A New Heredity

You have given me the heritage of those who fear YOUR name." Psalm 61:5




Dear Praying Friends and Family,



Today has been a quiet and slow day for me. After a very active and fun day yesterday, my "genes" that GOD designed just for me for detoxing chemicals has been in slow motion today, trying to process the "fun" i was around:). What a special blessing from the LORD it was for our whole family to be able to have fun and fellowship with our dear friends the Spearings and the Missildine's at the Spearings beautiful lake house on Lake Guntersville. The Spearings were so very gracious to share their wonderful blessings with us...the kids enjoyed riding the tubes between the Spearings boat, and I enjoyed wake boarding for a few yards...before i was down. Brad Spearing taught HB to ski earlier this summer and is a great coach. After getting up a few times, and finally switching my front feet, i almost got the hang of staying up when i got tired, and decided to "retire," until the next opportunity. Each time, i'm improving. Gena and Brad both "wakeboarded," and in their 50's, and grandparents, and parent's to seven kids they are very fit, and were great skiers! What a great heredity these kids have! Gena and Corie, one of the Spearings 5 daughters, prepared supper for us, delicious chicken Parmesan, salad, and a wonderful peach crisp of some kind, topped with soft serve ice cream from our restaurant. Yummy, it was good food and wonderful fellowship with dear friends and family...our family and the family of GOD.

Earlier this week, i read a blog that GOD has really used to get me thinking this week about our heredity ..."It's called "Redesigning Humans: Is It Inevitable?" by Kirby Anderson http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147496763. You can read the whole blog here if you are interested and in it is some very thought provoking and very scary moral and spiritual implications of where biotechnology is heading. In the article it talks about tinkering with DNA and chromosomes to produce the sex of the child we want, and perhaps changing a person's likelihood of getting a disease if their genes are redesigned.



     In my case, perhaps my genes for not detoxing chemicals too well could be fixed before i was born. My doctor did a gene test on me a few years ago to discover that i have genes missing that do not detox the chemicals i'm around. Therefore, i have to be careful what i'm around. On the way home last night, i was very sluggish and sleepy...a sure sign for me that i've been around chemicals. I'm so thankful to know that GOD knew the design and plan HE had for me, when HE created me "fearfully and wonderfully" made. If I had the choice, i would not choose to be this way, but my FATHER who loves me so much and created me, WHO gave HIS SON for me, WHO called me to be HIS and has given me a wonderful heredity and heritage in CHRIST JESUS...gave me these genes, to accomplish the plans and purposes HE has for my life. So therefore, HE is teaching me ever so slowly that in "Acceptance lieth peace," and HIS grace is sufficient for me, and HIS power is made perfect in my weaknesses.

The author of "Redesigning Humans goes on to state:

I believe that being able to genetically redesign human beings is far closer than most people realize. Not only is the technology developing at an ever-increasing rate, but people are also far more willing to consider using such technologies than most would want to think.

     I hope that you can take time to read the whole article by Kirby Anderson. What he's writing about is real, and is upon us. For months i have been reading John McTernan's blog and he often writes about the spiritual implications of "Transhumanism," which is part humans/part biotechnology to produce "superhumans," eventually. You can click on his website, http://www.johnmcternan.name/ and read his articles on science, genetics, transhumanism," and how redesigning humans is a part of the end times we read about in Revelation.

GOD really used this article for a springboard to get me thinking about our spiritual heredity all week long. I looked up the word heredity in the neat visuwords website that Betty Dean Newman shared on FB and this is one of the definitions it gave:

Heredity- The biological process where genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next. http://www.visuwords.com/?word=heredity



     I've been thinking alot about our heredity...before we receive CHRIST and afterwards. In Genesis 2-3 we know that Adam and Eve were perfect and sinless, before they rebelled against GOD, and ate the forbidden fruit. Instantly after they sinned against GOD and ate the forbidden fruit, the Bible says in Gen. 3:7,
 "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings."
     Then GOD called to them, and confronted them, and told them the consequences of their sin, which would be theirs and ours and every generation that has been since Adam and Eve...like women having great pain in childbirth, Gen. 3:16, and men having to work by the sweat of his brow to provide for his family Gen. 3:17-18. GOD then drove them out of the beautiful garden of Eden to live in the thorns and thistles. This is the point where sin entered the world, and our spiritual heredity became their sin nature and eternal death. Our physical body's aging, is because of our spiritual heredity in Adam. We lie, we cheat, we steal, we're prideful, we're angry, we're malicious, we're lazy, we're deceitful, we're immoral, we're rebellious against GOD and our parent's, and those GOD has place over us, because of our fallen sinful heredity that has been handed down from Adam and Eve.



In Romans 2:26-32, Paul lists some of the characteristics of those who don't have a "new heredity" in CHRIST":

"For this reason GOD gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due...GOD gave them over to a debased mine, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of GOD, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgement of GOD, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."





Every imaginable sin, and the heartbreak that goes with it is part of our sinful spiritual heritage from Adam and Eve. But GOD in HIS sovereignty and love, provided the remedy for our sinful heritage through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. GOD looked down through the ages even in Genesis 3:15 as he was cursing the serpent and said to him



"And I will put enmity between you and the woman,


and between your offspring and hers;


HE will crush your head,


And you will strike his heal



Who was the "HE," that GOD was referring to that was going to crush satan's head? GOD sent HIS SON the LORD JESUS CHRIST to earth to show us the way to live and to die for us on the tree of Calvary, that we might be set free from our heredity of sin and death, and give us a new heredity...that of eternal life in CHRIST JESUS. I Corinthians 15:22, the apostle Paul writes of our new heredity in CHRIST JESUS:



"For just as [because of union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in CHRIST be made alive."





This wonderful new heredity is for all those who receive the gift of GOD's great salvation through faith in HIS Son and repentance for our sins.



"But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD...even to those who believe in HIS name." John 1:12




I love the passage in Titus 3 where Paul lists some of the characteristics of those who have a new heredity, and i will tell you i am convicted as i see i am falling short in some of these areas...Paul lovingly reminds them of their "old heredity," and the passion and love of GOD to give them "a new heredity," in CHRIST JESUS:



"Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.


For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasure, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.


BUT when the kindness of GOD our SAVIOR and HIS love for mankind appeared, HE saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to HIS mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the HOLY SPIRIT, whom HE poured out upon us richly through JESUS CHRIST our SAVIOR, that being justified by HIS grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."



That's our "new heredity," in CHRIST JESUS, and by HIS grace, HE justifies us and makes us HIS heirs! Praise the LORD, and Hallelujah what a SAVIOR!!!





Oswald Chambers wrote about our new heredity in his July 24, "My Utmost for HIS Highest":



"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20



The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says - If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.
No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in.
         
The great marvel of Jesus Christ's salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring."



Our heredity in CHRIST was paid for by the suffering and death and resurrection of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE gives us a new disposition when we are "born again," and we don't just "do" good works. HE gives us a new heart, with new motives, and desires to serve and please HIM.


"And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations." Ezekiel 36:26,27





You see, there is a reason for the sweet fellowship in the family of GOD like we had with the Spearings, and Missildines ...we all have the same spiritual heredity, the same heritage in CHRIST JESUS, and we all share the "bond of love," because we are new creatures in CHRIST...we weren't just an improved version of the old us when CHRIST came into our lives through faith and repentance. CHRIST made us "new creatures," brand new:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." II Corinthians 5:17



As new creatures, GOD gives us a new disposition that is characterized by love. One of the hallmark characteristics of our new heredity in CHRIST JESUS is the love that HE puts in our hearts for one another:



"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this will all men know that your are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35



Our heredity is not just a "redesigning human" project, that a few genes here are altered, or artificial chromosomes are injected into an old body. Our new heredity is the miraculous new birth that GOD works in us when we place our faith and trust in HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. If any of you have come to an understanding of HIS miraculous work in our lives as you have read these words today, and accept CHRIST as your LORD and SAVIOR I sure would love to know of the transforming work that CHRIST has done in your life.



