out in the camper, but the house is better, I am getting back into my routine, everyone is pitching in to help and it's a real blessing to have a "Pumpkin Shell" to stay in:).

Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't keep her,
Put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well ." -nursery rhyme my Mom used to read to me

A couple of more prayer requests is i'm going to start an antibiotic today and they are pretty rough on this gal who has difficulty detoxing chemicals...those persistent parasites are still there, and i sure would appreciate your prayers for me. Our kids are traveling today with their grandmother and our niece to Alaska...as a graduation gift to my niece...what an awesome gift from my dear in-laws. Please remember them as they travel... Thank you so much!



A few weeks ago when i was sitting in our den at our computer, when an army of insects flew across the room from the door facing near where i was sitting...i never dreamed the "stirring" these termites, as John Mac and Hannah Beth later identified them, would cause to my "nest." Many of you have been on my journey with me these past few weeks as i had the opportunity to drive out to Texas to see my doctor and do allergy skin testing-something i've been wanting to do for months...GOD was so gracious to give me the desire of my heart through these termites... I am reminded of the words to the great old hymn "Praise to the LORD, the Almighty." "Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been granted in what HE ordaineth?" This is a lesson the LORD continues to teach me over and over, as HE teaches me to "See HIM in everything, including termites," and termite bait that doesn't like me so well. I had a "come apart" with my husband and kids when the termite bait made me extremely irritable. As i mentioned above, my body doesn't detox chemicals so well, and they build up in me. I have a difficult time not "exploding," like a volcano when that happens. I am so thankful for my LORD and my family's forgiveness over and over and over.

As i write from my Mom and Dad's camper this week in our basketball court area, it is raining, and the rain on the window pain makes a soothing sound. Last Wednesday, after arriving home from Texas the night before, I slept in the car, to keep from going in the house where the bait was still in the den. My dear Dad was at my house early the next morning with their camper so i could have a "home, away from home." How thankful i am for Mom and Dad's love and generosity and to be able to stay in their camper...we have had two campers in the past that i have not been able to stay in due to the chemicals in them so i am really thankful...one night i slept in the car in 15 degree weather in Pigeon Forge because i couldn't tolerate the camper...that was in my younger days:). I helped my Dad set up the camper in the pouring rain with tornado siren warnings going off...the rain was not too soothing to me then. As i cleaned out the camper after my Dad left, wiping dust off the walls, and vacuuming, and doing general cleaning, i was having a real good pity party for myself, and felt like crying as the rain had poured earlier in the day. I didn't like the fact that the bait was still in the house, and i was having to stay outside, and the dust in the camper was making me feel bad on top of feeling totally unorganized. I wanted to get back in the house and start getting my "nest" back in order from having been gone for two and a half weeks, but i was afraid to because of how the termite bait had made me feel "drugged," and very irritable before i went to Texas. I did stay in the house a while later that evening and the next day, i paid for it.
After i got the camper cleaned out, i wasn't feeling too hot, but managed to get my belongings settled in, and have a semblance of order to my life. John Mac helped me get my sleeping bag and bedding washed so i could sleep on it...it had gotten some chemicals on it from another place i had stayed while i was away...a souvenir from Texas that i was glad to wash away. Our family went out to a Mexican restaurant that night (sure did make me miss that good Mexican restaurant David and Rhonda took me to in Burleson), and even though i was feeling pretty irritable, it was really good to be able to eat together with my family again...really good. We've had the blessing of grilling out this week, and enjoying several meals out on our deck...something i love to do.

As i reflect on the events of the past several weeks, and the turmoil and blessings that those termites have caused in not just my life, but my whole family- "when Mama's not happy, no one is happy," I stand amazed at the awesome, loving hand of my heavenly FATHER who orchestrates all things...even termite things. I tried to do my homework and make a right decision about what to treat the termites with to avoid happening what happened. I consulted with my doctor and patient educator at the clinic for a safer alternative...There were just some "twists" in there as GOD would have it, to accomplish HIS plans and purposes, and to "stir up my nest." Reflecting back, we could have done things differently like using Timbor (boric acid) only in the house, and baits outside...but GOD had a plan, and although it's been painful to me and my family at times, this was HIS way of working...the cross was painful to JESUS and we are called to follow in HIS steps..."If any man would come after ME, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23
"GOD is the Master Engineer, HE allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly-"By my GOD i have leaped over a wall." GOD will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of HIS. Peter says-"Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives GOD the chance to manifest HIMself in your mortal flesh."
-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for HIS Highest, May 15

Carolyn Gorman, the patient educator at the EHCD, has written a book called Less Toxic Alternatives you can purchase from the AEHF (www.aehf.com) by calling 1-800 -428-2343. This book is a culmination of her 20 plus years of working with patients who are environmentally ill and is packed with all kinds of safer alternatives to harsh chemicals we are around and use everyday...it is worth far, far more than what you pay for it. The 10th Edition of it will be coming out in July...you may want to wait and purchase the updated copy.


As i write this morning i think of my dear loved ones, from California, to Texas, to North Carolina, and here in Alabama whose "nests" have been stirred by the LORD in recent weeks and months...friends and family that i dearly love who are going through some of the greatest "stirrings" of their lives...much bigger things than termites in their house. One friend i ask you a while back to pray for her as her husband left her and her son, and now that she's finished homeschooling him, she has many decisions to face as she looks for a job, and decides where to live, and goes through the awfulness of a divorce that she never ever dreamed would be happening to her or her family. Another friend was just terminated from his church as pastor.

I shared with you how my doctor's world was turned upside down as her job ended at the clinic just as i arrived out there a few weeks ago. She found her "nest" stirred and upset all of the sudden. GOD is making a way for her through all of this and she is consulting from her office in Richardson. If any of you have "hit a wall" with your health issues, or know someone who has, you can set up a phone consult with her for a second opinion. Her office number is 972-234-4776. She also has her own supplement company, Texas Insitute of Integrative Medicine which carries the highest quality of supplements. You can order those by calling the same number. A quick correction here, i mentioned a couple of weeks ago a plaque she has in her office, "Ancora Impora," a quote by Michelangelo that means, "I am still learning." I said i thought it was Latin...well, i am still learning, it is Italian:).

I have asked for prayer for my dear friends Greg and Wanda Adams. Greg's cancer has reoccurred and they went for a second opinion this week. He will began treatments soon. This is an unexpected and not so welcome stirring of their "nest." Last year, at this time, my sis's job end suddenly for her...and she had a very good paying job, though very stressful. GOD in HIS divine love and sovereignty had other plans for her, and within 3 months, she was married, and she and her new husband, moved to Florida and now back to Alabama...but what a sweet year she has had getting to know her new husband, time she wouldn't have had if she had still been in the "rat race" of the other job she had had for the past three years.

GOD sure does have a way of "stirring our nests," and sometimes, often times, it is very painful, and very inconvenient, and just upsets all of our best laid plans. I have often referred to when i got sick when Johnny was pastoring in Billingsley, and our "nest" was stirred big time. We moved back home in a storm, me, with two little ones that i wasn't able to take care of very well. It took me a long time to get over that...feeling like a failure, and accepting that this was GOD's plan for us...how could being in the restaurant business be GOD's plan for us instead of Johnny being a pastor? Well, for one thing, i needed humbling, and i felt like we were too good to be in that business, though my in-laws had worked hard in it to help us out while Johnny was in seminary, and pastored a small church. Many years later I learned that the pesticides in the house we were living in at the church was making me sick, and probably contributed to the growth in Hannah Beth's throat where she almost died at 2 months, and then, 5 months. GOD used that "stirring of our nest" to deliver our family from further health perils. I don't know all the reason's HE stirred our nest, but i know that HE did...and this is where HE has chosen for us to live for the past 17 years.

