"We All Have a Story..."

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all HIS benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies."
Psalm 103:2-4

Dear Friends,

It sure does seem like it's been a long time since I've written you. I didn't mean to take a break...it just happened that way. I have missed you and I hope that you and your family had a good CHRISTmas. I know some of you didn't, it was the worse you've ever experienced and if anything i write seems callous, please forgive me. I don't mean to be insensitive to your situation...in fact, it's "for such a time as this" that CHRIST came to bring hope, healing, and forgiveness in the midst of our "darkness nights..." The MIRACLE of CHRISTmas, JESUS CHRIST, sure didn't come into our world in perfect circumstances, though HE was perfect and sinless, but to heal us from our sin, give us hope and grant us HIS peace in the midst of tribulation. If you don't have time to read the whole email this week, please be sure and take time to watch the video below...it sure is powerful and a living testimony of the hope and healing that JESUS CHRIST brings to our "impossible situations." Thank you, Shelia, for sharing it with me.

I've had many thoughts running through my mind these past few weeks and a verse the LORD keeps bringing me back to is the one above-"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all HIS benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies."
Psalm 103:2-4. One of the highlights of my CHRISTmas season was to take our calendar from this past year, an idea my friend Wanda shared with me, and as a family we sat down and go back through last year's calendar. GOD reminded us of HIS benefits to us that HE has blessed us so lavishly with...like Johnny's hip replacement surgery going well in January, and we all survived his rehab...what a blessing to even remember that several weeks and months before that time, Johnny had gotten where he couldn't walk much, and couldn't sit at the table to enjoy meals with us...what a special blessing to be able to sit at the table together. Benefits like being blessed with plenty, and Johnny being able to work, and GOD sending folks to eat at the restaurant, though the economy is struggling and we had to tighten our belts, but GOD has blessed us with plenty. Benefits like doing the best I've ever done on my allergy shots and not having to return to the clinic in Dallas, TX for retesting for a year and a half...though i do miss seeing my friends out there. This has been my longest time ever not to have to return since I've been going since 1999 and I'm so thankful for GOD using my doctors in Dallas to help me so much. John Mac being picked Most Outstanding Math and Physics Student at the largest community college in Alabama...to GOD be the glory for HIS faithfulness and for the favor HE showed my son. This home school Mom taught him no math probably since the 6th grade,(my brain just doesn't work that way too well anymore) and John Mac did struggle with Math during high school. Just the other day i saw a prayer request that i had jotted down in an old journal, asking the LORD to help my children with their school work, particularly my son in Algebra where he was struggling. That was a few years ago...talk about GOD answering your prayer "exceeding abundantly beyond all i ask or thought," wow! What a benefit from our faithful LORD! GOD has blessed Hannah Beth in so many areas like the rest of us, and she made it through her 1st year of driving without having an accident...Praise the LORD! I managed to back into two cars last year...thankfully, no damage was done to us, just my pride, our car, and the cars behind me...both of them new, sorry Daniel...you sure had a great attitude when i crunched your new sports car. How we thank HIM for the work HE is doing in all of our hearts, not just through the "good" times, but especially the trying times where we grow and depend on HIM the most.

GOD has poured out so many benefits on our family, as HE has yours. Many of those benefits came through you our dear friends, new friends the LORD has so blessed us with this year that was totally unexpected, the Hembree's from Mobile, and our dear homeschool friends from Excalibur and the wonderful time we had together at the Ladies Retreat last year. We drew closer to dear friends at church, and through email (I love hearing from you!), being reacquainted with old friends like the Ezzo's (www.gfi.org) who have encouraged us so much in our parenting. We got to see them in July for the first time in over 10 years, and what a blessing that was to our hearts. What an unexpected blessing the LORD gave us when HE brought the Parkers who ran for Congress and other old friends back into our lives that we knew from the campaign years ago. We were blessed to work and pray hard together on a common goal...and learn the hard lessons that only come with being told "NO" through defeat. Your love as our dear friends and family has been such a tremendous joy and benefit to us in our lives and we thank GOD for you.
Benefits have come my way through lessons CHRIST has taught me while trying to reach out in faith and love to someone who is very dear to me. Through the ups and downs of trying to build this relationship, CHRIST has taught me that HE is my FRIEND that sticks closer than a brother," HE is my LODGE of LOVE, who loves me with HIS everlasting, intimate, and personal love. HE gives me true and lasting peace and joy in the midst of sorrow and heartache. HE is teaching me to have faith in HIM to lead and guide my footsteps especially when my path seems shaky at best and i stumble and fall, to wait on HIM, to love with HIS unconditional love, to pray without ceasing, to forgive...and to marvel at HIS goodness when HE comes crashing through and encourages me along the way that HE is indeed working, and HE will "perfect that which concerns me" Psalm 138:8. All these are done only through HIS benefits, His grace, and the power of HIS HOLY SPIRIT. "For it is GOD who is at work in you to will and to work for HIS good pleasure..."Phil 2:13. That verse sure does bring me peace when i seem to make a mess of things over and over...along with "My grace is sufficient for you for My power is made perfect in weakness." II Cor. 12:9-I think Paul wrote that verse just for me:).