     I want to close with a little story about Baby Josie, that so many of you have been praying for. Back when Josie was very, very sick, and swollen, and Catherine and Stan weren't sure if she was going to make it, Catherine came over one night and sat with me on my front porch. She shared with me that it was amazing with all the fluid and swelling that Josie had all over her body, her little feet were perfect! That was amazing to Catherine because she and Stan both have some genes that their toes do different things and that's the characteristic shared in all of their children except Josie whose toes are perfectly formed...Catherine relayed to me how she would look at those beautiful feet, and hope and pray that the rest of her body would one day be healed. As you know, GOD in HIS graciousness has brought healing to Josie, and the report on her a couple of days ago is that Josie is receiving the breast milk without any swelling thus far...Praise the LORD



Catherine sent out a picture of Josie's "Beautiful Feet," last week on FB, feet that GOD made perfectly. Those feet were looked upon with love that only a Mother has in her heart in the "dark night of Catherine's soul," with love and wonder and hope. Hope that CHRIST would bring healing to her little baby. As you know the LORD JESUS has brought physical healing to Baby Josie, and used her journey to encourage all of our faith in HIM.



The beautiful and powerful song "How Beautiful," by Twila Paris tells us of our SAVIOR'S beautiful feet, once tiny like baby Josie's, that grew up to walk the hill to Calvary, that by HIS stripes we might be healed from our sinful heredity and be given a new heredity. HE empowers us to use our feet to share the love and good news of the KING WHO loves us so very much HE came to die for us.

I love you and thank you for sharing this time with me this week. My the LORD fill your heart with HIS love for you as you listen this beautiful song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfSp_rceFs&feature=related "How Beautiful" by Twila Paris.

With all His love,

mitzi


    "How Beautiful"
How Beautiful the hands that served

The Wine and the Bread and the sons of the earth

How beautiful the feet that walked

The long dusty road and the hill to the cross

How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ



How Beautiful the heart that bled

That took all my sins and bore it instead

How beautiful the tender eyes

That choose to forgive and never despise

How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ



And as He lay down His life

We offer this sacrifice

That we will live just as He died

Willing to pay the price

Willing to pay the price



How Beautiful the radiant bride

Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes

How Beautiful when humble hearts give

The fruit of pure love so that others may live

How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ



How beautiful the feet that bring

The sound of good news and the love of the King

How Beautiful the hands that serve

The wine and the bread and the sons of the Earth

How Beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ





With all HIS love,

mitzi

The Ache in My FATHER'S Heart

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD in CHRIST forgave you." Ephesians 4:32




"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the LORD: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of GOD; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled." Hebrews 12:14,15

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

This past Saturday was a huge day in the life of our family. My nephew, Dallas Spencer Fowler was married to the girl that his parent's had been praying for since before Dallas was born, Laurie Kristin Nelson. Dallas is the first born of the Fowler family grand kids, born to my oldest brother Joe that i wrote about a few weeks ago that i went hiking up in Gatlinburg with, and to his beautiful and sweet wife, Marilyn. I remember the early morning "Big D" was born at Decatur General Hospital...i stayed up all night waiting on him. I was 18 when Dallas was born, and so excited about my first nephew. I remember when he was a baby that i was supposed to be watching him in my bedroom, and he fell off the bed onto the wooden floor. It scared me to death, and i felt terrible for it, but thankfully, Dallas didn't seem to suffer any long term brain injuries from my carelessness. What a blessing it has been to watch my nephew grow up (thankfully he survived my babysitting) into a fine young man and be united to Laurie in holy matrimony at Highland Baptist Church.

It was a very special day, one in which our family had been looking forward to for many months. My brother's family was coming back from Texas, after having been here just about a month and a half ago for my niece's wedding in May, and it was going to be a great time as a family celebrating "Big D's" wedding day together. The day before the wedding, i received a email from one of my siblings, and it made me wonder if they were going to be at the wedding. After talking with my parent's, i learned that the sibling was not planning to attend the wedding after some tense words were exchanged with another member of our family.

As we gathered Sat. evening for family pictures before the wedding, Laurie and Dallas looked so beautiful and handsome on their wedding day. We were all so happy for them as our family stood on the steps of the pulpit with them to get our pictures made. No one really said anything, but we wished our other sibling and their family could have been with us...they are our family and we love them. After the beautiful wedding celebration, the reception was held at the Turtle Creek Yacht and Country Club near Killen, Alabama. It sure was pretty out there on the Tennessee River, and i think that every bell and whistle, every jot and tittle that could be done for a wedding and reception was done at Laurie and Dallas's wedding. It was such a festive time, with lots of wonderful food and friends and family there. Her wedding cake was so pretty as it was about 6 layers high, off white i think, trimmed in pink.

After we had stuffed ourselves with crab cakes, chicken fingers, green beans, a potato bar, ham sandwiches, fruit, cake, tea, lemonade, and other good stuff i can't remember now, the band cranked up and was playing upstairs, while we sat outside by the golf course and river. I meandered upstairs to get some wedding cake for HB of which i got distracted and never did make it back, but later managed a couple of bites of my nephew's delicious chocolate cake that had a Dallas Cowboys helmet on it.

When i went upstairs, Laurie and her Daddy were dancing together and afterwards, the floor was open to whoever wanted to join in. My brother and his wife danced, and then my nephew and his Mom. My nephew, Drew, is a really good dancer, and he had taught his Mom how to do the dance he was doing, whirling her around, and stepping together with the music. After they finished, I decided to join in the fun and asked my brother Joe if he would dance with me. He said sure, and for the first time in years, i found myself out on the dance floor, dancing to music i had grown up with...it was so much fun! I don't know any dances, i just kind of get out there and well, just keep time to the music:). When i danced with Drew, he was trying to teach me to follow him, and i was worn out after i finished all his twirls and moves! It was fun dancing with my brother, Tracy too, and my nephew, Nicholas. Just got to teach Nicholas not to wonder off when he's dancing with me!



While i was taking a break from the dancing, my dear Daddy was standing on the edge of the dance floor with some of my family , and he said to me, "I sure wish ____ was here, they would have really enjoyed this." My dear Daddy, who loves his family so very much, and has given his life to show us love and help us to love one another was hurting this night- this night that was supposed to be such a night of happiness and celebration for our family because one of his children was angry and broke fellowship with our family. In the midst of our family's celebration, my Daddy had an ache in his heart for his child that no amount of dancing, or food or being happy for Dallas and Laurie could assuage.



As i was thinking about what to write about this week, GOD just started bringing all these thoughts to me this morning. I had certainly been grieved at my sibling's decision to not attend the wedding. In fact, feeling angry would be more accurate. The decision not to attend had affected many others, including her family who also didn't attend. I will confess, i was put out with this sibling, and it took me a couple of days for the LORD to begin to soften my heart that i even wanted to speak with them about it. Monday morning, when i attended Bible Study at First Baptist, Betty Dean was teaching about how to have peace in the book of Philippians...She was teaching out of Philippians 4 and she was teaching about these two women at Philippi with strange names, Euodia and Syntyche, who had had a falling out with one another...some things never change, from Biblical times to our time now. Paul was imploring them to be of the same mind in CHRIST JESUS in Philippians 4:2. On the white board up front Betty Dean had written:



"Imperatives for Peaceful Women":

Rejoice in the LORD always! Phil. 4:4

Be Gentle Phil 4:5

Don't worry Phil. 4:6

Pray Phil 4:7




"Rejoice in the LORD always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The LORD is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to GOD and the peace of GOD which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS."





What really jumped out at me at Bible Study Monday was what Dr.John MacArthur www.gty.org said gentleness means:



Gentleness is contentment with and generosity toward others. It can also refer to mercy or leniency toward the faults and failures of others. It can even refer to patience in someone who submits to injustice or mistreatment without retaliating. Graciousness with humility encompasses all the above.