I read a devotion earlier this week in Springs in the Valley that caused me to reflect on "GOD stirring our nest." I pray these words will bring comfort to your heart as they did mine, when our "nest" is stirred, as mine has been these past couple of months:

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest." Deuteronomy 32:11

GOD, like the eagle, stirs our nest. Yesterday it was the place for us; today there is a new plan. He wrecks the nest, although HE knows it is dear to us; perhaps, because it is dear to us. HE loves us too well not to spoil our meager contentment. Let not our minds, therefore, dwell on second causes. It is HIS doing! Do not let us blame the thorn that pierces us.
Though the destruction of the nest may seem wanton, and almost certainly come at an hour when I do not expect it; though the things happen that I least anticipate-let me guard my heart and be not forgetful of GOD's care, lest I miss the meaning of the wreckage of my hopes. HE has something better for me. GOD will not spoil our nest, and leave us without a nest, if a nest is best for us." HIS seemingly cruelty is love; therefore, let us always sit light with the things of time.
The eaglet says, "Teach me to fly!" The saints often sit idly wishing that they were like to their LORD. Neither is likely to recognize that the prayer is heard when the nest toppled over!
The breaking up of a nest an act of GOD's benevolence? What a startling thought!
Yet, here is an old writer who makes it a subject or praise; blesses GOD for it; declares it to be the first step of my education! I can understand praising HIM for HIS gifts to body and soul; but I lose my breath in surprise when I am asked to make the first stanza of my hymn the adoration of HIS mercy in loosing the ties of Home!
Nay, my soul, it is to strengthen these ties that my FATHER breaks up the nest; not to get rid of home, but to teach thee to fly! Travel with thy TEACHER and thou shalt learn that
The Home is wider than any nest!
He would have thee learn of the many mansions of which they nest is only one. He would tell thee of a brotherhood in CHRIST, which includes, yet transcends, thy household fires. HE would tell thee of the family altar, which makes thee brother to the outcast, sister to the friendless-in kinship to all.

Thy Father hath given thee wings in the breaking of thy ties!

The storm that shook thy nest taught thee to fly!
"GOD spreads broad wings;
And by HIS lifting, holy grace,
We find a wider, fairer place,
The freedom of untrammeled space;
Where clearer vision shows us things
The nest-view never brings.'
The wing-life is characterized by comprehensiveness. High soaring gives wide seeing!
-Dr. Jowett.


As i think about these words, i just erased and will have to retype them:), i am reminded of my heavenly FATHER's everlasting love to me through my dear earthly Daddy that HE has given me...HE used my Daddy to show HIS love to me, and provided a place for me to stay when HE "stirred up my nest." HE used my husband to work hard to provide the money for me to be able to go and have my skin testing done and pay for my doctor, and other friends to provide a place for me to stay and the Irby's to refresh me with HIS love last weekend. He's used my kids to help me get things in order around the house this week when i have felt overwhelmed. Our heavenly FATHER does stir our nest, but how HE provides HIS grace often times through HIS children to show us HIS love and mercy to get through the difficult days. How thankful i am for the love HE shows me through you to pray for me and encourage me and provide my needs in CHRIST JESUS. As Jacob says in Genesis 33:11, "God hath dealt graciously with me, and...I have [all things, more than] enough." In the May 14th writing for My Utmost for HIS Highest, Oswald Chambers writes;

"Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the SON of GOD is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the SON of GOD. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by GOD's engineering. If GOD puts you there, HE is amply sufficient."

My heavenly FATHER also has used this time to build further compassion in me for those who are going through struggles in their own lives. I told my doctor recently that i was having trouble "feeling" things again since i've been off my allergy shots and around this termite bait. Since i got home, my "feelings," in some ways have returned, and going through this "stirring" in my own life, causes me to think on others who have had their "nests stirred by GOD." It prompts me to pray for them and reach out to them in CHRIST's love. There is nothing like going through suffering in our own lives to build compassion in our hearts for others...thank you, LORD, i don't want a cold, stone heart that doesn't feel others pain and joy.
GOD has been "stirring the nest " of our country very much in recent months...our home, America, the "land of the free, the home of the brave....land that i love." I am so thankful for the verse in Proverbs that reminds us that: "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, he directs it like a watercourse wherever HE wishes." Proverbs 21:1. Isn't that a comfort to know, in these intense days of "change," going on in our country and our world, that GOD is in control of our President's heart? If we read the Bible, we will understand that all these "stirrings" must take place before JESUS returns for HIS bride, the Church, and the tribulation takes place...and then JESUS comes back, defeats HIS enemies, and defeats Satan once and for all...we win, the end has already been written!
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the HOLY CITY, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from GOD, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of GOD is with men, and HE will live with them. They will be HIS people, and GOD HIMself will be with them and be their GOD. He will wipe away every tear...and death shall be no more, neither...mourning..., for the former things have passed away." Rev. 21:1-4

I have gained a much greater understanding of what's going on in light of Bible prophecy by going to websites likewww.olivetreeviews.org, www.raptureready.com, www.gty.org, www.worldviewtimes.com or subscribing to the email list of Bible Prophecy today at bibleprophecytoday@gmail.com to help me better "Understand the Times." These prophecies being fulfilled only remind me that my FATHER is in control, HE had it written in HIS "Love Letter" to us thousands of years ago, and we are living in an exciting time to see these things coming to pass. HE loves us, we are HIS bride, that HE purchased by HIS own blood, and HE will take us through whatever happens.

These things that are going on about us today, are merely ushering the way for our LORD to set up HIS earthly kingdom one day and those who have trusted in JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and SAVIOR will rule and reign with HIM here on earth. I'm not sure what these "stirrings" in my nest now are preparing me for then, but it will be great to serve my KING and not have to worry about brain fog, or allergic reactions to anything...all this stuff is temporary. GOD is using these "momentary afflictions" to prepare us to rule and reign with HIM. "For i consider that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is going to be revealed to us." Romans 8:18 "If we suffer with HIM, we will reign with HIM." 2 Tim. 2:12. GOD has a way of weaning us from our earthly homes, and setting our eyes on HIM, and our eternal HOME...these "stirrings in the nest" of our country and our world may very well be GOD's way of accomplishing that for us. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the SON of MAN has nowhere to lay HIS head." Matthew 8:20. "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:14.

In my doctor's office in Richardson, Texas, Dr. Henry has a large picture of Noah's Ark hanging on her wall. As i stood and looked at that picture recently, i thought of the Ark of Salvation that we have in JESUS CHRIST to take us through any flood, however high the waters may come. The ark is a picture of our salvation in CHRIST from sin, "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16, and also from the trials and tribulations that we experience here on earth. "JESUS said in John 16:33, "These things i have spoken unto you, that in ME ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." From termite bait that drives me from my home, to loosing our jobs, loved ones, whatever we may hold dear including our country, JESUS is our ROCK and our REFUGE, our strong TOWER and SALVATION...even when we can't "feel" HIM like i haven't recently... "But when HE saw the wind, HE was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "LORD, save me." JESUS immediately reached out HIS hand and took hold of HIM, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" I sure have been there lately, doubting that GOD knows what's best for me, and then HE comes crashing through to remind me that HE loves me and brings peace to my heart in the midst of the storm.