Another dear blessing and benefit from CHRIST is that both sets of our parents are still alive and pretty healthy. We were able to enjoy CHRISTmas with both sides of our families on CHRISTmas Day...thank ya'll Tracy and Cheryl, Drew, Lee and Nicholas for traveling from Texas, and Jill and Dennis, from Florida, and Lizzy from Mississippi, Joe and Marilyn, Dusty from Missouri, and Dallas from Huntsville, and Ralph, Wendy, Daniel, and Melissa from here so that we could all be together. The "white elephant" gifts were a lot of fun, thank you for that suggestion, Tracy...and hope Mom and Dad enjoyed their "gift" for their 61st wedding anniversary New Years Eve:). Praise the LORD for giving our parents the grace to weather the storms of 61 years...and it does take a lot of grace and forgiveness... there's a whole lot of forgiveness in all those years....what a tremendous benefit and special blessing from the LORD.
At our extended family gathering at our Uncle Mickey's I was reminded of another wonderful benefit of last year...that of the LORD saving my Uncle Mick who is in his mid sixties. The whole tone of our gathering was different than in past years, and a whole lot of forgiveness has taken place in our extended family for past offenses that have occurred due to broken relationships. What a blessing it was when Uncle Mick welcomed us all to his house in his gentle way, and invited my Daddy, out of his respect for him, to ask the blessing for the meal. Most of my Daddy's family was there, and lot's of our cousins and Aunt's and Uncle's including my 84 year old Aunt Van, my namesake (my middle name) who keeps a check on my kid's by keeping up with their Facebook...she's something else having her own Facebook at her age! I am thankful that GOD blessed our families on both sides with lots of love and have modeled for us the importance of loving our family's and extended families.

Another benefit and longtime desire of mine that GOD brought to fruition in my life was the opening of a Publix grocery store about a mile down the road from us. For years i have had to order food from a food coop,. Thank you dear Wahl's and Anderson's for your dear friendship and help in this, or travel to Huntsville or Madison to buy organic foods that i can by right down the street now! This may not be a big deal to you, but this was a long time desire of mine to be able to buy healthier food closer to home ...and GOD brought it to fruition. Every time i go in there i just smile and marvel at what GOD has done for me:). Several years ago, it was 'rumored' that Publix was going to build in our area, and for several years nothing happened...until, one day, it was announced in our local paper that Publix was indeed planning to build in an area right down the street from us. GOD reminded me through that long time of delayed desire, that HE is faithful. Though it takes years sometime to bring about HIS plans, "He will accomplish what HE purposes and plans. "The LORD has done what HE purposed, HE has accomplished what HE has planned," Lamentations 2:17. He does that for us and HE puts those desires in our hearts often long years before HE brings them to fruition...in the meantime we are to "delight in HIM." "Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in HIM and HE will do this; HE will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for HIM; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil." Psalm 37:4-8. Praise the LORD...and i do praise HIM for all HIS benefits. I could go on and on, praising my SAVIOR for HIS benefits, bringing us safely through another year, drawing us closer to HIM, and being so faithful in every way to supply all our needs in CHRIST JESUS and so very many of our wants.