Mercy or leniency toward the faults and failures of others...graciousness with humility, what a beautiful description of gentleness and "doing unto others the way i would have them do unto me." I didn't really want to have leniency or mercy in this case with my sibling, but i also knew i didn't really have a choice. I knew that i didn't want a root of bittnerness growing up in my heart. I called the next morning to try and talk with my sibling about what went on...and i didn't get too far. I wish i could say this issue is resolved in our family but it's not that i'm aware of yet. My Daddy, with the heart of HIS heavenly FATHER, pursued his wayward child, and called also, as some of my other siblings. I know that it is heavy on my Daddy's heart, because he loves each one of us so much and wants us to love one another and get along with each other. When one member of our family has pulled away, it hurts each one of us, and hurts our fellowship with one another, and it especially hurts my Daddy's heart who loves each and every one of his children so much.



The ache that is in my Daddy's heart, is the same kind of ache that our heavenly FATHER has when HIS children don't get along with one another in the Church. It breaks HIS heart to see us fight and bicker, and backbite, and be angry, and not forgive one another. HE gave HIS SON because HE loved us so much, and HE commands us to love one another. "This is MY commandment that you love one another as I have loved you, you must also love one another." John 15:12 It's not an option for HIS children to love and to forgive...we do that because HE first loved us. "We love because HE first loved us." I John 4:19. If we are HIS children and belong to HIM, we have HIS nature living inside us that compels us to love and forgive one another. "Above all love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins." I Peter 4:8 Love is the way we know that we belong to our heavenly FATHER, and the way that others know that we belong to our heavenly FATHER, CHRISTians and non-CHRISTians alike. JESUS said, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples by your love for one another." John 13:35.

The greatest love chapter the Bible, I Corinthians 13:4-8, which is often read at weddings, describes love:

Love endures long and is patient and kind;


love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy,


is not boastful or vainglorious,


does not display itself haughtily.


It is not conceited-arrogant and inflated with pride;


it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly.


Love [GOD's love in us] does not insist on its own rights or its own way,

for it is not self seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;


it takes not account of the evil done to it-pays not attention to a suffered wrong.


It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness,


but rejoices when right and truth prevail.



"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes,


is ever ready to believe the best of every person,


its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances


and it endures everything [without weakening]


Love never fails-never fades out or becomes obsolete


or comes to an end.


-Amplified Version

Our heavenly FATHER loves us with a perfect love...if we substitute our name above for love, we all recognize that we sin at love many times every day...but as we abide in CHRIST, and HIS WORD renews our hearts and minds, HE enables us to love with HIS love...the love that covers a multitude of sins, and forgives those who trespass against us as we have forgiven them, seventy times seven. It is not ourselves who is able to forgive, but it is CHRIST in us, the ONE WHO saw us and all of our sin, and loved us enough to die for us while we were yet sinners. "GOD shows HIS love for us in that while we were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us." Romans 5:8

The ache in our heavenly FATHER's heart is not only for HIS children, HIS Bride to love one another deeply, but also for those who are still lost in their sins. In Matthew 23:37 we read the heart of a FATHER for those who have rejected HIM, Jews and Gentiles:



"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling."



GOD loves each and every one of us so much, that HE sent HIS one and only SON to redeem us from the sin that we were all born into...we cannot escape our fallen sin nature, except by being cleansed by the blood of HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. CHRIST paid the ransom, that we might be HIS BRIDE, and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with HIM, and be HIS heirs, and rule and reign with HIM forever in the New Jerusalem. It is our FATHER's desire that all HE be a part of HIS wedding feast, but we must come to faith and repentance and trust in the LORD JESUS as they payment for our sins.



"But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become the children of GOD, even to those who believe in HIS name." John 1:12



Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 22:1-14 about a Marriage Feast many were invited, only a few came, and someone tried to slip in with the wrong wedding clothes on:

Matthew 22


The Parable of the Wedding Banquet


1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.


4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'


5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.


8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.


11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.


13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'


14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."

This friend, is the ache in our heavenly FATHER's heart, that no one should perish, but have everlasting life:

     "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that WHOSOEVER believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

As HIS beloved children, WHOM HE has shed abroad HIS love in our hearts, our hearts should ache too for those who are still lost in their sin, and motivate us to share the SAVIOR of the world with them, that they too may be a part of the family of GOD...a family that still struggles with sin, as long as we're confined to our earthly bodies, but we have been redeemed by the blood of our SAVIOR, and HE sees us as perfect, HE sees the robe of righteousness that clothes HIS BRIDE and HE ever works to restore and sanctify us and make us like HIS SON JESUS.

I read these words in Morning and Evening from Charles Spurgeon earlier this week about our Marriage to CHRIST JESUS and the love that our glorious Bridegroom has for us:

Morning: Marriage to Christ

"I am married unto you."

--Jeremiah 3:14

Christ Jesus is joined unto His people in marriage-union. In love He espoused His Church as a chaste virgin, long before she fell under the yoke of bondage. Full of burning affection He toiled, like Jacob for Rachel, until the whole of her purchase-money had been paid, and now, having sought her by His Spirit, and brought her to know and love Him, He awaits the glorious hour when their mutual bliss shall be consummated at the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Not yet hath the glorious Bridegroom presented His betrothed, perfected and complete, before the Majesty of heaven; not yet hath she actually entered upon the enjoyment of her dignities as His wife and queen: she is as yet a wanderer in a world of woe, a dweller in the tents of Kedar; but she is even now the bride, the spouse of Jesus, dear to His heart, precious in His sight, written on His hands, and united with His person. On earth He exercises towards her all the affectionate offices of Husband. He makes rich provision for her wants, pays all her debts, allows her to assume His name, and to share in all His wealth. Nor will He ever act otherwise to her. The word divorce He will never mention, for "He hateth putting away."

Death must sever the conjugal tie between the most loving mortals, but it cannot divide the links of this immortal marriage. In heaven they marry not, but are as the angels of God; yet there is this one marvellous exception to the rule, for in Heaven Christ and His Church shall celebrate their joyous nuptials. This affinity as it is more lasting, so is it more near than earthly wedlock.

Let the love of husband be never so pure and fervent, it is but a faint picture of the flame which burns in the heart of Jesus. Passing all human union is that mystical cleaving unto the Church, for which Christ left His Father, and became one flesh with her.

This is the love that our dear SAVIOR and BRIDEGROOM has for us, a flame that burns in the heart of JESUS CHRIST, that laid down HIS life for us and is one flesh with us. It is the passion, and the ache in our FATHER's heart that all might know HIM and that HIS children would love one another deeply as HE loves us.



When i was thinking about what song to use this week, "There is Love" (The Wedding Song) came to my mind. I haven't heard it in a long time, and it has always been one of my favorite wedding songs. It is still a beautiful song, with a beautiful message..."There is Love" by Mary McGregor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utdPh1Ec1Ws&feature=related- .

       Later this evening, the LORD led me to listen to "How Beautiful" by Twila Paris.  This  powerful song encompasses all that I have tried to share in this email.  Thank you, JESUS for being our BRIDEGROOM who waits for us, our SAVIOR who died for us...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfSp_rceFs&feature=related



Thank ya'll for letting me share my heart with you this morning. I ask you to pray for our family that GOD would heal our relationships and help us forgive and love and be patient and gentle with one another. Dallas and Laurie are enjoying their honeymoon in Jamaica...pray for them that their sweet love for JESUS and one another would grow and grow and bear much fruit for our heavenly FATHER. Please pray for my dear Daddy and Mother, that GOD will comfort them, and use the ache in my Daddy's heart, to work all things together for good, as HE has been so faithful to do and will continue to.

With all HIS love,

mitzi



For love comes into the heart, not by trying to force it, but by accepting people as they are, and bearing all that they do against you, which is forgiveness. Are you willing for this?" Hannah Hurnard



"May the GOD who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity...Accept one another, then, just as CHRIST accepted you, in order to bring praise to GOD." Romans 15:5,7



"Love puts the focus on personal responsibility and improving yourself rather than on demanding more from others. JESUS painted a picture of this when HE talked about the person who saw the "speck" in his brother's eye but didn't notice the "log" in his own. "How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Matthew 7:4-5

- "Living the Love Dare" calendar



"An evil heart of unbelief consists in a hardening of our will against GOD's will, simply because we do not like what HE has chosen for us, but want our own will to be done."