Sleeping in my car earlier in the week(i've been sleeping in it a lot recently), i woke up during the middle of the night to see a beautiful full moon. Dark clouds were moving across it...they were moving, not staying:), just as dark clouds move across our paths, and work together for our good for those who love the LORD...Romans 8:28. As i watched the moon shining from behind the clouds, the Greene's www.thegreenesgospel.com) were singing on the CD player, "When GOD Has Another Plan," from their "Far Down the Road" CD. Taranda does a beautiful job singing this song...about accepting when GOD has another plan for us than the one we thought. May the LORD use the words to this song to strengthen and encourage your heart as it does mine when HE "stirs our nest" and asks us to walk with HIM in faith to a better place..."Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6.

With all HIS love,
mitzi


"When GOD Has Another Plan" by Amy Keffer-Shellem/Daryl Williams

Forsaken by his brothers, didn't fit the scene,
Being made a slave, was not what Joseph dreamed
The coat of many colors was stained with blood and lies
But from this divine appointment, a ruler would arise.

Chorus:
When GOD has another plan, walk on and just say yes
When GOD has another plan, be assured that HE knows best.
When all your dreams are shattered, rest in HIS sufficient grace
We don't have to understand, when GOD has another plan

Alone and broken hearted, questions fill your mind
Changes can be hard that come by GOD's design
But if you could see tomorrow, with a view from heaven's throne
Every unexpected struggle, has led you closer HOME


The way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance, every trial, straight from the hand of a loving FATHER; and to live up in the heavenly places, above the clouds, in the very presence of the throne, and to look down from the glory upon our environment as lovingly and divinely appointed." Selected, from Streams in the Desert, May 13


"Perhaps strength doesn't reside in having never been broken...
but in the courage required to grow strong in the broken places."

'The Old Rugged Cross"

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of GOD." I Corinthians 1:18

The Old Rugged Cross by George Bernard

On a hill faraway stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best, For a world of lost sinners was slain.

O the old rugged cross, so despised by the world, Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear LAMB of GOD left HIS glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross JESUS suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will every be true; Its shame and reproach gladly bear.
Then HE'll call me someday to my home far away Where HIS glory forever I'll share.

Chorus:
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown.

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Ten years ago, this Easter Sunday, I left my husband and my two children who were 9 and 7 at the time, and boarded an airplane for Dallas, Texas. I wasn't sure how long i would be gone, i had hoped no longer than a couple of weeks, but it turned into six and a half weeks before i would see my babies again. I had reached the point of desperation in my struggle with my health issues, and tried doctor after doctor after doctor with little or no help and often the treatment i received made me worse. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I had been sick for 9 years, since John Mac was 8 months old, with pain that began in my back and gradually migrated all over my body, not to mention it felt like my back muscles had shrunk and were a couple of sizes to small for me, allergic reactions to medicine that sent me to the emergency room for the first time in my life, twice, actually, and left me with searing burning pain throughout my body for months. I had to eat constantly and huge amounts to stay full, was a nervous wreck, and had reached the point that i could not walk unless i took IV's. I was 36 years old, and i was a mess. It was humbling to say the least after being a college athlete, becoming an RN, a pastor's wife, and one who like to do things for myself. My lessons in dependence really stung my pride that i couldn't even take care of myself hardly, much less do a good job caring for my family.

When i boarded the plane for Dallas, it was with the hopes that the doctor out there, Dr. William Rea, who have founded the Environmental Health Clinic,(www.ehcd.com) would be able to help me where no other doctor seemed to have the answers to my issues. After i arrived in Dallas at the apartment complex i was staying in for Dr. Rea's patients, i drug my suitcase up the steps to the second floor late at night and knocked on the door. The door opened and a man let me inside the apartment. There was nothing inside the room except a wire patio table and chairs, and a park bench a lady was sitting on watching TV hooked up to an Oxygen mask. I thought to myself, "Wow, I've got a sick one (for a roommate). Little did i know, that i would be taking oxygen myself in just a few days and a lot of it. I found my room, and it was just as bleak as the den area, it was empty except for a couple of metal frames with cotton bedding and sheets on them, with a lamp and clock on a metal table beside the bed. Talk about culture shock -it was depressing. I had been warned it would be this way, by the new patient coordinator i had talked with on the phone earlier, but nothing could prepare me for this. It was sparsely furnished like this because by the time most of Dr. Rea's patients find their way to him, they are allergic to everything whether they know it or not, and i was about to find out, i was one of those who was allergic to everything. Except for my desperate health situation...i would have turned around and left. As i opened my suitcase to hang up my clothes in the large closet in my bedroom, i saw several signs that Hannah Beth had colored for me in her 7 year old handwriting on construction paper saying she loved me and would miss me, and had drawn pictures on them. I put them up in the bathroom and they made me cry as i missed my family and i sure was scared and lonely. I'm crying even now as i think about how lonesome, scared, and yet hopeful i was that this doctor could help me. That was 10 years ago this Easter Sunday that i left for Dallas and how very grateful i am for the LORD JESUS showing me HIS love and me to my doctors in Dallas whom GOD has used to restore my health.

The way that my doctors practice medicine is often looked at as "foolishness" by those who practice traditional medicine...until one of those doctor's who practice traditional medicine gets sick from chemicals, and comes to Dallas for healing...GOD has a way of using suffering in their own lives to change their minds. In order to prepare my doctors to be able to bring others out of their bondage of sickness from chemicals and mold, GOD allowed them to suffer from similar issues as their patients, while they were practicing medicine...I'm sure it wasn't a welcome interruption in their busy lives at first...crosses never are welcome at first. Dealing with their own sicknesses, while they were trying to care for others must have been very difficult. I know it was very difficult for me when i just had my family i was trying to care for while i was sick. There has been a cost to them as they both left practices that made much more money, Dr. Rea as a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, and Dr. Henry as an Internal Medicine Doctor with her own family practice...to practice Environmental Medicine where the insurance doesn't always pay so well, and they do their best to keep the costs down for their patients. There have been other costly battles legal battles along the way...and how thankful i am for the boldness and courage GOD has given them to fight for their patients. Through their "cross," GOD has brought healing to thousands, who had nowhere else to turn. Life out of death, the message of the cross, and so much healing has been borne out of my doctors "deaths" to their own plans and purposes . Through their "crosses" GOD has granted hope and healing to thousands of patients like me who were lost in a wilderness of suffering and couldn't find our way out. How thankful I am for the plan that GOD already had in place to deliver me from my sickness...there were times i thought nobody could relate to what was wrong with me, and GOD had it all under control. The LOVE of GOD had already prepared my doctors through their "cross" so they could deliver me and countless others from our desperate health situations.

For a glimpse of the wealth of knowledge concerning how chemicals affect our health and the humility that GOD has built into Dr. Rea's life through "his cross," click on: http://progressive.uvault.com/pd1005/AEM073/05Rea/player.htm.