The next part of this verse reminds me of what I wrote in the opening paragraph, the benefit of HIM who "forgive all your iniquities." We did have a good CHRISTmas but for me, personally, it was a difficult CHRISTmas in many ways. A few weeks ago, i remembered reading something and praying "LORD show me my sin." Once again HE took me at my word and answered that prayer. A few days before CHRISTmas, Johnny came in and had sold something of his personally to be able to give something special to the kids and me and others for CHRISTmas. He had previously said we weren't going to give each other gifts, and i started "balking" at that and saying he could use some of that money he just got from what he sold to buy me a little something, totally unselfish of me...after all i had already bought him something:). Well, he wouldn't act like he was even considering getting me something, and that didn't sit too well with me...and i let him know it:). Unbeknownst to me, John Mac was gone that very minute to purchase Dad's CHRISTmas gift to me...a new laptop! I felt pretty badly CHRISTmas morning when i opened it and saw what he surprised me with...but that isn't all. CHRISTmas morning, i was having a bad reaction from a shot that wasn't working properly (i think the time is drawing near to go see my friends in Texas:),, but when i opened the computer that Johnny and my family was so excited for me to see, i shortly started crying afterwards, overcome by the chemicals from the new computer, compounded by the reaction from the allergy shot. This didn't make for the reaction Johnny had hoped i would have. In fact, i asked him to take it back, and then some other "expectations" of mine and his were disappointed. I was just having myself a pity party come CHRISTmas morning by 9:00a.m. Yeah, the day started with a bang! I took a walk later on, to cool off, and called my friend Wanda and asked her to pray for me...i was really struggling, and seems like it just came out of nowhere, this CHRISTmas morning gone awry...but i knew where it came from, our "Adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour... I Peter 5:8." He seeks to devour those who love CHRIST and serve HIM...your family and mine. I know that the devil doesn't have to be around for me to sin...I can do it all on my own, but just seemed like there was a little extra going on that morning and throughout the CHRISTmas season in my life and some of yours. Wanda and I didn't talk long, but she prayed for me, and i can tell you by the time i was on my way home, walking out in the woods and field, the LORD had me on my knees, with a shout of joy in my heart, praising HIM. Talk about a fast answer to prayer, HE completely changed my attitude, and i decided to keep the computer, it would eventually air out, and ask forgiveness for my behavior from my family and the LORD. CHRISTmas Day went a whole lot better from that point on. What a blessing it is that my family forgave me all because of what CHRIST has done for us on the Cross...and i forgave them too:). Seeing my husband sacrifice something of his personally,(he does everyday as he goes to work to provide for our family), to be able to "provide" a good CHRISTmas for his family really touched my heart with the depth of his love for us. It was to me truly a picture of CHRIST's love for us...and reminded me of what GOD sacrificed for us, HIS Son, that we could have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten Son that whosoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

I remember thinking CHRISTmas day when i was wallowing in my self pity, that CHRIST was showing me how much i need a SAVIOR, the very thing we were celebrating that day...the birth of our dear LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. If i don't realize what a sinner i am, then how can i be truly grateful for the gift that is mine in CHRIST JESUS, the gift of forgiveness for my sins,? How can I forgive others when they trespass against me, if I haven't experienced the forgiveness that CHRIST has imparted to me through HIS gift of salvation? How i thank the LORD for teaching me these lessons in a more real way over the CHRISTmas holidays. Those weren't the only turbulences over the holidays...there continued to be more opportunities to practice forgiveness and be forgiven with a close relative... we had some heated words over some past offenses (there are reason's the Bible warns us not to let the sun go down on our anger, Ephesians 4:26. Keeping anger in our hearts allows a "root of bitterness" to take root, grow in our hearts, causing trouble and defiling many...as it shares in Heb. 12:15. Well, i saw that up close and in person in my own heart, as i had been letting some seeds of bitterness take root and grow for several months. Thankfully, there was later restoration in our relationship through forgiving one another. If that wasn't enough lessons for me in the forgiveness department, i deeply offended another person that I dearly love by doing something they asked me not to do... so yes, it was a tough CHRISTmas for me in many ways. Yes, i am so thankful the LORD JESUS, through the price HE paid on Calvary, forgives all my iniquities and gives us the grace to extend forgiveness and be forgiven by those we've offended...what blessed benefits are ours in CHRIST JESUS.



The part about healing all our diseases...what a blessing that is to me. I know this, that CHRIST has healed my sin disease completely, and though i still sin each and every day, and need a "foot washing" for those sins to restore fellowship with HIM and those i sin against, all my sins are covered under the precious blood of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS forever and ever. When CHRIST looks at me, HE sees me covered in HIS robe of righteousness, not the filthy wicked heart i once had before HE gave me a new heart. As far as my physical diseases, wow HE has brought me through a lot, a whole lot...and you've read some of it here. How i thank HIM and praise HIM for healing me from "fibromyalgia," scarlet fever, arthritic pain all over my body that i couldn't hold Hannah Beth very much as an infant (thankfully she didn't seem to want to be held then, and saved her snuggling for these later years-Praise the LORD!), Candida , adrenal fatigue, thyroid issues, pesticide poisoning, just to name a few things the LORD has been healing me from...wow! Just waiting on that parasite healing:)... As i was reading John MacArthur's comments on this verse, he reminded me that ultimately all GOD's children will be healed for all eternity from whatever we suffer from here on earth, because HIS children are going to be made completely whole in heaven...that's another benefit of being in CHRIST. In the meantime, i praise the LORD for the benefits HE has taught me through my diseases, humility, education, faith, patience, an opportunity to reach out to others, and HIS faithfulness to deliver me using some wonderful doctors, that i love dearly. They have paid a huge price to be able to share the knowledge they have learned from their own sufferings and bring healing to their patients who couldn't find answers anywhere else. Thank you so much for praying for Dr. Rea and the other doctors at the clinic that are filling in for him and for his recovery from his surgery last week. He came through his surgery well, and hopefully is home by now.