-Hannah Hurnard, GOD's Transmitters

--

"Faith Like Potatoes"

"And therefore will the LORD wait, that HE may be gracious unto you, and therefore will HE be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a GOD of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for HIM." Isaiah 30:18


Dear Family and Friends,

Last night, my family watched the DVD, "Faith without Potatoes" http://www.wingcinema.com/faithlikepotatoes .Have you seen it yet? A friend of HB's, Julia Paul, had written on her FB status several weeks ago that she wanted to have "faith like potatoes," and i was intrigued by that comment. Later i learned that "Faith Like Potatoes," was a movie based on a true story of a farmer in Africa who found faith in JESUS CHRIST. "Faith Like Potatoes," is the story of this man's journey and how GOD grew his faith and his family through the many seemingly insurmountable losses they faced. When i received an email yesterday about the DVD, i really wanted to see it. I called Wal-Mart to see if they had it, not expecting them to, and the man came back on the line in a few minutes and said they had it and it was $7.50. First of all I couldn't believe they had it...O me of little faith, and second i couldn't believe they had it for $7.50. What a special blessing from the LORD! So last night, after we ate supper, and the kitchen was cleaned, we settled in to watch the movie. HB said it was a little slow at first, though i didn't think it was slow. My brain works slower than hers so that may be why it wasn't slow to me. It really had some good lessons in trusting the LORD through our trials and how HE loves to prove HIMself to those who trust HIM. After the movie was over, HB said, you'd better not write a devotion on it, and really i had no intention to, though i did really like the movie, and the encouragement it gave me to trust GOD for the impossible.



This morning as i was thinking about what to write about...GOD began to bring to my mind "Faith Like Potato" experiences HE has built into my life...the most recent being that of healing Josie! All of you who have been following her journey realize what a miracle her healing is. One thing you may not realize is that Stan's first wife, his oldest child's Mother, died just a few days after giving birth to Addie. Stan had already walked this treacherous road once and experienced the grace that only GOD can give in times like these. The doctor's did not expect Josie to live beyond the first night...giving her a 20% when she was delivered by emergency c section 2 months early due to fluid all over her little body. She improved the first few days of treatment over at Huntsville, and then hit a roadblock. Catherine voiced her concerns to me one day as i was driving her to go see Josie while she was still recovering from her c section (i don't think Catherine really had a chance to recover, GOD just healed her on the go, and strengthened her to do what a Mama does when her baby is sick, and she has three others little ones at home- she neglects herself to care for her little ones) that she didn't think Josie was improving. I kind of dismissed them thinking she would turn around soon, but she continued to get worse in the NICU in Huntsville. Finally, Catherine and Stan made the decision to transfer her to Vanderbilt to see if they could help her baby. Catherine had done her Nurse Practioner training at Vanderbilt and was very familar with the teachers and setting there. At Vanderbilt, she had hope to be consoled that Josie was not the sickest baby there, but she was, there was no one sicker, and Josie's case was life or death. Several weeks past, and Josie remained on the ventilator, several IV's, chest tubes to drain the fluid, and suddenly GOD seemed to bring healing to her little body quickly once the medicine worked to be able to plug up the holes in her lymphatic system. When Catherine first began talking of bringing Josie home we were just incredulous...many times we wondered along with Catherine and Stan if Josie would come home with them or if the LORD would choose to take her HOME with HIM in heaven. I can't say i had "Faith Like Potatoes," for Josie...i just felt called to pray for her, and knew that if it was the LORD's will to heal her HE could certainly do that. I do know of one person who had faith that Josie would be healed. Stephanie Carpenter's daughter, Claire i believe, told her Mother all along that Josie was going to be okay. That is a child's "Faith Like Potatoes," and that's the kind of faith JESUS calls us to have in HIM, child like faith, that HE can redeem us from our sins and that HE is the GOD of the Impossible. The Carpenter family have been such GOD send's to the Smith's often caring for their other little ones's while Catherine was in Nashville with Josie. A week or so ago, when the Celebration for Josie's healing was being planned, we had no idea she would be home that soon. It was just a few days before that Catherine told us they were trying to decide if she would be transferred back to Huntsville Hospital before she came home...and then all of the sudden Catherine writes and tells us that Josie is coming home:

We are about to take home our baby, the one who doctors say is just remarkable to have come of out such a critical place ...unscathed. The one who we have wept and prayed over and God answered our prayers, with the outcome we have  longed for. We are about to take our premie baby home who at one time just removing her face blind or laying our hands on her over stimulated her to the point of dropping her oxygen saturation in the 60’s.... Our doctor just came in and did a run down from head to toe and said she was a very, very remarkable baby. A miracle. We agree, the Lord has healed Josie. Not man, and I think that is what he was trying to get out. Thank you Lord

" I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths…O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning…O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy...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

I hope ya'll realize in our busy lives that we have witnessed a miracle, the healing power of GOD, the answers to the cries of so many of GOD's children for Josie's life. I know my faith once again has grown leaps and bounds as I have watched my GOD do the impossible.



I am 47 years old, and the thing i love about getting older is being able to string more miracles like Josie's together and realize that GOD is the GOD of the impossible. In my joy room, on my prayer table which has become a table of faith for me with reminders of "the impossible" things GOD has done for me or those i've prayed for i have a verse in a picture frame my Daddy-in-law gave me several years ago. It says, "With GOD all things are possible." Matthew 19:26. When he first gave it to me, i didn't think too much about the verse, but as GOD has led me to believe HIM for the impossible and pray for them, and I have seen HIM give me impossible desires in answers to my prayers, I realize, wow LORD, YOU'RE growing my faith to be like that of "Faith Like Potatoes.



This past week, a friend texted me and told me that Tim Greene (http://www.evangelisttimgreene.com/ was going to be preaching and singing at Austinville Church of GOD in Decatur, Sunday Aug. 8. You remember my friend Tim, the one whom many of you prayed for with me for years for Tim and his family when Tim was so very sick with mold poisoning and could not leave the beach. GOD kept Tim and his family in my heart night and day for 5 years to love them and pray for them. I never dreamed he would miraculously heal Tim May a year ago and Tim would be able to go and preach all over telling others what JESUS has done for him. He even went to England this year with his family to share the gospel of JESUS CHRIST. I don't know if you've ever been to England but it is very damp and cold and moldy even in the summer. Tim went in the winter or early spring and flew on a long plane ride on top of the mold over there. This was impossible for Tim (and me now) before GOD healed him. Tim could not leave the beach without getting sick before GOD healed him. Tim called me last summer to tell me that GOD had healed him. A few short months later, he was speaking and sharing at Greenbrier Baptist, a church right across from our restaurant. GOD knows how i had longed to see Tim and his wife,Amy and his daughter Brittany all those years he was sick, and now GOD had made that possible when HE brought Tim and Brittany to Alabama..."All things are possible with GOD." GOD had just put another potato in my bag of faith!



Today as i write is Belle Greene's birthday...that's Tim Greene's little niece. The Greene's http://www.thegreenesgospel.com/ traveled to Alabama in our area 8 times that first year i met Tim at the clinic in Dallas. Tony, Tim's brother  and Taranda longed to have a baby of their own, and the doctors had told them they would never have a baby. That first Thanksgiving after we had met them, Hannah Beth and I went to see them down at Haleyville at a concert. I didn't know Taranda hardly at all, and we barely spoke at their table where they were selling tapes, but she told me that she was pregnant! Now, Belle is 6 years old today, and GOD has given them another little girl since then, Josie who is 2 and and is a little pistol! She has lungs like her Mother when she sings! Belle, celebrating her 6th birthday reminds me that my GOD is the GOD of the impossible, and gives me more "Faith Like Potatoes."