This is a most special time of the year for me for another reason as it was in April of 1982 that the LORD JESUS delivered me from my sin that HE had already paid for two thousand years ago on the cross. "For HE delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of HIS beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

I had wrestled with my sin throughout my teenage years as i was in a dating relationship that was not pleasing to the LORD. CHRIST would not let me go, and gently continued to convict me of my sins, and drew me to HIM. After surrendering my life to HIM at a youth revival, something was really different this time... I had prayed before and tried to live right, but this time i had a joy, I'd never known, i felt like a huge burden had been lifted from me, and a hunger and thirst for GOD, HIS WORD, and HIS people like I'd never had before. THIS was HIS doing, not mine own. I also had a huge desire to be obedient to the LORD and my parents. I was changed and no one could do that but JESUS CHRIST who gave HIMself for me on the Cross "At Calvary." I was baptized on Easter Sunday, April 11, 1982, as an outward sign of what CHRIST had done in my life inwardly. "Therefore we have been buried with HIM through baptism into death, in order that as CHRIST was raised from the dead through the glory of the FATHER, so we too might walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

That has been 27 years ago, if my math is correct, that JESUS CHRIST led me out of the bondage of my sin...Praise the LORD, and as i shared last week, "the longer i serve HIM the sweeter HE grows." The more I "gaze at the cross," as my friend Ashlie Clay shared with me last week, the more I realize how very much my SAVIOR loves me. I continue to sin, everyday, and will in this life, but CHRIST has forgiven me for all of them, and HE has given me a desire to be holy and more like HIM. HE has given me the power through HIS HOLY SPIRIT to overcome the sin in my life and sin doesn't have the power over me that it once did..."My chains are gone, I've been set free."

JESUS, the Lamb of GOD, was crucified on an old rugged Cross, as GOD's perfect plan for our redemption. GOD sent HIS SON from heaven to pay for our sins, to deliver us from the bondage of sin, because our sin had to be paid for in order for us to be justified before our holy GOD..."oh the LOVE that drew salvation's plan, and oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the gulf that GOD did span at Calvary." This awful day, and it was awful, yet glorious for us, as the precious Lamb of GOD was beaten beyond recognition, HIS muscles lacerated by the whips that had sharp pieces of metal woven into them, and finally he was nailed to a wooden cross, naked, to be the Passover Lamb, so that HIS blood could be shed, and cover all of our sins. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only Son that whosoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

In the Old Testament, when GOD was delivering the Hebrew children from the bondage of being in slavery to the Egyptians, he told Moses to tell the Hebrews to take a lamb, a lamb without blemish, and keep it until the 14th day of the same month. I have read where these lambs became like pets to the Hebrews, and they were loved, while they kept them in their homes. I have thought of that often since we have a little Maltipoo now that stays in the house..."Troy" reminds me of a lamb, and how painful it would be to have to kill him as a sacrifice for our sins. On the 14th day of the month they were to kill the lamb at twilight, and take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts of the houses where they ate...when the LORD passed through the land of Egypt and struck the firstborn dead, those who had the blood on their doorpost like the LORD commanded would be saved from their firstborn being killed. "Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations." Exodus 12:13-14

Several years ago, our Sunday School class at Elkmont Baptist, when through a Bible study of the 7 Feasts of Israel. It was at that time that i understood for the first time, that JESUS the dear precious Lamb of GOD who takes away the sin of the world, was crucified on Passover, to be the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Corinthians 5:7-8).


Sadly, to many in our world today, GOD's plan for salvation- " The Message of the Cross is Foolishness..."

"that CHRIST died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that HE was buried, and that HE was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ...and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve and after that HE appeared to more than five hundred brethern at one time."I Corinthians 15:3-6

...but to us who are being saved it is the power of GOD. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Where now is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not GOD made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of GOD, the world through its wisdom did not know what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach CHRIST crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom GOD has called, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST the power of GOD and the wisdom of GOD." I Corinthians 1:18-24.

I am very grateful for the cross that HE has allowed in my life through my sickness, though at times it has looked very foolish to me. HE has taught me and my family so much through it, and used my"cross" in many ways to draw me closer to HIM and be able to identify with HIS sufferings on the cross. So many of these emails i write are "borne" out of the cross that CHRIST in HIS perfect love for me, has allowed me to carry for HIM.

In this week's April 8 Streams in the Desert I read this comforting and challenging words...words that I can only obtain to through the cross that JESUS died on for me and you:

Here is the secret of Divine all-sufficiency, to come to the end of everything in ourselves and in our circumstances. When we reach this place, we will stop asking for sympathy because of our hard situation or bad treatment, for we will recognize these things as the very conditions of our blessing, and we will turn from them to God and find in them a claim upon Him. --A. B. Simpson
George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, who recently went to be with the Lord, said: "My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross; but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory.
"Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows."


My hope and prayer for you my dear friends and family is this Easter you will know the salvation that is ours in CHRIST JESUS...GOD loves you so much and doesn't want anyone to be "Left Behind," to go through the terrible, terrible days of the Tribulation...Rev. 6-19. HE sent HIS SON to save us from those days and eternal damnation for our sins. I believe with all my heart that HE is going to return soon for HIS bride and take us to heaven - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5PfFMy6-n0 .
-
"For if we believe that JESUS died and rose again, even so GOD will bring with HIM those who have fallen asleep in JESUS...For the LORD HIMself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of GOD; and the dead in CHRIST shall rise first.Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air, and thus we shall always be with the LORD. Therefore comfort one another with these words." I Thess.5:14-18

Those who have studied prophecy in the Scriptures much more than I have sure do say the signs are pointing to HIS imminent return. Dr. Thomas Ice of the Pre-Tribulation Research Center http://www.pre-trib.org/index.php shared on a recent blog how Scripture is being fulfilled to bring about the end times- http://bible-prophecy-today.blogspot.com/2009/03/prophecy-on-fast-forward.html This Easter you can know GOD's love and HIS plan for salvation by simply trusting in what CHRIST did for us on the cross and repenting from your sins...HE has done the rest "On the Old Rugged Cross."

You are very dear to me and I thank GOD for your love for us. Thank you so much for your dear prayers for me and my family...through all these years GOD has led us. HE has been so faithful and encouraged us and cheered us on by your love and friendship, your wisdom, and tender loving care for us. How i praise HIM for HIS wonderful love and plan of salvation for you and me... through "The Old Rugged Cross."

Happy Easter,
Mitzi



Please pray for Johnny who had carpel tunnel surgery this week on his wrist.