"Who redeems your life from destruction..." I've often thought about what would my life have been like if GOD hadn't rescued me from the sin i was living in and saved me at 19? What if Johnny and I, two unbelievers, had married? Pretty sure that marriage wouldn't have lasted very long. What about temptations CHRIST has saved me from, and rescued me from through the years? Thank you, LORD JESUS for redeeming me from the destruction of a life lived apart from CHRIST. Thank you for the trials you have placed in our way to hem us in, for moving us, for rescuing us from perilous situations, and those are just the things we know about...thank you for redeeming us from the destruction of everlasting hell, fiery flames, and living apart from YOU. Oh dear FATHER, open the eyes of those who might be reading this who don't know YOU. Draw them too you with YOUR love and HOLY SPIRIT and open their eyes to WHO YOU ARE...JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOR.

"Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies..." wow, i could write a book on each one of these verses alone... I was thinking earlier this week as I was doing a follow up on some "female" stuff at the doctor's office, how good and kind the LORD has been to allow me not to have any complications on some "female" issues my doctor has been so diligent to follow up on throughout last year. This week as I went to a breast surgeon, he pretty much gave me a great report, and I am so thankful. As i checked off stuff on the form you fill out when you're a new patient, I realized, I have a lot going for me on "normal" stuff, no big health issues there-Praise the LORD for HIS lovingkindness...HE knows exactly what we need in our lives to grow us closer to HIM.
I thank the LORD for HIS loving kindness that draws me so close to HIM through my hard times, through HIS loving comfort and care and concern, for HIS tender mercies when i deserve punishment. Loving kindness and tender mercies, HE crowns us with them day after day after day after day...especially through our most darkest, worst trials we could imagine...HE crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies. A dear, dear friend of mine called this week and told me her husband was having an affair and had left her and her family, a week before CHRISTmas...i am so ashamed for my small turbulences I've complained about. Never in a million years would anyone have thought this family would experience this trial in their family...just not a chapter they expected to include in their story. Strong CHRISTian family, leaders, loving, home school, just a great family...and yet, we all have feet of clay and but for the grace of GOD, there go I..."i was at a loss of words for my friend, she knows all the right words...but this hasn't caught GOD off guard or by surprise, and in the midst of these difficult and dark days of their lives, my friend's life and her family's will be crowned with GOD's loving kindness and tender mercies...the kind that is only experienced "in the dark night of the soul." Please remember this dear family in your prayers for GOD's healing and restoration...HE's still writing their story and ours.

HE does it all that's for sure... and deserves all of our Praise..."Bless the LORD O my soul, and all that is within me, bless HIS holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all HIS benefits; who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies."-Psalm 103:1-4

Sheila Heil forwarded me the video below, "Cardboard Testimonies." She said it had made more of an impact on her than anything in a long time. Some of you know Sheila's husband, Paul, from the Gospel Greats Radio show (www.thegospelgreats.com). When Shelia speaks, I listen. She, along with her husband Paul, faithfully serve the LORD through their family, their church, their community, and the world wide ministry that GOD has blessed them with of sharing gospel music through their weekly radio show. GOD has used Paul's gifts in radio broadcasting and teaching the Word and Shelia's gifts in service and administration to shares the good news of JESUS CHRIST through Gospel music and the testimonies of the gospel singers. Week after week, Paul and Shelia are faithful to "tell the story " of JESUS through Gospel songs and what HE is doing in the lives of these gospel singers.
As I watched the video Shelia shared with me, these "cardboard testimonies" reminded me over and over what CHRIST is doing not only in my family's lives, but the lives of HIS children all over...how HE forgives our iniquities, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from destruction and crowns us with HIS lovingkindness and tender mercies...this is the GOD that we serve...Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise HIS name! We all have a story, and GOD wants us to tell that story of what HE is doing through our lives, to bless HIM, and forget not all HIS benefits! I would love to hear your story of what CHRIST has and is doing in your life. Your story encourages me and gives me strength and increases my faith in our great GOD. Perhaps, like Paul and Shelia, i could pass your story along to others and encourage many hearts. Thank you so much for honoring me by taking time to read these emails and sharing what CHRIST is doing in your life...to GOD be the glory!

http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/cardboard-testimonies/


With all HIS love,
Mitzi


"Thanksgiving or complaining-these words express two contrastive attitudes for the souls of GOD's children in regard to HIS dealings with them. The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing." Hannah Whitall Smith

" It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"A child of GOD should be a visible beatitude for happiness and a living doxology for gratitude." C.H. Spurgeon

"The words "thank" and "think" come from the same root word. If we would think more, we would thank more." Warren Wiersbe

-quotes taken from CHRISTmas Treasures



Please remember my sister in law, Marilyn, who is in Japan on a mission trip, and my brother, Joe, who is home "alone." Thanks, Joe, for being such a faithful reader of these emails and dear encourager to my heart.

Go Gators!!!