    This morning, my housekeeper and i were talking about her recent journey with her foot. If you remember i asked you to pray for Mrs. Kelley who was bitten by a brown recluse spider earlier this year and then developed staff infection in it. The doctor's told her she would probably loose part of her foot, or at least some of her toes. This morning, as she showed me her foot that was almost healed, we thanked GOD for HIS healing and once again, the GOD of the impossible, put another "potato" in my bag of faith. An aside here, Mrs. Kelly, who doesn't have insurance, told me how good the hospital had treated them. She was afraid that since they didn't have insurance she would not get good care. That fear was unfounded, and she told me how good of care she received...i know our medical system has problems, but its still the most compassionate and best in the world! Mrs. Kelly is trusting the LORD to help them to make the payments the hospital is working with them on...as HE has given her "Faith Like Potatoes." She was in the hospital for over 2 weeks and then returned each day for 4 weeks to have her foot repacked and treated. She said they only charged her $10.00 each time she went back...what a blessing, and evidence of GOD's provision for her life.



    In a few weeks, my daughter will be packing her car and ours and we will leave her at the University of Mobile. Not looking forward to that day, August 20, but the GOD who delivered her from death as an infant with a hemagioma growing across her windpipe, will give grace to help this Mama and Daddy let go, and let HIM grow her and mature her at a conservative CHRISTian college. I always wanted my kids to have the opportunity to go to a CHRISTian college, but it seemed impossible since they weren't any nearby and Johnny and I didn't want our kids going far away to school. The GOD of the impossible had to change all three of our hearts, including hers, to make her want to be in Mobile. GOD has provided a generous scholarship for her and we will be depending on HIM to provide the means to meet her needs at this private school that really wasn't in our plans when we signed the kids up with the P.A.C.T. program to pay for their college at a public college when they were little. The GOD of the impossible had other plans for her though, and thankfully, the P.A.C.T plan will transfer over and can be used at the University of Mobile. GOD is giving us "Faith Like Potatoes," to know that HE is going to make the way for her and for us...as she begins her new life in Mobile in a few short weeks.



    The LORD brings many things to my mind things HE has done in our lives, and the lives of those we love. It's not always been what we desired at the time, and we sometimes forget that HIS ways are higher than ours. Little by little, potato by potato, HE continually teaches us that HE is SOVEREIGN, HE loves us so very much and HE is the GOD of the impossible. GOD is for us, through all the circumstances, through all the sufferings that HE brings into our live to perfect us like the Captain of our Salvation, JESUS CHRIST was perfected through HIS sufferings.



   GOD continues to minister to my heart and give me insight into HIS restoration and redemption of us through that little saying of Audrey Hepburn's i've used the past couple of weeks:



"People even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, never throw out anyone."


   GOD wants each and every one of us to have "Faith Like Potatoes," not only for our lives but for our family members, friends, those in our neighborhoods, those we work with and go to school with. When things are shattered and broken, HE wants us to have "Faith Like Potatoes," to believe that HE is the GOD of the impossible and that HE is the one who restores , renews, revives, reclaims, and redeems us. HE paid the price for our soul at Calvary with HIS SON's blood. For all who receive this free gift from GOD, HE spends the rest of our lives, restoring us, renewing us, and making us like our LORD JESUS CHRIST .



     When i was in high school, my Daddy bought a 1966 Mustang from a classmate of mine that had been sitting outside in the weather for years. It was a mess you could say, but my Daddy could see through the weathered and battered car, to a car that would make a good car for his daughter to drive back and forth to school. Daddy had already restored two Mustangs before mine, one for my brother Ralph and one for my sister Jill, so this wasn't the first time...Daddy knew what he was doing. What was once a piece of junk and not worth much of anything except to the one who looked beyond the rusty, dirty car, torn seats, and blown out tires, was now restored and renewed and so very valuable, to me. My Daddy paid for the car, $200.00, redeeming it, but he used his time, sweat, and energy to restore and renew that car for something that i could drive. I am still very proud and thankful for today. I wish we still had it.



     Our heavenly FATHER knows what HE is doing in our lives...the GOD of the impossible sees beyond anger and pride and rebellion and all the yucky sin in our lives. HE brings us to the end of ourselves and humbles us and draws us to HIMself when we are broken and at our "wit's end." Then HE transforms that man or woman who comes to HIM in faith through JESUS, literally rescues us from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of HIS marvelous light, and gives us a new heart, with new and right desires, and puts a new spirit in us.

"And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart. And I will put my SPIRIT in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command." Ezekiel 36:24-27 

   This is what our FATHER does when HE redeems us and restores us to what we were before we were born into sin. HE spends the rest of our lives continuing HIS work in us and making us a vessel that HE can use to shine HIS light through and bring those who aren't restored to the ONE who redeems and restores and renew and revives.

   A poem that means a great deal to me, and has really encouraged me when GOD was allowing a whole lot of physical suffering in my life, is called, "When GOD Wants to Drill a Man." GOD was lovingly working on me, restoring me, though i couldn't see it, and all i wanted was to be out of my suffering.



When God Wants to Drill a Man

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-


    As i was thinking about Baby Josie this week, and the Miracle that GOD has brought about in her life GOD brought the song to my mind, "Miracle in Me," that the Greene's http://www.thegreenesgospel.com/ sing so beautifully. GOD has done a "Miracle In Me," for Josie, to bring physical healing to her little life. He's done a miracle in Tim Greene's life, in the Greene's sending them Belle and Josie, in HB's life opening the doors for her to go to the University of Mobile, Mrs. Kelley and in my life as HE continues to restore my health. But more important than the physical restoration HE does for us, much more important, is the "spiritual" restoration HE offers each of us in a personal and intimate relationship with HIM. HE longs to restore us to oneness with HIM as we surrender our hearts to HIM. I pray that you will do that today if you've never ask JESUS to be the LORD of your life. Watch this "Miracle in Me," video of the Tony, Kim Greene Hopper, and Tim singing way back in 1987. What a blessing this dear family of GOD has been to so many, including me, as they have had "Faith Like Potatoes," to sing the praises of GOD for over 30 years and through many, many difficult blows the LORD has allowed in their lives... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8lQe5EL-XA



     I love you, dear ones, thank you for sharing time with me this week. I pray that GOD will use this testimony for you to help you search your own heart and life, and see the places HE has given you "Faith Like Potatoes." Tell others what GOD has done for you...that what this email is about week after week, just telling others what our GOD of the Impossible has done for me and my family and loved ones. That's what the Greene's do as they travel all over singing and telling others what GOD has done for them. That's what Josie's Mom has been doing through her updates...telling what GOD has done for them. One of Catherine's last post from the hospital tells of her Mother's heart who wanted to hope, and have "Faith Like Potatoes,but was afraid to as she watched other Mom's and Dad's bring their babies and leave. She writes:
  

We have seen so many moms and dads move into rooms, stay a few days or a week or so, then bring their car seat and just up and leave with their baby. i can't believe it's our time!! Thank You Lord!


July 9 at 9:26pm

  Praise the LORD, in HIS graciousness, HE brought them out when it was their time. In the midst of their suffering, we have grown in our faith, as we have watched them walk through this trial with grace and the strength of the LORD.



  If it's not your time yet, Hold On, and wait expectantly and patiently. " Our HUSBANDMEN wants us to have "Faith Like Potatoes, " and wait patiently for the harvest. Our GOD of the Impossible will restore, redeem, revive, renew in HIS time. "And therefore will the LORD wait, that HE may be gracious unto you, and therefore will HE be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a GOD of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for HIM." Isaiah 30:18

With all HIS love,

mitzi





P.S. The Greene's, the Hopper's, and Gold City will be at the Cullman Civic Center, Oct 8, 2010...save the date. Contact me for ticket information. Pray that GOD would make it possible for Tim to be there and sing with his brother Tony and his sister Kim, who sings with the Hopper's. Kim married married into the Hopper family many years ago. It would be awesome to hear them sing, "Miracle in Me," together again...perhaps he will, if we have "Faith like Potatoes."





"If GOD wants to do something wonderful, HE begans with a difficulty and when HE wants to do something really wonderful, HE begans with an impossibility." Rev. Charles Inwood



"Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe." St. Augustine

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to HIM must believe that HE exists and that HE rewards those who earnestly seek HIM." Hebrews 11:6

"Thanks-Or No Thanks?"