"Love Letters"

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth."-Song of Solomon 1:2

Dear Friends,

A few nights ago, i was up in the attic, rummaging around searching for some special treasures. I wasn't sure they were up there, but I had a hunch so I started looking through a few old boxes that had my first pair of Nike basketball shoes that my husband had bought me in the 10th grade. We met when I was 14 and he was 19. They were white leather high tops with a black Nike swoosh...i loved those shoes and i imagined they made me run faster and jump higher on the basketball court. I saw a scrapbook that had a picture of yellow roses that Johnny sent me for Valentines one year we were dating and in that scrapbook is still the red cellophane wrapper from a box of heartshape chocolates he gave me when we were dating. There was an old high school annual, trophies from softball and volleyball, a pair of blue knee pads from my college basketball days, and a book of poems i had written during high school containing some of my deepest emotions from those days. The LORD didn't disappoint me in my search, and there in one of the boxes was "exceeding abundantly beyond all i ask or thought." I found some "love letters" that my husband had written me before we got married. We dated for 4 years during my high school and junior college years. Not only was Johnny pursuing me during those years, but the "Lover of My Soul," was also pursuing me, and CHRIST captured me to be HIS bride, the end of my sophomore year in college. I stopped dating Johnny then because he wasn't a CHRISTian and the HOLY SPIRIT was teaching me from GOD's WORD that i wasn't supposed to be dating someone who wasn't a CHRISTian. II Cor. 6:14 Little did I know, a month after i became a CHRISTian that GOD would save Johnny, when he was all alone down in his basement reading through the gospel of John. GOD broke his heart over his sins. That summer we dated a little but after going to a Bill Gothard conference together i really felt the LORD was leading me not to date him anymore, and it broke his heart. Later that summer, i went off to school at the University of Montevallo, and he stayed home and worked for General Motors. He was back home praying as hard as he could the LORD would change my heart, and wrote me "love letters," while i was at Montevallo. I had forgotten about these letters to be honest, when i was looking for his "love letters," to me,(i was looking for cards he'd written me since we have been married) but, oh, what precious memories these letters brought back, as i felt the tender emotion that my husband (my wanna be husband then), had written them with. They rekindled a new passion in my heart for my dear husband after i read his "love letters," and I gained an understanding of the difficult time that was for him as he walked in faith, praying the LORD would open my heart to him. It was so sweet to read in them about Johnny's growth in the LORD as a young CHRISTian. He wrote about how he was reading the WORD, spending time in prayer, going to church, and being encouraged by some older men in CHRIST. He wrote about the desires CHRIST was putting into his heart about the future, possibly about going back to school and becoming a medical doctor and going to the foreign mission field, and he wrote about his love for me. He did go back to school, but didn't go the medical school route. Instead he finished in business and psychology and went on to seminary and got his Master's in Theology preparing for the foreign mission field. After i got sick, our foreign mission field became our home town, and that's where the LORD has kept us the past 16 plus years. As i read, he wrote about how he was trusting GOD in our relationship before he won me over and he wrote how he couldn't believe how quickly the LORD changed my heart after he'd won me over and he was so happy. He said some other really tender things that are so dear to my heart. After the LORD won me over through Johnny's unconditional love, we went out once after we had been broken up for several months, and he proposed to me. I said "yes," Thanksgiving weekend 1982, and we were married the following May 28. I am so thankful i did say, "yes," and my husband has kept his promises to me for the past 26 years and loved me as CHRIST loves HIS bride, the Church. GOD has allowed our journey of marriage to take many twists and turns, and we've experienced good times, bad times, sad times, and joyful times and how i thank the LORD for my dear husband who has stood by me, "for better or for worse, for richer or for poor, in sickness and in health, til death do us part." When he got home from work night after i had read those letters he wanted to know what was up with me... he could tell I was really glad to see him, my welcome home kiss to him was a little more enthusiastic than usual. Hannah Beth told him i had just gotten through reading some of his "love letters," to me. Well, 26 years later, i can say GOD used those letters to "woo" my heart to my husband then, and he's still using them to "woo" my heart to him.

I recently the biography of John Newton's life and what a sweet, sweet love story his life was...that of JESUS CHRIST "wooing" him and loving him unconditionally through years of John Newton being a reprobate, turning his back on the LORD, becoming an atheist through the influence of false teaching, blaspheming the LORD, and doing all he could to persuade others to turn their backs on CHRIST. I know i mentioned him several times in my emails in recent weeks as the one who wrote the great hymn "Amazing Grace," but after i read his biography i have such a greater appreciation of just why he wrote "Amazing Grace." John Newton you remember, was greatly influenced by John Wesley, who was saved when he was 35 after being very legalistic and thought he was a CHRISTian for years, and George Whitefield, the Great Awakening preacher. John Newton's mom, was a Dissenter from the Church of England, which meant that she didn't believe in the formal ritualistic teaching of the church of England, but being saved by grace alone through JESUS CHRIST. She was a godly mother and she taught John how to read the Scriptures by the time he was four and he could read Latin at age six. He was only 7 years old when his beloved Mother who prayed that he would become a pastor one day, died. John's Dad remarried, and John resented his stepmother, and never felt like she loved him and did not have a good relationship with his Dad. He became a bitter and angry young man, and was very rebellious. Except for a brief period in his young teens when he became "reformed," John became a true reprobate...carousing with the women, swearing, disobedient, lying to his Dad, undependable, and a real trouble maker on the ships he worked on. In the biography it tells over and over of times that GOD intervened in John Newton's life to either save him from death, break him of his stubborn and rebellious pride, direct his paths to people who helped him, and finally to lead him to a saving faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST when he went through a terrible storm and the ship he was on almost sunk.
One of the sweet themes throughout the book is the supernatural and enduring love God gave him for his wife...they had such a sweet and intimate relationship. He met her when he was 17 and she was 14 and he loved her throughout all the trials and struggles and separations he went through being on slave ships for years. He begged her to write him, while he was away...and to wait for him to marry her. Though she didn't return his love very much during those years, he continued to love her through all the obstacles he had to endure to win her heart. He was kidnapped by a "Press Gang," and made to join the Enlish Navy. On one of the ships John was on, he would read the Bible so he could make fun of GOD to those on the ship. Eventually, GOD used HIS word from HIS "love letters," to break John's heart over his sin. Many,many months and trials later, he made it back to England, a new creature in CHRIST. The girl he loved so much, and wrote love letters to was still not married, and GOD gave John Newton the desire of his heart, and she became his Bride. GOD in HIS sweet love for John Newton, though such a reprobate and blasphemer, saved him, not because he deserved it, but because of GOD's amazing love for him. GOD replaced John's anger and bitterness with HIS love and he went on to become a pastor as his Mother had prayed, a hymnwriter, and beloved husband. GOD use John Newton so mightily in England and around the world as he was instrumental in the slave trade being abolished. He was the one who because of his background in the slave trade, was able to influence William Wilberforce, a Christian and member of Parliament to fight against the slave trade, and to stay in politics to make a difference for CHRIST. What an inspiring story of GOD's "wooing" and redeeming love in the life of John Newton. Now, when i sing "Amazing Grace," i have a much greater appreciation of the amazing love that CHRIST had for John Newton and for me and you to "woo" us to HIM through HIS unfathamable love for you and me.

I have been thinking so much recently of GOD's "love letters" to me and how much JESUS loves me...how much HE pursued me as a teenager, when i was walking in sin and the paths of the world. JESUS just kept loving me and pursuing me and never let me go. HE won my heart, captured it , one March night in 1982, and i have been HIS bride ever since. HE has kept loving me and "wooing," me through this journey of life and truly "the longer i serve HIM, the sweeter HE grows." I have read through HIS "love letters," many times through the years, and each year, HIS "love letters," become more and more dear to me, as HE helps me understand more and more how much HE loves me. HE truly is the "Lover of our Soul," and is our Husband, and pursues us, and cares for us so very tenderly. When HE saved me from my sins, HE instantly gave me a supernatural love for HIS "Love Letters,", and opened my eyes to understand HIS WORD in a way that i never had before. Thankfully, HE has kept that supernatural thirst in my heart for HIS "love letters" and in it HE :


- "Woos" me to HIM through HIS HOLY SPIRIT:

"No one can come to ME unless the FATHER who sent ME draws him..." John 6:44
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn thee." Jeremiah 31:3.

