"When GOD Has Another Plan"

"Know ye not that...ye are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify GOD in your body." 1 Cor. 6:19,20.

Dear Friends,

Several years ago, i read a book called These Strange Ashes, by Elisabeth Elliot. This book made quiet an impression on me, as i had already had a share of my own "Strange Ashes," by the time i read it. The LORD brought it to mind again this week, as i was reflecting over the election results from Tuesday night. In this book, Elisabeth Elliot shares about different events that happened in her young life as a missionary to Ecuador that honestly didn't make sense, and even looked like failure, when looked at through our human eyes. She had gone to Ecuador as a single missionary to translate the language so the natives could read the Bible in their own language. The young man GOD raised up to help her translate the language and she had worked with for several months was suddenly shot and killed. The work that she had done so diligently for over a year to translate the language was lost in a suitcase on top of a loaded truck and never found. The airstrip that her future husband, Jim, had worked on for months so that missionaries could fly in and out with easier access in the jungle, was washed away in a flood. Eventually, her future husband Jim was killed as a young man, by the Auca Indians, while he and four other men were trying to befriend them and share the gospel of JESUS CHRIST with them. This book ponders the question of "Is GOD still in charge?"

This past Tuesday night, was a disappointment to many of us, and it is easy to ask sometimes "Is GOD still in charge?" when it seems like the good guys loose, and the not so good guys win. Our friend, Wayne Parker, is one of those good guys, who lost. I was really surprised, to be honest that he lost, and disappointed. GOD had to remind me that "Disappointments are HIS appointments." I shared in my last email about Wayne and his wife Lisa, and the trials they have endured as they followed in obedience the call to run for Congress. I have grown to love them and respect them so very much these past several months. I know that they love CHRIST with all of their hearts and are a man and woman of truth and integrity. They believe in the sanctity of life, and all those things that reflect godly CHRISTian values. GOD blessed the campaign and answered our prayers providing all our needs in CHRIST JESUS, raising up people to help and money to finance the campaign at just the right time. HE gave favor and grace in so many ways. The Parkers worked and fought hard, along with the staff, and the volunteer army the LORD raised up to help them. The whole campaign was undergirded by prayer and obedience to GOD's word. The morning of the election, several met at the Parker Headquarters' at 6:00 a.m. to begin the day with prayer and committing the election results to GOD. The prayer time was finished with the group singing, "Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow...praise HIM all creatures here below..." I believed in my heart that GOD was going to give them the victory. We had prayed, a lot, worked so hard, tried to "conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST," and now all we had to do was believe and wait for HIM to answer our prayers to put grace and favor in the hearts of the voters all across the district. Many worked right up until the time the polls closed to get that last vote for Wayne.
That night as we gathered at the Davidson Center at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, to wait for the election returns, we were very optimistic and felt confident that this was the time for Wayne to become our next Congressman. After loosing two previous bids for Congress in the 90's and waiting on the LORD, this must be the time. There were a lot of folks there, many of them our dear friends, who had worked so very hard on the campaign, the Radcliff's, Bethany, Joe, who were the Jackson County Coordinators for the campaign, along with their sister and brothers, Tabitha, Tom, Matthew and Isaiah, worked so tirelessly on the Student Project, Marsha CHRISTian and her daughters, and son, whom we had the pleasure of going door to door with the week before and they had volunteered to cover an entire precinct going door to door. The Spearings, who have known Wayne since their college days at Auburn, and have become so dear to us through our homeschool group and working on the campaign together-they were there to support the Parkers. The Knapps were there, along with the Andersons, and so many others that GOD had drawn together to work toward this common goal. What a privilege and blessing it had been to be a part of this campaign. Many were milling around inside the humongous building that housed a huge rocket hanging overhead, waiting for the election returns to begin. If the rocket had fallen, we were all history:). There were several chairs set up in rows and up front was a very, very large screen that we watched the election returns on. It changed from the national scene watching the Presidential race, to the local news where we kept up with the local race for Congress. I was sitting with some friends while the kids were running around with their "posse." Their "posse" had worked so hard on this campaign, especially the last couple of weeks, having gone to over 25,000 houses the week before asking folks to vote for Wayne Parker. We were all in this together. The first hour or so, it was neck and neck, and then Wayne's opponent slowly began to get a lead, and it didn't flip flop anymore. I went out to the car for a while to give my body a break, it was fully overloaded by this point from all that i'd been around for days now. When i returned, one of the dear friends i've made during this campaign, Bebe Williams, Wayne's Volunteer Coordinator, said she didn't think he was going to make it because it was too many votes to make up. Her prediction, sadly, turned out to be true. Wayne ended up getting 49% of the votes to his opponent's 51%. Many of the folks left before Wayne and Lisa and their family came out for the concession speech, but there was still a crowd of their faithful supporters who wanted to love them and encourage them through this difficult time. Before they came out, i had a few minutes to speak with Wayne's Mom who had been so gracious thanking us for all we had done to support Wayne and Lisa. After she was watched John McCain's concession speech, i asked her how Lisa was doing and she said told me she what she said to her..."Lisa, you may not want to hear this right now, but the LORD is either protecting ya'll from something, or HE has something better for you." I thought, wow, that was so wise of her. This was the third time for this Mama to see her son loose and i know that her heart was broken for them. When Wayne and Lisa did come out, with their 4 children, the crowd clapped and yelled for them, and they gave hugs on their way up to the podium. It had been a tough, tough race, and though we were hoping, believing and praying for victory, the LORD said "no" to Wayne to represent our district as U.S. Representative. They were so very gracious, and thanked us all for helping them, and i honestly can't remember what was said beyond that. I do remember the wonderful hug that Wayne and Lisa gave me after they came down, and wrapped their arms around me-the three of us with our arms around each other, and them encouraging me, in their time of sorrow. What a special blessing that was to my heart. It has been my family's honor and privilege to be called into this race and serve whenever we could plug in, as so many of our friends were called too...GOD uses us to demonstrate HIS love to each other and help each other as we travel this glorious and often difficult road to heaven. The day before Lisa and i were at the Parker Headquarters out back in the parking lot and she was sharing with me something the LORD had shown her about the way HE uses us to show HIS love to each other. She recounted the story of when JESUS was on the cross HE asked John to take care of HIS mother. JESUS could have taken care of her from heaven, but HE chose to use someone in human form to show HIS love to her. What a precious insight this was to Lisa and to me, as over and over, GOD shows me how very much HE loves me through you my friends and family, and complete strangers that GOD brings into my life. Now, GOD was showing me HIS love again, through Wayne and Lisa's hugs, and their dear encouragement to me.

As i have been reflecting on all these things, and the events of the past several weeks and months, GOD has been encouraging me and reminding me the message of the CROSS, life out of death. I believe with all my heart the LORD called Wayne and Lisa to run this race, to "stand in the gap," and they were obedient to HIS call. GOD calls us to be obedient, to follow HIS call, and often that doesn't look like success as we measure success in the eyes of the world. Who understands the call of a young man and his family to go serve the LORD in a foreign country when he could make a whole lot more money here in the United States, and have an "easier" life, not putting his family in harm's way. The LORD reminded me that His followers thought that HE had come to be an earthly king, and HE had, but not the kind they were expecting... HE had come to rule and reign in their hearts and forgive them of their sins. Their hopes were crushed the day HE died on Calvary, for his death looked like such a failure to all those looking on, including HIS mother, dearest friends, and enemies. It was actually the greatest day in all of history, when the price of our REDEMPTION was paid in full. His mother and family and friends didn't understand all that...they just saw HIS beaten body, bruised and battered beyond recognition, and such a terrible injustice it seemed was being done to this SINLESS ONE. In fact, a great justice was being done, as we were being made just in the eyes of GOD, through the broken body of HIS dear SON. GOD looked down through the ages, and saw the blood of HIS SON that was being shed to cover your sins and mine, as we put our trust and belief in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE knew the life, everlasting life, and abundant life here on earth that would be ours because of the Cross, and the suffering and sacrifice of HIS dear SON. But that day, when JESUS hung on the cross, HE didn't look too successful in the eyes of those beholding HIM.