"For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Hebrews 2:1-3

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

I hope you all had a really good 4th of July and were able to celebrate with friends and family. After a wonderful morning of worship at church our family had the blessing of being invited to my Uncle Mick's house on Elk river where my Daddy's side of the family gathered. We enjoyed barbecue pork and chicken,corn on the cob, squash casserole, peas, and a bunch of stuff i can't remember now, cakes and pies of all kinds, and homemade vanilla and banana ice cream. Everything was yummy! My Mom and Dad made the vanilla ice cream...just like we grew up on eating in the backyard on hot summer nights. After we ate and visited, Uncle Mick took us for a ride down the river on his pontoon boat. Uncle Mickey is the one who gave his life to JESUS about three years ago. GOD drew Uncle Mick to him, and broke his heart over his sins. GOD saved him , made him a new creature, and CHRIST continues to renew, revive, and restore his life and family. We sure do appreciate Uncle Mickey, his sweet wife Pat (they're still newlyweds just married since Jan.) and his family's hospitality to have our family over for the 4th.

The next day we had the wonderful blessing of driving down to Lake Martin, near Alexander City, Al and spending the evening and next day with our dear friends from seminary, David and Rhonda Irby, their two kids, Russell, 20, and Alex 16, David's parents, and his sister. David and Rhonda came from Ft. Worth, and his parents and sis from the Tampa, Fl. area to meet at the lake house that has been in their family for many, many years. The last time we went several years ago, it was the original lake house, just as you picture a cabin on a lake, and this time when we returned, they have built a much larger, rustic home, and it is filled with the love of JESUS. Mr. and Mrs. Irby's hospitality was so very gracious, and Mrs. Irby spent her time, preparing us wonderful meals and making it look so easy and pretty! We all gathered around the big table on the screened in porch and enjoyed her delicious sirloin roast, green beans she broke while we played in the water, squash, home grown tomatoes, and home made oatmeal raisin cookies. The first night my husband loaded us up with Barbecue ribs and chicken he had brought with us from our restaurant, and he picked up a watermelon, peaches, and a batch of hot fried pies, Peach, Apple, and Strawberry at "Peach Park," our favorite place to stop and get ice cream when we're traveling down I-65 through Clanton. It's the third Clanton exit going South if you've never stopped, and the first exit for Clanton if you're coming from Montgomery. The fried pies were a special treat, as we sampled them, and Mrs. Irby served them up for breakfast the next morning with butter and confectioner's sugar on top...Yummy! She also had all kinds of fruit cut up...strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, with yogurt on top served in parfait glasses. This dear lady knows knows how to show loving hospitality!!! In between eating, the lake was the main attraction. David and his sister who was on the University of Georgia water skiing team, took to the water first with Dave's Dad driving. Janet at 50, popped right up on one ski and slalomed around the lake. After she skied, David showed us his tricks on the "wake board." He was really good, turning around backwards, going in and out of the wake, and enjoying every minute of his turn to show off his "skills." Well, after that, i decided to try and see if i could get up. It has been about 4 years or so since the last time i skied and then it had been about 15, so i wasn't sure if "the old gray mare," could still do it. But GOD surprised me, and I got up first time! I held on for dear life, and after a loop around the lake, I got really tired, and fizzled. Tried to get back up, but couldn't do it...and retired for the day. But i was thrilled to have skiied! HB skied the next day, a long ways, along with Rhonda skiing on the wake board. I was impressed, with Rhonda on that wakeboard...i tried to get up on the wake board, but wasn't able to stay up too long before i lost my balance...and flipped over getting a head full of water and other parts i don't guess i should mention here.

We sure do appreciate the Irby's sharing their boat and skiis, and all the time they spent patiently coaching us. They really do have a water skiing ministry and have had for years as they have shared their lake home with so many youth groups through the years, sharing with them the love of JESUS.

What a special blessing from the LORD to restore me to be able to do that after not hardly being able to walk in years past. "Pain turns the simple pleasures into immense joys," and if you ever wonder why i get so excited doing things that others may take for granted, it's because GOD has restored, renewed, revived me and brought so much healing to my body after my being very sick for a long, long time. Yes, i get excited when i'm able to do things i never thought i'd be able to do again..."I know that my Redeemer lives," Job 19:25, and in addition to redeeming me from my life of sin when i was 19, "HE inclined to me, and heard my cry, HE brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and HE set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And HE put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our GOD; Many will see and fear, and will trust in the LORD." Psalm 40:2-3. And yes, i'm going to praise HIM as long as HE gives me breath for I am that person that Audrey Hepburn was talking about when she said,



"People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, never throw out anyone."





Last week, after i sent the email out about "Crisis in the Gulf," it wasn't too long after I sent it, that GOD began bringing more thoughts about how the oil gushing out into the ocean is "like a black flood" of our sin. I read an article that night in Answers magazine http://www.answersmagazine.com/  which is like a Biblical worldview National Geographic, that reminded me that to fully understand our fallen nature that needs to be restored to it's original form, we have to go back to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. GOD created Adam and Eve perfect, and they only had one thing they were forbidden by GOD to do in the Garden- to not eat the forbidden fruit. Satan in the form of a serpent tempted Eve, and she gave in, through her lust of the flesh and pride of life and the Adam followed suit. After that, Adam and Eve were no longer perfect, but sin from that point on, entered into them, and each one of us since then...we became toxic with sin, and the punishment for that sin is eternal death.



"By Adam came all sin and pain, in CHRIST shall all men live again.

Behold our GOD and SAVIOR thus!

See what HIS love will do for us!

-Hannah Hurnard, Mountain of Spices



GOD could have left us in our sin filled, sickly, deathly state. But instead, our CREATOR loves us so much that HE sent HIS perfect sinless SON to pay the penalty for our sins...to "Redeem," us from that sin, and restore, renew, revive and reclaim us from death and destruction. Hallelujah, what a SAVIOR!"



"If the many died by the trespass of one man...how much more will those who receive GOD's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, JESUS CHRIST." Romans 5: 15,17



As i was reading Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening" Devotion for July 6, the words GOD has inspired him to write in the 1800's jumped out at me, as to what GOD keeps trying to show me about our sins through the toxic oil spill...how our sins are like the "black flood,' of oil gushing out in the Gulf:



Evening: The Guilt of the Righteous

"How many are mine iniquities and sins?"

--Job 13:23

Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression, and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon Ossa, mountain upon mountain.

What an aggregate of sin there is in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children! Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the people for whom Jesus shed His blood.

But we arrive at a more adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before Him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround His glorious throne. "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen." And yet He takes upon Himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for our offences.





No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene splendour."



GOD's perfect, sinless, SON, who is our CREATOR, humbled HIMself, left HIS home in heaven, and came to earth to die on a wooden cross, to be the ATONEMENT for the "black flood," of sins in each one of our lives...for the sins of the whole world. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16



I looked up the word, "atonement," in the Noah Webster 1828 dictionary, and this is what it says:



1) agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or controversy.

2) Expiation; satisfaction or reparation made by giving an equivalent for an injury, or by doing or suffering that which is received in satisfaction for an offense or injury

3) In theology, the expiation of sin made by the obedience and personal sufferings of CHRIST

Expiation-the act of atoning for a crime; the act of making satisfaction for an offense, by which the guilt is done away, and the obligation of the offended person to punish the crim is canceled; atonement, satisfaction. Among CHRISTians, expiation for the sins of men is usually considered as made only be the obedience and sufferings of CHRIST.



Reparation-the act of repairing; restoration to soundness or a good state as in the reparation of a bridge or highway. Supply of what is wasted; as the reparation of decaying health after disease or exhaustion. Amends; indemnification for loss or damage. A loss may be too great for reparation, satisfaction for injury.



Indemnification-to make good, to reimburse to one what he has lost.



Every time we hear the news, or read the news on the Internet or newspaper, we are hearing of how BP is paying out billions to restore and bring reparation to those who are suffering loss from the "black flood," gushing in the Gulf. No matter how much money BP pays, they will never be able to fully restore and bring satisfaction to the environment, wildlife and people who are suffering death and loss of health, jobs, way of life, etc. due to the injuries caused by the oil gushing in the Gulf.