- He shows me HIS path to salvation:

"that CHRIST died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that HE was buried, and that HE rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
I Corinthians 15:3-4, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD JESUS, and shalt believe in thine heart that GOD hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
"But GOD, who is rich in mercy, for HIS great love wherewith HE loved us,even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with CHRIST, (by grace ye are saved;) Ephesians 2:4,

-Keeps me from sin:

"Thy WORD have i hid in my heart that i might not sin against THEE." Psalm 119:11

He reminds me over and over and over how very much HE loves me and you:

"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON, that whosoever believeth in HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

"And I will betroth thee unto ME forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto ME in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." Hosea 2:19

"He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth ME: and he that loveth ME shall be loved of my FATHER, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." John 14:21-oh the sweet, sweet kisses of JESUS that manifests HIMself to us.

"But of HIM you are in CHRIST JESUS, who became for us wisdom from GOD-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."I Corinthians 1:30

I could go on and on and on and on and on, and not began to touch the surface of the depth of love that our JESUS, our Bridegroom, our Redeemer shares with us in HIS "love letters," to me and to you...you're just going to have to read HIS "love letters," yourself and find out how very sweet HIS kisses are, and how very much HE loves you and me.

Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, knew the deep, deep intimacy of the love of JESUS . He knew what the kisses of JESUS felt like, tasted like, and he shared that sweet and intimate love to all who would listen. In his April 1 Morning and Evening devotion book, he writes:


"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth."
--Song of Solomon 1:2
For several days we have been dwelling upon the Saviour's passion, and for some little time to come we shall linger there. In beginning a new month, let us seek the same desires after our Lord as those which glowed in the heart of the elect spouse. See how she leaps at once to Him; there are no prefatory words; she does not even mention His name; she is in the heart of her theme at once, for she speaks of Him who was the only Him in the world to her. How bold is her love! It was much condescension which permitted the weeping penitent to anoint His feet with spikenard--it was rich love which allowed the gentle Mary to sit at His feet and learn of Him--but here, love, strong, fervent love, aspires to higher tokens of regard, and closer signs of fellowship. Esther trembled in the presence of Ahasuerus, but the spouse in joyful liberty of perfect love knows no fear. If we have received the same free spirit, we also may ask the like. By kisses we suppose to be intended those varied manifestations of affection by which the believer is made to enjoy the love of Jesus. The kiss of reconciliation we enjoyed at our conversion, and it was sweet as honey dropping from the comb.
The kiss of acceptance is still warm on our brow, as we know that He hath accepted our persons and our works through rich grace. The kiss of daily, present communion, is that which we pant after to be repeated day after day, till it is changed into the kiss of reception, which removes the soul from earth, and the kiss of consummation which fills it with the joy of heaven. Faith is our walk, but fellowship sensibly felt is our rest. Faith is the road, but communion with Jesus is the well from which the pilgrim drinks.
O Lover of our Souls, be not strange to us; let the lips of Thy blessing meet the lips of our asking; let the lips of Thy fulness touch the lips of our need, and straightway the kiss will be effected."


I have to confess, after reading those "love letters" from my husband sure did warm my heart towards him, and just reminded me how he loved me and pursued me, and wanted me, above all others to be his bride. What an honor and a privilege! JESUS wants you and me, above all others, to be HIS Bride. He has elected and chosen us and HE paid the price for our sins to redeem us from our sins, that we might be HIS forever and ever:

"Blessed be the GOD and FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in CHRIST, just as HE chose us in HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before HIM in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by JESUS CHRIST to HIMself, according to the good pleasure of HIS will, to the praise of the glory of HIS grace, by which HE made us accepted in the BELOVED." Ephesians 1:3-6

HE wants us to spend time with HIM growing in our intimacy with HIM and letting "HIM kiss us with the kisses of HIS mouth." HE longs for us to spend time with HIM each morning, reading HIS "love letters," before the day begins. HE loves us, encourages us, gives us direction, wisdom, peace, assurance that HE is with us and "will never leave us or forsake us." HE gives us HIS strength for the day to obey HIM and serve HIM. HIS mercies are new every morning, and "all i have needed Thy hand hath provided, GREAT is THY Faithfulness, LORD unto me"...the Lover of My Soul.

Taranda Greene, www.thegreenesgospel.com sings a beautiful song that Dottie Rambo wrote called "Love Letters," on their "Far Down the Road," CD. Dottie Rambo went home to be with the LORD last year after much suffering in this life and now she is in the presence of the "Lover of her Soul," JESUS CHRIST. I wish i could share a recording of Taranda singing this song with you because she sings it with such tender emotion. It goes straight to your heart of the depth of love JESUS has for us, as HE reminds us how much HE loves us, and wants to "name us and claim us as HIS own..."
JESUS is still "wooing" today, those who don't know HIM as LORD and SAVIOR yet. HE wants "to claim you and name you HIS own." Surrender your life to HIM today, the LOVER of YOUR SOUL, before it is too late. Let HIM who gave HIS life for me and you, "kiss us with the kisses of HIS mouth." May we drink deeply of our SAVIOR's love and feast on HIS "love letters," written to HIS BRIDE, you and me.

With all HIS love,
mitzi


"Love Letters" by Dottie Rambo

"I was going through memories and treasures today
Found YOUR love letters I'd hidden away
There was tender emotion with each stroke of YOUR pen
I opened the letters and read them again.

Then I counted the gifts YOU had given so free
YOU never stopped giving with no word from me
They were wrapped with silk ribbons with notes marked in red
I turned through the pages, here's what YOU said

Chorus:
Remember I love you with a love I have loved you
I'd like to claim you, name you my own
Remember I love you with a love I have loved you
When you doubt that I do count the tears scattered through
MY love letters to you

By the light of the candle I picked up my pen
Words don't come easy how do I begin
Oh I pray I've not waited to long to reply
Angel bear my letter to my love in the sky

Just read your answer with tears in my eyes
And YOU tell me that the stage has been set for the GROOM and the BRIDE
Oh i shutter to think just how sad life would be
If I had never read YOUR love letters to me.