As a young pastor's wife, whose mysterious sickness had gotten the best of me, my husband resigned his position as pastor to move back home so i could have help with the kids... i felt like a failure. My husband had gone to seminary, and me to nursing school in preparation for the "call" that we felt GOD was leading us to the foreign mission field. Due to my sickness, we never made it to the foreign mission field, but GOD has used the circumstances of our lives to keep us here, right where HE has led and directed our every step. But i have to tell you, it sure took me a few years to get used to the idea, and not feel like a miserable failure. And it made me ask myself, was i doing this for HIM, or myself...did i want my will or HIS, and i have to confess, i wanted mine. It took GOD's gracious teaching through HIS WORD and encouraging books, revealing HIMself to me through our circumstances, and you, my dear brothers and sisters in CHRIST, to help me trust HIM with HIS perfect plan for my life instead of what I wanted to be HIS plan. The cross of sickness, and loosing my identity as a pastor's wife, and living where we didn't want to live, working where we didn't want to work, has taught us the message of the cross, life out of death to self. And that message repeats itself over and over throughout the lives of GOD's children in whatever circumstances HE chooses..."If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

These Strange Ashes ends with a story that illustrates the message of the book, why do we do the things we do...are we doing it for JESUS or for us?
" A story is told of JESUS and HIS disciples walking one day along a stony road. JESUS asked each of them to choose a stone to carry for HIM. John, it is said, chose a large one while Peter chose the smallest. JESUS led them then to the top of a mountain and commanded that the stones be made bread. Each disciple, by the time tired and hungry, was allowed to eat the bread he held in his hand, but of course Peter's was not sufficient to satisfy his hunger. John gave him some of his.

Some time later JESUS again asked the disciples to pick up a stone to carry. This time Peter chose the largest of all. Taking them to a river, JESUS told them to cast the stones into the water. They did so, but looked at one another in bewilderment. "For whom," asked JESUS did you carry the stone?" I realized when we had to leave what we felt GOD was calling us to do...that i saw a whole lot of me carrying "the stone," for me and my glory instead of for HIM and HIS glory.

Last week, i read a devotion in My Utmost for HIS HIGHEST by Oswald Chambers, that reminded me of those early years of sickness, and how much i didn't want others to know about my weakness. In fact when my husband resigned the church, many were surprised because they had no idea how sick i was, because i did my best to hide it. I wanted to appear strong. This devotion was a comfort to me during that time, and i still remember how very painful it was to publicly have to admit weakness and suffer humiliation of not accomplishing the "call" we felt GOD had put in our heart. GOD is changing me, and i am learning as Paul did, to "boast about my weaknesses, that the power of CHRIST might rest on me" though it's still very hard for me at times. I am prideful and the suffering, the shame and humiliation of the cross in whatever form it comes in my life doesn't come natural for me...and i'm not sure it does for anyone. I was really embarrassed when i saw all the mistakes i'd make in last weeks email in the second paragraph, but i just had to say, "Oh well... LORD, you be strong in my weakness." Sure wish i had proof read that paragraph before i pressed that send button:). This week as i ponder on Wayne and Lisa's circumstances, and how public it was, this devotion seemed very appropriate for the place that GOD has called not only them to walk, but you and me in the circumstances HE places us in.



November 1st.





YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN



"Know ye not that . . ye are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:19

There is no such thing as a private life - "a world within the world" - for a man or woman who is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ's sufferings. God breaks up the private life of His saints, and makes it a thoroughfare for the world on the one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the Gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way, if you do not, instead of being of the slightest use to God in His Redemptive work in the world, you will be a hindrance and a clog.