Unlike BP and the Gulf oil spill, JESUS did pay the full price to fully atone for the "black flood," of our sins, and HE satisfied the wrath of our HOLY GOD. In our culture, it is hard for us to understand the holiness of GOD, because we are surrounded by the acceptance of sin all around us and in us. GOD is not like us. HE cannot be in the presence of sin. HE hates sin, and the injury and death that it brings to each and every one of our lives. The punishment for that sin is everlasting death in the burning flames of hell. But HE loves us so very much that HE HIMself paid the price with HIS own blood that our sins might be paid for, forgiven, washed as white as snow...fully restored and fully redeemed to our original state before HIM.



"While we were still sinners, CHRIST died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by HIS blood, much more shall we be saved by HIM from the wrath of GOD." Romans 5: 8,9



"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." Lev. 17:11 "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." Heb. 9:22



"If the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of CHRIST, who through the eternal SPIRIT offered HIMself without blemish to GOD, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living GOD." Hebrews 9:13,14



This gift of love from GOD to us is ours, free, for the taking..."For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD." Romans 6:23 "But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD, even to those who believe on HIS name." John 1:12. JESUS calls us to come to HIM, to surrender our lives to HIM, repent of our sins, and "take up our cross and follow HIM."



Sadly, most say, "Thanks, but no thanks," to GOD's gracious offer to us of saving us from the "black flood," of our sins. Earlier this week i received an email from "The Heritage Foundation," (www.heritage.org) and in it, they were describing how many countries had offered their services to the United States to help clean up the oil. Our government in essence said, "Thanks, but no thanks." Thankfully, the team from the Heritage Foundation put together a team to get legislation passed, and now the "skimmers," are flowing in the Gulf to help clean up the oil.

What is even much more sad and lasting for eternity, or those who say, "Thanks, but no thanks," to GOD's gracious offer of HIS SON to pay for their sin. They try every way in the world to get to heaven but the ONLY way that GOD has provided...through faith in HIS SON and repentance of their sins. "JESUS says,

"I am the Way, the Life and the Truth, no man comes to the FATHER except through ME." John 14:6



"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12



What about you my dear friend who has taken your time to read this? GOD created you, and HE loves you so much HE sent HIS SON to restore you to your original sinless state before HIM. Have you accepted HIS wonderful, eternal gift of salvation, and been restored into the family of GOD. Only those who have called on HIS name in faith and repentance, who belong to HIM will rule and reign with HIM for all eternity and be saved from the burning flames of hell. The SAVIOR is waiting to enter your heart, why don't you let HIM come in...time after time HE has waited before, and now HE is waiting again." Please listen prayerfully to "The Savior is Waiting" and open the door of your heart to HIM..."Oh how HE wants to come in" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Mbcob2R2M&feature=related.

GOD bless you for taking this time to spend with me and the reflections GOD is giving me of the oil gushing in the Gulf. The SAVIOR is waiting for our country to repent and turn back to HIM from the sin that is gushing like a "black flood" out of the souls of the people in our country. HE has been "longsuffering," with us but that time may be drawing to an end and we will experience the full wrath of HIS judgement if we don't repent and turn from our wicked ways. Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries out of Atlanta, is asking us to commit to pray for our country for 140 days. I made this commitment earlier in the week to pray for our country for the next 140 days. I ask you to do that, and ask others to join with us. http://intouch.org/resources/140-days-of-prayer. In II Chronicles 7:14, GOD promises,

"If MY people who are called by MY name will humble themselves and pray and seek MY face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land."

HE also promised in the verses following II Chr. 7:14, that if they didn't turn from their sin that HE would uproot them from the land HE had given them and that is exactly what HE did...as the Jews were led into captivity by the Babylonians and the Romans and others through the course of history. They were punished because they turned away from GOD's statutes and commandments and followed other gods and served them. If GOD did this to HIS chosen people, the Jews, how much more will HE do this to America? I think the oil spill and some of the other things we are seeing in our country are already GOD's judgement. May we not, as an individual or country, say "Thanks, but no thanks," to the great salvation and healing that GOD is offering to us and our land if we will walk in HIS ways in holiness and follow HIM in obedience to HIS WORD.

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

Hebrews 2:1-3



With all HIS love,

mitzi

In the pictures:

My Uncle Mickey

HB, Rhonda Irby and daughter Alex

The Irby Clan...

--

"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day." President Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War



"I will rejoice and be glad in YOUR steadfast love, because YOU have seen my affliction; YOU have known the distress of my soul." Psalm 31:7









--

Crisis in the Gulf

"But HE was pierced through for our transgressions, HE was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon HIM, and by HIS scourging we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Dear Praying Friends and Family,



I've been a little under the weather this week with a "bad" cold that has snuggled up to all of us in our house...either i'm a wimp or it got to me the worse. THANKFULLY, GOD brought me back from the dead and i am feeling much better. I was able to get the grass cut yesterday before it got too hot. While i've been slowed down a bit from my usual activities, i've done quiet a bit of reading this week about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This morning the headlines of our local news paper was, "Gulf in Crisis." Like most of you, it breaks my heart when i think of what all that oil is doing to the wildlife and humans. Since i have struggled with chemical injuries to my body for most of my life, i have a special place in my heart for other people, animals and the environment that are being damaged by the toxic chemicals that have been unleashed through the oil spill. So much of my reading about the oil spill this week has focused on the health issues that are associated with the chemicals. Not only are the chemicals in the water, but also the air.



John McTernan in his blog, http://www.johnmcternan.name/   on Tuesday, June 29 shared this article about 100's of people seeking medical care after visiting Florida beach:

http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/epa-opening-public-decontamination-stations-400-people-seek-medical-care-after-visiting-florida-beach


The dispersants to dissolve the oil have their own unique health dangers:


htttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hW3W2nV3z6GyzAwH65PkJdxJtAlA





     In this morning's paper on the front page was an article giving information how you can get involved with the restoration of the coastal beaches and wildflife by calling AWF at 1-800-822-9453 or visit the website at www.ccaalabama.org/oilspill.html. In this article, it cautions you not to touch or try to handle an oiled animal, because it may pose a health and safety risk to you and the animal you are trying to rescue. The number to call if you see an oiled animal is B"'s Oiled Wildlife Response Hotline at 1-866-557-1401, with the type and number of animals, location, time last seen and phone number.

There are ways to protect yourself from the harmful effects of the chemicals in the water and air, specific supplements you can take to help your body detox the chemicals you may be breathing in or exposed to. Air filters and sweating the chemicals out will also help to keep one from getting sick from the exposure to the high level of benzenes, methylene chloride, hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals the EPA has tested and found to be very high levels of in the air. If you want to know more about protecting yourself or loved ones....just let me know and i'll be glad to talk further with you.





After i read the troubling words about the Crisis in the Gulf, a devotion from Elisabeth Elliot spoke comfort and peace to my heart. These words were published in 1985...but they are very appropriate for the time we are living in. It's entitled, "I Will Not Be Afraid."

I

News reports come every day concerning economic and political calamities about to befall us all, not to mention famines, tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes, things which may at any moment strike us or people we love. There are always plenty of good reasons to be afraid--unless you know that things are under control. A Christian has this "inside information." Things are, in fact, under control. God is our Refuge, our Strength, our Mighty Fortress. Nothing will get by the moat of his protection without his permission. To be afraid of what happens today or what may happen tomorrow is not only an awful waste of energy, it is not only useless, it is disobedient. We are forbidden to fear anything but the Lord Himself.

-Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp for my Feet



These are simple but true words of comfort for all those who are in CHRIST JESUS. JESUS spoke words of comfort and assurance to HIS disciples in John 16:33:

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”



These words are just as true for us today, as they were when HE spoke them then. HE is our Prince of Peace, and when the world seems to be swirling out of control, HE reminds us that HE is in control and HE has a plan, and a purpose for all that comes into our lives...including oil well disasters that don't seem to make sense.