"All About Me"

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and uncircumsion of your flesh, HE has made alive together with HIM, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And HE has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross." Col. 2:13,14

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

This past week, my dear husband took Hannah Beth and me to a target range to brush up on our shooting skills-and i needed a lot of brushing up. After working through lunch at the restaurant, Johnny went to the store and finished getting what we needed in the way of ammo,(thankfully that is still available). When he got home he prepared the guns for us and had everything ready. Except for us helping him load up and carry everything to the truck, he did everything else to get ready. Johnny and Hannah Beth set up the targets that Johnny had brought along a big huge bank of red dirt. Those old political signs we've had lying around behind our garage came in handy for hanging targets on, and he and Hannah Beth clothes pinned the "human" paper target to the sign. We unloaded all the equipment, and Johnny and Hannah Beth began loading the cartridges the bullets go in. Hannah Beth showed me how to do that so i helped her while my husband was getting other gun things ready. We got on our ear protection, and i wore double, ear plugs and a head set, and it was still loud to me. Our pastor and his wife joined us and brought their guns and ammo and we had a "blast," literally. We started off shooting the handguns. I had been wanting to practice with one particular gun that i have claimed as mine. I liked it because it was lightweight and easy to carry, but Johnny knew when i actually ever shot it that i might not like it as well as i thought, and he was exactly right. I walked to the place to stand to shoot and Johnny had to remind me how to hold my gun-it had been a long time since i've taken a gun safety class. I held my gun the way Johnny showed me, and tried to pull the trigger. It was hard to pull. I scrunched up my face, and finally managed to get my nerve up to pull the trigger and shoot at the target. I don't think i got anywhere near where i was aiming. I did that a few more times, my finger reluctantly pulling the trigger each time, and i was humbled after that...i was a "winnie" when it came to shooting that gun, and i didn't want anything else to to do with it. The gun kicked everytime i shot it and hurt my hand and my arm, it was loud, and i missed terribly where i was aiming. Thankfully, Johnny didn't give up on me, though i did give up on that gun. He lovingly provided me, and the others with all kinds of guns to try, and i found a Glock, and another gun that was smooth and easy to shoot, and i was able to hit the target where i was aiming. Johnny spent most of his time helping Hannah Beth and me stay in guns and ammo, giving us pointers how to shoot, and reminding me not to walk in front of folks who are getting ready to shoot. I don't even recall him shooting while we were shooting the handguns for helping us do everything. When he and our pastor and HB went to shoot the "big guns," he did some shooting then. The rest of the time, it was "all about us."
Later on as i reflected on my husband's love to help his bride and my daughter learn to defend ourselves, I thought about how my husband really reminded me of CHRIST sacrificing HIS life for the Church, HIS bride. You see Johnny had already worked that day at the restaurant through lunch, and i know that every step he takes to provide for us, whether it be making a living, or teaching us to protect ourselves, is a step of pain, pain from arthritis in his joints, but he does that for us because he loves us.
A couple of weeks ago, at our ladies retreat our dear leader, Kathy Bond shared on the topic of "All About Me." I've always associated "All About Me," with a negative connotation, being focused on myself instead of CHRIST and others. When she shared, it made me think of "All About Me," in a whole different way than i ever had before. She started sharing, it really is all about me and you...how much CHRIST loves us and gave HIMself for us and gives and gives to us each and every day. I could see this in the way my husband lovingly gives and gives for our family each day as he lays down his life to provides spiritual leadership, love, protection, finances, wisdom, peace when termites invade our den like they did this week, and a myriad of other needs to me and our family. JESUS is our BRIDEGROOM, and the Church, those HE gave HIMself for to redeem from the bondage of sin, is HIS bride. HE shouts HIS love to us through all the blessings HE lavishes upon each and every moment of our lives...and most often our greatest blessings come from our greatest trials.
As i have been reflecting on the concept of "All About Me," since the retreat, and as i read through GOD's WORD, every page of the HIS WORD, shouts "I love you, I love you, I love you," from our Husband, JESUS. "For thy MAKER is thy HUSBAND." Isaiah 54:5

Would you match with a WISE HUSBAND? Haste then, sinners, come away to Jesus: He is the fountain of wisdom, and makes all that come unto him, wise unto salvation: "He is the wisdom of the Father: the Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. When he prepared the heavens, he was there; when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then was he with him, as one brought up with him; he was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." As he is wise, so is he HOLY; and therefore, in the words of our text, he is stiled, "The Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:" and by the angel Gabriel, "That holy Thing." The apostles, addressing God the Father, stile him his "holy child Jesus:" and the spirits of just men made perfect, and the angels in heaven, cease not day or night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy." Nor is his BEAUTY inferior to his wisdom or holiness; the seraphs veil their faces, when they appear before him: "He is the chiefest among ten thousand, nay, he is altogether lovely." And, as he is altogether lovely, so is he altogether LOVING: his name and his nature is Love. God, God in Christ is love: love in the abstract. And in this has he manifested his love, in that, whilst we were yet sinners, may open enemies, Jesus, in his own due time, died for the ungodly. He loved us so as to give himself for us. O what manner of love is this! What was Jacob's love to Rachel, in comparison of the love which Jesus bore to a perishing world! He became a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is every man that hangeth upon a tree." What Zipporah said to her husband improperly, Jesus may say properly to his spouse the church, "A bloody wife hast thou been to me, because of the crucifixion." For he has purchased her with his own blood. And having once loved his people, he loves them unto the end. His love, like himself, is from everlasting to everlasting. He hates putting away: though we change, yet he changeth not: he abideth faithful. When we are married here, there comes in that shocking clause, t use the words of holy Mr. Boston, "Till death us doth part:" but death itself shall not separate a true believer from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus his Lord: for he will never cease loving his Bride, till he has loved her to heaven, and presented her before his Father, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Nay, his love will, as it were, but be beginning, through the endless ages of eternity.
-from the sermon CHRIST the Believer's Husband, George Whitefield (1714-1770), http://www.biblebb.com/files/whitefield/GW012.htm


It's amazing how you hear or read Scripture for years and then little by little it starts sinking in, as the HOLY SPIRIT reveals HIS TRUTH to us...that because HIS WORD is eternal, and alive. Then all of the sudden it's like a light bulb goes off in your head...that's sort of the way this concept has been as i reflect on the Oceanflowing LOVE of my JESUS for us. I've been reading in Deuteronomy the past few days and from those verses from my daily Bible reading JESUS has been whispering to my heart, "I love you, Mitzi, and it is all about how much I love you, and those I have chosen to set my affections upon to lavish MY love upon"-WOW!

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your GOD; the LORD your GOD has chosen you to be a people for HIMself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set HIS love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people (or smarter, or richer, or American, these were the Israelites), but because the LORD loves you..."Deut.7:6-8.(He loves me). This was written to GOD's chosen people, the Jews, but because of what CHRIST has done for us on the cross, we Gentiles who have repented of our sins, and believed in the LORD JESUS are engrafted into the family tree... Romans 11:11-21. "But GOD demonstrate HIS love for us in that while we were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us."(I love you) and in Romans 11:25 Paul says, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery brothers, so that you may not be conceited:" Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in."(I love you) Those "Gentiles," are you and me, (anyone who is not a JEW) that GOD has set HIS love and affection upon...those HE has elected, vs. 28, to love us, save us, redeem us, bless us, and take us home to be with HIM and rule and reign with HIM. HE's preparing us right now for the position we are going to have with HIM to rule one day. II Tim.2:12, "If we suffer with HIM, we will reign with HIM: if we deny HIM, HE will deny us."
"Therefore know that the LORD your GOD, HE is GOD, the faithful GOD who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love HIM and keep HIS commandments; and HE repays those who hate HIM to their face, to destroy them." (I love you and I am a just GOD who repays those who reject MY gift of my SON to pay for their sins).
GOD is a GOD of justice who cannot look upon sin, and must punish sin. This is such a great and marvelous part of HIS dear love to you and me. As i began to understand more and more how very much GOD is holy,holy, holy, and we are born into sin, then i marvel at HIS dear love to me to send HIS perfect SON to pay the price for my sins, all of them. The past several weeks i have been reading about the sacrifices of the goats, bulls, pigeons, and grains in the Old Testament that were necessary for the priests to offer up in the Tabernacle so the sins of the Israelites would be forgiven. The Jewish religion was such a bloody religion as sacrifices from these animals were being made continuously for the sins of the people. Though i have realized for years now that this was a "picture" of the time that CHRIST would come and sacrifice HIMself for our sins once and for all on the Cross, this time as i read about all these sacrifices, it is dawning on me how very seriously that GOD takes our sin...sins like it states in 2 Timothy 3:2-5: "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of GOD-having a form of godliness but denying its power....I'm guilty as charged, over and over, and that's only a partial list of multitude of sins I've committed, some even today, that CHRIST died to pay for for me.
I've been a CHRISTian for 27 years, but GOD is opening my eyes more and more that sin cannot dwell in HIS presence, and all those sacrifices in the Old Testament, pointed to the time when CHRIST would offer the perfect sacrifice and pay for all our sins. Over and over he warned Moses, to that "no outsider could come near to offer incense before the LORD." In other words, no one who was not a descendant of Aaron, the chosen line of priests, could come near and offer sacrifices. And we are told over and over in Scripture, that all those who are outside of CHRIST, will not be able to come to GOD. JESUS said in John 14:6, "I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, no man cometh to the FATHER, but by ME." In Matthew 22:1-14, JESUS tells the story of the wedding banquet and said,"
the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who have been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, "Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murders and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, "The wedding banquet is ready, but those i invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing the wedding clothes. Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, "Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen."