The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His Redemption. Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.



Our lives are certainly not our own, and HE continues in various circumstances to teach me the lesson of the Cross: The more of CHRIST that is in me, through HIS breaking my heart, the less of me that is in me..."I have been crucified with CHRIST and it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST who lives in me; and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the Son of GOD, who loved me, and delivered HIMself up for me." Galatians 2:20. In the Nov. 6 Springs in the Valley reading, it reiterates this lesson as it shares: "The leading symbol of our CHRISTian faith is not an easy chair, or a feather-bed: it is a Cross. If we would be HIS disciples, let us be prepared to live dangerously; to take up the Cross and carry it into the teeth of opposition. GOD is at perfect liberty to waste us if HE chooses.

Wow, "GOD is at perfectly liberty to waste us if HE chooses," that doesn't sound exactly like what we want or like to hear. GOD never "wastes" anything about our lives, even though it may appear that way for a season. When i think of Jim Elliot's death at the hands of the Auca Indian's and realize that literally millions of people were inspired by his "waste," to come to know CHRIST or become missionaries, i realize nothing is a waste. When i think of my doctor in Texas, who went through tremendous suffering in his own life to learn how to help folks like me, i know that nothing is a waste. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price to glorify GOD in our bodies, in whatever form that may come...whether it's running a campaign with integrity, or being a mom and wife, or struggling with a mysterious illness, or whatever path GOD has placed us in to walk. When HE chooses to "switch our positions," that's HIS perogative to do so. HE created us, and paid for us with the blood of HIS own Son...we are not our own. HE calls us to be obedient, and promises us that HE will bring life out of death, the message of the Cross through us as we surrender our lives and sufferings to HIM. I Peter 2:21 says: "For even to this were you called-it is inseparable from your vocation. For CHRIST also suffered for you, leaving you [His personal] example, so that you should follow on in HIS footsteps..."Amplified.

I know this, for me personally, the campaign was a wonderful experience, with the pain and the joy and all that it involved. The relationships our family built with those involved in working toward a common goal was worth it all. Seeing the body of CHRIST work together and help each other and encourage one another in the midst of the war was such a blessing. There are so many things GOD is doing behind the scenes, like Wayne's campaign manager being curious about all these CHRISTians he's been around, and being drawn closer to JESUS through all this. Wayne's campaign manager from 1996 became a CHRISTian a few years after that campaign, and called Wayne and Lisa a couple of years ago and thanked them for the godly influence they had in his life when he worked for them. Who knows all the purposes and things that GOD is doing and working out through the "call" to run for Congress that HE put in Wayne and Lisa's heart a few months ago...we don't understand all the reasons but we do know "that GOD causes all things work together for good to those who love GOD and are called according to HIS purpose." Romans 8:32.



Our dear friends, the Greene's, who have known their share of "death to self," through the sufferings GOD has allowed in their lives, sing a beautiful song called, "When GOD Has Another Plan." It brings such encouragement to my heart as i ponder Tuesday night's results, seeming defeat in the eyes of the world, but gaining CHRIST in a more nearer and dearer way as we trust CHRIST and cling to the CROSS, the CROSS that gives life to us and others through our LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE did answer our prayer for victory. Not the victory we had in mind, but the ONE HE promises to all who have been called to be HIS children: "But thanks be to GOD who gives us the victory-making us conquerors- through our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the LORD-that is, always being superior (excelling, doing more than enough) in the service of the LORD, knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the LORD is not futile-never wasted or to no purpose." I Cor. 15:57. HE has a plan, to bring life out of death, through the things that to the world look futile or wasted. We have to trust HIM, and HIS everlasting love for us and others..."we are not our own, we have been bought with a price."

With all HIS love,

mitzi



"When GOD Has Another Plan" by Amy Keffer Sheffem/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 brokenhearted, 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.