"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
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
"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
"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
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