How do we get the wedding clothes to attend the KING's wedding banquet? GOD, in HIS great love for us, provides them to all who turn away from their self and repent of their sin, and trust in CHRIST 's sacrifice for our sin alone. "HE came to HIS own, and HIS own received HIM not. But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave power to become sons of GOD, even to them that believe on HIS name."John 1:11-12. JESUS clothes HIS bride in HIS robes of righteousness.
"I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my GOD. For HE has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10
Our KING in HIS dear love for me and you, sent HIS precious SON JESUS to shed HIS blood and be the Atoning Sacrifice, once and for all for our sin, and to be our Great High Priest who is Perfect and Sinless. Hebrews 7:25-28 states: "Therefore HE is able to save completely those who come to GOD through HIM, because HE always live to intercede for them.(I love you) Such a high priest meets our need-one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.(I love you) Unlike the other high priests,he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificied for their sins once for all when HE offered HIMself.(I love you) For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law appointed the SON, who has been made perfect forever."(I love you)
1 Peter 2:9, " But you are a chosen people,(just as my husband chose me to be his bride 27 + years ago) a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to GOD,(I love you) that you may declare the praises of HIM who called you out of darkness into HIS wonderful light." GOD has "rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the SON HE loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgivness of sins." Col.1:13 (I love you, I love you, I love you!)...
It is "ALL about Me and You," and those GOD has called to be HIS children...HE loves us so very much! "How great is the love the FATHER has lavished on us, that we should be called children of GOD! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1 GOD sends us out as HIS love ambassadors, like the king at the wedding banquet above, to show and tell others about HIS great love for us through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and invite them to CHRIST. "For GOD so loved the world , that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." (I love you!) GOD takes sin serious, dead serious, and it has to be paid for, atoned for...that's why GOD's love for us is so great...HE did it all for me and you to pay for our sins. For those reject HIS wonderful gift of HIS perfect SON who died for us...there is everlasting hell. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD."Romans 6:23 (I love you). Hebrew 2:3 says, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?"
In Ephesians 5:25-27 Paul shares, "Husbands, love your wives, just as CHRIST loves the church and gave HIMself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to HIMself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (I love you)
If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall be sharers with Him in the lustre which shall surround Him when He appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one, with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to Him? Then thou art to-day with Him in His shame; thou hast taken up His cross, and gone with Him without the camp bearing His reproach; thou shalt doubtless be with Him when the cross is exchanged for the crown. But judge thyself this evening; for if thou art not with Him in the regeneration,(born again), neither shalt thou be with Him when He shall come in His glory. If thou start back from the black side of communion, thou shalt not understand its bright, its happy period, when the King shall come, and all His holy angels with Him. What! are angels with Him? And yet He took not up angels--He took up the seed of Abraham. Are the holy angels with Him? Come, my soul, if thou art indeed His own beloved, thou canst not be far from Him. If His friends and His neighbou rs are called together to see His glory, what thinkest thou if thou art married to Him? Shalt thou be distant?

Though it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into union. Has He not said to thee, O my soul, "I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness"(Hosea 2:19)? Have not His own lips said it, "I am married unto thee, and My delight is in thee"( Jeremiah 3:14)? If the angels, who are but friends and neighbours, shall be with Him, it is abundantly certain that His own beloved Hephzibah, in whom is all His delight, shall be near to Him, and sit at His right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for thee, of such exceeding brilliance, that it may well light up the darkest and most desolate experience.


Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, March 26





My husband loves me, as CHRIST loves the church, and he has laid down HIS life for me and my kids for the past 26 years. When we got married, all i came into the marriage was myself, and a 1966 Mustang that my Dad restored while i was in high school. The engine in it blew up shortly after we got married, along with my health going south. GOD has used my husband to love me and provide for my many, many needs and wants through the years, ( kayaks, pets, bicycles, trips to see the Greene's, etc, drum set, campers, dulcimer, mandolin, etc) sacrificing his position as pastor, to care for me. My medical expenses made him feel the necessity of staying in the restaurant business with his family, instead of looking for another church. As much as my husband has done for me, he is still made of flesh and blood, and like me, he is a sinner. JESUS CHRIST, my ETERNAL HUSBAND, the SINLESS ONE, is the only one who can meet my deepest and most expensive needs- that of forgiveness for my sins. HE paid the price no one else could pay with HIS own life. "But GOD demonstrates HIS love for us in that while we were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us."(I love you) HE spends all of eternity lavishing HIS love upon HIS bride, the CHURCH.
The Greene's, (www.thegreenesgospel.com) sing a beautiful song called "All for Me," on their "Far Down the Road," CD that i've used before in my emails. The message of CHRIST's love, "All for Me," is so perfect for what i've been trying to share with you this morning...lessons that JESUS is continuing to lovingly teach me day by day, how very much HE loves me and you and HE really is "All About Me" and you.

"All For Me" by Jason Burton

A crown of thorns upon your head where one of gold should go instead
Pressing down until YOU bled, all for me, all for me.
Bruised and beaten by the crowd, Mocked and scorned they led YOU out
Grief and pain was all YOU found, all for me, all for me.

Chorus:
If i had been the only one, YOU would have done it still for love
What grace untold, what love indeed, all for me, all for me

Blood flowed down your wounded side, the people laughed your FATHER cried,
The SON of GOD laid down to die, All for me, all for me.

YOUR body weak and wracked with pain, the SINLESS ONE, the KING of KINGS
Hung on a cross between two thieves, All for me, all for me
YOU took the chains so i'd go free, All for me, all for me
The SPOTLESS LAMB became unclean, All for me, all for me.

With all HIS love,
mitzi





Please join me in praying for our President's salvation:
http://christianadc.org/resources (7 Reasons Why Barack Obama is Not a CHRISTIAN)


White House Correspondent Bill Koenig and Jan Markell go around the world in 120 minutes:
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/radio/mp3/


http://www.watch.org/ Great site for White House, World News, and Christian encouragement including, Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, Streams in the Desert, Daily Light, and more