As i was having my "Time with JESUS," a couple of days ago, the HOLY SPIRIT began bringing thoughts to me about what i had read the past couple of days about the toxic oil spill and the havoc it is wreaking to humans and wildlife. Paul wrote nearly two thousand years ago in the 8th Chapter of Romans about how creation groans and suffers while we wait for our future redemption of our bodies:

"For we know the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. " Romans 8:22

We can certainly see the creation groaning under this toxic oil spill that affects are so far reaching. How many of our hearts are groaning as we learn more and more about the damage that is being done to the Gulf of Mexico, and to human health. As i was reading John Mcternan's blogsite yesterday i was taken aback by a verse he used and indicated that the oil spill might be part of GOD's judgement on America for the toxic sin that has filled our land. Hosea 4:1-4 says:

"Listen to the WORD of the LORD, O sons of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of GOD in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultry. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky; and also the fish of the sea disappear."





I read an article this week entitled Florida scientist says CLEAR water tests positive for oil, “Can’t be seen and it poses health risks”; Officials “only doing visual assessments” . Reading this made me think of the parts of the Gulf that still look clean being like the sinful human heart...it may look good to the common eye, but just as the experts test to see what's really in the water, GOD tests our hearts. "I know also, my GOD, that YOU test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness." I Chronicles 29:17. GOD sees past our outward appearances of "good works" and HE sees what's really inside our heart. "For GOD sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. I Samuel 16:7. Our HOLY CREATOR knows what's inside us, HE created us, and HE knows that each one of has a sinful, toxic, unredeemed heart that hasn't received the gift of HIS salvation, HIS SON. It doesn't matter how much money we have, or how good we look, what our career is. If our heart is unredeemed it's like the "toxic Gulf," and the eternal consequences or wages as it says in Romans 6:23, is death. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST our LORD."

JESUS said in Matthew 23:27, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness." Those beach waters may appear clear to the untrained eye, but upon further testing, they may be hazardous to your health...don't let the appearance fool you.



Our family has recently been watching a show call "American Pickers." www.history.com/shows/american-pickers . On the website it says, "Travel along with the American Pickers as they scour the country's junkyards, barns and basements for hidden gems." - These two guys buy something "old," and restore it, and sell if for a higher price than what they bought. Recently, one episode feature an old "Studebaker" that was dusty, and dirty, just sitting in a barn for years deteriorating. It needed restoring to ever be of any real value. They had somwww.history.com/shows/american-pickerseone who was an "expert," come out and look at it to see if it could be restored. Beneath the dust and dirt, there lay a solid foundation that indeed could be restored. These men could see the "diamond in the rough," like our CREATOR can when HE looks at us, or someone we have given up on long ago. GOD is in the business of restoring, renewing, and redeeming lives that otherwise seem like "junk." I love the quote that i used last week by Audrey Hepburn:



People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, never throw out anyone." Audrey Hepburn



Our LORD JESUS CHRIST sees our heart as it really is and HE knows that it must be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, to have eternal LIFE and to bring glory to HIM. In John 3:3,7 JESUS told Nicodemus, who was a member of the Sanhedrin (very religious but lost in their sins), "Truly,truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the SPIRIT, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven...You must be born again."



We may look really good on the outside to those around us, but JESUS sees the toxic inside, the heart that's unredeemed. We may be the deacon, the Sunday School teacher, the preacher, the lawyer, the well respected businessman or woman. Doesn't matter, the Bible tells us that our righteousness, or our unredeemed works, are like filthy rags...and the literal translation means menstrual rags. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." Isaiah 64:6.



JESUS left HIS home in heaven and was obedient to HIS heavenly FATHER, even to death on the cross, that we might be cleansed from our filthy garments and put on the "robe of righteousness" which is in CHRIST JESUS.



"JESUS CHRIST... emptied HIMself, taking the form a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, HE humbled HIMself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Phil 2:7-8





JESUS' death and resurrection redeems and restores all who have received HIM to able to have intimate fellowship with our HOLY CREATOR. that HE created us and designed us to have before sin entered into the world. "But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12



GOD's LIVING WORD is HIS love letter to us to tell us how much HE loves unredeemed man, and longs to have an intimate relationship with each one of us. HE sent HIS one and only SON to be the cure for our sin sickness. The Passover, Noah's Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, all these are pictures of the salvation that we have in CHRIST JESUS through HIS shed blood on the cross for our sins. The whole BIBLE is GOD's love letter crying out to us to come to HIM, turn from our sins, and be healed of our toxic sinful hearts. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Hebrews 2:3 Don't be fooled into thinking you can escape the flames of hell by your "good," works. GOD sees your heart, and HE provided HIS perfect, sinless SON as the sacrificial "LAMB of GOD," WHO takes away the sins of those who accept HIM and repent from sin. Therefore, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Hebrews 2:3





When i was a young CHRISTian i was introduced to a tract by Billy Graham called "Steps to Peace with GOD." In that little tract it has a picture of a HOLY GOD on one side of a gulf, and sinful man is on the other. The only way to bridge the gulf is through through Calvary, believing that JESUS CHRIST died for your sins and turning away from your sins...sins like not loving GOD with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength, having idols (anything in our lives we put before GOD), not honoring our parents, stealing (which includes time), lusting in our hearts, putting our interests before others, being envious, prideful, jealous, greedy, covetous, angry, grumbling and complaining. All these sins, and many, many more are toxic sins that make "the mighty gulf," between us and our HOLY GOD. There is a "Crisis in the Gulf," in our lives, and JESUS CHRIST is the only ONE who can solve the crisis. Our hearts are toxic and the only cleanser for our sins is the blood of JESUS CHRIST. The kids learned a song when they were little about JESUS being "Super Soap," washing our sins as white as snow. HIS blood is the only "SOAP," that ALMIGHTY GOD made to completely cleanse us of all our sins and enable us to have a personal and intimate relationship with HIM.



"But now in CHRIST JESUS you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of CHRIST. For HE HIMself is our peace. Ephesians 2:13,14





"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.



In John 14:6 Jesus declares, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the FATHER except through ME."



As GOD was leading me what to write about this week, HE brought a phrase from the old hymn, "At Calvary," to me.."Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary! " This song was written by William Newall in 1895, who was a troubled and wayward teenager in need of a Redeemer, a restorer. William was redeemed and restored through the grace of GOD and went on to become a Bible teacher at Moody Bible Institutue in Chicago.



GOD knows and is in control of what seems to be an out of control situation in the Gulf. This has not caught HIM off guard. HE is using it to bring about HIS plans and purposes in our world and in our lives. More important than the situation in the Gulf, GOD sees our hearts and knows that they must be redeemed in order to be healed and restored and made brand new...and this HE did for us, "At Calvary." As you listen to this song, i pray that if you have not ask JESUS to forgive you of your sins, and trust in HIM to save you and cleanse you, that you would do that today. Simply cry out to HIM right where you are...HE wants you to come, just as you are, where HE is waiting with open arms to receive you and give you peace with GOD.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DAlFggcUXY the Gaither Homecoming Choir singing "At Calvary."




This weekend as we celebrate our nation's freedom and independence may we cry out to GOD and turn from our wicked ways and ask GOD to heal our bleeding land. Our land is bleeding from the murder of millions of unborn babies, homosexuality, adultry, apostasy in the church, turning our backs on Israel, and the list goes on and on. We are suffering GOD's judgement because of it. HE is the only ONE who can Redeem and heal our hearts and our country of the "Crisis in the Gulf."



"If MY people who are called by MY name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14



With all HIS love,

mitzi

Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died

On Calvary.



Refrain:

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty

At Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;

Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,

Till my guilty soul imploring turned

To Calvary.

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing

Of Calvary!

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!

Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span

At Calvary!





"HE is the GOD of every circumstance. HE is in the process of redeeming and making all things new. You can rejoice in HIM, even when your eyes are filled with tears." Nancy Leigh DeMoss, www.reviveourhearts.com



"I will rejoice and be glad in YOUR steadfast love, because YOU have seen my affliction; YOU have known the distress of my soul." Psalm 31:7

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